San Antonio Spurs Believed Their Own Hype

The San Antonio Spurs played to the pundits in their Game 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In Game 1 of the second round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs barely celebrated when they blew out the Oklahoma City Thunder to the tune of 32 points. Indeed,  Spurs guard Manu Ginobili worried that such a lopsided win would affect the team’s performance in Game 2.

The Spurs knew, having played OKC many times before, that the team would come back ready to avenge their humiliation. Danny Green spoke of coach Gregg Popovich reminding the team to have “appropriate fear” of all opponents, but especially the Thunder.

For those who might mention that the Spurs split the regular season with the Thunder during their four meetings, know that those victories mean little in the postseason.

"“These teams know each other. There’s not going to be any magic play,” Popovich said, per David Flores of KENS5 San Antonio. “Whoever executes the best is going to win the game. It’s got nothing to do with what happened in the regular season.”"

The Spurs knew all this. Yet they chose to ignore it. Or perhaps they thought the aesthetic negativity of the AT&T Center, plus a 40-1 home win record, would combine to form a magical talisman that would shield them from an opposing team’s vengeance.

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They thought wrong.

The Spurs’ momentum from Game 1 was wasted as they fell in a wildly ending game to the Thunder, 98-97.

The series is now tied 1-1, with Game 3 on Friday, May 6, in Oklahoma City.

From the opening tip, this was a different, yet expected, OKC team. Russell Westbrook was back to his usual self and the Thunder soon ran up a 13-point lead in the first quarter.

The very things the Spurs guarded against–no pun intended–on Saturday night in Game 1 suddenly got thrown by the wayside on Monday.

Saturday, the Spurs limited OKC’s (especially Westbrook’s) time in the paint:

Monday? They (read: Westbrook) could have had an endorsement deal with Sherwin-Williams.

Saturday, they kept Durant from good shooting spots. Monday? He made it rain in the Alamo City, hitting 11-of-19 from the floor.

Saturday, the Spurs were Windex personified as they stayed on both the offensive and defensive glass for rebounds. Monday, they let the glass get dirty.

Uncharacteristic hero ball, rushing shots, trying for spectacular shots instead of working on solid ones (looking at you, Patty Mills)–all of these worked against the Spurs as they failed to rely on their normal style of play. Popovich had some choice words for his squad during the postgame press conference:

One could argue that the obvious and now-admitted blown call against the Thunder could have saved the game

Yet the Spurs were playing poorly long before the refs didn’t call a foul that Stevie Wonder could have seen. As a whole, the team shot 43 percent (compared to 61 percent in Game 1). Lack of defense, as Popovich noted, led to easy buckets for Oklahoma City.  Ginobili acknowledged that the uncalled foul wouldn’t have affected the outcome of the game:

One of the (non)-factors of the game was, surprisingly, Kawhi Leonard. The two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year was among his many teammates to miss shots (the Spurs missed 12 of their first 13 shots, plus six easy layups), and his defense wasn’t up to his usual caliber. He scored only 14 points on 7-for-18 shooting.

Though Leonard is performing well overall this postseason, as he did during the regular season, it’s not enough.

Spurs captain Tim Duncan recently said that Leonard didn’t get the “superstar” calls from referees, yet should. Maybe that’s because Leonard , despite being anointed as the new face of the Spurs franchise, doesn’t always play like one (exhibit A: Monday night). Duncan, of all people, knows that a “superstar” shows up every minute of every night, win or lose.

Leonard has occasional lapses of leadership and should be grateful that LaMarcus Aldridge was there to keep the Game 2 score so competitive (he dropped 41 in the Spurs’ loss).

All-Star players have off nights (and if you’re James Harden of the Houston Rockets, you’ve had many–all in one season–but I digress), but they tend to be longer-term veterans who have the pedigrees and resumes to negate those off nights. Leonard hasn’t been in the league long enough to earn the same type of pass (or respect, as Duncan puts it) on those rare nights.

In a few years, people will shrug off his occasional lapses. Now? He’s going to get the side eye when he doesn’t rise to the occasion. If he wants to be a superstar, he has to pay the price.

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The Spurs don’t seem like the types to read their own press, but one has to wonder if all of the Vegas odds and general series consensuses favoring the Silver and Black didn’t seep into their respective psyches. It’s hard to be great, but it’s even harder to maintain that greatness. The Spurs got a reality check Monday night, one that they will hopefully cash in Game 3.