It was the offseason after the 2017-18 NBA season. The Golden State Warriors had just won the championship for the second straight year (third in the last four seasons). Which, to be honest, nobody really expected. I mean their championship the prior year just felt like such a fluke and so out of place that it seemed like there was no possible chance that lightning would strike twice. But it did. It still blows my mind. I mean who could have predicted that a team who won 73 games in one regular season together (2015-16) could have just added a player like Kevin Durant (10x all-star, 2013-14 MVP), and win BACK-TO-BACK championships? I’ll answer, only just about every single person on the planet would have predicted that. If you were living under a rock, you knew the Warriors were going to win. If you were living under a thousand rocks, you knew the warriors were going to win. If YOU literally were a rock, you knew the Warriors were going to win. I know for a fact (maybe, I don’t really know) that more people put money down on the Warriors sweeping the Cavs in the 2018 Finals than people who bet on the Cavs to win the series at all. And, of course, Warriors in 4 – which meant one thing: the NBA was getting stale. What were we supposed to do as fans when 29 teams were, essentially, out of contention? As a Spurs fan, I had never felt anything like it. I had no idea how I was going to endure the upcoming season knowing that we were not close to being a championship team. We had none of our core left, (Timmy, Tony, Manu), no superstars left (the one we had wanted a trade), and no sensible direction that gave me any hope of us winning a title. How was I supposed to stay in love with a team that seemed to be mediocre? Turns out, the love I feel for this team goes beyond just the championships and tradition of inevitably beating the hell out of every other team, because I had absolutely no idea this season would be what it was: my favorite season as a Spurs fan.
Anyway, where was I? Off-season. It was the off-season after the 2017-18 NBA season. And, as a Spurs fan, every day was a waiting game, just like every other offseason is. Except, this off-season was not the same traditional waiting game that it had been for the past two decades of off-seasons as a Spurs fan. Because you see, for the last two decades, our off-seasons were just for us to cool off before the next season’s playoffs started so that we could make it to the finals and win the championship to either repeat because we had just won, or to win back the championship that we really deserved every single season because we had a living superhero on the court in Tim Duncan, his two just-as-powerful sidekicks in Tony and Manu, and our guy-in-the-chair, Coach Pop (Like Ned from Spider-Man: Homecoming said, every superhero has his or her guy in the chair – That was Pop). But, unlike most, we were spoiled for two decades and, unfortunately, all good things, even the perfect and dream-come-true type things, must end.
Part of this offseason was about waiting to see what Manu was going to do. Was he going to bring the fire, energy, and “grandpa juice” back for one last run? Or, was he going to take the Timmy route, and hang it up without giving us the chance to give him the proper send-off? The proper send-off for Manu, being where everyone cries and remembers the #ManuGonnaManu-tweet worthy plays and showers him with the love that only San Antonio Spurs fans can give, while he walks off the court throwing a left-handed behind-the-back pass with his eyes closed into the third row of the stands as a callback to some of the few goofs of his career, while saying “adios y gracias San Antonio” and chunking up the deuces over his bald-spotted head with the ear-to-ear Manu smile on his face that everyone in San Antonio loved from day one (how great would that have been?). As we would eventually find out, Manu would go with the former of the two options, announcing his retirement with a tweet informing us of the terribly heartbreaking news, and expressing his gratitude for us–as if that makes it okay and forgivable (You are actually very forgiven, Manu – We just wanted to watch you play forever). It was very similar to Timmy when he retired without giving us the chance to say goodbye.
Manu’s retirement was, of course, the second saddest day of my entire existence, with the first being Timmy’s retirement announcement, which pretty much was a note that said:
“Hey San Antonio,
Thanks for the love. Love y’all too. But, I’m out.
Tim”
All I have to say is Manu, we missed you this season, and I will miss watching you for the rest of my life as a Spurs fan. Gracias, 20.
