SAN ANTONIO – Veteran guard Patty Mills wasn’t pulling any punches Sunday when he was asked about the Spurs’ mindset after losing guards Lonnie Walker IV, Dejounte Murray and Derrick White, in that order, to injuries in a six-day span that ended last Wednesday.
“Look, I think it’s foolish not to think that when Derrick went down there was a sense of, you know, feeling deflated,” Mills said after the team’s first workout since ending preseason play Friday night. “It’s quite rare, or not very often, I guess, when we lost three guys in five days.
“But very quickly coming together as a group to say to say we’ve actually still got a great opportunity here and business still at hand and take care of. I think our respect from watching film from our Atlanta preseason game and carryover to the Orlando game was very positive from a team aspect.”
San Antonio bounced back from a 130-127 loss in Atlanta last Wednesday with a 100-81 road victory against Orlando on Friday night. The Silver and Black’s string of injuries started on Friday, Oct. 5, when Lonnie Walker IV, the franchise’s first-round draft pick in June, tore the medial meniscus in his right knee. Walker had surgery last Monday and is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks, according to reports.
Already faced with the loss of All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green in the offseason, the Spurs were dealt a severe blow when Murray tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee two days later in a 108-93 loss to Houston. Murray is expected to miss the entire season.
The injury bug took another bite of the Silver and Black’s backside when Derrick White, who replaced Murray in the starting lineup against Atlanta, sustained a heel injury. An MRI exam the next day revealed a plantar fascia tear in White’s left foot.
And just like that, the Spurs lost their past three first-round draft picks to injuries in three consecutive games.
Marco Belinelli, another veteran guard, was philosophical about the spate of injuries that has racked the team.
“Injuries are part of the game, part of life, so we just need to be ready,” Belinelli said “Step up a little bit more. I think everybody can’t wait for the first game of the season. We just need to do our job, practice hard.”
Third-year pro Bryan Forbes started at point guard in the preseason finale against Orlando and played relatively well, finishing with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 26 minutes.
“We had to make adjustments, obviously, with the starting group and see how that would go,” Mills said, referring to what the Spurs faced after losing White. “It’s been a very quick preseason, knowing that we’ve got a new team and there’s a lot of stuff to try to get everyone on the same page.
“In that sense, we blinked our eyes and here we are, getting ready for our first game of the season. Yea, a few changes and a few adjustments. But I think, like always, we can hang our hat on our system and the way that we like to play, and in saying that anyone can kind of fill in roles as long as we do it together and see the big picture. We’ve got to do it all together.”
The Silver and Black open the regular season against the Minnesota Timberwolves at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the AT&T Center. The game is one of 12 that will be broadcast by KENS 5, the official TV station of the Spurs.