biba
12-03-2007, 03:42 PM
Good article about the Spurs game evolution.
Spurs adapting, winning like always
Mike Kahn Special to FOXSports.com
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7520720
Numbers can do anything you like when it comes to arguments in sports ... sing, dance or even do handsprings in some instances. In other words, they can tell an entire story or be nothing more than an illusion.
So when it comes to the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs cruising through the first 20 games of the season, the initial reaction is to stifle a yawn, look at the defensive statistics and see where superstar Tim Duncan ranks among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.
Well, a quick peek at Duncan, finds him uncommonly sliding in statworld — his bruised right knee and sprained right ankle Sunday night in their win over Portland notwithstanding.
While the argument over whether he should be at center or power forward on the All-Star ballot continues to rage, Duncan's numbers are considerably lower than the norm. Well, his norm, at least. He's 41st in scoring at 18.6, 20th in rebounding (9.3) and 18th in blocks (1.82) ... so it would be natural to think the Spurs are down, both in the standings and statistically.
Think again, as you peruse what's happening in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. Despite all the plaudits being tossed around about the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and upstart New Orleans Hornets, there sit the Spurs at their typical perch at 15-3 overall and 10-0 at home.
What's odd is they are giving up more points per game than any time since Duncan was the first overall pick of the 1997 draft. But there is an obvious reason. While Duncan continues to be the same comfortably diverse dominant player at a different level, coach Gregg Popovich has opened up the team's style to the game of today.
They are running every chance they get with the dynamic backcourt combination of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili now becoming the more significant barometer of how this team is going. Sure, everything still revolves around Duncan, and the multi-headed center crew still knocks people around inside, while Bruce Bowen continues to be the most annoying and effective perimeter defender in the league.
But the big difference is how Popovich has given the game to Parker and Ginobili. Both have continuously added to their offensive statistical totals in each of the past three years to reach career-highs of 20.3 points for Parker and 19.9 for Ginobili. They also are recording the best assist and rebound totals of their careers as well.
In other words, they are getting the ball and are focused immediately at getting into their offense early, at the very least, if not a fast-break layup. Thanks to the extraordinarily quick Parker, who seemingly glides above the floor all the way to the rim better than anyone in the league, they can now score points by the handful.
That explains something else. The Spurs are allowing 92.8 points a game this season, up from 90.1 last season and 88.8 the year before. But at the same time, their scoring differential is 8.8, which is more than either of the past two seasons. They're averaging 101.6 points per game, which is more than they've averaged since the pace of the game changed in the 1990s.
Granted, this transition by the Spurs is also reflective of the changing times in the NBA, since the rules prohibit any use of the hands or other obstruction on the perimeter. Not only has it benefited slashers like Parker and Ginobili, but the pace of the game has increased with the 10-second line lowered to eight seconds.
This is just one more example of Popovich's hold on the game today. With three players that continue to play at the level of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, they are eminently capable of dominating at either style of play. And perhaps more important, it has nudged both Parker and Ginobili into a higher level of productivity on a game-by-game basis.
There were plenty of people figuring Parker would suffer a big dropoff this season in the wake of a letdown from his NBA Finals MVP award and his subsequent, highly publicized marriage to actress Eva Longoria. Instead, he just continues to get stronger and more diverse, his shooting range expanding and becoming more consistent.
As for Ginobili, there doesn't seem to be any preference at all from either him or Popovich to return to the starting lineup. He has gone in and out for several years now, but they now seem to have settled on him in the sixth man role. Ironically, he is averaging more minutes this season than either of the previous two — dating back to the 2004-05 when he averaged slightly more.
The result is they are equally proficient at divergent styles, and few teams in the league have figured that one out. The Utah Jazz are getting there, but at not quite the same level yet. The Denver Nuggets are trying too, but with not quite the success of the Jazz.
And everybody is wondering how the new trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will fare over the long haul of the season after a wildly successful start in Boston, while the Detroit Pistons work hard at trying to reinvent themselves in the same manner.
Despite all of those possibilities on the periphery, there is no such experimentation going on with the Spurs. They've already got it figured out. They can play fast. They can grind it out. Obviously, they can get it done however necessary.
So much has been said over the years about the Spurs' good fortune when All-Star David Robinson went down six games into the 1996-97 season for the duration with a broken foot, they slid into the lottery and won it. That gave them the rights to draft Duncan, of course, and the rest has created the most storied history in San Antonio since the Alamo.
But for all the good fortune of having that duo to build around, it was always Popovich, and later general manager R.C. Buford, that the additions were orchestrated with the big-picture fit in mind. Parker was the last pick of the first round in 2001, Ginobili was the 57th pick of the 1999 draft and didn't come to the Spurs until 2001.
They had already won their first title before they arrived, and they've won three more in the last five years. Considering the ease with which they continue to make transformations, it will be foolish to believe there aren't a few more left in Pop's bag of tricks.
