Oh, how shortly empires fall.
For the longest time, I’d attempt to carve out a gap in my writing schedule for at the least one or two video games in opposition to the Bucks. Even when the Spurs had been at their worst, I wished to see what would occur.
The Bucks served as a measuring stick for me; a staff with the best combination of expertise and self-discipline to inform me precisely what the Spurs had been (and weren’t) able to.
I envied their draft heist within the type of Giannis Antetokounmpo, feeling lower than optimistic about San Antonio’s probabilities of lucking into one other franchise-altering huge man. I admired the aggression and shrewdness of the acquisition that had given them arguably the NBA finest all-around guard in Jrue Vacation, a participant I’d wished on the Spurs since his days at UCLA.
I watched them play basketball within the vaguely Spurs-ish method that Popovich protege Mike Budenholzer employed at each cease alongside the best way, and tried to summon visions of a Spurs staff that will play that effectively (or higher) within the close to future.
I can not blame my creativeness for having failed me on the time. It was a grim time to be writing concerning the Spurs. I noticed franchise favorites flipped for belongings. I witnessed dropping streaks by no means earlier than seen within the historical past of the franchise. I can not say that it was enjoyable, although I did my finest to make it so.
And but, I used to be all the time looking ahead to that second when issues may fall into place. These moments that the Spurs would exceed the sum of their very humble elements, and reap the benefits of the strangeness of an extended NBA season.
The one factor about dropping seasons is that you just’re shocked by sure victories in a method which you could’t be a few contender. I clung to these minor miracles, they usually bought me via it.
Now the returns to Milwaukee remind me of the fickleness of fortune.
We wish to consider that the NBA is a meritocracy, however typically it’s simply not. Seemingly deserted by the fates of a earlier half-decade, Bucks administration is paralyzed concerning what appears like an unresolvable exit trajectory for his or her getting old famous person participant, torn between the promising mystique of future belongings and the hope that one stroke of luck can restore them to their former glory — a comfort devoutly to be wished.
The Spurs, alternatively, are at full well being, and so deep that it hardly appears to matter. They’ve discovered their rhythm, sitting simply shy of a web ranking similar to that of the 2014 roster, and are led by an ascendant wunderkind intent on bringing dwelling as a lot {hardware} as humanly attainable.
Wemby’s averaging 26/11/3.5/3.5/1.5 on 51% taking pictures during the last 10 video games. The Spurs are 1st in Offensive Score and Web Score, and 2nd in scoring over that very same stretch.
They’re 1st in rebounding and efficient discipline aim proportion, and 2nd in three pointers made and assist-to-turnover ratio. They don’t make errors. They rain hellfire.
The scales between these two groups have definitively flipped. The Bucks will probably be with out 3 of their high 5 scorers (and presumably 5 out of their high 6), leaving a Giannis-shaped gap within the roster of a staff that’s virtually actually making an attempt to higher their draft odds.
And but, I believe again to these years within the wastelands, and I do know I’ll be on the lookout for that very same flicker from Milwaukee. The NBA season is prolonged and weird, and the Spurs are on an prolonged win streak.
What a implausible time for the basketball gods to indulge their prevailing senses of humor.
One of many long-standing assessments of the grecian deities was that of hubris. This Spurs staff has virtually the whole lot they should carry dwelling one other championship. However have they got the humility?
The reminiscence of battle has allowed me to get pleasure from this season greater than so lots of the profitable ones I’ve been witness to, and I’m wanting ahead to a straightforward win as a lot as anybody, however I’m additionally hoping for the form of graciousness that those that’ve skilled attrition are finest suited to ship.
That, and a complete lot of dunks. (I’ve an Icarus tattoo. It jogs my memory that my capability for humility is proscribed.)
San Antonio Spurs (55-18) vs Milwaukee Bucks (29-43)
March twenty eighth, 2026 | 2:00 PM CT
Watch: NBA on Amazon Prime/FanDuel Southwest| Hear: WOAI (1200 AM)
Bucks Accidents: Myles Turner: Day-to-Day (Calf), Bobby Portis: Day-to-Day (Wrist), Kyle Kuzma: Out (Achilles Tightness), Gary Harris: Out (Groin), Kevin Porter Jr: Out (Knee), Giannis Antetokounmpo: Out (PRitis)
