Yahoo Sports: From now until May, Spurs using every game to prepare for Warriors

[ElNono]

From now until May, Spurs using every game to prepare for Warriors
By Zach Harper | NBA writer
March 12, 2016 3:45 pm ET

SALT LAKE CITY -- A week after returning from the All-Star break, the San Antonio Spurs were looking for a test. They were 3-1 since the break after dropping that first game back without Kawhi Leonard. They were nearing the end of their road trip as they headed into Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz. Gregg Popovich felt his team had been sloppy since returning from the break and he wanted a game to force them into great execution.

While the 96-78 final score over the Jazz may not show a tough test for the Spurs, they got exactly what they wanted. They were forced to execute. They were forced to control the tempo. And they walked away with the type of dominant victory that has become so commonplace for them this season, and really over the last 19 years. San Antonio has more double-digit victories than even the Golden State Warriors this season.

In fact, they have more double-digit wins (41) than 24 teams have wins, period. Their dominance knows almost no bounds, but none of it will matter if they can't take down the Warriors when seemingly inevitable Western Conference Finals matchup comes to a head. Basically, the Spurs are using the rest of this regular season as something of a preseason -- mere preparation, tinkering with this and that, nailing their execution down on both ends to a POINT where they will be as ready as they can possibly be to take down Golden State four times in June. It started with that 18-point victory over the Jazz.

"It's the best game since we got back from break," Popovich said after the win. "We've been really spotty and undisciplined and everything. [The Jazz] are so good at execution that it actually helped us tonight. They used the whole clock. We had to play [defense] over and over. The first quarter we were awful and we got better and better defensively because we had to guard their execution, which is excellent."

Read more: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25514329/from-here-on-out-every-spurs-game-is-merely-preparation-for-the-warriors

[spurs10]

Well I would imagine that is true- all teams headed to the playoffs are trying to improve. The hype of making GSW our sole focus is just that. Is it likely we'll have to go through them to make it to the Finals? Likely so.
We'll need to win 16 games...:lobt2:

[tmtcsc]

The Spurs aren't there yet. They need much more improvement on the offensive side of the ball. As good as the defense may be, you still have to score more than your opponent. Danny Fucking Green will help this team tremendously if he starts to make his 3's. The same could be said for the other guards too but since Green is on the floor more minutes than the others, he really needs to step up.

[Blake]

How lol would it be if the Warriors got knocked out maverick 2007 style

[HarlemHeat37]

How lol would it be if the Warriors got knocked out maverick 2007 style

The bottom of the West is the worst it has been since I've been an NBA fan, tbh:lol

[Obstructed_View]

How lol would it be if the Warriors got knocked out maverick 2007 style

With the Mavericks at 8 and having beaten the shit out of the Warriors this year, I'm sure there would be a lot of people looking forward to that matchup.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

With the Mavericks at 8 and having beaten the shit out of the Warriors this year, I'm sure there would be a lot of people looking forward to that matchup.

they only beat the shit out of them without Wardell, tbh... but would love to see that reverse-2007 thing happen in any sense

[spursistan]

Just keep winning..with Igoudala out Warriors are vulnerable and may drop few other games..if we can cut this shit to 1 or two games heading to the final two meetings in April, you go for it..Let's stop being cute, home-court matters..we have learned it few times in last 3 years (see Heat, Mavs, Clippers series)..

[Spurtacular]

The bottom of the West is the worst it has been since I've been an NBA fan, tbh:lol

You must not have been a fan in the 80's.

[Sean Cagney]

Just keep winning..with Igoudala out Warriors are vulnerable and may drop few other games..if we can cut this shit to 1 or two games heading to the final two meetings in April, you go for it..Let's stop being cute, home-court matters..we have learned it few times in last 3 years (see Heat, Mavs, Clippers series)..

I agree and I am still laughing some thought they had a legit shot at anything last year with every series on the road. That has happened one time for a reason and never again since (Houston 95).

[HarlemHeat37]

You must not have been a fan in the 80's.

I wasn't even alive in the 80s:lol

[PopTheGOAT]

You must not have been a fan in the 80's.
Roughly 30 years is long enough for his statement to hold significance tho

[Ice009]

Well, the Spurs aren't preparing for the 76ers ;). Not sure if this article even needed to be written.

[Kawhitstorm]

The bottom of the West is the worst it has been since I've been an NBA fan, tbh:lol

2013 was pretty shitty if you factor in the Kirby injury, actually the Nuggets were the 3rd seed & won 57 games.:lmao

2016 Blazers --> 2013 Worriers

2016 Grizz --> 2013 Grizz:lol

2016 Rockets --> 2013 Rockets:lol

2016 Mavs --> 2013 Lackers

[Obstructed_View]

I wasn't even alive in the 80s:lol

Then yeah, the west is probably as bad as it's been. For those of us that graduated high school in the 80s, the statement seemed a bit overblown. :)

[coachmac87]

Overall the league is better IMO..Every playoff team in the league is above .500 for the first time in how many years?

It's just the Spurs and Warriors are so dominant. Like historically dominant. League really just needs to take top 16 teams and merge conferences for the playoffs.

