Can Spurs push playoff streak to record heights? Predictions here

Spurs win a series for the first time since 2017

It’s been a while since my heart has experienced the aches and rapid beating that come with watching my favorite player (LaMarcus Aldridge) battling beyond the first round.

Really, it was just three seasons ago. But for an organization so self-connected with the term “culture” it feels perplexing that only four players — LaMarcus Aldridge, Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes and Patty Mills — are the only remnants of that battle-tested 2017 roster that made the Western Conference Finals.

This season, it feels they’ll finally create some new joy. Given the murderer’s row out in the West, it requires some explanation. Allow me to step up to bat.

The first thing to consider is that this San Antonio Spurs team has two things going for them right away: 1) you could make that argument that this team is “built” for the second season.

The old adage is true: pace decreases during postseason play. In 2018-19, the average game saw 100.0 possessions per 48 minutes. When the postseason rolled around, only six of the 16 playoff teams exceeded that mark. Perhaps without coincidence, five of those six teams met their match in the first round.

Meanwhile, the Spurs took pace to the next (slowest level), operating at a league-low 93.1 possessions. In other words, your eyes could adjust to syrup pouring from a bottle with more ease when watching the Spurs operate offensively.

And the thing is, it almost worked.

This squeezes right into San Antonio’s wheelhouse, should they find the right matchup.

The one thing we haven’t gotten from the Spurs since 2017 (and even then, it’s sort of a stretch) is favorable health. In each of the last two postseasons they’ve gone in without either their flat-out best player (Kawhi Leonard in 2017-18) or their All-Defensive point guard (Dejounte Murray in 2018-19).

Needless to say, a prediction this bold is contingent on health. But, the Spurs should be due for a peaceful season from the basketball gods.

With a healthy roster, it’s difficult to bet against Gregg Popovich being able to scheme against the same roster for a seven-game series and not have success.

It’s hard to imagine the Spurs having home-court advantage while doing this, though. As San Antonio Express-News beat writer Jeff McDonald uniquely brought out on Nate Duncan’s “Dunc’d On Podcast,” fans seem to expect the likes of Dejounte Murray to return as an all-world defender right away.

It seems more likely that it takes a few weeks for him to get back on track and the same goes for subplots such as Lonnie Walker IV carving out a consistent role in the lineup or the Spurs answering questions about their depth chart.

And in reality, that’s fine. Popovich has coached underdog teams (seeding wise) in the past. It’s been a while and with different personnel. But this roster makes it certainly feel doable, if they gel quicker than expected.

And lastly, while it’s purely hypothetical, one has to think that pressure will play some sort of factor in these events. As a Trail Blazers fan at heart, I can remember back to last season’s Game 7 in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Sure, the Nuggets were the better statistical team, net rating this, on-and-off that. But there wasn’t a single plausible scenario in my mind that I could envision Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum letting an opportunity slip away like this. Not after all they’d been through.

The vibe feels the same for LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan. When it’s all but certain that anything but a trip beyond the first round will be met with stories of “should the Spurs trade …” you’d have to think the sense of urgency doesn’t ratchet up a bit. The media doesn’t see either of the two as being “postseason stars” and maybe they aren’t.

But for one series, they certainly have what it takes.

Sizing up the West, there’s reason to be confident in at least a half-dozen contenders. The Spurs match up well with Denver, as we saw. They match up well with Houston, Utah, Portland, nearly whomever. As long as they can avoid STAPLES Center, it definitely feels they have a puncher’s chance.

As with anything else, only time will tell really. But when May rolls around, and the Spurs are still in it, I’ll be the first to say “I told you so.”

And if not, at least wouldn’t be the worst prediction you’ve ever seen.