Season 50, Game 54
San Antonio 90, New York 94
41-13, 2nd in the West

Of course the Spurs lose to the Knicks at the end of the week in which the Knicks craziness completely out-Knicks’ed even the Knicks. Of course.

Follow all of that?

Perhaps it’s just because it sticks fresher in the mind, but it seems like the Spurs have a tough time playing the Knicks, especially in New York. Two years ago, the Spurs lost in New York in probably the worst loss of the season, one of a few games that potentially cost them the 2-seed that year.

Factor in this trouble with the Knicks in New York with the fact that they were playing a Sunday matinee in the city that never sleeps, and this had loss written all over it.

I hoped it wouldn’t happen. For a while, things looked promising. Despite shooting poorly, the Knicks were turning the ball over and giving up offensive rebounds like crazy, giving the Spurs a slight edge in the first half. (After a while, all the offensive rebounds just became a form of cruel torture, as we had to watch twice as many bricked shots.) With about 3 minutes left in the half, the Spurs led 48-36, and seemed poised to seize a modicum of control on the game.

About 7 minutes of game time later, the score was 51-48–the Knicks going on an extended 15-0 run–and the Spurs never had control of the game again.

Kawhi played great, shaking off a slow start to do his best to keep the team in contact. But there just weren’t enough contributions elsewhere on the roster to counteract the surprisingly competent and inspired play of the Knicks. This is a pretty consistent theme in these losses: Kawhi playing great, and no one else showing up.

We can look a lot of places, but Aldridge needs to be singled out. Once again, he didn’t shoot it well, and seemed hesitant and unsure of himself on offense. We know it’s a slow transition to the Spurs offense, and we know he is in his head a bit, but it’s been a season and a half–146 games!!–and he’s still not all there. How much time is enough time? Last season he came on strong at the end, so maybe he will again. At some point, though, there aren’t any more excuses, and this is just the player he is, making $84 million.

It’s not all on Aldridge, obviously. The team shot 36% from the floor, just under 21% from deep. For the second time in 4 games, it was a truly abysmal shooting night. The shots were mostly there: the team just didn’t hit them. You just have to shrug your shoulders, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be frustrated.

And yet, the team was right in this until the very end. As bad as the afternoon was, they could have stolen this game. And they should have. You want to hear a fun stat (which you would have heard on the broadcast many times if you watched)? The Knicks have lost 12 games this year by less than 5 points; 7 games since Jan 1st by less than 4! They do not know how to close out close games. Factor in the drama of the recent week, and they seemed ready to implode.

But they didn’t. One play late encapsulated the whole evening. Mills got a steal and was breaking down court on a one-on-one fast break. A layup seemed assured. Instead, he bobbled the ball enough to let the defender back in the play. No mind, he had a teammate streaking down the middle of the floor with him. As Mills tried to shuffle the ball to his teammate, he instead gave it right to his defender, how passed it ahead to Carmelo Anthony for a quick strike 3-pointer.

A certain tie went to a 5-point game instead. That’s pretty much the story of the game.

And now the team has to turn around and play the Pacers–who have been playing well recently–on Monday night. The Spurs should beat them, but the way they’ve been playing recently, who knows.

Go Spurs Go.