By Guillaume K. | Sports journalist
San Antonio played the most important match of its start to the season this Tuesday, but unfortunately for the Spurs, they lost to Kevin Durant’s Suns. After the meeting, Chris Paul was particularly disappointed.
The In-Season Tournament was not always unanimous, but it is clear that it was an excellent idea. If not all the teams are at full strength, a large majority are still trying to do well and qualify for the knockout phase. It must be said that the $500,000 bonus promised to the winners is a strong argument.
And what motivates the superstars is not necessarily to round off the end of the month, but rather to reward the players who do not have the chance to earn tens of millions over the season. Unfortunately for Victor Wembanyama and for the Spursit won’t be for this year, since they were eliminated by the Suns on Tuesday.
Chris Paul criticizes Spurs after defeat
A victory would have been enough for Mitch Johnson’s men to qualify with home advantage, but Devin Booker and his 29 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists decided otherwise. After the meeting, it’s a Chris Paul disappointed who presented himself at a press conference. He didn’t necessarily like what he saw on offense.
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I believe we are one of the best teams in the 3rd quarter, but one of the worst in the first.
It’s a tough defeat. We knew it was an important match for us. Shoot like I did…I have to be better and lead by example. Our defense was pretty good tonight, but not our offense. I don’t even remember what we did to give Victor confidence when he returned from the locker room.
I believe we are one of the best teams in the 3rd quarter, but one of the worst in the first. We need to be better than that and realize that. We were already down by 10 points at the end of the first quarter. I have the impression that we are always better in the second half, so we must learn to start our games better.
With 2 points at 1/9 shooting, including an ugly 0/5 at 3 points, Chris Paul clearly missed the most important match of the Spurs season. He knows he has to do better, even if overall, the whole team was disappointing in attack. Victor Wembanyama, who scored 12 of his 15 points in the 3rd quarter, for example did not find the solution.
The Spurs had the opportunity to have a great end to the year with qualification for the knockout phase of the NBA Cup. Unfortunately, Chris Paul and his young partners were not up to the task.
