Spurs give Bulls an absolute thrashing

Gregg Popovich didn’t have much to say when asked what he thought about a specific Bulls player before Saturday night’s game. “I’ve got enough on my plate,” he said, shrugging indifferently.

And that wasn’t a slight on the player, or the Bulls. It’s just that, especially in the regular season and especially in mid-November, the Spurs aren’t playing the other team so much as themselves, learning the system, adapting to new roles and fine-tuning their execution on both ends of the floor. Opponents — even completely overmatched ones like Chicago — are touchstones the coach can measure that progress against.

With that in mind, a 133-94 win should be seen as a step in the right direction, made all…