“Just because we’ve got the best record doesn’t mean we have the best team,” Popovich said. “To be that, we definitely have to get better defensively.”

Each of the past four NBA champions has finished the season ranked in the top six in field-goal percentage defense. The Spurs are 12th, allowing 45.2 percent.

If the purpose of the rodeo trip is to forge a defensive identity that could carry the Spurs to a fifth title, they’ve received mixed marks so far.

In the two games that opened the eastern leg of this trip, the Spurs played two quarters of defense at Detroit and one at Toronto, which turned out to be enough.

“We can’t be satisfied,” point guard Tony Parker said. “You want to improve. That’s the goal every night. We don’t want to waste this record.”

Tonight, as the Spurs face a sub-.500 76ers team that always has been a bad athletic matchup for them and always has given them trouble in Philadelphia, defense again will be the focus.

“Usually, we’re moaning and groaning about offense,” Popovich said. “Now we’re moaning and groaning about defense. It’s been a schizophrenic season in that sense.”

via Spurs Nation » At 44-8, Spurs won’t settle for just winning.

Popovich knows. I’m not convinced the players do. I’m sure Duncan does. Ginobili and Parker may. But the rest of them are too young to really know. McDyess probably knows but he’s basically a Sphinx anyway. The defense isn’t there.

The question with San Antonio is if Pop will be able to replicate the offensive success from the regular season while somehow hitting the “switch” on defense. They can’t just be better. They have to become elite, instantly. With the style of play they’ve adopted, I have questions as to whether that’s possible. San Antonio is middle of the pack in pace, but they also do push the ball. They’re constantly pushing, but also aren’t forcing the issue. If they burst to halfcourt and you’re back, they won’t engage you on your terms, they’ll reset and engage you on theirs. Very Spurs like, only hyper-efficient.

But that kind of up-and-down game doesn’t create knock down drag-out basketball, the hallmark of “playoff basketball.” So the Spurs will have to go through a dramatic reimagining once the second season starts. How many times have you seen that be effective as a strategy for the post-season? You can be a different team in terms of effort. But you are who you are. The regular season doesn’t tell us how good you are, but it does tell your style. And the Spur’s style is offensively aggressive at the cost of its defense.

How many Gs can they pull on the turn once the playoffs begin towards a defensively stout team if they haven’t held that style the whole year? It’s not that they’re not a good defensive team. They’re seventh in the league. Thats’ a good team. But what makes them great is their offense. And as we’ve learned, that formula doesn’t work in the postseason, especially against teams with physical advantages, like lost of really tall people in the case of Los Angeles.

The point is not to say that San Antonio can’t adjust. They can. They have the personnel, and they have the coach. What’s interesting here instead is that Popovich has to be driven a bit mad by his own success. What kind of a point can he make to his team when they keep winning games? What kind of adjustments can he hope to impart when they’re on a historic pace? His own success is working against him, because he’s aware that something has to change over the second half of the season, but he’s got no way of forcing that message on a team that has to feel pretty good about itself. Reading the quotes, you get that sense. It’s not overconfident by any means, it’s simply content. They’re happy with how they’re playing. They’ll give the same quotes about improving, but there’s a difference between that and being driven to improve.

Maybe worst is the timing. This is the worst time to be at your best. It means that eventually you’ll regress a bit, which means you’ll have to hit an even higher gear once the playoffs start. The more you think about it, the phenomenal record, the record pace, the impressive dominance, it’s all a bit of a burden, and one that doesn’t even come with much of a reward.

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For the first time after reading this, particularly this bit: