San Antonio Spurs: The 5 most intriguing games on the schedule

Feb. 3-23: The Rodeo Trip

This may be cheating in terms of ranking games, but dread it or run from it, destiny arrives all the same. Last year, the San Antonio Spurs took their elongated road trip that sandwiched the All-Star break.

The eight-game stretch, including Portland, Golden State, Utah and Toronto, took the life out of the Spurs, as they went 1-7 with a lone win against Memphis. That took them from 32-22 to 33-29, a much less comfortable record. The stretch can help decide the team’s seeding.

Each February the rodeo takes over the AT&T Center, sending the Spurs sprawling on a road trip that can get pretty brutal. This season is no different from years prior. The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo takes place from Feb. 6-23.

In that stretch, the Spurs play the Clippers and the Lakers on a back-to-back, Portland, Sacramento, the Denver game I talked about earlier, Oklahoma City. After the All-Star break, it is Utah and OKC to end the trip.

Yikes. The Spurs play eight games against playoff-caliber teams (yes, even Sacramento). Each game comes on the road, this trip could be the difference between the fourth and eighth seed, or even a playoff spot. These are eight games that could be anywhere from stellar to pitiful.

There is a glass half full approach to this. The Spurs could be rolling at this point and the trade deadline is on Feb. 6. That could move Chris Paul out of Oklahoma City and make those games easier and the league could look a lot different then.

Also, the distance traveled isn’t too much, the only back-to-back being in the same city, and they get 10 days to rest, meaning they can put their all into those pre-break games without the worry of fatigue. Regardless, this stretch has the potential to make or break their season.