San Antonio Spurs: 99 Problems but a Ring Ain't One. 5 Ways to Earn 5th Ring
You will need to flash back to the 1996-7 season to find the last time the Spurs have lost five straight games. As a matter of fact, the Spurs have lost a total of five games at home all season, coming off last night's tough loss to the Boston Celtics 107-97 at home.
Worried? A little.
The Spurs still sit on top of the Western Conference in the No. 1 spot, but are now only 2.5 games ahead of the two-time defending champions Lakers, who are fresh off beating the Mavericks 110-82 at home last night.
Tonight, the Spurs travel to face their I-10 rivals, the Houston Rockets, a team who is struggling to obtain that coveted eighth and final spot in the playoffs, and are only 3 games back behind the Phoenix Suns. You can count on a playoff atmosphere tonight, with both teams having so much on the line.
While the Spurs are indeed in a slump, Spurs fans should not panic.
Why?
It is still the regular season. We are still the top seed. Our players are now back on the court. And there are things we can still improve on.
Let me give you five of them.
Ball Movement
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Here is a stat for you.
Before last night's loss to the Celtics, the Spurs were 33-0 this season when Tony Parker had seven assists or more. Surprised? I'm not and neither should you.
The Spurs game depends on ball movement and spacing on the court. Tony's penetration into the lane and dish-outs to our shooters make the Spurs go. When this doesn't happen, our game suffers.
No longer can the Spurs rely solely on posting up Tim Duncan or hoping that he makes his patented bank shot. These times are over. The Spurs offense is now based on penetration and shooting for the most part. And for the majority of the season, it has worked. The Spur's offense has now averaged over 103 points per game, which is seventh in the league.
3-Point Shooting
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You live or die by the three.
Lately it has been the latter more so than the former.
So should the Spurs stop shooting threes? Absolutely not.
The Spurs are first in the league in 3-point percentage at 39.7 percent. We have the best three-point shooters in the league, supported by arguably the best power forward to have ever played the game in Tim Duncan.
Currently the top 3-point shooters on the Spurs are Matt Bonner at 47.1 percent, James Anderson at 44.7 percent, Richard Jefferson at 43.2 percent, and Gary Neal at 41.1 percent. That is four players over 40 percent! .
What needs to be changed then?
Two things: spacing and timing.
Spacing comes with penetration and ball movement. Richard Jefferson and Matt Bonner have perfected finding the right spaces on the court. You rarely see these players shoot contested 3-point shots.
On the other hand, while Gary Neal is deadly behind the arc, he is victim of badly timed shooting. Occasionally he will shoot a 3-point shot on a three-on-one fastbreak or when he has a defender's hand in his face. Yes, he does make shots anyways, but these shots are not as high percentage as they could be.
Tony Parker also shoots threes at bad times. While he has actually become a much improved 3-point shooter, the Spurs really need him to be the ball handler and distributor more than anything.
Defense
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Let's face it. The Spurs are not one of the top defenses in the league anymore.
They are not bad, just average. Average is not what the Spurs are used to, especially under Coach Pop. Currently, they hold opponents to 97.7 points a game, which is 13th in the league.
It is no secret to why this is. The Spurs lack depth inside and a solid front court to support Duncan.
The 14-year vet Antonio McDyess has stepped his game up lately and has been inserted into the starting lineup in place of DeJuan Blair. I assume this was done for size, since Blair is listed as 6'7" and gives up considerable height to opposing centers.
Tiago Splitter, the 6'11" rookie center from Brazil, has also seen playing time lately in the mist of recent injuries. He has filled the gap quite well by providing a big body for defense and grabbing rebounds when the Spurs need them the most. The Spurs also have Matt Bonner, but he is usually on the perimeter and is not much of an inside presence on defense for the team.
What does this mean and what can the Spurs do?
Well, the Spurs have known all season that one adjustment would be made in the playoffs—a heavy dose of two-time MVP Tim Duncan. After rationing his minutes all season in preparation for the playoffs, it is now time to unleash the beast.
