It would have been nice for the Spurs to get the win tonight, but since it was only the first game of the season, there's no need to panic. They still have 81 more games to play. The Spurs controlled the game most of the way, but let it get away in the end.
Here are some bright spots that I took away from the game:
-The Spurs controlled the pace of the game and took care of the basketball in the first half.
-The Spurs also played excellent transition defense in the first half, giving up only 2 fastbreak points (the Thunder had 50 points) , and limiting the Thunder to 9 assists for the half.
-Kawhi Leonard was arguably the best player on the floor tonight. He had (a career-high) 32 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. He had a bunch of great defensive plays, especially against Kevin Durant aka "Doodle Jump".
The Spurs had their chances to win the game, and even threatened to go up by double digits on multiple occasions, but they went cold in the 4th quarter. The team showed some flashes of brilliance on defense, but it came down to a couple of 50-50 balls that they couldn't come up with and several offensive rebounds that the Thunder came away with. But there is a lot of room for improvement. The biggest difference in the game, in my opinion, was the bench consistently giving up leads. During one stretch late in the 3rd quarter, I counted 9 field goals in 9 trips down the floor for the Thunder bench. Many of those were 2nd and 3rd chance baskets.
That small ball post tandem of David West and Boris Diaw showed us some good versatility on offense, but got exploited on the defense glass. I would imagine that once Coach Pop sets the rotations that their time on the court together will be minimal because Tim Duncan or LaMarcus Aldridge will be on the court at all times. Speaking of TD and LA, the Spurs didn't exploit mismatches whenever they had them. If you have both of them on the court together, obviously one of them will be playing against a weaker defender.
The Thunder should be very concerned about the Spurs and shouldn't look past the fact that the Spurs' new guys barely contributed compared to what they are capable of, and still almost got the win. This WILL NOT be the same Spurs team the Thunder faces when these 2 teams meet again on March 12. For the most part, the Spurs played well enough to win tonight, and should beat most teams night in and night out if they keep playing like this. But they will have to step it up when they go against the other top teams in the NBA. How is this for perspective? The Spurs, a team trying to integrate several new players and adapt their system to fit the skills of those players, lost in the last minute on the road in a historically tough building to win in, against a top 4 team in the NBA. Once again, there is plenty of room for improvement and plenty of time to right the ship.
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