What We Learned from the Spurs loss to the Bucks

Mar 23, 2023 - 4:13 PM

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Alright. Well. So, I’m just going to roll the TV into the classroom today and we’re just gonna pop in the “Spurs lose big, but it’s fine” VHS that we’ve already watched a bunch this year. Is that cool? If you want to put your heads down and take a nap on your desk until next period, that’s fine by me. We can just move it along. Nothing to see here.

This game felt like watching a dog get a brand new plush toy. They’re so excited at first to be confronted with it that they don’t even know what to do and then you turn you back for three seconds to find that the stuffed duck you presented to them has been reduced to a pile of fluff. It felt like a practice for this Bucks team that clearly has it’s eyes on bigger prizes this season. They seem locked in and Giannis is stalking around out there like some basketball demi-god sent here to wreak havoc on the rest of us mortals. They are operating on a very different level than our sweet boys.

Do y’all remember what this time of year used to be like? With about 10 or so games left in the season and they sort of/kind of matter but mostly everyone is just gearing up for the coming storm. It’s all excitement and nerves and mild nausea and weird adrenaline spikes in the middle of the day. I felt that watching the Milwaukee crowd last night. This game was plodding along and everyone’s attention was scattered somewhere else, but then when the Bucks sort of caught fire there at the end of the 2nd half the crowd got a little frenzied and the players fed off it and all of sudden the buzzer sounded and the Spurs were down by 15. The players trodded off to the locker room while the crowd roared and I couldn’t help but smile.

There’s a hunger over there. They have a generational talent in Giannis on their hands and everyone in the Milwaukee orbit knows that this is the type of thing that doesn’t happen to everyone and it doesn’t last forever. I’m sure they’re grateful for the title they won recently, but I also know that feeling where you can’t even really think about it. It’s that thing where you just have to appreciate that title later because right now you are desperate for it not to be over. They want 2 and 3 and 4. They need it. They want the dynasty talk. They want Giannis and their Bucks to feel like an inevitable end to every season the way Timmy and the Spurs were. All they had to do was look across the floor at their opponents to know that the bad times come for everyone eventually. This franchise and their fans is in a dead sprint right now trying to outrun father time and snag as much glory as they can along the way.

Good for them. I’m happy for them, truly. Eventually they’re going to lose that race just like we did and it’s going to be a huge bummer but, hey, when things are at their darkest they’ll be able to look back on nights like this and remember beating the breaks off teams that never even stood a chance.

I hope our young guys could feel that energy in the building last night. A loss like that shouldn’t be deflating, it should be inspiring. I’m sure everyone in a Spurs jersey is tired of learning lessons this season but, hey, this is the hand we’ve been dealt and that’s just how it has to be. Take the loss, absorb it, and keep climbing.

Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Or something.

Man, I don’t know. I can’t wait for the Spurs to be good again, we’re going to have so much fun around here when that happens. I promise.

Takeaways:

• From a, uh, draft position management point of view, I’m really proud of how the Spurs handled their business over the last two nights. It’s easy to get carried away after that fun little win over the Hawks on Sunday and everyone knew that now is not the time to take your foot off the gas. Road trip back to back? Nursing a couple of injuries? No one is going to think twice about the Spurs tossing up two terrible bricks. We’re keeping pace with the rest of the basement dwellers and we’re doing it with style. I know I’ve been vocally annoyed at some of the more obvious tanking we’ve done this year and, you know what? At this point I’m leaning in. We’ve come too far to blow it now. Frankly I don’t think they’re going far enough. I’m available for a 10-day contract if they need to draft me into the Tank Army. I can be the guy that delivers what we need.
• The situation with Jeremy Sochan having giant wraps on his thighs really threw me for a loop all night. Like, it made me uncomfortable to watch him run. It meshed weird with his shorts and just....yea it looked weird. I think he shouldn’t be allowed to play anymore until he doesn’t need those weird wraps. This has nothing to do with draft position management, I swear. My reasons are purely aesthetic.
• Hey, speaking of aesthetic, those blue Bucks jerseys are absolutely gorgeous. I feel like I almost shouldn’t like them but, for some reason, they absolutely work for me. The color just pops off the screen and seems so vivid. I think it draws me in the same way a flame draws in a moth. I’ve always thought the font the Bucks chose on their redesign was little sharp and angular for my taste and I still think that, but, whatever, the blue and the neon green mixed with the forrest green piping down the side is a total win. As always, bonus points are awarded for going the extra mile and making the court match the jersey.

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WWL Post Game Press Conference

- If you absolutely had to guard Giannis for a quarter, what would your strategy be?

- Step one? Get taller. As tall as I can, immedietly. You absolutely gotta have length if you’re going to square up with him

- No no, not like...I mean if you right now had to.

- Right, if I had to I would get taller ASAP. Next, I would work on my speed. Not just from a dead sprint but more, like, lateral quickness, side to side. I want to be able to hound Giannis as soon as he gets the ball and make sure he can’t get anything easy. NO EASY BUCKETS!

- I think you misunderstood the question. I wanted to now how you would guard him like, as yourself.

- I get it, totally. As myself? I’d want to be taller and faster and, frankly I’d probably want to beef up my strength stats a little bit. Giannis has a reputation for being this wiry guy, right? But he doesn’t get enough credit for transforming his body into an absolute tank. Like, proportionally it looks weird because his limbs are so long that he sorta always looks lanky but, man, the guy is just a unit these days. I’d really want to make sure my strength could match up for him pound for pound in case he tried to just bully me in the post.

- Ok. So if you had to guard Giannis you would want to be taller, faster, and stronger. Got it. What if you had to do it 15 minutes from now, so there wasn’t enough time for you to get taller faster or stronger.

- 15 minutes?

- Yea. Throw on your shorts, lace up your shoes, right now, and go guard Giannis. What would you do?

- I think I’d foul the crap out of him.