Watching the San Antonio Spurs is like watching a well-oiled machine with parts that are all moving in harmony. The team has a system that works so well that even as the main core of the team ages, they are still going to be one of the top teams in the league. However, this doesn’t mean that the Spurs have no weakness.
As shown by last year’s playoffs and the recent loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs has a hard time containing the more athletic teams in the league. In the aforementioned lost that dropped the their record to 13-2, the Spurs couldn’t slow down the Thunder when they started rolling.
This is a problem that the team needs to address if they wish to get back to the NBA finals next year. The team is impressive when it comes to consistency and beating teams they are supposed to beat. However, when the playoffs season rolls in and they play against teams like the Thunder and LA Clippers, this issue is going to come up once again.
This weakness of the team isn’t easily noticed in the regular season due to the fact that most teams usually play a little more sloppy during this part of the year. Spurs are pretty decent at coming up with turnovers and taking advantage of it. Thus, an athletic team that doesn’t take care of the ball well doesn’t pose much of a problem for them. However, in the playoffs where teams are more focused are less likely to turn the ball over, the Spurs are going to have a hard time shooting.
The only way the Spurs can beat an athletic team that is playing so well is if everything is clicking for them on the offensive end. Given the fact that they have a hard time defending these kinds of teams, they will have to rely on their offense to beat. This isn’t so bad considering how the Spurs offense can generate good shots. However, the Spurs shooters will have to hit their shots. This also is a problem right now due to the streaky shooting the team is displaying as of the moment. There are nights where shots are going in and there are those bad nights wherein shots just aren’t falling.
If the team is going to contend, coach Pop will have to come up with another offensive solution that doesn’t rely so much on long-range shooting.