Season 48, Game 72
San Antonio 94, Dallas 76
46-26, 6th in the West

I’m happy to (most likely) be done with the Mavericks for the season.

Coach Carlisle and the Mavs have some sort of special voodoo that prevents the Spurs from properly executing their offense or looking like a competent NBA team for long stretches of time. We saw it again last night, though thankfully for a much shorter period than on Tuesday. We saw it in 6 of the 7 games in last year’s playoffs. They know the Spurs’ tendencies and mental conditionings so well, and use it against them. Rather than try to flat out stop the system, they use it against itself. So the players keep cutting and keep moving the ball, the way they’ve been trained and drilled to, but it just leads to nothing.

Unlike last Tuesday, the Spurs were able to grind the Mavs high-powered offense to a halt, as well. Familiarity breeds contempt and great defensive schemes. Dallas had an amazing opportunity to seize control of the game in the 3rd quarter (like Tuesday night), holding the Spurs to a mere 15 points (and only 15 because Green hit a 3 at the very end of the quarter). But were unable to gain any traction, only scoring 20 points themselves. The Spurs had them figured out and locked down. (It should also be noted that Monta Ellis left the game early with a bruised knee, so he didn’t get a chance to kill the Spurs.)

The lockdown and locked in defense is a welcome sight, even in the long stretches of collapsing offense. In the face of playoff familiarity, offense gets increasingly more difficult. Plus, offense is a fickle mistress, subject to the whims of shooting, a proposition that is, at its best, often 50/50. You can do everything right, end up with a wide open shot…and still miss it. Defense, on the other hand, is a patient partner, willing to give back what you put into it. There is certainly talent involved (see: Kawhi Leonard), but the most important aspect of defense is effort and understanding of the system and teamwork. Sound like any team you know? Despite the extended period of ugliness in last night’s game (and that 3rd quarter was not pretty), it was actually promising.

The star of the show was Boris Diaw. This might actually be the most promising sign of all. After coasting through the better part of 66 games, Boris is starting to round into form as of late (feel free to make your own “round” joke here). Last night was the very best of Boris: passing, surprising agile movement, intelligence on both ends of the court, unstoppable in the post against smaller defenders. When this Boris comes to play, the Spurs are a different animal completely.

Manu also looked good, showing how important he is to that second unit, especially in the 2nd quarter. Everything just flows more open and free when he is running the show.

Surprisingly, Kawhi and Tony both had pretty subpar games. Tony was playing aggressively and moving well, he was just having no luck at the rim or on his shot. Kawhi had probably the worst game he has had in a long time. He turned the ball over a ton, couldn’t get unstuck on offense, and wasn’t his usual defensive factor. It might actually be a good thing for him to suffer through some bad games and be forced to respond. Knowing him, I’d expect a pretty great game on Sunday.

It was a solid win this late in the season. Despite that 3rd quarter, the Spurs won pretty convincingly against a solid playoff team that knows them really well and tends to give them fits. I’m sure there is benefit to struggling through that lull and bouncing back to still win by 18; it reinforces the character of this team.

They have 10 more games to get their playoff form back.

Up next, the struggling Grizzlies come to town. This will be another great test, and both teams will be using this game as a playoff gauge. It seems almost inevitable that these two teams are headed for a first round match-up. The interesting thing is, either result helps to reinforce that. If the Grizzlies win, it keeps them more secure in the 2-seed and knocks the Spurs closer to the 7-seed; if the Spurs win, it keeps them firmly in the 6-seed and the Grizzlies fall back closer to the 3-seed.

I’d prefer the win.