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Spurs’ Mitch Johnson gets real about San Antonio after brutal 6-game gauntlet
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- Spurs’ Mitch Johnson gets real about San Antonio after brutal 6-game gauntlet
Spurs' Mitch Johnson gets real about San Antonio after brutal 6-game gauntlet appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The San Antonio Spurs followed a Rodeo Road Trip that matched the best version of their annual jaunt since its inception in 2003 with a home stand that was almost as impressive. It's a stretch ClutchPoints discussed with head coach Mitch Johnson.
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"You feel the intensity and the competitiveness. Those teams you're discussing and the urgency that a lot of them have, I think it's been really, really good for us to go through these games and find out about other teams and find out about ourselves."
Every squad that Johnson's group played during their six games at the Frost Bank Center is a postseason contender that will likely make, at the very least, the Play-in. Three of those teams are widely considered among the best in the NBA.
Spurs roll through postseason contenders
San Antonio opened their stretch of home games with a win against the Detroit Pistons , who entered the night tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the fewest losses in the league. The very next night, the Spurs rallied from a 25-point deficit to beat a Portland Trail Blazers unit that is eighth in the Western Conference.
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The Silver and Black then beat the Houston Rockets , who at the time were third in the West, by 25 points. The Boston Celtics came next. Like Houston, Boston is third in its conference, and like the Celtics, the Rockets fell. Two nights later, without Victor Wembanyama, the Alamo City welcomed a Denver Nuggets team that was fourth in the West. It would prove the only game of the six the Spurs would lose because with Wemby back from ankle soreness, they beat a Charlotte Hornets squad that's 10th in the East. As of the loss, Charlotte is five losses up for that final spot in the conference's last play-in spot.
"We've had to be in a lot of different types of games, whether it's a little bit open and having to cover a lot of distance defensively, matching some physicality in a lot of different ways, late game execution, seeing different ways that people guard us," Johnson added about the stint to ClutchPoints.
In beating the Hornets 115-102 to close the home stand, San Antonio held Charlotte without a field goal for more than five minutes in the fourth quarter.
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"I thought we settled in. The third quarter got up and down a little bit, got a little open, and they are hard to guard when the game is like that." Johnson said.
"I thought we did a really good job of getting our defense to set, even not off of makes," the Spurs' first-year head coach continued. "It's always easier to get organized off of makes, but I thought we did a good job getting set, being connected, and making them have to play through their counters; or just that initial shooter coming off trying to get a look because they are so good at getting those guys looks and the progression to the next guys off that."
Going 5-1 off the heels of an 8-1 record during a Rodeo Road Trip to include two 'home' games in Austin gives the Spurs a 49-18 mark for the season. It's a stretch Johnson hopes serves his championship contender well.
"All these experiences are hopefully lessons that we turn into knowledge and wisdom moving forward."
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