Advanced Scouting: San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz
San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz 8:30 CST January 26, 2011
The Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 94-82 on November 19 in their only meeting of the season. Tony Parker led San Antonio with 24 points on 11 of 17 shooting to go with 7 assists and 4 steals. The Spurs grabbed 38% of available offensive rebounds and 86% of all possible defensive rebounds, contributing significantly to an impressive road victory.
My scouting report on the Utah Jazz discusses my game plan for San Antonio.
The Spurs did a great job contesting shots, only allowing 6 unguarded jump shots all game. (The Jazz allowed 15 uncontested jumpers.) Consequently, the Jazz only scored 21 points on their 38 outside shots. The Spurs did a good job playing the pass defensively, forcing several passing turnovers. The Jazz only managed 6 points on the 9 pick and rolls pass outs. Deron Williams scored 12 points on 16 pick and rolls he kept himself. No other player was utilized in one play type more than 5 times.
As well as San Antonio played defensively, they struggled scoring the ball. The pick and roll produced 25 points in 38 plays. 15 isolations resulted in merely 6 points and San Antonio managed only 8 fast breaks and 6 cuts.
Tony Parker led 21 of the Spurs pick and rolls. He scored 7 in the 10 plays he tried to score himself. Parker’s passes led to 9 points in 11 plays. Ginobili only scored once from the pick and roll, but he created 7 points for teammates in 10 possessions.
Tim Duncan had a good night in the post, generating 11 point in 8 plays. He also scored 7 points off offensive rebounds.
Key Statistics
Utah: 0.54 (14th)
San Antonio: 7.43 (1st)
Key Player Statistics (courtesy of 82games.com (effective January 19, 2011) and basketballvalue.com (effective January 22, 2011):
| Player | Fraction of teams minutes | PER minus Counterpart PER | On court +/-per 48 minutes | Off court +/-per 48 minutes | 2 Year Adjusted +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williams | 0.78 | 9.6 | 0.8 | 7.7 | 7.72 |
| Jefferson | 0.73 | 1.5 | -1.1 | 11.4 | -4.39 |
| Millsap | 0.69 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 3.03 |
| Kirilenko | 0.64 | 5.1 | 1.6 | 3.6 | -0.29 |
| Bell | 0.56 | -5.6 | -3.5 | 9.6 | -7.68 |
| Miles | 0.44 | 3.7 | 9.8 | -3.6 | -0.18 |
| Watson | 0.28 | -3.2 | 10.7 | -1 | 3.25 |
| Price | 0.23 | -6.8 | 8.5 | 0.4 | 0.06 |
| Elson | 0.2 | -5.2 | 0.8 | 2.7 | N/A |
| Hayward | 0.2 | -8.1 | -5.8 | 4.3 | N/A |
Most valuable/utilized lineups:
Williams, Bell, Kirilenko, Millsap, Jefferson -49 in 686 Minutes (-3.4 per 48 MP)
Williams, Bell, Hayward, Millsap, Jefferson -2 in 103 Minutes (-0.9 per 48 MP)
Williams, Miles, Kirilenko, Millsap, Jefferson +70 in 98 Minutes (-34.3 per 48 MP)
Facts and figures
The Spurs allow opponents to shoot only 56.7% inside of 5 feet from the basket, which ranks third-best in the NBA (Heat, Pacers). The league average is 60.5% from that range.
The Spurs, Nuggets, Pistons and Magic are the only other teams who do not have a 7-footer on their roster.
In isolation situations, Ginobili is shooting 63.6% when driving to the left and only 27.6% when driving to the right.
Deron Williams has already attempted 217 three-pointers this season. His career high is 259. He has made 81 this season and his career-high is 96.
This game features the two longest tenured coaches (with the same team) in the NBA:
Hire Date as Head Coach
Jerry Sloan, UTAH 12/09/1988
Gregg Popovich, SA 12/10/1996
Doc Rivers, BOS 04/29/2004
George Karl, DEN 01/27/2005
Phil Jackson, LAL 06/14/2005*
*second stint with team
Information courtesy of NBA Statistics and Information Research, ESPN, Inc.
The Pick
Spurs.
The Jazz are returning from an 0-5 road trip, which includes losses to New Jersey, Washington and Philadelphia. They were beaten badly by the Lakers last night, but are relatively healthy and could be re-energized by their raucous home crowd.
However, despite the Jazz’ 27-18 mark, SRS indicates that Utah might not be as good as their record implies. Although San Antonio has seen some favorable lineups (in terms of opponent injuries), their play this season suggests they should be good enough to be favored, even in Utah.
