SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs lost in double-overtime against the 76ers, 133-126.
Victor Wembanyama scored 33 points and 18 rebounds, and Julian Champagnie scored 17 points in the loss. Zach Collins contributed nine points, Malaki Branham scored 22 points, and Devonte Graham posted nine.
Due to injuries, San Antonio was without Jeremy Sochan, Cedi Osman, and Devin Vassell. Keldon Johnson exited the game in the second half with a foot injury but scored seven points.
The Spurs are 19-59 on the season and will next visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Coach Gregg Popovich:
"They [Spurs] were great. Double overtime game. They're learning a lot but the difference in that game was the fact that they [76ers] could dial up their defensive pressure. 25 turnovers which resulted in 35 points, [we] shouldn't even be in the ball game if you do that. That's been one of our deals all year when that [defensive] pressure is dialed up."
Champagnie:
"Their [76ers] intensity definitely picked up a second overtime especially. I think that we could have handled it better for sure."
"He's [Wembanyama] very aware that he attracts a lot of attention, and he has no problem trusting his teammates to make open shots and big, big shots. So that's what you have to see out there. It's just him being an unselfish player."
Jones:
"We're always going be competitive for sure. We're looking at the big picture. We have been eliminated from playoff contention a while ago so it's always just been about continuing to get better this year. Continue to try to build chemistry with each other. Both offensively and defensively. Make sure that we're working towards the right things. Building good habits, things like that, that we can carry out throughout the rest of the season but into next year as well. We got a lot of young guys out but everybody stays ready. A lot of people have things to prove as well and continue to try to improve everybody's games and we're going to fight every night."
Wembanyama:
"I would have thought that it would be way harder on the body, like the pain and everything. What was hard and I imagine was going out every night against great superstars and actually applying the scouting. The coach [Popovich] know what he's what he wants you to do. Remembering everything this was the hard part."
76ERS
Tyrese Maxey:
“I said it like four or five games ago. We know how important these games are. It’s playoff time, it’s postseason time. I didn’t want to let us lose. I just want to do whatever I could, exert all my energy, and I can live with the result after that. No matter how tired, no matter how sore, I wanted to go out there and try to help us win.”
Nick Nurse:
“The biggest thing is he [Maxey] did not want to come out. I tried to sub him out a couple of times in a rotation and he just kept saying, ‘coach, I'm good.’ He really wanted to give us a shot to try and win it. Obviously, 53 minutes is a lot, but he was determined to try to help us get a win tonight. That’s as fast as I've seen him in a while. He really was turning on the jets a lot, I thought, and making things happen.”