Season 50, Game 15
San Antonio 119, Charlotte 114
12-3, 3rd in the West

With the man himself sitting courtside, Kawhi Leonard put on his most Jordanesque performance to date. Drawing on all eras of his career, he fearlessly attacked the rim, he dropped step-back jumper after step-back jumper, he drew enough offensive attention to open things up for other players, and he played defense like there were 2 or 3 of him on the court.

All Michael could do was shake his head.

Kawhi scored 30 (on a career-high 14 made baskets) and the Spurs needed every single one of those points. The Hornets are a very good team (they’d be my sleeper pick for 2nd best team in the East), and they play a lot like our Spurs: stout defense, ball control, highly-executed offense, intelligent and precise basketball. They are a joy to watch.

While both teams pride themselves on defense, they put on a clinic of beautiful offense Wednesday night. It was a game played at the highest of levels, a complete joy to watch. Made more so by the Spurs win, of course.

A few more thoughts on the game:

• There’s going to be a season-long national discussion centered around “Is Tony Parker washed up?” If you don’t watch the Spurs and only see the numbers, you’ll probably think “yes”. The numbers (and perception) are skewed by the first few games of the season when Tony was attempting to play through a nagging knee injury. Eventually the numbers will even out.

Since Tony has come back, he is averaging 12.5 points and 5 assists per game. Not earth-shattering, but far from washed up. Most importantly, the Spurs haven’t lost a game since his return. (The one game he sat out in that stretch, against Dallas, was the worse they’ve looked.) He’s also averaging a +/- of +11.5. The Spurs average margin of victory in that span is 6.3 points. He is having a positive impact.

To paraphrase Kawhi (ok, not exactly but close enough): If you don’t see what Tony’s doing for this team, then you don’t know sh#t.

Tony’s not washed, and he’s still critical to the team’s success.

• Bertans continues to impress in his limited minutes. He hit all 4 of his shots in the game, including 3 from 3. What continues to be the most surprising and exciting part of his game is his defense. He moves his feet so well and has good instincts in the paint. As his understanding of the system continues to grow, so should his impact and role on the team.

• Aldridge seems to be slowly rounding into form. We need his offense to be a great team.

• I’m enjoying the budding bromance between Gasol and Parker. Parker is working hard to get him involved in the offense early, and Gasol is returning the favor with his beautiful high post passing. Gasol hit Parker for the game-sealing corner 3, and Parker immediately went over to Gasol for the hug (with a wry wink thrown in). Considering their respective nation’s basketball rivalry, it’s cute to watch.

• After his hot start, Simmons seems to be struggling to play consistent and positive minutes. He still shows flashes, but seems hesitant and unsure of himself for long stretches. With Anderson’s stunted development this season, that leaves a pretty big hole at the back-up 3 so far this season. I think both can be positive contributors, but they need to start putting it together.

• Did we mention Kawhi played like Michael Jordan last night? If so, it bears repeating.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Spurs fan out there! I’m thankful I get to cheer for this team, and I’m thankful I get to write about this team, but mostly I’m thankful for the wonderful friendships my fandom has brought into my life. Perhaps I’m biased, but Spurs fans are the best people out there.

The Spurs play a post-Thanksgiving matinee in Boston today.

Go Spurs Go.

Season 50, Game 14
San Antonio 96, Dallas 91
11-3, 3rd in the West

Coach Pop gets the first word after Monday’s uninspiring win against the Dallas Mavericks:

In all honesty, that should probably be the last word, as well. Watching the game, I didn’t see things quite the same as Pop. Yes, the Spurs didn’t play all that inspired against a very short-handed but scrappy Mavs team.

To be fair, though, the Spurs were without Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge. To compound the loss of those two stalwarts, Pop started two unproven rookies – Dejounte Murray and Davis Bertans – rather than substituting more capable back-ups. It’s good experience for the young players, but it is a bit disingenuous to throw them to the wolves, then complain that the wolves tore them apart.

Games like this are always trap games. It’s hard to bring your best against a team that doesn’t have a best. Sure, Seth Curry did his best impersonation of his brother in the game. And Harrison Barnes and Wesley Matthews played up to their lofty contracts. Rick Carlisle is a wizard. Even with all of that (and the Spurs playing sub-optimally), the Spurs were able to hang around and pull out the win.

We know why Pop said what he said, though. He likes to rip into his team early in the season. He’s just looking for a game that gives him any excuse to question their toughness, their fiber. He wants to stay on them, to head off complacency at the pass.

This season it’s even more critical to keep on the team. They’ve lost Tim Duncan, their compass. They have more questions up and down the roster than any other season in the last 19. And the two teams ahead of them in the West are clearly better. If they want to make any noise in the playoffs, they need to come together and play to the absolute best of their abilities and chemistry.

In that prism, it’s easy to see why Pop was so agitated after the game. Sure, it was enough to beat the Mavs. It was also enough to get run off the floor by the Clippers and shot out of the gym by the Warriors. That is the night-to-night and season-long standard by which Pop is measuring all else. The rest is just noise and process.

Thankfully, it’s Thanksgiving, not Easter, and the team has a lot of time to figure it out and calm Pop down. (Just kidding: Pop has no coaching chill.)

The Spurs travel to Charlotte to play the Hornets tonight. They always seem to play poorly there. Here’s hoping that changes this season.

Go Spurs Go.