It’s hard to imagine Manu retiring NOT being be the biggest news of the off-season in San Antonio. That would have been impossible in any other season. But even the impossible is possible sometimes. Because this off-season, the main story that we were waiting for resolution to was who we were going to get for some guy named Kehwi Lennard? (Real name, Kawhi Leonard. Now look, you are not going to see me say his real name in this piece at all, because I am mad at him – the way you are mad at your ex-significant other because they broke up with you instead of just doing things your way – But, truth be told, I respect Kawhi. I do not like that he only played nine games when he was medically cleared by the best medical staff in the league, and then wanted out – but, I respect Kawhi. He was a major piece in San Antonio’s 2014 NBA Championship, and he is an unbelievable player. Plus, I feel like we, as fans, got all of the genuine hatred out of our system when he came back to play against us in January, which I will talk about, and that was our closure. Therefore, this is the last time you will hear me say this but shout out to Kawhi. There, I said it. It’s done. Moving on.) Apparently, this dude Koway Lonurd really demanded a trade from San Antonio (the best franchise in the league since the ’97 draft day) after appearing in only NINE 2017-18 regular season games (and 0 post-season games, obviously – Thanks, Kiana Leopard). I mean, who does this guy think he is? Former Finals MVP?? Nah (But actually, yeah).
Either way, that really was what we were all on the edge of our seats about. Who were we going to get in return? I remember saying to people who asked me what I thought, “It better be somebody who can go get a bucket, but also follow the Spurs way,” With the latter being the most important. Somebody who can lead, and also be willing to be led. Somebody who cares about the name on the front of the jersey, more than the one on the back (shout out to Miracle, 2004 – Greatest movie ever).
On July 18th at about 3 AM, my favorite non-Spur in the league was posting a rant on his Instagram story like a rapper beefing with his record label, saying, “Be told one thing and the outcome another. Can’t trust em. Ain’t no loyalty in this game. Sell you out quick for a little bit of nothing… soon you’ll understand…” Interesting, huh?
That player was DeMar DeRozan. At that moment, I knew. DeRozan was a Spur. That’s when he went from being my favorite non-Spur to being my favorite player in the league, because he was a Spur (and because his game is so damn smooth. I mean the man just glides up and down the court, puts his defender in a blender, and either goes to the cup to punch out or finger-roll around somebody, or pulls up for his patented mid-range jumper – either way, it is all mesmerizing and beautiful). Everyone knew that DeMar was not thrilled about it at the outset. How could you be happy about being stabbed in the back? He was the “6ix’s” own, best friends with Drake, playing with his brother, Kyle Lowry, and giving his all to the city of Toronto and that franchise. Not to mention, he was promised a week earlier that he was not going to be traded. But I knew, with a little bit of time, he was going to love being a Spur because the Spurs turn decent players into good players, good players into great players, and great players into superstars who make everyone around them better. DeMar fell into the last category.
So, the waiting game was over. We got DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected first, and all we had to do was give up Danny Green and that dude Kodak LongJohns, or whatever his name was. (Btw, we still love you Danny. I would love to see you in the silver and black again. I’ll never forget when my mom and I were co-captains at a Spurs game, and you dapped me up and said what’s up to me at half court – And you weren’t even a captain, you were just being super cool. I know you will probably never forget it either.)
Next focus: the 2018-19 season.
Preseason came around, the group was looking solid. But preseason doesn’t mean anything. If the ’96 Bulls went winless in preseason, I’d still think, “cool – Jordan in 4.” The preseason does. Not. Matter. At all. Not one bit. Unless, of course, your starting point guard tears his ACL in an October 7th game (ending his season early), and then three days later, your recently-promoted starting point guard tears a ligament in his foot (making him unavailable for 3-6 weeks). Sure, that might impact your season. But that would never happen because preseason does not matter. Unless, of course, you’re the 2018-19 Spurs, and your starting point guard is Dejounte Murray and your backup point guard is Derrick White. If that’s the case, then, yeah, it happened. Fine. Sometimes, preseason matters.
