OKC Thunder: NBA Power Rankings week 10 – All-Star break edition
29. . 17-12. Previous: . San Antonio Spurs. 13. team
San Antonio Spurs:
Week 10: 1-1
Won vs: Pelicans 117-114
Lost to: Thunder 99-102
Opponents this week: Nets, Knicks, Thunder
Offensive Rating: 109.5 (22nd) | Defensive Rating: 109.8 (9th) | Net Differential: -0.3 (16th)
A slow week for the Spurs who only played two games as several of their players was still being held out for contact tracing. NBA health and safety protocols resulted in a 10-game hiatus and four postponements which will make their second-half schedule more hectic.
In the first game back from the 10-day hiatus San Antonio led by double digits and held a fourth-quarter lead but lost on Luguentz Dort‘s buzzer-beater.
They led by double digits again on Sunday versus New Orleans but managed to hold off the Pelicans for the victory.
LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the lineup but Gregg Popovich elected to stick with Jakob Poeltl who is more capable of protecting the rim and moving to defend the speedy guards. It looks like Pops is going to stick with Poeltl starting or at least he has in Aldridge’s three games back.
Like many teams, there are questions surrounding what San Antonio will do at the trade deadline. The Spurs haven’t historically been a team who gets involved in deadline deals but with each of DeMar DeRozan, Aldridge, Rudy Gay, and Patty Mills in the final years of their deals it would behoove San Antonio to try to get something back for these vets, particularly if the intention isn’t to re-sign them.