Spurs Must Learn to Train Their Dragons

There is a movie that came out last year (I think) that you may have seen. It's an animated film where Viking warriors fight to protect their homes and families from the destructive forces of dragons. The Vikes obviously don't want their houses burned down by the fire-breathing creatures. They don't want the dragons to kill their children. The Vikings train their kids in various combat techniques so they can always be prepared for their enemies.

Something changes, however, when one of the smaller boys finds a new way to deal with the dragons.

The protagonist, rather than fighting dragons, pacifies them. He befriends them, trains them and finds ways that they can be useful to the humans (free airfare, hello!)

What are the Spurs’ dragons? That’s really open to your interpretation. For me they include a number of things. First of all, the injuries the team has had lately could be considered dragons. The silver-and-black lining to this was that some of our bench guys were able to get valuable experience, which may pay off in the long term. Kind of like a "Shooter" moment from the movie Hoosiers. I know a lot of us, myself included, had been (im)patiently waiting for Tiago to get some burn. That finally happened, thanks in large part to a dragon Tim’s injury.

Another dragon could be the six-game losing streak, or losses in general. In a season where very little went wrong for at least four months, losing can be a reminder that you are not invincible. On any given night, your shot may abandon you, an opponent may play their “A” game or you may make uncharacteristic mistakes.

Now I am not suggesting that we should be happy when we lose, suffer injuries, or go through other adversity. I am suggesting that we think outside of the box a little bit. Pop and the Spurs have had to do this during the season as they have adjusted their style of play to match the collective and individual strengths of the team and its personnel.

Here’s to hoping the Spurs' weaknesses become strengths, that the team keeps pounding the rock and that we fly through this postseason with a little help from our dragons. Keep the faith, and Go Spurs Go!

P.S. If you are unfamiliar with the movie referenced feel free to check out trailers/clips of "How to Train Your Dragon" on YouTube. I was embedding a short clip to this post, but it was taking too long to load, so I scrapped that idea!