There's a right way to play out the string

With only four games left in the season, the Spurs and their coach are making the most out of the opportunities that remain ahead on the schedule.

Photo courtesy of CW35.

The idea of momentum in the NBA is generally a nebulous concept, especially as it pertains to teams like the Spurs whose rotations have had the consistency of a bowl of chicken broth. Rolling out different lineups and work-in-progress player-combinations almost every night — and doing so without knowing exactly who will and won’t be on the roster next season — hardly makes it easy to build from one game to the next.

But San Antonio is trying.

Thus far it’s staved off the inherent dangers of playing out the string simply to get to the end of the calendar, a malaise that presents a threat to any team near the bottom of the standings this time of year. And more than anything, the Spurs are providing evidence of the notion that players don’t tank.

There may be just four games remaining, but to Two-Way players like Dominick Barlow and Julian Champagnie, they matter a lot. They want to take advantage of the launching pad in front of them if they can, because they don’t know when the next chance to play this many minutes will come along.

For Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Keita Bates-Diop and Romeo Langford, these games represent an opportunity to prove they’re worth a new contract next season. For Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley? Every minute matters for rookies trying to find their places in the league. What may seem like an insignificant final week of the season to many is quite the opposite for a group of kids just trying to establish themselves.

“It’s tough always being on the same page out there with all the different lineups we’ve been rolling out, and a lot of us haven’t really played together, but we have to continue to learn as much as we can,” Jones said recently. “Good habits will go a long way, so we need to continue to do the little things through the last few games, continue that momentum through the summer and be ready to go next year.”

On Sunday night, the Spurs did the little things and much more. There was no Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell or Jeremy Sochan, and San Antonio still managed to play spoiler in a 142-134 overtime win against a Sacramento team that could have clinched its first division title in two decades that night. But it wasn’t because of some fluky, outlier shooting performance — a common cause of upsets in the league. The Spurs identified and attacked weaknesses in the Kings’ porous defense, and once they found and sustained some rhythm, Sacramento spent most of the evening on its heels.

For years during its heyday, San Antonio made a habit of remaining competitive for stretches of games whenever its stars had to sit due to injury or for rest purposes. Gregg Popovich’s free-flowing system made it about as easy as possible for role players to create offense so long as they executed, which they often did thanks to the countless hours spent on the practice court with one another. For those teams, it was the interpersonal relationships and general continuity that allowed them to at least remain afloat whenever they were down bodies.

But this group — a hell of a lot younger and more inexperienced than the “Cube Steak” Spurs of yesteryear — hasn’t quite had the luxury of spending more than a couple of months together, let alone multiple years. But against the Kings and their defensive generosity, this bunch of teenagers and 20-somethings looked about as finely tuned as it had all season.

From the jump, Sacramento was keen on putting early pressure on a San Antonio team playing without its top two scorers. It’s largely been the book on the Spurs this season, especially when they’re shorthanded: Don’t let them turn the corner and get to the rim out of the pick-and-roll, play up high against dribble-handoffs to take away the driving lanes, and switch on screening actions away from the ball. Just anything to muck up the flow on the perimeter and force a team that lacks true shot creators to find a way to get their own.

But San Antonio was ready to counter. And on three consecutive possessions midway through the first quarter, it cut Sacramento to pieces.

First it was Branham ghosting an off-ball screen and slicing directly to the basket; then it was Champagnie and Collins (who did a great Jakob Poeltl impression as a high-post facilitator in this game) feigning a dribble-handoff setup before the former darted behind Keegan Murray for another easy basket; and finally, it was Champagnie again, taking advantage of the Kings’ commitment to eliminating the drive out of the pick-and-roll and slipping backdoor from the strong side.

This eventually forced Sacramento to fall back in order to protect the paint, which allowed the Spurs to get into the stuff they love — that constant flow of ball and player movement. Without Vassell and Johnson in the lineup, there was no offensive focal point for the Kings’ defense, and San Antonio had quickly established its bevy of spot-up shooters and backdoor cutters as legitimate threats from all over the floor. But as the game moved along it became pretty clear the Spurs had an attack point of their own.