Yeah that sucked. I mean, that Murray injury hurt me personally. He was about to have a break out season; All-NBA defensive team, most-improved player candidate, all that. But it was gone. Really quick. Plus, I follow that man on Instagram and I can just tell that dude really LOVES the grind. I felt bad. And losing Murray hurt the team, but honestly, for me, it did not feel like TOO much of a blow. (Like, if I was a Houston fan and James Harden had just gotten hurt, my brain would constantly be wondering, “What are we going to do without our guy who plays 60 minutes a night, spends 65 of those minutes with the ball in his hands, taking the shot in 105% of our offensive possessions, averaging 75 points per game and somehow single-handedly leading us to a home-court advantage seed in the western conference?” Those stats are correct – Don’t look it up, just trust me – And at least Murray’s injury was not that bad.) Dejounte’s injury was like, “Yeah our starting point guard is hurt, and it sucks, really freaking bad. But, if our guys just go back to the drawing board, they’ll figure something out. We’ll be alright.”
Meanwhile, Derrick White’s injury was just like, “Eh, the guy has potential, but he spent most of last season in the G-League and was playing Division 2 basketball not too long ago. That should not be too difficult to work around (goodness gracious, did I whiff on that thought). Also, he’ll be back soon.” It was a we-better-rub-some-dirt-on-it-and-get-back-to-work-cause-we-still-have-solid-pieces-and-can-make-something-out-of-this-season type of feeling. I still believed in them to do well, but it was the first time in my near-21 years of living that I was pretty certain we were not making a championship run. This season, for the first time in a while, every single game was must-see TV, because of all of the uncertainty. Like I said, I had been spoiled for my whole life as a Spurs fan – I knew we were play-off bound, so even though I never missed a big game, I didn’t have to watch each and every matchup. This year was different. This year, I was tuning in to every single one. (One time for the NBA League Pass One-team deal). I had no choice. We had DeMar DeRozan, and a team that did not even feel like a Spurs team. But they were wearing Spurs jerseys. Therefore, they were the Spurs. And, therefore, I was all-in.
After a decent October, where we beat the “best-player-in-the-world”-starring Lakers twice and had a 6-2 record, November hit. Suddenly the Spurs looked exactly like what they were: a newly-formed, injury-plagued team with new, young pieces and stars that were unfamiliar with each other. The couple of games I went to felt so different. Not bad, but different. We had no Manu, no Tony, no Kaboom Laxitive. Even the in-arena announcer was a different guy. Everything was good, but nothing was the same (insert a picture of DeMar’s side profile with clouds in the background to pay homage to the NWTS album and his departure from Toronto). The games were fun, but November was bad. The Spurs only won 5 games! They lost at home to the Magic and the Grizzlies! The Suns beat them by 20!!????!! And we got smacked by the Timberwolves and Rockets by 30 each. Consecutively.
I had never seen anything like that from my favorite team. There were two moods at this time: (1) “We just have to stay patient. We have good players. They are all just still learning how to play together. Plus, our new starting point guard (White) just came back from injury. They’re going to turn it around.” and (2) “Damn, that’s who we are now? A sub-.500 team who is not going to make the playoffs for the first time in my life? Cool. It’s over. Time to cry. This is all your fault Kerplunk Lucifer.”
The only thing that was keeping me afloat at that point was our streak of making the playoffs for 21-straight seasons. It couldn’t end. I never, ever, ever, want it to ever end. Ever.
That meant, from that point on, every game mattered. It never used to be like that, which is what made this one of the most exciting Spurs seasons ever for me. Remember how I said I didn’t use to have to watch every game? Well, now it was “oh we’re playing the Knicks who are going to win 4 games this year? Well I have to cancel my plans for the night because I have no choice but to watch that game, because if the Spurs win, they’ll jump up 4 spots in the western conference standings. And if they lose, well… probably like 8 spots back and deep depression for me because we just lost to the Knicks (which actually happened this year, I don’t want to talk about it.)” Every game meant something. (To be honest, it was kind of like that the previous season too, but that happened out of nowhere because everyone thought Kerploochi Lebunkbeds was going to eventually come back and take the team at least a couple rounds deep in the playoffs. But of course, it never happened. And before we knew it, they were only a couple losses away from not even making the playoffs – But, they made it. The streak survived so it’s all good.)
