Season 49, Game 09
San Antonio 92, Philadelphia 83
7-2

In 200 years, when humans have destroyed the digital record in an attempt to thwart the inevitable uprising of our AI overlords, let’s hope the only record that remains of this game is this: on Saturday, 14 November 2015, the San Antonio Spurs professional basketball team defeated the Philadelphia 76ers professional basketball team by a final score of 92-83.

And still… a few more thoughts on Saturday’s game:

• The scouting report on the 76ers is that they will play hard for the entire game. They’re not good, so they won’t win a lot of games. But they’ll keep fighting. I imagine this is what allows them to claw their way back into games in the 4th quarter. It’s hard to sustain energy and focus against a team like this, and getting a comfortable lead early prompts many teams – even great ones – to let up. It’s human nature.

The Spurs opened up an 18-point lead in the 3rd quarter, and should have coasted from there. But those pesky 76ers kept playing hard, if inefficiently. With over 12 minutes of game-time left, though, there was plenty of time for them to chip away and back into the game.

It’s why Pop hates big leads too early.

• There’s actually one way in which a game like this provides a tremendous amount of value to the Spurs: quality minutes for middle of the rotation players. The best example of this is Kyle Anderson. He is young and will make a lot of mistakes, but he has unmistakable skill and talent. He needs minutes to grow as a player. Garbage time minutes provide some value, but real competitive game time minutes are invaluable.

Kyle is in a tough position. For one, he backs up Kawhi, which only provides about 10-15 minutes a night. He also plays on the Spurs, a veteran team with lofty goals. The Spurs can’t afford poor minutes from Anderson to affect wins and losses. So he has a short leash. Because of this, Butler – a veteran that Pop probably already trusts more – has soaked up a lot of his minutes.

So a game like this is gold for a player like Anderson. Given more time and more rope, he played a really solid game – 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals is a solid stat line. He also had a team-high +20. He hit a couple of wide-open corner 3s, a necessary skill for a Spurs’ role player. He made mistakes (and got a couple of stern talking-tos from Tony and Tim on the defensive end), but he also showed what value he adds.

The great thing about the Spurs coaching staff is that they try to focus on what a player can do, not what he can’t do, and put him in positions to succeed. Anderson still has a long way to go, but he is clearly in a position where he has the opportunity, the time, and the resources to achieve his goals.

• I contrast Anderson’s situation with the Spurs with what is happening in Philadelphia. The 76ers have nothing but court time to give to these youngsters, to play through all of their mistakes and figure it out. The problem is, they’re also playing through a lot of losing. A LOT of losing. At what point does this become detrimental to the growth of a young player? Without veteran leadership and guidance; without the ability to see how the hard work can lead to wins; without being shown the right way to do things; without there being consequences to mistakes and poor play; without all of these things, what actual growth is occurring?

Anderson gets a lot less playing time, but one could argue he has a much better chance of having a long career in this league.

• We also got to see the first non-garbage minutes for Ray McCallum. They were mostly positive. He seems to be in the mold of Patty Mills, a scoring PG with a high motor. He drove to the basket pretty easily a few times, and had some good defensive deflections and steals. It will probably be a long season of learning for him, but he seems to have the right attitude about wanting to soak up knowledge and wisdom from the players around him and really understand the system. Things might really start to click for him late in the season.

• It was also the NBA regular season debut of Jonathon Simmons. He played a lot better tonight than he did in the pre-season. I can see why the team is high on him.

• The box score showa that Tim Duncan had 5 blocks on the night, surpassing David Robinson as the all-time leader in blocks for the San Antonio Spurs and moving into 5th all-time in the NBA. I sure as heck didn’t see 5 blocks from him, but congratulations anyway. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Of all the things I love about Tim Duncan, his ability to block, and the way in which he does it, may be my favorite. He may also be one of the best ‘clutch’ shot blockers in NBA history.

• Tony Parker recorded his 6,000th assist Saturday night, as well. He played a solid game, showing the ways in which he can still lead and spark this team without bearing the responsibility of the entire offense. His jumper looked really solid, too, which will be more and more important as he ages.

• Aldridge had an insane 17 points and 19 rebounds and I barely noticed. That’s impressive. I continue to enjoy all of his non-scoring work for the team. While his shooting and scoring has been a little slow to start the season, he is proving to be a much more well-rounded player than I anticipated.

The Spurs host the Blazers on Monday night.

Go Spurs Go.