Yesterday’s match between the Spurs and Celtics highlighted plenty of similarities between the protagonists. Both encountered adversity early in the season, and both appeared to have overcome it heading into the new year. Both faced roster and rotation changes that required systemic adjustments, albeit not to the point of loss of identity. Both bucked modern-era trends prompted by advanced metrics in allowing for seemingly unhealthy doses of midrange shots. And both, most importantly, leaned on outstanding mentorship to stay competitive regardless of circumstance.
As things turned out, the Spurs won the first of two meetings with the Celtics. Leaning on a 46-point third quarter in which they turned a six-point deficit into a double-digit lead, they underscored their continued relevance in the National Basketball Association despite the loss of former Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard, longtime starter Danny Green, and dynasty figures Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. For a while there, they looked ready to prove true preseason prognoses that had them missing the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. Not so, and, evidently, not under head coach Gregg Popovich.
Indeed, solid guidance from the sidelines is what appears to have righted the Spurs after a roller-coaster beginning to their 2018-19 campaign. Popovich is, if nothing else, an astute assessor of talent, with his capacity to maximize the resources at his disposal resulting in his constructed whole invariably being greater than the sum of its parts. It’s certainly why he has managed to get top dogs DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge to coexist in harmony even though they best operate in the same space that sabermetrics just so happens to have declared No Man’s Land.
How far the Spurs will thrive in the current tumult of the National Basketball Association remains to be seen. To be sure, there’s ample reason to harbor extreme optimism; they just notched their 11th victory in 13 outings to get to within four games of first place in the crowded West. Admittedly, it won’t stop number crunchers from arguing that a regression to the mean is due. Then again, Popovich isn’t a perennial Coach of the Year candidate for nothing. Yesterday, for instance, his sets produced 14 makes out of 26 attempts from three-point range, never mind his profound dislike for the shot. Simply put, he knows how to win, and he figures to keep doing so despite the so-called odds.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