We knew from the beginning that this was going to be an uphill battle. And if we didn’t know from day one, we definitely knew by the end of November – and I learned to love it. It made the wins feel so fulfilling and it made the losses so painful and panic-worthy because it probably just dropped us out of the playoff picture at that time in the gauntlet that was the western conference. But, again, it was all part of the enjoyment. I was more engaged than I had ever been. I was writing letters in my head every day, “Spurs, just get to the playoffs and I will be alright. I’ll love you either way. But please, playoffs. Please.”
The end of December had come around and the Spurs just looked like a team on a mission. They were answering my mental letters. They were going on 3 or 4 game win streaks before dropping a game and then going on another win streak. Nothing crazy to a Spurs fan, but after that horrendous November, it felt extremely relieving. I want to specifically thank two players in particular: Derrick White (like I said, I whiffed on the thought that he was not really going to impact our team too much – that dude meant everything to us – he was really, really good), and Davis Bertans. Neither one of them are all stars (Derrick could possibly be one day – but, eh, probably not Davis even though my family and I love him and would love to see him prove me wrong. (Davis, please do it.)), but they brought something out of our team that was not there earlier in the season.
Bertans, first of all, was leading the league in 3pt% for a long time (why was he not in the 3pt competition? Let Davis SHOOT!). Not only that, but he brought life and movement to the offense by reviving the “1-second rule” that made the team so good in recent years. Here is the 1-second rule: When the ball gets to you, you have 1 second to either shoot your open shot, swing it to an open teammate, or drive to the hole to either score or kick it out to an open teammate. One second, that is it – Keep the ball moving. Davis was doing this better than anyone because his shooting abilities forced long close-outs for the defender guarding him. He was making our offense flow in a way that I did not think that a Davis Bertans ever would.
And White, sheesh, he was just good. He could get to the hole, he could shoot it a little bit, but most importantly, he was the lockdown defender that we needed back after ol’ boy that used to do that for us, Kumanji Lacehead, decided to sit 73 regular season games and the entire playoffs, and then demanded a trade. Derrick White soon became that guy. If he was on, we were on. If he was off, well, it was probably a bad night. They made this season what it was. So, thank you, Derrick and Davis, for playing your very low key, but incredibly vital roles in getting this season out of the trenches so well. Big salute to the two of you, who are not reading this.
Then, it was January, and the Toronto Raptors came to town. More importantly, Kaweiner Leschnitzel came to town to play his first game back in San Antonio.
Side story – I was coaching a high school freshman basketball team in Fort Worth at the time. The Toronto game was on a Thursday night in San Antonio, right in the middle of our season. You know what I did? It went something like this:
“Hey fellas, no practice Thursday or Friday, I will be out of town. Rest up for practices on Saturday and Monday before our games next week.”
Then, I put everything else in life on pause, drove to San Antonio, and went to one of the most emotional games I have ever been to. We got there early, and they showed a tribute video for Danny Green and Kabar Lawnchair where everyone in the arena cheered like crazy when it was a clip of Danny – and booed like hell when it was a clip of the other dude. Those boos never slowed down, the whole game. It was great. I am not really one to be overly loud at games (or at anything, really), so I did not really boo, but I was definitely one to enjoy every bit of it from other Spurs fans. I loved it – I really loved it. The game happened, and the Spurs kicked their asses. We 20-pieced them and it was never close. DeMar got his first career triple-double (how perfect is that?), and Kawitter did nothing but take an L. The Spurs played with such high energy. It was a glimpse of how good this team really was when they played together and with heart. What a night. They rode that energy through the rest of January, when, at one point, they got all the way to the 4-seed in the west.
