#2 ranked and climbing despite hardest schedule to date

[Rummpd]

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings just behind DA Bulls Notably is the strength of schedule the Spurs have played the strongest SOS (0.5551) of the top thirteen teams* = unreal without Manu.

* and the strongest in the league just edging out the Hornets: http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings/_/sort/sos

[nickdaquick]

That really is amazing. The thing is, the west has alot of good teams but no great teams. The east has a lot of bad teams and a couple of great teams. Spurs have hardly played any of the terrible teams in the east, but they get three in a row now.

[MaNu4Tres]

Don't get too high or too low.

All can change in a week or so.

I just hope they keep progressing and hope injuries stay far far away..

[therealtruth]

This is the perfect season to contend for a title. I really believe the Spurs are a decent big away from getting to the finals and possibly winning it all. The minimum they need to get is a decent backup center that would allow Splitter to start.

[Otaku]

WTF are the Blazers doing in 3rd place????

[Rummpd]

That really is amazing. The thing is, the west has alot of good teams but no great teams. The east has a lot of bad teams and a couple of great teams. Spurs have hardly played any of the terrible teams in the east, but they get three in a row now.


I think the only team in the league that has on paper a huge discrepancy in talent is the Heat. LAL also formerly had greater talent but dumping LO for nothing and not getting another PG after the Paul Stern fiasco lessened that gap and there may not even be one with them and the Spurs [if Duncan continues to give productive minutes, Splitter continues to gell, and Manu fully healthy with Parker moving into near superstar status right now]. OKC is on paper also very strong and the Bulls are one superstar and a lot of very good to great players. Spurs only really got hammered by the Heat. If Manu comes back and is playing like he did in the first week (led NBA in PER by Hollinger) Spurs are one move away IMO from being strong enough to win the West and compete with anyone even a motivated/well coached Bulls team or the incredibly strong (on paper) Heat.

[Cry Havoc]

WTF are the Blazers doing in 3rd place????

Margin of victory and recent play.

[SpurNation]

Reasons for optimism to be sure.

[bklynspursfan]

The thing I find amazing is all the experts have crowned OKC the kings of the west already. I know they're talented, but looking at their box score from last night for example, they had 3 guys in double figures. Durant, Westbrook, and Harden. In fairness, I've only watched them a few times, but who else is there on that squad that can step up and score if needed?

Not to mention, defensively they are average at best.

***My bad, Cook had 11

[Beanzamillion21]

Don't get too high or too low.

All can change in a week or so.





Damn.. I thought you were about to start rapping. :lobt:

[mathbzh]

Margin of victory and recent play.

Win over Phoenix account for +3.8 pts on margin of victory for the last 10 games.. this recent play thing is stupid and a proof that Hollinger does not really care about assessing teams strength.
Using the last 10 games, he is just trying to inject some volatility into his "model" (why would you check the ranking if it never changed).

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Without doing any research, I'd say a huge part of our strong strength of schedule is due to spurs playing so many divisional games. We are easily in the best, toughest division in the league.

[Horse]

I think the only team in the league that has on paper a huge discrepancy in talent is the Heat. LAL also formerly had greater talent but dumping LO for nothing and not getting another PG after the Paul Stern fiasco lessened that gap and there may not even be one with them and the Spurs [if Duncan continues to give productive minutes, Splitter continues to gell, and Manu fully healthy with Parker moving into near superstar status right now]. OKC is on paper also very strong and the Bulls are one superstar and a lot of very good to great players. Spurs only really got hammered by the Heat. If Manu comes back and is playing like he did in the first week (led NBA in PER by Hollinger) Spurs are one move away IMO from being strong enough to win the West and compete with anyone even a motivated/well coached Bulls team or the incredibly strong (on paper) Heat.
Let's not forget if we're talking finals lechoke will give it away again. That's the only way dallas could've ever won it all.

[maverick1948]

Margin of victory and recent play.

Losers of 5 of their last 8? Margin of victory and recent play? Nah, more BS from ESPN and others. Losses to Golden State, Sacramento, and Utah. Not exactly a resume of great recent play.

[Seventyniner]

Without doing any research, I'd say a huge part of our strong strength of schedule is due to spurs playing so many divisional games. We are easily in the best, toughest division in the league.

Actually, that isn't true anymore, though it had been for a long time. The Northwest division has no teams under .500 and the team with the best record in the West.

Still, the Southwest is very tough outside of NO, and the Spurs have an 8-3 record in-division, which is very solid.

[Sean Cagney]

Don't get too high or too low.

All can change in a week or so.

I just hope they keep progressing and hope injuries stay far far away..

Amen..... I keep saying this. I got too high last year, couldn't help it. I was let down majorly.

[tlongII]

WTF are the Blazers doing in 3rd place????

WTF?! Ridiculous! :lmao

[GSH]

This is the perfect season to contend for a title. I really believe the Spurs are a decent big away from getting to the finals and possibly winning it all. The minimum they need to get is a decent backup center that would allow Splitter to start.


