http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings
What do you think of the positions? Are the Celts the rightful owner of the number one spot? Is it right that the Lakers are above my Spurs?
BTW I posted Stein's since Hollinger's just unbelievable.
Seems about right to me. Spurs don't deserve to be any higher due to their ease of schedule.
The only slight is NO being behind Boston, even with the perfect record. That seems to be based mostly on Stein's opinion of the Celtics, but might as well give the Hornets their due while they deserve it.
Wow, what ?? Spurs over Suns and Rockets ?? Fake or what ?
Last I checked, we were behind the Rockets and every other terrible team in the league it seemed like. Glad to see we moved up.
It makes sense for the Suns to be high in Hollinger's rankings. We've had one of the hardest schedules to start the season, and have already beaten a handful of great teams (including the Jazz, Lakers, and the Hawks, who were undefeated at the time).
Don’t look now, but the Spurs are good
John Krolik
With all the talk about the Celtics, the Lakers, the Hornets, and the Heat going on right now, it’s pretty easy not to notice that the 8-1 San Antonio Spurs have the league’s second-best record. The Spurs haven’t had a very tough schedule, of course, and didn’t have a signature win on their record until last weekend’s thrashing of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Still, the story of the Spurs’ early success isn’t just about the fact that they’ve been winning games — it’s how they’ve been winning them that’s really interesting. The Spurs have been winning by scoring buckets at a breakneck pace, and they’ve pushed the ball more while relying on the aging Tim Duncan less and less.
Traditionally, San Antonio basketball has been built around three pillars — defense, methodical play, and Tim Duncan. But this season, the Spurs have been running and gunning. The Spurs aren’t a bad defensive team — they’re currently 8th in the league in defensive efficiency, mostly thanks to Duncan — but defense hasn’t been their main strength so far. Instead, it’s been the offense that’s carried the team. The Spurs are 5th in the league in offensive efficiency and 3rd in points per game, with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Richard Jefferson all off to blistering starts.
Even though none of those three players are getting any younger, the Spurs are still longer, more athletic, and more skilled on the perimeter than most teams are, and they’ve taken advantage of that by pushing the ball more than they ever have before. In 2007-08, the Spurs were 28th in pace factor. In 08-09, they were 27th. Last season, they were 20th. This year, the Spurs are currently playing at the sixth-fastest pace in the league — they play a full 2.6 possessions “faster” per game than the Suns (who rank 14th in pace factor) do, to give you some context.
Even though Duncan is still vital to the Spurs’ success, especially on defense, and the Spurs’ youth movement hasn’t really been blossoming (George Hill, Tiago Splitter, and DeJuan Blair are all off to slow starts), the Spurs’ early success has to be heartening for Spurs fans wondering what life will be like as Duncan gets closer and closer to the twilight years of his career. If the Spurs can keep playing the way they have, they’ll be a dangerous playoff team. If taking the load off Duncan in the regular season allows him to play like the Tim Duncan we’ve all come to know come playoff time, watch out.
wait what?
hey lefty, whats that picture of kobe in your sig?
What We Learned, 3.0
by Royce Young
Remember the Spurs? You probably aren't thinking about them. You're thinking about the Hornets who impressively moved to 8-0 over the weekend. You're thinking about the Lakers who despite losing two straight, look really, really good. You're thinking about if anyone can hang with a healthy Celtics squad. You're thinking about what's going on with the Heat.
But you probably aren't thinking about the San Antonio Spurs.
If you had to guess, what do you think their record is? Don't look. If I hadn't just watched them play Sunday night, I would've probably said 6-3. Maybe 7-2. Nope, the Spurs are 8-1 with only a loss to the undefeated Hornets. And they are winners of seven straight.
Every year without fail, we all try and write them off. We try and say, "Nah, this is when they get too old." But every year, again without fail, the Spurs are right there.
They are off to their best start since their last championship season in 2007-08 and have a roster that's completely clicking. Richard Jefferson is providing the extra scoring punch needed. Tony Parker is totally healthy and looking like his old self. Tim Duncan is settling in to a role that suits his older self perfectly. And the bench has guys like Matt Bonner (7-7 from 3 against Oklahoma City Sunday), Gary Neal and George Hill that can make an impact any given night.