I was hype. Like, “Yeah, that’s who we are. Don’t sleep on us. You really thought we were not about to make the playoffs? Please. We’re the Spurs. We own the playoffs.”
That’s how I felt…
Until February. My goodness, why did they have to do that to me? They won three games in February… THREE. I was almost begging for the November Spurs. They went 1-7 on the Rodeo Road Trip that they usually dominate, including a 150-point loss to the Warriors (trust me again – it really was that bad), a 20-point loss to the Jazz, that loss to the Knicks that I don’t want to talk about, and last, but not least, a 16-point loss to the Nets. Those are just the worst of the losses. Before you knew it, they were back on the bubble of playoff teams. Obviously, the problem was that when they got good in January, I stopped writing mental letters to the team. But after that terrible road trip, I learned my lesson and started again.
“Spurs, alright gentlemen. You have let those teams have their fun, now start playing like a 50-win team again so we don’t mess around and either miss the playoffs or get the 8th seed and have to get slapped by the Warriors in the first round again. Sincerely, a concerned fan.”
I know my letters were the key because they definitely answered – answered with a 10-game win streak to start March that included wins over the Thunder, Nuggets, Hawks (on the road – only reason why a win over the Hawks had any significance), Bucks, Mavericks (also on the road – only reason why a win over the Mavs had any significance), Knicks (ha, revenge is a bitch – only reason why a win over the damn Knicks had any significance), Blazers, and finally, maybe the sweetest of all of them, the Warriors. The Spurs were feeling it again, and I was definitely feeling it again too. The rest of March was not great, but they did what they had to do to get out of the major funk, and back to the safe 5 or 6-game lead over whoever was in the 9th seed to make sure they were in the playoffs.
The regular season ended on a high note, winning the last 4 out of 5. Finishing with a 48-34 record, earning the 7th seed (eh), to face the Nuggets in the first round (“Yes – Perfect – We have a chance at them, and it will be fun to watch”).
It’s playoff time – for the 22nd straight season in San Antonio. That is unbelievable – and just awesome. I still have yet to see this team not make the playoffs. I know it will happen one day, but I also know that it is never going to happen because my team is built different. Unlike how I felt in November, I was now feeling like, “Yeah playoffs are cool, but I think we have a chance to make it 2 rounds, maybe conference finals-deep.” Especially with the draw that we got… Golden State AND Houston were both on the opposite side of the bracket. We just had to win the home games and steal one in Denver, then face OKC or Portland in the second round, both of which were very beatable. Cool. Bet. Let’s do it.
Round 1 – Game 1:
The night I had been waiting for months for; It was the first night of the NBA playoffs, and the Spurs were one of the late games – 9:30pm central, to be exact. It was a crazy game, everyone contributed. Spurs had 5 players in double figures, Nuggets had 6. No one had a crazy high-scoring game (Gary Harris led all with 20). Jokic had 10/14/14, DeMar had 18/12/6, White had 16, Forbes and Aldridge with 15. It was back and forth the whole game. But for some reason, it just felt like the Spurs were never not in control of that game. I don’t really remember why, but I definitely remember never really feeling like they were going to lose. The craziest part of the game, outside of the last 30 seconds, was Derrick White’s poster. I don’t have to go in detail about that, but I am definitely going to because why would I not? Okay, so it was the third quarter, and there was a period of about three minutes straight where neither team was scoring, and the game was not stopping at all. Most of you reading this know, usually, a basketball game stops about once or twice every minute for a foul, or out of bounds, or whatever – there are a million possible reasons (Maybe there’s a bat on the floor? – *insert Manu’s bat-swatting clip). Anyway, these three-or-so minutes went by with no stoppages, and no buckets – at all. Seriously, go on YouTube and watch the game one highlights. You will see a Will Barton bucket with 9:13 left in the 3rd quarter, and then the next highlight it cuts to will be at 6:18 left in the 3rd, with the same score. I remember watching the game on TV and thinking, “uhhhh what is going on? Is somebody messing with us? Why is this game not stopping? Why can nobody can make a shot? Somebody, please help me. Please?” About 10 scoreless possessions went by between the two teams, when Derrick White got a defensive rebound, jogged the ball downcourt, and I remember yelling at my TV, “man, just go get a damn bucket!!”, And the very second after those words left my mouth, he switched gears, went full speed to the rim, and boomed on Paul Millsap. For real – White jumped off one leg, Millsap jumped with him, they bodied each other, White cocked the ball back behind his head with his right hand and then said, in mid-air, “I’m tired of this boring ass neither-team-scoring shit, so here you go Paul – Next time, don’t jump with me” and then Derrick baptized him. Bucket, and-1.
