Season 48, Game 54
Los Angeles Clippers 119, San Antonio 115
34-20, 7th in the West

That game was a hot mess.

Maybe it was the long All-Star Break layoff, but I feel like I don’t have the tools to properly process that game. I’m rusty at watching and analyzing Spurs games.

Which is fitting, because the Spurs seem to be rusty at playing Spurs games. There was a lot of All-Star Break rust out there on that court. Mills and Green both had air-balled threes and generally looked lost more often than not; Boris Diaw nearly dribbled the ball off of his own hands multiple times and was ineffective; Manu threw perfect passes to empty space on more than one occasion; Kawhi shot 1 for 11 and had perhaps his worst game of the last several seasons.

Kawhi looked really bad. Beyond missing 10 shots, his shot just looked flat. As Reggie Miller commented, he had no legs. Which is odd and worrisome considering that he hasn’t played an NBA game in a week. He just looked a step slow and out of sorts on both ends of the court. No play highlighted this better than the blown dunk/lay-up that was delivered on a platter to him from Manu. It’s fitting that he didn’t play most of the final quarter of the game. (This also means he’ll probably play heavy minutes tonight against Golden State, as Duncan and others may sit.)

The game was a jumble of runs and sudden tempo changes. Neither team could be bothered to play much defense, and the only way the Spurs could really stop the Clippers was by intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan. Regardless of how you feel about the tactic, it is sound strategy. In the first half, the Spurs turned a small deficit into a 6-point lead. In the second half, they stopped the onslaught of the Clippers’ offensive attack and got back into the game. The problem in the second half was that the Spurs had too many empty offensive possessions and could get all the way back. The intentional fouling only prevents points, it doesn’t score them. The Spurs offense was so out of whack (perhaps in part because of the funky line-ups being played to spread the fouls around) that it could hardly get open looks during the hacking period.

On the plus side, Tim Duncan was amazing, which should never be surprising. But he looked spry and his outside shot was falling. 30 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block is pretty impressive for anybody, let alone a 38-year old.

The best news of all, though, might have been the play of Tony Parker. For the first time in forever he looked like Tony Parker. He had his burst, and he was able to get by his defenders to get his own shots and also to set up big men inside and 3-poin shooters outside. He tilted and broke down the entire defense of the Clippers just by his activity, and wouldn’t you know it, for long stretches the Spurs offense looked like the Spurs offense of the last few seasons. This might just be a small blip with so much rest, or it might be a sign of things to  come. Let’s hope for the latter.

If only 1 or 2 more players might have joined TP and TD, the Spurs might have actually stolen this game.

And it was a game they needed to win. A win would have propelled them to 5th in the West; a loss keeps them stuck in 7th (though even in the loss column with the Mavs). Adding to that, the Spurs play a well-rested Warriors team on a back-to-back tonight. Given Pop’s resting strategy and how late last night’s game went, it seems more than likely that players will rest tonight. Winning both of these games always seemed like a stretch (though the Spurs did pull off 2 wins in the exact same back-to-back scenario very early in the season), so going for the win against the Clippers was an ‘all in’ move. Losing that game might actually mean 2 losses.

Looking at the rest of the rodeo trip, the team plays Utah, Portland, and Sacramento. They almost surely need to go 2-1 in that stretch (at Portland being the obvious candidate for the loss).

And it really has been a ‘2 steps up, 1 step back’ season with this team, unable to gain any positive traction but never really losing ground or ever looking terrible. It’s partly what makes this season so hard to read. The team doesn’t look great, but they also don’t look horrible. And the West is filled with a bunch of really good teams but no dominant team. So it’s impossible to rule out a run by the Spurs, even as all on-court activity indicates they just don’t have it this season.

But if any team can turn it around in the final third of the season, it’s these Spurs. Right?