A 114-105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday ended this season's version of the annual San Antonio Spurs' “Rodeo Road Trip.” 11-48 for the season, SA won just one of the nine game games that took up most of February. With that, Black and Silver linings may be hard to find.
In fact, when Spurs big man Zach Collins was asked if a stretch of losses – and the struggle and misery that come with them – can bring a team together, the former Gonzaga standout left little doubt with his answer.
“Maybe, but We've lost so much this year, we'd rather win and learn that way. You either win and you learn and we've been learning a lot,” Collins said. “We're still together. Being on the road like this, we go to dinner a lot, we do activities and stuff like that so it's always fun to get closer to guys.”
The reality of the NBA road
The Spurs Rodeo Road Trip turned 21 years old this year. In its infancy the cross country, usual seven-plus game jaunt served as an opportunity for championship caliber teams to gel. In fact, the first RRT came the same season as San Antonio's first title with the Big 3 of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in 2003.
Though the results nowadays present a far cry from a time that saw San Antonio win championships in three of the vaunted road trip's first five seasons, Collins sees the benefit.
“When you're on the road, you spend more time with your teammates than you do when you're at home for sure. Your family's not here, your friends aren't here so it's just you and the guys,” the seventh-year NBA pro, who's in his third with the Spurs revealed.
“You definitely get closer, that chemistry gets built. We just learn how to get closer, learn how to play through adversity. I don't know how many games on the road it is but that always makes you mentally stronger. We definitely learned a lot. ”
His head coach, who was at the helm for the aforementioned titles and has overseen all five of the organization's championships agreed to a certain extent.
“It's all the same. The more time they can spend time together like this, the better. Sure,” the Hall of Fame coach continued. “There's nothing else to do but do basketball, right?”
This rodeo road trip in a nutshell
Collins and the Spurs lone win of a stretch that started with a February 7 game at the Miami Heat came five days later in Canada when they beat the Toronto Raptors 122-99.
“Obviously, it's been a long trip,” the 26 year-old Spurs big man said of his team, who, like everyone else, he describes as young.
“We got to go home for a couple of days after All-Star Break for practice but it'll be good to get back in front of our fans. So, we're looking forward to that.”
The Spurs face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday in what will serve as their first game at the Frost Bank Center since a Feb. 3 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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