The Margin: Portland Trail Blazers 108, San Antonio Spurs 95

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Another back-to-back ending in Portland, another loss. This feels like it’s been the norm over the past several seasons. The Spurs lost to the Blazers last night, 108-95, which means you get a 13-point Margin. Never heard of The Margin? Oh, well, it’s a blatant rip-off of Rob Mahoney’s The Difference — we just slapped our own label on it.

  • I’m beginning to feel a little sorry for Blazers fans, despite all the home wins they get to enjoy at the expense of the Spurs. San Antonio has been on the second night of a back-to-back in eight of its previous 10 regular-season visits to Portland, which of course means the likelihood of one or more of the team’s star players will be sitting. After last night’s 108-95 loss — Tim Duncan (rest), Manu Ginobili (lower back contusion), Tony Parker (mild hamstring strain), Tiago Splitter (calf rehabilitation), and Patty Mills (shoulder surgery) all registered DNPs — the Spurs are now 2-6 in those eight games, with one of those wins coming in February of last season when the Half-Spurs rode Mills and his 29 points to a 111-109 win. Overall, San Antonio is now 2-10 in its last 12 visits to the Rose Garden/Moda Center. And how ’bout this: The last time Tony Parker played a regular-season game in Portland and the Spurs won? April 6, 2008, in a 72-65 barnburner. Hopefully those Blazers fans got their money’s worth in the Western Conference Semifinals last season.
  • The up-and-down development of Kawhi Leonard on the offensive end continues; these types of games will probably prove the most valuable in the long run, but the offense has a tendency to bog down, relatively speaking. Leonard struggled in a featured role without the Big 3 and Splitter, which is something we’ve seen at times this season. And it should be expected. Even with the success he’s had and the NBA Finals MVP trophy in the bag, he’s still a work in progress as a top offensive option. His general statistics have jumped across the board, but they’ve done so at the expense of the efficiency that’s been part of Kawhi’s total package. He’s shooting just 45.4 percent from the floor — he’s basically been a 50 percent shooter throughout his young career — and it’s because his jump shot is in a rough place right now. From deep, he’s barely hitting three out of every 10 attempts, and from mid-range (where he shot better than 45 percent last season and 48 percent in 2012-13) he’s only shooting 40 percent. And now that his usage percentage has jumped from 18.3 last season to 22.7 this year, catch-and-shoot jumpers make up a smaller percentage of his field-goal attempts, making way for a higher number of pull-ups. It’s not always the most beautiful thing to watch, but there has been improvement, without question. And as long as he continues to dominate the defensive side of the ball, the offense will have time to catch up.
  • A positive: We just saw Kyle Anderson’s best game as a pro, most notably on the offensive end. Six of his seven shots came from inside the paint, and he knocked down the one mid-range shot he took. Anderson doesn’t get much time on the floor in San Antonio, and he’s only played in one D-League game with the Toros, but a 15-point, 5-rebound stat line was something of a silver lining in what was essentially a scheduled loss.
  • We’ve seen things go very badly against the Trail Blazers at times in recent years. They own some of the most lopsided victories against the Spurs during the Popovich era, and their offense is no less potent this year than it was last year and the year before. But San Antonio managed to hang in there for the most part, and much of that has to do with the brand of defense they’re playing. It wasn’t spectacular, and Portland managed to break the game wider and wider as the game wore on, but that sort of effort without their two best defensive big men by a mile was more evidence of a scheme that’s really humming right now. The Spurs’ defense has been a top-five unit over the last two seasons, and it appears to have made another leap. And that’s without Splitter, for the most part. It will be interesting to watch as the team starts to collectively get its health back, especially as it pertains to Splitter.
  • Slowly but surely, the Spurs have climbed back into the top 10 in terms of offensive efficiency, per NBA.com, and they’ve also crept into the top five from beyond the arc at 37.4 percent. It feels like these guys are starting to find their legs, even with all the missed games from several key players. You just wonder when the switch will be flipped. Christmas Day might be a good time.
  • The Big 3 are still Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in terms of usage percentages among players not named Austin Daye.
  • Austin Daye owns the Spurs’ third highest usage percentage. Austin Daye. He’s appeared in 16 games and averaged 11.3 minutes per appearance, during which time he fires up more than five field-goal attempts (2.4 threes) and passes the ball only 16.1 times per game. He also leads San Antonio in shots attempted per possession, which isn’t awesome because his 28.4-percent shooting is by far the worst on the team.
  • Aron Baynes is averaging 6.1 personal fouls per 36 minutes. BUT…players are shooting just 51.4 percent from inside six feet when he’s defending them, which is more than 7 percent worse than what these individuals typically shoot from that distance. He’s been a big help in that capacity with Splitter out of action. Still…
  • …the discrepancy on defense when it comes to Duncan’s on/off splits continue to grow. When the big man is on the floor this season, the Spurs are allowing a ridiculous 94.8 points per 100 possessions. When he’s off, as he was for the entirety of last night’s game, San Antonio gives up 102.4 points per 100 possessions. That’s would be the difference between the No. 1 and No. 11 defense in the league. (Side note: There are very few elite defenses in the NBA.)
  • Flashing back to the first bullet-point: I don’t think I’ve ever seen the phrase “calf rehabilitation” listed in an injury report, and last night’s mass resting felt a little bit like at jab at the ribs of the NBA. I have no doubts the Spurs are being cautious about Splitter’s calf, but that just seemed funny to me. I also have nothing else on which to base my assertion.
  • Even on nights when Duncan has been ruled out hours before tip-off, he still sits on the bench in full uniform.
  • I can’t really get over those Daye numbers. Why does he play so much more than Anderson? At some point that experiment will stop if he doesn’t start actually making the shots he takes at a reasonable clip.
  • Patty Thrills has been missed. The injection of scoring and contagious energy were so crucial to the second unit, and the Spurs’ offense has suffered because of it. And it’s really noticeable on nights like those, where San Antonio is missing bodies or seems to be running in the mud. On the bright side, we’re inching closer to his return, which might come within the next month or so.

The Spurs’ schedule to end 2014: Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, at Mavs, Clippers, Thunder, at Pelicans, Rockets, at Grizzlies, Pelicans. Time to find that switch.