It’s A Bad Time To Be A Former Pop Assistant

Season 49, Game 26
San Antonio 118, Utah 81
21-5, 2nd in the West

The Spurs beat the Sixers by 51; they beat the Hawks by 25; now they’ve beaten the Jazz by 37… and that was with Utah making up some ground in extended garbage time. Brett Brown, Mike Budenholzer, and Quin Snyder – all coming from the Spurs’ system – have all felt the Spurs’ wrath in the last 10 days. Good luck out there, coaches… just don’t expect to be able to compete with the Spurs any time soon.

Of course, nobody is competing with the Spurs of late. The Spurs have had at least a 20-point lead by halftime in 3 of their last 5 games. One of the other two games was against the Lakers, where it took all the way into the 3rd quarter for them to open up a 20-point lead (and ultimately win by 22 points.)

In a lot of these cases, these games are over by halftime. Remember when we were all worried about the offense? That seems silly now. Or when we all thought Aldridge was a bad fit and that the first unit was going to be a weakness all season long? How quaint. Aldridge has looked so good the last few weeks, finally finding his stroke on that midrange shot that makes him so deadly, while also showing us wrinkles to his game we’ve never seen: attacking the rim, creating second chance opportunities, and being a severely underrated defensive presence.

What I love about this Spurs team so far this season is that it’s almost like two distinct rosters with two distinct styles on both ends of the court. The starters just grind you down, choking out every possession on the defensive end and wearing down defenses on the offensive end. The second unit comes in and speeds up the pace to a frenetic level. The players and ball are all zipping around the court on offense, tying the defense up in knots. On the other end, the defense becomes more about frenetic energy and totally throwing the other team out of sync and out of rhythm, off kilter.

The best part is that most of the key players for the team can excel with either unit. We think of this team as a first unit and second unit, but it’s more about Style #1 and Style #2. Aldridge, Leonard, Duncan, Green, Parker, Manu, and Diaw can all excel playing either style. Mills and West have preferred fits, but won’t slow down either style. Anderson is slow and methodical for Style #1, but has the vision for Style #2. We know Simmons has the athleticism for Style #2, but we’re also learning that he has the patience and awareness to excel on Style #1, too.

Whatever style you want to play, the Spurs can stop it on one end and score on it on the other end. With any combination of players on the court. Good luck.

It’s still early, and there are still plenty of ups and downs ahead for this squad, but the juggernaut we all thought was being built this offseason is starting to show itself, and it’s even more beautiful and powerful than we imagined it could be.

A few more thoughts from Monday’s beatdown of the Jazz:

• Simmons had another early call tonight, getting important playing time. People think he is a threat to Danny Green, but it’s really Kyle Anderson that he’s stealing minutes from right now. The rotation he had in the first half was Kyle’s normal first stint. It’ll be interesting to see how each player progresses as the season goes on. Each player has such great potential, but offers such different skill sets. Both have the opportunity to be valuable weapons in certain situations.

• We didn’t see much of Anderson until garbage time. I have noticed that his jump shot looks a lot better this season, and it seems to have even improved in season.

• The Spurs had built a 19-point lead midway through the 2nd quarter before Kawhi had even scored a point. He then proceeded to rip off at least 10-points in the next few minutes, completely opening up the game. The point being twofold: Kawhi is really good, and the Spurs offense is also really good, not needing Kawhi to go off to completely outplay teams.

• Tony Parker decided that he didn’t want to play a second stint in the second half, so he came out and almost singlehandedly blew this game wide open in the first 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter. My note at half time was: “Need strong start to second half, don’t allow Jazz back in it.” By the time Parker was done, the lead was pushing 40, and the starters were headed to the bench for a long sit down.

The Wizards come to town Wednesday night. The Spurs owe them one from earlier this season.

Go Spurs Go.