Curry & crew too hot for Spurs to handle

Spurs 4-4 (Please, make it stop)               11/2/2017

San Antonio Spurs vs. Golden State Warriors         (92-112)

Home court. Man, I was ready to be back at home. After that rough roadtrip, Pop & the boys were back at home for the first time since last year’s heart-wrenching Western Conference Finals vs. Curry & his crew.  (Zaza met with lots of boos, obviously.) I noticed Pop’s first change in the starting lineup, replacing Mills for Murray. I think Murray has done spectacular, but Patty needs to step up and remind everyone the reasons for the new $50-million payday. Both Murray & Mills seem a bit uneasy without the likes of veteran Tony Parker around. I miss that Frenchie more than I care to admit & hope he returns soon to be a strong leader for these youngsters.

We started strong, with a lead of 19 points (!), & even held the Warriors to a mere 50 points by the half. We began with aggressive defense, homecourt loving (maybe even a little showboating. I mean did you see Danny Green fly past Curry, causing him to fall & then dunk over Durant!?) & quickly our near-perfect play was replaced with slow & cautious play. Then slowly, Warriors changed the gears in their sloppy ball movement, Durant ate his damn Snickers bar & the game changed.

Spurs tried to counter the Warriors in the second half, but couldn’t stall them enough. One crucial element was missing: our Messiah. Kawhi always keeps the Warriors on their toes with his clutch shots & ability to penetrate in the paint & score. (Fingers crossed for the Messiah’s return in 3 weeks!) Forbes came in strong in the fourth quarter and helped lessen the lead to single digits, but the two players that stood out were Aldridge & Kyle Anderson (Holy hell!).

As a person who has never been much of a Anderson fan, I want to see more of the Anderson that played in this game. He played a season-high 16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals (!) & 1 block, Pop praised this usually inconsistent small forward after the game. Aldridge became one of only four players in the league, all of whom are guards, to score 24 points in 22 shots; including a rebound jumper over last year’s DPOY, Green.

But in the end, Spurs suffered & couldn’t fully come back, losing by 20 points. (And an ejection from Pop! HAH!) This was the fourth loss in a row. THE FOURTH. Let that sink in, spoiled Spurs fans (myself included). When was the last time you can remember a losing streak this bad? There have only been four times in Popovich’s entire career that his team has lost this many games in a row. FOUR. And the losing streak has never surpassed four times. Let this sink in Spurs fans, in 20 seasons with Pop, the Spurs have never had a double-digit losing streak but EVERY SINGLE TEAM in the league has. ALL OF THEM! All hail, Gregg Popovich (and this girl’s soulmate). Here’s to the next game & not messing with his legacy.