NBA Playoffs 2019: Winners and Losers from April 16th

Loser: San Antonio’s Average Supporting Cast

San Antonio is the perfect inverse to the Nuggets situation. The Spurs’ offense centers around two perennial all-stars with savvy mid-range game and tremendous footwork when working in isolation. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge are known commodities.

Aldridge works in the high-post and can finish layups off the pick-and-roll as well as any big in the league, while DeRozan is deadly with his mid-range jumper and slippery drives to the rim. They may not be All-World talents and will never dream of winning an MVP. They are second-tier all-stars: good enough to be selected annually, but not names who pop up in an NBA discussion between casual fans. Nonetheless, they’re dependable 20-plus point-per-game scorers. And yes, it’s nice to start every game knowing you have two of those aces in your bullpen. The questions lie with the surrounding pieces.

Aside from DeRozan and Aldridge, Derrick White was the only other Spur in double figures with 17. And right now, he’s comfortably San Antonio’s third best player. Yikes. But really, you can only go so far relying on the likes of Davis Bertans, Marco Belinelli, Jakob Poeltl, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay and Brynn Forbes as role players. Tuesday, the Spurs had Denver down 19 in the third and just needed to coast to the finish. But they just couldn’t cut the chicken’s head off, thanks in large part to a string of empty possessions.