For the Spurs, Necessity Breeds Motivation
Motivation doesn’t always manifest itself in the same form, nor is it always born from the same origin. For last year’s Spurs, the 2013 NBA Finals disaster lit a fire under the team’s collective ass that wasn’t extinguished until Gregg Popovich sat alone on his bench, soaked in relief and wiping away tears, sweat, and confetti as he watched his players celebrate on the court in front of him.
Until Monday night, we hadn’t yet seen those Spurs this season — on the offensive end, at least. San Antonio had been in a recent tailspin: An eight-game winning streak beginning in mid-November gave way to an injury-riddled 11-game stretch that saw the Spurs go 4-7, blow several late-game leads, and struggle through the losses of Tony Parker (hamstring) and Kawhi Leonard (hand/claw).
But, after an eight-game absence, Parker returned to the court for San Antonio’s 125-118 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, a breath of air after struggling to stay afloat during a four-game swoon. The Spurs assisted on 37 of their 49 field-goal attempts, shot nearly 64 percent from the floor, and knocked down 13 of 23 attempts from behind the arc; the return of their floor general helped rescue what had been a floundering offense at times, particularly during clutch moments.
The All-Star point guard originally injured his hamstring in a win over the Grizzlies on Dec. 5 — he came back in a Dec. 12 loss to the Lakers but reaggravated the strain — and the Spurs’ offense began to sputter in crucial moments. San Antonio played six games during that stretch in which it led or trailed by five points or fewer in the final five minutes, winning only once while scoring just 94.7 points per 100 possessions. But on Monday, with Parker leading the way again, the Spurs dropped 137.4 points per 100 possessions in clutch minutes.
While this sample size is small, to be sure, the feeling of relief was echoed as a sentiment among players afterward. Manu Ginobili, whose 37-year-old legs had been asked to carry the full late-game load in recent weeks with his point guard out, said, “It was a great relief for everybody and (Parker) made us play better and with more confidence.”
And I’m not sure that’s just the cliche answer it might sounds like.
“I tried to unblock. I run the video in my head a lot of times. I see the mistakes I made over and over again, even if I don’t want to,” Ginobili said (via Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News). “I need to unblock, so I go ahead and play with my kids, try to do something else. Sometimes it’s good to unblock.”
Whether it was the two triple-overtime games in 48 hours (both losses), the back-to-backs, the pile of injuries mounting in their wake — the reality is, it didn’t matter. The Spurs had odds stacked against them, but the Western Conference will chew you up and spit you out without remorse. San Antonio was exhausted, and it was noticeable.
Still, there seemed to be a sense of urgency with Parker on the floor. The Spurs played like a team feeling the pressure of the 7th seed in a crowded conference. Last year at this time, the Blazers (5), Thunder (5), Spurs (6), and Clippers (9) were the only teams out West with fewer than 10 losses; This year, six teams, the Warriors (3), Blazers (7), Grizzlies (7), Rockets (7), Mavericks (9), and Clippers (9) all have fewer than 10 losses, and they all have a better record than San Antonio. With the Pelicans, Suns, and Thunder all now within four games in the loss column, there’s no longer a ton of room to breathe, especially with the uncertainty surrounding your most impactful player.
The Leonard situation is a problem. A torn ligament in his shooting hand is keeping the Spurs’ small forward out of action, and might actually require offseason surgery, per the SAEN. From Mike Monroe’s notebook: “One of the docs said he’s been doing hands for 40 years, and this is the first time he’s ever seen this injury,” Popovich said. “So it’s a little bit unique.”
San Antonio’s offense didn’t suffer last night, but its defense did — a major problem area of late without Leonard in the lineup. The numbers speak for themselves: When Kawhi is on the floor this season, the Spurs allow just 94.4 points per 100 possessions; when he’s on the bench, teams are flogging San Antonio to the excruciating tune of 105.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. That’s equal to the difference between — and this is not a joke — the best defense in the league, and the seventh worst.
Whatever’s happening with Leonard’s hand is a major problem. Even with Danny Green having his best season as a pro on both sides of the ball, there is absolutely no filling in for what Kawhi brings to the table. The Spurs have no shot to repeat if he’s not right, and while there’s not a ton of reason to believe he won’t be, the cloud of mystery around this injury is unquestionably disconcerting. With the kind of impact his mitts have on the game all by themselves, San Antonio must make sure he’s healthy enough to contribute — whether that’s defending, rebounding, shooting, dunking … you name it.
For now, the type of game we saw last night might be closer to par for the course for the Spurs. The defense will struggle at times, though the return to form of Tiago Splitter will help immensely on both sides of the ball, and the offense should make a nice comeback. On most nights, an offense led by Parker, Ginobili, and Tim Duncan will be good enough to compete against the majority of teams in the league, and some kind of push back toward the upper levels of the standings in the West can likely be expected.
But until Leonard is back in the starting lineup every night, this won’t be the same team. You can’t reasonably expect it to be, either.
