I’m no longer having fun with this season. I tried my best, honestly, to bear down, stick to the plan, and just watch some basketball, but I’m struggling. The team feels checked out, and every game is starting to feel like a chore. This hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for the team or its future, but this particular campaign has gone off the rails. And at this point, I think we’re past the point of no return.
Losing to this Mavs team right now is almost inexcusable. They have no players (literally)! They just suffered a basketball trauma so catastrophic the shockwaves are still rippling through the league. Their fans are in open revolt. Their short- and long-term plans are in the toilet. And yet, despite all of that, they came into San Antonio and won by four. What are you even supposed to say about that?
The Spurs looked unfocused and unmotivated. They’d score in short bursts, then go right back to their quest to plummet to the bottom of every defensive metric in existence. Nothing seemed to matter. It felt like watching a scrimmage between a bunch of unreasonably tall guys.
Maybe it’s just recency bias, but I can’t remember watching a basketball game I’ve enjoyed less. Zero juice. Zero enthusiasm. Zero point to it. Multiple times, I caught myself thinking, _What are we even doing here?_ That’s not great! That’s decidedly _not_ the point of all this. It runs counter to everything I believe about sports, which is that, at the very least, they’re supposed to be fun.
And yet, last night wasn’t.
I want to get locked in on player development. I want to watch De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle and find something to latch onto. But right now, it feels like homework. Something assigned to me against my will. I’m staring out the window at the kids playing at recess while reality taps my desk, reminding me to finish my report.
It’s nobody’s fault, really. That’s just where I’m at.
I’m just having a bad time. Again, I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t even disappointed. Just disenchanted. Another night of going through the motions, playing out the string of a lost season.
When the final whistle blew, I couldn’t even muster the energy to be upset about the loss. Shoot, I wasn’t even “happy_”_ about it for tanking purposes. I just shrugged, stared off into the distance, and asked myself one more time:
_What are we even doing here?_
### **Takeaways:**
* I’m willing to admit that some of my issues with tonight’s game could be chalked up to the back-to-back factor playing a large role. I also feel like this Spurs team kind of plays along with whatever opponent they’re currently facing. Like, the Thunder game the other night? That was fun. Everyone was pumped for that one. The Kings game? Fox coming home? Everyone got up for that one. Last night though, against the poor Mavs who just...I mean I think their whole deal is so depressing that it maybe just rubbed off on me. Can’t rule that out. Regardless, this game really stunk and I stand by that.
* I like Keldon Johnson a lot. I don’t have any cool insight about him as a player right now, at least nothing I haven’t said before, but I just like him. He plays hard and he seems to like being a Spur. I have no idea if he’s going to be around for the next phase of things, but I know that If he does leave that I will miss him terribly.
* It’s been a real bummer to watch that Spurs logo sliiiiiiiiiiiiide on down the Defensive efficiency axis since the Wembanyama injury. It’s understandable and make a lot of sense that losing the Defensive Player of the year would do that, but it still hurts to see. Honestly, after watching us play recently, I’m pretty shocked their are teams below us. Hey Philadelphia! Yikes!
* I think the coolest part of Fox’s game to me, at least from the early returns of watching him as a Spur, is the unique look he has to his passing game. He’s always sort of angling his body around defenders to throw one handed rockets or jumping up in the air at 45 degrees and tossing it cross court to someone that shouldn’t have been on his radar in the first place. I have to imagine this was maddening as a Kings fan when he was younger and still developing and like, whipping balls out of bounds or whatever, but I’m really enjoying the more finished and in control product we’ve got on our hands now.
### **What We Learned Post Game Press Conference**
_\- You seem down._
\- I AM down, thanks for noticing!
_\- I mean, it wasn’t like you were trying to hide it really._
\- No, no I wasn’t. Look, you have to just write what you feel sometimes, and last night bummed me out. Things probably aren’t as bad as they seem and I’ll probably feel better during the next game, but this one just stunk and the only way I know how to deal with it is to get the feelings out.
_\- That’s probably healthy to do, all things considered_.
\- That’s what I’ve read, yea. Look, I’d love to be picked up! Tell me I’m wrong! Tell me why I need to lock in more! Tell me why this season isn’t a total bust and that I shouldn’t just check out and start watching baseball spring training games because at least those can’t hurt me.
_\- Spring Training game can hurt you, don’t be fooled._
\- Ugh, I know. You can’t let Sprint Training sneak up on you.