SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs beat the Memphis Grizzlies 102-87 on the road.
Victor Wembanyama scored 18 points and seven rebounds, and Julian Champagnie scored 17 in the win. Zach Collins contributed five points, Malaki Branham scored 10 points, and Blake Wesley posted 13.
Due to injuries, San Antonio was without Jeremy Sochan, Cedi Osman, Keldon Johnson, and Devin Vassell.
The Spurs are 20-59 on the season and will next visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Coach Gregg Popovich:
“I thought they decided they wanted to do well and win the game. Once they decided that at halftime they went out and they did it. They did a good job. Lots of times, it’s between the years more than anything else, so they showed that desire in the second half. The defense picked up. The pace picked up on offense. I really enjoyed watching Sidy [Cissoko] go to the offensive boards. He’s a heck of an athlete. So that was good to watch.”
Champagnie:
“I think after the first timeout, we were completely flat. We had no energy. I think the only person that played with energy throughout that first half was Sidy [Cissoko]. Obviously, that was a slap in the face. It kind of came out and punched us at halftime. Coach kind of got on us and was like, ‘We've been through this before. We have to play. Doesn't matter who we are on the court. Like, teams are coming to play.’ So, in the second half, we kind of just followed up on what he said and played hard. We wanted the game, so we went out and got it.'
Mamukelashvili:
“First, I think they came out more locked in, more physical. They had more energy than us... everything, a little bit. I feel like we came out slow, started kind of second guessing a lot of stuff, so going into the halftime, Coach said, ‘They're more physical. We're not good defensively at all.’ So, I feel like we all took it personally because we wanted to win this game, especially after the last game; it was a tough one. We came out and competed and picked up our defense and just stayed together.”
GRIZZLIES:
Taylor Jenkins
"San Antonio went on a nice run in the third quarter, we didn't have much of a response. Fast breaks really hurt us on both sides. We didn't really get going with our fastbreak. They did a good job in the third quarter they created the separation."