Season 48, Game 22
San Antonio 109, New York 95
16-6, 6th in the West

The Knicks are having all sorts of issues and are one of the worst teams in the league, but I still didn’t expect this.

Coming off a very dispiriting loss to the Jazz in which the Spurs essentially wasted a great Tim Duncan game, tonight served as a ‘get right’ game to wash the bad taste out of the mouth. But as the injury report slowly trickled out, one was left to wonder exactly who would be suiting up for the Spurs. No Parker, no Mills, no surprises. No Manu and No Duncan due to rest. The real shocker was no Kawhi with a bruised hand. Huh? By my math, that leaves 10 bodies, and that’s assuming a healthy Tiago. (Luckily, we got a Tiago cameo tonight.)

I was a bit surprised that Manu and Tim both rested. Pop doesn’t like to do that at home, and by doing so, he was essentially doubling down on last night’s loss, risking turning one bad loss into two.

Luckily, the Knicks are having all sorts of issues (seriously, read that article and feel blessed to root for this team) and are the sugary candy to erase any foul taste in your mouth.

Even with a skeleton crew, the Spurs looked more poised, more collected, and more of a team than the hapless Knicks. I actually quite love these “rest” games, and I’m sure Pop does, too. It’s a true test of and testament to his system and all that he has built over the years. If the players come out, play hard, and execute well, they should stay competitive.

That they did. This team, minus their big stars, looked better than they did last night in Utah. The secret to winning games like this isn’t for one role player to step up and have a big game. We don’t need Marco to suddenly go off for 30, or for Baynes to put up a career high in points and rebounds. The secret to winning these games is for each player to increase their output by 10%, and as a whole, the 10 players can fill the holes left by the missing 5.

Glancing at the box score, this team ethos becomes readily apparent. Everybody who played significant minutes scored at least 9 points. (Tiago only had 3 in limited minutes, but still looked great on both ends of the floor.) Had Cory or Kyle put in one more bucket each, every player would have been in double figures. Marco was the high man at 22, but the rest was very balanced: Bonner with 10, Baynes with 10, Anderson with 9, Joseph with 9, Danny with 13, Ayres with 11, Boris with 12, Daye with 1o. That is crazy balance. Literally every player on the floor was a threat to score at all times.

Moreover, the team stuck with the offensive principles and played the system. They kept moving, they kept passing, they kept screening. It didn’t look as pretty as last year’ playoff run, but it was still effective enough to confuse the poor Knicks. The team registered 22 assists to only 9 turnovers. That is good. Defensively, they played hard and opportunistically, recording 10 steals. To have more steals than turnovers in a game as a team is very impressive.

My favorite part of this game was getting an extended look at Kyle Anderson playing meaningful minutes. He hasn’t sniffed much court time this year, and when he has, it has often been garbage time. So far this season, he’s looked a bit out of sorts but mostly deferential. He hasn’t tried to really insert himself into the action and been very passive.

In the second half of tonight’s game, I thought he played really smart basketball and showed flashes of what he can become. He asserted himself into the offense, and the team was better for it. He had a few plays where he drove the rim, sucked in the defense, and passed the ball off to a waiting big man for an easy basket. He made a 3 (this will need to become a big part of his game). He showed a little athleticism and threw down a outback offensive rebound dunk. Defensively, he rebounded very well out of the SF position, and got his hands in to muck up a few possessions. He ended with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers. A solid and very Boris-like stat line.

What promised to be a dud heading into the night turned out to be a very solid win for the Spurs. A win like this can do all sorts of wonders for bench players and team wide morale. Plus, it was important to get that W to help ease the L from last night. At the very least, it proves that no matter how bad it gets in San Antonio, we will never be The Knicks.

Speaking of fun train wrecks, the Lakers come to town Friday night. They are actually playing slightly better as of late. It’s the Spurs last ‘easy’ game before starting a pretty brutal stretch, so it will be important to get a victory.