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Searching For Things To Worry About

Season 49, Game 42
San Antonio 112, Dallas 83
36-6, 2nd in the West

Eventually one of these slow starts is going to catch up to the Spurs.

Right?

A team as great as this Spurs team can’t continue to consistently put up sub-20 point first quarters, or fall into 10+ point deficits that early in the ball game. Even with a great defense that keeps them in every ball game, eventually it will cost the team a game, perhaps an important one in the playoffs.

To paraphrase the great Doug Collins: you can’t win the game in the first quarter, but you can definitely lose it.

It doesn’t seem to be a lineup issue: each one of the starters makes sense in their role, and they fit well together. It’s not a schematic thing. It’s not an energy thing. I can’t really pinpoint exactly what it is, it’s more a feeling, the sense that the team needs to “ease” into the ballgame.

Whatever the problem, more often that not it feels like it takes the insertion of the second unit to jump start the offense, and then the team is off to the races.

The slow starts makes what the team does in the last 3 quarters even more impressive. After scoring a mere 14 points in the first quarter against the Mavs, the team put up 98 over the final 3, outscoring Dallas by 31 points in the final 36 minutes. Imagine if they’d started the game that way?

And if we’re getting really particular, it wasn’t until about the 9-minute mark of the 2nd quarter that the team really got going, meaning they outscored the Mavs by roughly 30 points in 27 minutes. That’s…good.

The Mavs were kind enough to match our slow start: not every team will be so generous. In fact, there’s a certain team up near the bay that thrives on fast starts and burying teams in the first quarter.

The Spurs can’t mess around with them.

A few more thoughts from Sunday’s win against the Mavericks:

• I love how David West is fitting in with this team, getting more and more comfortable each game. And damn, that jumper is money. I think I trust his 18-footer the most on the team, which is high praise considering the competition in Aldridge and Leonard.

• Aldridge continues to get more and more comfortable, as well. I’ve been really impressed by how well he has integrated into the culture and the system, and really hasn’t forced his play or went hunting for his numbers. He’s played hard and down in the trenches.

And he’s starting to find his rhythm. He had a 13-point spurt in the 3rd quarter that essentially put the game out of reach. It looked like the Portland LaMarcus, but surrounded by the Championship Spurs. That’s a scary good combination.

Photo: Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images

• The secret master stroke of Pop’s work this season is how well he has integrated new (big) pieces, modified the style of play, seamlessly fit the roster together, AND really devoted time and resources to player development. We had no idea what the roster held after David West, and now it looks like we have at least 3 more legitimate playoff rotation pieces in Boban, Simmons, and Anderson.

Simmons, in particular, has been such a pleasant surprise. He brings such a unique and needed skill set to the team, but doesn’t sacrifice intelligence for pure athleticism. He’s a smart player and seems unafraid of the stage or the moment. He also takes coaching and is eager to fit into the team concept. It’s quite obvious that the coaches are telling him to shoot the open 3 more when it comes to him, rather than driving. And, voila, against the Mavs he hit back-to-back wide open 3s.

It’s a bit of a misnomer to call him a ‘rookie’, though. While technically true, it’s important to know that he is a 26 year old man, not a 19 year old fresh out of college. He has been fighting for his NBA career for half a decade, and nearly gave up before walking on to the Austin Spurs from an open tryout.

This is a ridiculously heartwarming story that will probably get a lot more attention if and when he starts playing more. Like Danny Green before him, he knows what he’s fighting for, and knows he is out of chances after this.

Just the kind of players the Spurs love.

The schedule gets a bit wonky. The team has 3 days off, before playing a Thursday-Friday back-to-back at the Suns and at the Lakers. Then they have two more days off before Monday’s showdown at Golden State that the entire league has been waiting months for.

Go Spurs Go.

Did Reggie Jackson Do Something To Tony’s Family?

Season 49, Game 40
San Antonio 109, Detroit 99
34-6, 2nd in the West

It actually started in the 2nd quarter. In my notes I wrote: “TP going at RJ (Reggie Jackson), mostly for good.”

