What does the Spurs’ worst team in 23 years look like? Desirable.
Arriving to Madison Square Garden with the longest losing streak of Gregg Popovich’s career, San Antonio found relief against the NBA’s worst team of the past two decades and snapped their eight-game losing streak with Saturday’s 111-104 win over the Knicks.
Before the Knicks’ second loss of the season to the Spurs, David Fizdale labeled San Antonio’s record (6-10) irrelevant. The Spurs have made 22 straight postseasons, the longest active streak in North American professional sports. Popovich has five championship rings. Starters LaMarcus Aldridge (23 points) and DeMar DeRozan (21 points) have a combined 11 All-Star appearances.
Fizdale’s first year ended with the Knicks matching the worst mark in team history. This season features 14 players with a combined zero All-Star appearances, dragging the Knicks (4-12) back to the bottom of the Eastern Conference and towards their seventh straight season without a playoff berth.
“They’re the Spurs. I can never let up my guard,” Fizdale said before the game. “At some point, they will get it going again.”
That point was predictable to any of the many thousands who spend season after season at the Garden.
Less than two hours after Popovich labeled his team “defensively challenged” — “A political sort of term for we suck,” the coach explained after allowing an average of over 122 points during the losing streak — the Knicks were limited to 16 points in the first quarter.
San Antonio scored the game’s first seven points and sprinted to a 23-9 lead. As the deficit grew, the arena organist struggled to convince the crowd to chime in with “De-fense” chants. The Knicks didn’t bother. Why would they?
“I don’t know how to explain it. We were in mud and they were a desperate team,” Fizdale said. “We got punched in the face.”
The Spurs shot 60 percent from the field in the first quarter. Marco Belinelli and Jakob Poeltl surpassed their respective scoring averages before the first round of boos closed the quarter, with the Spurs up 16.
The Knicks allowed repeated open looks. They missed their own, shooting 4-of-16 beyond the perimeter in the first half. A “sell the team” chant emerged. Halftime hit. The Knicks trailed 68-43.
The boos returned. They always return.
“We were all out of sync on both ends of the floor,” Fizdale said. “Out of rhythm for some reason offensively and not working the game and moving them. Defensively, we were a step slow on everything. We lacked a sense of urgency defensively, which is something I preached over the last two days, but we just didn’t have it.”
In the third quarter, San Antonio stretched the lead to 28. Slowly, the Knicks chipped away.
Frank Ntilikina (nine points, nine assists, six assists) sparked the team on both ends of the floor. Wayne Ellington scored a season-high 13 points. Marcus Morris scored a team-high 20.
But the momentum never lasted long enough.
When the Spurs committed a turnover, the Knicks gave it right back. When Ellington hit from deep, Patty Mills made his fifth straight 3-pointer. When the Knicks missed back-to-back layups to cut the game to two possessions in the final two minutes, DeRozan followed with a dunk.
“What I see today is experience, playing a team who has a lot of experience,” Ntilikina said. “We had to know they were gonna come ready in the Garden to get that win and what I see is that we’re still learning stuff.”
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