San Antonio Spurs Keep Winning Despite Potential Problems
The San Antonio Spurs won yet again Wednesday night, running their streak of wins to 11 in a row, and look like the best team in the NBA right now.
They have won games in every way possible. They have won close nail-biters, they have out-distanced teams in overtime, they have blown teams out, they have won defensive struggles and they have won offensive explosions.
They play to the weaknesses of other teams and are beating them by spreading the ball around and playing solid defense, as usual.
Something unusual for the Spurs, though, is how exciting they have been to watch. It seems counter-intuitive to turn on a Spurs game and see a play that leaves your jaw on the floor. Usually, they are a fundamentally sound basketball team, and win by waiting for their opponent to make mistakes.
They still do play that style of basketball, but they have an exciting few players in George Hill and Richard Jefforson.
The surprising thing is they weren't expected to be a top team in the West.
They were pegged at about a 25-1 shot to win the NBA Championship and a 10-1 shot to win the West.
They are winning despite what seemed to be a problem for them this season, and I'd like to look at how they have overcome their problems to become one of the best teams in the league, yet again.
Problem: The NBA is for Youth
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San Antonio had an offseason that was counterintuitive in the NBA.
Of the players who played more than 10 minutes per game for San Antonio last season, the average age was 27.
This year, instead of going for a more youth oriented team and bringing in some younger guys, their big offseason acquisition was Tiago Splitter.
The Spurs basically stayed with the team that they had and the biggest thing they did, besides drafting a little-used shooting guard James Anderson, was bring in a 25-year-old forward Spanish Leaguer that they drafted in 2007.
It seemed that the Spurs were doomed to be outrun by the more youthful teams in the league and would end up having the downfall that inevitably comes with aging NBA players.
Solution: Smart Shots, Smart D
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The Spurs are doing in their win streak what they have been able to do for the past decade: playing smart basketball.
They are moving the ball as well as any team in the NBA, with over 23 assists per game, but they are playing tight defense to keep their opponents from moving the ball too easily, giving up only 19 assists per game.
That defense is also turning up nine steals a game, second most in the NBA.
San Antonio also prides itself in being one of the best shooting teams in the NBA, shooting 47 percent, along with a very impressive 43 percent for three, tied with the Lakers for best in the league.
Then they do the one thing that can easily get your team more possessions and keep your opponent from grabbing more possessions: boxing out.
The Spurs are boxing out as much as any team in the league, and by doing so, they are netting more rebounds for themselves than they are allowing their opponents. They average three more rebounds per game than their opponent.
Problem: Tony Parker's Divorce
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One thing that the Spurs have prided themselves in over the past two decades is the fact that they are the most professional team in the league.
Still, much was made out of Tony Parker's divorce from actress Eva Longoria-Parker.
Rumors were flying around that this is something that would disrupt any locker room in the country, and that it would be impossible to sidestep.
After all, it is a divorce between a borderline NBA superstar and one of the highest profile actresses of the past few years, with rumblings and grumblings abound that she was upset that he cheated on her.
Can you say a diet version of the Tiger Woods-Elin Nordegren scandal?
Solution: Professionalism
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The Spurs have supported Parker every step of the way, dealing with it out of the limelight of the media and keeping him and Eva in mind when discussing it.
They have been so low key about it that it seems that they are more or less ignoring it.
It is, quite honestly, probably the best any professional athlete has handled a high-profile divorce in which they have done something to bring it on.
Take some notes, Tiger.
Problem: Tim Duncan's Decline
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One of the biggest things that stands out with the San Antonio Spurs is that Tim Duncan is not playing up to his standards of years past.
Duncan has seven games this season in which he has failed to break double digits in points and five games in which he has failed to reach double digits in any statistical category.
Last season, he had seven single-digit point totals for the whole year, and only three games did he fail to reach double digits in any category. In one such game, he only played 13 minutes.
He has dropped from 17.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 51 percent shooting and 72 percent from the free throw line to 13.4 points 9.4 rebounds, 48 percent shooting and 68 percent from the line.
This drop has come even though Duncan is only playing two less minutes per game compared to last season.
Solution: Others Step Up
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Manu Ginobili has stepped up the most to fill the hole that Duncan's decline has left.
He has gone from his 16.9 points per game a year ago to averaging 20.1 per game this season. His PER has gone up from 22.5 to 23.7, a rather large improvement, and is looking like the best player on the Spurs right now.
Tony Parker has gone from averaging 16 points a game a season ago to 19.4 points per game this year, as well as growing as a ball distributor, averaging 7.7 assists per game this season, two more per game than he did last year.
As well as Parker and Ginobili, Richard Jefforson is getting three points more per game, Matt Bonner is averaging a point more, Antonio McDyess has a point more, and Tiago Splitter coming in is averaging a respectable 5.5 points per game.
