Leads over the past 2.5 weeks

[Mnky]

That's good to see. In all honesty this forum has a perfection obsession. They expect our backups to be better than other teams starters, and they expect our starters to be the best at the their position.. ever.

The team put together is a good team. They're coincidentally going against all time great teams in LeBron and Durant, two of the most dominant offensive players, choosing to stack the heck out of their teams. Which isn't to say that's a bad thing, everyone tries to get better, but the spurs can't expect to be the one best team every single year. No team can. Even the super teams haven't had more than 2 years of dominance resulting in a championship.

It's amazing the spurs have been so consistent. I say it all the time, but they've been the best franchise in all of sports the past twenty years.

And then you have people on here questioning Pop on whether he knows how to use fathead right.

Boy, I tell you.

Pop choosing to go big to counter the GSW was a good decision. Its really he only logical one.. who could they have brought in to out shoot Durant curry and klay? That didn't work so well for everyone trying to emulate them.

We will see how the season plays out. As always, I expect the spurs to get better as the season goes. Pop knows what he's doing.

[Dex]

That's good to see. In all honesty this forum has a perfection obsession. They expect our backups to be better than other teams starters, and they expect our starters to be the best at the their position.. ever.

The team put together is a good team. They're coincidentally going against all time great teams in LeBron and Durant, two of the most dominant offensive players, choosing to stack the heck out of their teams. Which isn't to say that's a bad thing, everyone tries to get better, but the spurs can't expect to be the one best team every single year. No team can. Even the super teams haven't had more than 2 years of dominance resulting in a championship.

It's amazing the spurs have been so consistent. I say it all the time, but they've been the best franchise in all of sports the past twenty years.

And then you have people on here questioning Pop on whether he knows how to use fathead right.

Boy, I tell you.

Pop choosing to go big to counter the GSW was a good decision. Its really he only logical one.. who could they have brought in to out shoot Durant curry and klay? That didn't work so well for everyone trying to emulate them.

We will see how the season plays out. As always, I expect the spurs to get better as the season goes. Pop knows what he's doing.

[GSH]

Top 5 team in every quarter...I guess that happens when you have a 30-7 record.

I'm surprised that we aren't lower for 1st quarters though...we have put up a lot of stinkers.

That 3Q is pretty damned amazing. The 4Q is pretty good, especially when you figure that there's a lot of garbage time involved. I would love to know how much of that third quarter margin is from the bench.



I'm surprised about the 1st quarter margins being bigger than the second, too. Actually, I'm a LOT surprised. Here's a really good article related to the subject of NetRTG by quarter, and how it correlates to W/L. http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2013/01/...g-and-quarter/

[GSH]

That's good to see. In all honesty this forum has a perfection obsession. They expect our backups to be better than other teams starters, and they expect our starters to be the best at the their position.. ever.

It's true. But there are plenty of people (like me) who mostly worry about Tony not being able to get to the rim, and Pau being a damn matador on defense.

Tony looking years younger has been pretty incredible news. Pau... not so much. Look at the article I posted just above, and you'll understand a little more why I'm concerned about the starting C being an invitation to score.

[BillMc]

That's good to see. In all honesty this forum has a perfection obsession. They expect our backups to be better than other teams starters, and they expect our starters to be the best at the their position.. ever.

The team put together is a good team. They're coincidentally going against all time great teams in LeBron and Durant, two of the most dominant offensive players, choosing to stack the heck out of their teams. Which isn't to say that's a bad thing, everyone tries to get better, but the spurs can't expect to be the one best team every single year. No team can. Even the super teams haven't had more than 2 years of dominance resulting in a championship.

It's amazing the spurs have been so consistent. I say it all the time, but they've been the best franchise in all of sports the past twenty years.

And then you have people on here questioning Pop on whether he knows how to use fathead right.

Boy, I tell you.

Pop choosing to go big to counter the GSW was a good decision. Its really he only logical one.. who could they have brought in to out shoot Durant curry and klay? That didn't work so well for everyone trying to emulate them.

We will see how the season plays out. As always, I expect the spurs to get better as the season goes. Pop knows what he's doing.

[cutewizard]

That's good to see. In all honesty this forum has a perfection obsession. They expect our backups to be better than other teams starters, and they expect our starters to be the best at the their position.. ever.

