Seriously, what can happen watching an NBA game in March 2026 as a fan of a team with a 44-and-17 record in the Western Conference? Not much, right? Probably just another win. Or a loss. Losses have become a rare thing, as of late, but who cares?
The Spurs are going to make the playoffs anyway. And since they’re eight games clear in the loss column of the currently fifth-placed Denver Nuggets, they’re going to enter the playoffs with home-court advantage. And since they’re also six loss-column games clear of the third-placed
Minnesota Timberwolves, they’ll very likely have home-court advantage in the second round as well.
The Spurs might even overtake the Oklahoma City Thunder for a first-place finish. The champions have thus far lost 15 games, only two games fewer than the Spurs. And even if they don’t, do the Spurs have to be afraid of OKC, in case they meet them in the Western Conference Finals?
“You don’t lose to a team three times in a row… without them being better than you.” That’s what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC’s best player and possibly the best player in the league, had to say about the Spurs in December.
And if the Spurs were to play the Detroit Pistons, the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference and therefore not an unlikely team to make the NBA Finals, for a third time this regular season, they probably would beat them for the third time.
So, again, what could upset you as a fan of the San Antonio Spurs, watching a regular-season game with the Spurs sitting so comfortably in the Western Conference? The answer to that question: A Western Conference team that’s in the mix for a play-in spot that turns out to be an unexpected matchup nightmare.
At halftime in last night’s game, even into the third quarter, that’s exactly what the L.A. Clippers looked like. My lofty dreams about the upcoming playoffs started to look like a looming nightmare.
I started thinking about the 1994 playoffs, which I remember rather clearly since that was the first full NBA season I followed. The Seattle Supersonics were one of the most-featured teams on German TV, since they had Detlef Schrempf. And though I wasn’t really a fan, I kinda liked that team.
They had Shawn Kemp, who was spectacular. They had a three-point shooting center in Sam Perkins, which was also spectacular. They had that backcourt pairing of Gary Payton and Kendall Gill, who made perimeter defense a spectacle. They also had the best record in the league. And yet they fell to the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
Could that be the Spurs’ destiny this year, if they matched up with the Clippers? To be perfectly honest, despite the Spurs’ historic comeback on a SEGABABA, this was the first time the Spurs played the Clippers this season. And I’ll be watching the upcoming games against a team that I had thus far considered “Kawhi and some guys on contracts” with a keen eye.
Takeaways
- None of the Spurs’ primary ballhandling guards is particularly good at shooting the ball from beyond the arc, but all three are very good at making their way across the arc and toward the rim with the ball in their hands – normally, that is. The Clippers’ perimeter defenders gave Castle, Fox, and Harper all sorts of trouble for large stretches, and Brook Lopez was lurking in the paint. Lopez isn’t Wembanyama and he’s in his age-37 season, but he is still not someone you’d like to meet at the rim as a driver – and, unfortunately, also not someone the Spurs looked good defending on the other end.
- The Spurs often had to settle for deep jumpers, and it wasn’t necessarily the right guys taking them. Granted, Wemby can and will do whatever he wants, but Fox front-rimming pull-up threes from above or around the break and Castle badly heat-checking after a rare make is something I would love to see less of.
- There are two guys who have a record of getting seriously hot – and that’s Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell. Fox and Wemby taking as many or even more threes than Vassell and Champagnie makes me feel uncomfortable, regardless of them being the number one and two options.
- A bit of a change in shot diet might go a long way: any lob to Wemby is a good idea, as is any pull-up midranger by Fox. As for threes, a bit more from Champagnie and Vassell, and a bit less from Wemby and Fox. (Yes, four out of nine from Wemby is a great return, but Wemby taking about half his field-goal attempts from deep isn’t a sustainable tactic.)
- The Spurs recently shot below 60 percent from the charity stripe against the Raptors – and they did even worse last night, going seven out of fourteen. Plain and simple, the Spurs must get better than this. Otherwise, “Hack-a-Spur” will become a viable option for the opposition in the playoffs.
- Five bullet points in, I have said very few good words about the Spurs after an emphatic comeback victory. That’s true, but the Spurs didn’t start to play good basketball until the mid-third quarter. And, frankly, quite a number of Spurs didn’t have a particularly good game. Castle didn’t, Vassell didn’t, and lots of the bench guys didn’t.
- Fox, despite seven misses from deep, did what can legitimately be expected of a number-two option, while Wemby was extremely productive considering he only played 22 minutes. However, the guys who surpassed what can normally be expected from them, and therefore were big reasons why the game was won in the end, were Julian Champagnie, who scored an efficient 20 points, and Carter Bryant.
- After a very bumpy start to his rookie season, Bryant is getting into the groove more and more as of late. The defensive chops – and not only out on the perimeter – are outstanding, and he is also finding better ways to insert himself on the offensive end. Though he only scored five points – a highlight alley-oop and a highlight three – he looked like a steadying presence out there. His plus-11 plus-minus was a team best.
- With Bryant, the Spurs may have found their future four. With Barnes’ contract expiring at the end of the season, the question is probably this: will Bryant already be a starter as a sophomore? He’d probably need someone to guide him and back him up. Someone could become available, though. And the someone I’m thinking about was on the court last night.
- If I had to pick my favourite role player of all time, it would be either Danny Green, Shane Battier – or Nicolas Batum. The Clippers have a team option on him for next season, but should they choose not to pick it up, and should he choose to play another season, I would want the Spurs’ front office to get in touch. At age 37, the guy can still be trusted to defend competently, pass competently, make threes, and avoid mistakes.
