Season 48, Game 05
New Orleans 100, San Antonio 99
2-3, 10th in the West

After last night’s game, Boris Diaw tweeted:

I fully agree with Boris, and I’ve argued many times that one should not dwell on all of the miniature mistakes that occurred in the first 47 1/2 minutes of a 1-pt loss.

(Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports)

If Kawhi’s ball bounces in, we’re not thinking about Tyreke Evans 2 buzzer beating shots at the end of quarters, Jimmer’s prayer to beat the shot clock in the middle of the game, the deflections that went right to wide open shooters that just as easily could have been sure-steals of the Spurs, the missed layups, the missed rebounds that bounded out of bounds instead, and a hundred other little 50/50 balls that just didn’t bounce to the Spurs last night. It is an exercise in futility at best, in madness at worst.

However, often those 50/50 balls offer a clue into something deeper, a sneak peek behind the curtain. There’s an expression I like that goes: the more I practice, the luckier I get. This could easily be read: the more prepared I am, the luckier I get.

There’s another common sports cliche that reads: do your work early. (You probably even heard Sean and Bill say it a handful of times last night.) What is distressing about this loss and all of those little things is that it seems to point to the Spurs lack of preparedness and lack of hard work. Some 50/50 balls are truly that: complete toss-ups. But many 50/50 balls are often turned into 55/45 or 60/40 balls by virtue of one team’s superior preparedness and having already put the work in to be in the right position, reading the floor, trusting of teammates, etc. The Spurs are losing most of the battles that could be won by better preparation and harder work.

I know, it’s a shocking thing to think about this team. But right now the Spurs are not winning the battle of the details, and, as such, are losing games there, in those tiny margins that add up over 48 minutes. In a 1-pt game, those margins become the size of canyons. The Spurs didn’t lose to the Pelicans when Kawhi’s shot didn’t bounce in; the Spurs lost to the Pelicans before the game even started, when they weren’t prepared to fight in those margins, to focus on every single detail of the game.

A few more quick thoughts:

  • I’m not sure what to think of Tony Parker this early season. His shot is scorching, shooting 55% from the floor. He is scoring as well as he ever has in his career. But his decision making is very poor. At least 1-2 times a game he gets caught in the lane, jumps in the air with nowhere to pass, and turns it over. He’s also missing the right pass quite a bit, or passing too late for it to be effective. He seems determined to take on the load offensively, but this is often at the expense of the offensive system. To wit, he is averaging 4.8 assists to 3.8 TOs this year. That is very bad for a PG. His career high in assists is 7.7, a number which he has nearly maintained over the last 3-5 years. And his career avg for TOs is just 2.5. He is playing well right now, but he is not playing like a PG, which is probably more important for the team’s offensive system.
  • I had the notion last night that if Kawhi’s eye was still bothering him, that could explain a lot of what we are seeing from him. Then Jeff McDonald wrote this article.

    The effects on Kawhi’s jump shot are obvious. But the effects are deleterious to his defense as well. So much of what makes Kawhi a tremendous defender is his ability to stay at home on his player while also prowling the passing lanes and making low-risk gambles that often pay off. He can play his man and the floor at the same time without sacrificing a single thing. This ability is in large part made possible with peripheral vision. If this is suffering, so would aspects of his defense. We’ve seen him lose his man several times this year. We’ve also not seen him as active in mucking up the other team’s entire offensive set like he normally does. He’s getting better each game, and he looked a lot more like the Kawhi we know and love last night. Let’s hope he keeps progressing positively.

  • Pop pulled the Big 3 with about 4 1/2 minutes to go last night while the game was still in the balance. I loved this move. The Big 3 were playing hard, but they were playing selfishly and ineffectively. Each of them was trying to win the game on their own, and it wasn’t happening. This was not Pop waving the white flag; he was trying to get the win. He was also making a statement to his team: trust the system, trust your teammates.

I loved the way Kawhi, Boris, Cory, Danny, and Aron fought and brought the team all the way back. It was the best we’ve seen of Boris this year, and free from deference, Kawhi was really aggressive and commanding in the offense. Watching these last few minutes was the best part of the game, and what made the loss palatable for me. Perhaps now the loss can be a turning point, a rallying moment for this team (much like that famous loss in Dallas a few seasons ago).

Perhaps now they’re ready to dive into the details and start playing Spurs’ basketball.

The team now starts a rough road trip featuring two sets of back-to-backs against the Clippers, the league-best Warriors, the red-hot Kings, and the Lakers (thank God for that game).

The action kicks off Monday night in LA versus the Clippers.