San Antonio Spurs acting head coach Mitch Johnson has taken an even-keel approach to most of this season. Since taking over for the legendary Gregg Popovich in very early November, the 38-year-old assistant has stayed away from headline-type quotes. Following a 145-134 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Johnson may have come his closest to anything resembling eye-popping statements.
“At some point, if you can’t stop them, schematically, individually, collectively, whatever we or I put out there as a game plan, we just need more resistance. If you played a pick up game, that would still be disappointing with no game plan. That’s on us.”
Johnson was speaking of the Spurs’ defense specifically, citing the Hornets’ 81 first-half points while his team only committed five fouls during those first 24 minutes. San Antonio was down 25 at the intermission.
“You don’t get rewarded for sometimes type of effort or competitiveness or intensity or execution. I think we were a victim of that at times when we tried, but we weren’t consistent.”
It marked the Silver and Black’s first game since they announced star guard De’Aaron Fox will miss the remainder of the season because of finger surgery. But it continued a tough stretch that dates back a month.
Spurs’ loss to Hornets encapsulates rough stretch
The loss to Charlotte marked a ninth in 13 games since San Antonio lost Victor Wembanyama for the season. The devastating news directly succeeded an All-Star break which came after the Spurs had traded for Fox in an effort to enhance their chances of qualifying for the postseason and potentially making a playoff run.
As of the setback to the Hornets, they dropped to four and a half games out of the tenth and final spot in the Western Conference Play-in. That slot has been manned for a while by a Dallas Mavericks organization that is going through all sorts of turmoil, from the Luka Doncic trade to the season-ending Kyrie Irving and Dante Exum injuries, to the uncertainty over Anthony Davis’ return from his own injury. With only eight players, the Mavs recently beat the Spurs.
The loss to Charlotte marked only the Hornets’ 17th victory of the season. They sport the third-worst record in the NBA.
“This league is too good to think that you’re going to be able to turn that on or flip a switch and we tried a couple of times throughout the game. We tried to make a run. We were fighting. You could see the effort and the competitiveness lift a little bit,” Johnson said of his Spurs, citing a late fourth-quarter push by his reserves who don’t usually play.
“That’s not how this works,” he proclaimed.
“The next thing you know, the ball gets kicked that way, slips through your hands that way. You had a steal, but, oh no, they got it back and they make a three.”
Turns out Charlotte swept the two games from San Antonio this season. It highlights but also represents the Spurs’ struggles entering the final month of the season.
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