Timmy showed last night against the C's he can still put up numbers, going for 20points and 13 rebounds. More importantly, he was able to play over 33 minutes and provide defensive stability, adding two blocks and a steal.
What about the other players?
At the moment, it appears Pop will go with Antonio McDyess as the starter and Duncan's main supporter for the rest of the season and playoffs. He gives the Spurs size, defense, interior passing, and a solid mid range jump shot. While I support this decision, I believe a good rotation of McDyess, Blair, and Splitter is best to keep the Spurs fresh and keep opponents off guard.
Blair supplies the energy needed off the bench that Ginobili was able to provide in previous years as the sixth man. Splitter, on the other hand, gives the Spurs an extra big body and a defensive presence in the paint, especially if the Spurs bigs have foul trouble early in the game.
Home Court Advantage
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This is not necessarily advice for the Spurs, but something we drastically need to help our chances of obtaining our fifth ring.
For those of you who don't know, the Spurs are pretty good at home.
Including last night, the Spurs have lost a total of only five games at home this season. Besides the loss in the second game of the season, the other four losses at home have been to the Mavericks, Lakers, Blazers, and now Celtics. All four teams are playoff bound, with three of the teams being heavy favorites to obtain the NBA championship trophy.
So what?
We need that No.1 spot. Getting that No. 1 spot means two things. It means we play at home, where we have been a much better team, as you would expect from any team. Second, it means we do not play the Lakers or Mavs in the second round of the playoffs. Not only that, but we would only have to play one of those teams, given the Spurs, Lakers, and Mavs make it through the firs round.
Ask any Spurs fan who they fear to play the most in the Western Conference, and chances are the Mavs and Lakers will be at the top of their list.
We have done it before with the same core players, and there is no reason we can not do it again, especially given the crucial advantage of home court throughout the playoffs, which the Spurs have worked so hard to earn this season. It is important for the Spurs to finish this season strong and not let up.
Stay Healthy!
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The Spurs are not the fountain of youth.
But there is quite a bit of experience flowing through that old antique of a fountain.
As always, the biggest key for this Spurs team the past decade has been staying healthy. Who knows how many more rings the Spurs would have if players had been healthy for most of the seasons.
Currently, the injuries look like this:
| Tim Duncan | 2011-03-31 | sprained left ankle | played Thursday against Boston |
| Manu Ginobili | 2011-03-31 | bruised left quadriceps | played Thursday against Boston |
| Antonio McDyess | 2011-03-31 | sprained left ankle | returned to Thursday's game against Boston |
| Tony Parker | 2011-03-31 | bruised left knee | played Thursday against Boston |
The Bad: The three best players are injured.
The Good: They all are now back on the court.
While it is so important to get that number one seed going into the playoffs, the only thing that would triumph the importance of being first is being entirely healthy. Thus, Pop will need to use his experience and knowledge of his players to gauge how much playing time each of them should get.
On the one hand we need as many wins as possible coming down the stretch, but on the other, we can not afford any aggravations of these injuries.
And that is why they pay Pop the big bucks. Do I think he can do it? Of course. He is a former coach of the year, four-time NBA champion, has a winning percentage of 60.9 percent, and is in his 15th year as head coach of the Spurs, currently the longest tenure of any head coach in the NBA.
Bottom line:
Don't panic. A five-game losing streak does not erase a 57-18 record that is still best in the league. Yes, this is a bad time to be in a slump, but it has happened with a banged-up Spurs team that has now begun to get its feet back on the ground.
If the playoffs started now, with the Spurs getting that top seed and the Suns landing the eight seed, you better believe the Spurs have not forgotten the 4-0 sweep handed to them last year. Motivation will not be a problem.
The Spurs still have the best record in the NBA. They now have their star players back in the lineup and ready to go. But yet, the media and critics still give the Spurs no shot.
The Spurs being the top seed and getting no respect? Haven't heard that one before.
