San Antonio Spurs 95, Cleveland Cavaliers 97
The unstated position of my Dime piece is straightforward: the Spurs’ defense is failing.
“Defensive transition was really poor in the first half. I thought we did a horrible job with that and we gave away 8, 10, 12 points just because they ran it right down our throat and our transition was God-awful. That was the worst part of the whole game.” Pop was talking about this game, but he could have been describing various aspects of San Antonio’s defense at any given moment this season.
San Antonio’s problem is, in a word, they’re merely mediocre. In the Popovich-Duncan era, the Spurs have never known mediocrity. They’re eleven games over .500, but the mood around the team is that they’re much worse. And maybe that’s true, but that God-awful transition defense wouldn’t look so bad if Pop wasn’t forced to measure the Spurs against the Spurs. One suspects that the pressure to win is only half as strong as the pressure to live up to their own impossible standard.
But that’s too simple. Much of this team is failing, a sentiment described in vivid color by various readers in our comment threads. I want to pick up on my theme that last night’s loss represents the season in miniature and ask what it means going forward.
Losing to an injury-riddled Cleveland squad is more of a defining moment for San Antonio than if they had beat the Cavs at full strength. The loss simply bore out the tendencies of the previous sixty games, and a win against a LeBron-led Cavs squad would have carried the weight of an outlier. Last night’s loss had the feel of a season-defining game.
“We had a great opportunity, not many teams can come in here and win,” Ginobili said. “LeBron wasn’t playing, Shaq wasn’t there and Jamison didn’t play the second half, so we blew a big one, so we are kind of upset with that.” His tone was more cheerful than the mood in the locker room. The Spurs see more slipping away than a single should-have-won game.
Coming into the season, the Spurs wondered if their core could reclaim previous levels of championship play, if they could return to a high level of dominance? Through 61 games, we can speak to that issue.
Tim Duncan’s numbers are down slightly, but not drastically. He’s still a top 5 big. Tony Parker’s numbers are down significantly, but we have every reason to believe his drop in production is tied to injury, not decline. It’s fair to say he is/could be playing at an elite level if his body was right. And Ginobili? He is, however improbably, back. If last night’s game taught us anything other than this team isn’t getting it done, it’s that Manu Ginobili is capable of unqualified superstar play. Last night he was 38 points of all man.
That’s big takeway No. 1. The core is capable of championship quality play, but the individual parts-the three most important individual parts-are sinking beneath the poor play of the surrounding cast. That poor cast is big takeaway No. 2.
Other than George Hill and DeJuan Blair, San Antonio’s bench is entirely deficient, if not on paper, than certainly on the court. I wonder if this summer will find the Spurs undoing the moves of last summer, save the draft selection of DeJuan Blair.
That’s big takeaway No. 3. The Spurs desperately need to retool their bench, and moving Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess seem like the best starts in that direction. Easier said than done, I know.
And it’s not just the new faces. 2009-10 buzzer beating hero Roger Mason Jr’s 1-10 shooting against the Cavs was not consistent with his typical percentages, but his performance was consistent with his ability (this season) to step up and help the Spurs when pinched by injury. Â Jefferson, McDyess and Mason are all fine players so far as they go, they’re just not getting it done in San Antonio.
For whatever reason, this Spurs team doesn’t work.
