PHOENIX – Spurs coach Mitch Johnson praised the way Carter Bryant responded to some meaningful minutes in Saturday’s 125-103 win at Portland after the second-year forward had played sparingly or not at all in the previous two games.
Johnson turned to Bryant after the 14th overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft received only mop-up duty in Friday night’s 124-109 rout of Sacramento and didn’t play at all in the 112-111 win over Dallas on Wednesday.
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In 17 minutes against the Blazers, Bryant had six points, four rebounds, an assist and a block in 17 minutes. He hit 2 of 3 shots from 3-point range in a five-minute stretch in the second period during which he also played tough defense against Deni Avdija, Portland’s leading scorer this season.
Bryant’s efforts helped the Spurs outscore Portland 42-29 in the second period to take a 15-point lead into halftime.
“He’s a huge part of this team,” Johnson said of Bryant. “He’s going to be a huge part of this team moving forward and just really happy he was ready to go and he brought the energy and the physicality and the aggressiveness that is the best version of him.”
After Friday’s game, Johnson said Bryant wasn’t playing because of a numbers crunch. Bryant had averaged 10 minutes per game before sitting out the game against the Kings.
Utah Jazz center Lauri Markkanen, left, fights for the ball with San Antonio Spurs forward Carter Bryant during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate) (Darren Abate/Associated Press)
“We got a lot of guys,” Johnson said. “There’s not enough minutes to go around. So I just need (Bryant) to keep doing what he’s doing, just continue to stay with the process.”
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The player Johnson turned to absorb Bryant’s minutes, 15-year veteran Harrison Barnes, performed well, Johnson said. Barnes, 34, had 13 points in 19 minutes in Sacramento, where he played six seasons from 2018-2024.
“It’s a luxury as a coach to be able to depend on someone when they may not have a consistent rhythm,” Johnson said. “That’s a really hard thing for players in this league. When you have people or players specifically that are able to operate in that capacity, it’s a luxury as a coach because in a long season there’s a lot of inconsistencies or things that change. And obviously he’s been huge for us the last few games.”
Back-to-back success: Saturday’s game marked the completion of the third back-to-back for the Spurs through the first 10 games of the season. They finished 5-1 in those games, including 3-0 on the second nights.
“Funky schedule,” Johnson said.
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The Spurs don’t face another back-to-back until they play at home against Boston on Nov. 29 before playing at Milwaukee the next night.
“They’ve really stepped up,” Johnson said of his players. “And I think when we look back in these (first) 10 games, we’ve made a lot of improvement. And so it feels good to be in the middle of the season. I think my (raspy) voice tells me that we are.”
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This article originally published at Spurs’ Mitch Johnson: Carter Bryant remains ‘huge part of this team’.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
