San Antonio Spurs: Are They Back To Normal?

Well that escalated quickly. What a difference a week can make. Just one week ago today, the San Antonio Spurs were in the midst of a four game losing streak, and there was real concern about whether it was time to start worrying about them potentially missing the playoffs.

Things were severely off-kilter. The defense was porous, turnovers were up, and Kawhi Leonard was in the middle of a bad shooting slump.

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Then a road win over the Sacramento Kings carried over into an absolute beat down of the Phoenix Suns, which preceded a similarly impressive whacking of the Kings again. The losing streak was over, and now a three-game winning streak is in progress.

Wednesday night against the Kings was a vintage, dare I say, Spurstastic performance. They easily handled Sacramento 112-85, while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 10-for-23 from deep.

Their star wing who had been mired in a shooting slump shined the brightest. Leonard scored 21 points on a tidy 9-for-11 shooting, with three steals, five rebounds, and an assist. During this winning streak, Leonard is averaging 20 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game on 60.6 percent shooting.

He has been extremely active defensively, and seems to have regained confidence with his shot, evidenced by his 2-for-4 effort from three-point range Wednesday night. It’s safe to say that his slump is over.

The team has also played markedly better during this stretch, particularly in the last two games and on defense. All three wins saw San Antonio hold their opponents to fewer than 50 percent shooting, while the last two games saw Phoenix shoot 29.8 percent and Sacramento shoot 37.2 percent.

After this run of stinginess their defensive rating is back to third best in the NBA at 101.9 points per 100 possessions. With Tim Duncan having a Defensive Player of the Year level season, Tiago Splitter and Aron Baynes providing some toughness down low, and Kawhi Leonard back to playing out of his mind on the wing, the Spurs defense is better than ever. If they’re going to bring home their second consecutive NBA title, they may do it with defense rather than pristine ball movement and precision-like offense.

However, this three game snapshot is what those of us that have an affinity for analytics like to call a “small sample size.” Yes, it’s true that the Spurs are playing much better of late, but is it sustainable, or is it just a product of playing lesser competition?

The Kings have been a mess since firing Mike Malone, and the Suns are still trying to find their footing after a trade deadline roster makeover. You’d like to say that this represents a turning point in their season, and that the dominant Spurs are here to stay, but it is just too early to know for sure. They will have to show that they can beat some better teams if we are to believe that they have solved their problems.

Because they still do have problems. Their offensive rating is still just 14^th best in the NBA at 106 points per 100 possessions, and in two of the three wins they shot under 45 percent from the field. When you watch them play they appear to be getting the same open looks they have gotten in the past, but not as many are going in the basket.

Boris Diaw (40.2 percent to 32.3 percent), Marco Belinelli (43 percent to 37.9 percent), and Patty Mills (42.5 percent to 34.5 percent) are each shooting a lower percentage from behind the arc than they did last season. That type of significant regression from three players is definitely concerning.

Tony Parker is still struggling with inconsistency, sandwiching a 3-for-13 performance against Phoenix in between a pair of solid 19-point outings against the Kings. Does Parker have a 2003 version of himself following him around berating him like Michael Keaton’s character in Birdman? It’s possible that’s what is bringing him down and causing such erratic play. Or more likely, it’s the hamstring he injured in November that he recently said was barking again.

They are still not all the way back to being their old selves. They may never be. Duncan described his team as a “work in progress” when discussing their recent success and struggles. But wins are wins, and at this point the ultimate goal needs to be making the playoffs with as much good health as possible.

They’ll host Denver Friday night attempting to move this winning streak to four games, before welcoming a Chicago Bulls squad decimated by injuries on Sunday afternoon.

This current home stand is a golden opportunity to pile up wins, put some pressure on the teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings, and then prove they can defeat elite opponents (Cleveland and Toronto).

Or Gregg Popovich could continue to not take the regular season seriously and rest four players against LeBron James, leaving the world wondering if this team is still capable of beating the goliaths of the league.

He may want to rethink that strategy as the Spurs are presented with the unenviable task of holding off the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 7 seed, who are now led by the basketball playing alien parasite that recently took over Russell Westbrook‘s body.

This team may be unpredictable lately, but they will no longer be accused of being boring.

Next: Becky Hammon as a Head Coach?

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