For the third team in five games since a Christmas Day win that sent shock waves through the basketball world, the San Antonio Spurs lost a game to a team with or near a losing record. A 115-110 setback to the Portland Trail Blazers dropped the Silver and Black to 25-10, which still ranks second in the West, though that's not Mitch Johnson' focus these days.

“If we continue to guard how we've guarded at the start of games I think teams will continue to shoot like that. It's been enough of a sample size in the recent part of games that I don't think it's an outlier,” the Spurs first-year head coach declared.

San Antonio trailed Portland by 11 points after the first quarter. In their most recent loss before the Blazers beat them, the Spurs trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 10 eight and a half minutes into the game. Versus the Utah Jazz on December 27, Johnson's team themselves down 10 at the half.

“Tough to say what the biggest takeaway is,” the coach continued following their latest disappointment.

“But I think every game has a lot of takeaways. And I think for us, just starting the game with the right approach and putting our energy into the right places. You know, an 11-point hole in the first quarter with a lot of things you could control went into that minus 11.”

“I thought we missed a lot of really good shots. And then you're down 11. You're not doing a lot of other things right if you're down 11,” Johnson reemphasized.

Spurs struggle to shake off poor starts

Earlier in the season, the third quarters represented the problem period for San Antonio. While they seem that have solved that issue, they may have traded one concern for another.

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“It's tough in this league to play out of a hole. Then you add you're on the second out of a back-to-back. So are they,” Johnson said of a Trail Blazers team that beat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-109 the night before their trip to the Alamo City.

“And then you add you have a couple guys out. So do they. So it's just when you start stacking circumstances that aren't in your favor that you can control on top of one another, it can make it difficult. And then if you do miss some shots, now you're in a dogfight,” the December Western Conference Coach of the Month added.

While missing Victor Wembanyama and starter Devin Vassell didn't prevent them from beating the Indianapolis Pacers the night before, the Spurs shot 32% from beyond the three-point line and 43% from the field in their latest outing.

“Definitely, a tip of the cap to them,” the head coach revealed of the Blazers. “I thought they had a better ability to those 50-50 balls, loose open rebounds, just that next level effort to finish off possessions, they did a great job of.”

There's no question Johnson thought Portland played well enough to win. Chief among his concerns, though, are what his team must do to avoid slow starts and the ensuing results.