The San Antonio Spurs opened their first practice Tuesday in preparation for the NBA playoffs after finishing the regular season with a 62-20 record, good for the two seed in the Western Conference.
The Spurs will host the first two games of their first-round series against the winner of the play-in game between the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers.
While the Spurs’ first winning season in six years has built excitement around the young roster, the postseason presents a far greater test of endurance, mentality and physicality.
Two players with NBA championship experience — guard/forward Harrison Barnes and center Luke Kornet — are playing key roles in preparing the Spurs for the playoffs.
“It’s a battle of wills,” 2015 NBA champion Barnes said. “Who is going to have the will to — every single possession, every single night — commit to that process, commit to winning? I think sometimes, especially when you see a team in a regular season, you think it might be the same as when you see them in the playoffs, right? But, it’s different.”
Kornet, who won a title with the Boston Celtics in 2024, shared that the additional time to prepare for an opponent and make in-series adjustments is a big difference in itself.
“The ability for teams to really just be able to prepare and game plan and then also things and figure things out throughout the course of a series — you kind of see, like how you really line up and stack up and if things are going well you try to keep doing that, but also if you’re struggling, then teams are going to try whatever might work,” he said.
“I think that ability to kind of do that game after game just, just kind of that puts you through the furnace a little bit better.“
After struggling in recent seasons, the club posted one of the best records in franchise history this year, clinching the Southwest Division and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
The Silver and Black host Game 1 at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday inside the Frost Bank Center.
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