San Antonio Spurs Silently Dominating and Friday NBA Takeaways
An NBA team that's been flat-out dominant during the first quarter of the 2015-16 campaign was in action Friday night, earning yet another victory to remain on the same historic pace it's occupied for much of the year.
And the Golden State Warriors also played.
Though the San Antonio Spurs have lived in the enormous shadow of the defending champions all season—and rightfully so at times, given the astounding success Stephen Curry and Co. have enjoyed—they haven't exactly lagged too far behind the Dubs. The Los Angeles Clippers are only the latest victims, the unlucky recipients of a 115-107 decision that pushed San Antonio to a gaudy 23-5.
If it seems like the Spurs have been good forever, that's only because they have. But this year, they've taken their overwhelming superiority to the proverbial next level, shutting down opponents while putting up triple-digit performances en route to W after W.
Even before this signature victory over a Clippers team that had been rolling in recent weeks, the Spurs were the only team in the league that ranked in the top three in both offensive and defensive rating.
They'd scored 108.2 points per 100 possessions, which left them trailing only the Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder. And in even more terrifying news for the rest of the league, they'd allowed just 93.9 points over the same stretch. Not only does that pace the NBA, but the gap between the Spurs and the second-place Chicago Bulls is about as large as the yawning chasm separating the Bulls from the Thunder, who rank No. 12 in defensive rating.
No team since the 1974-75 Washington Bullets has held opponents to fewer than 94 points per 100 possessions. And if we adjust for changing offensive capabilities over time by looking at adjusted defensive efficiency, my databases indicate this point-preventing juggernaut is on pace to produce the No. 3 score in NBA history, behind only the 1963-64 Boston Celtics and Bill Russell's team from one year later.
Yes, that also means San Antonio entered its victory over the Clippers with a net rating of 14.3—0.8 better than Golden State's mark and on pace to supplant the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls as the best of all time.
Have I said that the Spurs are good yet?
"We are the Spurs," Manu Ginobili recently explained to the Washington Post's Tim Bontemps. "We don't get the national attention. We don't demand that attention. We don't ask for that attention.
"If it comes, it comes, and if it doesn't, it doesn't."
It's time for that to change, because San Antonio isn't going to stop surging anytime soon. If anything, this team could just keep getting better as LaMarcus Aldridge and David West continue to gain comfort in their new digs and the rotation gains even more defensive cohesion.
That's possible...I think.
Aldridge's potential was on full display against Los Angeles, as he dropped 26 points, 13 rebounds and three assists with a seemingly never-ending barrage of mid-range jumpers. Tony Parker continued to prove that he's forgotten how to miss shots, knocking down eight of his 15 looks from the field and drilling all three of his shots from beyond the arc while picking his spots as wisely as ever.
Tim Duncan continued to look immortal and indefatigable. Danny Green and the rest of the role players were just as solid as ever—save Ginobili, who had an off night from the field but mitigated the damage with his passing chops.
And Kawhi Leonard, who managed to bail out the Spurs in what seemed like every troublesome spot, kept playing like a bona fide MVP candidate. This and-1 bucket to save San Antonio from squandering a possession was just one of many highlights:
As Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes explained, Leonard's emergence as a true superstar is just another element of the Spurs' Spurs-ian dominance that has failed to receive proper recognition:
"On a smaller scale, Kawhi Leonard's development into a true superstar hasn't gotten the attention it deserves either. He's posting a player efficiency rating that ranks comfortably in the top five this season, per Basketball-Reference.com—checking in near Kevin Durant and LeBron James—while playing the best perimeter defense in the league.
Thanks to Curry's ongoing, landscape-altering redefinition of offensive basketball, Leonard isn't getting a whole lot of notice.
"
Looking at my total points added metric (TPA, whose methodology is explained throughout this article), which shows how many points a player provides on both ends of the court as compared to a league-average contributor, Leonard entered Friday night on pace to be one of the NBA's five most valuable players.
His prorated TPA of 477.85 trailed only that of Kyle Lowry (485.22), Russell Westbrook (656.33) and Stephen Curry (726.96). After he dropped 19 points on 14 shots to go along with his nine boards, two assists, zero turnovers and typically stingy defense, that number may only trend higher.
So can we start giving the Spurs some attention?
They may not want it. They may not need it.
But they sure deserve it.
Milwaukee Bucks Almost Become Golden State Warriors' Kryptonite
Kudos to the Milwaukee Bucks for making the Golden State Warriors work.
"We're looking forward to it, man," Klay Thompson said about the Friday night rematch with the team that ended Golden State's record-breaking unbeaten run to start the season, per ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss. "Obviously a team that gave us our one in the loss column, and we felt they could have won with a little more class."
We know—without a shred of doubt—that the impassioned Warriors had circled this contest on their calendars, if only mentally. We know how much they wanted to beat the Bucks and redeem their loss to one of the bottom-feeding teams in the Eastern Conference.
And the fanbase followed suit, even poking fun at Milwaukee's "24-1" T-shirts with this response:
But the Bucks got off to a roaring start, holding a 70-58 lead at halftime while shooting a scorching 59.5 percent from the field. By the end of the second quarter, five Milwaukee players had already moved into double digits in the scoring column.
Golden State still ended up with the last laugh, proving once more it has an indelible ability to show resiliency when facing significant deficits. This wasn't quite on the same level as their 23-point comeback against the Clippers earlier this season, but the Warriors buckled down defensively and emerged with a 121-112 victory to move to 26-1 on the season.
As you might expect, the typical stars were the standouts.
Stephen Curry? He finished just short of a triple-double, recording 26 points (on 14 shots), 10 boards and nine assists. Draymond Green? He flirted with a trip-dub as well, finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight dimes. Thompson? Twenty-seven points was the encore to Wednesday night's 43-spot.
Now, the Dubs can breathe easy.
Unless the Bucks somehow climb out of their early-season funk, make the playoffs and advance through the postseason gauntlet to unexpectedly earn a spot in the NBA Finals, Golden State won't have to prepare for a third matchup with its new rival. The season series is complete, and the Warriors can now hope it's the only one they don't win outright.
Insanity in the Windy City
By the time the Detroit Pistons escaped from the Chicago Bulls with a 147-144 win, the NBA had seen its first quadruple-overtime contest since the Atlanta Hawks needed 68 minutes to take down the Utah Jazz in 2012.
Naturally, there were some interesting numbers:
- Before fouling out, Andre Drummond logged 33 points, 21 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Only seven players had posted such a line during the Play Finder era (1984-85 through the present) and none since Dwight Howard in 2012.
- Dominant down the stretch while serving as a one-man offensive wrecking crew, Reggie Jackson recorded 31 points, six rebounds, 13 assists and a steal. James Harden is the only other man to hit those marks in 2015-16.
- Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol both scored 30 or more points, but Jimmy Butler was the clear Chicago standout with 43 points, eight boards, two assists, two steals and two blocks. Harden, Paul George and Anthony Davis are the only other players to match or exceed those numbers in 2015-16.
- Marcus Morris logged a game-high 57 minutes, and he would've received even more run if he hadn't committed his sixth personal foul. The last player to spend so much time on the court was DeMar DeRozan during the 2013-14 season, and it's happened only 51 times since 1984-85.
- The Pistons took 124 shots from the field—only the 15th time in the last three decades a team has fired away so often. Chicago had "just" 120.
- Somehow, the Bulls' second unit produced only 20 points. Meanwhile, the Pistons produced only seven fast-break points.
This Is the Andrew Wiggins We Want to See
Though it wasn't the case Friday night, Andrew Wiggins has not been good at basketball this year.
According to my TPA database, the reigning Rookie of the Year entered Friday on pace to be less valuable than all but eight players in the NBA: Nerlens Noel, Markieff Morris, Andrea Bargnani, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Jahlil Okafor, Ty Lawson and Emmanuel Mudiay. ESPN.com's Real Plus-Minus won't go quite that far, placing him at No. 392 among 420 qualified players.
But wait. Isn't he averaging over 20 points per game?
That is undeniable, and it takes a special amount of talent to do that before you can legally drink in the United States. For example, not everyone can complete putback slams like this:
However, points per game can often be a horribly misleading statistic, and that's the case here. Wiggins' true shooting percentage (51.5) is lower than the league's average (53.4), so it's actually problematic that he's taking so many shots. He has also recorded more turnovers than assists, rebounds at a mediocre rate for his position and grades out as one of the league's worst defenders by virtually every metric.
The point isn't to hate on Wiggins, whose potential is immense. Despite the massive struggles, he still showcases an incredible amount of talent and should end up reaching—at the very least—a similarly lofty floor. But it's worth pointing out that the perception has been vastly different than the reality.
Was Friday night a turning point? As the Associated Press' Jon Krawczynski indicated, it was Wiggins' best game in a long time:
While leading a 99-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings, the 20-year-old exploded for 32 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four turnovers while shooting 11-of-20 from the field and 9-of-10 at the charity stripe. It wasn't the first time he'd scored at least 30 this season, but it was the first occasion on which he'd submitted such a well-rounded performance.
