San Antonio Spurs still have something to play for and thats progress – San Antonio Express-News

The Spurs began the final week of a frantic regular season Monday at 32-35 and in 10th place in the Western Conference.

This, believe it or not, counts as progress for a team still in the early stages of a rebuilding project.

Weve had so many ups and downs, injuries, the whole COVID situation, travel we can find every excuse in the world, guard DeMar DeRozan said. We are still sitting here with an opportunity to continue playing.

Clearly, the idea of angling for 10th would seem cute to players who dotted the Spurs roster during the clubs 22-season playoff streak that ended last year.

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Yet this iteration of the Spurs can feel good about bringing the 2020-21 campaign to its crescendo with something still on the table.

Thanks to the NBAs new playoff format, the Spurs remain in firm position to claim the 10th spot in the West, which would earn the final spot in the play-in tournament to decide the final playoff seeds.

If the Spurs can get through a final-week gauntlet still in 10th place, they will keep their season alive for at least one more game after Sundays finale against Phoenix.

Whenever this offseason starts, Im not looking for it to start right away, point guard Dejounte Murray said. We are still playing for something. I hope everyone in the locker room understands that.

In fitting with a second half of the season that has felt at times like cruel and unusual punishment, the Spurs closing schedule will do them no favors.

Their 72-game slate is down to its final five, which began with Mondays visit from Milwaukee.

It features four playoff-bound opponents with winning records and includes a trip to play a back-to-back in Brooklyn and New York, before returning home to close the regular season with a home back-to-back against the Suns.

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The good news is, the Spurs might not have to win many of them to postpone their vacations at least a little while.

They can eliminate 11th-place New Orleans with a combination of three victories or Pelicans losses. For good measure, the Spurs can keep 12th-place Sacramento at bay with a combination of two victories or Kings defeats.

If they had their druthers, the Spurs would prefer to take care of their play-in fate on their own.

Record-wise, I think we are a better team than the record shows, Murray said. We just have to focus on the next game and try to get a win.

Even if the Spurs hang on to the 10th spot, their odds of restarting a streak of postseason appearances remains low.

In the play-in, the Spurs would need to win two games against two different opponents in two different road gyms in order to punch the No. 8 seed in the final playoff bracket.

A member of four 50-win teams during his time in Toronto, DeRozan has played in bigger games than he will this week.

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Reserve guard Patty Mills, the teams longest-tenured player, has appeared in a pair of NBA Finals series.

The rest of the players on the Spurs roster could use the experience of playing games that matter in the final week of the season.

Every opportunity you have, you try to make the best out of it, DeRozan said. Whether its the one (seed) or in the position we are in now for the first time.

When the Spurs season at lasts ends be it Sunday or beyond they will look back on a mid-February COVID outbreak as the game-changer.

On Feb. 14, the Spurs won 122-110 in Charlotte to open their rodeo trip 2-0. It brought their overall record to 16-11, five games above .500.

We felt good, DeRozan said. We were rolling.

That would prove to be the highwater mark of the Spurs season.

Two days later, a spate of five positive COVID-19 tests among the Spurs resulted in the NBA pressing pause on their schedule.

When the Spurs were allowed to return to play 10 days later in Oklahoma City, they did so with two players (Derrick White and Devin Vassell) still in health and safety protocols and DeRozan out following the death of his father.

In all, five games from the first half of the season had to be rescheduled to after the All-Star break, which forced the Spurs into the unfortunate situation of having to finish an already grueling season with 40 games in 68 nights.

The Spurs are still feeling the scheduling effects of their unscheduled COVID break this week. Thursdays game in New York was originally supposed to be played during the scuttled rodeo trip in February.

Take away that, we wouldnt be in such a strenuous schedule now, DeRozan said. It would give ourselves an opportunity to have practice times, work on things on the court that we can see and be able to go out on the court and work on.

For the worn-out Spurs, the past two months have been akin to running what was supposed to be a marathon in the pace of a sprint.

They appeared to hit a wall in late March, losing 10 of 12 at one point. As it stands, the Spurs are left to fight through fatigue and the most difficult closing schedule in the NBA to try and finish 10th.

Now, everything is on the fly so much, it becomes tough, mentally, emotionally, physically, draining at times, DeRozan said.

If there is a silver lining to the Spurs situation, its that they still have something left to fight for.

As a competitor, you just want to go out there and give yourself an opportunity, DeRozan said. If this is our opportunity to get into the playoffs, we have to take full advantage. Lets make it.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

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San Antonio Spurs still have something to play for and thats progress - San Antonio Express-News