SI: Spurs have been just as good as the Warriors this year

[Uriel]

Excellent article from Sports Illustrated on why the Spurs, despite playing the under the radar, have been just as good as the media darlings from Golden State. :toast

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/12/16/san-antonio-spurs-kawhi-leonard-tim-duncan-lamarcus-aldridge (http://on.si.com/227ru6V)

[steeledl]

I think they have been better but we have been closing the gap lately with LMA getting better and better in our system .

[Fireball]

cakewalk schedule ... still not convinced

[steeledl]

If Danny teen stops sucking we can close the gap.

[vander]

Schedule so easy, Green so bad, offense so out of sync. No accurate judgements can be made yet

[SPURt]

cakewalk schedule ... still not convinced
Not convinced about the Warriors, the Spurs, or both?

[BillMc]

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/12/16/san-antonio-spurs-kawhi-leonard-tim-duncan-lamarcus-aldridge (http://on.si.com/227ru6V)

Good read! Thanks for posting.

[Fireball]

Not convinced about the Warriors, the Spurs, or both?

less convinced about Spurs tbh ... Warriors schedule has picked up a little ... I wanna see that great Spurs defense against the Clips, Pacers and then finally against the Cavs in mid january ... just realized this schedule is not really getting that much tougher

[SpursFan86]

Warriors' schedule hasn't really been that much harder than the Spurs', but GS hasn't been able to use their best lineup the past few weeks with Barnes being injured.

Overall the two teams have been fairly even except GS has done a much better job of closing out games (can either chalk that up to luck or good execution...probably a bit of both). Execution down the stretch has cost the Spurs a few games already...definitely had the chance to win at least some of those games against Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, and Toronto.

[spursistan]

i think we will get better idea about our actual dominance in the next week or so, especially on the Defensive end. Clippers/Pacers/@Houston are teams an offensive notch above most of who we faced in last stretch..

[lmbebo]

Biggest difference is that the Spurs are new and that shows in late game execution. Hasn't come up that often because we're blowing everyone out. GS having been together now for a few years def have that advantage over us.

[DJR210]

Good read, thanks for the heads up.

[soxxx]

The thing that sticks out to me was that the Warriors were down 2-1 to both the Grizzlies and an injured Cavs team. They were able to get by last year because they were the more talented team and had a game style that the Grizzlies and Cavs could not adapt to. I dont think the Warriors can play with fire the way they did this year, a healthy Cavs team or a non-snake bitten Spurs team would have finished the job last year. So while the Warriors are riding high right now, the Heat in 2013 were doing the same thing until the playoffs where they found themselves in vulnerable spots, and should have lost the finals.

[SPURt]

less convinced about Spurs tbh ... Warriors schedule has picked up a little ... I wanna see that great Spurs defense against the Clips, Pacers and then finally against the Cavs in mid january ... just realized this schedule is not really getting that much tougher
Good points and I totally agree.

[Arcadian]

To those who say "easy schedule" - of course the schedule is easy. There are only three actual contenders in the entire NBA this year (Spurs, Warriors, Cavs), a few mediocre teams, and many bad ones. If you're a good team, you will naturally have an easy schedule. If you're a bad a team, you will naturally have a challenging schedule.

My point is, the "ease of schedule" is itself partially determined by how good your team is!

[Mikeanaro]

Dont like the article, they didnt talk about how great Simmons is.

[Brian Windhorst]

To those who say "easy schedule" - of course the schedule is easy. There are only three actual contenders in the entire NBA this year (Spurs, Warriors, Cavs), a few mediocre teams, and many bad ones. If you're a good team, you will naturally have an easy schedule. If you're a bad a team, you will naturally have a challenging schedule.

My point is, the "ease of schedule" is itself partially determined by how good your team is!
I don't think people really understand what a joke our schedule has been.

8 of our 13 home games have come against teams on the 2nd night of a B2B

We've played the bottom 3 teams in each conference 6 times, plus the Nuggets and Blazers twice each.

And what victory do we have to hang our hats on? Mavs at home by 5?

In 26 games we've played top 5 teams three times, and lost all three times.

