Happy re Spurs, Good Start, When Before?

[Rummpd]

Except for one egg game, against what in fact might be a better than expected team, - Spurs right where they should be after 6-7 games of season but rarely are = they are keeping the hot teams such as Dallas and Utah in their gunsights and perhaps will open up some permament room on the Wolves and other threats for top seeds.

It appears that both Duncan and Manu are at A level most nights and as Parker gets it going this team could be something like 16-4 easy over first 20.

When was the last time the Spurs got off to a great start and therefore, did not need a sublime surge to seek top or near top seed? Seems like a long time ago that they did but cannot recall which year.

MadDoc :smokin

[ShoogarBear]

Not long ago at all.

2001-2002 they started out 20-4, then played .500 ball for about the next 35 games.

[Rummpd]

Thought it was longer than that, was Duncan injured in that time or something?
Thanks,

[MI21]

No he wasn't just a hot start against weak competition.

Spurs struggled against all the Top teams that year, but they had a good record due to beating up on lower teams.

[slayermin]

If anything the Spurs have handled all the press about them being the favorites in the West, very well so far.

Manu is the epitome of efficiency, except for the TO's.

[TMTTRIO]

Manu is the epitome of efficiency, except for the TO's.

Hopefully he can work on that. I noticed last night he only had one turnover which was better than his three or four, but with his style of play I don't know.

[SpursFanInAustin]

No he wasn't just a hot start against weak competition.

Spurs struggled against all the Top teams that year, but they had a good record due to beating up on lower teams.

You can also throw the struggles in midseason that year due to the injuries of key role players like Bruce Bowen and Danny Ferry, especially Bowen. The Spurs were forced to start Charles Smith (a guy who showed flashes of brilliance, but wasn't expected to be in the rotation) in for Bowen. The Spurs defense had a major setback when Bowen broke his finger vs. Boston in January, and the outside shooting for the Spurs (other than Smitty) also took a nosedive.

[whottt]

No he wasn't just a hot start against weak competition.

Spurs struggled against all the Top teams that year, but they had a good record due to beating up on lower teams.

It wasn't just that...Bowen broke his finger in mid season, I think he was out about 30-34 games and it absolutely killed us. Drob made a great quote about Bruce that season...he said you never notice how much Bruce brings to the team until he isn't in the lineup. Drob was right...we struggled without Bowen, bigtime.

And also, IIRC, Smitty tore it up the first half of the season and sucked just as bad after the AS break. Steve Smith, the dream teamer, disappeared at the AS break that season and hasn't been seen since.


That team wasn't that bad once Bowen came back though...we took LA to 5 games in the semis...with Drob seriously injured and with Tony being held back by Pop on offense, and Duncan having to overcome the trauma of losing his Dad.

We were very competitive with LA that season in the playoffs, I believe we had double digit 4th quarter leads in all 5 games of that series...and what mainly did us in was our lack of outside shooting, and Drob's back being pretty much gone for good...Smitty sucked bigtime, was the main reason we lost, and Ferry had a broken wrist. Still, IMO, you could see the championship potential in the core of that team...all it took was adding a couple of pure shooters like Jax and Kerr...and a game breaking pest of 2 guard named Manu.

[Kori Ellis]

2001-2002 they started out 20-4, then played .500 ball for about the next 35 games.

Whottt's right. The reason for the bad record after the hot start was Bowen. He missed 23 games with a broken finger and the Spurs were sub .500 during that stretch. Fortunately (yes, fortunately) he never missed a game since that time. *knock on wood*

[FromWayDowntown]

For what it's worth, the "Bowen Effect," circa 2001-02:

Games 1-33: 25-8
Games 34-56: 11-12 (Bowen injured)
Games 57-82: 22-4
Games 1-82: 58-24

Total with Bowen: 47-12
Total w/o Bowen : 11-12

[SequSpur]

Stfu Gw.

[Nikos]

I remember that season, or at least the end of it and the playoffs. The Spurs looked much better than the prior season when they faced the Lakers. Things were starting to look up for the teams future and in terms of their ability to compete with the Lakers. Drob still had a season or two left of solid play, Duncan was getting even better, Bowen was a stabilizer on D, Tony Parker showed tons of promise.

Interesting thing to note, despite not having a traditional 'second scorer' that season, the Spurs still had the 8th best offense in the league and were 1st in defensive efficiency. Another funny thing was Pop took into the idea of platooning his players around Duncan, and to a lesser extent David Robinson. Most of the supporting cast played 21-30mpg, with no one playing over 30mpg (Drob was 2nd on the team with 29.5mpg). Many of the support players usually had defined roles. Steve Smith was a solid scorer but not really an all around player. Antonio Daniels was a solid overall player, but a tweener, Parker was young but good. Danny Ferry and Porter were veterans who could shoot but not play major minutes. Bowen was a defensive specialist. Lot of solid pieces that were molded around TD and David. But still not quite enough come playoff time.

Below I have listed their basic stats. Drob was the second best scorer, with Smitty at #3. However all three of the top scorers were very efficient. Drob got to the line, Steve Smith hit his threes, Duncan didn't miss his FT's. Daniels was rock solid as well. And Parker although not efficient had very good nights of play. Not to mention the pure shooting and efficient scorering on a low shot attempts by Danny Ferry and Terry Porter.

Name G Mpg PPG RPG APG
Tim Duncan 82 40.6 25.5 12.7 3.7
David Robinson 78 29.5 12.2 8.3 1.2
Steve Smith 77 28.7 11.6 2.5 2
Malik Rose 82 21.0 9.4 6 0.7
Antonio Daniels 82 26.5 9.2 2.1 2.8
Tony Parker 77 29.4 9.2 2.6 4.3
Charles Smith 60 19.0 7.3 2.2 1.3
Bruce Bowen 59 28.8 7 2.7 1.5
Terry Porter 72 18.0 5.5 2.3 2.8
Danny Ferry 50 16.0 4.6 1.8 1
Stephen Jackson 23 9.9 3.9 1.1 0.5
Jason Hart 10 9.2 2.6 1.3 1.2
Mark Bryant 30 6.9 1.9 1.5 0.3
Amal Mccaskill 27 5.7 1.9 1.3 0.1
Cherokee Parks 42 5.6 1.5 1.4 0.2

True, most of the guys didn't perform up to par come playoff time, mainly Steve Smith -- but this was a rock solid regular season team that was every bit as solid as Sacramento and LA that season. Still, when the playoffs were all said and done, the future still looked promising.....