Season 48, Game 04
Houston 98, San Antonio 81
2-2
Before we get to the Spurs, let me say this about arguably my least favorite team (with my least favorite players) in the league: both James Harden and Dwight Howard looked great last night, and this Rockets team is legit. (It’s also nice not to have to hear the Rockets’ announcers, probably the only crew that Reggie Miller is a step up from.)
As for our Spurs, it’s much too early to say if we’re legit or not, as we’re certainly not playing great basketball. Pop pulled his usual shenanigans last night, sitting out both Manu and Tim, with Tiago and Marco out with legitimate injuries. I have no issue with Pop doing this or whatever else he wants with this team. He’s earned every inch of leeway. I think he knows what he is doing. Outside of the rest issue, there’s also a psychological ploy at work here: by sitting out his top players, there is nothing to lose in the loss. The Spurs are expected to lose. If they miraculously win, it’s a doubly defeating loss for the Rockets and a huge win for the Spurs. Hell, even if the Spurs keep it close, it probably does more for them in the long run. And if the Rockets crush the Spurs like they did, well, that was supposed to happen. Just another night in a long season, and we’ll see you next time.
Here’s where last night’s game gets a bit trickier for me to parse: we still had a good team out there. Manu isn’t playing very well and Marco is only our 8th or 9th man at best, so Tim was only the real big piece missing. Tiago’s absence was particularly noticed, of course, against Howard. But the Spurs still put Parker and Leonard out there, both of whom are supposed to be cornerstone franchise players, along with Boris, Green, and Joseph, legitimate NBA players with championship pedigrees. There should have been more fight in this team than there was, and I’m a little concerned about the lack of urgency in this team right now.
(Associated Press)
Of course, had anybody on the team other than Cory been able to hit a shot from anywhere on the court, this game might have been closer. The Rockets most likely would have still won easily, but I doubt the lead would have ballooned to 31 points. I’ve never seen this Spurs team shoot that poorly. Or any team, for that matter. Let’s hope we got a half season’s worth of 3-point misses out in one game.
In order to have actually competed in last night’s game, Parker and Leonard would have needed to play like stars. I have a few concerns about Parker early in this season, but overall he is shooting great and looks sharp; I’ll give him a one game pass.
(Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle)
Leonard, on the other hand, is being elevated from ‘minor concern’ to full-fledged ‘concern’. (Let’s hope we don’t get to ‘major concern’.) In three games, he has looked bad. No hedges, no qualifications: he looks bad. His shot is way off, he’s not getting by his defenders, he’s not flowing within the offense, and other than a few blips tonight, his defense is flat and unimpressive. He looks completely out of sorts and completely disengaged.
In order to be an exceptional team, we need Kawhi to be an exceptional player. I don’t know what — if anything — is going on, but the team needs him to fight out of this slump. I had hoped that last night would be a good chance for him to play a lot as a primary weapon. Instead, he was barely noticeable in 29 minutes of action.
There were a couple of bright spots last night. Cory Joseph continues to impress in this early season, playing smart and aggressive defense and attacking offense. He’ll never be a fluid or clever point guard, but his ability to attack the rim breaks down defenses and opens up the Spurs’ offense with the second unit. His shot has looked sharper this young season, but he’s attacking and scoring at the rim so easily, it hasn’t much mattered.
The great catch-22 of Joseph’s game, though, is that the better he plays, the more noticeable Patty’s absence becomes. Cory is a valuable player, but he doesn’t provide what Mills does. The great success of the second unit last season was built around Manu’s play-making and control and Patty’s frenetic energy and shot-making. With both of those things mostly absent this year, the bench has become a lot more ordinary, even as Cory has improved his game greatly. There’s a role for him on this team, but he isn’t Patty Mills. (Or a ‘good’ Manu Ginobili, who I hope we see soon.)
(Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle)
The best part of last night’s game to me, though, was watching Kyle Anderson in his regular season debut. I continue to be impressed with this young kid. Like the entirety of San Antonio last night, he shot poorly. But he ended the game with 4 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Both the points and assists could have been higher if the Spurs had even a below average shooting night, instead of an atrociously horrific one. More impressive, though, was just his control on both ends of the floor. “SloMo” is an apt nickname for him, as he just moves at his own pace, but always seems to get where he wants and/or where he needs. He has great offensive instincts, and his passing will be a natural fit on this team.
I was also impressed with Kyle’s defense. He is a rookie with pretty slow feet, so there will be possessions where he gets totally lost and out of position. In general, though, I liked how he stayed home on D, didn’t bite on too many fakes, kept strong positioning on and off the ball, and still played the passing lanes well. He has very long arms like Kawhi, and is able to dig down and disrupt the passing lanes without totally leaving his man or position. All of his rebounds were on the defensive glass, and 8 is an outstanding number from the SF position. I hope he has earned more playing time.
Luckily, the season is in full swing now, so the team can hopefully start to gain some rhythm and chemistry. I’d love to see a semblance of the team that won the Finals last year. I’m sure Pop would, too.
The New Orleans Pelicans come to San Antonio Saturday night before the Spurs head out on a 4-game West Coast swing.
