How The San Antonio Spurs' 1st Back-to-Back Represents Their 'Welcome to the NBA' Moment
NOV 5 — The San Antonio Spurs had been in this position before.
They had a 19-point lead at halftime and 24 minutes left to play at home against the Toronto Raptors. Halftime. Just a game prior, San Antonio was up by 20 on Kevin Durant and in both situations, all signs pointed toward a blowout.
But both times, that didn't end up being the case. Whether it was the Raptors using a slew of 3-pointers to mount a comeback, or the Suns going on a run to nullify any kind of momentum the Spurs had gained through the first two quarters of play, their lead evaporated in crunch time.
And suddenly, San Antonio was thrust into a contest too-close for comfort.
"The biggest thing I've learned is [that] a 20-point lead is nothing," Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama said. "You['ll] be up 15 and in a blink, [you'll] be down one, and you don't know what happened."
Nov 6, 2023; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) in the first quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
© Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Wembanyama would have come away with that same lesson at some point throughout his career, but unfortunately for him, he learned the hard way. In fact, the entire team did.
It was their "Welcome to the NBA" moment, after all.
Normally, being welcomed to the league is a good thing, but the way the phrase has come to be expressed, it's quite the opposite. Every time a rookie gets posterized, broken on defense or swat-blocked 15 feet into the stands, they've officially been "welcomed" by a veteran. For the Spurs as a whole, the Pacers and Raptors were those veterans.
Toronto had the first shot at the Spurs, though for the entire first half, it didn't seem that way. Wembanyama was doing his thing on both ends of the floor — generating offense and creating defense simultaneously — to give San Antonio a comfortable cushion heading to the locker room, but it didn't last long after that.
The end result? A seven-point overtime loss. San Antonio fell back to .500.
But that's where the beauty of playing under coach Gregg Popovich comes into play.
“It was a young group playing against a very experienced group," the veteran coach said. "They knocked [shots] down, and we didn't. We didn't have as much down the stretch scoring wise. They were able to come back for those two reasons. They did a good job."
Not only did Popovich call out his team's shortcomings, but he made sure his players understood them as well. Wembanyama was a prime example of that.
“[Popovich] often says it's important to play for the whole 48 minutes," Wembanyama said. "Even relaxing a couple seconds is too much."
"Every night is a challenge," he added. "I still have a lot to prove to my teammates and my coach, so I'm just trying to do the dirty job sometimes and give 100 percent."
The Spurs might have given their all against the Raptors, but it still didn't work out. Even so, they remained positive, shifting their focus to their game the following night.
“We didn't play as good tonight," Spurs guard Malaki Branham said. "But the great thing about the NBA [is] we've got another game tomorrow. [We're] just forgetting about this game, moving on to the next and [plan] to do the things that we can do better ... for 48 minutes.”
Any team experiencing a back-to-back understands the extra preparation that goes into the two-day stretch. Not only are you worried about playing hard for 48 minutes in the first game, but the back of your mind is clouded with thoughts about the next game: How can I preserve energy to play well tomorrow?
Maybe I'll take it easier tonight.
Popovich can try to rid his team of those thoughts as much as he wants, but at the end of the day, it's up to the players to effectively give full effort for 96 minutes — not just 48.
And as it seemed when the Spurs took the court against the Pacers on the road for Game 2 of the back-to-back, they did not. San Antonio looked sluggish from the get-go, allowing the Pacers to start hot and stay hot from beyond the arc.
The result was even worse than the Raptors' massive comeback the night before. The Spurs let up 152 points and suffered their second 40-point loss of the year.
Safe to say, they were welcomed to the league.
"We need to learn from this one," Doug McDermott said following the Spurs' loss. "It's tough to flush these ... it's embarrassing to get beat like that and not being able to get a stop. We didn't come out with enough energy tonight. That [falls] on all of us."
McDermott only echoed what the Spurs know. They are young, they have flaws and they have ample room to grow, both individually and as a whole. That isn't a bad thing in the slightest — in fact, it's almost expected.
But now, that expectation has changed. The Spurs need to use their two-game losing streak as motivation to play better, so that when they embark on their second back-to-back on Nov. 17 and 18, they know how best to handle it.
Even if it doesn't quite happen then, however, Popovich isn't concerned.
"It's November, last time I checked," he said.
Welcome to the NBA, San Antonio.
