Spurs at Cavaliers: This Was Not a Finals Preview
In the hours before Wednesday night’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, there was no shortage of narratives. ESPN highlighted its morning coverage with a look back at the battles between Tim Duncan and LeBron James, a matchup that continues to yield impressive storylines nearly a decade after it first emerged. This week’s game was no different, and though the stories weren’t quite as dramatic as in year’s past (Restgate, anyone?), they did provide enough for us to get excited about a regular season game in mid-November. Can Kawhi Leonard attempt to contain LeBron? How would the Spurs deal with Kevin Love while missing half their frontcourt? How would one of the league’s best defenses handle one of the best offenses? Even without the baggage of the last two Finals, there was much to regale in the Land of Cleve.
So of course Boris Diaw (19 points, six boards, seven assists, three steals, one block) and Anderson Varejao (23 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks) were the stories of the night.
From the tip, you got the feeling we were in for a weird one. Tim Duncan had a hand in the Spurs’ first eleven points, scoring nine points before deciding to pass the baton to Boris Diaw for his first assist of the night. At that point, the Spurs offense started to look pretty good — which again, weird — as the ball movement helped deliver open shots. But, as has been the case this season, when those open shots started to clank, the offense began to stagnate.
That’s where Diaw emerged, the unlikeliest of release valves, to course correct, taking it to Kevin Love on multiple drives, attacking his footwork and forcing him into uncomfortable defensive positions. Diaw was abnormally aggressive, taking the opportunities given him by a porous Cleveland defense to fill up the box score in ways you’d expect from Kawhi or LeBron. (At one point, the Spurs needed Diaw to stop shooting. How often does that happen? Maybe twice a season?) Girth jokes aside, Diaw was everywhere, providing enough of a spark to keep the Spurs’ currently shaky offense from falling apart.
And when things looked bad at the end of the first half, as Cleveland jumped out to a ten point lead, the Spurs crawled back with aggressive defense, the only constant they’ve had this season. Kawhi Leonard had his mitts on everything in the half’s closing minutes, and through sheer grit, the Spurs closed on an 8-0 run.
The second half followed a similar script: small periods of stagnancy punctuated by a bit of Diaw flair, little runs fostered by tenacious defense, surprising plays from unheralded role players. (Aron Baynes and Cory Joseph each had fantastic putbacks in the third quarter.) The whole thing threatened to collapse as Kyrie Irving woke up and Anderson Varejao emerged from his cocoon festooned in the offensive mastery of an All Star. There were fifteen lead changes throughout the game, most of those coming in the final quarter, as the two teams fought for each possession.
That the night ended with a LeBron turnover was certainly anticlimactic, robbing us of a buzzer-beating finish, but that didn’t keep the game from being fun, something you’re not guaranteed from a game in mid-November. People who cited a playoff like atmosphere were not exaggerating, either. The Quicken Loans Arena was amped, and the players seemed to feel it, too.
But for all the things Wednesday night was, it was not a Finals preview. If either of these teams are going to make the Finals, they’ll need to look very different in the next few months. Yes, Cleveland has the league’s second best offense, but at this point in the season, that says less about the Cavaliers and more about the rest of the league. (The gap between them and the league’s best offense, Dallas’, is quite large.) The ball movement will need to improve, and the defense will have to push to be “not bad.” Some of that will come with time. Some of it with rotations. (LeBron will obviously play more than 34 minutes for the games that count.)
The Spurs, for their part, know that they’re currently a shell of what they could be. And even if last summer represents the zenith of their potential, there’s much to fix before the playoffs begin. The offense is in tatters without some of its key contributors, and Chip Engelland has probably been working overtime since the season started.
It’s tempting to dismiss these as the petty concerns of slumbering giants, but the danger is real. That’s why after the game Tim Duncan called the win “good.” (His eyes wandered, looking for a potted plant to tip.) It was the perfect encapsulation of a night Gregg Popovich said shouldn’t be satisfying for anybody involved.
That’s not a contradiction. The Spurs won a close game against a contender. They executed well down the stretch against an opponent still finding its footing, and each player competed admirably. That’s undeniably a good thing. But each one of them went home to a ring reminding them that “good” doesn’t win titles. Good doesn’t satisfy. So, the search continues for last year’s chemistry, health, answers, and the hammer rises again. Maybe the next strike will crack it.
