5 things that went wrong for San Antonio Spurs in the 2020-21 NBA season
Gregg Popovich's San Antonio Spurs continue to find themselves in uncharted territory heading into the 2021 offseason. The Spurs enjoyed 22 consecutive seasons making the NBA Playoffs, from 1998 to 2019.
They have now missed the postseason for consecutive seasons and are looking to improve and return to some of their past glory, though it'll be difficult.
The team has had two consecutive losing seasons after posting a 32-39 record in the 2019-20 campaign and a 33-39 clip last season. The San Antonio Spurs still made it to the NBA's Play-In tournament after finishing 10th in the Western Conference, but the Memphis Grizzlies ended their season.
5 Battles the San Antonio Spurs did not win in the 2020-21 NBA season
Overall, the 2020-21 San Antonio Spurs were not a great basketball team, even with one of the greatest coaches ever on the sidelines. The team was inconsistent offensively and defensively and struggled to put wins together for the entire season. Their largest winning streak of the season consisted of three wins.
San Antonio had DeMar DeRozan as the main offensive weapon, but he might be walking away from the team in free agency. Dejounte Murray was reliable on both ends of the floor, but the rest of the team must step it up for next year.
In this article, we will look at five issues that defined the San Antonio Spurs' 2020-21 NBA season.
Without further ado, let us start.
#5 San Antonio struggled on the boards
Rebounding is one of the most simple yet important aspects of the basketball game and the San Antonio Spurs struggled to maintain solidity in that regard during the 2020-21 NBA season.
The Spurs struggled on the boards on almost every metric, whether it was on advanced stats or traditional stats. They were 21st in Defensive Rebound percentage, 27th in Offensive Rebounds percentage and 18th in rebounds per game among the 30 NBA teams.
Not even one player from the San Antonio Spurs' roster averaged even eight rebounds per game in the 2020-21 season, with Jakob Poeltl leading the team with 7.9 rebounds per game.
#4 The Spurs were not good at home
The San Antonio Spurs were 10th in the Western Conference with a 33-39 record. Most of the team's 'success' in the 2020-21 NBA season came on the road, where they finished with a 19-17 record.
However, the reason behind the San Antonio Spurs' losing record last year came from struggles at their own AT&T Center, where they won 14 games and dropped 22.
They closed the 2020-21 NBA regular season losing eight of their last 10 home games, which was simply not good enough.