Season 48, Game 15
San Antonio 112, Sacramento 104
11-4, 5th in the West

Boogie Cousins is still a bad, bad man. The Spurs dodged a pretty big bullet when he was ruled out for the game. The Kings stopped our last little winning streak, and were poised to do so again. But without the center, the edges were susceptible to collapse.

Yet the Kings held tough. This is the first team we’ve seen twice this season, and I’ve been very impressed with them, perhaps more so in defeat than victory. Mike Malone seems to have the makings of a really good coach, and he has the team playing hard. Rudy Gay is finally hitting his stride in the league, and is one of the few players who is (mostly) immune to Kawhi’s defense. Omri Casspi is turning into a 6th-man terror, changing games with energy off the bench. And the rest of their pieces just fit and make sense.

So even playing at home against a Boogie-less team, the Spurs had their hands full. By the second half, San Antonio had seized control of the game, but could never quite put it away. Up 15, Kings make a run to cut it to 6; Spurs push again, get up 13, Kings cut it to 8. Spurs seem to finally put the game away late in the 4th, Kings make it interesting, cutting it to a 2-possession game under 2 minutes. The game never really felt in doubt, but never really felt totally in hand.

Tony Parker continued his sizzling play, leading the team with 27 points and 8 assists. I love the way he is playing right now. He’s rediscovered that aggressive edge, and is using that aggression for both himself and his team. For years, I’ve always thought that Parker was the team’s opener, the player necessary to get us going in the first quarter. Over the last few games we’ve seen this, and you can see what it does for the whole team and for the whole game.

Kawhi had another impressive game, as well. As noted, Gay is a very tough cover for Kawhi. But there’s an aggregation in Kawhi’s defense, that even as Gay is hitting shot after shot over him, Kawhi’s consistent pestering and physicality is wearing him down. So as we move into the late game stages, suddenly Gay’s shot is just a little shorter than before, his legs just a bit more tired than he’s used to. Kawhi never gets down and keeps playing the same way, knowing that the worm can turn at any moment.

Of course, now he’s giving as good as he gets. He put up 19 points, and his 3-point shot was smooth all night. When he’s hitting that 3, his offense is scary good. He also had 2 assists, 3 assists, and 4 blocks. Just another Friday night for Leonard.

In general, the offense has looked solid the last week or so. The ball is sticking less, and everything is moving again. Green seems to have rediscovered his shot a bit while also expanding his game; Marco missed everything last night, but his stroke looked pure–they’ll start falling again soon; Baynes has hit that point that most big men in the Spurs’ system hit, where he’s figured out how to play with Manu, and he’s becoming an offensive wrecking ball in the pick and roll with that second unit.

And Messina is now undefeated as a head coach in the NBA.

The Spurs kick off a 4-game swing East with a Sunday matinee in Boston.