It's just another boring old Spurs team again this season. And that's what makes them so dangerous.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...r-rankings.htm
USATODAY has Spurs #2 for what it is worth:
#2 San Antonio Spurs 8-1 5 The Spurs are third in points, second in assists, first in three-point field goal percentage and fourth in steals per game.
number 2 is too high for spurs.
4? thats better than i expected. seems about right though
i could believe the spurs offensive power ranking be #2
Meh. ESPN doesn't know about basketball. I'd be worried if they ever had us at #1.
The spurs have the 8th best defense in the league currently according to points allowed per 100 possessions. It really can't be stated any more clearly than that.
So i guess this league has only 5 funnier teams like us, maybe the media hast to rethink their stories.
It seems like Ive read a Spurs article like this for the past 3 years.
what's funny is you can pretty much insert [Mavs] for [Spurs] in this article and you'd never know the difference.
and fyi to the author, Spurs ship season was 06-07.
How much do you think Royce Young got paid for rehashing that same, generic article about the spurs?
Not bad for (probably) an hour and a half to 2 hours of work.
5 minutes of hack....by generic blogger
Remember the Mavs? You probably aren't thinking about them. You're thinking about the Hornets who had impressively moved to 8-0 over the weekend. You're thinking about the Lakers who despite losing two straight, look really, really good. You're thinking about if anyone can hang with a healthy Celtics squad. You're thinking about what's going on with the Heat.
But you probably aren't thinking about the Dallas Mavericks.
If you had to guess, what do you think their record is? Don't look. If I hadn't just watched them play tonight, I would've probably said 5-4. Maybe 6-3. Nope, the Mavs are 7-2 after beating the previously undefeated Hornets. And they are winners of four straight.
Every year without fail, we all try and write them off. We try and say, "Nah, this is when they get too old." But every year, again without fail, the Mavs are right there.
They have a roster that's completely clicking. Jason Terry is providing the extra scoring punch needed. Jason Kidd is totally healthy and looking like his old self. Dirk Nowitzki is settling in to a role that suits his older self perfectly. And the bench has guys like Brandon Haywood (17 rebounds against Philadelphia Friday), JJ Barea and Ian Mahinmi that can make an impact any given night.
It's just another crazy old Mavs team again this season. And that's what makes them so dangerous.
damn, these bloggers make easy money.
I'm not saying the Spurs should be number one (the Hornets should be), but the Spurs could win 20 in a row and one of the Lakers, Heat or Celtics would still be number one. That's ESPN for you.
, I waited and waited and waited for any mention of Bonner's 7 for 7 performance and all I saw from the OKC game was Ibaka's dunk over Neal and Bean's throw it off the backboard follow-up. The 4-Letter, king of big market agendas. Those 4 letters aren't espn, they are S-U-C-K.I'm not saying the Spurs should be number one (the Hornets should be), but the Spurs could win 20 in a row and one of the Lakers, Heat or Celtics would still be number one. That's ESPN for you.
Power Rankings 3-Up, 3-Down: Week 3
by Matt Moore
Our Power Rankings for Week 3 are out. Here at F&R, we'll give the the direct line to who was notable in the rankings from week to week. Here's three who are up and three who are down in week 3.
3-Up
San Antonio Spurs (1): 8-1, and their only loss to the also 8-1 Hornets. So why am I not as big on them as our distinguished Power Rankings Overlord? Probably because their signature win was against a Thunder team that can't decide which way the sun sets, or against a Suns team that let's face it, historically doesn't have much luck against them (last spring excepted). Confusing the issue is Tim Duncan's performance. Duncan's still doing all the things Tim Duncan does off-ball, but his rebounds, points, and percentages are down. That the Spurs are 8-1 despite that makes you wonder, can they really be this good without him playing up to TD standards, or conversely, how good are they going to be if he starts playing to that level?
In closing, Manu Ginobili owns your face. Thanks for your time.
*********************
Hit the link for the write ups.
Also Up:
Dallas Mavericks (2)
Utah Jazz (6)
3 Down:
Orlando Magic (7)
Denver Nuggets (12)
New York Knicks (24)
(fixed)
yup
I realized that we won 7 in a row.
IIRC, we did not even reach a 7 win streak at all last season. I think our most was 6.
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