For Spurs, a trying season is down to do or die – San Antonio Express-News
Five months that feel more like five years ago, the Spurs convened for training camp to commence what they already knew would be the most challenging NBA season any of them have faced.
Seventy-two games, one COVID-19 outbreak, one death in the family, one departed All-Star and few days off later, the Spurs finished the 2020-21 regular season at 33-39 and in 10th place of the Western Conference.
“It’s been a real test of our character,” guard Patty Mills said, “just in how to navigate ourselves through this season and all the adversities we have never had before.”
The Spurs’ reward for surviving the NBA’s crucible of a pandemic season? Another game Wednesday in Memphis.
Under the NBA’s new play-in format, the Spurs still have a chance to return to the playoffs after missing them last season.
All they have to do is defeat Ja Morant and the Grizzlies in one play-in game, then beat either Stephen Curry and Golden State or LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a second play-in affair.
Pull that off, and the Spurs would earn the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket and a full seven-game series against the top-seeded Utah Jazz.
Having come this far, the Spurs say they are willing to take on the challenge.
“Sometimes you make the best stories out of the things you go through, in life and seasons, through ups and downs,” DeMar DeRozan said. “Having this opportunity could be the cherry on top.”
At a glance, the Spurs’ regular-season finish does not look much like progress.
After a four-game losing skid to close the season, the Spurs ended only one victory better than last season’s pandemic-interrupted campaign, when they went 32-39, wound up in 11th place and failed to make the postseason for the first time since 1996-97.
Yet thanks to the NBA’s tweaked play-in formula, the story isn’t over for the Spurs.
“I am a winner, so this whole season is disappointing to me so far,” point guard Dejounte Murray said. “The last option is getting that play-in berth and doing what we can do to try and get in the playoffs.”
It is possible for the Spurs to be discouraged by their record but also encouraged by all they have overcome to keep their season afloat past Sunday’s loss to Phoenix in the regular-season finale.
There was the exit of mainstay LaMarcus Aldridge, who received a contract buyout after the All-Star break, signed with Brooklyn and abruptly retired in April due to a heart condition.
DeRozan, the Spurs’ leading scorer and assist man, missed seven games related to the death of his father in February.
COVID-19 issues caused throughout the season meant the Spurs would lose 32 player-games to health and safety protocols, making them one of the hardest-hit teams in the league.
The most significant flare-up came in February, when five players hit quarantine at once — Rudy Gay, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Quinndary Weatherspoon.
Coronavirus concerns caused five games from the first half of the season to be rescheduled after the All-Star break, creating a taxing closing slate of 40 games in 68 days with no more than one day off in a row.
“I think the whole team went through a lot this season,” center Jakob Poeltl said. “I think we can be proud of ourselves, the way we worked ourselves out of hole here and there and kept grinding.”
Memphis was the only other team in the NBA to play 40 games after the All-Star break.
Not only did the Spurs have one of the most compacted schedules to end the season, they also had the most difficult. The final 40 games came against the toughest competition in the NBA by opponent winning percentage.
All told, it is perhaps not surprising the Spurs plunged from five games above .500 on Valentine’s Day to six games below after COVID hit.
“I don’t think anyone can prepare for a season like this,” Mills said. “But here we are in the 10th spot and a chance to keep on playing. We have a shot to go out there and give it a good crack.”
Said Murray: “It’s a good feeling, knowing it’s not over for us.”
Whether the Spurs have it in them to make an improbable final push into the playoff field remains to be seen.
The ninth-place Grizzlies (38-34) have not proven to be a favorable matchup for them.
The last time the Spurs saw them, the Grizzlies came to the AT&T Center for consecutive games on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 and left with a pair of victories by a combined 48 points.
The Spurs’ lone victory over Memphis this season came on opening night, when they claimed a 131-119 decision at the FedEx Forum despite a career-best 44 points from Morant.
“They are going to come in feeling the same way we feel, that’s to give ourselves another chance to get in the playoffs,” DeRozan said. “It’s going to be a dogfight and we have to be ready.”
In a sense, the Spurs have come full circle.
They opened the season Dec. 23 in Memphis with their playoff hopes brimming. They return Wednesday with those hopes still intact.
The goal now is to keep adding games to the most trying season in Spurs history.
“This is an opportunity for us to go and try to capitalize on,” DeRozan said. “Go out there and start with one game, get another game and see what happens from there.”
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN