As we begin the process of another playoff run, let me ask you a question: when was the last time the Spurs played a solid end-to-end basketball game?

You could counter with: “When was the last time the Spurs played a meaningful basketball game?” And you would have a point. Perhaps this is to the benefit of the Warriors, who had a historic chase to keep them engaged and sharp.

Remember that mythical point differential, the stat that could possibly secretly show that the Spurs were better than the Warriors? The Warriors ended the season with a better point differential (+10.8) than the Spurs (+10.6), after the Spurs were on pace to set the all-time record earlier in the season.

But let’s go back to the initial question. When was the last time the Spurs impressed in a victory? I’ve got Miami at home on March 23rd, at least 3 weeks ago. That was right after the victory against Golden State (and the subsequent collapse against Charlotte), so maybe the Spurs saw what they needed to in that Warriors game and put it in cruise control until the playoffs.

It’s hard to blame them. The team was locked into that #2 seed for months, long before it became official. The regular season is long, and it can be hard to find meaning in games that ultimately have no bearing on the playoffs, especially for a team like the Spurs, where the playoffs are the only thing. You work every day to be a little better, but sometimes that ‘little better’ has little bearing on the actual NBA games being played, and the path of the long-term process diverges significantly with the path of the regular season.

The problem with the metaphorical cruise control is that it can be really easy to get stuck in it. Sometimes the playoffs jar you out of it violently, and sometimes they completely overwhelm you, submarining an otherwise magnificent season.

In this regard, the Spurs have the best first-round draw in the NBA, perhaps one of the best ever. The 2016 Memphis Grizzlies are not the lovable grit-and-grind Grizzlies that we’ve faced (and beaten) so many times over the last half-decade. This is a Grizzlies team decimated by injury, fielding a roster barely above D-League standards. They limped into the playoffs, only winning 1 of their final 11 games, sliding from the 5-seed down to the 7-seed.

They might be the worst playoff team of all-time, and that’s not hyperbole. There’s no way they should beat the Spurs. If it goes longer than 5 games, it should be considered a huge over achievement and a mild upset for the Spurs.

I don’t even feel the need to do analysis, positional match-ups, X-factors, secret keys, or any other prognostication work. The Spurs got the luck of the draw, and have a pretty easy road into the second round. Even saying it aloud can’t jinx it.

The upside? Perhaps this match-up can knock the Spurs out of cruise control without upsetting any of the delicate machinery. The Spurs can use the four (maybe five) games to regain rhythm, get used to the increased intensity (because you know the Grizzlies can still bring that), get their sharpness back, and perhaps even work out a few wrinkles for the next round.

About that next round: beating the Thunder is not a given. Plenty of people are talking like the Spurs-Warriors Western Conference Finals is a given, an immutable fact of fate. Not so fast. This OKC team is scary, would still have two of the three best players in the series, and are probably playing better than the Spurs, in the aggregate, over the last month. If the two teams had to start a series today, I’d probably pick the Thunder, based on what I’ve seen from the Spurs in April.

But that series, if it happens, is still a few weeks away. A lot can change in a few weeks. The Spurs have a favorable first round opponent. Let’s hope they use it to their advantage.

Go Spurs Go.