It's just a matter of deciding which way they want to play in the process.
Spurs adapting, winning like always
Mike Kahn Special to FOXSports.com
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7520720
Numbers can do anything you like when it comes to arguments in sports ... sing, dance or even do handsprings in some instances. In other words, they can tell an entire story or be nothing more than an illusion.
So when it comes to the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs cruising through the first 20 games of the season, the initial reaction is to stifle a yawn, look at the defensive statistics and see where superstar Tim Duncan ranks among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.
Well, a quick peek at Duncan, finds him uncommonly sliding in statworld — his bruised right knee and sprained right ankle Sunday night in their win over Portland notwithstanding.
While the argument over whether he should be at center or power forward on the All-Star ballot continues to rage, Duncan's numbers are considerably lower than the norm. Well, his norm, at least. He's 41st in scoring at 18.6, 20th in rebounding (9.3) and 18th in blocks (1.82) ... so it would be natural to think the Spurs are down, both in the standings and statistically.
Think again, as you peruse what's happening in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. Despite all the plaudits being tossed around about the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and upstart New Orleans Hornets, there sit the Spurs at their typical perch at 15-3 overall and 10-0 at home.
What's odd is they are giving up more points per game than any time since Duncan was the first overall pick of the 1997 draft. But there is an obvious reason. While Duncan continues to be the same comfortably diverse dominant player at a different level, coach Gregg Popovich has opened up the team's style to the game of today.
They are running every chance they get with the dynamic backcourt combination of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili now becoming the more significant barometer of how this team is going. Sure, everything still revolves around Duncan, and the multi-headed center crew still knocks people around inside, while Bruce Bowen continues to be the most annoying and effective perimeter defender in the league.
But the big difference is how Popovich has given the game to Parker and Ginobili. Both have continuously added to their offensive statistical totals in each of the past three years to reach career-highs of 20.3 points for Parker and 19.9 for Ginobili. They also are recording the best assist and rebound totals of their careers as well.
In other words, they are getting the ball and are focused immediately at getting into their offense early, at the very least, if not a fast-break layup. Thanks to the extraordinarily quick Parker, who seemingly glides above the floor all the way to the rim better than anyone in the league, they can now score points by the handful.
That explains something else. The Spurs are allowing 92.8 points a game this season, up from 90.1 last season and 88.8 the year before. But at the same time, their scoring differential is 8.8, which is more than either of the past two seasons. They're averaging 101.6 points per game, which is more than they've averaged since the pace of the game changed in the 1990s.
Granted, this transition by the Spurs is also reflective of the changing times in the NBA, since the rules prohibit any use of the hands or other obstruction on the perimeter. Not only has it benefited slashers like Parker and Ginobili, but the pace of the game has increased with the 10-second line lowered to eight seconds.
This is just one more example of Popovich's hold on the game today. With three players that continue to play at the level of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, they are eminently capable of dominating at either style of play. And perhaps more important, it has nudged both Parker and Ginobili into a higher level of productivity on a game-by-game basis.
There were plenty of people figuring Parker would suffer a big dropoff this season in the wake of a letdown from his NBA Finals MVP award and his subsequent, highly publicized marriage to actress Eva Longoria. Instead, he just continues to get stronger and more diverse, his shooting range expanding and becoming more consistent.
As for Ginobili, there doesn't seem to be any preference at all from either him or Popovich to return to the starting lineup. He has gone in and out for several years now, but they now seem to have settled on him in the sixth man role. Ironically, he is averaging more minutes this season than either of the previous two — dating back to the 2004-05 when he averaged slightly more.
The result is they are equally proficient at divergent styles, and few teams in the league have figured that one out. The Utah Jazz are getting there, but at not quite the same level yet. The Denver Nuggets are trying too, but with not quite the success of the Jazz.
And everybody is wondering how the new trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will fare over the long haul of the season after a wildly successful start in Boston, while the Detroit Pistons work hard at trying to reinvent themselves in the same manner.
Despite all of those possibilities on the periphery, there is no such experimentation going on with the Spurs. They've already got it figured out. They can play fast. They can grind it out. Obviously, they can get it done however necessary.
So much has been said over the years about the Spurs' good fortune when All-Star David Robinson went down six games into the 1996-97 season for the duration with a broken foot, they slid into the lottery and won it. That gave them the rights to draft Duncan, of course, and the rest has created the most storied history in San Antonio since the Alamo.
But for all the good fortune of having that duo to build around, it was always Popovich, and later general manager R.C. Buford, that the additions were orchestrated with the big-picture fit in mind. Parker was the last pick of the first round in 2001, Ginobili was the 57th pick of the 1999 draft and didn't come to the Spurs until 2001.
They had already won their first title before they arrived, and they've won three more in the last five years. Considering the ease with which they continue to make transformations, it will be foolish to believe there aren't a few more left in Pop's bag of tricks.
It's just a matter of deciding which way they want to play in the process.