timvp
11-13-2012, 09:11 PM
Starting Splitter
The Spurs and Lakers had a memorable trio of regular season games last season. In the first matchup, the Lakers bigs pounded the Spurs on the inside. If you remember correctly, Andrew Bynum grabbed an astonishing 30 rebounds.
In the next two contests between the two teams, the Spurs bounced back and pounded the Lakers both times. To combat the size of Los Angeles in the middle, Pop started Tiago Splitter next to Tim Duncan.
While the Lakers now feature Dwight Howard instead of Bynum, I think Pop should go with the same alignment that worked so well last year. Even though Splitter has struggled this season, he should get the call to start next to Duncan to help control the backboard and avoid any colossal mismatches.
If not Splitter, then it should be Boris Diaw starting next to TD. DeJuan Blair shouldn’t even be an option. That’d be suicide.
Defensive Rebounding
Historically during the Pop Era, the Spurs have always been a great defensive rebounding team. In fact, the leaderboard of the best defensive rebounding teams of all-time is littered with Spurs team. Last season, San Antonio not only led the league in defensive rebounding percentage, they posted the 13th best mark of all-time.
This season, the Spurs are 20th in the NBA in the rebounding. It’s been a stunning fall -- and one that can hopefully be attributed at least partially to the small sample size.
Tonight against the Lakers, the Spurs will get a great test to see if they should panic about their lack of defensive rebounding. Los Angeles is currently the best team in the league when it comes to defensive rebounding. Unless the Spurs make it a priority to hit the defensive glass, this could get ugly.
Depth Matters
If the Spurs are going to win tonight, the bench will likely have to play an important role. Although that is true most nights, it’s especially true against the Lakers. San Antonio is right near the top of the league at bench scoring, while L.A. is at the bottom of the NBA with the Blazers. And as we witnessed against Portland last game -- a contest that saw the Spurs go on repeated runs when the bench units squared off -- a bench advantage is a wonderful weapon in the regular season.
Predictions Wanted
Gain a spur below your username by correctly predicting the score of tonight’s game in this thread.
The Spurs and Lakers had a memorable trio of regular season games last season. In the first matchup, the Lakers bigs pounded the Spurs on the inside. If you remember correctly, Andrew Bynum grabbed an astonishing 30 rebounds.
In the next two contests between the two teams, the Spurs bounced back and pounded the Lakers both times. To combat the size of Los Angeles in the middle, Pop started Tiago Splitter next to Tim Duncan.
While the Lakers now feature Dwight Howard instead of Bynum, I think Pop should go with the same alignment that worked so well last year. Even though Splitter has struggled this season, he should get the call to start next to Duncan to help control the backboard and avoid any colossal mismatches.
If not Splitter, then it should be Boris Diaw starting next to TD. DeJuan Blair shouldn’t even be an option. That’d be suicide.
Defensive Rebounding
Historically during the Pop Era, the Spurs have always been a great defensive rebounding team. In fact, the leaderboard of the best defensive rebounding teams of all-time is littered with Spurs team. Last season, San Antonio not only led the league in defensive rebounding percentage, they posted the 13th best mark of all-time.
This season, the Spurs are 20th in the NBA in the rebounding. It’s been a stunning fall -- and one that can hopefully be attributed at least partially to the small sample size.
Tonight against the Lakers, the Spurs will get a great test to see if they should panic about their lack of defensive rebounding. Los Angeles is currently the best team in the league when it comes to defensive rebounding. Unless the Spurs make it a priority to hit the defensive glass, this could get ugly.
Depth Matters
If the Spurs are going to win tonight, the bench will likely have to play an important role. Although that is true most nights, it’s especially true against the Lakers. San Antonio is right near the top of the league at bench scoring, while L.A. is at the bottom of the NBA with the Blazers. And as we witnessed against Portland last game -- a contest that saw the Spurs go on repeated runs when the bench units squared off -- a bench advantage is a wonderful weapon in the regular season.
Predictions Wanted
Gain a spur below your username by correctly predicting the score of tonight’s game in this thread.