Season 49, Game 05
San Antonio 99, Washington 102
3-2
This might take longer than any of us anticipated.
It’s a process. We know this. I wasn’t expecting the 2014 NBA Finals version of the Spurs from day one, night after night. There are a lot of moving parts and shifting roles. Each player and coach is affected.
But I also wasn’t expecting whatever this is. There is no fluidity, no grace to the offense. Everybody looks hesitant and lost. Most of our good offense is being generated from individual brilliance, rather than from collective understanding and synchronicity. Players are literally running into each other; passes are being deflected by teammates who are cutting through passing lanes; rebounds are lost as two Spurs fight each other for it.
It’d be easy to pin this all on the new guy, or the guy who is growing into the bigger role. But it’s also mainstays like Duncan and Parker who are looking uncharacteristically un-Spurs like out there. Everybody is adjusting, playing a new role.
And so it is we arrive to the Wizards game. Amidst a flurry of turnovers and sloppy play, the Spurs fumbled the game away late, surrendering a lead they had held for the better part of 2 1/2 quarters late. I don’t know whether to credit them for almost winning a game they didn’t play well enough to win, or chastise them for playing so poorly in a game they should have won.
(Darren Hauck/Associated Press)
The turnovers stood out the most. 21 on the night, nearly half of them in the 4th quarter alone. Turnovers are always deadly, but against a team with a PG like Wall, every turnover is like 2 free points going the other direction. The transition defense wasn’t terrible, there’s just really no good answer for the Wizards in transition. They had 28 points off of turnovers and 24 points in transition.
Speaking of the new guy, LaMarcus had a pretty mediocre game. He continued to rebound well and play hard, but his shot completely abandoned him. Late in the game, the team went to him for buckets, and there were none to be found. For long stretches, he was inactive in the offense.
Personally, though, I thought Kawhi had the most disappointing game of the night. I know that sounds crazy for the leading scorer on the team. He had a flurry in the 2nd quarter that helped the Spurs build a comfortable lead. In the second half, he was more passive on the offensive end.
Where I was really disappointed, though, was on the defensive end. After four superlative defensive games, he had a stinker. Both Bradley Beal and Otto Porter – Leonard’s two main defensive assignments – torched the Spurs. Kawhi didn’t seem to work as hard staying with his man, and really let himself get taken out of rhythm by screens, often losing his man for quick shots.
On the last play of the game, he let Beal go, forcing Aldridge to switch on to him. We all know how well that went. I’m not sure what the defensive instruction was; maybe Aldridge was supposed to switch and was a second too late. It looked like Kawhi got bumped off too easily on a screen.
What’s funny about Kawhi’s defense is that he is particularly amazing against the stand-out offensive talents like Durant, LeBron, and Carmelo. Players that have the ball in their hand a lot and dribble a lot. His real weakness is having to chase shooters who get open more by cutting and receiving passes. For example: Beal. Or J.J. Redick. Lesser players can have bigger games against him. Luckily, against most of the Spurs’ deadliest opponents, there is a primary scorer/ball handler for him to guard. (This might also show why the Clippers tend to be a bad match-up for the Spurs, while other teams aren’t.)
Kawhi is having a tremendous start to the season, and it’s quite clear he is the best player on this team. With that responsibility comes greater scrutiny and expectation to perform at that level all the time. I’m happy that he’s gotten to the point where I can criticize him for a game that most players would consider career stand-outs.
And I’m happy that most of what I find troubling in this young season are mistakes of effort. It’s not that players are standing around, it’s that they’re cutting too much. It’s not that the ball is sticking, it’s that they are passing too much. These are indicators of desire and passion, thankfully something we never have to question with this team.
A few more quick thoughts from the game:
• Individual game +/- is generally pretty meaningless, but something interesting caught my eye from this game. The five starters were -3, -12, -12, -18, and -17. The three main bench players were +18, +14, and +9. Yes, a lot of this has to do with the 19-2 run the Wizards started the game with. But I think it also shows something that has been a general trend of the season: the starters are really struggling to play cohesively and the bench – with more continuity from the last few seasons – is playing relatively well together.
Also, Manu and Boris are having the two best seasons, relative to expectations, of any player on the team.
• Parker had a pretty solid game. I thought Wall would torture him, but he (mostly) didn’t. When things were getting tight in the 4th, Tony looked really good, running the offense well and getting open looks for him and others. This game represents perhaps a base-level of the Tony Parker the Spurs need to be a truly competitive team.
• Rasual got some big minutes off the bench in the 2nd half and looked surprisingly good. He’s playing hard and smart, and seems to be learning the system. He also hit 2 or 3 nice buckets. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s supplanted Anderson as the primary back-up 3 in a month or two.
The Spurs play just their second home game of the season against the Hornets on Saturday.
Go Spurs Go.
