When the Cavaliers watch the film of Tuesday’s 122-101 loss to San Antonio at The Q, they should only watch the Spurs.
They should study the precision with which they move the ball. They never panic. There’s always time for one more pass to find someone a better shot.
It’s an offense to emulate.
“I think everybody touches it as least twice in 24 seconds,” said Dion Waiters. “I don’t know how they do it.”
In Tuesday’s victory — San Antonio’s ninth straight over Cleveland — the Spurs registered an opponent-season-high 39 assists on 43 baskets, the seventh-best performance in the past 10 years. Each of the 13 players who checked into the game logged at least one assist.
Even coach Gregg Popovich was impressed.
“Tonight was pretty impressive and doesn’t happen often,” he said as the Spurs improved to 44-16. “It’s what we do. We’re always trying to move the ball from good to great. Tonight was an A-plus in that regard.”
Cavs coach Mike Brown, a former Popovich assistant, wasn’t about to disagree.
“We told our team that these guys are the best passing team in the league,” Brown said as his team lost its second straight game and fell to 24-38, four games out of the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 20 games to go. “The shot clock can be at four or three, and they’ll make one pass without panicking. So we can never stop playing. We can never think they’re going to shoot the ball. We can never think the play is over.”
Unfortunately for the Cavs, it looked as if they thought they were done playing defense after the first quarter, when they held the Spurs to 23.8 percent shooting (5 of 21) and took a 23-13 lead.
Then San Antonio shot 59 percent in the second quarter (13 of 22) and 62 percent in the third (13 of 21) en route to 55 percent for the rest of the game (38 of 69).
But Waiters, who scored 24 points in his first game back after missing seven with a hyperextended left knee, denied the Cavs packed it in defensively after the first quarter, thinking they’d figured out the Spurs.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
