Despite the national stage and its second-versus-third billing, there was little about Friday’s 102-91 loss to the Houston Rockets that served as a potential playoff preview — and plenty that showed where both teams are currently at.
The game’s most telling watermark may have come in its strangest stretch, which began at the end of the third quarter. On the court for the Spurs was their trio of players of a certain age — Tony Parker, 35, Pau Gasol, 37, and Manu Ginobili, 40 — joined by second-year undrafted guard Bryn Forbes and two-way contract Darrun Hilliard.