Kerr won’t write off struggling Spurs
SAN ANTONIO — Warriors head coach Steve Kerr knows better than to give the Spurs bulletin-board material. So after practice Saturday, when a reporter mentioned that San Antonio — practically an annual championship contender for the past two decades — could look a bit different next season, Kerr took a moment before responding.
“I want to be careful here with my answer,” said Kerr, who considers his four seasons (1998-2001, 2002-03) as a reserve guard with the Spurs integral to his professional development. “It sounds like you’re asking me to write their obituary, which I’m not going to do.”
In Game 4 on Sunday afternoon, Golden State will try to close out a first-round sweep of San Antonio. It is a tricky proposition. The Warriors are the far more talented team, but they don’t have near the motivation of the Spurs.
Golden State wants to finish the series Sunday to give players as much time as possible to rest before the Western Conference semifinals. Meanwhile, San Antonio is playing to honor head coach Gregg Popovich, who will miss his second straight game after his wife of four decades, Erin, died Wednesday at age 67.
There is also the reality that an era, not just a season, could end with a Spurs loss Sunday. Though its streak of seasons with 50 wins came to an end at 18, San Antonio extended the best active professional sports string of postseason appearances to 21.
Now, on the brink of playoff elimination, the Spurs stare down a strange new possibility: If this summer doesn’t go in their favor, they could start becoming regulars at the draft lottery for the first time since they joined the NBA in 1976.
Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker — franchise cornerstones for 16 and 17 years, respectively — might retire this summer. Reports suggest that the fractured bond between the front office and forward Kawhi Leonard, who will miss the rest of the postseason with a quadriceps injury, could be beyond repair.
If Leonard makes it known that he wants to leave this summer, San Antonio would probably trade him for draft picks and prospects to kickstart a lengthy rebuild. The Spurs’ only other All-Starlevel player is LaMarcus Aldridge, who at 32 could be poised for a decline.
It doesn’t help that, since trading George Hill for Leonard on draft night in 2011, San Antonio has mostly missed on its late first-round picks. Dejounte Murray seems the only young player on the Spurs’ roster with a shot at blossoming into a franchise player.
There are no guarantees that Popovich at age 69 would want to oversee a reclamation project. Though its odds of becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit are close to zero, San Antonio could at least delay an offseason filled with questions by winning Sunday.
“Teams got pride, especially the Spurs,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “They play hard every possession. Being down 3-0, they don’t want to get swept. So they’re going to play extremely hard. They’re going to give everything they have. They’re definitely playing with house money.”
The Warriors know better than most about the importance of closing out a series when given the chance. It was less than two years ago that, after taking a 3-1 lead over the Cavaliers, a perfect storm of factors left Golden State grappling with the biggest collapse in NBA Finals history.
Last season, in steamrolling to their second NBA title in three years with a 16-1 postseason record, the Warriors followed up a 3-0 series lead with a Game 4 win three times. After telling reporters Saturday that he refuses to write the Spurs’ obituary, Kerr provided a quote that is sure not to end up on any bulletin boards in San Antonio’s locker room.
“All I will tell you is that we haven’t closed the series out,” Kerr said. “We want to do it tomorrow. At the appropriate time, I would be happy to talk about Manu or Tony, or anyone else.”