Poor first half dooms Spurs in season opening loss to Thunder

The arena was amped, the fans were in their seats early, but the San Antonio Spurs laid a dud in the first half and could never recover as they suffered a 116-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Frost Bank Center on Tuesday night.

San Antonio shot just 29 percent in the first half, including a dismal 31 percent from three-point range in the opening 12 minutes. The Spurs began the second half on a 14-3 run to cut a 26-point deficit to just seven points, but turnovers and mistakes would halt their momentum as Oklahoma City built up their lead back to 15 points later in the period.

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Victor Wembanyama suffered his worst shooting performance of his young career, finishing with 12 points on 1-13 shooting (7%) and 13 rebounds. After the game, Head Coach Mitch Johnson declined to cast blame solely on his star player.

“I think everybody struggled pretty equally,” Johnson said when asked about Wembanyama’s performance. “I know his field goal [percentage] will stand out, but we all participated in that one.”

Johnson said his team did not come out firing as expected, saying the Spurs may have been a bit excited and could not properly channel that energy when needed.

“It didn’t feel very connected,” he said. “Execution wasn’t very good, and I thought we competed and played hard, just didn’t feel like we put our energy in the right places.

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Stephon Castle, who led the Spurs with 24 points on 9-for-20 shooting, agreed with his coach’s assessment of the game.

“I think that we got excited with shots,” Castle said of the offensive struggles. “We were taking the first one instead of making them work on defense and finding a better shot.”

Despite Johnson not wanting it to stick, Wembanyama’s poor night was the highlight of the evening. Last season, he averaged 18.4 points per game during the regular season against the Thunder. After the game, the Spurs’ big man admitted he did not feel like himself for most of the night.

“I need to go back to playing the basketball I like,” Wembanyama said. “This is not the sport I like right here. I’ve got no reason to be hesitant, no reason to not be myself. I’m good…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/poor-first-half-dooms-spurs-075111637.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-21 07:51:00

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