The San Antonio Spurs continued their gauntlet of an opening schedule in Week 2, following the same theme as Week 1. They faced three playoff-bound opponents that, unlike themselves, have stars and future/past MVPs. Against this superior talent, they impressed with their ability to hang tight and make the opponent fight until the bitter end against one of the “alleged” worst teams in the league, but they also disappointed in their inability to hold on to fourth quarter leads and close games strong — at least for the first two games.
Against a star-studded Lakers team that had been struggling to make their awkward conglomerate of current and former All-Stars work, the Spurs used a huge run at the end the third quarter to get out to a double-digit lead, but Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook (who was able to play his signature MVP style with LeBron James out) led the charge back to force OT and get the win, in no small part thanks to the Spurs inexplicably missing all seven of their fourth quarter free throws.