These are troubling times for San Antonio sports fans.

For almost 20 years, there’s been a sense of security in homes, offices and sports bars after dark and on some Sunday afternoons. It’s been an assumption that certain things will go a certain way every time.

And now, as is the case with NBA fans everywhere else, we’re not sure what’s going to happen when the Spurs take the court.

All of which begs the obvious question: Is there a chance that the Spurs play their last game of the year on April 15? It doesn’t seem plausible, but it could happen.

If the Spurs miss the playoffs or exit in the first round, it could devastate beer and face paint sales in the crucial months of May and June. And it would cripple the overpriced parking economy of the near East Side. And what of the ticket scalpers?

But, more importantly, what about you? If the Spurs’ season ends early, will there be lingering bitterness and regret? Will you have a knot in your throat that never goes away, even after your third Big Red at breakfast?

No sports reporter in town has had the nerve — some might call it a death wish — to mention this possibility.

But it’s definitely out there. As they say on Game of Thrones, “Winter is coming.” And for purposes of this exercise, winter in San Antonio means the Spurs bombing early or missing the NBA playoffs.

As of this morning, the Spurs rank seventh in the NBA’s Western Conference. They’ve got fewer than five games on the 8th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and 10,000 leagues on the Suns and Pelicans. The Spurs are on a two-game losing streak and haven’t dominated anyone (besides reporters trying to talk to Coach Gregg Popovich) in the last six wins.

The Spurs have already lost three more home games this season than they did in all of last season.

If you want to assign blame, blame the numbers.

Last year the Spurs were sixth in defense (97.6 ppg allowed) .This year, however, they’ve fallen to seventh but appear to be slightly stronger (97.4).

Sharp-eyed readers will see that the Spurs are actually allowing fewer points per game, but that’s a statistical quirk.

As it turns out, NBA offenses are a lot better this year, at least at the top, than they were last year: The Warriors lead the league at 110.6 ppg this season; the Clippers averaged 107.9 last season.

To be fair, the Spurs are dogging it on offense. The sixth best offense last season (105.4 ppg), the Spurs have slipped to 12th this season (100.9 ppg).

A very unscientific eyeballing of these numbers shows a net loss (pun unintended): -4.5 points of offense, coupled with top offenses gaining +2.7 points on the Spurs defense.

Statisticians who see the preceding paragraph may demand that my severed head be served up on a TI-83 calculator. I will, however, go to the chopping block secure in the knowledge that, while my numberin’ wasn’t proper, the main point was solid.

And that point is that it’s going to be hard for Los Spurs to dig out of the hole because it’s not about them playing better. They need to do that, of course, but six better teams have to play worse before it can make any difference.

More importantly, it means it is very plausible for this situation to get much worse, much faster.

The Western Conference is so tight that a handful of losses in March could cause a top-four squad to plummet. And if it’s true for them, it’s true at the bottom of the barrel, too. The Spurs could end up going deeper in the hole and not being able to climb out of it.

Like a 100-year weather event or the opening of another “antique mall” in the Hill Country, we all knew this drop-off was bound to happen one day. That doesn’t make it any less jarring.

There are college-aged kids in this town who’ve never experienced a spring that didn’t revolve around Spurs play-off games.

I’m not suggesting throwing in the towel or writing the Spurs off, but this might be a good time to consider thinking about the possibility that it might be that time.

It’s not all doom and gloom. While the Thunder, Rockets and Mavericks have retooled, the bad teams have gotten worse. Phoenix and Utah both traded key assets — Goran Dragic and Enes Kanter, respectively — to focus on next year.

Unfortunately, the Spurs have splitting series’ with those teams and other bottom feeders this season. That means that there are no locks for the silver and black.

rbragg@express-news.net

Twitter: @roybragg_SAEN