Reclaiming their mastery of the road may prove tough.
A team that has lost 17 of 20 away from home searches for key to changing that
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Talent is the obvious answer.
But in attempting to dissect why the Spurs were able to post an NBA-record 20 consecutive winning seasons on the road from 1997-98 through 2016-2017, one must look below the surface.
Sure, the Hall of Fame-worthy
skill sets of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili allowed them to make hundreds of plays that so many of their peers couldn’t pull off game after game in hostile environments. And it’s also true that coach Gregg Popovich, one of the league’s greatest tacticians, is a master at drawing up winning plays in crunch time.
But mental toughness, desire and plenty of old-fashioned grit also played a part in the Spurs ruling the road for so many years.
“If I remember correctly, a lot of those weren’t pretty wins,” said guard Patty Mills, the longest-tenured current Spur. “It was about the will to win … just finding a way. That’s what it comes down to a lot of times.”
Lately, though, the Spurs have been missing some of those intangibles. Case in point: After clawing their way out of a 19-point fourth quarter hole to pull within five with 51 seconds left, they had a chance to steal a win in Miami but couldn’t get the job done, eventually losing 95-88.
“It’s hard to win games on the road … But I’ve mentioned it be-
fore, I think this team has that ability,” Mills said.
With eight of their next 10 contests to be played away from the AT&T Center, including a threegames-in-four-nights swing out West that begins Monday night against the Kings (7-6), the Spurs (7-4) will have plenty of opportunities to prove Mills right.
Recent history, though, says reclaiming their mastery of the road will be a steep challenge. Dating back to last season and including a first-round playoff series against the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, the Spurs have lost 17 of their last 20 road games. They ended last season by dropping their last 11 away from the AT&T Center to finish 14-27 on the road.
Injuries — both last season and this year — have a lot to do with the Spurs losing their road mojo, but the players believe they have what
it takes to reclaim it.
So, what do the Spurs, who are 2-2 in away games this season and will play in Phoenix on Wednesday and in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Thursday, need to do to once again become successful road warriors?
It begins with accepting rather than cursing what forward Davis Bertans labeled a “crazy” schedule for the remainder of this month.
“Everyone has to go through it,” forward Dante Cunningham said of playing grueling road stretches during the NBA’s marathon 82game season. “There are no excuses, and no one really cares.”
The next step to road success involves a mixture of focus, unity, perseverance and seizing the moment.
“You have to be together,” Cunningham said. “We have to go in their like we are in a foxhole and it’s us against the world.” Guard DeMar DeRozan agreed. “We have to stay together and go out there as one,” he said.
And be focused, forward LaMarcus Aldridge said.
“It’s even harder on the road to get wins, so we can’t have mistakes,” he said.
Entering Sunday, five of the eight teams the Spurs will face on the road in the next 10 games sported winning records. That includes Indiana and Milwaukee who the Spurs will play in a back-to-back Nov. 23-24 as part of a four-gamesin-five-nights stretch.
Oh, and the two home games the Spurs play over the next two weeks? They’re against the Warriors and the surprising Memphis Grizzlies.
It’s a crucible DeRozan believes could harden the Spurs into a better team.
“The beauty of the league is being able to go on the road in tough environments and really finding yourself as a team,” DeRozan said. “That’s when the biggest changes come about. That’s the fun part about it. It shows a lot of growth when you go out on the road and pull out a victory.”
Travel also helps build camaraderie and chemistry. With eight new players, the Spurs still lack in those areas.
“It kind of forces that mindset of continuing to learn, continuing to be disciplined, understanding it’s (just) us, and that nobody is going to feel sorry for us, whether you are dealing with injuries or not,” DeRozan said. “We have to go out there and have fun with our backs against the wall.”
The Spurs flew to Sacramento Sunday with some momentum after downing the Houston Rockets 96-89 Saturday behind Aldridge’s 27-point, 10-rebound double-double and point guard Derrick White’s 14-point, eight-assist outing in only his second game of the season.
Still, Popovich knows things might not go as smoothly on the road.
“These guys are learning all the time,” he said. “A lot of new faces, a new system and a lot of guys who haven’t played with each other, so I have to be patient.”
No matter their record over the next 10 games, Mills believes the Spurs will exit November just fine.
“We will come out of it better and stronger and a lot closer,” he said. “It seems to be what happens in times like this.”