From that point on, it still stayed close all the way through, but the Spurs were always ahead. It was a dog fight, just like the series would turn out to be.
The game got to the final seconds, and the Nuggets had the Spurs’ lead cut to 1. DeMar had the ball with about 20 seconds left. He rejected a screen from Aldridge, created space, and pulled up for a middy – a middy that we have all seen him make thousands of times. But, this one, he missed. The Nuggets got the defensive rebound and called timeout with 13 seconds left. So, at this point, I am about to go into cardiac arrest because the Spurs had this game the whole time, and now they were one bucket away from it slipping away. But luck was real, for both teams. Because after Denver got lucky on the DeRozan miss, the Spurs got even MORE lucky when Jamal Murray brought the ball down, came off of a Jokic screen that was roughly three and a half miles wide (not a fat joke – Jokic is just massive), and pulled up for a wide open (I mean, WIDE open) go-ahead mid-range jumper that we have seen him make hundreds of times (not thousands, cause he’s not as good as DeRozan), and missed it. Aldridge grabbed the rebound and got fouled with 7 seconds left. I finally got the chance to breathe and take a second to realize that this game truly did belong to the Spurs. Aldridge then, being Aldridge, made both free throws – Spurs up 3. Nuggets had no timeouts. Jamal Murray got the inbound pass, took the ball up the court, and then all of a sudden did not have it anymore, because Derrick White just took it from him. Like candy from a baby. Jamal Murray, Derrick White sonned you (I am allowed to say that without offending Jamal Murray because he ended up being on the team that won the series – Spoiler alert). That’s game. 1-0 Spurs. Home-court advantage neutralized. “Thank you, see y’all in 3 days.”
Round 1 – Game 2
Shoot, talk about being in control the whole time… I mean, the Spurs led by 19 at two different points in the game… I, along with everyone else in the world not on the Nuggets roster, thought for sure that they were going back to San Antonio up 2-0, and they’d have no chance. Jamal Murray, who had 3 points in the first three quarters and was shooting 0 for 115 (trust me, again – completely accurate), had a different plan. In the final hour, Murray turned on the burners and hit 8 in a row for 21 fourth quarter points, leading the Nuggets to a dramatic come-from-behind win… blah, blah, blah. Fine. We can give them one at their house. 1-1 and back to our house for the next two.
Round 1 – Game 3
I went to Game 3 in San Antonio because the only thing better than watching playoff basketball is watching your favorite team play playoff basketball live. The energy was crazy –Everybody in the AT&T center was there to see the Spurs take the series lead back.
It was loud in there. But the game started, and nobody really showed up to play in the first half – with one exception: Derrick White, the second-year, Mr. D2 player and 29th overall draft pick who spent most of his playing minutes in the G-League for his rookie year. This dude Derrick was HOOPING. I mean, he was getting to the basket at will, finishing over people, finishing around people, finishing through people, and locking up on defense. He finished the first half with 25 and was the only reason we were ahead by 3. He looked like he was at the rec center playing pick up against that one group of high school kids who thought they were nice, but really were pretty sorry. I mean, he was just torching the Nuggets. Second half, everyone started getting more involved. DeMar started cooking and finished with 25. Derrick White kept going and finished with a career-high 36. Everyone else pretty much just played their role and scored whenever it was not Derrick or DeMar’s turn. Spurs won by 10. Up 2-1.
