Together in isolation
Club clicking despite COVID as it caps 4-1 trip
For Gregg Popovich and the Spurs, life on the road isn’t what it used to be. It is more like an exercise in isolation.
In the age of COVID-19, players and staff members generally aren’t allowed to leave their hotel rooms for anything other than team business.
Those league-wide restrictions have only been heightened as the coronavirus begins to infiltrate NBA locker rooms
“It’s a little bit more difficult to feel the group,” Popovich said. “To get them where you would like them to be as far as respecting each other, falling in love with each other, wanting to play for each other.”
In the absence of team dinners and other camaraderiebuilding outings, the Spurs are beginning to figure things out the old-fashioned way on the court.
After capping a 4-1 road trip with 112-102 victory over Oklahoma City at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Tuesday, the Spurs return to San Antonio much more in tune than they were when they left.
“We’ve pretty much all been in the same flow or rhythm,” forward Keldon Johnson said. “That helps out.”
Playing without leading scorer Demar Derozan for the second game in a row as he deals with a family issue in Los Angeles, the Spurs made sure to finish their longest road trip of the season so
far in style.
Lonnie Walker IV followed a 25-point outing in Sunday’s loss at Minnesota with 24 points on Tuesday, the most he has totaled in consecutive games in his career.
“With Demar not being here, there was a time to step up,” Walker said. “I wanted to take that role and be more aggressive.”
Johnson added 18 points, Patty Mills scored 17 off the bench, and Lamarcus Aldridge chipped in a 13-point, 10-rebound doubledouble that included three blocks.
Point guard Dejounte Murray, meanwhile, completed a stellar road trip with 16 points, five rebounds and seven assists and helped keep the Spurs’ turnover numbers (four) in single digits for the fifth time on the road trip.
It all added up to the Spurs’ fourth win in five games on a trek they began Jan. 5, fresh off a four-game losing streak.
“They dug down deep and played a really good team,” Popovich said. “We had to work to grind it out, especially the last game of the road trip.”
Once upon a time, a SpursThunder matchup meant a potential playoff preview.
Since the 2010-11 season, Oklahoma City boasts the secondbest winning percentage in the NBA (.639 heading into Tuesday). The only team better over that stretch is the Spurs (.687).
Much has changed since the last time either franchise was a championship contender. Both clubs are now rebuilding as stars have moved on or retired.
The Thunder of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook has given way to the team of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort.
OKC’S longest-tenured player is Hamidou Diallo, a former second-round pick in his third season with the club.
The Spurs of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have transformed into the Spurs of Johnson, Walker and Murray.
Popovich was impressed with what he saw from the young Thunder, who were playing the first game Tuesday since finishing a 4-1 road trip of their own.
“There are no stars on that team, but they do a good job,” Popovich said. “They’re moving, they’re driving, they’re playing the right way.”
For their part, the Spurs are playing faster, launching more 3-pointers, and forcing more turnovers than ever before.
Yet the way first-year OKC coach Mark Daigneault tells it, they are still the Gregg Popovich Spurs.
“There’s more that’s the same with their team (than different) — in terms of their discipline, in terms of they don’t beat themselves, they don’t turn the ball over, they execute on both ends of the floor,” said Daigneault, whose team fell to 5-6. “I would say there are some noticeable differences, but they’re on the margin. In the big rocks, they’re still the Spurs.”
On Tuesday, the Spurs did something the old-school Spurs used to do on a nightly basis, and what the new-look Spurs could not accomplish two nights earlier in Minnesota — grind out a fourth-quarter win.
The Spurs led the Timberwolves by nine points with nine minutes left before coming unraveled. Minnesota outscored them 30-19 in the final frame to win 96-88 and deal the Spurs their only loss of the trip.
That defeat steeled the Spurs heading into OKC.
“The mentality was great from the start of it,” Murray said. “After we lost to Minnesota, we were already locked in as a unit. Shootaround to pregame, all the way to the jump ball everybody was locked in.”
The Spurs led by 10 points after a Walker 3-pointer with 7:12 to play. Still, the Thunder made the Spurs work for the victory.
After ex-spur George Hill pulled OKC within 100-96 on a jumper with 3:20 remaining, Aldridge and Murray ran consecutive pick and pops to keep the Thunder at arm’s length.
Murray hit Aldridge for a topof-the-key jumper on the first, and kept the ball for his own pull-up 15-footer on the next.
“We ran maybe one play 10 or 12 times in the second half, and he made a different read every time,” Popovich said of Murray. “And it was almost always the right read.”
This is the kind of growth the Spurs experienced on a road trip COVID-19 might have otherwise made grim.
Here’s the thing about the monotony of the road:
“When you win,” Popovich said, “it’s fun.”
By that measure, the Spurs headed home late Tuesday from one of their more entertaining road trips in recent memory.
“It’s been one of my favorite road trips,” Walker said. “Even off the court, as a team we’re beginning to maintain that love and affection. It’s just carrying onto the court.”
Walker closed his postgame Zoom session Tuesday by bellowing a battle cry in his best Bruno Mars falsetto:
“Let’s go home!” he sang. The Spurs will be happy to return to the AT&T Center, so long as the good vibes keep flowing.