Season 49, Game 78
San Antonio 101, Golden State 112
Season 49, Game 79
San Antonio 98, Denver 102
65-14, 2nd in the West
Here at Spurs Dynasty, we’re following our rooting interest’s lead and embracing an unorthodox resting regimen as we head towards the playoffs. We want our thinkers, writers, and editors to be in top form heading into the playoffs. There are no records we’re trying to break; we just want to bring you the best insight and analysis about our favorite team that we can.
So with a back-to-back starting in Oakland and ending in Denver, late in the season with nothing to play for, much like the Spurs, you can see some dereliction of duty here. The Spurs started Duncan, West, Miller, Anderson, and Simmons on Friday night in Denver. I’m willing to bet that group of players had logged exactly zero minutes together prior to the game in Denver.
There was zero expectation to win this game. Some might have been surprised to see Duncan playing, but it speaks to the primary purpose of the game: conditioning. With another bout with Golden State looming on Sunday, Duncan is likely to not play very much in that game. So Denver’s game becomes his condition and reps game.
And Duncan played great. He had his highest scoring output of the season, netting 21 points. He was active and engaged, clearly wanting the win.
When you rest six core players, though, you can hang tough for only so long before the cracks start to show. The Spurs had a real chance to win this game. They held a 4-point lead with about 4 minutes left. They had so many opportunities to extend that lead, as the Nuggets failed to score over the next 2+ minutes. The problem, of course, was that the Spurs also failed to score.
It comes down to execution. With so many unfamiliar player combinations, there is a palpable lack of chemistry, leading to a lack of execution. The Spurs could just not execute to get that critical basket. This was most evident with the score knotted at 98 and Spurs inbounding with under a minute left. Pop drew up a play he has gone to hundreds of time: a wing throws it into Duncan in the post; meanwhile, a guard cuts towards the basket, turns to cut back out, then quickly back cuts back towards the rim, leaving his defender behind him as Duncan hits him for an easy layup. You’ve seen Duncan run this with Parker or Ginobili too many times to count.
On this night, however, he was trying to run the play with Kevin Martin. The timing was way off, the pass was never made, and the Spurs eventually turned the ball over.
The players got their individual conditioning and reps in, but the team itself had no cohesion, dropping what would have been a pretty easy win under most circumstances.
The night before in Oakland the entire squad played. However, the results weren’t much different. Lack of cohesion and execution once again cost a game against the Warriors in Oakland. On this game, though, it wasn’t for lack of chemistry.
I don’t know what it is about the Warriors that so flusters the Spurs. The offense is almost unrecognizable from what we’ve grown accustomed to. The Warriors make the Spurs play quick and out of sorts. They stop passing the ball, stop trusting the system, and everybody tries to do too much and play outside of their abilities.
Frankly, they look outmatched. This is doubly frustrating watching teams like Minnesota, Boston, and Memphis all play the Warriors so tough. Then the Spurs – the second best team in the league and perhaps a top-ten team all-time – come to town and look like a D-League team.
The Warriors expose a dirty little secret about the Spurs offense: it is not elite. It has two elite players, but that ‘beautiful game’ we all love really only exists in memory and shadow. The Spurs’ current offense is built almost entirely on one principle: we can make the shots you want us to take. Not coincidentally, this is what Aldridge and Leonard excel at. It’s also what players like West and Anderson are good at. Throw in Green and Mills’ ability to shoot the 3, and the roster is full of shooters.
But if the shots aren’t falling, things go south pretty quickly. The Warriors, to their credit, work their butts off on defense to make sure those open shots that most defenses are happy to give up are even difficult for the Spurs. With those shots gone, the warts of the offense come to the fore.
So for the Spurs to beat the Warriors, two things must be true: the pace must be slow and the defense must be perfect. This happened in the game in San Antonio, but hasn’t even been close to occurring in Oakland. One tiny defensive mistake and the Warriors kill you with a backdoor cut; one sloppy turnover, and the Warriors are down the court and scoring in the blink of an eye.
You have to play near-perfect basketball to beat a Warriors team that is locked in. (Ironically, the reason they tend to lose more easily to inferior teams is they tend to get mentally sloppy.) The Spurs have only done that once. They have one more crack at it tonight.
Did the Spurs play it wrong resting against Denver (a more assured win at full strength) and playing a full squad in Oakland, a game they had little chance to win? The fan in me says ‘yes’, but I also selfishly want that win total to get as high as possible, this being the best Spurs regular season of all-time and all.
But really, no individual game has any significant post-season bearing anymore. In Pop’s mind, the remaining games are all about process, not results. I doubt he cares a lick if this team ends the season on a 5-game losing streak, because it’s not really a 5-game losing streak. Considering Aldridge’s finger injury against Golden State, to shoot for wins and ignore any extraneous costs would be penny wise and pound foolish.
I want that number to get as close to 70 as possible; Pop wants to enter the playoffs healthy and his players rested and ready for the second season. I think Pop is probably right.
The Spurs face the Warriors at home tonight in a game with zero playoff implication but tons of historic implication.
Go Spurs Go.
