Thursday, January 7th, 2010...4:41 am
Detroit Pistons 92, San Antonio Spurs 112
Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons followed the time-tested Spurs formula of the Tim Duncan era. Establish the game’s pace, keep it close, get a little physical, and break the game open late. San Antonio used an 11-2 run in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Pistons in an 112-92 win at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs combination of defensive stops, building upon momentum and executing on the offensive end put the Pistons out of their misery in the fourth quarter. The Spurs won the final frame 35-17 and racked up 123.1 points per 100 possessions for the game.
Last week on his BS Report podcast, Bill Simmons talked NBA with guests Ric Bucher and Marc Stein. Among other topics, the three touched the Spurs chances of challenging the Lakers in the West. Despite the excellent season we’ve talked about Tim Duncan having here, the ESPN.com guys were a little less complimentary.
While they acknowledged the good numbers Duncan is putting up, the point was raised that Duncan wasn’t drawing double teams like he has in years past. With all the perimeter shooters the Spurs possess, one could see how this leads to problems.
Against Detroit on Wednesday night, I counted nine possessions where Duncan received the ball on the low block in the half-court. Of those nine low post touches, the Pistons sent a double- or triple-team five times. And one instance where Rodney Stuckey made a half-hearted effort to double and got caught in no-man’s land.
In total, the Spurs scored 16 points on those nine possessions, to only one turnover. These include possessions where Duncan scored himself, passed out of the help defense to an open teammate, or an open Spur scored off of an offensive rebound.
Obviously, this is only one sample in a long season, against a team that racked up its eleventh straight loss. But it’s an aspect of the team’s offense to keep an eye on. The Spurs need Duncan to draw double- and triple-teams and open up time and space for the rest of the team. It’s part of the equation San Antonio can’t go without.
16 Comments
January 7th, 2010 at 6:25 am
I think that what some commentators are missing is that, while Duncan may not demand a double-team as consistently, it’s not a reflection of a drop in his effectiveness. With the addition of Richard Jefferson, Keith Bogans, and DeJuan Blair, there are now consistently 4-5 players on the floor who cannot be left, where before this season there were typically 3-4. In particular, Jefferson and Bogans require guarding in ways that Finley and Bowen never did. It’s not that teams don’t want to double Duncan; it’s just that the players they would have to leave make it more costly to do so.
January 7th, 2010 at 6:39 am
In your closing paragraph, you say we need Duncan to draw double teams. If an opposing team chooses not to double him, it’s not the end of the world to have the most dominant big man in the game going one-on-one. He is shooting 54.9% from the field with a .36 FGA to FTA ratio.
He averages 3.2 assists per game on his career and is still getting 3.0 this year. He is seeing reduced minutes and our team is shooting numbers being higher this year. So between the two factors, he is at least getting our team mates as many points as he did when it was more of a consensus to double team him.
Also, if you don’t want to double Tim, Manu and Parker can still create shots for the team, Blair and Duncan can clean up an errant shot from our outside shooters, or we can rely on ball movement. Our team is 4th in assists while being 25th in FGA’s per game. I guess this is the definition of “picking your poison”.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Last night’s game… great 4rth quarter.
Why can’t the Spurs play defense with the same intensity they did in the the last quarter. That was the Spurs I remember from years past.
I like Manu running the floor better than Parker, I like the idea of Parker running through screens and scoring.
Love the Richard Jefferson wrap-around cut to the the basket for an alley-oop dunk, but when Duncan did the same, the safer move was the 3 point line since Jefferson was contested, but he made the shot regardless.
I really hope we play with the same intensity from now on, the Clippers beat the Lakers, I think so should we…
January 7th, 2010 at 7:50 am
I think it is sad for all those people saying “the Duncan yrs are coming to an end”. They are, but. If he play’s this way till he is 40 i would still take him on my team. Yes he may not get doubled as much, but why you think R.J. play’s a bigger role than some think. If you double Timmy, then who guarding R.J. or Manu, or T.P. The way this team is build, it’s got all around game. I LOVE THE DEPTH OF THIS TEAM THIS YR! We have a better bench than any team in the N.B.A, so for all those critics. The Spurs are a very smart group, they will be there in the end.
January 7th, 2010 at 8:03 am
@ Andrew,
I listened to the same podcast and came away scratching my head wondering if those guys have been watching Spurs games this season.
Timmy has been the MVP of team hands down. It’s a beautiful thing.
I love people who try to compare KG to Duncan. Not only has Duncan been the better player for the last decade, he is still playing at a high level today.
