Pounding The Rock · Nov 4, 2018
Spurs’ defense keys win over Pelicans
The range of skillsets in the NBA has always made it more chess than checkers, players serving as distinctly effective pawns, bishops, and knights rather than uniform pieces on a grid.
It’s a somewhat limited metaphor as it applies to ten super-athletes trying to put a ball through a hoop, but the Spurs’ 14-point win over the Pelicans did have a few more analogues to offer, whether it was watching Julius Randle relentlessly make the same rook-like B-lines towards the basket (and typically into the outstretched arms of Pau Gasol), or DeMar DeRozan using shifty, L-shaped routes to his preferred shooting spots.