Monday night in San Antonio, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ month-long spiral continued as the Spurs looked by far the better team, sweeping the Cavs aside on their way to a 103-74 victory. Kawhi Leonard was spectacular, finishing with 25 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Here are a few quick takeaways from the Spurs’ impressive victory over the defending champs. 

The San Antonio Spurs are forever

This current run of greatness from Gregg Popovich and company has been nearly two decades long, but it’s no outlier. It’s simply an extension of what the Spurs franchise has always done. Going back to their days in the ABA, the franchise has missed the playoffs five times since the 1967-68 season. To put that in perspective, there are three teams -- the Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns -- that have missed the playoffs in at least each of the past five seasons. 

Monday night’s performance was the latest reminder of their excellence. For a team that after all these years still receives much less fanfare than other contenders, going on national TV and outclassing the defending champs is about as loud a statement as the Spurs will make. The Spurs are good at basketball, and don’t you ever forget it. 

Playoff picture

With their fifth straight win, the Spurs moved to two games back of the Golden State Warriors for the top spot in the West. There are only two weeks left in the regular season, but with the Spurs owning the tiebreaker, and another game remaining between the two teams, the No. 1 seed is very much in play for San Antonio. 

As for the  top seed in the East ...  

The loss dropped the Cavs to 47-26, meaning the Celtics, at 48-26, now have a half-game lead on the Cavs. The April 5 matchup in Boston is looming large as this race figures to go down to the final days of the season. 

Cleveland’s defense is still bad

“It’s just a parade to the basket by San Antonio.”

Those were the words of Kevin McHale on TNT early Monday night, and it never got better for the Cavs, who once again left much to be desired on the defensive end. Whether it was off penetration or their patented excellent ball movement, the Spurs were getting open looks time and again. If not for a few misses on wide-open 3s, this game could have been even more of a blowout than it was. 

Following Monday’s game, Cleveland owns the worst defensive rating in the league for March, allowing 114.5 points per 100 possessions. With San Antonio boasting one of the league’s best offenses, Monday night was a strong test for the Cavs against the type of offense they’ll face in the postseason, and they failed miserably. The Cavs desperately need the playoffs to roll around so Ty Lue can break out his secret plan to fix their defense. 

Manu Ginobili has still got it

Manu Ginobili is so much fun, and it’s a blessing to the league that he’s still playing ball. Even at 39, Ginobili is still making incredible, unorthodox plays, and his improvised reverse alley-oop layup Monday night was just the latest example. Long live Manu Ginobili.