It’s been somebody new every night. That’s what’s been weird. If we knew two guys were going to be out for three weeks, then you could get a rhythm with that group. We haven’t been able to do that, because it seems it’s been different people every game. – Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, on injuries
SAN ANTONIO — For much of this season, the San Antonio Spurs haven’t been acting much like the defending NBA champions.
At the halfway point of the 82-game season, the Spurs have a 25-16 record, which, if the playoffs began today, would only be good enough to give them a No. 7 seed in the competitive Western Conference. It is also well behind last year’s 32-9 mark at the same point, when the Spurs went on to finish with the best record in the NBA at 62-20.
This has been a trying season at times for the Spurs, who have been beset with injuries much of the year. Several top players have sat out and the Spurs have used 19 different starting lineups with 12 different players starting at least one game. During the month of December the Spurs actually had a losing record of 8-10 with two overtime losses and a pair of triple-overtime losses.
But things are looking up for the Spurs as they take on the Utah Jazz Sunday night (5 p.m. MST) at the AT&T Center.
Kawhi Leonard, the MVP of last year’s NBA Finals, rejoined the team Friday night after a 15-game absence and helped lead the Spurs to a 110-96 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, who came into the game with the second-best record in the Western Conference.
The Spurs should be pretty much back to normal against the Jazz Sunday night with Leonard joining Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Tiago Splitter and Danny Green in the starting lineup. Before Friday’s game, that lineup had only played together for eight minutes all season. Among the top-line players, only guard Marco Belinelli, who is out with a groin injury for 7-10 days, is expected to miss Sunday’s game with the Spurs.
In Friday’s victory over the Blazers, Leonard led the way with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting and showed few effects from the wrist injury that kept him out since mid-December. The Spurs produced a remarkable 34 assists in that game on their 42 baskets.
Just a week earlier coach Gregg Popovich talked about the challenges of not being able to play with the same players every night.
“It’s been somebody new every night,” Popovich said. “That’s what’s been weird. If we knew two guys were going to be out for three weeks, then you could get a rhythm with that group. We haven’t been able to do that, because it seems it’s been different people every game.”
Of course, Popovich is part of the problem in that he chooses to sit certain players at times so they’ll be fresher down the line when games matter more. That usually happens in road games or second games of back-to-backs, so the Jazz should expect to see all of the Spurs’ healthy players.
When the two teams met earlier in the season, the Jazz came away with a 100-96 victory in a game Popovich was ejected from. Parker missed that game with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Cory Joseph, while Splitter was also out and replaced by Matt Bonner.
The Jazz have been playing well of late going 8-7 in their last 15 games despite being short-handed themselves. Alec Burks is out for the season after shoulder surgery and Rodney Hood, Enes Kanter and Trevor Booker have all missed games. However, all three are expected to be able to play against the Spurs.
Another big change for the Jazz since the last time they met the Spurs has been the emergence of second-year center Rudy Gobert. In that game in early December he played just 15 minutes and scored six points with two rebounds. But over the last 10 games, Gobert has averaged 8.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.5 blocks on 65.3 percent shooting.
Jazz coach Quin Snyder tries not to get too concerned about individual games and road trips and instead looks at the big picture.
“I’m pretty determined not to judge this team based on wins and losses right now,’’ he said after Friday’s win over the Lakers. “There’s some gauntlets out there when you look at the schedule. We’re improving a little bit and it shows. I’d like to continue to use a different way of evaluating our success.’’
After Sunday night’s game, the Jazz will stick around in Texas for a couple of days before heading up to Cleveland and a game against LeBron James and the Cavaliers Wednesday night. Then they’ll head to Milwaukee for a game Thursday night before returning to Utah.