In the second installment of 3 in the Key™, Trace Ronning and Dan Strickland discuss the fifth game of the season, the Spurs 91-106 loss at home to the Utah Jazz.

First, let’s get Trace’s three takeaways…

Well, there was no record-setting 5-0 start to the season for this year’s San Antonio Spurs. But the way the very-talented Utah Jazz played Tuesday night, it’s hard to be too mad at the short-handed Spurs for dropping this contest.

Did we learn anything?

Absolutely. If your opponent shoots 50% from the field – including 48% from behind the arc – it is hard to win a game in the NBA. But we also learned a few more things about this team:

Kawhi found his three and reminded us that he’s a monster on offense

After starting the season just 4-15 from 3-point range, Kawhi shot a cool 5-7 from deep against the Jazz, and even got to the foul line on an attempt that nearly went in anyway. He scored 30 points, grabbed 7 boards, and notched 2 steals on a night that only saw him get to the free throw line five times. I’m looking forward to seeing him get better at drawing fouls on a nightly basis. It’s scary to imagine how many points Kawhi can average getting to the line 8-10 times a game.

When the Spurs hit that extra gear, they’re otherworldly

With 9:02 to play in the second quarter, the Spurs found themselves down 47-31 after yet another Jazz 3-point shot (they made 15 in the game, compared to San Antonio’s 6). The Jazz wouldn’t score again until Rudy Gobert made a free throw with 3:18 left in the quarter to make it a 48-46 game.

During the six minutes that passed between Jazz scores, the Spurs:

  • Shot 6-for-7, including two 3-pointers
  • Outrebounded the Jazz 7-3
  • Blocked two Jazz shots and forced 7 missed shots

And they did it while only drawing one shooting foul. (Dedmon split his free throws). And again, the Jazz are no slouches – this was an impressive effort by San Antonio. Scoring in bunches like this was something that worried me going into the season, but the first week of the season has certainly calmed my fears.

Defensive help would be great

George Hill and Rodney Hood really hurt the Spurs tonight by giving San Antonio a taste of their own medicine. The Jazz moved the ball around in Beautiful Game fashion and constantly found themselves with wide open looks, especially in the first quarter. While the Spurs were able to overcome that first half deficit and take a brief second half lead, Utah made San Antonio pay for every inch of separation they gave up and never relented on offense.

Part of the problem was that Utah could not miss a shot for most of the game, but the other problem was sluggish defense by the Spurs. Tony Parker and Dewayne Dedmon were completed abused when they were on the court. Getting Danny Green back will certainly help wing defense, and hopefully take some pressure off Parker, but the defense at Center is going to be an issue, especially against teams with athletic big men like Rudy Gobert or, say, DeAndre Jordan, who San Antonio will seefaceSaturday night.

The Spurs get another crack at stopping Utah’s offense on Friday.

Now Dan weighs in…

I’m more disappointed by last night’s game than I should be, I suppose.

I really wanted the Spurs to start the season at 5-0, which they’ve never done before.

I really wanted this squad to beat a team that featured two of their former teammates: Boris Diaw (who didn’t play) and George Hill (who killed us). (Btw, Boris has looked awful in three games for the Jazz. Is he done? Maybe. I hope not.)

And I really hate to see the Spurs lose at home. You’ll recall that our team had the best home record in the league last season at 40-1. They’re now 1-1 at AT&T this go round. Hmm.

Trace is right: it’s difficult to win when your opponent shoots well. But how much of that comes down to poor defense?

After five games, the Spurs’ defensive rating is a ho-hum 98.8, between the Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets. That’s not impressive.

The Spurs offensive rating, on the other hand, is fourth best in the league, behind the Bulls, Cavaliers, and Timberwolves. (What?)

My three takeaways, in no particular order, are:

The Spurs can’t rely too much on Kawhi.

Kawhi has been on a tear, breaking all kinds of Spurs records and league records. And he has already singlehandedly won a couple games for San Antonio. But Spurs basketball is team basketball. There were mismatches all over the court Tuesday night. Guys need to step up and take advantage. They can’t wait for Kawhi to bail them out of games like they seemed to do last night.

Pau Gasol needs to play better. Soon.

We all know Gasol is no spring chicken. And any new player will take time to get comfortable with the Spurs system. The thing that makes Gasol really exciting is that he can be a big offensive upgrade at the 5 from Duncan. And yet…

After five games, Pau is averaging a career-worst 14.0 points per 36 minutes. Last season he averaged 18.7 points per 36 minutes and his career average is 18.6.

On the other hand, Pau has looked good on defense and has been a monster on the block, averaging 11.3 rebounds per 36 minutes and 1.8 blocks.

Let’s see how he does against Gobert and the Jazz in tomorrow night’s rematch.

The Tony Parker problem is real.

We’ve been wondering about Tony for a few seasons now. I for one always worried that his aggressive, full tilt, balls-to-the-wall play in his twenties would catch up to him in his thirties. That now appears to be the case.

Tony is averaging just 7.5 points per 36 minutes. His lowest output was during his rookie season, when he averaged 11.2 points.

He’s averaging only 5.4 assists per 36 minutes. Again, his low mark was during his rookie year, when he averaged 5.3

Let’s hope Tony is able to reclaim some of his spark, or transitions gracefully into a smaller role and fewer minutes.

Don’t get me wrong. I really like what I’ve seen from this Spurs team so far. In fact, I think they might be better than the squad that won a franchise-best 67 games last season.

And this Spurs team will get better. Of that I’m certain.

Btw, I think Utah should give “Jazz” back to New Orleans, because that City deserves it.

Until next time… Go Spurs Go.