The San Antonio Spurs, of all teams, had gone Hollywood.
Or, to be more specific, gone to Hollywood.
Even the most flash-less figures in all of professional sports do what is necessary to land top talent, and so it was last July that Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and coach Gregg Popovich led a Los Angeles recruitment trip that ultimately landed them free agent LaMarcus Aldridge. Nine months later, there’s a very real chance the Spurs could have their Hollywood ending too.
Even with the Warriors’ historic dominance this season, that 73-win effort that captivated the basketball world and cast a large shadow over the Spurs, San Antonio managed to keep pace in a way that must be properly quantified to be understood. Put simply, this franchise that has been the most successful in the four major North American sports for 19 years now (1,072-438 combined record) has never had a better regular season than the one that just concluded.
And it’s not even close.
• Their 67-win season was not only a franchise record, but a franchise record by a margin of four games.
• They won 40 of 41 games at home, tying a league record set by the 1985-86 Boston Celtics.
• Their net rating – the difference between a team’s offensive rating and defensive rating and one of the best indicators of a team’s performance – was a league-best plus-11.8 (the Warriors were second at plus-11.6).
• Their defense, with reigning Defensive Player of the year Kawhi Leonard leading the way, allowed a league-low 96.6 points per 100 possessions.
So yes, to those NBA fans who might believe the Warriors’ title defense is already in stone, the Spurs are a serious threat to Golden State’s crown.
In terms of experience, the franchise that is making its 19th consecutive postseason appearance still has it in spades over the rest of the playoff field. Of course Tim Duncan has his five championship rings, while Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have four apiece. But even their young guns know what it’s like to reach the postseason pinnacle, with Leonard winning Finals MVP honors back in 2014 while winning it all alongside wingman Danny Green (who, coincidentally, set the Finals record for made three-pointers when San Antonio fell to the Miami Heat a year before).
All that being said, two factors loom large for the Spurs from this vantage point.
1. Aldridge. The five-time All-Star came to San Antonio for this kind of opportunity, as he’d only been out of the first round of the playoffs once in his nine seasons in Portland. Now is the time for him to take the next proverbial leap.
He had a fantastic finish to his regular season, averaging 20.8 points (on 54.3% shooting) and 8.3 rebounds in the final 32 games in which he played. It wasn’t lost on anyone when that tide started to turn, as that stretch started just after Aldridge went 2-of-9 from the field in a road loss to the Warriors on Jan. 27.
Aldridge deleted his Twitter account that night – as clear a sign as any that he didn’t want hear what people were saying about his play. But after months of momentum, he hit a bump in this road when he returned to Oracle Arena on April 7.
Aldridge dislocated his finger that day, and the injury remains bad enough that he’ll wear a wrap during the first round matchup against the bruised and battered Memphis Grizzlies. There have been positive signs since then, chief among them the 24-point, 10-rebound outing against the Warriors at the AT&T Center on Sunday.
2. Boris Diaw. The 33-year-old forward is a relative unknown to the masses, but his playmaking ways and the ability to thrive at multiple positions are vital to San Antonio’s system. That kind of versatility is huge against a team like the Warriors that is loaded with these types of talents.
And while the Warriors won three of four games against the Spurs this season, Diaw – who some Warriors folks consider the second-most important player on San Antonio’s team – didn’t play in the final two meetings because of a groin injury. Diaw missed five of the last six games in all.
It’s the Warriors’ world at the moment, to be sure, but these Spurs aren’t done writing their script just yet.
