The Spurs fell to the Bucks on Tuesday and I found myself gazing into the pixels of my television saying repeatedly, “Wait, what?”

This game might have been one of the biggest eye rolls of the season, as the Spurs are miles ahead of this Milwaukee team, yet somehow managed to find a way to lose this game.

It was honestly quite annoying from the perspective of a Spurs fan in California who didn’t get to start the game until about 10:15 p.m., loyally watching in its entirety, even though a 57 minute commute in the pouring rain at 6 a.m. was only hours away.

Sure, the Spurs were without LaMarcus Aldridge, but they squandered this game. I’ve been a pretty loud critic of LA, but it was clear how badly this team needed a second option late in the game. Everyone seemed out of sorts. Even Kawhi committed a bizarre touch foul near the end of the 1st half, to a guy no one has ever heard of, while shooting a three from half court with two seconds left in the half.

Wait, what?

The Spurs have a plethora of capable players who can fill in as second fiddle to the Klaw. However, last night it seemed obvious that the role of third option is undefined. We tend to think in order of hierarchy and structure. If Kawhi is one, and LA is two, then someone must be three, right? If Tony Parker is the number one PG and Patty Mills is two, then that clearly makes Dejounte Murray number three, obviously.

Well, not exactly.

The Spurs have typically fully embraced the cliché of “next man up.” A lot of teams claim to adhere to the adage, but the Spurs actually believe in it. But this year, it seems to be a bit… off. No one seems to be really quite sure who the third guy up is.

Is it Pau Gasol? Or Tony Parker? Yea, but Patty scores. Then again, Danny Green gets paid $10 million a year. Manu Ginobili is also there. Is Boris Diaw still available?

Now granted, there is no real shortage of talent on this team. There are role players for days. With Juice, the Latvian Mamba and Dwizzy Dwayne all being nice surprises in the middle to end part of the rotation, anyone can score in a variety of ways.

But on a night when Antekeo… Antotake… the Greek Freak (thank God for that nickname)… was limited to nine minutes, the “next man up” mentality was shaky at best.

Kawhi is clearly the Alpha on this team and contributed another 30 point game. Team scoring was balanced from a stat sheet perspective. But late in the game, the Spurs needed that second punch guy to kind of help out a bit. You know, command a double team, or something.

This Bucks team is too freaking long for a lot of the Spurs guards. They hounded Kawhi all night and he still played admirably. But this was the first time all season where it really showed how badly the Spurs need LaMarcus on this team. We all want him to be either a) the LaMarcus Aldridge that abused Tiago Splitter three years ago, or b) Tim Duncan incarnate. And he’s neither of those two things, but every bit as valuable if this team wants to make a real playoff run.

At the moment, everyone is so caught up in being a role player, that no one is really comfortable being the next guy up. Tony and Manu can’t do it every night, which is completely fine. But they are also learning to adjust to their new role. How often should they defer to Kawhi? How often should they take over? Can their body still take over anyways?

And let me say this: Manu did not lose that game last night. He might have missed the game winner, but that shot was about as good as you could hope for as far as game winners go. A wide-open three-ball, from the corner, from a hall-of0famer, who has been in the league since the 60s, at home, in rhythm? I’ll take my chances. The ball goes in or it doesn’t. (I mean, it did hit the side of the backboard and resembled me in my Tuesday night 30+ league, but whatever. You are old, not me).

The point is, now is the time to find out who the “next man up” is. Against a Bucks team in January playing without Antekeotekskeofhfahfabfgwaffweyuufgu, without LaMarcus Aldridge in the huddle, and without playoff elimination game on the line.

On the surface this looked bad, but in reality, this is the appropriate time to have these growing pains.

It’s fine that Patty Mills got outplayed by Matthew Dellavedova.

It’s fine that Malcolm Brogdon had 17 points and man-handled Tony Parker.

It’s fine that Michael Beasley had a season high 28 points and Pau Gasol had six.

It’s fine that Kyle Anderson suddenly has fallen out of the rotation and will probably be a “throw-in” on some random trade in the next 24 months.

It’s fine that Patty Mills has the highest Player Efficiency Rating of any guard on the roster.

IT’S FINE THAT ZAZA PACHULIA HAD MORE ALL-STAR VOTES THAN KAWHI IN THE FIRST ROUND OF VOTING.

Look, I’m mad that the Spurs lost to the Bucks. I’m mad that the Warriors still have a better record. I’m mad that the Spurs haven’t found their full post-Tim Duncan identity yet. And I’m mad that our guys keep getting gastroenteritis. (STOP EATING TACO CABANA ON GAME DAYS.)

But I’d much rather these things happen in January than June.

Featured photo credit: ESPN