Ravaged foes making evaluation difficult
By most objective measure, the Spurs entered Monday’s game against Utah inarguably playing their best basketball of the season.
They had won 10 of 15 games and doing so putting up offensive numbers at a clip unprecedented during the Gregg Popovich era.
Thanks to the pandemic having its way with opponents across the league, Popovich isn’t quite sure how to gauge his team’s progress.
“After the first 20 or 30 games, most of us try to look at our teams objectively and say, ‘We’re really poor at this or we’re doing this really well,’ ” Popovich said.
That hasn’t been entirely possible this season, Popovich said.
“The thing that’s exacerbated that decision-making and investigative process is the pandemic,” Popovich said. “There have been so many people in and out and you’re playing teams without their best players sometimes. You can win or lose and you don’t really know how to evaluate it.”
Case in point came Sunday against a Detroit team ravaged by COVID-19.
With eight players in health and safety protocols, and another two injured, the Pistons had to sign four players to hardship in the previous three days in order to field a team.
One of them, Deividas Sirvydis, was signed the morning of the game.
The outcome was not surprising: The Spurs — who, to be fair, were missing starting point guard Dejounte Murray but were otherwise healthy — routed the players in Detroit uniforms 144-109.
“We just wanted to take care of business,” said forward Keldon Johnson, who matched a season high with 27 points in 23 minutes. “Do what we do, play defense, share the ball. Definitely just keep the pressure on them, no matter how much we got up. Don’t really give them no hope.”
The Spurs accomplished that. It marked the ninth consecutive game the Spurs topped 110 points, the club’s longest streak since March 1984.
The Spurs played well, with a season-best 39 assists and setting a season scoring high.
The shredded state of the Pistons roster made evaluating the Spurs’ performance tricky.
“Obviously, it wasn’t a fair fight,” Popovich said.
Still, it is clear the Spurs are playing better since enduring a
six-game losing streak in November.
How much better is a matter of interpretation made more difficult by the patchwork nature of many of the Spurs’ opponents lately.
“It’s probably best — and we all do it, but maybe to an even greater degree this season — is to worry about your own team,” Popovich said. “We don’t care about what so-and-so is doing. We’ve got to decide what players you have, who’s available, who’s not
hurt, who’s available, who’s suffering from the disease and work on what you do best. That’s probably the best path.”
Landale solidifying his spot in rotation
Rookie center Jock Landale enjoyed his best game in the NBA against the Pistons, logging 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting off the bench.
The 25-year-old Australian has seen increased production in the
six games since claiming a spot as Jakob Poeltl’s top backup.
He is averaging 8.7 points and four rebounds in that span, while making 5 of 8 tries from 3-point range.
“He’s an intuitive player,” Popovich said. “He’s good with the ball, a good passer, makes good decisions, doesn’t try to do things he’s not capable of doing. He plays a wise game.”