Season 48, Game 59
San Antonio 101, Phoenix 74
36-23, 7th in the West
The Spurs won by 27 and it wasn’t even that close.
After struggling for four straight games (and for a good portion of the season, if we’re honest), the Spurs seemed to find a little bit of something in the 4th quarter against the Kings last night. Whatever they found seemed to carry over tonight in Phoenix, as the team was sharp and focused from the jump, playing lock-down defense and ball-moving offense to run the Suns out of the gym early.
It was really the defense that was most impressive. Holding Phoenix to a franchise-low 24 points in the first half is ridiculous. It made their 17-point 3rd quarter look down right impressive. The only reason the Suns got to 74 points was that the game was essentially over after 3 and the Spurs’ defensive intensity let down as their best defensive players sat down.
Spearheading the defense was Kawhi Leonard. Oh man, did he have a defensive game. He was tasked with guarding Bledsoe, who will most likely have nightmares about Kawhi (and his arms and hands) for the next few weeks. If he wasn’t just out and out taking the ball away from him, he was basically preventing him from dribbling anywhere or making any passes other than swing passes. He just shut down their entire offensive system.
I’ve noticed that Kawhi’s strength as a defender is guarding on the ball, taking ball dominant players from the dribble. This is why he has such great success against players like LeBron and Durant (arguably the two best players in the game), but then seems to struggle against players like Rudy Gay and Gordon Hayward, who play more off the ball. You can lose him on screens and cuts (though he’ll always get a good contest in on your shot), but once he has you squared up with the ball, he has the advantage.
With Leonard shutting down Bledsoe, and Splitter and Duncan (and later Baynes) protecting the rim, all that was open for the Suns were long jumpers, mostly contested. This is good defense on its own, and it was helped out by the Suns just being ice cold.
Leonard was also fantastic on offense. He seemed confident and decisive, perhaps the two most important aspects of his offensive game. He worked in the post, drove to the basket, and had some great coast to coast plays off rebounds and steals. Once he had the rest of his game going, he started going to the jump shot, and wouldn’t you know it, it was falling. Perhaps this is the key to his offense: his jump shot keys off of everything else. So get him going in the flow of the game, and his jump shot will be there late.
This was Finals MVP Kawhi, and if we have this Kawhi with a solid supporting cast, the Spurs are still one helluva team.
As big of a rout as this game was, it would’ve been even greater if the Spurs could hit an open 3. The Spurs shot just 21% from 3, hitting only 4 all game. Only 2 of those came before garbage time, and both by Green. Mills in particular was abominable from deep, and his stroke just hasn’t come around this season. He hit 2 long twos and 1 three late in the game, and maybe that will help his stroke. The ball movement is slowly starting to come around, but the team still needs to hit those wide open shots at the end of the offense.
One final note from this game: it’s nice to see Tiago back in the starting line-up and playing well. He’s had his struggles this season, but this team just makes more sense when he starts next to Tim. Over the last two games he’s looked more sure of himself, he’s been moving a lot better in the offense, and has been stronger on defense. If this holds, it will be a big boost to the team, as it sets up a formidable big-man rotation.
Baynes has also been incredible this season, showing that he’s not all brawn and brute. He has an incredibly soft touch around the rim, and work so well with Manu, Patty, and the rest of that second unit. He filled in as a starter well, but he is better with the second unit. Tim and Tiago starting with Aron and Boris off the bench is a strong playoff big man rotation. Size, shooting, post play, rebounding, defense, passing, cutting: everything you need.
The Spurs close out the Rodeo Road Trip with two strong wins, but, at 4-5, with their first losing RRT ever. (Though, in 2007, they were 4-4, and ended the season winning the title; it doesn’t always have to be a 7- or 8-win outing.) This is usually the time of year when the team comes together and starts its playoff push. Maybe that is what we’ve seen over these last two games. Maybe it’s just an aberration, as this has been such an odd season.
Tonight’s win is promising, though. And the team now heads home for a 6-game homestand with games against Sacramento, Denver, Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, and Minnesota. That could easily be 5-1; it should definitely be no worse than 4-2. It could be that this season the “coming together” happens a bit later.
The Spurs are 4 games up in the loss column on OKC for the 8 seed, and only 1 game in the loss column back from Dallas for 7 and 2 games back from the Clippers for 6. There’s still a lot to be figured out. If the Spurs can get any positive momentum, they’ll be a factor in the post-season.
Same as it ever was.
The Spurs now have 3 full days off before the Kings come to town Wednesday night.
