The Golden State Warriors are getting all the attention, but the Spurs could be almost as good – and Gregg Popovich’s strategy can pay off in the playoffs

The NBA's other great team: why the Spurs are happy to fly under the radar

The Golden State Warriors have become the Beatles of the NBA, drawing massive crowds everywhere they go while a captivated media follows their every move. Things have been much quieter for the second-best team in basketball, the San Antonio Spurs, and the fact that they don’t play every game in a playoff atmosphere could be working in their favor.

If Golden State weren’t currently aiming for an all-time record, San Antonio would be receiving more attention. By compiling an 18-4 record, the Spurs have secured the second-best start in team history, a notable achievement for the most accomplished basketball franchise of the last 20 years. They also pulled off their franchise’s biggest win (on paper, at least) after trouncing the Philadelphia 76ers by 51 on Monday.

Granted, that 119-68 win looks less impressive given that the opponent was the one-win 76ers. Still, San Antonio was playing without their best player in Kawhi Leonard (sickness) and two future Hall of Famers in Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili (oldness). It was as if they were trying to make it something close to a fair fight, as if following through with the “with one hand tied behind its back” boast, but it was obvious from the start the game was not going to be on equal terms, or anything other than utter destruction.

Head coach Gregg Popovich quite likely chose this game to rest players because he knew it would be something of a gimme, although he couldn’t have predicted this margin of victory. Strategic benching and an abundance of caution have long been part of Popovich’s handbook. He knows that not every regular-season game is a must-win, that energy can and should be conserved, and that the most important thing is having your team in the best position to win in the postseason. Sometimes that means seeding, sometimes that means health.

In contrast, until 72-10 becomes an unattainable goal, Golden State desperately wants to win every single game. That means we’re not going to see Luke Walton and/or Steve Kerr DNP Steph Curry, Klay Thompson or Draymond Green very often, unless something has gone wrong. Key Warriors could end up being on the court for more minutes than they would otherwise, suffer more wear and tear as the season progresses and put themselves at greater injury risk. (Note: if the Warriors keep having blowout wins where Curry and other starters can sit for the entire fourth quarter, all of this might be moot.)



The Spurs’ cautious approach to the regular season, then, could end up being a savvy counter-strategy: stay under the radar, take advantage of Leonard’s MVP-level career year, quietly win a lot of games and see if Golden State gets burned while flying too close to the sun. It may not work, but the Warriors should be at least somewhat worried.



Vine of the week

SB Nation (@SBNation) Rajon Rondo had one of the most absurd assists of the season last night. https://t.co/UtZlpu9LLH pic.twitter.com/YqRQ04tpdN

Rajon Rondo’s reputation has taken a huge hit in the last few seasons, and only part of that is because he used to take his boss’s parking spot, but the Sacramento Kings point guard can still make the occasional unbelievable pass from time to time.

How did LeBron carry the Cavaliers this week?

Well, at one point this week LeBron James didn’t carry the Cavaliers in the slightest, instead sitting out a 99-84 road loss to his old pals in the Miami Heat. It was the right call by Cleveland – an overworked James had been part of an exhausting overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans the night before – but it was not well-received by the paying audience. Disappointed Miami fans took the time to mock the former franchise savior with “Bron is tired” chants. The Heat’s Chris Bosh was able to provide expert commentary on the situation:



Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) Bosh on 'Bron is tired' chant: "They were probably correct. You get tired when you play 2 games in 2 days, especially an overtime game."

As Twitter was quick to point out, the obviousness of Bosh’s comments sounded awfully familiar.



RUSS BENGT$ON (@russbengtson) Chris Bosh is @PerdHapleyNBA https://t.co/B51egpaGSj

Quote of the Week

“’It’s amazing. It’s like they’re horny for it. Horny fans ... Make sure you word that right.”

- Metta World Peace speaking about the Kobe Bryant Farewell Tour



Oh thank heavens for the return of Metta World Peace, a first ballot media quote HOFer. He later said this about the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff dreams: “We have a chance to go to the playoffs. We still have a chance. It’s very slim, but we have a chance.” This manages to both overpraise and insult his team all at once, very impressive.



Power rankings

1. Golden State Warriors (Last week: 1)

In the New Yorker, Steve McPherson wrote a joke piece about Warriors games going straight to Netflix, with the punchline being that basketball fans could just binge-watch the entire season. You cannot tell me you wouldn’t be tempted.



