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The San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of making history. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. Tuesday night’s 105-91 win in Minnesota means the Spurs are 13-0 on the road to start the season, becoming only the second team to achieve such a feat. The only other team is last year’s the Golden State Warriors, who picked up 14 consecutive away wins. A win in Chicago on Thursday night will see San Antonio equal that record.
The Spurs haven’t yet established any sort of momentum at the AT&T Center, where they hold a less-than-stellar 5-4 record for the year, but the same cannot be said about their play on the road. Emerging victorious from places such as Charlotte and Boston is never easy, and San Antonio have also come through divisional away games in New Orleans, Houston and Dallas unscathed.
What’s even more impressive about the current winning streak is that the team managed to pick up wins even when they weren’t playing well. This week’s performance in Milwaukee, where the Spurs only scored 9 points in a dreadful second quarter, left a lot to be desired. As did the recent outing in Dallas, where the team with the worst record held a double digit lead in the second half. Yet in both contests, the Spurs made plays when they needed to, and came away with the win.
The team isn’t yet hitting on all cylinders. Their 5.0 point differential leaves something to be desired when compared to the Warriors’ 13.8 -- or even last season’s Spurs mark of 10.6. There are improvements to be made if the Spurs are to compete with the best the NBA has to offer, but thankfully there’s enough time left in the season to straighten things out. For now, let’s enjoy them closing in on making history once again.