On November 13th, the Spurs lost a game against against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road in Minneapolis, part of an eight-game losing streak that led to a losing record. The day San Antonio fell below .500 was only the 70th day in that predicament over the last twenty-two-plus Gregg Popovich years, a feat unimaginable by any NBA team.

Last Wednesday when the Spurs helped introduce the basketball world to Zion Williamson on national TV, they also landed on day 140 of their accumulative losing record. Seventy consecutive days in the red. In just over two months, the Spurs had matched the entirety of Pop’s career on the wrong side of winning.

It may seem like a negative, but in taking a look at the Spurs since November 13th, quite a lot has come to pass during these last 70+ days. Since the end of that dreaded mid-November octet of losses, the Spurs have gone 15-14, seven of those wins coming on the road. Unfortunately, they’ve dropped the last two winnable games.

On the plus side, the Spurs have seen the emergence of LaMarcus Aldridge’s three-ball, which almost takes a backseat to DeMar DeRozan’s recording-breaking run of thirteen games shooting over 50% and scoring more than 20 points per game. The two go hand-in-hand as LaMarcus has spread the floor allowing DeRozan to take over in his comfort zone.

Lonnie Walker IV has seen an uptick in floor time and productivity, Bryn Forbes knocked a record seven treys in a half, Jakob Poeltl has taken over the paint defensively, and even Marco Belinelli is shooting with more precision than the first quarter of the season.

Sure, the Spurs are still below .500, but at this point the good guys could be out of the dark in the near future.

As Spurs fans, we tend to get hung up on records . . . streaks . . . greatness looms and the only way to go is down. But is it?

Time to take our pulse. We’ve been discussing mid-season, All-Star, trade deadlines, and the Rodeo Road Trip. But those are just lines in the sand. The only real date to be concerned with is April 15, 2020. Is that the last regular season game, or the last game of the season?

And what does it mean if the Spurs can’t make the playoffs?

With so much going right and seemingly nothing to lose (if ego and historical continuance are inadmissible factors), what is it that keeps you rooting for your beloved Spurs the most right now?

What can be built upon and depended on beyond this one season?

Spurs fans weren’t built in a lone year, but many of the elements that created the fandom have changed.

Win or lose, the question remains — what hasn’t changed?

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