San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
‘Not here for no reason’
Long-shot Spurs say they’ll fight to keep playoff streak alive
Twenty-three summers ago, Gregg Popovich sat in a hospitality tent in Secaucus, N.J., as fate changed the course of Spurs history.
It was his first and to date only trip to the NBA draft lottery drawing, and the Spurs headed home that day with the grandest prize of them all: the No. 1 pick, and the right to select a senior from Wake Forest named Tim Duncan.
The Duncan-led decades that followed produced an era of nonpareil success, including five championships, the league’s best winning percentage since 1996-97, and 22 consecutive playoff berths,
tied with the 1950-1971 Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers for the longest streak in NBA annals.
It is the last of these that will fall into jeopardy beginning this week, as the Spurs commence what might ultimately be a quixotic eight-game playoff push in Orlando.
For those who might wonder whether the current crop of
Spurs have their heart in extending a streak that began when even the oldest of them were in grade school, DeMar DeRozan offers this rejoinder.
“We are not here for no reason,” DeRozan said. “Despite whatever the odds, whatever the percentages may be, we can’t feed into that. We just have to go out there and compete.”
At the moment the NBA
pressed a coronavirus pause on the season March 11, the Spurs were mired in 12th place in the Western Conference.
The slog from there toward a spot in the Disney World playoff field is certain to be grueling. Starting with Friday’s game against Sacramento — their first regular-season contest in 4½ months — the Spurs will have less than two weeks to get it done.
They also will be forced to make a run minus both of their usual low-post starters. LaMarcus Aldridge, a seven-time AllStar, did not make the trip to Orlando after April shoulder surgery. Trey
Lyles went home early after an appendectomy.
“We’re going out there to be competitive,” said Spurs forward Rudy Gay, whose team is one of 22 competing in the Orlando bubble. “We’re going out there to fight. If you’re going to be a part of something, you might as well give it your all.”
The tweaked format in Orlando might offer the Spurs a bit of a second chance after an initial regular-season gone haywire after 63 games.
The Spurs begin play at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex with a record of 27-36. Had the season finished uninterrupted, the goal would have been to close a fourgame gap on eighth-place Memphis over the final month of the season, while also leapfrogging Portland, New Orleans and Sacramento.
In the NBA reboot, the Spurs’ first goal need only be to outplay each of those three teams — who already have 37, 36 and 36 losses, respectively — and climb into ninth place.
If the Spurs can reach ninth and remain within four games of the Grizzlies while doing so, it would force a play-in series with Memphis for the West’s final bid.
“A second chance is one thing, but more than anything this gives us a chance to be ultimately competitive,” Gay said.
The fact the NBA has been able to put together a for-now workable plan to finish the season despite another COVID-19 spike is something of a minor miracle.
If all goes to plan in Orlando, it will allow the NBA to put closure on the most trying season the league has ever faced.
In October, a tweet from
Houston general manager Daryl Morey supporting a free Hong Kong drew the ire of the Chinese government and NBA sponsors there. The ensuing international firestorm consumed much of the league’s fall.
January began with the death of former commissioner David Stern on New Year’s Day. Later that month, the league was rocked by Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash.
Then came the March shutdown amid the pandemic, and the fraught process of trying to salvage the rest of the season in Orlando.
Without a doubt, commissioner Adam Silver has been asked to earn his paycheck in 2019-20.
“It was a difficult year,” Popovich said. “There were a lot of events that were very sad. Everybody buckled down and continued to do their job even though there was a lot of sadness and angst. I think the NBA showed great fortitude in dealing with whatever came up and moved on as all would want us to.”
To Popovich, that fortitude, as evidenced in the push to restart the season, comes with a message.
“We want to get back to work,” Popovich said. “We want to do what we’re all used to doing. We want to do as much as we can safely to energize the country, to play the game we all love. As long as we can do that safely, it’s a big win for everybody.”
Whether the Spurs can parlay their second chance
into a 23rd consecutive playoff berth remains to be seen.
Popovich already has said the overriding goal for the Spurs during this reboot will be developing young players, not necessarily stealing a postseason invitation.
If the Spurs can do both, growing players while extending the club’s historic playoff streak? Popovich wouldn’t mind crossing a second draft lottery trip off his fall to-do list.
Popovich’s players wouldn’t mind helping clear that from his schedule as well.
“For us, it’s exciting to be in this position to go out there and compete and give ourselves a second chance throughout this chaos that’s been going on and see what we can do,” DeRozan said. “We definitely feel energized.”