Season 48, Game 71
San Antonio 130, Oklahoma City 91
45-26, 6th in the West

The final score should be all the analysis you need for this game.

A night after playing 3 very mediocre quarters of basketball in Dallas, the Spurs came home and let it all out on the Thunder. The offense was clicking all night, absolutely shredding the Thunder’s defense. And after the first quarter, the Spurs defense contained Westbrook and, by extension, contained the entirety of their offense.

It was a dazzling display of “Spurs basketball” a night after a confounding display of “Spurs basketball?”.

And that this game can be pointed to as a reason not to worry about the Spurs is exactly why there is reason to worry. The team just has no consistency night to night, and the disparity between results and effort is too large a gap to just dismiss as the random off night, or being tired, or the wear and tear of the season and travels. Every team will have bad losses in a season (like the Knicks game), but the lack of energy, effort, execution, and intensity in these losses is worrisome. How can this team we saw tonight be the same team we saw last night?

We all just assume that the “real” Spurs will show up for the playoffs. By and large, I do think we’ll see the “good” team more often than not as the regular season winds down and the playoffs approach. But that we’re still having this conversation 71 games in is a concern. Some teams trend up or down at this point in the season, but the Spurs are just bipolar blips erratically sprayed all over the graph. The good is still very good and some of the best basketball in the league; the bad loses to the Knicks.

The buzzword after the game was “consistency”, and that’s what these last 11 games will be about. Not wins and losses necessarily, but consistently playing the way they should and the way they want. They way they know they can. The way that won them their 5th championship.

That team is still there, lurking. But so is a much worse team.

This probably seems a bit harsh after a 39-point win and complete devastation of The Thunder. But it’s how well they played that is so frustrating. I’m tired of looking how we did against Atlanta and Oklahoma City, and then scratching my head watching the team I saw against Dallas. I’m tired of wondering which team will show up night to night.

The Spurs have a chance for a small measure of revenge as Dallas comes to San Antonio Friday night. I expect payback.

(AP Photo/Darren Abate)

(AP Photo/Darren Abate)