SAN ANTONIO — With a record of 4-21, it is safe to believe the San Antonio Spurs did not expect that record at this point in the season.
Statistically, there were issues on both ends of the floor.
From poor defense ranking near the bottom of the league, and inept offensive periods to playing competitively for less than 48 minutes, the Spurs had their work cut out for them as the season moved forward.
Not to mention struggling through a historic 18-game losing skid.
But the tide is slowly turning for the better in a few notable statistical categories.
And it starts with on the defensive end.
"I would say defensively we're doing a much better job at just staying in front of guys," Doug McDermott said. "We're definitely a team that likes to protect the paint but if you can stay in front of your guy that eliminates the next guy from having to over-help so much at times."
This is where the team has made the most improvement over the last few games.
The team held Houston to under 100 points on Dec. 11 and in the last five games, San Antonio is showing a marked improvement.
The opponent's field goal shooting is at 47.8% and the opponent's three-point field goal percentage is down to 37.5 versus 41.3% in November.
In addition, opponent points per game are down in the last five games at 119.4 as opposed to 122.2 points per game for the season overall.
Individually, there have been improvements on the defensive side too.
The team moved rookie Victor Wembanyama to the center spot which has made the biggest impact on the defensive side of things.
Also, moving Jeremy Sochan back to the forward spot has allowed him to do what he does best: Defense and bring havoc to opposing players.
"I think we saw that. Jeremy (Sochan) did a hell of a job on LeBron (James) and KJ (Keldon Johnson) was awesome in the second half," McDermott said. "I think that's the biggest improvement we had defensively."
Another area the team is doing well is minimizing turnovers.
During the season, turnovers were a thorn in the side of the team. The team has recorded 20-plus turnovers in a game on three occasions with a season-high 25 versus the Clippers on Oct. 29.
But as the season moves forward, the team is taking care of the ball much better.
Against the Lakers on Dec. 15, the team only recorded eight turnovers. In the recent loss to the Pelicans, San Antonio turned it over 13 times.
Overall, turnovers are down in December at 14.4 per game. A drop off from 15.8 per game in November and 18.5 in October.
"I think we only had nine turnovers (versus the Lakers on Dec. 15) which is great," Cedi Osman said. "Like Pop (Gregg Popovich) said we're trending in the right direction."
"It shows we take care a little bit more of the ball," Victor Wembanyama said. "It shows a little bit that we're trying to get better."
There are signs of team improvements but work still needs to be done.
After the thrilling 129-115 win over Los Angeles, the team could not sustain that momentum and lost to the Pelicans, 146-110.
The Spurs fell into the same issues: Poor perimeter defense especially from the three-point line (22 made threes for New Orleans) and did not play competitively for four periods.
It will not be an overnight success but the Silver and Black are improving ever so slightly which will add up as the moves unfolds.
"We just have to keep working hard. Just keep working hard," Osman said.