Every so often you’ll see Parker get really aggressive in specific match-ups, and he’ll just go at that player on the offensive end. In the 2nd quarter, Parker got a couple good looks out of it, but also had a few selfish plays that hurt possessions.

(Photo: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports)

(Photo: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports)

But then that 3rd quarter. Oh my. Parker shot 7 for 7 for 14 points in about 4 minutes of action. His entire arsenal was on display. Blowing by defenders to get to the rim; acrobatic lay-ups in traffic; tear drops; the 18-foot jumper going left. He (literally) could not miss. It felt personal, like he wanted to humiliate Jackson.

Eventually the Pistons put Caldwell-Pope on him, a young player with defensive stopper potential. Didn’t matter. Tony bullied him in the paint for a floater then just blew by him to the rim as the big missed his help assignment.

Parker’s explosion gave the Spurs a cushion, and they needed every one of those fourteen points. The Pistons made a push to start the 4th, getting the lead down to as little as 5 points midway through the final quarter. Again, it was Parker that helped the team separate late, with a little help from Aldridge (who continues to remain red hot shooting) and Manu (who had a fantastic game in his own right).

Who didn’t have a great game? Kawhi. This is the most obvious, but it feels like Kawhi is in a bit of a mini-slump right now. His shot’s not falling, and it seems to have thrown him out of rhythm offensively. He is searching for foul calls and complaining when he doesn’t get them; his passing isn’t as sharp as it was earlier in the season; and it feels like he’s passing up open 3-pointers, and generally choosing the less-efficient option too often.

It also seems to be affecting his defensive performance, as well. He’s not having major defensive breakdowns – he’s way too good for that – but you notice little things: losing his man off the ball a bit too often; getting hung up on screens; and being just a moment late on switches.

Again, there’s nothing major here, and he’s still generally a force for good (though Pop did seem to pull him from the floor tonight in a manner more befitting Danny, as if being punished for his mistakes). A little slump might actually be good for him, in a weird way. It can help him re-focus and examine ways to get even better. Because as good as he’s been, he can be better.

Let’s hope he bounces back quickly, though, because one Mr. LeBron James will be visiting the AT&T Center Thursday night. And we know how he feels about Kawhi guarding him.

A few more thoughts from Tuesday’s win:

• It was quite the experience watching Baynes as the competition. I thought he played pretty well (he actually out-muscled Boban a few times) in general, but you could also see the Spurs’ vets just picking on him. Duncan had a couple post moves that left him flat footed, and Parker and Manu didn’t miss a chance to drive right at him.

• Eventually the Spurs will be punished for starting slow in the 1st quarter. Eventually. I can’t remember how many times I’ve had to write “bench unit saves us again” this season.

• Pop is slowly settling on some rotations. My favorite line-up might be the one after the first set of subs, when Manu, Patty, and Boris come in to play with LaMarcus and Kawhi. That is one fun line-up.

• Another favorite line-up? What some call the “Hall of Fame” lineup. The starters with Manu in for Danny Green.

• Andre Drummond is terrifying to play against. Much like DeAndre Jordan, it feels like the pick and roll alley-oop is there for him on every play. The Spurs did a great job boxing out and rebounding. This was made really clear on one play when Duncan clearly missed a box out and Drummond had an easy put back dunk.

Drummond is also a much worse free throw shooter than DeAndre, if that is possible. (It is.) The Spurs never resorted to intentional fouling, but were happy to just hack him every time he got the ball close to the rim. And it paid off: he only made 1 of 6.

Interestingly, Van Gundy opted to sit him the final 4-5 minutes of the game as the Pistons were mounting a comeback. I can understand up until the 2:00 mark (at which point you can no longer intentionally foul), but I’m not sure why he didn’t bring him back in for the final 2 minutes.

• It feels like Patty’s shot has been off lately, and Jeff McDonald’s tweet confirms:

Patty was 7-26 coming into this game for 2016, and finished the night 1-7. So in six games in the new year, he is shooting 8-33, a frigid 24%. Much like Green’s shot, Patty’s shot is a big difference maker that really opens up the offense, often pushing the Spurs from ‘good’ to ‘great’.

Up next, the Cavs at home on a Thursday night TNT game. This should be a fun one.

Go Spurs Go.

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