The Spurs Need to Downsize as Soon as Possible

No two quarters would ever be enough to crucify an NBA team's entire basketball philosophy, particularly if said team is coming off a 61-win season, but in the playoffs, where one devastating run can change the dynamic of an entire series, the Houston Rockets' 27-point disassembly of the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 comes very close.

The Spurs love to play two bigs at the same time, an alignment that more teams actively shun with each passing season. This isn't to say that San Antonio is wrong or that small-ball is the platonic basketball ideal, but it's illogical to argue for any style that limits three-point opportunities, especially when squared off against an opponent that treats the arc like pigs do a trough.

The Rockets did what they do in Game 1. They launched 50 threes and made 44 percent of them. The ever-smoldering James Harden incinerated big men who switched out to pick him up 30 feet from the hoop. Ryan Anderson pitter-pattered into space and then morphed into a launch pad. Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, and Eric Gordon all blacked out for two hours.

LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee were outscored by 23 points in their 17 minutes as a duo. Aldridge and Pau Gasol were outscored by 13 points in eight minutes. Dewayne Dedmon and Gasol were outscored by five points in five minutes. And on, and on, and on. It's a matchup problem that had been widely anticipated heading into the series, but few predicted San Antonio would trail by 39 points in their own building on its Monday night opener.

Houston won't stay that hot for the entire series, but the attempts are sustainable unless changes are made. And very little of this matters if Aldridge and San Antonio's other bigs can't generate efficient offense in the post, should Gregg Popovich choose to stay big.

To do so would be stubborn. After sturdy defensive discipline and Kawhi Leonard's Alien meets Terminator frame carried them through another successful regular season, the Spurs finds themselves ill-prepared for the playoffs once again. Leonard, quite possibly the best all-around player in the world already, is plenty equipped to slide up one position and completely dominate in space.

He can stretch the floor, defend larger players, and hold his own on the boards. There are downsides to playing Leonard full-time at the four, but that doesn't mean he should spend a whopping 93 percent of his minutes at small forward. If the regular season is a laboratory, the Spurs should spend it tinkering with smaller, switch-happy groups that allow Leonard a bit more space on the other end.

Clearly, the two-big structure won't work in this particular matchup, and it's still unclear whether San Antonio should have spent the past few months familiarizing itself with one-big units in order to hang with Houston today.

But there's good news! With 4:10 remaining in the first quarter of Game 1, Popovich subbed Davis Bertans in for Aldridge. Two minutes later, he swapped Danny Green and Jonathon Simmons for Bertans and Manu Ginobili. All of a sudden, the Spurs were athletic on the wing, with only one true big, Gasol, in the game.

The moves sparked a quick 8-0 run before Popovich started the second quarter with Aldridge and Gasol, and then Aldridge and Lee, on the floor. Houston splurged with a 15-2 run and the game effectively ended. It showed us what we already know: San Antonio's strengths aren't enough against a Rockets roster that was stylistically built to make them irrelevant.

Popovich can still insert Simmons into the starting lineup, reduce Gasol and Lee's playing time, give Bertans more minutes, and maybe even dust off Kyle Anderson. The Spurs still need one big on the floor at all times (especially when Nene is out there), but throwing Simmons and Leonard on Capela and Anderson, then sticking Aldridge onto Trevor Ariza (with the hope he doesn't explode), and Green on Harden is a decent defensive strategy that allows the Spurs to switch across three critical positions and attack cross-matches in transition.

The Spurs already trail the Rockets by a game in this series. They've lost their home-court advantage and have been forced to question their own principles. But an appearance in the Western Conference Finals isn't impossible if they adjust on the fly, whether or not they're built to do so.

Want to read more stories like this from VICE Sports? Subscribe to our daily newsletter.