San Antonio Spurs' Schedule Breakdown and Record Predictions for February
After a dreadful December campaign, the San Antonio Spurs bounced back in January, going 10-4.
However, the month that saw the return of the Spurs to full health was spoiled by a 20-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in the final January game.
The road ahead will have its challenges—not the least being a nine-game away trip that will consume the majority of the month of February—but none that San Antonio isn't capable of overcoming.
However, the regular season is entering its final few months, and the Spurs will have to make their run soon to avoid entering the postseason with a low, undesired seed.
Week 1: February 2-8
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February 4 vs. Orlando Magic
February 6 vs. Miami Heat
February 8 at Toronto Raptors
San Antonio's February campaign begins rather easily, as the Spurs draw a pair of extremely beatable opponents at home before they embark on their annual road trip.
Starting the month off against the 15-36 Orlando Magic, the Spurs will have the prime opportunity to bounce back from the Clippers loss that soured their otherwise dominant January run.
From their man in the middle, Nikola Vucevic, to their Elfrid Payton-Victor Oladipo backcourt, the Magic have the young talent to bother San Antonio. However, they lack the experience and track record to be considered anything but an ideal February launching pad.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Spurs' second foe of the month has no shortage of experience, though it shouldn't prove to be much of a threat either.
In an NBA Finals rematch, the Miami Heat will visit San Antonio, though Miami's cast will hardly resemble the one that the Spurs matched up with in June. With LeBron James in Cleveland and Dwyane Wade sidelined with a hamstring injury suffered in late January, San Antonio's second February contest should produce positive results.
It's the third contest of the month, however, where victory is hardly guaranteed.
As the opening week comes to a close, San Antonio will travel north to Toronto, where it will officially begin its 2015 Rodeo Road Trip, which will consume the remainder of the month.
There, the team will square off against the Toronto Raptors, one of the Eastern Conference's more competitive squads.
The February 8 matchup will be the teams' first meeting of the season, and given the negligible discrepancy in their records—one that could be nonexistent or leaning in the opposite direction (Toronto currently has a 2.5-game edge) by the time the contest rolls around—it has the potential to go either way.
The Raptors claim an All-Star starter in Kyle Lowry, a point guard who, much like Tony Parker, isn't the most gifted in the league yet has capitalized on his competitive drive to put together a superstar season.
Toronto also boasts a wing tandem of DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross. Both are up-and-comers with the former having already earned an All-Star nod last season. As top-tier athletes, they'll provide an exciting matchup for Kawhi Leonard at the small forward spot.
In the middle, Toronto's Jonas Valanciunas is starting to come into his own. Partnered with Amir Johnson in the post, San Antonio's interior duo should have its hands full.
Though the Toronto game may not be the month's most anticipated rivalry matchup, it's a duel with a team that has enjoyed relative success thus far into the season, and as the springboard for the Spurs' historically successful away trip, it's a game fans won't want to miss.
Prediction: 3-0
Week 2: February 9-15
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February 9 at Indiana Pacers
February 11 at Detroit Pistons
It was a game that the Spurs had no business losing.
In early January, San Antonio hosted the Detroit Pistons, who were red-hot following their divorce from Josh Smith. Though it was Detroit who entered the contest with plenty of momentum, the Spurs were the ones who found themselves with possession, up one with mere seconds remaining.
Yet, a miscommunication between Tim Duncan and Patty Mills on the inbounds pass led to the Brandon Jennings buzzer-beating game-winner that stirred the entire San Antonio fanbase who had hoped that its team's December struggles had passed.
In their last game before the All-Star break, the Spurs will finally have the opportunity to exact revenge.
Of course, with Jennings out for the season and San Antonio much healthier than it was in the teams' first duel, the game shouldn't prove to be nearly as much of a test.
Kawhi Leonard, absent in the first meeting, has since returned to help carry San Antonio on both ends of the floor. Parker, who played just 13 minutes in the previous matchup as he recovered from a hamstring injury, is also back and beginning to find his groove.
The team has enjoyed a substantially greater amount of success since each star returned, and there's no reason to suspect anything less now—especially with Detroit's health trending in the opposite direction.
Nonetheless, the Spurs will be out for blood, given their long history with the Detroit franchise and the devastating loss that should still be fresh in their minds.
The only other contest of the month's second week comes two days earlier against the lottery-bound Indiana Pacers. The team has fallen out of the already shallow Eastern Conference playoff picture without Paul George at the helm and has been even more disappointing as of the late, having lost nine of its last 11 contests to close out January.
Even with so many road contests, San Antonio's early-February schedule remains a breeze. Barring any unexpected setbacks, the Spurs should have no problem entering the All-Star break with plenty of momentum.
