Season 48, Game 81
San Antonio 107, Phoenix 91
55-26, 2nd in the West
The Spurs didn’t play well, but they played well enough for long enough to beat a Phoenix Suns team down to 8 players and looking forward to vacation.
Hats off to the Suns who played with more intensity and effort than was to be expected or was even necessary. The Spurs were a little too lackadaisical and perhaps a little too entitled to the win to put the game away early enough. The Suns kept hanging around until a mid-4th quarter burst put the Spurs up 20 and the game out of reach for the scrappy Suns.
Truth is, the team just needed the win with minimal effort and minimal damage, and that’s what they got. Shifts were short, the rotation went deep, and there were lots of odd player combinations out there that probably contributed to the sometimes disjointed and sloppy play. The best stat of the game is that the only players that exceeded 30 minutes were Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, our young athletic wings most capable of putting in those minutes. Every other key player logged between 17 and 26 minutes. Perfect.
(I suppose Duncan’s double-double is also worth mentioning if only because it’s the second game in a row that it’s happened and he’ll be 39 in just a few short weeks.)
Enough about the game; all Spurs fans care about right now is playoff seedings and the wild finish in store for the Western Conference. Particularly the 2-6 slot, where the Spurs currently find themselves.
There are still plenty of scenarios in play and a lot to be decided in the final 3 days of the regular season. The most important thing: the Spurs need to win on Wednesday in New Orleans to ensure their best possible positioning. This is not an easy game as the Pelicans have given us trouble all season and they might be fighting for their playoff lives.
Currently, the 8-seed is a battle between New Orleans and Oklahoma City, who have the same record but New Orleans is on top by virtue of holding the tiebreaker. Both teams play Monday night, New Orleans in Minnesota, Oklahoma City at home against Portland. (Important note: as of now, Westbrook received his 16th technical foul of the season in Sunday’s game against Indiana, meaning that he will be suspended for the game against the Blazers. The Thunder are sure to appeal, but if it’s not rescinded, this is obviously very big.) The best case scenario for the Spurs is for the Pelicans to win in Minnesota and the Thunder to lose to Portland. This will clinch the 8-seed for New Orleans (as the best OKC could then do is tie them without having the tiebreaker) and make Wednesday night’s game against the Spurs essentially meaningless for them.
If New Orleans loses Monday night, then Wednesday’s game becomes critical, especially if OKC beats Portland. OKC closes the season on the road against Minnesota. The Timberwolves have a great opportunity to play spoiler all around.
The 2-6 race gets a lot murkier. Portland is locked into the 4-seed and almost certain not to have home court advantage against the eventual 5-seed. The 2-, 3-, 5-, and 6-seed will all be settled on the final day of the season. The quick run-down from the Spurs’ perspective: Memphis and the Clippers hold the individual head-to-head tiebreakers over the Spurs. (Oh, that triple OT loss to Memphis back in December!) But, if the Spurs win the Southwest Division, that will supersede the head-to-head advantage the Clippers have. (So, the Clippers move ahead of the Spurs if Memphis wins the SW, but the Spurs move ahead of the Clippers if they win the SW. This all presumes tied records. Confused yet?) The Spurs own the tiebreaker over Houston. The Spurs also own the 3-way tiebreaker if Memphis, Houston, and San Antonio all finish the season with the same record.
The Spurs get the 2-seed if they win the SW Division and finish with an equal or better record than the Clippers.
The Spurs get the 3-seed if they win the SW but finish with a worse record than the Clippers. Or they finish tied with Memphis (in which case Memphis wins the SW) and they finish with a better record than the Clippers. Or a few other less likely scenarios.
The Spurs get the 5-seed if Memphis wins the SW as above, the Clippers finish tied or ahead of them, and the Spurs finish tied or ahead of Houston.
The Spurs get the 6-seed if they lose on Wednesday and Houston wins out and Memphis and the Clippers each win one more game.
Seriously, confused yet?
Let’s look at the important games remaining:
Perhaps the most important game left is Memphis at Golden State on Monday night. Seriously, this game is monumental for seeding. It behooves the Warriors to keep the Spurs out of their side of the bracket, which is best achieved by winning. If Memphis loses, all the Spurs have to do is win on Wednesday to clinch the 2-seed with nothing else needing to happen. Let’s go Warriors!
Houston plays in Charlotte on Monday night. We either want Houston to win both of their games or lose both of their games. Obviously, I’d choose lose both. But playing Charlotte, that doesn’t seem likely. So we probably want to grit our teeth and root for Houston.
Denver plays the Clippers in LA on Monday night. We want the Clippers to lose each of their last 2 games, but Denver has been mailing it in for months, so that doesn’t seem likely. Still, feel free to root against them.
The Clippers then head to Phoenix on Tuesday night to close out their season. We all saw today how scrappy this Suns team is playing, but again, a Clippers’ victory seems pretty likely, meaning they are almost certainly ending with 56 wins, meaning the Spurs need to win Wednesday AND win the SW Division to finish ahead of them.
On the final night of the season, San Antonio plays New Orleans, Utah plays at Houston, and Indiana plays at Memphis. Utah is still playing tough, but Houston will be playing for more in that game. Again, we want Houston to either win their last two or lose their last two, so depending on what happens Monday night, root accordingly. (Lose!) The Pacers-Grizzlies game will be really interesting. Indiana is still fighting for a playoff spot in the East, so this game will be huge for them. It might end up being huge for the Grizzlies, too. Gasol, Allen, and Conley are all banged up. This game could be the difference between the 2 and 6 seed.
Basically, it’s entirely too confusing and there’s still a lot left to be determined. The most important thing, as always, is to root for the Spurs to win and close out their season in style.
