Popovich to change things up
As the San Antonio Spurs prepared to play Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals without their best player, guard Patty Mills offered the kind of perspective unique to his franchise.
“It shouldn’t change anyone else’s mind-set,” he told reporters. “It should be the same. It
has to be the same.” And it was. Wait, check that. Without Kawhi Leonard, on the road in Houston, the Spurs staged their most impressive performance of the season. They were actually better without Leonard (and storied point guard Tony Parker). A temporary condition, no doubt, but indicative of the strategic battle to come.
With Leonard elevating his game to magnificence in the season’s second half, and parts of the offense grinding to a halt, the Spurs came to rely upon him almost exclusively. Nobody could recall head coach Gregg Popovich running so much isolation for any player. It was somewhat troubling to watch such a dramatic change for the Spurs, whose 2014 championship run was cited by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr as the most impressive display of ball movement he’d ever seen.
So what happens with Leonard sitting out Thursday night? The entire Spurs team responded brilliantly. It was 2014 all over again. Everybody was on, covering both ends of the floor. LaMarcus Aldridge, widely belittled for a desultory showing in Game 1, had 34 points, his high this postseason, in a performance reminiscent of his finest days in Portland. The Spurs’ dominance was comprehensive to the point of comedy, and there wasn’t much response but derisive laughter as the onenote, zero-defense Rockets vanished in a 114-75 rout.
This is what the Warriors will face as the Western Conference finals unfold. They won’t ever have a clear idea what Popovich is planning, because he makes radical adjustments on the fly. Aldridge, Pau Gasol and (to a point) David Lee were effective protecting the rim against Houston (what a relief not to see James Harden drawing fouls on every drive to the hoop), but that won’t necessarily be the case against the Warriors, who appear to be too quick, with too much offensive variety, to be stifled by relatively slow-footed defenders. And if that proves to be the case, Popovich will shake things up.
Normally, with such an accomplished team, fans come to memorize the roster and rotations. Even now, so late in the postseason, such names as Dejounte Murray, Jonathon Simmons, Davis Bertans, Dewayne Dedmon and Kyle Anderson remain somewhat mysterious, drifting in and out of relevance. Murray, who played less than four minutes in Game 2, started Games 3 and 4 ahead of Mills at point guard. Dedmon and Bertans, two big men who saw plenty of regularseason playing time, didn’t play in Game 3. Anderson, an afterthought throughout the series, played 21 minutes in Game 6 with a plus-minus rating of plus-21.
Become familiar with them: Murray, the confident rookie from Washington, might replace Parker next season. Simmons, who lit up the Warriors with a 20-point outburst off the bench on opening night — plus a chase-down block on Stephen Curry and a posterizing dunk on JaVale McGee — shook off the memory of two D-League seasons to become about as explosive as any forward in the game. The 7-foot Dedmon, who didn’t start playing basketball until he was 18, went undrafted out of USC in 2013 but has rewarded the Spurs’ investment. Bertans, part of the 2011 draft-day deal that sent George Hill to Indiana for Leonard, is a 24-year-old from Latvia who has enforcer qualities and a soft three-point touch. Anderson, a first-round pick from UCLA in 2014, can be a highly effective shooting guard.
Typical of the Spurs’ drafting plight, never coming close to a lottery pick, all of those players have rewarded Popovich’s insight. They all fit in — you just never know where or when. Remember, too, that Popovich is fiercely adamant about resting players extensively during the regular season, just to have them fresh and invigorated for times like this. It could be a lesson for Harden, who fought through fatigue and a sore left wrist in his insistence to play heavy minutes down the stretch — and looked completely gassed by Thursday night’s Game 6.
The Spurs have arrived, as they will, and for the Warriors, the postseason is a whole new deal.