Prediction: 2-0
Week 3: February 16-22
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February 19 at Los Angeles Clippers
February 20 at Golden State Warriors
Though February's third week features only two games, it's undoubtedly the climax of the month.
Facing a pair of Western Conference title contenders in two nights, San Antonio will not only receive its first true test of the month but could legitimately drop two straight contests after going undefeated prior.
The Spurs' first post-break duel comes against the Clippers, the team that thrashed them to the tune of a 20-point blowout to finish the month of January.
As San Antonio looks to re-establish itself as one of the league's premier contenders, revenge against L.A. offers the perfect opportunity to make the necessary splash.
However, it's the next game that will be the month's most important—and its most anticipated.
The Golden State Warriors currently sit atop the league with a 38-8 record, having proved themselves as both an offensive powerhouse and a defensive juggernaut thus far into the season.
They boast one of the league's most star-studded starting lineups—featuring a pair of All-Stars in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson—as well as one of the Association's most balanced ones.
Golden State's bench runs equally deep, rivaling San Antonio's in its ability to offer a huge advantage over shallow squads whose second units struggle to hold leads.
However, whereas the Spurs have struggled—relatively speaking, of course—thus far into the season, the Warriors have held steady control of the West's top seed.
With San Antonio having already beaten them this season, the Warriors will enter the game looking to do a lot more than simply build upon their prior success.
The same holds true for the Spurs, though, who may finally emerge as a top-tier title contender with another win over the conference's current best team.
Prediction: 1-1
Week 4: February 23-28
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February 23 at Utah Jazz
February 25 at Portland Trail Blazers
February 27 at Sacramento Kings
February 28 at Phoenix Suns
The final week of February is definitely the most action-packed, though it won't nearly be as difficult as the Clippers-Warriors back-to-back the Spurs will be coming off.
The home stretch of the Rodeo Road Trip opens lightly with a matchup against the West's third-worst team; the Utah Jazz. Though San Antonio did drop a game to Utah toward the beginning of December, the squads' most recent meeting ended in a 20-point rout where San Antonio held the Jazz to just 69 points.
Given the Spurs' current health situation, it's likely that the outcome of the late-February contest bears a greater resemblance to the more recent encounter.
The same holds true for the team's matchup with the Sacramento Kings. The two Western Conference teams traded wins in November, but Sacramento has since fallen off track. Even with DeMarcus Cousins—the disputed best center in the league—patrolling the paint, the Kings aren't simply on the Spurs' level, though their collection of players certainly makes for an intriguing game.
It's the contest sandwiched between the Utah and Sacramento ones that should ultimately prove to be the week's must-watch event.
The Portland Trail Blazers have emerged with one of the top records in the West and appear to primed for a postseason run. With a pair of All-Stars one All-Star (LaMarcus Aldridge) and another really, really good player (Damian Lillard) at the positions countering the Spurs' biggest names, the Blazers always offer an intriguing matchup for San Antonio.
Kawhi Leonard and Nicolas Batum provide versatility at the wing, though Batum has been slumping all season long while Leonard is establishing himself as San Antonio's most valuable player. Wesley Matthews and Danny Green seem destined to meet each other in the championship of a hypothetical three-and-D tournament, and the return of Robin Lopez—who returned from injury to score 11 on Tuesday—guarantees a brutal, if not tantalizing, interior duel with Tiago Splitter.
Though the Spurs lost two of their three encounters with Portland thus far, they do have the last laugh.
As they look to tie the series while the Blazers eye a bounce-back win, the Spurs' final meeting with Portland is a must-watch for Spurs fans and NBA fans alike.
The team's final game of the month is also one worth watching, as it features two Western Conference squads who sit within arm's reach in the standings.
Though it's far from a foregone conclusion, the fact that the contest marks the second half of a back-to-back and the final stop of a country-wide road trip suggests that San Antonio might not have the energy to offer fans the spectacle a Phoenix-San Antonio duel would otherwise be.
While the team will look to end the month on a good note, it would hardly be surprising to see it drop February's final match.
Prediction: 3-1
February Summary
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Though the Spurs' success on the road has been somewhat limited this year, the Rodeo Road Trip consistently brings them prosperity. This year should be no different.
Though shortened by the All-Star break, the month of February could be critical for San Antonio to begin its ascension up the Western Conference standings after an unassuming start.
Aside from the mid-month back-to-back, the schedule is rather easy, featuring a number of opponents who hardly pose a threat to the defending champs. Even those headed for the playoffs are beatable, especially if the Spurs can build momentum over the course of the month.
Though any setbacks could change circumstances significantly, as it stands, February could very well be the Spurs' coming-out month that throws them back onto the public radar as an upper-echelon team.
Prediction: 9-2
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