Season 49, Game 14
San Antonio 98, Phoenix 84
11-3, 2nd in the West

I’d been noticing this season that while his defense is still superb (better, even), Kawhi wasn’t really getting steals like he had last season.

Message received, Kawhi: I need to shut up.

His diminished steal numbers likely aren’t really his fault. It’s similar to elite cornerbacks in football: once people know not to throw in their direction, their interception numbers go down, but their impact goes up, because they are able to effectively shut down an entire half of a field.

With Kawhi, everybody in the NBA knows not to dribble on an island within 5 feet of him. So he’s not getting steals. But just his very presence is fundamentally changing the way teams have to play offense. Like a good cornerback, he often times erases offensive players before the game even starts.

(The way the NBA counts steals is a bit infuriating, as well. If Kawhi reaches around and pokes the ball away from a dribbler right into Tony Parker’s hands, Parker usually gets credit for the steal.)

Kawhi’s defense has only gotten better this season, though. Of particular note, he is a much more effective shot blocker, able to stuff players at the rim and swipe their shot from behind. He’s still a tremendous rebounder for his position, and his defensive footwork is impeccable. I wasn’t worried about his defense, more just wondering when we’d start to see those steals again.

Enter the Phoenix Suns. Playing on the second night of a back-to-back without their primary ball handler, a sloppy game was a likely outcome. Factor in the Spurs’ swarming defense, and the turnovers (and steals) just piled up for the Suns. There were strings of possessions where just getting a shot up was a victory because they didn’t lose the ball.

28 Phoenix turnovers leading to 27 points for the Spurs. Some was just sloppy play, but the Spurs did end the night with 18 steals, many leading to fast break opportunities and easy points.

Let’s be fair: the Spurs were super sloppy, too. 21 turnovers of their own. There were multiple times in the game when the teams would just trade silly turnovers with each other. Or one team would get a steal and then throw a horrible outlet pass to the other team, who would suddenly have a fast break, two seconds after losing the ball. It was just one of those nights.

But that’s the thing about playing these San Antonio Spurs: it’s almost always ‘one of those nights’. Great defenses have a way of making you feel like you’ve forgotten how to play offense.

The Spurs are a great defensive team right now. It’s not as sexy as what the Warriors are doing to the rest of the league, but it might give them the best (and only) chance to actually beat the Warriors. You can’t out-offense the Warriors. Perhaps Pop saw this and thought: maybe we can build a defense to stop them.

Maybe. It may be the rest of the league’s only hope.

A few more thoughts from the victory over the Suns:

• One of the things I love about Kawhi is how steep his learning curve is. It seems like he’ll start expanding his game with a new wrinkle, and a few games later it just appears, nearly fully formed. (Of course this is not true and speaks to the dedication to his craft.) What I like that I’ve seen over the last few games is his expanding floor game on offense. He’s working pick and roll with the bigs much better, and is getting really good at making that bounce pocket pass to the roller. He’s also learning to accept the double team and pass out of it. Most encouragingly, he’s actively working to set up defenses to get open shots for his teammates. He’s seeing the full spectrum of the floor. It’s a joy to get to watch the evolution of his game.

• Ummm, Tony Parker is getting me really excited. Perhaps pronouncements of his demise were a bit premature. I’m cautious, though. When he looks bad, it looks like he’ll be out of the league in a month. But when he’s on, he’s as deadly as ever. Maybe he’s just picking his spots better now, but he completely owned the second half of this game, not only driving and breaking down the defense, but hitting just about every midrange jump shot that was presented to him.

Duncan and Manu have been allowed to age gracefully, put in positions to continue doing what they could with great effectiveness, while not being asked to do more than their aging bodies could handle. It’s Tony’s turn to age into this role. The last few games have been very encouraging.

• Tony’s defense has looked a lot better these last few games, as well. I think the coaching staff challenged him to work harder on that end. He’ll never be a stopper, but he’s using his quickness and understanding of the game to really stick with opposing PGs, just never leaving their bodies and really harassing them. Over the course of an entire game, that really starts to add up.

• Pop was in full mad scientist mode last night. Boban got a big chunk of playing time in the first half. So did Simmons. Both players have a lot of potential and offer an attribute that the team is sorely lacking (size, athleticism at the wing position). It’s good for Pop to give them time and see what he has.

• Hey look, Danny Green’s shot was in the building last night. Don’t say anything, though, for fear of scaring it away. Just act like everything’s chill.

• The offense is still not great, but it’s looking a lot better. It seems like players are getting more comfortable in their roles, more comfortable playing with each other, learning each other’s tendencies, adjusting to the increased roles of Kawhi and Aldridge, dealing with their own decreased roles. It’ll be fun to watch the offense evolve over the course of the season. I just hope the defense doesn’t slip.

The Spurs face the Mavericks on Wednesday night.

Go Spurs Go.