Gregg Popovich is standing in the Barclays Center corridor interlocking the home and visiting locker rooms. Popovich is playful and lighthearted, tossing joke after joke at the swarm of media members enveloping him.

He does not have the demeanor of a head coach whose best player is out indefinitely.

Wednesday morning, the Spurs announced two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time all-star, and 2014 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard will sit while he rehabs a nagging right quad injury. That ailment, one Popovich said he’s “never” seen, has cost Leonard all but nine games this season. While Pop shot down the idea Leonard could miss the rest of the year, there is a cloud of uncertainty concerning his status.

 

Most teams would shudder at the thought of losing their best player, and Leonard is far better than most other teams’ best player. Not the Spurs. They’re 25-12 this season in games Leonard doesn’t play. After their 100-95 road victory over the Nets Wednesday — a game they also played without both Rudy Gay and Manu Ginobili, and with both Tony Parker and Danny Green on a minutes restriction — it doesn’t appear they’re slowing down anytime soon.

That’s because in San Antonio, the name on the back of the jersey rarely matters. It’s the execution of the system and game plan of the name on the front of the jerseys that dictates success:

 

“You can’t have a different system, and then the [injured] guy comes back, and then you go back to the old system,” Popovich said. “That’s not how it works. So for the most part, you’re doing what you do, because it is a game of fundamentals, it is a game of execution. You’ve pretty much gotta stick with what you’ve got.”

Kyle Anderson is stretching in the locker room 75 minutes before tip-off. He is the man who has and will continue to start in Leonard’s absence.

Anderson doesn’t know he’s going to go 0-of-2 from the field against the Nets. He doesn’t know he’ll be a minus-5 in 22 minutes on the floor, either. It doesn’t matter.

 

What matters is Anderson has to do his job and keep the offense flowing. Everything else should fall into place.

“We just have our basic principles on offense,” he told SB Nation. “We try to attack. We try to share the ball. We just try to play basketball the right way. Whoever’s in the lineup has to do that.”

 

That’s exactly what the Spurs do Wednesday. With 7:12 left in the third quarter, the Spurs extend their lead to 15. It’s a lead they would hold for the rest of the night.

At this point, LaMarcus Aldridge hasn’t gone unconscious from the field. Not yet.

The Spurs have built this lead because their system is predicated on ball movement and player spacing. It’s the reason they have a shot at victory every night, no matter who suits up. That system allows different heroes to emerge in different games.

 

On this night, the hero is reserve point guard Patty Mills who turns in a huge game off the bench. Mills made seven of his eight three-point attempts for 25 points. He was just 29.4 percent from three in the month of January before this game.

 

On this night, the hero is Danny Green, who only scored nine points but had a critical four-point play during a Nets’ rally to shift the momentum back in San Antonio’s favor. On this night, the hero is Pau Gasol, who nearly posted a triple double with 13 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists.

The Spurs still have to win games, with or without Leonard. All the players have internalized that.

 

“We have that clarity and know that [Leonard’s] not coming back,” Mills said. “We can’t control it. This is the group. We’d love to have him but the circumstances say otherwise, so we can’t worry about him anymore. We’ve just got to go with who we have.”

 

Aldridge is the last Spur getting dressed to leave the locker room. He has a good reason: after shouldering the load against the Nets, he rightfully deserved the long shower he took post-game.

 

Aldridge scored 34 points on 54 percent shooting in Brooklyn. At some points in the game, he just looked unguardable.

 

The Spurs have a free-flowing offense heavily reliant on ball and player movement, but even with Leonard out, they have a pressure release in Aldridge with his back to the basket.

 

“He’s been extremely reliable and productive all year long,” Gasol said. “So especially when teams play smaller lineups, we’re going to have to punish them as much as we can inside. And LaMarcus is making great plays so, keep at it.”

 

Or, as Popovich said: “He’s been a warrior for sure. We’d be in deep kimchi if he wasn’t playing the way he is.”

Things weren’t always copacetic between Aldridge and Popovich. Actually, he’s only a few months removed from making the first trade request of Pop’s career.

But during training camp before the season, Pop began gushing over Aldridge’s evolved leadership qualities. And after the two had a heart-to-heart conversation about ways to get Aldridge better involved in the offense, he’s been revitalized and reinvigorated when the Spurs need him most.