Before this season began, Gregg Popovich chose his words carefully. He knew he couldn’t admit outright that the Spurs were tanking — or at least not trying their hardest to put together the winningest team they could — but “at the risk of being fined”, he admitted his team wouldn’t be contending for anything.
Now, with his team nearly three quarters of the way through the season, on a franchise record 16-game losing streak, and in a seemingly never-ending rut of being unable to string together enough consistent minutes to pull off a win against any level of competition, Pop is taking his words a step further, admitting his team isn’t built to compete for 48 minutes after his team’s latest debacle: a 102-118 loss to the Jazz in which the Spurs led by 14 points early in the second half before completely falling apart.