2017 Western Conference Semifinals
San Antonio 99, Houston 126
Rockets lead series 1-0
Uff da.
That was as thorough an ass-kicking as you’ll find in the NBA Playoffs. The Spurs looked like the back-ups to a D-league team, and the Rockets looked like a professional basketball team.
This was absolutely the worst-case scenario for the Spurs in this series, the game illuminating every possible scenario in which the Rockets could beat them. Are the Spurs athletic enough? Can their bigs keep up? Can they match the Rockets pace? Can they dictate the flow of the game? Can they generate enough offense to keep up? Can their defense hold up.
That’d be a resounding “NO” to every question.
So the optimist can look at this and think: there is literally no way the Rockets can play better, and no way the Spurs can play worse; so surely the remaining games will be more competitive.
To which the pessimist might say: So?
Did this game show us anything that gives even a glimmer of hope for the Spurs? Yes, the Rockets probably won’t shoot as well from deep the rest of the series. So? Yes, the Spurs will likely shoot better, and show a bit more composure, and figure out some schemes to slow the Rockets down. So? Yes, the playoffs are all about adjustments, and Game 2 is when the chess match begins. So?
What do you think the Spurs can change? Who on that roster (besides Kawhi) do you think can hang against this Rockets team?
Green can hang, but he has to hit shots. Dedmon probably needs to play as the only big who can move with any fluidity, but he showed no ability to handle the emotional pressure of the playoffs. Simmons showed the athleticism to stay on the court. Bertans has the shooting and the size to stay with the Rockets bigs. Will Pop trust them for major minutes in the second round of the Playoffs?
There are myriad problems, but it seems to start with the bigs. The Rockets will spread them out until they collapse. Lee, Gasol, and Aldridge all struggle to guard in space, and the Rockets create more space than any other team in the league. The Rockets were making a concerted effort to pick on all three of those bigs, to great effect.
Every Spurs fan is piling on to Aldridge in the aftermath in Game 1. He derserves it. We brought him in to be the #2 star behind Kawhi; while the loss is not his fault, his inability to fill that role is a big reason the Spurs have underperformed in the playoffs since his arrival. He has to give the team something. Scoring would be nice, but it can also be rebounds, ball movement, screens, anything. Monday night, it was nothing.
The Rockets are going to overload Kawhi any time he touches the ball, and right now the Spurs have no ability to make them pay for this strategy. The defense sucked, and can be better in Game 1. But if the offense doesn’t get unstuck, it still probably won’t matter.
One glimmer of hope comes from last season. The Spurs destroyed the Thunder in Game 1, only to lose the series in six games.
But that series also shines a light on the reason we all feel so much dread after this Game 1: the Spurs have shown, time and again, that when they are outmatched in a series, they capitulate rather easily. They still play gamely, but they have no extra gear to go to, no deep reserve of resolve. When they’re not the better team, it becomes obvious quickly.
Monday night sure felt like that.
Here’s hoping Wednesday brings us a different result and better news. I’d like to be watching Spurs game past this weekend.
Go Spurs Go.
