Season 48, Game 45
San Antonio 99, Los Angeles Lakers 85
28-17, 7th in the West

A night after getting embarrassed by the Bulls, the Spurs came out with much more intensity and focus against a depleted Lakers team.

Well, for a solid 28 minutes or so, at least.

It’s hard to get too worked up over a 14-point win over these Lakers. The roster actually has decent NBA talent, but there is no unifying force, no system. There are a lot of solid role players, players that would be wonderful 7th or 8th men on a contending team. But put them all together, subtract Kobe, and what are you left with? Not much.

Of course, that “not much” (granted, with a healthy Kobe) beat the Spurs in OT on this very floor last month, so there is still some fear. And the Spurs let the Lakers hang around a bit too long, mostly by missing wide-open 3s and wide-open layups. Blowing layups against a front line of Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson is one thing; when it’s Robert Sacre and Jordan Hill, those layups should be falling.

But some nights everything goes right and the ball still just doesn’t fall. In that case, you have to find other ways to win the game. This is why coaches are so into things like  “execution” and “effort” and “defense”. These are the things you can control, the areas of the game you know you can win. In general, the Spurs looked solid in those areas, for 28 minutes or so.

28 minutes was enough against the Lakers, but it won’t be against most teams in this league. And we really should do something about these 3rd quarter starts, don’t you think? I thought Tony looked the most Tony he’s looked in the first half, but started the 3rd quarter really flat, which took the air out of that first unit. Tony gets a lot of leash and a long time to find his groove, but it’s quite noticeable that the bench units are must stronger offensively, mostly because Manu, Patty, and Cory are running the team with more precision and skill.

The first half was heartening, though. Maybe getting up 23 in the first 20 minutes is enough to earn the coast to the win. Kawhi continued to impress with his one-on-one game in the post: that turnaround jumper over his defender is becoming almost automatic. He also showed some “point guard” flashes, running a beautiful pick and roll with Tiago and finishing it by delivering a perfect pocket pass. His presence also helps to shore up the defensive rebounding.

When things got a bit tight in the 3rd and 4th quarters, Patty Mills did that thing where he makes huge energy plays and hits huge 3s and blows games open. It’s nice to have that back.

This game marked the beginning of a 6-game home stand before the annual Rodeo Road Trip. In that span, the team faces the Lakers, Milwaukee, Charlotte, the Clippers, Orlando, and Miami. This is a critical stretch for the team, a chance to get some rhythm and gain some ground in the West. Of those 6 teams, only one is overly dangerous: the Clippers. Miami has talent, and the Bucks are playing well, but there is no excuse to lose to those teams on our home floor. Anything less than 5-1 in this stretch should be considered disappointing.

The West is too brutal to delay runs. The Spurs need to start putting things together now, especially since this year’s Rodeo Road Trip is more West-heavy than years past. It’s time to start figuring things out and returning to last year’s form.

Milwaukee comes to town Sunday afternoon.