Poor Kevin Huerter.

San Antonio pivoted from ghosting off-ball screens to picking Sacramento to death once the cutting lanes became less and less available, knowing it was no longer pressuring as high as it had been earlier in the game. And using Branham and the tireless Doug McDermott (as well as a smidge of Champagnie), the Spurs ran Huerter through a gauntlet of screens both on and off the ball, and even forced switches to get both players in isolation situations against him. San Antonio is not a team that typically hunts mismatches, but it was tracking Huerter’s white headband all evening.

Branham and McDermott combined to go 7-for-8 from the floor when Huerter was their primary defender, but what the video didn’t show was all the secondary scoring that occurred as a result of the Kings having to help their teammate when he got caught in the blender. The Spurs scored 43 points in the 38 partial possessions during which Huerter defended either Branham or McDermott, per NBA.com player-tracking data. This wasn’t just the result of two guys taking over a game by themselves, but the kind of overall coordinated effort from start to finish that’s been a rarity this season.

At a certain point it was apparent they knew they could win the game if they continued to execute. And it’s that type of incremental growth in confidence that, when backed by evidence that they’re capable of accomplishing the task at hand, can be built into something real down the road.

“We’ve got to be able to look at the big picture here, no matter how many games we win to end the season — to be able to understand we’re learning for the future and not necessarily for this season,” Jones said. “We’re all very competitive, we want to go out and win every game, but we just have to understand that with our age we’re trying to build something here. We know it’ll pay off in the long run.”

It’s watching Branham win matchups and hit important shots under pressure on his way to 15 efficient points; it’s Barlow (11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks) and Champagnie (26 points, an NBA record for a rookie Two-Way player) having career games; it’s Jones logging his first NBA triple-double (17 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assissts); and it’s watching a vet like McDermott, with plenty of job security, scoring 30 points on just 15 shot attempts and burying the Kings any time they tried to make a run.

But it’s also Popovich, who isn’t coaching like someone who’s on his way out the door. One probably wouldn’t think twice if the Spurs’ game plans entering this final stretch consisted of nothing more than rolling the ball out and letting the kids play. But as always, there’s been real structure.

Pop entered Sunday’s game with a gem of a strategy against Sacramento coach Mike Brown, the likely NBA Coach of the Year. He also had counters within that strategy, and still more counters to the counters. He’s said all season the goal is to put these young players in the best possible positions to succeed, and to do their best as a staff to ensure each has a long career, whether that’s in San Antonio or elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, he’s been true to his word. All along, there’s been a plan for everyone.

While the Spurs have had a handful of impressive victories over contending teams this season, their victory over the now 47-31 Kings on Sunday may have set the new benchmark. Playing without its three best players, San Antonio pieced together a 53-minute performance you wouldn’t have seen a couple of months ago. You probably wouldn’t have even seen it a couple of weeks ago.

“I’m just happy for them. We’ve been busting their butts all year, and we don’t have that many wins, but they play hard like this every night,” Pop said to the media present in Sacramento. “And tonight, we shot it pretty good and made some good decisions, and I’m happy for all of them.

“Young guys like Dom (Barlow), who got a double-double and a lot of minutes out there — it was great to see that,” he continued. “Doug is Doug, he can put it in the hole. Tre is like the glue out there for everything with his triple-double. And of course Julian is new, and he gets to go out there and get some minutes and score. They got to show their stuff a little bit, so I’m really happy for them.”

And they’re all going to get more chances. The Spurs have already listed Sochan, Vassell, Johnson, Langford and Collins as out for their Tuesday matchup with the loaded Phoenix Suns, leaving the door open for the kids to once again perform against excellent competition, and to continue to build on the good habits of which Jones spoke.

Most of the Spurs’ fan base has turned its attention to draft prospects and begun lighting candles in prayer for Victor Wembanyama to arrive in San Antonio come late June. And how could anyone be blamed for doing so?

But these Spurs still have work to do, whether you’re paying attention or not.

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