It’s fascinating to me how much perspective is dictated by circumstance. I resolutely do not believe in the ‘good loss’, and yet I found myself oddly satisfied by the Spurs’ performance against the recently (and season-long) surging Cavs.
Losing a close game to a team that’s all but guaranteed to win 60+ contests this season could be deflating if the Spurs were themselves on the cusp of contention or a postseason appearance.
Instead, within the context of a fairly calamitous season, it feels a bit like blowing a tire near the end of a long road trip: realistically, you’re just happy it’s not raining while you’re on the side of the road changing it out.
Let’s be clear, though, silver linings are a bunch of nonsense. Never once have I looked up to see storm clouds and thought to myself, “Gee, those look silvery.”
I have, however, on many occasions looked out on gathering clouds with a cup of coffee in my hand and been glad to be inside.
And that’s a bit like what the season feels like to me now. The Spurs are at a crossroads organizationally. Their freakishly awesome franchise tent-pole went down with a freakish blood condition. They may lose one of their last totems of previous stability and excellence to age and infirmity. Their flashiest trade acquisition since The Forward That Must Not Be Named underwent surgery shortly after they were acquired.
And yet, in a way, I’m insulated from it all without the weight of real expectation.
Sure, there are players to assess and efforts to be noticed. There are random explosions from role players and rookie developments to be glorified. But if I’m being totally honest, I mostly just feel kind of numb.
Without the presence of real stakes, everything kind of blends together. How is a loss any different than a win at this juncture? Neither one is really going to result in much.
I think that’s why I’ve always abhorred the concept of tanking. I understand the value of improved chances, but at some point, you devalue both the win and the loss; and by proxy, the value of engaging with sports in the first place.
We, as human beings, do not engage with sports in the manner that we do because we’re enthusiastic about slide rules and actuarial tables.
Sports unite us at the depths of our collective inner worlds. We engage with that which fires our passions and reflects our warmest and most desperate beliefs – that effort and sacrifice and dedication will win out against all odds, all obstacles, all doubt. That truth, and justice, and victory are inextricably linked.
When our sporting worlds lose that quality of differentiation, they lose what separates them from reality. We need losing to mean something in order for victory to do the same.
Don’t get wrong, I’m not wallowing in despair here. There’s plenty of hope on the horizon.
But right now, writing this article from the warmth of my desk, watching others dodge the rain coming down outside my window, I kind of wish that I was out there with them. That I had somewhere to go, to be – that I could more truly feel the passion of their urgency.
After all, Radiohead sang about the horror of being high and dry, not the opposite.
You can’t feel the rain on your skin from the safety of your kitchen. You can’t be struck by lightning from the comfort of your couch. Of course, being struck by lightning has always seemed like a divisive metaphor to me.
Sometimes you just want to feel something, though.
### Takeaways
* If there’s one player who never seems to lose his passion, though, it’s Keldon Johnson. I recognize that he can be a divisive player for the fan-base, and that he has his limitations, but damn it, he just fills me with joy by proxy. He’s had to be part of a lot of losing over the years, and yet he’s never lost that youthful fervor that he brought to the team from his very first appearance. For a lot of players in situations like that it’s hard to maintain any semblance of passion. Losing has a way of beating athletes down. It’s not what they strive for in their lives, so it’s not hard to understand why. Not Keldon Johnson though. He keeps roaring, and driving, and dunking with aplomb. No one player on the roster is so undefeatable in defeats, and I have a feeling that’s more important to the team than we can fully comprehend. He’s not one of those players who needs to be shipped out to another team to ‘find his joy’ and there’s something delightfully old school about that. Even though I know better, I privately hope he plays here forever.
* Also, he’s been playing fantastically off the bench over the last ten games, and the Spurs have sorely needed it. I think it took him some time to fully acclimate to not being a starter anymore, but there may be no player on the roster more suited to playing in explosive bursts than Mr. ‘Bull In A China Shop’ himself. Right now he’s averaging almost 15 points a game on a 36/46/87 shooting split while throwing in 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 stocks just for good measure, all in just 24 minutes a game. San Antonio’s bench has looked much better as of late, and he’s been a big part of that.
* Also, what a rookie season from Stephon Castle. Amidst all the chaos, he’s within a hair of averaging 20/5/5 for the month of March, while playing defense well beyond his years. Talk about a final push! National media narratives have done their best to try an insert other rookies into the mix, but Castle has all but slammed the door on that nonsense. [At his current rate](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=most+minutes+played+by+a+spurs+rookie+all-time), he’s going to end up in the top 5 for minutes played by a Spurs rookie, coming in just a couple of minutes per game shy of a rookie Tony Parker. And I’ll repeat here the hot take I tweeted last night: I strongly believe he’s better now than Parker was then, and we all know how that turned out. If you want to talk about silver linings, Castle should be front and center in that discussion. What an absolute win by PATFO in a draft that’s otherwise looking thinner by the game. You know, I think those old fogies have still got it.
Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:
_High and Dry_ by Radiohead