SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs engineered yet another blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 2 of the Western Conference playoffs, downing the visitors 94-68 Tuesday to become just the third team in NBA postseason history to win each of its first two contests by 25 points or more.
Yet Spurs coach Gregg Popovich appeared unsatisfied.
Is it fair to say you’re not terribly impressed with how your team has played offensively?
"That would be fair," Popovich said.
Can you elaborate on what your guys have done or not done?
"They turned it over ... too much. That’s just a fact."
Playing against an undermanned Memphis club decimated by injuries, the Spurs had 19 turnovers, the most they've coughed the ball up since March 5, when they had 21 turnovers in a win over the Sacramento Kings. Memphis' injury situation somewhat hides the fact it plays a scrappy, disruptive brand of defense that the Spurs believe will provide learning opportunities for the later rounds.
Memphis contested 64 percent of San Antonio’s shots, and the Spurs connected on just 17 of 42 on such attempts while hitting 4 of 9 from 3-point range on such shots.
"This series is all about getting through their physical defense; cutting hard and passing hard and shooting uncontested shots," said Patty Mills, who scored a game-high 16 points, hitting 4 of 6 from 3-point range. "That's going to be the biggest thing for us during the duration of the series, especially at their place. We need to shoot uncontested shots, and the more of those we shoot, I think the great shooters that we have are going to make them. It's a little one, but the better we move the ball and the more open shots we get, definitely, guys can knock them down."
Still, the Spurs are learning that’s somewhat of a difficult proposition, even against an injury-ravaged opponent. The Grizzlies dressed an NBA-record 28 players during the regular season, losing Mike Conley to an Achilles issue and Marc Gasol to a broken right foot. Memphis entered the playoffs having won just three of its final 17 games.
Naturally, the assumption was that a 67-win squad like the Spurs would make quick work of the Grizzlies. That's happening, but San Antonio certainly isn’t tallying many style points while doing so.
Combine Memphis' in-your-face defensive style and some of the circumstances regarding San Antonio's journey into the playoffs, and some of the issues we’re seeing manifested in this series make plenty of sense.
Obviously, the Spurs started resting players near the end of March, when they clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the postseason. During that time, the Spurs worked to implement new players such as Kevin Martin and Andre Miller to the club’s system. That led to lineup switches and a lack of familiarity between all the available players who weren't resting.
Then, toward the end of the regular season, Popovich decided the rest break was over, and it was time to start catching a groove.
San Antonio remains in search of that groove as the team's march toward the postseason was also complicated by injuries to LaMarcus Aldridge and Boris Diaw.
"We look at it as the past four weeks, we were trying to get guys adjusted to the system, and guys were resting," said Martin, who finished with 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting. "So this is our time to start to find a groove as the playoffs go."
San Antonio certainly can't afford to waste time, with a potential matchup on the horizon against the third-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. It's expected the Spurs will complete a four-game sweep of the Grizzlies on Sunday in Memphis.
"They're gonna play physical, and they're gonna hold and grab," said point guard Tony Parker after scoring six points and dishing four assists. "They had some great steals. We just have to make sure we take care of the ball over there because over there, obviously, it's going to be a lot of fast-break points. We don't want to give them confidence like that. [We have to] stay focused. It's the playoffs, respect the opponent because we know over there it's gonna be a lot harder."
San Antonio combated Memphis' defensive pressure with plenty of stopping power of its own. The Spurs contested 77 percent of Memphis' shots, and the Grizzlies converted just 19 of 66, missing all seven of their contested 3-point attempts.
Memphis' 68 points were the fourth-fewest allowed in a playoff game for the Spurs and the fewest ever for the Grizzlies in the postseason. Memphis is 0-16 when scoring 86 points or fewer in the postseason, with six of those losses coming courtesy of the Spurs.
Still, San Antonio maintains that staying motivated and focused against such an injury-ravaged Grizzlies squad won't be a problem as the series moves to Memphis, beginning with Friday's contest at the FedEx Forum.
But two-time Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard did acknowledge that it's possible to lose the focus long enough for Memphis to become a problem for the Spurs.
"Yeah, but that's the thing you've got to fight," said Leonard, who scored 13 points to go with a pair of steals and a blocked shot. "We've still got to execute. We turned over the ball a lot today. They're physical, and they have great hands. But this is still an opportunity for us to improve. They're still an NBA team."
