On Sunday night, the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Golden State Warriors, falling 148-106. The Spurs never led and never really stood a chance, as the Warriors got hot early and San Antonio was unable to answer. The starters scored just eight points in the first quarter, and acting head coach Mitch Johnson was quick to pull the trigger.
Less than five minutes into the game, Johnson had pulled all of the starters for their backups. He considered it a wake-up call to the lackluster group, who showed some fight the night before in the loss to the Boston Celtics, but against Golden State, there was very little effort offered.
"Just trying to get some energy, grab some guys' attention," said Johnson after the game. "It wasn't anything individually. It was just a hard-fought game last night, the team we were playing tonight knew we had zero margin of error, just trying to kind of keep our grips on the game as early as we can to try to just get settled."
The starters understood that it wasn't personal and that they simply did not meet expectations early on.
"They said we need to play hard," revealed Harrison Barnes, who was pulled early. "I think anytime starters, you start off the game and there's a lag and it sets the tone and for us, we have to be better. Mitch called us out on that and I thought the second unit responded or the group that came in responded with more energy."
The Spurs were led by 19 points off the bench from Keldon Johnson, and Sandro Mamukelashvili offered 14 points of his own, also off the bench.
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The Spurs do have the depth pieces to remain competitive, but when the starters set the tone early, it's almost impossible to bounce back from, especially against a good team like Golden State.
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This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM.