This is Why the Spurs Are Struggling

[Expert]

The starters are not playing worse than they have during the regular season. The bench is playing very poorly.

These numbers really paint a picture of a bench that's not producing at all. What they don't account for is minutes played...

We start off with these last 3 games and then compare that to their regular season averages (this season). We first see the bench guys (minus Manu) and can see their production on offense is sorely lacking. Of course the starters will play more minutes in the playoffs, and the bench won't be as effective because most of them are role players. However, most competitive teams got to the playoffs in whatever seeding based mostly on what their starters did. That means their starting 5 had the ability and played at the level to get them there. The Spurs relied very heavily on their bench in the regular season. I don't know how many games we could attribute to the bench, but I'd put it around at least 10, maybe twice that. Now that the bench either isn't getting the same minutes, or they aren't as effective with the minutes they are getting, the starters putting up the same numbers they did in the regular season isn't getting it done.

The solution is never for the role players to play better. It's always for the stars to play like stars. Sure a role player has to step up, and no one seems to want that on their plates just yet, but one of the big 3 or Leonard needs to make a bigger impact, take over a game. Tim has done admirably but he's not dominated and who's he facing, Dalembert? Whatever the reason, the big 3 are mostly putting up RS numbers.

Danny Green
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 3 PTS, 2 REB
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 6 PTS, 2 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 0 PTS, 5 REB


2013-2014 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
9.1 .432 1.5 3.4 0.90 0.96


Patty Mills
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 5 PTS, 3 AST
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 5 PTS, 1 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 2 PTS, 1 REB

2013-2014 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
10.2 .464 1.8 2.1 0.11 0.84




Marco Belinelli
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 7 PTS, 1 REB
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 7 PTS, 5 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 0 PTS, 2 REB


2013-2014 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
11.4 .485 2.2 2.8 0.09 0.63


Boris Diaw
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 7 PTS, 3 AST
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 4 PTS, 0 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 4 PTS, 2 REB


2013-14 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
9.1 .521 2.8 4.1 0.41 0.56


Tim Duncan
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 22 PTS, 5 REB
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 11 PTS, 7 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 27 PTS, 7 REB


2013-14 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
15.1 .490 3.0 9.7 1.88 0.58


Tony Parker
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 19 PTS, 6 AST
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 12 PTS, 3 AST
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 21 PTS, 6 AST


2013-14 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
16.7 .499 5.7 2.3 0.13 0.53




Manu Ginobili
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 12 PTS, 5 REB
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 27 PTS, 4 AST
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 17 PTS, 6 REB


2013-14 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
12.3 .469 4.3 3.0 0.25 1.03




Kawhi Leonard
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 17 PTS, 5 REB
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 6 PTS, 5 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 11 PTS, 10 REB


2013-14 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
12.8 .522 2.0 6.2 0.76 1.73


Tiago Splitter
Sat 4/26 @DAL L 108-109 14 PTS, 13 REB
Wed 4/23 DAL L 92-113 6 PTS, 5 REB
Sun 4/20 DAL W 90-85 8 PTS, 11 REB


2013-14 Stats
PPG FG% APG RPG BLKPG STLPG
8.2 .523 1.5 6.2 0.53 0.49

[Mikeanaro]

:tu
Kiwi where are thou?

[heyheymymy]

mills belli, diaw and green i'm most surprised to see these names struggle, thought we had a pretty bonafide bench that could step up.

good to see manu looking sharp, hoe everything else falls into place though.

[dbreiden83080]

Ellis playing like D-Wade of 2006 isn't helping matters much..

[Canibspur]

Dallas is better than we gave them credit for. That said, they are still not better than the Spurs. Spurs finally got their offense and intensity back in game three. As a team they have shot very well in all three games but there were so many lazy plays leading to more possessions for the Mavs. Won't be easy but the good guys will still come out on top. This has been a damn good first round for all the series but one. Sit back and enjoy the show. Go Spurs Go!

[Skull-1]

An Eight Seed in the West is a Two or Three in the East. Dallas is not a bunch of louts.

[Darius McCrary]

An Eight Seed in the West is a Two or Three in the East. Dallas is not a bunch of louts.
This is true to an extent.

[Expert]

An Eight Seed in the West is a Two or Three in the East. Dallas is not a bunch of louts.

That's an excuse and it's a poor one. Saying Dallas isn't a true 8 seed is another sorry excuse. The facts are right there in black and white.... your regular season help is missing and your star power isn't strong enough to make up the difference. Someone is going to have to return to the mean. Spurs don't need all 4 of those guys to do that, but one of them is going to have to if the Spurs want a 2nd round appearance. It doesn't matter what Dallas is doing, those 4 players have to step their games up. That's never the answer in the playoffs, that role players have to step up because they often don't, but the Spurs are at least 50% dependent on their bench.

[Skull-1]

That's an excuse and it's a poor one. Saying Dallas isn't a true 8 seed is another sorry excuse. The facts are right there in black and white.... your regular season help is missing and your star power isn't strong enough to make up the difference. Someone is going to have to return to the mean. Spurs don't need all 4 of those guys to do that, but one of them is going to have to if the Spurs want a 2nd round appearance. It doesn't matter what Dallas is doing, those 4 players have to step their games up. That's never the answer in the playoffs, that role players have to step up because they often don't, but the Spurs are at least 50% dependent on their bench.


I didn't disagree with you, exactly. I simply pointed out that the West is tougher. An Eight cannot be dismissed as an Eight.

[hommeaetage]

Watching the playoffs the last several years, you definitely need star power to win a title in this league. Unfortunately the Spurs don't have that, couple with the fact that they rely so much on their role players makes it really tough on them

[james evans]

danny green sucks. if he's not wide open he's worthless. he's a taller version of steve kerr. that's it.

[Expert]

I didn't disagree with you, exactly. I simply pointed out that the West is tougher. An Eight cannot be dismissed as an Eight.

No team can be dismissed. It's amusing that, for as long as some people have been casual observers of the game, they have not connected the dots to understand the pattern of matchups.

[Skull-1]

No team can be dismissed. It's amusing that, for as long as some people have been casual observers of the game, they have not connected the dots to understand the pattern of matchups.


An eight, traditionally, is an eight for a reason. In the last five years the West has tightened up immensely. I have been a Spurs fan for over 30 years. Not my first rodeo, grasshopper.

[cjw]

An eight, traditionally, is an eight for a reason. In the last five years the West has tightened up immensely. I have been a Spurs fan for over 30 years. Not my first rodeo, grasshopper.

As we all know, Dallas' first rounder was top 20 protected and given they finished with a top 10 record, the Thunder picked it up. So as you say, this is more like a second round 1-4/5 matchup than a first 1-8 one.

[TheGoldStandard]

It starts at the top... we are struggling because we depend on guys to generate offense rather than be a compliment to our core. You can't win a title with your PG being the top guy, just can't sustain that kind of scoring and then play defense without the other team game planning to stop him. If this were 2003 or 2005 it would be cake, just 4 down every play and let Duncan go to work but sadly at 38 as good as he is, he's not going to be a stalwart on both ends for 48 minutes.

[Skull-1]

As we all know, Dallas' first rounder was top 20 protected and given they finished with a top 10 record, the Thunder picked it up. So as you say, this is more like a second round 1-4/5 matchup than a first 1-8 one.


And one.

[EVAY]

OP correctly points out that the starters are putting up rs numbers…

Some of the reason for that is that, I believe, is that Pop is using close to rs amounts of time for the starters and seems unwilling to change much of that.

I think the OP is right that the stars have to put up better numbers…but they are only playing about 5 minutes more than they played during the rs. So the numbers are unlikely to be materially different.

[jack0fspeed]

I'm still waiting for the team that gave up the sixth fewest points in the league to show up.

[Venti Quattro]

Did Tony fuck a teammate's wife again?

[tim_duncan_fan]

That's an excuse and it's a poor one. Saying Dallas isn't a true 8 seed is another sorry excuse. The facts are right there in black and white.... your regular season help is missing and your star power isn't strong enough to make up the difference. Someone is going to have to return to the mean. Spurs don't need all 4 of those guys to do that, but one of them is going to have to if the Spurs want a 2nd round appearance. It doesn't matter what Dallas is doing, those 4 players have to step their games up. That's never the answer in the playoffs, that role players have to step up because they often don't, but the Spurs are at least 50% dependent on their bench.
This is our bench's mean. If we played a Western playoff team every game of the regular season, one that has game-planned for us as if their playoff lives depended on it, this is what we would see from our bench on an average night.

Our stars are too old and we don't have any single player with incorrigible confidence so...what you see is what you get.

[Expert]

This is our bench's mean. If we played a Western playoff team every game of the regular season, one that has game-planned for us as if their playoff lives depended on it, this is what we would see from our bench on an average night.

Our stars are too old and we don't have any single player with incorrigible confidence so...what you see is what you get.

No you're wrong. Spurs have one of the best benches in the league. If you're telling me other benches can keep them this low, then you'll need to show some stats to back that up.

[tim_duncan_fan]

No you're wrong. Spurs have one of the best benches in the league. If you're telling me other benches can keep them this low, then you'll need to show some stats to back that up.

Look at the stat sheet from our last 3 games, tbh. I don't like it any more than you do.

[spurraider21]

no timvp = bad juju

[dallasmaverickslose]

no timvp = bad juju

no bruno either :cry

[therealtruth]

How about playing a style of basketball in the regular season that will work in the playoffs?

[hater]

we have 3 of the top 5 worst performers in the playoffs

that's why we are "struggling" :lmao :lol :lol LOL POP

[hater]

How about playing a style of basketball in the regular season that will work in the playoffs?

Pop would have to retire imo

[TampaDude]

Regular Season Champions.

[Expert]

Look at the stat sheet from our last 3 games, tbh. I don't like it any more than you do.

You cannot discard 82 games and cherry pick 3 and call it a trend. That's how how statistics work.

[Expert]

How about playing a style of basketball in the regular season that will work in the playoffs?

You play each game to win. The playoffs are an evolution of strategies and matchups that the RS isn't. Also, when teams meet in the RS, it's often after a long span of time since their last meeting, and maybe one team is on the 2nd leg of a b2b, or a player is injured or isn't playing heavy minutes for whatever reason. In the playoffs, it's all guns all the time. You cannot play that way in the regular season because you'll never get to the playoffs to begin with.

[Robz4000]

You cannot discard 82 games and cherry pick 3 and call it a trend. That's how how statistics work.

What are you, some kinda trendsetter?

[Expert]

What are you, some kinda trendsetter?

I set trends

[Skull-1]

I set trends


Trends of foolishness best not followed.

[Expert]

Trends of foolishness best not followed.

Says the 30 year fan who doesn't understand the game.

[Skull-1]

Says the 30 year fan who doesn't understand the game.


I understand it far better than you, "expert". Expert - a nickname with obvious ironic intent.

[hater]

Trends of foolishness best not followed.

:lmao

[Aremid]

Talent and stars win championships. Blame the FO for not making trades to get us a good player. Blame pop for not letting kawhi be that guy.

[Expert]

I understand it far better than you, "expert". Expert - a nickname with obvious ironic intent.

As Expert is just a drip has been under pressure.

[superbigtime]

Expert cannabis smoker apparently.

[Skull-1]

Expert cannabis smoker apparently.

:lmao