The playoffs are approaching, and that means the San Antonio Spurs may be ready to put themselves into another gear heading down the stretch of the year.
The question throughout the season had been whether they actually had another gear to turn on after taking home the championship trophy last season. It looked shaky at times and injuries to key players certainly didn’t help, but the Spurs have won 11 of their last 14 games and made an example out of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday with a 130-91 blowout victory.
Tim Duncan had his usual solid line with 16 points, six rebounds, one assist and one block in the first three quarters. He also hit a 3-pointer, something he has done one other time this season and just twice in the previous two seasons. Normally, it would have been considered a random hit with no intentions. For this particular game, however, the power forward actually had an incentive to knock one down, according to his girlfriend Vanessa Macias:
Tim’s BFF from college bet Tim $100 to make a 3-pointer… What a happy loss! pic.twitter.com/x0c3OLCZVS
— Vanessa Macias (@VanessaLMacias) March 26, 2015
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.