Manu lit another spark, but Spurs fail to fan the flame
Opening night in San Antonio left fans nostalgic about a previous era, but searching for hope in a new one.
SAN ANTONIO — For a brief stretch between halftime and late-third quarter, the energy of opening night in San Antonio felt like it had finally arrived. Manu Ginobili was honored at intermission as his jersey, newly emblazoned with a “Hall of Fame” patch, was revealed in the rafters of the AT&T Center, and the Spurs came out of the break on fire.
Keldon Johnson was slashing to the rim, knocking down 3s and screaming at the crowd that had already been energized by a dose of the Manu drug that fueled them for a decade and a half, and San Antonio sliced a 23-point lead to just 10 points with 4:46 remaining in the third.
Then came the crash.
The Spurs went nearly six minutes without scoring, the Hornets saw their lead balloon to 26 points during that period of time, and just like that, the high was gone. Momentum in the NBA is a fragile thing. It’s a wave you can catch as it breaks and curls, but once it flattens it’s on the players to ride it out. On Wednesday night, the Spurs caught an edge and face-planted.
“That little slip up was kind of on the bench. I don’t think we came in ready to play when our starters got us to 12 (points),” Doug McDermott said. “We just didn’t have a lot of urgency.
“It’s a small margin for error in this league. You can go on some runs, but they can be taken away really quickly.”
And it didn’t take much to send this game to the point of no return. McDermott and Joshua Primo miscommunicated on a switch and left Dennis Smith Jr. open in the corner for a 3-pointer, then Primo got caught in the air and threw the ball away on the ensuing offensive possession, and Smith Jr. piled on again just moments later with a turnaround 22-foot prayer to effectively end the Spurs’ threat. Meanwhile, San Antonio couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean, and Charlotte finished the third period on a 13-0 run.
But in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t the second half that killed the Spurs. It was the hole they dug to start the game. The veteran Hornets came out and kicked them in the teeth early on, and San Antonio took too long to respond.
The numbers were rough in the first half. There was a boatload of missed shots, turnovers, offensive rebounds given up and bad decisions — a mixture of gunk that, coupled with Charlotte’s hot shooting and good ball security, dragged the Spurs into the mud. This is a team with no margin for error, and the general unfamiliarity with new faces and players in elevated roles birthed some sloppy, indecisive basketball.
“The way we started the game, I feel like we came out a little soft. They hit us in the mouth early, and we were fighting from behind the entire night,” Tre Jones said. “Coming out stronger and not playing from behind the entire game, we just have to learn from it.”
Gregg Popovich has been both as blunt and as patient as ever throughout camp. He knows the challenges that lie ahead for this group — not just for the season, but on a night-to-night basis. When dealing with such an inexperienced team, the focus must always be on the little things, with the hope that all the bits and pieces will be made whole somewhere down the line. Every thought, every moment, every decision and every action can be a learning item; and while stringing them all together seems like a grinding, arduous task, the Spurs believe that patience and attention to detail is the best way to lay any and all groundwork.
“You start with the fact that we got thumped, and you don't avoid it, you don't hide from it. We got our butts kicked, and from there you can look to improve. You can't act like it didn't happen,” Pop said. “That's the most important part. Second part is sticking together and understanding it's going to be a long process and there's a lot of things that they have to learn.
“Beyond that, what it's going to take at this level, the physicality and that sort of thing,” he continued. “It's a good group, but they've got things they have to learn and do better, and that's something we will work on.”
And it’s not always going to be this bad. The Spurs went 7-for-34 from the 3-point line on a healthy number of great looks, which led to the Hornets’ offense living in semi-transition all night; Devin Vassell may have just put up the worst shooting night he’ll have all season (3-for-15 from the floor, 0-for-8 from deep); and Josh Richardson is very rarely going to go scoreless in a game during which he logs at least 17 minutes. Opening night can be funky, and San Antonio certainly wasn’t the only team in the league that laid a fat dud.
But this season is going to be a journey — one that doesn’t get any easier anytime soon. The Spurs now head out on a road trip that includes stops in Indiana, Philadelphia and Minnesota for a double-dip. The NBA isn’t going to wait on San Antonio to find its footing, so this team is simply going to have to jump right into the next lesson on the schedule.
“You can’t get too high or too low, because you’re gonna have a game the next day, or the day after that,” McDermott said. “It’s never as good as you think or as bad as you think, so you’ve just gotta stay even-keeled.”
Learn from the mistakes and move on, because another opportunity is always right around the corner.