Spurs make playoffs, but hurdles await

Loss might mean team begins postseason on road against Rockets.

No confetti fell from the AT&T Center rafters after the Spurs finished off a 98-85 victory over Sacramento on Monday.

The familiar strains of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” went unplayed.

The Spurs’ streak of postseason appearances was officially old enough to toast itself with cham- pagne, but the Spurs did not pop the bubbly.

Make no mistake. The postseason berth the Spurs clinched against the Kings was perhaps more hardwon than any of the 20 straight that came before it.

“For moments we felt like the worst team in the NBA,” guard Manu Ginobili said. “But we still managed to win close to 50 games and make it to the playoffs in a conference that is tough and talented and young and athletic.”

The Spurs’ sigh of relief Monday was short-lived. Tuesday afternoon, the Spurs boarded a charter flight to New Orleans for Wednes- day’s regular-season finale that could chart the course of their postseason run.

If that prospect sounds familiar — and chilling — it should.

There are other scenarios, but the most likely are these: If the Spurs beat the Pelicans, they will finish either fourth or fifth in the Western Conference. If they lose, they could plummet as far as eighth.

In that case, they would begin the playoffs on the road against the NBA-leading Houston Rockets.

After Monday’s victory, the Spurs