An Analysis of Bench Production during 2015- 2016 season

[wildbill2u]

Why did Spurs Bench Fizzle Out in Playoffs?
http://projectspurs.com/2016-articles/why-did-spurs-bench-fizzle-out-in-playoffs.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-did-spurs-bench-fizzle-out-in-playoffs

Good long article with lots of points for discussion. Several theories are advanced by the writer so you should be able to grab one and run with it. :toast

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Good read, thanks.

What I noticed most, which he mentioned, was how the bench was playing the "beautiful game" for the first half of the season, then seemed to forget it and became stagnant and not nearly as effective. Pity, because they were out-playing the starters and winning games on their own to start the season.

[YGWHI]

Thanks for posting the article.

"When the bench faced tough competition in the Thunder defense, their play showed that their main quintet (http://projectspurs.com/2016-articles/spurs-seek-support-from-bench-vs-thunder.html) of Mills, Ginobili, Anderson, Diaw and West couldn’t match the size, speed, and length of the Thunder defenders either in the backcourt or frontcourt.
As theory 2 seems to indicate, maybe it wasn’t totally the offense shifting toward Aldridge and Leonard more, but instead, the level of competition actually gave hints in the regular season that the Spurs’ bench was eventually going to struggle when they faced a much better opponent."

[cd98]

Easy answer: Manu looked 38. He couldn't be the dominate creator and scorer off the bench. He made those guys better than they were the last few years.

[TheGreatYacht]

I'm going on a limb here:

Kyle Anderson got playoff minutes, that's why.