SAN ANTONIO — They talked about it all week. They knew better. They couldn’t help it.
After a pair of wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder spurred a narrative that the San Antonio Spurs might be the NBA’s hottest team, the freshly crowned league darlings took their home court to face a team lingering on the outskirts of playoff contention.
By the transitive property, that crown has already changed hands.
“Pretty disappointed in quite a few things,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of his team’s 127-114 loss to the Utah Jazz that snapped its league-leading eight-game win streak. “They crushed us when we made mistakes.”
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The Spurs made plenty. After Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle flexed their ability to change the dynamic of their guard trio with 3-point efficiency, both went cold. San Antonio’s starting lineup — featuring Victor Wembanyama for the first time since Nov. 14 — didn’t help, either, combining for 4-for-30 from beyond the arc.
If not for Keldon Johnson, the team’s 10 3-pointers would have been cut in half. He logged 27 points in the loss, but took it better than most of his teammates.
“I don’t think we deserved to win,” he admitted. “It’s a humbling loss. We’ve had similar games this year … and we found ways to pull it out. Tonight wasn’t the case.”
Dec 27, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Utah Jazz forward Svi Mykhailiuk (10) and San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) battle for a loose ball during the second half at Frost Bank Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
San Antonio mustered an eight-point lead after the first quarter by scoring 40 points en route to what appeared to be another efficient offensive night. A series of seldom seen rotations in the second quarter seemingly threw off that rhythm.
The Spurs out-rebounded and out-assisted Utah while protecting the ball better, but couldn’t slow down its shooters. Utah finished the night shooting better from 3-point range than San Antonio did from the field overall. It was the punch in the mouth Mitch Johnson alluded to after besting the Thunder.
“It can be for the greater good,” the coach admitted.
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Victor Wembanyama and Keldon Johnson helped pick up the Spurs’ offense in the second half, leading a 17-point comeback in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t keep up with the Jazz’s continued success from distance.
All of them shouldered that burden in the locker room.
“You can be mad,” Keldon Johnson said. “You can be disappointed … but you can’t point fingers at anybody. This was a team effort. No one person lost us the game … we all know, as a group, tonight was unacceptable.”
Keldon Johnson on the feeling of losing tonight: “Nobody plays the game of basketball to lose. It sucks losing … it’s no fun. But we get to (play) again in 48 hours. We better lock in. We get another crack at it.” #PorVida pic.twitter.com/lOw3QAsAzO
— Matt Guzman (@mattgzman) December 28, 2025
Losing to the Jazz didn’t set them back any further in the Western Conference. Losses awaited both the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves on a night the Thunder watched from home. In that sense, the Spurs got lucky.
“You can have a bad week and go from the second seed to the seventh,” De’Aaron Fox said. “We’re not satisfied. We want to keep building.”
San Antonio still avidly avoids any standings talk, however.
“We just try to take it one game at a time,” Devin Vassell said. “We have a ways to go until it’s playoffs … we’re not satisfied at all. We can’t look at seeding. We have to keep being focused.”
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The Spurs often look for silver linings in their losses. Keldon Johnson’s was the fact that his team had 48 hours before suiting up against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Nobody plays the game of basketball to lose. It sucks losing … it’s no fun. But we get to (play) again in 48 hours. We better lock in. We get another crack at it.”
Dec 27, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and teammates forward Carter Bryant (11) and guard Devin Vassell (24) react after Wembanyama dunked while drawing a foul during the second half against the Utah Jazz at Frost Bank Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
A fresh drawing board awaits San Antonio in its film room. A triumph over the Cavaliers will generate some positive momentum heading into a New Year’s Eve rematch with the New York Knicks. Win or lose, Mitch Johnson will continue urging his team to avoid outside noise.
“The world talks,” he said. “We weren’t as good as they said we were after Christmas. I’m sure they’ll kill us, (but) we aren’t as bad as they’ll say we were tonight.”
The Spurs recognize where they can improve — Keldon Johnson is confident his teammates will adjust accordingly — but they also acknowledged their shortcomings Saturday night. They tiptoed into the game; they got complacent.
And they certainly didn’t do right by an age old “Coach Pop-ism.”
“The guy who coached here for a while used to use the term: ‘basketball gods,’” Mitch Johnson said, concluding his press conference. “We didn’t obey them tonight.”