San Antonio Spurs: Popovich Rant Inspires Easy Win

As it turns out, Gregg Popovich can be pretty persuasive. The San Antonio Spurs took on the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, and things did not go as planned. The Spurs shot 38.3 percent from the floor and a dismal 21.4 percent from outside.

Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and most of the bench struggled to score, wasting solid outings from Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. They ended up blowing a 13-point third quarter lead, losing in overtime 104-100.

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Their defense wasn’t much better. Knicks point guard Langston Galloway led the way with 22 points on 10-for-18 shooting. Langston Galloway sounds more like the name of an early 1900s poet that Ernest Hemingway used to drink brandy with rather than a basketball player, but he does in fact play basketball and he torched the Spurs. Andrea Bargnani had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Yes, Andrea Bargnani looked like a real, competent NBA player for one night.

Oh, it gets worse.

Lou Amundson even scored 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting. Lou Amundson is still in the league? You learn something new every day. It was a shockingly poor performance for a team that seemed to be rounding into form.

You expect a loss every now and then, but not to the worst team in the NBA that is clearly in full on tank mode. The Knicks have the 28^th best offensive rating in the league, and the 29^th best defensive rating. A loss like this was inexplicable, and drew rage from their head coach.

Gregg Popovich loudly expressed his displeasure to his players and the media after the game.

“We didn’t respect the game, we didn’t respect our opponent,” Popovich growled. “It was a pathetic performance and I hope that every player is embarrassed. Not because ‘we are supposed to win the game’ but it is about how you play the game.”

I can only imagine what was said in private.

With a Wednesday night meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks on the docket, it would not take long to see if the Spurs took their fearless leader’s message to heart. I’d say they got the message.

The Spurs looked much better against the Bucks, grabbing a 114-103 win. The spacing and ball movement were back to normal. They shot 50 percent from the field, and knocked down 40 percent of their three-point attempts. They also assisted on 27 of their 38 made field-goals, which no doubt made Popovich smile. On the inside, at least.

Tim Duncan led the scoring with 19 points, and Boris Diaw showed up in a big way. Diaw scored 18 points, and was aggressive in the paint. He got to the free throw line eight times, making every attempt. He also added six assists and five rebounds for a well-rounded performance.

Tony Parker continued his late season resurgence, scoring 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting, while Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard each knocked down a pair of three-pointers.

Milwaukee shot well, so the defensive effort did not recover quite as nicely, but when you are moving the ball and shooting as well as San Antonio was it really doesn’t matter. As long as you win.

This two-game stretch shows that even veteran-laden teams with a championship pedigree need a wake-up call at times. This is a league of professionals and no team is going to roll over and die just because you are the Spurs. Popovich knows that, and now, so does his team.

The loss to the Knicks was upsetting for fans, but is not a reason to be concerned about the team’s playoff chances. As I’ve mentioned before, March is one of the most difficult periods on the NBA schedule. You can almost taste the playoffs and teams are just trying to make it there in one piece. A single loss to the lowly Knicks is fine, as long as you don’t let it snowball. Popovich nipped that in the bud and all is well again.

After a Friday tilt against a frisky Boston Celtics team, the Spurs have a tough week ahead featuring consecutive games against Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis, Dallas again, and Miami again.

If they make it through that gauntlet with a winning record, the rest of the NBA should be a little concerned.

Are the Spurs back to being the Spurs? We will find out soon.

Next: March Madness 2015: Top Plays From Day 1

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