Round 1 – Game 4:
This one was about to be easy! Spurs now had DeMar AND Derrick White cooking? Easy win. Why even play? Well, that’s what we thought. However, it seemed as though the Spurs’ new young star got caught up in the spotlight a little bit and got slightly too comfortable. He came out struggling in game 4. He finished with 8 points, after he was finding ways to score that many points in one single possession in Game 3 (normally not possible, but for game-3 Derrick White, anything was possible). I wasn’t too upset about that, but I was pretty upset that nobody really stepped up when he was struggling, after the way he stepped up for them in Game 3. Our guys pretty much got ran off the floor in the second half. Jokic finished with 29/12/8. Nuggets won. 2-2. Back to Denver for the start of a best-of-3. Whatever man. Don’t make me talk about it anymore than I have to. It hurt, okay? It hurt. But the Spurs are still going to pull it off. Right? Because they are the Spurs.
Round 1 – Game 5:
Nuggets had 7 people in double figures. Spurs had 4. Our guys were not ready to play, and they took advantage. Spurs got 20 pieced. Short and sweet. Down 3-2. Back to the AT&T Center one more time. Who cares? Spurs in 7. Right?
Round 1 – Game 6:
The stars showed up, for both teams. It was beautiful. Aldridge with 26/10/5, DeRozan with 25/7/7, even Rudy Gay decided that it was time for him to hoop and got 19. On the other side, Jokic put up a totally decent and absolutely unimpressive 43/12/9 (!!!!). But his team was not enough that night, which was a blessing – because when someone on the other side goes for 43/12/9, you are not winning if his team shows up with him. And regardless of him picking apart the Spurs defense every single possession in slow motion, the Spurs scored more. Meaning, the Spurs won. Meaning: 3-3. Meaning, back to the mile-high city for the last time. Meaning, Spurs. In. 7.
Round 1 – Game 7:
This game, especially the first half, showed exactly what it looks like when you put a bunch of people who have never been in a Game 7 in the playoffs, in a Game 7 in the playoffs. Of the 10 starters, 7 of them had never played any meaningful playoff minutes until this very series, and you could tell. The only guys who really showed up were Jokic and Murray (two of those seven “inexperienced” guys), who went for 21/15/10 and 23/5/4, respectively. Meanwhile, the Nuggets, as a whole, shot 39.8% from the field and 10% from 3 (2 for 20). While this is a horrible showing from a team in a Game 7, and one that 9 times out of 10 will get you beat, the Spurs matched the poor shooting and extremely ugly play by shooting 36.5% from the field and 26.1% from 3 (6 for 23). I was happy with Rudy Gay, who found ways to put up 21 even when his 3 ball could not fall, and I was happy with Bryn Forbes (19 pts.), who was the only one who could get his 3 ball tofall. Other than that, our guys did not perform too well. They came out a little flat, right after Coach Pop had said in the post-game press conference for Game 6, “It’s the playoffs, nobody’s gonna come out flat.” But, after embarrassing themselves in the first half and falling behind by 13, our guys almost brought it back in the second. They continued to work and chip away at the lead. They never stopped fighting. But, after the Spurs cut it to single digits in the final minute, Jamal Murray decided to make us pay for loving when he missed that go-ahead shot at the end of Game 1, and dropped an ice-cold dagger that went about 25 feet high, over the hand of LaMarcus Aldridge, and came down straight through the net. Spurs went down by 4, brought the ball down and missed a shot, and then had a strange and un-Spurs-like situation where the guys did not realize that it was an obvious foul situation. I would be mad about it, but the truth is that it probably would not have mattered, and I know that it was not an effort mistake as much as it was just a regular mistake. Our team fought hard. And if there were 2 extra minutes left in that Game 7, I honestly believe they would have been a second-round team. But there were not, because NBA basketball games are only 48 minutes. And at the end of 48, Nuggets, 90 – Spurs, 86. Nuggets took it 4-3. Season over. Until next year, fellas. Gracias.
