Struggling Spurs hit the road.
At least the game did not go to overtime. That is one silver lining for the Spurs.
Strangely, the fact they have only seven home games left after their just-completed homestand from Hades is another.
Monday’s visit from the reeling Cleveland Cavaliers was supposed to provide the Spurs a chance at a soft sendoff after two grueling, defeat-filled weeks in San Antonio.
Instead, the Spurs lost in dispiriting fashion, 125-101, and departed for Wednesday’s game in Denver bearing the look of the Titanic leaving port.
“We look like we’re fried,” coach Gregg Popovich said.
The nine-game homestand was the longest in franchise history — and felt that way.
The Spurs finished it 2-7, notching victories only over Chicago and Sacramento.
Five of the Spurs’ losses in that stretch came while giving up at least 125 points. Two of those came in overtime, against Atlanta and Indiana in consecutive contests Thursday and Saturday.
Equal-opportunity defeatists, the Spurs also dropped a pair of games when giving up 100 points or less — 100-97 against Charlotte to open the homestand March 22 and 98-85 to the L.A. Clippers.
Popovich’s takeaway from the Spurs’ slide, which has sent them spiraling to 24-24 and clawing to remain in contention just for a play-in spot in the Western Conference: “We just look tired.”
“The cup is less than halffilled, it seems,” Popovich said. “Whether it’s a little bit of the schedule, a little bit of the overtimes, a little bit of different players playing every night be
cause of the injuries here and there, it’s all adding up.”
No exhausted team in NBA history has sought refuge in the mile-high environs of Denver.
That’s what the Spurs will attempt to gain in a pair of games Wednesday and Friday against the Nuggets, who also happen to be one of the best teams in the conference at 31-18.
If nothing else, the Spurs could use a change of scenery after their ugly stay at the AT&T Center. The Spurs are 12-7 on the road this season, a mark that is for now keeping their postseason aspirations alive.
“I think our sense of urgency on the road kind of kicks in a little bit more,” Demar Derozan said. “It kind of forces you to be out of your comfort zone, and you kind of feel like everything is against you and you go out and play with that sense of urgency that is needed.”
On paper, Monday’s game against Cleveland was set up to propel the Spurs toward their upcoming road trip on a high note.
The Cavs had lost five in a row heading into town, and boasted statistically the worst offense in the NBA.
Instead, Cleveland took control of the game in the first quarter and never looked back, leading by as many as 32 points in the second half.
The Cavaliers shot 52.3 percent and matched their highest point total since a Jan. 22 win over Brooklyn.
“This was a lapse for us,” veteran forward Rudy Gay said. “We had a motivated team come in, and we got steamrolled.”
Second-year Cavs guard Darius Garland scored a career-best 37 points, joining a head-scratching roll call of unheralded opponents to perform like MVP candidates against the Spurs.
That list also includes … Darius Garland, who notched a thencareer best 29 points in the Spurs’ 116-110 win in Cleveland on March 19.
The second-year pro from Vanderbilt might not be a household name around the NBA, but he was the fifth overall pick in 2019, a draft that produced a pair of burgeoning stars in Zion Williamson and Ja Morant. As the Spurs can attest, Garland can clearly score.
Garland made 14 of his 22 shots Monday, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. He left having boosted his season scoring average to 16.7 points per game.
Meanwhile, Collin Sexton, Garland’s young backcourt mate, left the arena disappointed.
“I wanted him to go get that 40,” said Sexton, who had 22 points himself. “He had an amazing game.”
Add that to the short list of things that went right for the Spurs on their ill-fated homestand. They held the Cavs’ 21year-old No. 2 guard to less than 40 points.
Somehow, the Spurs weren’t in the mood to celebrate that accomplishment Monday night. They were too busy engaged in the autopsy of how their homestand had gone so awry.
“It happens sometimes in this league,” Gay said. “You hope it doesn’t carry over. This is one of those stretches that is going to make us tougher, I believe.”
The third quarter Monday night was a killer, with Cleveland erupting for 43 points.
The Spurs went into halftime behind by 10 points, scored 33 in the third, and entered the fourth quarter behind by 20.
By then, at least, there was no threat of a third consecutive overtime affair.
Another silver lining: Popovich was able to use the fourth quarter to rest players who otherwise would not be able to get a breather during the Spurs’ tightly packed schedule.
Derozan, Gay and Jakob Poeltl did not play in the final frame. No Spurs player finished the night logging more than 29 minutes.
The fourth-quarter downtime was helpful, given the pair of OT games the Spurs endured earlier in the week.
“It’s been exhausting the last few games,” Derozan said.
But the manner in which that unexpected rest came about — via blowout against an Eastern Conference also-ran — was not optimal.
That’s the thing about silver linings. They often come with clouds.
“Nobody wants to lose,” Derozan said. “How we lost (Monday) — definitely frustrating, should be frustrating. We’ve got to carry that frustration over, take it with us on the road and use that frustration as we fight to pull out these victories.”