Category: Featured (Page 10 of 78)

Season 49, Game 37
San Antonio 123, Utah 98
31-6, 2nd in the West

Two nights after beating the Milwaukee Bucks 123-98, the Spurs returned home and beat the Utah Jazz… 123-98. How’s that for consistency? In the Bucks game, though, the Spurs had 7 players score in double digits, while in the Jazz game, they had 8. Big differences.

It’s getting difficult to write about this team. Another 20+ point win? Yawn. Largest point differential ever through 37 games? That’s neat.

Wednesday’s game seemed over before it even started. The Jazz are missing 4 key rotation pieces, including both of their starting bigs. Even with Pop tinkering with lineups and playing no player more than 26 minutes, the Jazz just had no chance to keep up with the Spurs.

It’s hard to know just how good this Spurs team is. By basic and advanced metrics alike, they are on pace to be a historically great team. They are just clobbering opponents, leaving little doubt as to the outcome of the game by around the midpoint of the 3rd quarter.

The natural counter to this argument is that they’ve played a weak schedule. While true, there are two other mitigating factors.

1) The schedule looks a lot weaker because the West, in general, is a lot weaker. So games against the Grizzlies, the Rockets, the Mavs, the Pelicans, etc. suddenly look a lot less threatening than they did at the start of the season. If we’re being honest, there are only four truly elite teams that should signify a “difficult” game, and the Spurs are one of those teams. (If we’re being generous, we can put the Clippers in there, but they’re clearly a cut below the Top-4.) The Spurs play the Warriors 4 times, the Thunder 4 times, and the Cavs twice. Of those 10 games, they’ve only played 1. So yes, they have 9 “difficult” games ahead of them. The Spurs are playing at such a high level, though, that no other game should be deemed “difficult”. It’s not to say they won’t lose some of them, just that only three other teams can really draw even with them.

2) While the Spurs schedule has been “easy”, Pop has been tinkering around like a mad scientist, mixing and matching line-ups, testing different styles, putting different players in different roles. In general, he wants to know what he has. He’s more concerned with process than results right now. (And the team is still 31-6.)

The process has uncovered quite a few hidden gems. Marjanovic and Simmons have been revelations. McCallum showed his first signs of life in the Jazz game, showing off a nice mid-range game (similar to Parker’s) and a defensive tenacity that will serve him well on this team.

That’s two to three more legitimate rotation pieces come playoff time. Meanwhile, Pop is continuing to give Anderson time to grow into his game and his role. On most elite teams, Anderson would be riding the pine, still a year or two away. Pop is giving him plenty of opportunity, full well knowing that he might be two years away from contributing meaningfully in a playoff series. But if we need him this season, he’ll be ready.

Pop has also been easing the big names into their new roles. David West started the season slowly, but has looked much more comfortable over the last few weeks. That mid-range jumper is automatic, and he clearly enjoys playing with the pass happy second unit. Aldridge, as well, is looking more and more comfortable, and seems quite happy with his role on this team.

And of course, there’s Kawhi. In many ways, the first half of this season has been about showing Kawhi what he can be and what he should be, and then giving him the space to grow into it. We’ve all seen the results.

So yes, the Spurs have had an easy schedule. But they’ve been hard on themselves. In many ways, most of these games the opponent isn’t the other team, but rather themselves. The goal is to push the team and get better each game individually and as a collective. Winning is a byproduct of hard work.

Clearly the Spurs are working hard.

The Knicks come to town Friday night.

Go Spurs Go.