Spurs Reach 50 Wins For 14th Straight Season

No team has ever done it before. To win 50 games in a season is a tough feat; to do it 14 straight seasons is a marvel that should be adored with outmost respect. The San Antonio Spurs, the epitome of class and fundamentals, has once again shown why they were named “Team of the Decade” by ESPN Magazine last year: consistency. There are three things almost guaranteed in life these days: death, taxes and the Spurs winning 50 games in a season. To further drive the point home, last season was a lockout-shortened season consisting of only 66 games and the Spurs still managed to win 50 games. That’s how incredibly consistent the Spurs are, and it’s a safe bet that they will win 50 games each season as long as Coach Pop is at the helm.

How did they manage to win their 50th game of the season? In a tight game against the Texas rival Dallas Mavericks. The Spurs, still playing without All-Star Tony Parker, have shown to be a little bit out of rhythm without their point making plays. Although Corey Joseph has proven himself worthy of the starts he’s acquired, he started in the great win over OKC that allowed San Antonio to hold on to the title of “Best in the West”, he is definitely no Tony Parker. Gone are the incredible playmaking brought about Tony and his fast penetration that allows for defenses to collapse onto him which allows for the pass out to the open man and let’s face it, the pick and roll is not the same without him. Although the assists to made field goal ratio is still phenomenal, the amount of turnovers has been phenomenal as well, and not in the good way. It is because of these turnovers that kept Dallas in the game, and even allowed them the opportunity to win with a last second shot. It was too close a game for the #1 seed Spurs and the non-playoff contender Mavericks, but as is the case with all rivalries, records don’t matter when you’re playing your nemesis.

Tim Duncan had a MONSTER game where he scored 28 points and had 19 rebounds, and this is from a man who is 36 years old. The other big man of the Spurs, Tiago Splitter, amassed 10 boards but only scored 8 points falling short of a double double. Gary Neal proved vital in the closing minutes of the game when he shot a 3 to put the Spurs back up by 2 after Dirk Nowitzki had given Dallas their first lead of the game. The game shouldn’t have been close, but it was, and it became excruciatingly close when the Spurs turned the ball over with 8 seconds on the clock which gave the opportunity to Dallas to win. Down by 1 the Mavericks inbound to Vince Carter who was covered by Tiago Splitter, but Splitter played great defense and forced Carter to shoot a long 3 which almost went in, but didn’t. And that’s how the Spurs won their 50th win of the season: in a heart attack inducing close game to their in-state rivals.

With that win the Spurs became the first team to 50 wins for the third straight season, which hadn’t been done since the Celtics did it from 1983-1986, acquired their 16th consecutive playoff berth (an active record), and extended their 50+ win season record to 14 seasons straight. The Spurs look to continue their winning ways and win their 51st game of the season when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers (22-43) tonight.

Spurs Look To Go 2-0 In This Stretch Without Tony Parker

 

No Parker. No problem. For now. It was the Pistons after all, the same Pistons that defeated  the Spurs by 10 points weeks prior, WITH Parker at the helm. But as I mentioned in an earlier post, the first game of this 13 (maybe 14) game stretch without Parker would be the easiest, and the 114-75 score proves it. Perhaps the Spurs really are that good (they are), and perhaps the Pistons really are that bad (they are), but regardless, this game was not a measure of either team’s strengths. Tonight’s game against the Bulls will be a more accurate measure of the Spurs without their MVP candidate Tony Parker.

It’ll take 3 guards taking up the point at different parts of the games without Parker. Last game Corey Joseph acquired the start and accounted for 8 points and 4 assists in 18 minutes of play. Patty Mills played for 16 while getting 6 points and 4 assists and Gary Neal, who Coach Pop said before the game wouldn’t play, played 8 minutes and scored 7 points and dropped 3 dimes. Now, it’s not the points scored from these three players that is the noteworthy item, together they scored 21 points which is Parker’s average, but it’s the assists made that is the important factor. Tony is the playmaker, one of the best in the league if not THE best, and that is what the Spurs will miss the most from him. His smart decision-making and his ability to penetrate and pass off the ball to the outside man is key to many a Spurs win. Without him, the rest of the Spurs need to make up for that loss of playmaking ability, and to do that the ball needs to be passed.

The Spurs were successful in doing this with 35 assists on 45 made field goals, and at least for this game, the Spurs were able to make up for the loss of Parker. Will it carry on throughout this long stretch with Parker? Maybe, maybe not. Lest you forget, they still have an All-Star in Tim Duncan and an incredibly creative and explosive player in Manu Ginobili. If the Spurs maintain their level of play, as showcased on Sunday’s win over the Pistons, the Spurs should hold up quite well until Parker returns and might even be able to maintain the #1 seed in the West. The true test starts tonight, against the 34-26 Chicago Bulls who will play with an injured roster. The Spurs did defeat the Bulls earlier in the season without their Big Three playing, and won 103-89. With Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili playing this time around, the Spurs should be able to win tonight based on the outcome of that aforementioned game from 3 weeks ago, even without Tony Parker. Anything can happen in the NBA, so we’ll wait to see if the Spurs can pull out this win and go 2-0 in this stretch without Tony Parker.

Spurs Aim to Keep Winning Without Tony Parker

It was bound to happen. We were waiting for it to happen. It happened. Tony Parker was playing too well, attracting MVP buzz, and the Spurs were gliding to their third consecutive #1 seed in the West. Injuries had happened to Manu Ginobili, but we were used to that. Tim Duncan suffered a horrible scare when he landed awkwardly, but we were spared any serious injury. Tony was playing the best basketball of his career, so of course he got hurt against an irrelevant Sacramento Kings team. It was bound to happen.

