Mitch Johnson says the Spurs’ ‘floor right now is way too low’ even after a 122-106 win in Dallas, and turns to Tarris Reed Jr. over Luke Kornet

The San Antonio Spurs got their first win of the season on Saturday, October 24, beating the Dallas Mavericks 122-106 at American Airlines Center, and Mitch Johnson spent his postgame press conference on what still worries him. “Our floor right now is way too low,” the Spurs coach said, pointing to stretches in all three games in which his team was outplayed on effort rather than talent. San Antonio is 1-2 after losses to Oklahoma City and Houston.

The win finished a back-to-back that began a day earlier, when the Rockets beat the Spurs 114-110 in Austin, and it came against a Dallas team missing Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving. Johnson’s message was that a short-handed opponent should not hide the habits he wants fixed.

The timeout that turned it

Dallas led by six midway through the second quarter after a transition lapse and a Daniel Gafford putback, and Johnson stopped the game. The set he called out of the break attacked the space around the elbows: Stephon Castle caught the ball high and threw a lob to Victor Wembanyama for a reverse dunk, the start of a 25-11 finish to the half, according to reportssite. San Antonio went to the locker room up 68-60 and led for 38 minutes and 33 seconds of the night.

The guards drove the rest. With Johnson keeping the same starting five he has used all season, Dylan Harper scored 22, De’Aaron Fox had 19 points, nine assists and three steals and was a plus-25, and Castle added 19 points and eight assists. Wembanyama finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 28:54, and the Spurs were 32 points better with him on the floor. As a team San Antonio had 34 assists against 12 turnovers, forced 18 Dallas turnovers and took 15 offensive rebounds.

A rookie gets the backup center minutes

The rotation change came behind Wembanyama. Luke Kornet was scoreless in 14 minutes and finished minus-18, after minus-10 against the Thunder and minus-7 against the Rockets. When Wembanyama sat to open the fourth quarter, Johnson went to rookie Tarris Reed Jr., who had played 1:14 in the opener and did not get in against Houston. Reed had two points and three rebounds in 6:39, and the Spurs opened the period on an 11-2 run on the way to a 30-17 quarter and a 23-point lead.

Johnson credited the energy more than the numbers, saying the bench was on its feet for Reed’s physical minutes. “It’s contagious when you play the right way,” he said. Whether the rookie keeps that role is the question for the next game; Kornet has been the first big off the bench in all three.

What comes next

The Spurs return home to host the Sacramento Kings at Frost Bank Center at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 27, with two days off to work on the habits Johnson named. Follow it in the Kings-Spurs Game Center.