After losing four games in a row, the San Antonio Spurs finally get to taste victory, beating the short handed Sacramento Kings 107-96, leaving them just one game before the end of the rodeo road trip and then some well deserved rest.
Tony Parker, possibly the worst player in the league over the last seven days among starters seemed like a changed man, crediting a talk he had with Gregg Popovich before the game to the change we saw. Parker didn’t take too many bad shots and finished with 19 points, looking smooth and confident when attacking the basket in his own, special, silky way, something we hardly saw in the previous games, scoring a total of only 9 points in three outings.
Besides Parker there was Kawhi Leonard scoring 17. Just like Parker, Leonard was having a terrible time during this losing streak, and is also taught us something about the Spurs. Tim Duncan, the rock of this team, isn’t going to be the one that makes a difference. It’s hard denying him his numbers and double doubles. Making Parker and Leonard look bad offensively is much more beneficial for teams, but the Kings without DeMarcus Cousins weren’t going to be the ones that get in the way.
That was huge for us. That was huge for him. I know he’s been really hard on himself over these last couple games and really struggling, and hopefully that builds the confidence he needs and that we need him to have. Parker himself didn’t say a lot about his performance except that you just have to man up and keep playing and also mentioned something about his great talk with Popovich that helped regain focus.
Manu Ginobili scored 16 points off the bench, completing the comeback of sort from the trio that holds the key to this team’s success and possible ignition in the final stretch of this season. The Spurs are known for their March and April runs, and can’t really afford to keep letting the rest of the contenders from the Western conference get away from them, not to mention the teams below (Thunder, Pelicans, Suns) enjoying their many slips.