Season 49, Game 24
San Antonio 109, Los Angeles Lakers 87
19-5, 2nd in the West
After that 51 point win the other night, perhaps I’ve grown a little impatient with these bottom-of-the-league teams. When the Lakers trailed by a mere 2 points at halftime, I was grumpy and frustrated with the Spurs. How could this game not already be over? When the Lakers cut it to single digits late in the 3rd, I wondered if Pop had any idea what he was doing tonight.
Turns out he knows (a lot) more about basketball than me. In the end, the Spurs won by 22 points and gave light workloads to most of their key players in advance of a tricky back-to-back in Atlanta tonight.
Once again, the defense was lax in the first 6 minutes. Los Angeles had 19 points after the first 6 minutes; 68 over the next 42, or about 9.7 per every 6 minute stint. Once the defense was set, it was a slow march towards an inevitable conclusion.
Thankfully, the Spurs offense also came alive after those first six minutes, as well. Not coincidentally, it directly correlated to the bench unit coming in. The ball started moving better, the cuts were crisper, and the energy was noticeably higher, sparking the Spurs to a 12-0 run. It helped that Patty Mills couldn’t miss a shot. His energy and shooting kept us afloat in the early going, and helped to salt the game away late, squashing any hope the Lakers had of making the game interesting in the 4th quarter.
The other bright spot in the game was Jonathon Simmons. Given consistent minutes and a bit of a leash to make rookie mistakes, he is getting better and better with each appearance. Whatever jitters he seemed to have at the start of the season have evaporated. Kid can play. His athleticism really shines through, and he attacks the rim and dunks in ways that Spurs fans aren’t really used to. His energy is infectious. He has surprisingly good court vision. He is a great fit with that second unit.
What’s worrisome is that he got a bunch of playing time in this game because Pop benched Danny Green. Green continues to struggle with his shot, which leaves him little margin for error on defense. In search of finding his stroke, he often seems to be forcing his shot, and rushing the shots he’s taking. He’s all sorts of out of rhythm, and the continued pressure to ‘find his shot’ is only making it harder. Simmons is a nice security blanket, but this team needs Green to be his confident self to really contend against Golden State.
All of this, and we haven’t even mentioned LaMarcus Aldridge yet, who had a wonderful game and really keep the team afloat in the first half. This is a good thing, though. The more “routine” a 24-11-3 game from LaMarcus becomes, the better. He is getting better at knowing when to shoot, when to pass, when to drive, etc. He’s also building good chemistry with the second unit (by which I mostly mean Manu), which can help lead to some devastating lineups against opposing team’s benches.
Grumpiness aside, the Spurs did exactly what they needed to do Friday night.
The team plays the Hawks in Atlanta tonight.
Go Spurs Go.
