Every time someone summons up the nerve to ask, “What’s wrong with the Spurs?” the defending NBA champions have provided an emphatic response: Nothing.
They did it in November, beating the Clippers and Warriors on the road on consecutive nights after losses to Houston and New Orleans. They did it again in December, beating the Clippers to end a four-game losing streak that included back-to-back excruciating triple-overtime losses.
And they did it again last night, beating the Rockets for the first time in seven meetings after consecutive losses to Oklahoma City and New Orleans.
A generation of fans has learned to dismiss the Spurs at their own peril. Don’t count them out, ever. They are the NBA’s vampires, requiring a stake through the heart to be put down for good.
But what if I told you the Spurs were a lottery team without arguably their best all-around player, whose return is unknown? What if I told you that right now, the Spurs are closer to 13th place in the West than they are to first place? What if I told you the Spurs would have to win three straight playoff series on the road to return to the NBA Finals for a third straight year?
Would you start sharpening the stake? Or would you just shrug and say, “They’re the Spurs.”
The Spurs are 7-9 in December and have two games remaining this month – Tuesday at Memphis and Wednesday vs. New Orleans. Regardless of how they do in those games – and they are a collective 1-3 vs. those teams – this will be the worst month the Spurs have had since drafting Tim Duncan in 1997. Any stat or trend that takes you back to that alternate universe should be concerning.
“We aren’t playing very well,” Duncan admitted after beating Houston. “We’re up and down with who’s in and who’s out.”
Some would attribute the Spurs’ struggles to injuries, and they wouldn’t be wrong. San Antonio (19-13) has played exactly half its games with its key quartet of Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard and the other half with at least one of those players sitting out due to injury or rest.
When the Awesome Foursome plays, San Antonio is 12-4 with a point differential of better than 8.0 per game. But when just one of the four sits, the Spurs are 7-9, their point differential drops to a scant 0.1 and their points allowed jumps double digits, from the low 90s to nearly 105.
Right now, the Spurs are trying to keep pace in the West without Parker, who has a recurring hamstring injury that has kept him out of 10 of the last 13 games, and Leonard, who has sat out nine of the last 11 contests and is out indefinitely with a torn ligament in his right hand.
Neither is likely to return until they are fully cleared to play, because that’s how Spurs coach Gregg Popovich does things. As recently as Christmas, he admitted that he was holding out backup point guard Patty Mills – recovering from shoulder surgery – even though there was nothing wrong with Mills that he was seeing that warranted that decision. (Mills returned last night.)
Popovich refuses to chase the dragon of the West’s top seed. He has reached the NBA Finals as many times without it as he has with it and practically invented the premise of resting star players at various intervals during the season. And while we are not expecting the game’s best coach to change his ways, there are signs that say he may have to tweak them a bit.
Yes, the Spurs are a considerable threat when their top four players are healthy. But they also are 5-6 without Parker and 4-6 without Leonard, both of whom will miss at least a handful more games. There’s no one whose absence they are effectively overcoming, as the Spurs also are 2-3 without Duncan and 2-3 without Ginobili. And during their dynastic run, the Spurs have never been on the bottom 
of the bracket, as they are right now.
San Antonio is seventh in the West, one game in the loss column ahead of Phoenix and two ahead of New Orleans (which holds the tiebreaker). And that doesn’t factor in Oklahoma City, which has similar issues but we all know is not the 10th-best team in the conference.
The Spurs probably have to go 31-19 to get into the playoffs. They have to go 35-15 to get to 54 wins, which secured a top-four spot a year ago. They have to go 43-7 to equal last season’s record. And before you say, “They’re the Spurs,” keep in mind that while they are 6-5 against the six teams above them in the West standings, they are 5-7 against the eight below them.
Under the current seedings, the Spurs would have to win road playoff series against Portland, Memphis and Golden State. Drop to eighth and the showdowns are Golden State, Houston and Portland. Climb to fourth and the gauntlet is Dallas, Golden State and Portland. And none of this factors in Oklahoma City, which strafed San Antonio on Christmas without Kevin Durant.
Can the Spurs do this? Of course. They’re the Spurs. Parker and Leonard should return at some point, the January schedule is easier with just two back-to-backs, the annual unifying “Rodeo Road Trip” awaits in February, and unlike most title contenders, the Spurs rely more on their system than their stars, which mitigates the impact of injuries.
But if the injuries persist, the annoying losses to the Utahs and Brooklyns continue, the quest for an 18th straight 50-win season becomes a chore and the playoffs start on the road, the only reason we won’t count out the Spurs is because they’re the Spurs.
But if there’s one thing the Spurs have shown this season, it is that when one of the Awesome Foursome doesn’t play, they’re not the Spurs.
TRIVIA: Injured Steve Nash is the active career leader in assists. Who is second among active players? Answer below.
Running your business all by yourself, without help from other people,
is like suicide. The side of vegetables was nothing
out of the ordinary, but sprinkled with a little too much pepper,
whilst the mound of mashed potato was smooth and flavourful, but served cold.
Fans of Chicago deep-dish and stuffed pizzas are as loyal to their food as
the city’s sports fans are to their teams.
Don’t forget that they’ve sat the big 3 for a few games and those were losses. As long as the Spurs are at least an 8 seed, they’ll be in the Finals conversation at the very end. I think they haven’t shown the Western conference teams a lot of their scheme and strategy for a reason. This season will take a lot more strategy than previous seasons to be successful.