San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Defense steps up again for S.A.
Go ahead and call Spurs forward Dante Cunningham any name in the book. He doesn’t mind.
With one exception. “Whatever nickname you want to give me,” Cunningham said, “besides soft.”
Nobody who has been watching the Spurs lately would dare.
After a Charmin-like start to the season on the defensive end, the Spurs have taken on Cunningham’s rugged personality of late.
On Saturday, they opened a back-to-back at the AT&T Center with their finest defensive performance of the season, waxing a heretofore high-scoring New Orleans club 109-95.
“Every game, every quarter, every half we are definitely getting better,” Cunningham said. “Our communication is getting better, our knowledge of each other is getting better.”
DeMar DeRozan scored 26
points and LaMarcus Aldridge worked his way to a 22-point, 12rebound double-double as the Spurs won their fourth game in a row heading into today’s home contest against Orlando.
It was the Spurs’ newly resurgent defense, however, that carried them Saturday.
One game after holding a shorthanded and struggling Phoenix team to 90 points in a 30-point win in the desert, the Spurs limited New Orleans to 26 points below its season average.
“We competed,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team improved to 6-2. “We’re still trying to learn each other. We’ve got a few guys trying to figure out the system. When you compete, it covers up a lot of things.”
Cunningham added 15 points, his most in a Spurs uniform, but that wasn’t where he made his most notable contributions.
A 10-year NBA veteran on a minimum contract, Cunningham has found a home as a starting forward in the Spurs’ small-ball unit because of his willingness to get his hands filthy.
“It’s right up my alley,” said the 31-year-old Cunningham, who had totaled 20 points in his previous seven games. “Go out, guard the best guy on the court, do the dirty work.”
Case in point came midway through the first quarter, when Cunningham hit the AT&T Center deck to track down a loose-ball steal and ignite a fast break.
Moments later, Cunningham buried his second of three 3pointers, which the Spurs consider to be gravy.
New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry knows this version of Cunningham well. He played 3½ seasons with the Pelicans from 2014 to 2018.
“He’s got a toughness about him I’m sure Pop appreciates,” Gentry said.
Popovich does.
The Spurs didn’t expect Cunningham to be a starter when they picked him up off the freeagent pile in July. He hasn’t started more than half his team’s games since 2015-16 in New Orleans.
Cunningham first entered the Spurs’ starting five Oct. 22 in Los Angeles, for the sole purpose of defending Lakers star LeBron James.
He has now started the past four games, and not because of his ability to put the ball in the basket.
Instead, Cunningham has helped provide a defensive identity for a team desperately seeking one since a season-ending knee injury to All-NBA defender Dejounte Murray in the preseason.
He added a pair of blocks to his box score Saturday.
“He’s not exactly a surprise, but we didn’t expect him to play this many minutes,” Popovich said. “He’s taken advantage of the opportunity. He sets the tone defensively.”
With Cunningham as the pacesetter, the Spurs’ defense has continued to rise after a horrendous start to the season.
When the Spurs walked into the AT&T Center on Monday to face Dallas, they ranked 30th among 30 NBA teams in defensive efficiency.
Now they have gone 15 consecutive quarters without allowing 30 points.
Saturday’s performance against the Pelicans was easily their most impressive of the sea- son.
New Orleans came in averaging 121.9 points, second in the NBA behind Golden State. The Pelicans hadn’t scored fewer than 111 points.
And they had the services of supernatural center Anthony Davis, who had missed three of the previous four games with an elbow sprain.
Davis managed 17 points on 5of-13 shooting against the Spurs. The Pelicans (4-5) got the bulk of their scoring from Jrue Holiday (29 points) and Nikola Mirotic (22 points, 16 rebounds)
The Spurs held New Orleans to 17 points in the first quarter and 39 in the first half — both season opponent lows — to help send the Pelicans to their fifth consecutive defeat.
“That grit and that nasty we’re showing defensively is good,” guard Patty Mills said.
Mills had his best game of the season, posting highs in points (17), assists (seven) and rebounds (seven).
When he swished a top-of-thearc 3-pointer with 34.3 seconds left in the third quarter, it gave the Spurs a 21-point lead — their largest of the night.
Marco Belinelli contributed 14 points off the bench for the Spurs, who outscored the Pelicans’ second unit 33-13.
As it has for the duration of the Spurs’ winning streak, defense led the way.
“When we defend, it makes the game 10 times easier,” Spurs point guard Bryn Forbes said. “It’s hard when they score, you score, they score, you score — you are just going back and forth.”
On Saturday, Cunningham was at the forefront of the defensive effort.
His scrappy play did not go unnoticed by his new Spurs teammates.
“We feed off that,” Mills said. “He’s a hard-nosed, blue-collar player who puts his body on the line.”
Those are names it is fine to call Cunningham. Another one, after working a season-high 37 minutes on Saturday: Tired.
“I’m going to go home, get a great meal, get a whole lot of water in me, and be ready for tomorrow,” Cunningham said.