I can't believe I'm saying this, but our big man situation really does look different than it did at the beginning of the season. At the beginning of the season, we had three bigs. One was too old, one was too short, and one was too weak.

Tim found the fountain of youth.
Tiago found his comfort zone, and started beasting.
Blair found an extra three inc... okay, Blair is still short.

I would still love to see us get one more bruiser for the middle. Even an older guy like Kevin Willis or Tony Massenburg. Or McDyess. I wish we had kept McDyess, just for the playoffs. I don't know if that's even possible now, because it would have to be someone smart and experienced enough to fit into the system quickly. But if we have to make do with what we have, I still feel like we at least have a chance. At the beginning of the season, I didn't.

[TheCerebral1]

It's a nice thing to see and Hollinger does a great job with his break down. Manu comes back in just one more night. Things can get back to rolling.

[CubanMustGo]

WTF are the Blazers doing in 3rd place????

Because Hollinger's bizzare-ass formula puts them there. Logic has no place in a Hollinger ranking, it's whatever his formula says.

[chazley]

Because Hollinger's bizzare-ass formula puts them there. Logic has no place in a Hollinger ranking, it's whatever his formula says.

Worst POTY goes to...

[Cry Havoc]

Win over Phoenix account for +3.8 pts on margin of victory for the last 10 games.. this recent play thing is stupid and a proof that Hollinger does not really care about assessing teams strength.
Using the last 10 games, he is just trying to inject some volatility into his "model" (why would you check the ranking if it never changed).

It's called an outlier. Take a statistics course. Hollinger does not care about being right 100% of the time, but establishing a model that can generally be followed to show a reasonable picture of how good a team is at a specific moment in time.

[mystargtr34]

This season feels like a polar opposite of last season. And thats a good thing.

The Spurs are 14-5 against +.500 opposition, the second best mark in the league behind the Thunder (12-4). They are 2-4 in games decided by 3 points or less and 4-4 against teams below .500.

Last season the Spurs hardly lost a game against teams below .500 (35-2).. but struggled against playoff teams (26-19 vs +.500).. plus 7-4 in games decided by 3 points or less. Not to mention.. quite a few of those wins against +.500 teams were had while key opposition players were missing through injury. This year.. the Spurs are beating the +.500 teams without their best player.

Beating the good teams and struggling against bottom dwellers >>>>>> the opposite.

[100%duncan]

I really don't care about the standings just hope injuries won't fuck us come playoffs

[mathbzh]

It's called an outlier. Take a statistics course. Hollinger does not care about being right 100% of the time, but establishing a model that can generally be followed to show a reasonable picture of how good a team is at a specific moment in time.

Call it outlier if you want.
One would have to look at the margin distribution to know if it is one.

My point is that a 10 game sample is way too small to do any subtle statistical analysis. And of course Hollinger knows that.

I have no problem with this power ranking. It is fun an open discussion.
It gives you an idea about what every team is doing considering the strength of schedule. But there is no point discussing the details of this ranking.

Portland is #4 at this point because the "model" say so. Nothing more.

But I think we can agree on that.

[Johnny RIngo]

This season feels like a polar opposite of last season. And thats a good thing.

The Spurs are 14-5 against +.500 opposition, the second best mark in the league behind the Thunder (12-4). They are 2-4 in games decided by 3 points or less and 4-4 against teams below .500.

Last season the Spurs hardly lost a game against teams below .500 (35-2).. but struggled against playoff teams (26-19 vs +.500).. plus 7-4 in games decided by 3 points or less. Not to mention.. quite a few of those wins against +.500 teams were had while key opposition players were missing through injury. This year.. the Spurs are beating the +.500 teams without their best player.

Beating the good teams and struggling against bottom dwellers >>>>>> the opposite.

Struggled? Last season, Spurs had the 4th best record in league against .500 opponents(after the Bulls, Lakers, and Celtics). Hell, their record against .500 opponents was better than Mavericks or the Heat and those two teams made the Finals. Let's not try to make ourselves feel better about the first round collapse. We played a flawed style of bball and were exposed by an 8th seeded team. I don't think we're all that better from last season but certain players(Leonard, Splitter) and games(Philly) give me hope that they MIGHT turn it around.

[92 Shoot em up]

Last year all over again. Spurs get bounced in 1st round, all this regular season success for nothing

[Spurs and Mavs fan]

I love that we're 2#, but we were the No. 1 seed and still lost to Memphis.

[Rummpd]

Last year all over again. Spurs get bounced in 1st round, all this regular season success for nothing


Agree there is a potential concern but this team seems to rely on the three less, added a defender from the draft/trade, and getting deeper contributions and Splitter at least playing some minutes.

[SpurNation]

Agree there is a potential concern but this team seems to rely on the three less, added a defender from the draft/trade, and getting deeper contributions and Splitter at least playing some minutes.

Positive. I like it. :toast