Truth, lies, and problem of just being overmatched
Sometimes you need lies. Sometimes you tell them to yourself. And sometimes even the ones that sting can be a source of comfort, because sometimes lies are all you have.
So when the Spurs spoke with a disregard for the obvious truth Saturday afternoon, it was easy to understand why. They had no other option.
Gregg Popovich had to castigate his team for not being ready to play. Danny Green had to say the Spurs made mistakes they can fix. LaMarcus Aldridge had to insist he did not play like himself. Even if none of that was accurate, they had to blame themselves for fouling up Game 1 of their playoff series against Golden State, because the alternative was too depressing to contemplate.
The truth was, their 113-92 loss at Oracle Arena was not their fault at all.
Their only hope in Game 1 — and in this first-round series as a whole — was that the Warriors would forget how to flip the switch. The defending champions had spent the last month flailing about, losing 10 of their final 17 regular-season games while lending credence to the notion that the grind of three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals was catching up with them.
It did not catch up with them Saturday. It might catch up with them at some point, but it does not look like it will happen during the next two weeks. And unless the Warriors stop caring or sustain another significant injury, nothing this hopelessly outmatched Spurs team does will matter.
This is an atrocious matchup for San Antonio. That much was clear from the very beginning Saturday, when all the Warriors had to do was set a couple of screens each time up the floor to end up with one comical mismatch after another.
On defense, there is no place to hide Patty Mills against this team. On offense, there is no way to disguise the fact that Golden State does not have to guard Dejounte Murray or Kyle Anderson and easily can take away everything that makes Pau Gasol effective.
Even with Stephen Curry sitting on the sideline, the Warriors can choose from any number of options to make the Spurs look silly at both ends of the floor.
If they had won one or two games during the regular season, the Spurs could have avoided this. As a sixth seed against Portland, they would have had matchups to exploit. Against Oklahoma City, New Orleans or even Utah, they would have had hope, and in some cases an edge.
They are not going to find one in this series. As Manu Ginobili conceded in a rare moment of clarity for the Spurs after Saturday’s loss, their best just might not be good enough against the Warriors.
“To get a win here, we’ve got to overachieve,” Ginobili said. “We’ve got to do better than we think we can do, even.”
There will be much made over the next couple of days about another ugly one-sided loss the Spurs endured in Game 1 of a recent playoff series, and how it might serve as an example of how quickly dynamics can change. Last May, the Spurs bounced back from a 27-point shellacking against Houston by winning four of the next five games.
But there are some notable differences here. First, Kawhi Leonard played in three of those subsequent Spurs’ victories. Second, those Rockets had a single all-NBA-caliber star. These Warriors have three healthy ones, with a rehabbing fourth probably ready to step in if things get dicey.
This is not the type of disadvantage that can be overcome by moving a 31-year-old man into the starting lineup.
To be sure, a bigger role for Rudy Gay might help. As Popovich noted, he gives the Warriors’ defenders an opponent they actually have to guard, and it was not as though Anderson was putting up much resistance against Kevin Durant or Draymond Green, anyway.
And, of course, Popovich will make other adjustments, too. Maybe he will find a way to avoid having Mills repeatedly end up being switched onto an All-Star 6 inches taller than he is. Maybe he will develop a plan to make JaVale McGee stop looking like Bill Russell.
But strategy only goes so far.
“We need to have a couple of people play better,” Popovich said.
That was no lie, but rather a massive understatement. Mills might respond with the series of his life, and Aldridge might regain his dominant midseason form, and it still probably would not be enough to push the series to six games.
Perhaps the Spurs realize this. Somewhere in the part of their collective brain that can analyze without emotion, they understand it.
But in order to say it out loud, they would have to admit their fate is out of their own hands, and nobody wants to believe that.
Sometimes, it’s far more comforting to beat yourself up, even if you have to lie to yourself to do it.