Road woes must stop now
To beat Warriors, solution required to season-long travel ban on Ws
SAN ANTONIO — If the San Antonio Spurs are going to make any noise in the Western Conference playoffs, they are going to have to find a way to win on the road.
Entering Game 1 at Golden State on Saturday, the Spurs are on an eightgame road losing streak, their longest since the 1996-97 season.
Their 14-27 record away from home this season broke a 20-year streak of finishing above .500. It is by far the worst road mark of any team in this year’s NBA playoff field.
The Spurs closed the regular season with a disheartening 122-98 blowout loss at New Orleans, which left them with the No. 7 seed in the conference hierarchy.
“It has been an issue during the year,” guard Danny Green said of the Spurs’ road woes. I think it will be a different scenario for us in the playoffs when we can focus and lock in.”
The Spurs have not won a road game since Feb. 25 in Cleveland. They have not won on the road against a conference playoff team since Dec. 20 at Portland.
The culprit has been mostly on the defensive end. Since the All-Star break, the Spurs are giving up 111.2 points per 100 possessions on the road.
That ranks 25th in the NBA over that span.
It is a problem the Spurs must clean up against the high-powered Warriors.
“It’s been shown in the last month that when we don’t have the aggressiveness and determination, we’re not winning,” guard Manu Ginobili said. “We need to play hard and give value to every possession. We’re doing it at home and not on the road.”
If the Spurs could find a way to steal one of the first two games at Oracle Arena against the defending NBA champions, they might have a shot at an upset.
The Spurs have won 10 games in a row at the AT&T Center. Their 33-8 home mark ranks third in the league behind the Rockets and Toronto, the top seeds in each conference.