It was clear from the opening statement of his postgame press conference that San Antonio Spurs forward Gregg Popovich has no concerns about preseason games.

“After one preseason there are still four,” he said.

The Spurs lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-107, but for Popovich the result didn’t really mean much. He was more concerned with evaluating his team, which played without Devin Vassell, Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul, among others.

He wanted to see Julian Champagnie, who scored 22 points on 6 of 13 shots from behind the arc. Pop said he was encouraged by Champagnie’s performance – a good sign for a player who will likely see more minutes due to Vassell’s injury.

READ MORE: Will Julian Champagnie start instead of Devin Vassell?

“He played a good, solid game all around,” Popovich said. “He missed about three times in a row, but he kept shooting. He played well all around and hit the boards.”

Popovich was a little concerned that his team was sluggish from the start. He thought Oklahoma City came out stronger and more physical. However, Spurs played harder in the second half to make the game tighter than it actually was.

“I thought their physicality was better than ours in the first half,” Popovich said. “We changed that in the second half. We were much better in the second half.”

Popovich was also pleased with the performance of Riley Minix, who only played a few minutes.

“He made his shots. I don’t know what else to say. He didn’t play much, but he made his shots,” Popovich said. “It’s a lot better than playing a few minutes and not making any shots.”

San Antonio now looks ahead to its second preseason game, scheduled for Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic. Popovich’s assessment of the young team continues there.

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