[SAGirl]

I think they have been preparing since that lopsided loss in which everyone wilted and we lost by 30.

:tu great article. Thanks for sharing I guess we know why Simmons' role declined after the jazz game. That was his worst game of the season and he might have hit a rookie wall from which he may emerge next season if he works this off season on his game but he's not reliable fOr this postseason.

The team has also emerged with a different identity with more reliance than ever on Kawhi and Lma. They already had prominent roles but LMA needed to take ownership of his role in the team's final destiny. I think they both realized we go as far as they go. There is no other way.

For the roleplayers, Boris was very underwhelming all through the rodeo road trip and has been diminishing in relevance.. WEst and Patty stepped into bigger burdens. Anderson stepped up in a few games in different roles and with different lineups when we needed him to and that carries weight for Pop. He's experimented a lot with him on several switching schemes and having him on different types of players. I am sure by now Pop has a better feel for what he can expect from him and he's been more aggressive and making a bigger effort on the boards specially, a big weakness for the bench.

The final piece is probably figuring out how to use Martin in what lineups you can afford to do that and when. Several guys need to get in an offensive groove anyways (Manu, Mills,Tony, and Green) and if they do you really don't need Martin, but if we have to play him major minutes we are probably in trouble anyways. The guy he replaced had helped in many recent wins against mostly perimeter lineups with perimeter bigs, how Martin fits in that I don't know, but Pop wanted more shooting than Rasual was bringing obviously.

[SAGirl]

Didn't want to make another thread for a similar topic, but espn reported:http://espn.go.com/blog/san-antonio-spurs/post/_/id/569/wins-losses-inconsequentional-right-now-for-spurs

"I think it's important to be playing teams that you'll probably be playing in the playoffs at some point," Popovich said. "It's kind of like a final exam, in a way, where you see you still have time to improve some things. But it's about how you play -- not the win or the loss, really. If we win, we won't be that excited. If we lose, we won't be that depressed."[/QUOTE]

Popovich mentioned that at this point in the season, he's trying to find the players the club can trust in crunch time.
"That's every year, but he always has his group of guys that he can trust," Green said. "But there are some guys that can emerge and build some trust with him, and he can throw in there, like a guy like Kevin Martin or Andre Miller (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/557/andre-miller) that have some experience and might be able to give us a lift or a boost in the fourth quarter."
[QUOTE]"We're a humble ball club," Leonard said. "We just want to get better as each game goes and as the season goes on. So it doesn't matter who we are playing. It's just about us. Are we going to execute? Are we going to go out and have energy and play defense? And we fought through the whole game. Whoever you're playing that's in the playoff [race], it's going to be a great game. Everybody wants to get better and be playing their best basketball going into April."That's why Popovich stresses that wins and losses aren't as important as the team's development down the stretch.
"It's the same for every team. You're going to go back to the film and see what you want to get better at and look at players who you really trust. Who's going to be on the floor at the end of games come playoff time? That kind of thing," Popovich said. "Win or lose, it's a matter of improving. That's the deal."

The comments about looking for players who can close out games is interesting. I think outside of LMA and Kawhi Pop has used different guys depending on who is available and who is playing better. All of the big 3 have sat at one point or another to close out a game.

[spurs10]

I believe them when they say they are working on themselves. As Kahwi said succinctly after last night's game, "We just want to get better as each game goes as the season goes on. So,it doesn't matter who we are playing. It's just about us and are we going to execute, are we going to go out and have energy and play defense."
:claw

[Uriel]

The article is from CBS, not Yahoo!.

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

GS is looking vulnerable now. They have having a hard time beating easy teams. It looks like teams are figuring out how to play them. I expect the Spurs to win big on Saturday being GS will be playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back.

[kaji157]

As of now, the Spurs are a reliable 3pt shooter away of beating them, if either Danny or Manu or Patty come alive, our inside out should keep them in check.

But against a running team, you gotta make most of your open 3´s, and we are not.

[Seventyniner]

The premise of the thread title makes sense. The Spurs have only a small chance of getting the #1 seed and an even smaller chance of falling out of the top 2. Thus if total wins and losses aren't that important, preparation is all that's left.

[JuneJive]

People think us getting to the WCF is a lock.

Hmmm. It's not that sure of a thing.

[ElNono]

The article is from CBS, not Yahoo!.

Oops. I lifted it off Yahoo's front page, thus the confusion.

[rasuo214]

The premise of the thread title makes sense. The Spurs have only a small chance of getting the #1 seed and an even smaller chance of falling out of the top 2. Thus if total wins and losses aren't that important, preparation is all that's left.

There's 16 games left and the Spurs have a 12 game lead over the Thunder, a top 2 seed is virtually a lock unless something disastrous happens but even still the Thunder would need to win out or close to it. How the Spurs do during the homestand will determine whether they have a shot at the 1 seed. What the Spurs need to make sure of is that they will have HC over the Cavs, then determine whether the 1 seed is in reach or if it is time to rest guys and prep for the playoffs.

[Obstructed_View]

How the Spurs do during the homestand will determine whether they have a shot at the 1 seed.

I'd say we'll know how it shakes out by Sunday, sooner if the Spurs step on their dicks against the Clippers or Blazers.