It took Gregg Popovich all of 16 seconds to call a timeout in Sunday’s matchup versus the Wizards. Prompted by a blown rotation that allowed an open dunk on the night’s first possession, the Spurs coach made sure his team wouldn’t come out with the same listlessness that many viewers likely had as they tuned into an early-evening tilt in January against the short-handed visitors.
But because it was the Spurs and Wizards playing basketball in San Antonio, there was also a fatalistic element to the game, with Washington coming in on an 18-game losing streak in the Alamo City dating back to December 1999.