Upon reflection, it was a rebuilding year. But, a fun rebuilding year. Not the type of rebuilding year most teams have, where their team is trash, but they call it a rebuilding year to give it a positive tone for the couple of dozens of fans that they have. Not one of those years, but the type of rebuilding year where we had tremendously talented pieces, and a really good team – but a lot of the pieces were young, two of our starters were playing their home games in Canada the year before, we lost my guy Dejounte before the season, and we played the first month, as well as a few games mid-season, without our new x-factor, Derrick White – so our guys had to learn how to play together and get a season under their belts. Now, they have. So, rebuild complete (hopefully – fingers crossed).
I like what Coach Pop said about the process of this season, because I can relate to it from the perspective of a fan. He talked about how he realized how different this year was going to be, and he could no longer rely on the players to run the system themselves, because they had not been in it long enough, if at all, before this year. He had to break them down, and build them back up, piece by piece. Pop said it was a challenge, but it made the season fun. That’s how I felt, this season was not like any of the rest of the Spurs seasons that I can remember seeing growing up, because it was not the same deal where the team just had to get through the regular season, and then turn it on in the playoffs. No, they had to turn it on right away, especially after that awful November. The whole season was a grind – the grind that players live for. They made the playoffs (for the 22nd straight year – Sorry, I just cannot stop saying that), fought hard against a very solid Denver team, and then ran out of time in a Game 7. Sometimes, that is all you can ask for. I might not be used to that, but I have come to the realization that I am okay with it.
I had a blast this season. I fell in love with the Spurs all over again. Every single rotation player held something in my heart that makes me never want to see them in another jersey: My guy DeMar made for the perfect Spur as a scorer who was able to improve every other facet of his game (career high averages in assists and rebounds). LaMarcus continued to be the all-star that he is (and tossed in a career high 56-point game in a January outing against OKC). Derrick White turned out to be the newest edition of “who the **** was that guy before he played for the spurs?” Because he came out of nowhere and got buckets and was a defensive pest for the opponent’s best player every night. Bryn Forbes earned and certified his spot as a, at the very least, rotational player on the Spurs roster with his lights-out shooting and competitive drive that he plays with. Rudy Gay had a lot more bounce in his step than he did the previous year (for real, he was a bucket this season – he was coming out every night trying to dunk on people’s heads, and it was glorious to watch). Jakob Poeltl proved himself as a big man who can be all over the place as a rim protector and a rebounder. Davis Bertans improved as a shooter and a solid all-around offensive player, (next step for him is working towards being an effective playoff player – but truly a great season, Davis). Marco Bellinelli contributed as a veteran and somebody who could make jaw-dropping, how-in-the-hell-did-he-just-make-that-when-he-was-being-smothered-and-fouled-and-fading-from-left-to-right-at-100mph type shots. And last, but definitely not least, Patty Mills, somebody who I did not talk about at all in this piece (which I regret) until now, continued to be the heart and soul of the Spurs. He was (and is) somebody who brought the energy and passion to the floor every single night, no matter the circumstance, and somebody who would give anything for the team, because that is the Spurs way.
I love this team, and we are about to be extremely scary next year. Think about it – if we went from being gutted in the offseason by Tony Parker leaving, Manu retiring, and KaShart Longface betraying us, and were still able to make this season what it was, what will this team be with a season behind them, a full off-season together, a formed identity as a unit, and the motivation to take the league by storm? Hair-rising. Not to mention: Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and LaMarcus Aldridge. With Bryn Forbes, Rudy Gay, Patty Mills, Davis Bertans, Marco Bellinelli all as bench options (barring anyone leaves us, because that will hurt me) … that’s just tough. Buckets everywhere, and a family of guys that just want to win.
So, don’t be surprised in 2019-20 when we smack your hometown team. Because we’re coming. San Antonio will be back. Don’t sleep.
And with that we say,
Go Spurs Go.