Victor Wembanyama: San Antonio Spurs rookie 'disgusted' after defeat to Washington Wizards - 'Not acceptable'

Victor Wembanyama said he was "disgusted" by his own and the team's performance after the San Antonio Spurs suffered a 118-113 defeat at the hands of the Washington Wizards on Monday.

The NBA rookie hit 22 points with 11 rebounds on the night but his efforts weren't enough to avoid another loss.

The key to the Wizards' victory came in the fourth quarter when they rallied in the final six minutes to put together a 9-0 run which helped them get over the line.

Both the Wizards and the Spurs now have a similar record in the NBA this season with 37 defeats to their name.

Speaking in the press conference after the game, Wembanyama was forthright in his assessment.

"I'm disgusted," the 20-year-old said. "Disgusted because we inflicted this defeat on ourselves. And we say to ourselves what could have been.

"We had many, many chances to do things differently, but we did not take them. We failed to play intelligently. What we have to take away from this, is that we were immature.

"We should be more sure of ourselves at this time of the season. From my side I have to try to reduce my turnovers.

"Even if this game seemed easier than the previous one, we have to maintain the same motivation. I think we were maybe mentally exhausted from the last two efforts, but we have to get stronger because this is not acceptable."

The defeat snapped a two-match winning streak for the Spurs who had just claimed an impressive 113-112 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, who share the Western Conference lead with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“A self-inflicted loss,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “I thought Washington played harder than we did. They played smarter. They executed better.

"We didn’t have enough people playing well or playing smart and we did that to ourselves. It’s a tough loss because for the first time in a while we looked young, we looked immature, we looked foolish and did not play with each other the way we have been.”

Wizards interim coach Brian Keefe was full of praise for his team for their fourth-quarter display.

“We kept talking about it in timeouts,” he said. “Just stick with it. Keep battling. Long game. We haven’t played our best yet. When we got to the fourth quarter, I thought the guys just mentally had the stamina to kind of keep competing through the end. It was a good finish for us.”

The Spurs will have a chance to get back to winning ways when they host the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.