The legitimate MVP candidate, Tony Parker, was averaging 21.0 points and 7.6 assists this season, and was the leader who charged the Spurs to their current 46-14 record, best in the league. The Spurs are known to still win despite injury to their star players, they did so in stunning fashion with Duncan and Ginobili for most of their Rodeo Road Trip where they ended it with a 7-2 record. Spurs can play and hold their own without Danny Green, Stephen Jackson, hell, the Spurs’ bench almost defeated the Heat starters back in November. But now Tony Parker is expected to miss 4 weeks due to his injury, a sprained ankle, and now the Spurs’ ability to win despite injury will be put through its ultimate test.

Sure the Spurs blew out the Kings 130-102, but it was a meaningless game to us Spurs fans for two reasons: the win was against a non-playoff team near the bottom of the bunch, and more importantly, we lost our best player in Tony Parker to injury. We awaited with bated breath to hear of any news from the locker room about Parker’s physical state. It looked bad. He had to be carried off from the court to the locker room while preventing any weight to be applied to his left ankle. Whereas Spurs fans stood in silence as Tim Duncan held his knee weeks before after an awkward landing, Spurs fans saw their season in jeopardy as Tony Parker stayed seated on the court holding his left ankle. We were prevented the season loss of our future Hall Of Famer Tim Duncan with just a minor knee injury and were awarded with his return just weeks later. Now Spurs fans hope they are awarded the same with Tony Parker.

Tony Parker was most likely not going to win MVP with a man by the name of LeBron James still in the NBA and also due to the fact that the Spurs get no love from the NBA. But there was hope, and a possibility. But now with all of that out the window, Spurs fans now have only one thing focused in their sights: the championship, and in the end, the only trophy that matters. If Tony were to sit out the full 4 weeks, and nothing more nor less, he would miss 12 games, including tonight’s against the Detroit Pistons. 12 games is quite a number of games, considering that we are nearing the end of the regular season and Oklahoma City, who are just 2 games back in the loss column, vying for our #1 seed. The good news is 10 of those games will be at home, and 5 of the 12 will be against non-playoff games. The bad news? 7 of those 12 will be against playoff teams, including the aforementioned Thunder that will be played on the Spurs homecourt next week. That game will prove to be vital in maintaining our #1 seed. Ending the stretch of those 12 games are games against the Warriors, Jazz, Rockets, Nuggets, and the third seed Clippers. This is all under the assumption Tony does miss exactly 4 weeks, doesn’t return early, and returns in time for the Heat game at home on March 31. Including the Heat game, those 13 games will prove to be a tough stretch for the Spurs without their star guard at the helm or at full strength (for the Miami game), but if the Spurs hold on and maintain that #1 seed by the time Tony Parker returns, the Spurs will only be better and you’ll sense a fear of the Spurs around the league.

The Spurs look to start their longest streak without Tony Parker in the past 3 seasons with a win tonight against Detroit in San Antonio. Now, more than ever, the Spurs’ bench has to show why they’re the deepest bench in the association, and who knows, it might be what Patty Mills, Gary Neal, or even Corey Joseph need to make that jump to the next level.

The Rodeo Road Trip

Winning 8 games in a 9 game stretch is no easy task. Doing it all on the road is damn near impossible, so much so that no one has ever gone 9-0 in any such span of 9 straight games on the road. The best anyone has ever done is go 8-1, and who holds that record? The San Antonio Spurs. Any stretch away from home would normally be worrisome for fans and players, but Spurs fans welcome this particular annual road trip.

With the Timberwolves game Wednesday, so started the infamous Rodeo Road Trip for the Spurs. A span of many consecutive games on the road that is regarded as the stretch in the season where the Spurs finally become the well-oiled machine they will be for the rest of the season, and hopefully throughout the playoffs. Road games aren’t ever easy, but it is extremely apparent with the Spurs this season. As was the case last year, the Spurs started off the season doing very well at home, and doing very poorly away from it. Of their 11 current losses, 9 of them occurred on the road. But Spurs fans don’t seem to be worried much with this stat because last year the Spurs started off the season losing 8 of their first 10 road games and still managed to win 50 games in a condensed 66-game season and reach the Western Conference Finals. Fans view the Rodeo Road Trip as a catalyst that will allow the team to be playoff ready as they aim to contend for another title, and with only 11 losses on the season, this Rodeo Road Trip might prove to be the impetus the Spurs need to become the #1 seed in the West for third straight year.

Since its creation in 2003, the Spurs have never had a losing record in their road trip, but that might be in danger this year. After suffering what seemed to be a horrific injury during this past Saturday’s win over the Washington Wizards, the Spurs will be without their superstar Power Forward for the start of the trip. Thankfully, the injury proved to be nothing more than a mild right ankle sprain, and Duncan is even expected to return in the midst of the Rodeo Road Trip. But missing the 14 time All Star might not be that bad as another All Star has taken the reigns. Tony Parker has averaged 23.8 points and 9.8 assists in the past 10 games where the Spurs have gone undefeated and hope to carry this momentum to bring about a great start to the Rodeo Road Trip. This annual road trip is inevitable, so the only thing that can be changed is the fans’ perspective on it, and with the first game of the trip a win against the Timberwolves and the next game against Detroit, fans can at least breathe easy knowing that this year’s Rodeo Road Trip will at least start easy enough for the Spurs when they need it most.