Season 51, Game 28
San Antonio 89, Dallas 95
19-9, 3rd in the West
Let’s start with the good news: KAWHI LEONARD MADE HIS SEASON DEBUT FOR THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS ON TUESDAY NIGHT.
If there was any doubt that Leonard would be effective in his first NBA game since May, it was quickly erased. Kawhi showed a few signs of rust, losing the ball a couple times (he wasn’t credited with any official turnovers), but he shot 6-12, including a three pointer for 13 points. The All-Star forward also recorded six rebounds to go along with an assist, a steal, and a block in his 16 minutes of play.
It’s safe to say that Kawhi is back and doesn’t look any worse for his time away from the game. His final minutes came halfway through the third quarter, which is a shame, because if he was even able to play for four or five more minutes in the fourth quarter, San Antonio might not have blown this one.
Which leads me to the bad news…
Besides Kawhi, the only other person who traveled with their offense to Dallas was Rudy Gay, San Antonio’s front-runner for the Sixth Man of the Year award. Gay finished the night with 21 points, going 8-11 from the field, including two three pointers in 27 minutes of work.
What went wrong? San Antonio came out sluggish, trailing nearly the entire first half. They shot 40% on the night, including a dismal 25% from behind the arc. The Spurs only connected on 12 of their 19 free throws. Two of those misses were comically bad misses by Gay and Manu Ginobili – the latter of whom was lucky to even hit the rim in an early miss from the line.
Despite their shooting woes, the Spurs only trailed 44-46 at halftime, thanks to a Bryn Forbes bank-in three at the buzzer. It appears the young guard is destined to keep Tim Duncan’s signature bank shot alive in the modern NBA’s 3-point bonanza and I am 100% here for it.
San Antonio mustered a little offensive outburst after the break, starting the third quarter on a 7-0 run and reclaiming the lead for the first time since the opening seconds of the game. The Spurs would hold that lead until a J.J. Barea to Dwight Powell alley-oop early in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks would never relinquish that 71-69 lead, pushing it to as many as 11 points and handing San Antonio it’s first loss in their last five games.
On a night that opened with such excitement, it was disappointing to see the Spurs lose to a seven-win team in game where they were never really out of it. If they only had one more six or seven point run in them, we’d probably be looking at a W.
In a way, this game perfectly embodied the young season for San Antonio. Without Kawhi, they’ve kept things close, maintaining a hold on the West’s third seed, but it is all too clear that without their perennial MVP candidate able to play a full game, the Spurs just aren’t good enough to overcome a poor shooting night from their lesser stars.
- I’m a huge fan of the LaMarcus Aldridge, Gay, Forbes, Ginobili, and Patty Mills lineup. They’re really fun to watch, despite the fact that those five finished a combined -35 in +/-.
- Sean Elliott said that when Kyle Anderson returns from his injury, he thinks that the Spurs will have the deepest team in the NBA, and that San Antonio essentially has two starting-quality units. I don’t disagree!
- Gregg Popovich used 10 different players in the first quarter. It’s going to be really fun to see his lineup experiments now that Kawhi is back. It’ll be even more fun in a few weeks when (hopefully) Anderson recovers from his recent injury.
- Second year point guard Dejounte Murray didn’t see the court until the bitter end of the fourth quarter. I’m shocked he’s fallen this far in the rotation. Meanwhile Coach Pop went to Forbes and Brandon Paul for meaningful minutes in the first quarter.
- In case you missed it, Kawhi does karate now. #KARATESTYLE
San Antonio continues its Tour de Tejas with a road matchup against the scorching hot Houston Rockets on Friday.
Go Spurs Go.
