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As one wit put it, watching the Spurs close out this season is a like watching a helicopter land sideways. Touchdown is imminent, but it might get messy.

The Spurs are hobbled by injury. They’ve given away games to the Thunder and Celtics. In each case, the game was lost by uncharacteristically bad execution down the stretch. Moreover, even when they win, it’s not in impressive fashion. The Spurs are now 10-5 in games decided by one possession. 15 one possession games is a bundle. That number makes me uncomfortable.

And now Houston, 1/2 game back of the Southwest Division lead, comes into San Antonio. Many of us have been waiting for this Spurs team to flip the proverbial switch. Today, they have their chance. But, as Anup Shah points out, it’s a big game for Houston too.

At a basic level, I’ll be satisfied with a win today. Moving closer to securing the 2 seed is the big picture plot point of today’s game. But there are two late season subplots emerging that I’m watching carefully. The first is simple enough: will the Spurs snap out of their 3 point shooting slump? For good or ill, this is a team that thrives when connecting from deep. Popovich’s offense is committed to the 3 point shot. His roster is largely built around the spacing provided by Duncan and a surrounding cast of 3 point specialist. The 3 pointer is not a luxury for Pop and crew, it’s a necessity. Subplot No. 1.

The second subplot is actually an entangled network of major and minor storylines, all of which are coming to a boil. It can be summarized in this way: what will the postseason rotation look like? With an injured Ginobili and a newly acquired Gooden, one wonders if the Spurs will set a proper rotation yet this regular season. And if they do, how much court time will the recently (re)introduced players have shared together? 5 games? 10? It takes more than a pregame shootaround to regain rhythm and game shape. Will the Spurs enter the playoffs out of sync and out of shape? We’ll see.

But beyond Gooden and Ginobili, there are decisions to make elsewhere. A semi-successful late season experiment has put Pop in a tough spot. Several games back, he began using Roger Mason Jr. as his back up point and gave Hill minutes at shooting guard. The move has yielded mixed results from Big Shot Rog. His play at point has been erratic. Some nights he looks good. Other nights, not so much. For Hill, on other hand, the move has yielded fruit. In fact, Hill’s defense against the Celtics-and in other recent contests-was a revelation. His late game minutes against Ray Allen and Eddie House were, dare I say, Bowenesque. Hill deserves 15-20 minutes per game on defensive merits alone. It won’t happen this season, but an eventual starting backcourt of Parker and Hill would make sense. What’s the problem, then? Here’s the rub: once Ginobili returns, Pop will have difficulty finding minutes for Mason, Hill, and Manu at shooting guard. Who is his back up point? Who deserves more minutes as second fiddle shooting guard? It’s a good problem to have, but someone is likely to play less minutes than he deserves.

Related this this, is the issue at wing. Finley is in a rut, but Bowen’s recent play is spectacular. In fact, I’m in favor of his re-assuming starts at small forward. For all the misery that is 6 missed free throws, it was a joy to watch Bowen obliterate Paul Pierce in the 4th quarter of Friday’s game. The Bowen/Hill tag team nearly rendered Allen and Pierce invisible. Bowen is back to playing classic Bruce Bowen defense. Maybe we should tip our hat to Popovich for knowing enough to rest “Brucie” for the first 60 games. We might look back on that decision as a stroke of genius. Meanwhile, Ime Udoka, too, has come alive. If one placed the last 5 games in a vacuum, there is no doubt that Udoka and Bowen, offensively challenged as they may be, deserve minutes over Mike Finley, who has gone from smoking hot to fire hose in that span. It seems inconceivable to me that Popovich would give Bowen, Hill and Udoka (who defense against teams such as Houston is valuable) heavy minutes because of the offensive liabilities it creates. Finley is the offensive antidote to their defensive splendor. You have to play him, right? I think so. But it would be nice to know if Parker, Mason, Ginobili, Duncan and Gooden provide enough offense to give the defensive triumvirate of Bowen-Hill-Udoka more burn.

As I said earlier, I’m not sure how the final rotation will shake out. But it will be fun to see how things settle.