Season 48, Game 49
San Antonio 110, Orlando 103
31-18, 7th in the West
I didn’t watch this game live, so based upon what I saw on twitter, I assumed I was going to be angry and frustrated watching the game. How could the Spurs not dominate an underperforming Magic team on a 9-game losing streak at home? Championship teams don’t play close games at home to young squads like this.
And those thoughts are true, and there are larger issues for this Spurs team. But this game was just one of those games. The Magic have a lot of young talent on this team, a roster full of players who can look otherworldly on any given night. When 4-5 of those players all have plus games on the same night, the team is going to hang in. There was some lax defense on the part of San Antonio. but mostly it just seemed to be the Magic playing really hard, really well together, and making a lot of well-contested shots. They certainly have the talent for it.
The Spurs played tough and composed. Duncan had a vintage night, going for 26 and 10 against Orlando’s undersized front line. Manu also had a vintage night, with 13 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds. More importantly, he orchestrated the offense as only he can (on his “Good Manu” nights), and was at the epicenter of every big Spurs run. This season’s versions of Manu swing wildly between the bad and the good, but the good is still as good as ever. He seems especially great after a few days off, and it’s no coincidence that the team had 3 days off before this game.
While the team in general is not performing to expectations, there is hope in how well Manu is performing with rest and also how well he is playing when he functions as the quarterback and facilitator for the second unit, rather than as a primary scoring option. When he presses, he forces too many bad passes, turns the ball over, and generally hurts the team. But in games like this one, he is still a basketball visionary, able to get the right player the ball in the right spot and drive the offense in a way no other player can.
Kawhi also had another solid outing. Running the offense though him in the post continues to produce good results. Against smaller defenders, he can quite easily get his own quality shot. But he’s also learning how to tilt the defense towards him and open up the offense for others, and make the right pass to the right person at the right time. He is now creating wide open 3s off of his post ups, and also good looks at the rim off secondary action from the defense keying in on him. This is still a learning process, but a very promising trend.
Tony continues to confound a bit, but the game wasn’t as bad as twitter would have you believe. (Is anything as bad as twitter would have you believe?) The offense is still just not clicking at all with him in it, and he tends to be forcing a lot in an attempt to get his rhythm back. This is understandable. It’s also not a strict apples to apples comparison, as Tony mostly runs the offense with the first unit, which now features 3 players who can all excel in more isolation heavy one-on-one basketball (Tim, Tony, and Kawhi). The way the offense works around that isolation is critical, but it’s going to be a less pass-intensive offense than the second unit. While it is true that the second unit is currently more productive than the first unit, it’s not solely because of the passing and movement. The two units do different things.
The confusing part is it’s not entirely clear what is wrong with Tony. He might be just a half-step slower, but it’s not overly obvious. He is still getting to the rim, but he’s not finishing in his normally acrobatic ways. But the ball is still getting up on the rim with a chance to fall; it just isn’t anymore. Has he forgotten how to spin the ball? His jump shot still looks good, and he’s making those corner 3s at a high clip. But he also seems to be hitting less jumpers.
If we look on the bright side, it could be just a matter of days or weeks before we see our old friend, Tony Parker. He’s a lot closer than we might think. (The down side, which we won’t dwell on is that it’s mental and he’s in a lot of trouble, or this is the beginning of an inevitable decline.)
Pop made some comments before the game that this stretch of home games was basically training camp and the beginning of the season for this team. We still haven’t played a game with a full squad, as crazy as that sounds. (We had a chance tonight, but Tiago was out due to illness.) Marco finally came back healthy, and reminded us all why he’s an important part of this team. His shooting and spacing and movement is a perfect fit for this offense (particularly the second unit). We need that.
If we take Pop’s view, and the season really is just getting going, then there’s still time for this team to come together and recapture some of last year’s magic (pun intended). But the West is as brutal as ever, and they’ve dug a deeper hole than they’ve ever had to climb out of.
The Spurs finish off the homestand Friday night against the Heat, with a chance to go 5-1 during the stretch.
