Regular season road record as a predictor

[Allanon]

All the champs since the Jordan era have had winning records on the road. Not sure about before that.

[mathbzh]

- Lack of turnovers is more about the offense they run. When your PG shoots more than he sets up others, it cuts down on turnovers.

Actually I was thinking more about the opponent TO. And not specifically about the Spurs (Spurs don't force a lot of TO).

[mathbzh]

Some good ones.
- SA fouling less has to do with their rep combined with less opportunities to foul because of less posessions.

This is not only a matter of pace. Portland has the lower pace in the NBA but is fouling more than SA.

- No question about 3 point shooting.

I don't see what you mean.

[2Cleva]

This is not only a matter of pace. Portland has the lower pace in the NBA but is fouling more than SA.

Portland doesn't have SA's rep. Plus they are young overall and aren't going to get the same call a vet does.

In regards to 3 point shooting, I thought you meant SA does well in that cat - which I agree. If you meant where SA is defensively - its not surprising considering whose defending the perimeter.

[rascal]

FG% allowed is a good indicator but not a complete one.
There are some other factors;
- SA is fouling less than any team in the NBA (18.74 FPG)
- SA is the best team in the NBA in Defensive Rebound Rate.
- 3 pt shooting.
- TO

You need to look at all the stats if you want to start breaking down specific categories where the spurs rank. How are they compared in easy points off transistion turnovers or points inside the paint area or total possessions, ect. The spurs will not fair well in those areas so crunching down on a few selective stats is worthless without considering everything.

[mathbzh]

You need to look at all the stats if you want to start breaking down specific categories where the spurs rank. How are they compared in easy points off transistion turnovers or points inside the paint area or total possessions, ect. The spurs will not fair well in those areas so crunching down on a few selective stats is worthless without considering everything.

This is exactly my point

[Horse]

I disagree; Phil is very adept at situational defense; his teams throw a switch in crunch time. He's made a habit out of doing that to the Spurs; just go back and look at the number of leads the Spurs have lost in the 4th quarter in the playoffs to the Lakers over the past decade - and last year, even. He doesn't preach defense like Pop does; but he is able to get it out of his teams when he needs to.

Somewhat agreed. But he's the best at preaching about officials inbetween games and that has won him as many games as shaq and kobe.

[Drachen]

I agree with the importance of FG % but if LA and the Spurs don't improve from 6th or 9th, neither one will make it to the finals. But the Spurs have a long history of turning up their defense in the playoffs, whereas it's not really clear that the current Lakers have the same ability.

I'm not sure, but I think you missed my point. I am saying that they have already improved past where their 9th place indicates. In order for them to have been able to average up from (I believe it was) 27th in the league after about 15-20 games, and to average up from 17th in the league in mid january, they have to have been playing at a level that is substantially higher than the 9th place indicates. Look at it this way, if the spurs had started out 3-17 to have the 27th best record in the league after 20 games, they have to play win more than the 1st place team (or second, or third) out of their next 40 games in order to make it to 9th place in the league after 60 games. Meanwhile, (and I could be wrong on this) I believe the lakers have been anywhere from 4th-6th all year long. This means that they have played at about the same level (never last, never first) for any meaningful stretch of games. I guess what it boils down to is, compare the last 20 games (I would think this is a large enough sample, but you may disagree) for the teams to get a true comparison of where each team is at right now for this particular statistic.