SAN ANTONIO — From the sideline, Mitch Johnson saw a team wildly unprepared for the beginning of their regular season. After about two minutes, he’d seen enough.
Johnson called his first timeout with 10:10 remaining in the first quarter after a 3-pointer from Dillon Brooks that gave the Phoenix Suns a one-point lead over his San Antonio Spurs. By then, they’d already turned the ball over once, missed a shot and allowed two.
“We have to make sure to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us,” Johnson said after the Spurs’ 102-98 loss, which dropped them to 0-2 in the preseason. “We play opening night in 10 days. Tonight would not feel like we were ready to go.”
He continued: “Not trying to overreact or be ridiculous, but we need to play to the identity and the style of play and the fundamentals that we’re fully aware that we’re supposed to.”
Dylan Harper, the newest member of Johnson’s starting lineup, paced the Spurs with 15 points, three rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes — his second consecutive game leading the team in scoring — while Victor Wembanyama logged 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks. His playmaking stood out as one of the game’s positives.
“He’s always been a great facilitator,” Stephon Castle said. “His assist numbers … (can) vary, honestly. It’s just the way he sees the floor, the way teams guard him, he gets a different look every single game. Knowing him, he’s going to make the right read for that possession.”
Castle added 13 points and five assists of his own on a night in which the Spurs logged 32 assists on their 37 made shots. Johnson made clear his justified distrust of figures alone.
“The numbers may lie sometimes,” the coach said. “That’s how good those guys are. That’s a maturity and a growth opportunity for us to not let something like that trick us.”
San Antonio’s winless preseason has also come amid some early adjustments. De’Aaron Fox has missed both contests with general tightness, though his absence is considered precautionary ahead of the regular season opener Oct. 20. The Spurs are still without Tobias Harris; Wembanyama, meanwhile, is continuing to find his rhythm.
A team fresh off an NBA Finals run in June is sure to understand the improvements necessary to return to the championship series, but may also be struggling with the reality that three preseason games and 10 days remain before the results begin to count.
In the meantime, the Spurs are reminding themselves that they can’t afford off nights.
“I feel like we all have the right mindset,” Castle said, asked about the Spurs’ improvements, “the right approach. But I think just setting the tone defensively with our physicality and not letting them get so comfortable early. We weren’t ourselves in that part of the game.”
Whether the Spurs can translate that mindset into results remains to be seen. Their final three preseason games offer a chance to begin proving they can.
“The motivation is just not skipping steps,” Castle said. “Last year, I don’t think we skipped any steps from preseason to the start of the season … it kind of shaped our identity. We started to figure it out toward (the) end of December. I think we’ll do the same thing here.
“Obviously, we want to start the season off right and start off on fire, but it takes time.”
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