Win streak douses tank talk
Keldon Johnson was the instigator, because of course he was.
As the Spurs filed into the AT&T Center locker room after Thursday’s resounding 110-99 victory over Indiana, players wanted to make sure acting coach Mitch Johnson got the first shower.
“We had a bunch of cold water,” rookie Jeremy Sochan said. “And just went at it.”
It was a moment of unadulterated joy, by a collection of players barely adults themselves.
Ever-effervescent small forward Keldon Johnson was at the center of it, even though he did not play due a foot sprain.
Raucous cheers echoed down the arena’s back hallways as players pulled water bottles from the refrigerator and doused Mitch Johnson, who unofficially earned his first win as a head coach with Gregg Popovich and Brett Brown out with illnesses.
“KJ was talking about it, but all of us took part,” said Devin Vassell, who came off the injured list to score 18 points in his first appearance since Jan. 2. “That is big for Mitch and big for all of us.”
Don’t look now — especially if you are the brand of San Antonio fan primarily concerned with the team’s place in the NBA draft lottery — but the Spurs are proud owners of a winning streak.
Combined with the 102-94 victory the Spurs earned in Utah on Tuesday, which stopped a clubrecord 16-game losing skid, Thursday’s triumphant return to the AT&T Center gave the team consecutive wins for the first time since early December.
The two-game streak has pushed the Spurs’ record to 16-47, ahead of Detroit for the third-worst record in the NBA.
In bizaro fashion, perhaps it robs some luster from the Spurs’ upcoming Saturday-sunday doubleheader against Houston, which heading into the week was setting up to be a loser-take-all showdown for the league’s worst mark.
Even so, the Spurs aren’t about to apologize for their sudden stretch of competent basketball.
“Winning definitely gives you credibility and a feeling like the hard work has paid off,” said Mitch Johnson, 36, a member of the Spurs’ staff since 2016. “The wins are necessary at some point.”
Thursday’s beatdown of the Pacers — which admittedly came with Indiana All-star Tyrese Haliburton in street clothes — had a little bit of everything. Such as:
Vassell, Jones return
The Spurs’ secondleading scorer, Vassell was back on the floor after undergoing a knee procedure in early January that cost him 25 games. Tre Jones, the team’s starting point guard, returned from a left foot injury that limited him to eight appearances in nine games before Thursday.
Vassell picked up where he left off before going under the knife. Eventually.
Coming off the bench, Vassell opened 1-of-5. His first points came on a two-handed dunk off a pass from Zach Collins.
“I just needed to see something to go in,” Vassell
said. “For me to come back and actually jump off that knee was good for my confidence.”
Vassell finished 8-of-15 from the floor, including a pair of key 3-pointers in the second half.
He declined to detail the diagnosis that led to his January procedure, saying only that the knee feels in tip-top shape now.
“My body feels good and we are going to just keep rolling with it,” Vassell said.
Sochan running amok
The Spurs’ prized rookie forward led the team in scoring (22 points) and rebounding (a seasonhigh 13) to record his first
NBA double-double.
Sochan added a pair of steals to his ledger, including a midcourt pickpocketing of T.J. Mcconnell that became a dunk.
In a sign of his growing aggressiveness, Sochan attempted a season-high 26 field goals and equaled another season high by making 11.
Graham’s home debut
One can forgive newcomer Devonte’ Graham for feeling a little lost when he entered the AT&T Center on Thursday.
Though the Spurs traded for him Feb. 9, in the middle of the rodeo trip, the game against the Pacers was Graham’s first in his new home arena.
Finding the home locker room was his first challenge.
“I had to get some directions,” Graham said. “But I got there.”
The mercurial combo guard was obtained in the deal that sent Josh Richardson to New Orleans.
Graham announced himself to the San Antonio crowd with 18 points. He went 5-of-10, with all his points coming from the 3-point stripe.
“My first game, I was a little nervous to be out there,” Graham said. “I was surprised at how many people were here. That just shows you the support is crazy out here.”
Cold shower for coach
Thursday wasn’t the first time Mitch Johnson led the Spurs in an NBA game.
The first came on May 15, 2021, when Popovich took a leave to attend Tim
Duncan’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
The Spurs lost to Phoenix 140-103 that afternoon. This, Johnson had to admit, was better.
“I’ll just be honest, it was fun,” Johnson said. “I coached a game when Pop went to Timmy’s Hall of Fame and we lost by 50 and that was fun. This is basketball. This is what I enjoy doing.”
With the victory, Johnson became an asterisk to Popovich’s eventual Hall of Fame resume.
Due to a loophole in NBA record-keeping, the head coach gets credit for each of the team’s wins, even if he isn’t technically in the building.
As such, Johnson’s first unofficial NBA coaching win was officially Popovich’s league-record 1,360th.
Johnson did not need or want the credit. A frigid postgame shower was good enough.