Maybe it's fitting that the Spurs' 98-85 victory over the Sacramento Kings in their regular-season home finale on Monday night didn't come easily.
After all, nothing has been easy for the Silver and Black during a season filled with adversity and marred by the long absence of injured All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard.
Rudy Gay, Manu Ginobili and Bryn Forbes combined for 46 points off the bench – 25 in the fourth quarter – as the Spurs rallied for a hard-fought win that put them in the playoffs for the 21st consecutive season.
San Antonio (47-34) remained sixth in the Western Conference standings, a half-game behind fourth-place Utah. The Silver and Black have the same record as No. 5 New Orleans, but the Pelicans are ahead in the standings because they own the tiebreaker against San Antonio. The Spurs end the regular season in New Orleans on Wednesday night.
The Silver and Black trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half and didn't take their first lead until Forbes scored on a fast-break layup to put S.A. up 68-67 with 10:18 left.
After giving up 50 points in the first half, San Antonio allowed Sacramento (26-55) only 35 in the last two quarters. The Silver and Black outscored the Kings 38-19 in the final period, holding them to 36.8 percent (7/19) shooting. S.A., meanwhile, shot a sizzling 64.7 percent (11/17) in the fourth.
"Forty-eight minutes is a long time," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his team's comeback. "And in an NBA game, things go back and forth. Sometimes one of the scariest things for a team is to go up quickly in the first quarter because it oftentimes changes back.
"But our defense kicked in. They (Kings) scored 35 points in the second half and that's what we have to be about. Sometimes we're going to have droughts offensively, but our defense has to keep us in ballgames."
After winning 61 games last season, the Silver and Black were in jeopardy of having their playoff streak broken a year later. But they dug deep and won their second home game in a row after deflating back-to-back losses to the Clippers and Lakers last week in Los Angeles.
The Spurs were entrenched in third place in the West before hitting a rough patch in February, when they finished the month 2-7. The slide continued with four losses in the first five games of March.
"Sometimes you've got to adjust your goals, relative to your potential, the way you've been playing, the way the season is going, so we've got to be realistic," Ginobili said. "Maybe we're not favorites this year. It was not going to be a 60-win season like the previous ones (S.A. went 67-15 in 2015-16).
"After what happened in February and early March, we had to shift our expectations. We mentioned it many times. The goal was to make it to the playoffs. Once we clinch, then we may think of standings. But the way the West is this year, it's crazy. Everything is so clogged, so tight. Today, we're happy to have clinched."
The Silver and Black finished 33-8 at the AT&T Center during the regular season, but are 14-26 on the road going into the finale in New Orleans.
With leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge struggling offensively, Gay and Ginobili took up the slack with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Ginobili also had 17 points in Saturday's 116-105 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Gay, Ginobili and Forbes, who finished with 11 points, led a San Antonio bench that outscored Sacramento's reserves 58-31 and produced 40 more points than the Spurs' starters.
Aldridge missed 13 of 19 shots and finished with 15 points but he came up big on the boards, finishing with a game-high 14 rebounds. Patty Mills was the only other starter scoring in double figures, also chipping in 15 points.
Gay, who had only two points at the half, scored eight in each of the last two quarters. He gave the Spurs' offense a big boost with his play-making ability.
"I'm just thinking that when I get out there I have to make something happen," Gay said. "You know, especially at times like that when you feel like, OK, maybe there's something I did wrong. Just next time you get out there, just make sure you're perfect and make something happen. The way I (grew up), you never have anything given to you, so you have to get it on your own."
Ginobili also had eight points in the fourth period, one less than Forbes, who hit 3 of 4 shots, including a three-pointer. Forbes, who did not play in the first half, had only two points going into the fourth period.
"I just wanted to impact the game, really," Forbes said. "I just wanted to play a role and help us get a win. I know we needed it, and I just wanted to bring that energy and find my way to change the game.
"It feels great to know we're in the playoffs right now, but I think we have a lot more we want to improve and a lot more we want to accomplish. We still have one more game and then we get it started."
Gay hit 5 of 9 shots and added six rebounds, and Ginobili made 5 of 11 field-goal attempts, including 2 of 6 from the three-point line, and added six rebounds, five assists and one steal.
Ginobili said it was reassuring to see Gay give the offense the boost it needed.
"We don't have that many players that you can give them the ball and something is going to happen when things don't flow as you expect," Ginobili said. "We have LaMarcus and Rudy. The rest of us, we need the ball movement. We need to create and feed off each other.
"It's great when things are not going your way to have a guy that you can rely on and create off the dribble, off the catch, is very important. Today, he (Gay) really provided that."
Gay, 31, signed with the Spurs as a free agent last summer. He has played in the postseason only once in his previous 11 seasons, in 2012 with the Memphis Grizzlies. Gay played for Sacramento in the four previous seasons before he signed with San Antonio.
"It feels good," Gay said about making the playoffs. "It feels great, actually. This is what the regular season is for, to get where we are now. It's just a good feeling, something that I'm anxious for, something that I've been looking forward to for a long time. It'll be fun."
The basket Forbes scored to put S.A. ahead for the first time followed a steal by Kyle Anderson, who promptly passed the ball to the guard.
With the score tied at 77, Forbes put San Antonio ahead to stay with a three-pointer at 5:53 of the final period. That started a 21-8 run that ended with the final buzzer.
Willie Cauley-Stein and De'Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 25 and 21 points, respectively.
Cauley-Stein and Fox scored 13 points each to lead Sacramento a 50-43 halftime lead. Fox hit 5 of 9 shots, including 3 of 4 from the three-point line. Sacramento shot 45.5 percent overall (20/44) and 63.6 percent (7/11) from beyond the arc in the first half.
Aldridge led the Spurs' scoring in the first half with nine points on 4-of-12 shooting. The Silver and Black shot 40.5 percent (17/42) in the first two quarters and were just 23.1 percent (3/13) from beyond the arc.
