Skid could mark new low
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Spurs arrive Wednesday on the cusp of history.
Keldon Johnson is not only hoping the Spurs don’t get it — he is hoping they don’t get it with a vengeance.
The team’s 13-game losing streak is tied with the 1988-89 squad for the longest in club annals.
Johnson’s goal is not only to snap the Spurs’ skid against Charlotte, but postpone the start of another one indefinitely.
“We don’t just want to win one,” Johnson said. “We want to win a lot. We want to get a win streak going.”
The Spurs have not won since a Jan. 17 game against Brooklyn at the AT&T Center. That was so long ago that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving still played for the Nets, though they were inactive for that contest.
The time since has resulted in the longest losing streak any Spurs squad has known since George H. W. Bush was president.
It is the Spurs’ second long losing streak in a 14-44 season, surpassing the 11-gamer they suffered between Nov. 14 and Dec. 8.
“You’ve got to keep pushing through,” said rookie guard Malaki Branham, who has not played in 44 games in a season at any level, much less lost 44. “We’ve got so many games. You can’t just stay on one loss. You just try to move on as much as you can.”
The Spurs lost unlucky No. 13 in a row Monday in Cleveland, when Donovan Mitchell went for 41 points and Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley posted dueling double-doubles in a 117-109 Cavaliers victory.
They have a puncher’s chance to break the skid against a 16-43 Charlotte club that is also angling for the best draft pick possible.
“Tough times don’t last,” Johnson said after the Spurs’ loss in Cleveland. “We continue to make strides to get better. We know what we’re working towards.”