Spurs #2 in these Quantitative Power rankings

[Rummpd]

http://teamrankings.com/nba/sanpower.php3


If not bookmarked encourage all to check out this site, especially if "betting house on the game":

Interesting power rankings on all NBA teams, Spurs #2 vs. Suns.

Lots of stats, seems well done. Current

Power Ratings
By division
Last Updated Sun Jan 09 07:30:37 EST 2005

Home Advantage = 3.0272



Team
Rating
v. Top 5
v. 6-10
v. 11-16
1. Phoenix (29-4) 111.47 2-1 4-3 6-0
2. San Antonio (28-7) 109.88 4-2 3-2 9-1
3. Miami (27-8) 106.76 0-3 7-1 7-2
4. Seattle (23-8) 106.68 4-1 4-1 3-5
5. Dallas (22-10) 105.07 1-4 5-1 3-2
6. Sacramento (21-11) 103.40 2-4 3-2 2-1
7. Cleveland (20-12) 102.04 1-3 3-0 3-2
8. Washington (19-13) 102.01 1-6 2-3 3-3
9. Minnesota (17-15) 101.98 3-4 4-3 3-1
10. Memphis (18-17) 101.29 1-6 1-5 7-1

Team
Rating
v. Top 5
v. 6-10
v. 11-16
11. LA Lakers (17-14) 101.02 0-7 1-4 1-1
12. Detroit (18-14) 100.83 2-2 3-3 3-1
13. Orlando (18-14) 100.64 3-3 1-1 2-4
14. Philadelphia (15-17) 100.36 1-5 1-3 4-2
15. Boston (15-19) 99.516 2-5 2-4 2-5
16. Portland (14-17) 99.268 2-6 0-3 3-2
17. Denver (14-18) 99.199 2-7 2-2 4-4
18. Indiana (16-15) 98.929 0-3 3-2 3-4
19. LA Clippers (16-16) 98.894 1-3 1-4 2-5
20. New York (16-17) 98.820 0-4 3-5 3-4

Team
Rating
v. Top 5
v. 6-10
v. 11-16
21. Houston (16-17) 98.627 1-3 4-2 2-4
22. Chicago (13-18) 98.218 0-5 3-3 5-3
23. Milwaukee (12-19) 97.811 0-6 1-2 2-8
24. Toronto (12-22) 97.752 2-4 2-4 3-5
25. Utah (11-24) 95.907 0-8 0-2 4-5
26. New Jersey (12-21) 95.624 0-5 1-5 1-4
27. Golden State (11-22) 95.183 1-4 2-5 1-6
28. Charlotte (8-22) 93.098 0-3 1-6 2-3
29. Atlanta (5-26) 90.209 1-7 0-7 2-3
30. New Orleans (3-29) 88.909 0-5 1-7 0-6


MadDoc

[wildbill2u]

I'm curious as to how these power rankings will change as the Western conference teams play each other more. Since there are so many in the top ten, unless one team really starts to start a win streak against the other Western teams, won't their power ratings go down as they beat each other?

I'm not sure I explained that very well. Hell, I'm not a math major. :smokin

[Rummpd]

Spurs keep winning especially against top 6 will be ok. Notice that Suns few losses have come against stronger teams - rolling over everyone else.

Boy they are impressive again of late though - Spurs to be tested on the 21st.

MadDoc

[boutons]

"Notice that Suns few losses have come against stronger teams - rolling over everyone else."

My poinst last week: PHX has beaten everybody they're suppposed to beat losing only to good teams, giving away nothing. SA has given away games to lesser teams, as well as giving away the 2nd SEA game (as well as some crappy wins over lesser teams, eg, DEN). PHX should be first, and it will take more consitency than SA has shown to take first place from them.

[TwoHandJam]

"Notice that Suns few losses have come against stronger teams - rolling over everyone else."

My poinst last week: PHX has beaten everybody they're suppposed to beat losing only to good teams, giving away nothing. SA has given away games to lesser teams, as well as giving away the 2nd SEA game (as well as some crappy wins over lesser teams, eg, DEN). PHX should be first, and it will take more consitency than SA has shown to take first place from them.
It's true that the Suns have been more consistent against the beatable teams than we have but I don't think we'll absolutely need more consistency (although I agree, we should develop it) to overtake them in the standings for two reasons.

1) They've benefitted from an easier schedule as they've only played half the number of top 5 teams as we have so far according to those stats.

2) They rely on their starting 5 for over 90% of their scoring output. We joke about them having no bench but they really have no bench. This increases the chances of them breaking down come playoff time. Nash in particular has a history of this, and he's really the head of the snake.

Their reliance on their starters also puts them at great risk of dropping in the standings should they suffer an injury to any one of their starting 5.

[Solid D]

The Spurs need to watch out for the Mavericks in their own division. Reason?

The Mavs were without Michael Finley for basically 15 games. They lost 7 during that time (counting the partial game loss versus Orlando when Finley went out with his injury). The Mavs have only lost 3 with Finley there for the end and Finley had a shot at tying the game at the end against Seattle in his first game back from injury.

Both of the Spurs wins against the Mavs this season were without Finley. If all goes well, Finley will be starting on Friday when they come to the SBC Center.

[boutons]

"They rely on their starting 5 for over 90% of their scoring output"

PHX has a more balanced offense, all 5 starters avg 15+ PPG!! Spurs have only 3 players averaging double figures, and a pretty sharp dropoff after those 1st 3 scorers. Malik averaged 10 PPG in 02/03. There is little chance that any Spurs bench player will avg 10 PPG this season, so the comforting depth of the Spurs bench is not really scoring depth.

But that's no big problem as long as the Spurs can reliably crank up the defense.

[Solid D]

Head-to-head thusfar, as someone recently compared the top teams:

It's like rock, paper scissors. The Spurs beat the Suns, the Suns beat the Sonics, Sonics beat the Spurs.

It all boils down to playoff performance, though. See Red Sox v. Yankees, Pistons v. Lakers etc.

[Rummpd]

Agree totally that first priority is staying ahead of an improved Dallas (1-3 first round to division leads and sets up later series) - you do not want the 4th seed this year (or any other) year.

MadDoc

[TwoHandJam]

"They rely on their starting 5 for over 90% of their scoring output"

PHX has a more balanced offense, all 5 starters avg 15+ PPG!! Spurs have only 3 players averaging double figures, and a pretty sharp dropoff after those 1st 3 scorers. Malik averaged 10 PPG in 02/03. There is little chance that any Spurs bench player will avg 10 PPG this season, so the comforting depth of the Spurs bench is not really scoring depth.
Not true. An individual bench player does not have to average 10ppg for a bench to be considered to have scoring depth. Usually our bench scores by committee without having a standout on any given night.

Our five reserves score an average of 30.1 ppg compared to the Suns 21.4 ppg. That is a pretty significant differential.

Also, just because the Suns starters all average double figures doesn't neccessarily mean they have a more balanced offense. The dropoff from their starters to their bench is very pronounced. So much so that their coach barely plays the bench.

Even though the Suns offense is potent, you could argue that our offense is more balanced in that there isn't marked differential in offense during substitutions. Yes, the Suns are proficient in scoring the ball but that proficiency is a more tenuous one as it depends so heavily on the 5 starters and their consistency from game to game. Fatigue will also likely come into play late in the season.