2. San Antonio Spurs (3)

There also another reason that the Spurs could be the Warriors’ biggest rival: Kawhi Leonard is only getting better. On Thursday, Leonard shot a career best 7-of-9 from three point range in a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, which is just unfair considering he’s also reigning defensive player of the year.



3. Cleveland Cavaliers (2)

The Eastern Conference is tougher than it has been in years. The Cavaliers have had a three game losing streak. LeBron is calling for team meetings. Are all of these clear danger signs for Cleveland? Common sense says things will improve once Kyrie Irving returns and re-establishes himself as the team’s rightful second option but he’s become basketball Godot.



4. Miami Heat (7)

Their Saturday night win over the LeBron-less Cavaliers put them on top of the Eastern Conference, but a tough loss to the Washington Wizards on Monday pushed them back down once again. Still, the Heat remain the second best team in the East, at least for the moment.



5. Indiana Pacers (5)

The Pacers have remained the biggest surprise in basketball. Maybe we shouldn’t have let what happened to Derrick Rose color our expectations of how Paul George would play after returning from injury.



6. Oklahoma City Thunder (4)

Not a great week for OKC. They suffered back-to-back losses to the Hawks and Heat and then they just barely won one against the disjointed Sacramento Kings. They still have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, so they will still be alright.



7. Dallas Mavericks (9)

The most inexplicable event in Mavericks history will always be when they defeated the Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals. That said, if the Mavericks manage to accumulate a better regular season record, and go deeper in the playoffs, than the Clippers after the DeAndre Jordan Emoji Debacle, that might go down as number two.

8. Toronto Raptors (11)

The Raptors lost 112-109 to the Warriors on Saturday, a close enough margin of defeat that it really should have counted as at least a partial win. Full fledged wins might be a bit harder to come by for Toronto after the news that DeMarre Carroll would be out indefinitely with a bruised knee.

9. Atlanta Hawks (13)

Yet another week where the Hawks continue to be a perfectly fine NBA franchise that isn’t exactly interesting to talk about in terms of how they actually play basketball. Fascinating non-basketball related Hawks story of the week: the franchise’s courtship of Atlanta’s hip-hop community.



10. Los Angeles Clippers (10)

It’s almost pointless to place the Clippers anywhere in these rankings. Other than a Warriors-esque mega-win streak or a Lakers-like free fall, it feels like this team could end up heading off in any direction at any point. Their brand is chaos.



11. Charlotte Hornets (12)

The Hornets: not entirely for real, but not entirely fake either.

12. Chicago Bulls (6)

The Phoenix Suns’ Mirza Teletovic basically dropped the Bulls down six whole spots all by himself.



13. Memphis Grizzlies (8)

The Grizzlies’ Jeff Green, meanwhile, sunk the Suns in a similarly dramatic manner.

14. Boston Celtics (14)

The Celtics’ one possession loss to the Spurs on Saturday was probably more impressive than most of their wins.

15. Detroit Pistons (19)

Reggie Jackson was named Eastern Conference player of the week after the Pistons went 4-0, but he still has a long way from becoming the primary entry for Reggie Jackson on Wikipedia.



16. Orlando Magic (17)

Evan Fournier is a name you need to know and also a name you should NEVER GOOGLE.

17. Utah Jazz (15)

Rudy Gobert is out indefinitely with a left knee sprain, leaving the Jazz without its center and its most entertaining player for the foreseeable future.

18. Houston Rockets (20)

James Harden is second in the league in points per game and yet the Rockets still don’t have a winning record.

19. New York Knicks (23)

In case there was any doubt, the Knicks proved they were the best basketball team in New York by beating the Brooklyn Nets 108-91 on Friday.

20. Washington Wizards (22)

Despite his team’s disappointing start, insiders claim that cutting their staff into pieces by firing head coach Randy Wittman would be the Wizards’ “last resort.”

21. Phoenix Suns (16)

22. Portland Trail Blazers (24)

23. Milwaukee Bucks (21)

24. Minnesota Timberwolves (18)

25. Denver Nuggets (27)

26. Sacramento Kings (25)

27. Brooklyn Nets (28)

28. New Orleans Pelicans (26)

29. Los Angeles Lakers (29)

30. Philadelphia 76ers (30, now and possibly forever)