3 Things we’ve learned from the Spurs’ losing streak

If you witnessed the San Antonio Spurs‘ overtime loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday and you’re like me, you may have been at a bit of a loss for words by the end of the game. The team’s complete and utter collapse in the second half was understandably pretty unbearable for Spurs fans if Twitter and Reddit are any good indicators. According to ESPN, the 29-point halftime deficit was the second-largest comeback win in NBA history.

The Spurs then went on to meet the 76ers in San Antonio with the team resting DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray, and Jakob Poeltl. While the depleted Spurs were able to remain competitive until the end of the game, yet again, they were dealt with a heartbreaking loss in overtime off a last-second tip-in by Ben Simmons.

It’s worth noting that the Boston Celtics are deserving of a lot of credit for their win. Jayson Tatum had a career night, tying Celtics legend Larry Bird for the highest-scoring game by a Celtic in their entire history as a team.

The Celtics, as a whole, scored 80 points in the second half, shooting nearly 56 percent from the field and 71 percent from beyond the arc on 17 attempts. When a team is able to have that kind of production on offense, it’s going to be tough for the opposing team to win no matter how huge the halftime lead was.

Similarly, Joel Embiid showed the Spurs why he is still one of the frontrunners for league MVP, posting 34 points and 12 rebounds with relative ease. Seth Curry also had himself a fantastic shooting night, posting 22 points on 6/6 from beyond the arc and shooting 80 percent from the field overall.

That said, the Spurs had some serious struggles on both sides of the floor that are also very much to blame for their last-second losses. Here, I plan to discuss the most blatantly obvious issues that the Spurs had in their games against the Celtics and 76ers and what adjustments need to be made for the remainder of their schedule.

I’ll additionally discuss a couple of the bright spots in two otherwise disheartening games that the Spurs could build on in the near future.