2016 Western Conference Playoffs, First Round
San Antonio 96, Memphis 87
Spurs lead series 3-0
At the end of the third quarter, the Grizzlies had the rarest of things in this series: a lead. They had fought, scrapped, and clawed their way to a 1-point margin in the first 36 minutes.
They had successfully ‘mucked it up’. That’s the best way to describe a severely undermanned team’s best strategy to beat a clearly superior squad: muck it up. Fight for offensive boards, get deflections and steals, slow it down when they want to speed it up, go fast when they’re trying to play in control. Make the pace and the game unpredictable. Get physical. Get in their heads. Kill all rhythm and ‘beauty’ in the game. Make it a defensive struggle.
The problem is that this is mostly how the Spurs want to play, too. The Spurs are the elite muck team. While the foundation of ‘the beautiful game’ is still in there, and the guiding principle of the offense is still ball movement, player movement, and selflessness, this version of the Spurs is about high-level muckiness.
The defense is stingy and opportunistic and pesky and will grind you into the ground and/or just clean take the ball from you. The offense is isolation heavy, with players who know how to impose their will in the low block, slicing you to death with jumper after jumper, all the while wearing you out side to side with relentless off-ball action.
Want to play scrappy and make every possession a grind-it-out chore? We thought you’d never ask. This is the world in which these Spurs would prefer to live. (And hope to drag their next two opponents to, but that’s another story for another day.)
So against any other team, you might say the Grizzlies had them right where they wanted them after three quarters. Only it was right where the Spurs wanted to be, too.
Photo Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
In the 4th quarter, the Spurs defense suffocated Memphis to the tune of 16 points. On the other end, Kawhi Leonard took over, scoring 13 of his 32 points in the final frame. If he wasn’t bullying his way to the rim, he was hitting back-breaking threes. Or blocking shots and pulling down rebounds in traffic. He was everywhere, imposing his will on the game and (mostly) putting the series to bed.
While ‘the muck’ doesn’t make for the most exciting basketball, it often makes for winning basketball in the playoffs. Most teams that win titles do so by embracing this side of their game. (This is partly what makes the 2014 title even more impressive: the Spurs imposed their will with elegant basketball.) Even last year’s Warriors team used more grit and toughness than they get credit for.
Maybe this year’s Spurs team isn’t quite as enjoyable to watch as past vintages. And maybe the specter of the Warriors’ utter dominance is dispiriting. In some ways, though, I’m more optimistic about this squad. Playoff basketball is just ‘basketball’ to them, the only way they know how to play, and the way they’ve been playing for the last 6 months.
In the next few rounds, when the games get tight down the stretch, and every possession is a complete battle, and things get completely ‘mucky’, we know we have a team we can trust in those conditions.
In fact, it may be the only condition in which we can win our next title.
Game 4 is Sunday afternoon in Memphis.
Go Spurs Go.
