Welcome to Week in Review: a Monday feature that looks back at the week that was for the San Antonio Spurs , takes a look at the week ahead, and more. Enjoy!
Week 14: Consistency continued to plague the
Spurs in January as they alternated wins and losses. After opening the week with a comfortable home victory against the Jazz, they went out on the road, where they proceeded to blow a 16-point first-half lead to their rival Rockets after getting outscored by 15 points in the fourth quarter. The same almost happened again in Utah, but Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox saved the day by playing like superstars when it mattered most. Unfortunately, complacency struck again at home against an improving Pelicans team, and while the Spurs came back from 20 down to take a late lead, they couldn’t hold on, giving away another winnable game to split the week.
Week 15: 2-1 (33-16, 2nd in West)
In a complete 180 from their match-up the week before, when the Spurs started hot before the Rockets exploded in the second half, this time it was the Rockets who were off to a hot start. With the Spurs down by as much as 16 while looking careless and uninterested, they suddenly flipped the switch midway through the third quarter and started playing with more physicality and discipline. What started as a frustrating game for the Spurs turned into to them blowing by the Rockets on their way to victory, giving them a 2-1 series lead and a key victory for seeding and tie-breaker purposes.
106-111 loss at Charlotte Hornets
With the Hornets playing well above their record lately, plus the game being moved back to a morning tip-off with the hopes of getting the Spurs out before the winter storm hit (news flash: they didn’t), this was destined to be sneakily tough trap game. That ended up being the case, and despite winning three of four quarters, one horrific stretch to close the second ended up putting the Spurs in just a deep enough hole that they couldn’t climb all the way back out, despite cutting what had been a 20-point lead to two late in the game.
If the Spurs were ever going to be forgiven for a loss, this would have been it. After sitting on the tarmac for two hours in Charlotte just to have to stay overnight, they then experienced engine trouble and had to make an emergency landing in Atlanta to switch planes. As a result, the tip-off for this game was moved back twice, and the Spurs had to go straight to the arena from the airport. Perhaps being back on non-frozen terra firma gave them new life, but despite another ghastly second quarter, this time getting outscored 40-23, the Spurs dominated the first and third and didn’t let the physical, trash-talking Magic (mainly Desmond Bane) get in their heads in one of their more admirable victories of the season, considering the situation.
Power Rankings
John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 3 (last week: 4)
OffRtg: 116.2 (10) DefRtg: 111.1 (3) NetRtg: +5.1 (6) Pace: 100.4 (17)
The Spurs have alternated wins and losses for their last seven games, a stretch that includes one of each in Houston. They came back from 16 points down to beat the Rockets on Wednesday and are sending their coaching staff to L.A. for All-Star Weekend.
Three takeaways
1. The Spurs held the Rockets to just 23 points on their final 39 possessions (0.59 per) as they came back from 16 points down on Wednesday. They’ve trailed only 17 of their 49 games by double digits and are now 6-11 in those games, with five of the wins having come against Houston (twice), Denver, New York and Oklahoma City.
2. The Spurs still rank third in defensive rebounding percentage, but they grabbed just 61.7 percent of available defensive boards over their last three games of January, with second chance points being much more than the overall difference in their recent losses to the Pelicans (outscored 27-9 on second chances) and Hornets (18-4). They began February by holding the Magic to one of their worst offensive rebounding games of the season.
3. Devin Vassell re-entered the starting lineup on Saturday afternoon and, interestingly, he replaced Harrison Barnes instead of Julian Champagnie. It was the first time in more than 10 years that the 33-year-old Barnes (one of three Spurs that have played in every game) came off the bench in a regular season game, but he was on the floor (instead of Champagnie) down the stretch and committed a damaging foul on a Miles Bridges 3-point attempt with a little more than a minute left.Coming up: The last time the Thunder were in San Antonio, the Spurs had a rest advantage and won by 20. They’ll have a rest advantage again for the fifth (and final) regular season meeting on Wednesday.
Law Murray, The Athletic — 3 (last week: 4)
Trade deadline Photoshop: PF Sam Hauser
The Spurs earned an elevated trip in these standings mostly on the strength of a comeback win in Houston, and head coach Mitch Johnson will join Victor Wembanyama at the All-Star Game. The Spurs have a lot of interesting scenarios, but I do wonder what happens at power forward. You can never have too much shooting, so I have a Jeremy Sochan for Hauser swap here; I’m sure there would be some outgoing picks from San Antonio to complete a deal like this. Just keep an eye on the power forward spot for the Spurs, whether that’s Sochan or even starter Harrison Barnes.
Brett Siegel, Clutch Points — N/A (last week: 3)
(coming soon)
Coming up: Wed. 2/4 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (39-11); Thurs. 2/5 at Dallas Mavericks (19-30); Saturday 2/7 vs. Dallas Mavericks
Prediction: 2-1 —This is becoming a boring cycle of predicting 2-1 every week, but the strength of schedule and the Spurs’ lack of consistency make it hard to predict anything else. They get a chance for revenge against a Thunder squad that has had similar issues lately and that the Spurs are uniquely built to challenge. They then have that dreaded away-home miniseries that no one likes against the improving Mavs. This isn’t the same deer-in-the-headlights Mavs team they blew out to open the season (Cooper Flagg has grown a lot since then), but they’re still missing Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, so the Spurs should at least get the in at home, if not both.