2009-2010 Stats
KG 30mpg 15ppg 7reb 1blk PER 28th
TD 31 mpg 20ppg 10reb 1.8blk PER 2nd
January 7th, 2010 at 9:09 am
the commentators have a point. when the spurs face l.a., whether the contest is relegated to the regular season or playoffs, andrew bynum and pao gasol are more than capable of covering duncan solo, and having success. duncan’s lost weight should prove him to be slightly more effective. duncan looked slow and liftless in his matchups with these two last year. ‘
i think it is more up to our guard play to open things up. george, manu, tony, roger, keith, and fin are a stronger backcourt than the lakers when compared to anyone not named kobe. manu is starting to look like his reckless dynamic self and tony is being more assertive on offense again. i would say that we are turning the corner, but lets see how we do against real competition.
January 7th, 2010 at 9:23 am
I think you’ve correctly identified some of the faulty assumptions that commentators make when they observe that TD is getting less double teams. It’s a HUGE logical leap to go from “TD isn’t getting doubled as much” to “he isn’t the player he once was.”
With that said, I’m going to keep a close eye on how many times TD gets doubled/trippled. Based on what you’ve described above, I can’t help but wonder if the original premise itself is outright faulty.
January 7th, 2010 at 10:31 am
@BlaseE
I agree that having Tim Duncan going one-on-one is, in the words of Marlo Stanfield, one of those good problems. But I like the idea of the perimeter players getting going early, and the defense being forced to stay at home on their man, leaving Tim Duncan all kinds of space to work later in games.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Doubling Tim or not doubling Tim, it makes little difference. The whole point of the offensive end of the floor for the team to score and the Spurs are doing that plenty. Right now the Spurs are 9th in the league in scoring after being 23rd in the league last year. It’s obvious to everyone that the Spurs are a much improved and much more efficient offensive machine that what we’ve ever seen.
This improvement doen’t come as a surprise to most of us. We lost Bowen, Vaughn, Thomas, and Oberto all three were offensively challenged to say the least. These guys were replaced with Jefferson (who’s been totally underused in my opinion), Mcdyess, and a much improved Hill. What has really helped the offense is the addition of Blair. He is great at getting cheap baskets on putbacks/offensive rebounds.
The Spurs have improved this much on offense and I’ve only seen the big 4 really click in one game (the last one against Detroit where they got a total of 70 pts.) This teams potential is beginning to be realized and its real scary but if you ask me they still aren’t getting any love (as usual).
January 7th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
We’ll see some love if we take care of Dallas & Los Angeles.
Come on you Spurs!
January 7th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Great Last Quarter last night. Would love to see that defence for 48 mins and really crush opponents. Who really cares if nobody is doubling Timmy D??Get him going early then the doubles have to come then it starts raining 3′s the doubles will stop and TimmyD can continue to abuse his single coverage, you can’t pick your poison with this SPURS team as we can beat you anyway we want to. If we can see that sort of D (last quarter Pistons) for 48mins this team will scar everybody
GO SPURS GO!!!!!!!
January 7th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
A nice ho-hum 20 point win. Just one of those NBA nights where you win because you’re better, deeper and at home, thus you pull away late and it’s as though the game was never close. Having a few of those in the 82 game run helps rest the stars while still giving everyone competitive minutes. Works for me.
I see it as a sign of improvement over last season, where even games against the lesser teams never felt quite comfortable at any point in the season. Mavs up next. Let’s make ‘em 0 for the Alamo this season.
January 7th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
To Double or Not To Double TD.
For the opposing teams, this is pretty simple. Leave TD one-on-one, and he’ll eat his man. Double or triple-team the guy and he will find the open teammate. Either way, the Spurs will score. Its just practically choosing on who you want to do it. With guys like Manu, TP, RJ, and whoever else is on the court, that choice will never be easy.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
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January 7th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
I know the Pistons stink right now. But Ill take this win as a good sign.
The Pistons played them tough and were shooting at a high percentage. Earlier in the season the Spurs might have let this one get away with a confused offense and too many turnovers. I think they only ended up with 12 TOs.
So not only did they win but they played good D and won BIG.
Whoever said it is right though, if we beat the Mavs and the Lakers then the Spurs will get some love.
January 8th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Man these guys run a great discussion site.
My questions for our team are as follows:
1) “If” the core group of Spurs has not experienced this volume of roster turn over before, what would the expected adjustment time be? The premise being that if Manu, Tony, & Tim are accustomed to a certain level of steadiness throughout the roster over the years, the lack of this might be a new experience for them.
2) When will the team peak? Since the start of the season I have found myself lulled into the line of thinking that something is broke so let’s fix it. I have since moved from there and now wonder where’s the team’s peak? Add to this the potential for their overall ceiling to still be rather high.
We know that it takes a new player in Pop’s system an extended amount of time to adjust. When and if all these factors settle in, there is still large potential unrealized.
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