SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Kings 127-125 on the road. San Antonio is now 2-0 versus the Kings this regular season.
Victor Wembanyama finished with his third-career triple-double with 34 points, 11 assists, and 14 rebounds. Julian Champagnie had 19 points and eight rebounds, Keldon Johnson finished with 17, Harrison Barnes had eight points and seven rebounds, and Chris Paul had 13 points and 10 assists.
Devin Vassell added 21 points, and Stephon Castle scored eight points and one assist.
San Antonio was without Jeremy Sochan due to injury, and guard Tre Jones exited the game in the second half with a shoulder injury. Head coach Gregg Popovich was also out due to illness. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson assumed head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 11-9 on the season and will next visit the Suns on Tuesday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Coach Mitch Johnson:
It felt like we were sleepwalking to start the game, didn’t feel much physicality or resistance on defense. They’re obviously a very talented team, but I thought we could’ve done a better job of just making them work for some stuff, and I think we picked it up in the second and fourth quarters, and it was a big difference.”
Barnes:
"Tonight, guys stepped up huge off the bench – Devin, Keldon, Tre before he got hurt. I thought he made a ton of plays defensively that got us in a rhythm and allowed us to get back in the game. To be almost down 20 and to come back and win the way we did, I thought it was incredible.”
Wembanyama:
"It shows a lot of progression, but it also shows how close our bad habits are. Got to keep pushing. We didn’t get anywhere yet; it’s barely 20 games into the season.”
Barnes:
"I think just the biggest thing for us is just continuing to learn from our mistakes and get better. We have a game like tonight, but we didn't have the pace we wanted. We didn't play with a sense of urgency."
KINGS
Coach Mike Brown:
“There's two areas that we weren't good in, and one was our game plan, especially in the first half. We allowed them (Spurs) to get going from the 3-point line because we didn't execute the game plan A, and then when we tried to execute it, it wasn't with aggression."