San Antonio Spurs Lose vs. Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 Takeaways
"You have to get tired of getting your a** kicked."
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has always been blunt.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone for him to speak his mind during press conferences — and do so in two minutes or less, at that — but Wednesday night's media session was telling. Popovich acknowledged that his team was performing poorly, and that they have, but he also gave insight into what its next step was to be.
At some point, losing does get tiring, doesn't it?
Regardless of who you ask, the answer to that is yes. The Spurs have a long way to go before they can both break their losing streak and start truly competing, but they're working on it. And as Wembanyama said — they're close.
That being said, here are three takeaways from San Antonio's blowout loss to OKC:
Nov 14, 2023; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich calls a time out against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at Paycom Center.
© Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
1) Youth Is Just A Fact
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: the San Antonio Spurs are young.
They're the youngest team in the NBA, in fact. And that's not a hidden truth. When the Spurs do well, it's used as a way to make their accomplishments seem even more exciting, and when they lose six straight, it's used as a mask.
"They're young." "This is expected." "Give them time." "Be patient."
While all of those statements are true and should be taken into consideration when discussing the shortcomings of Gregg Popovich's squad, there is a line to be crossed — and losing six games in a row is a perfect time to establish that.
A certain level of grace can be given to the NBA's most juvenile squad. They have every other team beat as far as youth goes, and seeing as such, they're going to be the less experienced team in any game they play by default.
But they aren't able to flaunt that as a reason for performing poorly. And they don't.
Popovich acknowledges his team's situation, and he's handling it as best he can — meaning he isn't considering age. He wants his team to execute. Perform. Compete. And being as experienced as he is, he knows the best ways to get his players to do that.
In other words, the fact that the Spurs are young is nothing more than that. They hold themselves to a higher standard, and will continue to do so.
They just need it to translate to the court.
2) Full-Strength Spurs Have To Work Hard, and Injured Spurs Harder
Against Oklahoma City, the Spurs went without both Keldon Johnson and Tre Jones.
Injuries haven't been a huge issue for the team. Devin Vassell has missed a pair of games, Sochan has sat out and Jones has now missed his second straight games, but none of those bumps point to long-term issues. And for San Antonio, that's a good thing.
Victor Wembanyama and company have come away with a victory three times this season, and all three times, they had to work hard. Almost giving up a loss to the Suns after leading by more than 20-points, coming back from down that same amount and taking the Houston Rockets to overtime are all testaments to that.
Since then, the Spurs have lost six times in a row, and more often than not, one of their pieces — whether it be a starter or Jones — have been missing. That really just points to one thing: an injured Spurs squad is in trouble.
Like mentioned above, none of the injuries that San Antonio has dealt with thus far are likely to be much more than just sitting out a game or two, but as hard as it worked for all three of its wins this season, it makes winning without a complete squad near impossible.
The idea makes sense. A team focused on developing together needs to play, well, together in order to make positive strides toward a winning season. There's nothing to panic about just yet, especially with the season just having begun, but being fully healthy is certainly going to be a big factor in Spurs victories this season.
3) Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers
While the Spurs' point-guard dilemma has raised plenty of questions regarding the look, fit and performance of San Antonio's rotation, it's also resulted in some unideal stats.
The Spurs are currently averaging 16.3 turnovers a game — enough to put them in the top five of the league — and have continued to prove that not having a true point guard is detrimental. Popovich knows that.
"[We had] too many mistakes," the veteran coach said following the Spurs' loss to Miami. "We want to be more disciplined, which would mean fewer undisciplined fouls, fewer turnovers."
One of the biggest to-dos of the season for San Antonio is to find that point guard, and right now, its eyes are on Jeremy Sochan. The Spurs have put the power forward at the one spot to teach him point-guard basics to begin the year — citing a wanting to "try" everything in regards to lineups — but it hasn't exactly been working out.
Jones' absence to injury has only made things worse in the last two games. Malaki Branham has played a gap-filling role to compensate, but once again, neither he nor Jones are "elite" level guards. Sochan isn't, either. Not yet.
But that's only exaggerated the turnover problem through 10 games.
As the Spurs look to make improvements, they'll need to start with taking care of the ball. After that, they have a plethora of options to choose from. They aren't where they need to be, but they are growing, learning and improving.
That in of itself is a major plus.