"Wiggins drives on Omri Casspi, finishes through contact. pic.twitter.com/txEIFU2QFg
— Zach Bennett (@ZacharyBD) December 19, 2015"
This is the Wiggins we all want to see—a dominant scoring threat who crashes the boards with aplomb and constantly looks to find the open teammate. Not only was this just the second time he'd hit 50 cents' worth of dimes in a single outing during the 2015-16 season, but it was also the first he'd hit 60 cents.
Now, let's see this type of play on a consistent basis.
Backcourt Battle Goes to Toronto
Sure, there were always 10 players on the court during the Toronto Raptors' 108-94 win against the Miami Heat. We just can't overlook big performances by Luis Scola, Terrence Ross and Gerald Green.
But this may as well have been a two-on-two show, as the teams' talented backcourts were on full display in AmericanAirlines Arena:
Did the members of that two-team quartet drill shots from beyond the arc? Not really. Were they dishing out assists? Not exactly. Did some of them struggle with turnovers? Yep.
But it's not every night you get to see a marquee clash of two-headed backcourt monsters made up of players who are all on their games.
DeRozan was the biggest standout, constantly probing a typically suffocating Miami defense and seeking out contact as he attacked the basket. It also helped that he was on point from most mid-range zones, making use of a number of moves as he created space.
"DeRozan's jab step is nasty," Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley noted on Twitter. "Getting him where he wants to go almost every time."
This hasn't been a season filled with smooth sailing for Goran Dragic, so it was particularly notable that he got it going as Dwyane Wade simultaneously stood out. But when DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, who should remain a strong MVP candidate, are teaming up to produce fireworks like this, there's not much you can do to knock off the NBA's Canadian representatives.
Dennis Schroder Carries the Hawks
Were it not for their German point guard, the Atlanta Hawks would not have escaped a tough Beantown environment with a 109-101 victory over the Boston Celtics. On a night when Jeff Teague struggled to find his shot before landing funny and hurting his ankle, Dennis Schroder gave his teammate a break by picking up the slack and carrying his team down the stretch.
During the third quarter, he scored five points on three shots from the field while playing tenacious defense against a tough Boston backcourt. And he was even better during the final 12 minutes, spending the entire period on the hardwood and logging nine points, three assists and a steal while going 2-of-3 from the field and 4-of-4 at the stripe.
Perhaps most impressively, he played within the system employed by head coach Mike Budenholzer.
That pocket pass out of the pick-and-roll is a play the third-year floor general has always been able to make, but that doesn't necessarily mean he actually makes it on a regular basis. In the past, Schroder has looked off his teammates and over-dribbled while trying to find a spot for his speedy drives, and it could throw the Hawks off rhythm.
But in a potentially momentum-earning victory over the Celtics, Schroder did no such thing. He attacked at the appropriate times, kept his teammates involved and never stopped trying on the less glamorous end.
If he keeps playing like that, the Hawks may yet rise back up the Eastern Conference standings.
Let's Give Nikola Vucevic Some Love
Maybe it's old hat after he spent the entire 2014-15 season throwing up 20-10 performances. But Nikola Vucevic is still doing big things for the Orlando Magic, thriving alongside his developing teammates as the rising Eastern Conference squad continues to become a defensive force.
Vucevic's per-game numbers in 2015-16 haven't been quite as strong as they were last year, but that's largely because he's spent less time on the court. His per-minute marks are in line with what they were during his breakout campaign, his player efficiency rating is virtually the same, and his box plus/minus numbers indicate he's actually improved—particularly on defense, where his defensive box plus/minus has risen from minus-0.1 to plus-2.1.
And that was before Friday night, when he helped lead a 102-94 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers with 25 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocks. He knocked down 12 of his 22 shots from the field, and his interior presence was a major reason Rip City mustered up only 18 points in the paint.
If the season were to end with a week remaining before the league's Christmas Day festivities, the Magic would comfortably hold down one of the coveted Eastern Conference playoff spots. This isn't a team that can be overlooked on any given night, and Vucevic continuing to blossom as a two-way standout is one of the biggest reasons why.
Forget about his relatively slow start to the year. That's now nothing more than an aberration.
Sophomore > Rookie
Kristaps Porzingis is in the midst of an ultra-impressive, expectation-shattering rookie season for the New York Knicks, who beat the Philadelphia 76ers by 10 points Friday night to pull one game closer to .500. Porzingis was a bit off in this latest outing, but he did manage to show out with a nifty behind-the-back pass to Robin Lopez.
But the Latvian big man's beautiful feed didn't result in an assist. Instead, a sophomore said "No!" in emphatic fashion.
Not on Nerlens Noel's watch, rook.
Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.
All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com or Adam's own databases and are current heading into Dec. 18's games.
