The Spurs were able to down the Grizzlies in a steady but unspectacular performance last night. The game continues an encouraging uptick from the Spurs, but this one will be remembered as the game in which Tony Parker fractured the fourth metacarpal in his right hand.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Wayne Winston’s work is the ability of adjusted plus/minus to, in the words of Gregg Popovich, “indicate trends.” My conversations with Wayne Winston have mostly operated at the level of 5-man units. But last night he sent me an email that’s worth posting because of its focus on [...]
San Antonio began the fourth quarter of this afternoon’s game against Phoenix with a three point lead. Over the next 12 minutes, the Spurs did not make too many defensive stops; Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, and Jason Richardson all scored with ease. Luckily the Suns aren’t exactly known for their lockdown defense either, and the [...]
Recently, 48MoH has discussed the struggles of San Antonio’s interior defense. Please see The Roots of Defensive Decline and The Root of All Defensive Evil for discussion of these points. But a struggling interior defense is often an indication of a prior breakdown on the perimeter, which seems to be the case with San Antonio this season, Manu Ginobili’s [...]
When a team is playing well, it typically moves from lesser to greater certainty as the season progresses. All the big questions that lead the season find a satisfactory resolution in a sharp player rotation, efficient scoring, and a defense that can, at least, get the necessary stops that winning requires. Those things come together, [...]
Throughout the Tim Duncan era the Spurs have operated on a certain stonecutters credo. Ironically, they now operate between a rock and a hard place. With a broken chisel. The rock? Richard Jefferson’s burdensome contract. The hard place? The NBA Salary Cap. In the short term, there will be those who are disappointed that the [...]
Wayne Winston, who served as a statistical consultant to the Dallas Mavericks for the last nine years, and is the author of Mathletics, was kind enough to explore a handful of Spurs-related questions with me. Over the next few days I’ll put up a series of short posts detailing the more salient moments of our [...]
Leaving the All-Star weekend, perhaps no theme encapsulated the Spurs more perfectly nor enemy loomed so big-well, maybe the Laker’s frontline-as time. And not just time, as in the amount of time left in their stars’ careers, but timing. Timing is everything.
If you wrote a book about this season, which story lines would play most prominently in your retelling of the story. The decline of Spurs’ defense? The slight but unmistakable devolution of Manu Ginobili’s game? Tony Parker’s game-weary legs? The promise of DeJuan Blair and George Hill? Tim Duncan’s squandered brilliance? The emergence of small-ball [...]
Last week we ran a series of features exploring three options for the Spurs: Make no move; make a minor roster move; and make a major roster move. There was supposed to be one more- a post arguing that we should make moves focused on future seasons- that for various reasons was never published. After [...]
I’d argue that the science was sound. Three past-their-prime vets for a dynamic wing. In a vacuum, you make that move every time. It was a good move. Kudos to R.C. Buford.
The Spurs prevailed in their first game on the Rodeo Road Trip in a contest that wasn’t quite as close as the final score makes it seem. And again the Spurs are able to beat a team with a record below .500. It’s important for this team to start the trip with a win. Tonight [...]
The good folks at Elias Sports Burea are in the business of providing perspective. According to Elias, the Spurs are 3-9 against teams with a .600 or better record. The only Western Conference teams that are worse than the Spurs against said opponents are the Warriors, Timberwolves, Clippers and Kings. League-wide, teams beat .600 teams [...]
Some fans are hearing a death knell. I’m not quite there, but I’m a little worried and a lot confused. Last night’s loss to the Rockets was a straightforward affair. Houston played better. The Spurs, if they’ve shown anything this season, are simply not good enough to get it done against playoff-caliber teams. The Spurs’ [...]
Our friend Sebastian Pruiti of NetsAreScorching and NBA Playbook took a closer look at the Spurs’ ball denying efforts at the end of regulation and overtime against the Thunder. It’s a helpful look at the team’s defensive triumphs and failures. This is one image from a larger collection of grabs (with notes):
