Boy, the narrative really would’ve liked that one, wouldn’t it?
The resurgent Spurs take their new-look lockdown defense on the road and shutdown their high scoring rivals in a continuation of their John Wickesque revenge tour, cementing their status as would-be title challengers in the West. That looks pretty good. In fact, I really enjoyed writing it.
Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Life is rarely tidy in the ways that we want it to be. This loss, while not devastating to the overall trajectory of the Spurs season, does help bring us back down from the clouds after a brief trip into a world where the Spurs beat everyone by over 20 points and magically regained the ability to play defense like it’s 2005.