Every time the Spurs win I feel like they’re never going to lose another game.
Every time the Spurs lose, I feel like there’s no way they’ll ever win again.
Such is life.
Last night was the first time the moment felt a little too big for this team. Like they were the proverbial Coyote on a dead sprint after their prey who suddenly looked down and realized they were spinning their wheels over nothing but air. A deadpan look to the camera, another Caruso three, and we’re once again spiraling down into
the abyss.
Game 5 was a chance to really take a chokehold on the series. The Spurs appeared to have the champs on their heels, searching for answers. They were hungrier. They were healthier. They looked, for all the world, ready to put this thing to bed. In our heart of hearts, we were maybe even beginning to compile our dossier of complaints about Timothy Chalamet and his merry band of miscreants up North.
It was a pivotal moment in the journey. And the Spurs blinked.
I don’t want to belabor that point because we all saw it and we all lived it. It was disappointing, but no one is going to beat them up more than the guys in that locker room so I see no reason to pile on here. The Spurs are human. They are fallible. If you cut them, do they not bleed?
On paper, the performance last night from a young team shouldn’t be surprising. No matter how talented or how polished they frequently appear, this is still a group of guys who are very much figuring it out. It’s just that they play with a certain vigor that belies their youth. It’s intoxicating. It gets you thinking crazy thoughts, right? You watch them when it’s really cooking, like it was in Game 4, and you feel like, shoot, if they have this in them, what else do they have? Where else could they go? It’s not intentional or anything, but they just show these flashes that aren’t ordinary. They keep breaking the scales.
I don’t think we’d get carried away like that if they were just plucky underdogs stumbling into some miracles. But that’s not who this team is. This team is great. That’s not wild conjecture. There isn’t a single team out there capable of reaching the highs these guys hit when they’re really flying, and they are frequently, and with great fanfare, taking flight.
So, yeah, it’s a little jarring to be pulled out of that reverie. You go into the game with a warm glow inside you and then just sit there, dumbly, as our 7’4″ superhero drifts around the perimeter like the world’s least inconspicuous ghost. You can see our guys reaching for the magic and coming up empty. It’s written all over their faces. They don’t look scared, they just look mortal. And against an opponent like this, mortal isn’t enough. The Thunder will get you in a ten-point hole like a snake and squeeze until there’s nothing left. Squirm. Scratch. Bite. It doesn’t matter.
I’m not sure why they didn’t have it last night. Maybe it was the pressure or maybe it was an adjustment the Thunder made. Maybe the level they have to get to in order to make this thing work is just incredibly difficult to sustain. I don’t actually want to sit here and try to psychoanalyze it because I’ll probably be wrong and it doesn’t really matter anyway.
What matters is that the Thunder got away. They’re in the wind. The task that seemed so tantalizingly within our grasp not 24 hours ago has all of a sudden jumped a degree of difficulty. We were always going to have to beat them two more times but, now, another slip and the whole thing goes away. There’s no margin for error. The Spurs have to be perfect.
We know they have that in them. We’ve seen it.
Now it’s just a matter of finding it again.
Takeaways
- I’m pretty bummed that it looks like we wasted the Champagnie game. He was always going to have at least one game in this series where he just kind of went off and did something silly. We all knew it. We we’re all waiting for it and then, bang, those two threes went in back to back in the first quarter. Against my better judgement, I think I relaxed when that happened because surely we weren’t going to lose the Champagnie game. That’s like getting to play a Draw Four in Uno. We’re done here. Then the Thunder hit us with a Reverse and now I’m sitting here looking like a fool.
- We’re officially at the point in this playoff run where if Stephon Castle is the focal point of what we’re doing offensively, the Spurs are on the back foot. It’s not a knock on Castle, who was great again last night, but that’s just not how this was designed to work. Victor is the fulcrum. Everyone else needs to be running through him, around him, or with him. It’s all complementary, and when it’s working it’s like an elegant Rube Goldberg machine. When Steph has to run the show it feels like we’re trying to pick a lock with a hammer.
- It’s increasingly obvious that if these games become a war of attrition in the half court the Spurs are going to lose. The Thunder have just enough tricks defensively to get the Spurs out of rhythm and keep Victor out of the paint. We don’t get into our offense fast enough and we don’t get to use our biggest advantage, speed and athleticism, against them. On the other end, OKC can just be patient. Our guys can be as aggressive as they want but, in that slower setting, the aggression usually results in fouls instead of turnovers. That’s the game they are playing. This isn’t me complaining about them being dirty, rotten, flopping scoundrels. It’s just…you know…it’s the game. It’s their game. If we want to win we have to force them to play ours.
- I’m not in the prediction game. Never have been. It’s simply not what I do here. That being said, I feel like the Spurs will respond well with their backs against the wall. They’ve repeatedly shown that they don’t get down on themselves in these situations and, instead, typically respond with the kind of calm, measured reaction of a team wise beyond its years. At the very least, they tend to act like a group that doesn’t know enough to realize how scared they should be. Now, on the other hand, me? I’m exactly old enough to realize how scared everyone should be. I think they will win Game 6.
- I think Game 7 will be the death of me.
WWL Post Game Press Conference
Victor always takes time during his pressers to talk to members of the French media. Do you have any interest in taking some questions from them?
Sure, I’m happy to.
Great. You’re not worried about the language barrier? We can try to get an interpreter in here if you’d like.
I think we’ll be fine. Send them in.
Alrighty, here you go.
Bonjur.
Bonjur!
Parelez-vous le français?
Ça va.
Ça va?
Ça va.
Quel est ton fruit préféré?
Pamplemousse.
Qui est ton explorateur préféré?
Jacques Cousteau.
Est-ce que tu fais juste cette chanson des Flight of the Conchords?
Soup du jour!
(sigh)
Camembert!
I think they left.
Baguette!
