Season 49, Game 34
San Antonio 112, Phoenix 79
28-6, 2nd in the West

What a difference a year makes.

Last December was the worst month in the Popovich-Duncan era. For the first time, the team finished a month with a record below .500. (That, in itself, is crazy. The entire time these two have been together, they’ve only lost more games than they’ve won in a month once. Think about that.)

It wasn’t just the number of losses last December, though, it was also the way in which they were lost. Last minute bank shots; not one, but two triple overtime games; a few other overtime games, just for good measure.

And it wasn’t just the number of losses, it was the sheer number of games: 18. 18 games in 31 days.

The team finished the month 8-10, but in many ways, December was the month that broke the team. By the end of the month, they were still piddling around in the bottom of the West playoff picture. They weren’t able to get much rest for guys in December, and in order to keep up in the West, they weren’t able to get much rest after December.

They fought hard and were one win away from the #2 seed, but it was just that kind of season. Snakebit from the beginning. Kawhi had not one, but two freakish maladies that kept him out early and stunted his season. Right as the team got going late, Tiago suffered another one of his calf injuries that halted all forward momentum and helped to swing that Clippers series.

The Spurs were never able to recover from the worst month in the team’s history.

This December, however, was quite different. The team finished the month 14-2, heading into the New Year with a record of 28-6, the second best ever for the franchise. (The best ever is 28-4, so they’ve equaled the best number of wins.)

More than just winning, the Spurs are destroying other teams. (Like the Suns on Wednesday night. Do you really need me to recap anything from that game? Here goes: the Suns are a mess; the Spurs aren’t. The Spurs completely annihilated them. The game was functionally over after 12 minutes.)

San Antonio sports the league’s best point differential (often the best indicator of future success) at +13.4. Anything above 10 is championship level; 13.4 is historically great. They’ve already held 16 teams under 40 points at halftime; the next closest team is the Jazz, having done it 5 times.

And they’re only 2.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors.

The team is quietly – not-so-quietly in the corners of the Internet occupied by basketball nerds – having as historic a season as those Warriors. Plus, they continue to trend upward; they are only getting better.

If last December was the anchor that sunk last season, this December might be the catapult.

Houston comes to town Saturday night to kick off 2016. Here’s for a good dose of revenge.

Go Spurs Go.