Season 48, Game 23
Los Angeles Lakers 112, San Antonio 110 (OT)
16-7, 6th in the West

I agree with Pop: the team was pitiful tonight.

The Spurs started great, going up 10-0 in the first three minutes. They played desperate in the final 3 minutes to erase a late deficit.

The intervening 42 minutes were just awful. Pitiful. The team lacked passion, focus, energy, and–well, here, I’ll just let Pop explain it:

“I thought the Lakers were great on both ends of the floor. They executed well. They definitely wanted the game more than we did. It seemed to be more important to them than to us. I thought our performance was pitiful. Of the regular game, the 48, we probably played six or seven, eight minutes of competitive, execution-type basketball. THe rest was pitiful. We should be embarrassed by the way we played. I mean, a lot of it had to do with, the Lakers were great. But that’s besides the point. We didn’t have enough people that had the focus to take the game seriously and go after it. So it was a disappointing night.”

(From Dan McCarney of the Express-News. You can also watch it here.)

The Spurs seemed more concerned with Kobe passing Jordan than Kobe did. They aggressively double-teamed him, and Kobe showed why he’s been an elite player for most of his career (and his best side, for sure), by picking the Spurs apart with his passing and playmaking. Yes, the Lakers made some incredibly difficult shots and a pair of incredibly lucky shots to win this game. But most of their looks were in rhythm and wide open.

The box score shows that Tony Parker played 18 minutes. I’d have to re-watch the game to verify if this is true or not.

Manu spearheaded the comeback in the final minutes, but Manu was also a primary culprit of why said comeback needed to happen in the first place.

Matt Bonner played in the OT period ahead of Boris Diaw, if that gives you any indication on Pop’s feelings on Boris’ effort on the evening.

I think I’m going to sell high on Cory Joseph. I’m still not convinced he’s a perfect fit for this team. He made a 3-pointer in the game, and it was only his 6th make from behind the line this season. He never shoots the open 3 when the ball swings to him, and the offense dictates that he must. He drives and everything resets. It’s maddening. Defenses can sag off and shrink the floor because they know he’s not a threat to even shoot a 3. He’s been wonderful in place of Patty (and his defense was really fantastic last night), but he also makes you realize just how Patty makes the second unit special. I’m ready for Patty to come back.

(I think Cory will sign a nice contract with another team after this season, and have an average to forgettable career away from the Spurs’ system that brings out the best in so many players.)

Some positives? Duncan was awesome. Green was solid, though he did lose Kobe a few too many times. I thought Kyle Anderson played a very solid game with the starters, continuing to show more aggression, chemistry with his teammates, and understanding of the system. I hope to see him get more and more meaningful minutes as the season goes along.

Plus this: perhaps this loss is better in the long run to kick the team in the butt, to let them know that where they are at right now is not good enough. There’s nothing more dangerous than a self-satisfied team, a team that thinks they are good enough. Right now the Spurs are good, but not good enough. If it takes losing to the Lakers for them to realize this and to help bring out their greatness later in the season, so be it. I can live with that.

And it took a crazy Nick Young 3 from 30 feet with the shot clock on zero for the Lakers to win a game they had controlled for the better part of 40 minutes. So even a “pitiful” Spurs still have a fighting chance in most games. That’s saying something.

The Spurs play in Denver on Sunday evening. Let’s see what they’ve learned from this game.