What We Learned from the Spurs win over the Pistons

This was a tough one to drum up a spark for. Friday night. Two teams circling the bottom of the standings. Star players missing left and right. The Spurs opponent was even one that the Spurs would probably rather lose to considering the current, uh, “team building exercise” they’ve got going on. This game was the very definition of a tough hang.

For those of us that did hang, we were treated to something that was, at times, an interesting showcase of raw talent and, at others, a relatively droll affair full of mostly forgettable basketball. I hate to be like that, but when Jakob Poeltl snatching up 16 rebounds was one of the main highlights of the game, well, this one probably isn’t going down in the annals of NBA history any time soon.

That’s okay though. This season isn’t about making history. It’s about...something else. Something intangible that we’re all still trying to sort out over here. Development? Survival? Who can say? I spend a lot of games trying to remind myself to take a minute and appreciate the good things that happen during these games. A cool offensive sequence here. A great defensive play there. A win or two sprinkled in just to remember what it feels like.

This wasn’t an important win, but the players seemed to enjoy it. They looked like they were having fun out there in there Fiesta green uniforms and, sure, maybe that doesn’t help our draft position or anything, but it plays it’s part in the process all the same.

If nothing else, this game was a reminder that there is a lot of season left for everyone. Even for a team like the Spurs who have a hazier set of goals beyond “win as many games as you can”, there will be plenty of interesting moments that shape this franchise going forward. Maybe we won’t remember last night’s game beyond the 5:00 tip off with the Celtics tonight, but maybe that’s for the best. This one could simply be a deep breath. A reset. A quiet moment of contentment before getting back to the grind.

Those moments can be important too.

Takeaways:

• I feel like I’ve read a bunch of takes online in the wake of the loss to New York that were treating what happened at the end of the game to Jeremey Sochan like it was basically the Bill Buckner play. I mean, there were multiple tweets and write ups praising his resilience in the face of this hardship. I just, like...he had a bad game and made a bad play? It didn’t even seem that bad in the moment when it happened? To be clear, Jeremy seems fine and unbothered by all of this, I just don’t understand why everyone was expecting him to fall to pieces just because Walt Frazier said “He had no clue, folks. Watch the neophyte, He’s not cognizant of anything!” Sorry the 19 year old isn’t perfect, Walt.
• Look, Sochan is a beautiful angel who doesn’t need us to protect him. He came out and had a great game against Detroit and continues to look like an awesome piece of the puzzle we’re building down here. Again, Sochan doesn’t need us to protect him. That said, I am now fully ready to fight Walt Frazier on sight. He called our sweet boy a neophyte! A NEOPHYTE! This is outrageous. It’s outlandish. It’s out of bounds. A neophyte. A Neophyte??? Who does he think he is?? A neophyte. Come on. I’ve been steaming about this for 4 days. Walt’s going to catch these hands if he brings his weird blazers anywhere near me.
• Sorry.
• Tre Jones looked good! It’s nice to know he can get out there and get buckets if he needs to. Obviously not something we really want to rely on all the time, but it’s good to know he has it in his locker. The Spurs didn’t seem to miss any beats when Keldon went off in the second half and I think a lot of that can be attributed to Tre taking the leadership reigns and steering the ship home.
• It maybe sounded like I was being sarcastic earlier about Jakob Poeltl’s big night, but I’m very serious that it was kind of enthralling to watch him go about his business. Maybe we’re just hard up for savvy veteran basketball around these parts, but he has just become such a great professional basketball player during his time here and it’s pretty heartwarming to see him stalking around and getting to work.

WWL Post Game Press Conference

- What do you think would happen if you fought Walt Frazier? He’s older but like, he was a professional athlete.

- Are you trying to say that I couldn’t beat a 77 year old man in a fist fight?

- He’s like 6’4” isn’t he?

- So he’s got some reach on him, sure, but that can only get him so far. You’re forgetting that I’m a former gifted athlete as well and that I would be blinded by rage because I was defending the honor of friend Jeremy Sochan.

- A former gifted athlete? Didn’t you get pretty winded on a jog yesterday?

- What does jogging have to do with beating a 77 year old man in a fist fight? It’s not like I’m going to be chasing after him or anything. If he runs away that’s an automatic forfeit.