I don't think we should penalize the Spurs for not having played a lot of good teams, but the point differential number is a direct result of just crushing bad teams. The Warriors have statement wins against Toronto (2x), Indiana, Chicago, and the Clippers (2x). We beat the Mavs and then beat up on pretenders like Memphis and Atlanta, and that's it.

[Arcadian]

I don't think people really understand what a joke our schedule has been.

8 of our 13 home games have come against teams on the 2nd night of a B2B

We've played the bottom 3 teams in each conference 6 times, plus the Nuggets and Blazers twice each.

And what victory do we have to hang our hats on? Mavs at home by 5?

In 26 games we've played top 5 teams three times, and lost all three times.

I don't think we should penalize the Spurs for not having played a lot of good teams, but the point differential number is a direct result of just crushing bad teams. The Warriors have statement wins against Toronto (2x), Indiana, Chicago, and the Clippers (2x). We beat the Mavs and then beat up on pretenders like Memphis and Atlanta, and that's it.

But see, how do you define a "statement win"? At the end of the season, most of those teams are just pretenders. There are only three actual contenders in the NBA this season. Hence my point: for a good team, you're naturally going to play a lot of bad teams.

[Uriel]

To those who say "easy schedule" - of course the schedule is easy. There are only three actual contenders in the entire NBA this year (Spurs, Warriors, Cavs), a few mediocre teams, and many bad ones. If you're a good team, you will naturally have an easy schedule. If you're a bad a team, you will naturally have a challenging schedule.

My point is, the "ease of schedule" is itself partially determined by how good your team is!
This is true, but it's more true at the end of the season than at the start of it, when there are fewer games played and the schedule is subject to a lot of variable.

Case in point: The Spurs are currently ranked 27th in the NBA in Strength of Schedule. The Warriors, meanwhile, despite posessesing by the far the league's best record, are tied for 17th.

http://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

[Brian Windhorst]

But see, how do you define a "statement win"? At the end of the season, most of those teams are just pretenders. There are only three actual contenders in the NBA this season. Hence my point: for a good team, you're naturally going to play a lot of bad teams.

All 6 of those GSW wins I mentioned were against teams that will consider their season a disaster if they do not make at least the 2nd round. The Spurs have 0 wins against such teams, unless you consider ATL, who are barely above .500 and have regressed significantly, such a team. I don't.

[100%duncan]

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2015/12/16/why-spurs-might-be-nbas-best-team/?cid=nbatvsocial_fb_sf17109589

A pretty similar article. Although I dont agree with the titles of the two, both provise good points on how the spurs look scary good. It's gonna be a good season folks. I just wish we get that gsw matchup in the playoffs, we know they aint gonna get upset in the early rounds.

[Uriel]

Dont like the article, they didnt talk about how great Simmons is.
Actually, they did.


Limiting this survey of San Antonio’s offense to just three factors feels somewhat criminal. Manu Ginobili has been fantastic early this season, Popovich’s bench is loaded with contributors (Patty Mills (http://www.si.com/nba/player/patty-mills), Boris Diaw, etc.), and newcomer Jonathon Simmons (http://www.si.com/nba/player/jonathon-simmons) has been a nice find. There are, admittedly, plenty more stories to tell here.

[Brian Windhorst]

At the end of the day I think the Spurs have looked pretty good, and have shown signs of being a juggernaut by the end of the season. But I don't think you can dispute that if GSW and SAS had switched schedules, GSW would currently be miles ahead of us in all of these net rating metrics. We have 9 20+ point blowouts in 26 games, so either we're in the 99.999th percentile of great teams in history, or we've had a really easy schedule which we've fortunately taken advantage of. Regardless, this will be moot by February.

[Mikeanaro]

Actually, they did.
They only said he is nice find, I wanted a whole article about him :depressed

[Mnky]

Schedule talk goes both ways. You can say they've only beat losing teams, but you can also say those teams are losing because we beat them.

[DMC]

You can say every team you beat is a losing team, but you cannot say every team you beat has a losing record unless they do. Don't fuck it up, Minky. Just don't.

[100%duncan]

You can say every team you beat is a losing team, but you cannot say every team you beat has a losing record unless they do. Don't fuck it up, Minky. Just don't.

Yep. Its all good to celebrate our great start but its funny how some go to lengths overrating it :lol

[wildbill2u]

we're doing good and should get better on offense as Aldridge and West meld into the Spurs system. You can see them picking it up in nearly every game.

[SpursIndonesia]

cakewalk schedule ... still not convinced

This, we should be standing with just 2-3 losses rather than 5 as it is. Clearly number 2, but still not on the same level of play vs the Dubs.

[SpursIndonesia]

I don't think people really understand what a joke our schedule has been.

8 of our 13 home games have come against teams on the 2nd night of a B2B

We've played the bottom 3 teams in each conference 6 times, plus the Nuggets and Blazers twice each.

And what victory do we have to hang our hats on? Mavs at home by 5?

In 26 games we've played top 5 teams three times, and lost all three times.

I don't think we should penalize the Spurs for not having played a lot of good teams, but the point differential number is a direct result of just crushing bad teams. The Warriors have statement wins against Toronto (2x), Indiana, Chicago, and the Clippers (2x). We beat the Mavs and then beat up on pretenders like Memphis and Atlanta, and that's it.

The TRUTH, amen. :tu

[DMC]

I don't think people really understand what a joke our schedule has been.

8 of our 13 home games have come against teams on the 2nd night of a B2B

We've played the bottom 3 teams in each conference 6 times, plus the Nuggets and Blazers twice each.

And what victory do we have to hang our hats on? Mavs at home by 5?

In 26 games we've played top 5 teams three times, and lost all three times.

I don't think we should penalize the Spurs for not having played a lot of good teams, but the point differential number is a direct result of just crushing bad teams. The Warriors have statement wins against Toronto (2x), Indiana, Chicago, and the Clippers (2x). We beat the Mavs and then beat up on pretenders like Memphis and Atlanta, and that's it.
You can't call Memphis and Atlanta "pretenders" and then consider Indiana and Toronto to be legit contenders. You have to either use their record or don't. No one gives a shit about your personal opinion of the team otherwise.

[dabom]

You can't call Memphis and Atlanta "pretenders" and then consider Indiana and Toronto to be legit contenders. You have to either use their record or don't. No one gives a shit about your personal opinion of the team otherwise.

People actually call toronto and pacers contenders? :lol

[dabom]

Hawks would beat the pacers and raptors in a 7 game series.

[bic50]

I don't care about the schedule tbh. Spurs look to be miles ahead of these "bad teams" just like an elite team should. It's the one of the best starts in franchise history and there are complaints from fans lol.
I'd be really worried if spurs were actually struggling with the schedule and going into double overtime with these teams, but instead they are just dominating them. I'm happy with that.

[Mel_13]

I don't care about the schedule tbh. Spurs look to be miles ahead of these "bad teams" just like an elite team should. It's the one of the best starts in franchise history and there are complaints from fans lol.
I'd be really worried if spurs were actually struggling with the schedule and going into double overtime with these teams, but instead they are just dominating them. I'm happy with that.

2nd best record after 27 games in franchise history.

[bic50]

2nd best record after 27 games in franchise history.

:tu

[LakerHater]

http://i.imgbox.com/yft3Cc7L.jpg

[Vito Corleone]

Seriously, this is the best Spurs team I have ever seen. I know some are partial to 2003 or 2007 but this one is badass on so many levels. There isn't a single person on the roster that if he got big minutes I'd be worried. Not a single person. This team is playing amazing defense and the offense is coming together. Now think about that last statement. Our offense is coming together, and we are 5th in total offense. Just think what it could look like in March and April. The only thing I'm worried about is injuries.

In all the basketball I've seen, there are only 2 other teams that can push San Antonio, they are Cleveland and Golden State. Outside of those two, no other team would stand a chance.

[Horse]

Golden state brought back the same team so the way they're rolling is not a huge surprise. The scary thought is the Spurs are just getting started. LMA is starting to realize all the easy shots he can get right at the rim, the bench is already better than anyone expected, no one is playing a lot of minutes and once Danny Greens shot comes back from the Bermuda triangle look out.

[Duncanforthree]

We could be 27-0 right now and there would still be people on this forum saying our schedule was too easy.

[Mel_13]

We could be 27-0 right now and people on this forum would be still saying our schedule was too easy.

Well our strength of schedule would be even weaker as our opponents winning percentage would be even worse with five fewer wins and five more losses. :lol

[Seventyniner]

Well our strength of schedule would be even weaker as our opponents winning percentage would be even worse with five fewer wins and five more losses. :lol

I thought SoS calculations excluded those games?

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Seriously, this is the best Spurs team I have ever seen.


This team has been an absolute abomination in crunch time and lost games they absolutely had no business losing. Not to say this Spurs team doesn't have potential, but I don't even think this year's team is a lock to push a second round series to 7 games assuming the Clippers improve and OKC is looking much better lately.

[urunobili]

There's some interesting trash talk in between Dubs fans and Spurs fans at the bottom of the article :wakeup

[Mel_13]

I thought SoS calculations excluded those games?

That could very well be the case. I'm not familiar with the calculations used to arrive at those numbers.

[TheMulletMan3000]

I don't think people really understand what a joke our schedule has been.

8 of our 13 home games have come against teams on the 2nd night of a B2B

We've played the bottom 3 teams in each conference 6 times, plus the Nuggets and Blazers twice each.

And what victory do we have to hang our hats on? Mavs at home by 5?

In 26 games we've played top 5 teams three times, and lost all three times.

I don't think we should penalize the Spurs for not having played a lot of good teams, but the point differential number is a direct result of just crushing bad teams. The Warriors have statement wins against Toronto (2x), Indiana, Chicago, and the Clippers (2x). We beat the Mavs and then beat up on pretenders like Memphis and Atlanta, and that's it.

you have point differential adjusted to estimated schedule strength. spurs and gsw are almost equal (gsw is slightly better)

[TheMulletMan3000]

Hawks would beat the pacers and raptors in a 7 game series.

agree, if korver gets his shit together

[Gagnrath]

Dont like the article, they didnt talk about how great Simmons is.
Actually the second to last paragraph does along with boris and manu.

[Lostwingman]

"The improvement is so steady that it’s a bit haunting, as if it’s going to continue refining itself forever like a deadly, mutating virus."

What a great season to be a fan.

[tbdog]

There are at least three games this season where I felt we had no place at winning. We were just bad, and somehow stayed in it. That is the Wizards loss, Pelicans loss, and the Raptors loss. We were bad offensively and defensively for the most part of those games. Like proper bad.

[letmk]

I would say that right now Dubs are still a far better team. But with LA and West playing major minutes, the Spurs will gladly take advantage of the easy schedule. Any easy wins would make newcomers more comfortable with their transition to the Spurs system. And IIRC, the 2014 team could only beat bad teams until around All-star break. It turns out fine.

[Perry Mason]

I forget where I read it (Hollinger maybe), but I understand that beating down mediocre teams, rather than winning by small margins against both bad and good teams (like Chicago), has a much better correlation to going deep in the playoffs and winning titles.

Perhaps it is a little counterintuitive, but it makes sense. 2013-2014 Spurs had that in spades through 2/3 of that season. It takes a seriously disciplined and talented team to beat mediocre teams consistently by large margins. Those good habits will carry a team deep into the playoffs.

[Perry Mason]

And GSW have also had the easiest (or close to the easiest) schedule this year.

[Horse]

This team has been an absolute abomination in crunch time and lost games they absolutely had no business losing. Not to say this Spurs team doesn't have potential, but I don't even think this year's team is a lock to push a second round series to 7 games assuming the Clippers improve and OKC is looking much better lately.

My god fuck yourself with this bullshit we're just getting started, this is no where near where we'll be in march-april.

[TheMulletMan3000]

My god fuck yourself with this bullshit we're just getting started, this is no where near where we'll be in march-april.

cliff jumping in december because 22-5 is not enough for a team that has 40% new players.

[Kawhitstorm]

When the Spurs have shown up to play for all 48 minutes, they have won all those games with a majority of them being blowouts. They mailed it in against the Pelicans/Raptors, played very sloppy against the Wizards & Pop lost the Bulls game by trotting out Diaw/West against the Noah/Gibson frontline:downspin:. The OKC loss is an outlier as it was the season opener & LMA's first game as a Spurs (Tony was also tentative & got outplayed by none other than Dion Butters:lol).

[cjw]

This is true, but it's more true at the end of the season than at the start of it, when there are fewer games played and the schedule is subject to a lot of variable.

Case in point: The Spurs are currently ranked 27th in the NBA in Strength of Schedule. The Warriors, meanwhile, despite posessesing by the far the league's best record, are tied for 17th.

http://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

Spurs average opponent has been (assuming 27 games played) is 12.7 wins / 14.3 losses. Warriors average opponent has been 13.3-13.7 (they've played 26, but wanted to go apples to apples).

The Spurs' SOS gets artificially impacted by playing the Sixers twice. Without the Sixers game, they'd be middle of the pack at 50.4%. Replacing the Sixers with a .500 team the Spurs should handle twice would put them just closer to 50%. I know that's cherry-picking and Spurs could have lost to a .500 team, but want to show you how close the numbers actually are.

SOS also doesn't take into account when people are playing or not. Cousins played against the Spurs, but missed BOTH games against the Warriors. Kings are 1-7 without him, and 9-8 with him. Coincidence? Don't forget how Greg Monroe just crushed GS in the post.

If you wanted to hang your hat squarely on SOS, the Rockets have the easiest one and are still sub .500.

[MultiTroll]

Warriors have been better so far.
Non issue.
We will be playing the Warriors and other contenders soon enough.

Need to start tonight by beating the Clippers, wiping out that Popped playoff loss.

[Chinook]

I just can't believe we're going through this "Spurs haven't beat good teams," meme again. If it turns out the same way it did in 2014, I'm cool with it, I guess.

[el contusione]

cakewalk schedule ... still not convinced
I agree. The only two good teams we have played are okc and chicago. Mind you okc was the first game of the season. However, it is still a good sign that SPURS are beating teams that they should be beating. Unlike last year where they were losing to teams like the knicks and lakers. Tonight against the clippers would be a good test.

[Fireball]

Tonight IS a good test ... the Clippers played well the last 10 games and have improved defensively. Really pumped for tonight's game ... where is the game thread?

[Uriel]

Spurs average opponent has been (assuming 27 games played) is 12.7 wins / 14.3 losses. Warriors average opponent has been 13.3-13.7 (they've played 26, but wanted to go apples to apples).

The Spurs' SOS gets artificially impacted by playing the Sixers twice. Without the Sixers game, they'd be middle of the pack at 50.4%. Replacing the Sixers with a .500 team the Spurs should handle twice would put them just closer to 50%. I know that's cherry-picking and Spurs could have lost to a .500 team, but want to show you how close the numbers actually are.

SOS also doesn't take into account when people are playing or not. Cousins played against the Spurs, but missed BOTH games against the Warriors. Kings are 1-7 without him, and 9-8 with him. Coincidence? Don't forget how Greg Monroe just crushed GS in the post.

If you wanted to hang your hat squarely on SOS, the Rockets have the easiest one and are still sub .500.
Wow, I didn't know SOS was that close. Thanks for letting me know.

However, another thing to consider is that the Warriors just came from a tough 7-game road trip, while the Spurs have been playing teams who have been playing on the 2nd night of a back to back nonstop.

There is no doubt that if the Spurs and Warriors switched schedules, their records would be much further apart than they currently are.

[james evans]

The warriors are who we thought they were. Run them off the 3 point line, make stephanie curry work on defense, and pound the rock inside and you'll beat them. Their defense sucks. They're making draymond green out to be fucking Mutombo in the paint and the bucks are killing them tonight. 2 games within 7 days this is happening. Plus MCW is making Curry work on defense. Taking him at will. Where is that "great defense"?

[r0drig0lac]

The warriors are who we thought they were. Run them off the 3 point line, make stephanie curry work on defense, and pound the rock inside and you'll beat them. Their defense sucks. They're making draymond green out to be fucking Mutombo in the paint and the bucks are killing them tonight. 2 games within 7 days this is happening.

our team is not so athletic as the bucks, the pnr defense of their seems to be faster than our

[james evans]

our team is not so athletic as the bucks, the pnr defense of their seems to be faster than our
that's true too, but our offense in the paint is a hell of lot better than theirs though

[r0drig0lac]

that's true too, but our offense in the paint is a hell of lot better than theirs though

I think the problem is that our team does not attack the rim like them, even kawhi not seem to want to have contact (unless you're facing lebron james), we will need simmons this series