The team put together is a good team. They're coincidentally going against all time great teams in LeBron and Durant, two of the most dominant offensive players, choosing to stack the heck out of their teams. Which isn't to say that's a bad thing, everyone tries to get better, but the spurs can't expect to be the one best team every single year. No team can. Even the super teams haven't had more than 2 years of dominance resulting in a championship.

It's amazing the spurs have been so consistent. I say it all the time, but they've been the best franchise in all of sports the past twenty years.

And then you have people on here questioning Pop on whether he knows how to use fathead right.

Boy, I tell you.

Pop choosing to go big to counter the GSW was a good decision. Its really he only logical one.. who could they have brought in to out shoot Durant curry and klay? That didn't work so well for everyone trying to emulate them.

We will see how the season plays out. As always, I expect the spurs to get better as the season goes. Pop knows what he's doing.

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Magnifico!

[Splits]

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Magnifico!

i shaved, bae

[Cry Havoc]

Nice post. I remember in 2014 we used to dread 3rd quarters. Problem solved apparently. Now, its slow starts....ever season has its thing....

Well, if our first quarters were better we'd be blowing teams out by historic margins.

Complete dominance from tip to tip is something not even the 96 Bulls had. Many nights it felt that way, but their MOV was smaller than ours was last season if memory serves.

[GSH]

Well, if our first quarters were better we'd be blowing teams out by historic margins.

Complete dominance from tip to tip is something not even the 96 Bulls had. Many nights it felt that way, but their MOV was smaller than ours was last season if memory serves.

I don't have the energy to do it right now, but I really wonder if the Spurs doing better in first quarters coincided with Pop subbing for Pau earlier in first quarters.

Yeah, coming out playing defense and giving up 30 point first quarters is a big problem. I don't think a lot of people here understand how much of a problem it is if they do it against good playoff teams. Especially IN the playoffs.

[Cry Havoc]

I don't have the energy to do it right now, but I really wonder if the Spurs doing better in first quarters coincided with Pop subbing for Pau earlier in first quarters.

Yeah, coming out playing defense and giving up 30 point first quarters is a big problem. I don't think a lot of people here understand how much of a problem it is if they do it against good playoff teams. Especially IN the playoffs.

For sure. Falling behind in the playoffs is not a habit you are likely to win a le with. What's good lately is that both our bench and starting unit seem to be playing well -- earlier in the year it seemed to be one would consistently bail the other one out.

Also, it seems that if we can destroy teams in the 3rd, we should theoretically be able to shut them down in the 1st. Our defense is far and away the best in the NBA this year (along with Memphis). So that points toward a potential for putting the clamps on early.

[GSH]

For sure. Falling behind in the playoffs is not a habit you are likely to win a le with. What's good lately is that both our bench and starting unit seem to be playing well -- earlier in the year it seemed to be one would consistently bail the other one out.

Also, it seems that if we can destroy teams in the 3rd, we should theoretically be able to shut them down in the 1st. Our defense is far and away the best in the NBA this year (along with Memphis). So that points toward a potential for putting the clamps on early.

So are you going to do the digging to see if the Spurs improved 1Q performance is linked to fewer 1Q minutes from Pau? I've had flu for the first time in probably 10 years, and I still feel like I'm in a rented body. Surely someone has a cool research tool that will let them automate it?

I dig into the numbers because memory will fool you. My perception is that Pau has been shamefully bad on defense at times (many times), and that has fueled a lot of the 1Q debacles. Maybe he's really gotten better, and I've been too negative about him. But my first guess is that Pop has subbed him out earlier.

Like Fox Mulder said - "I want to believe".

[NameLess Scrub]

Guys, stop getting your hopes up. You know Spurs will get the Clippers before the WCF so they can have their 15 mins of brilliance.

[tonight...you]

So are you going to do the digging to see if the Spurs improved 1Q performance is linked to fewer 1Q minutes from Pau? I've had flu for the first time in probably 10 years, and I still feel like I'm in a rented body. Surely someone has a cool research tool that will let them automate it?

I dig into the numbers because memory will fool you. My perception is that Pau has been shamefully bad on defense at times (many times), and that has fueled a lot of the 1Q debacles. Maybe he's really gotten better, and I've been too negative about him. But my first guess is that Pop has subbed him out earlier.

Like Fox Mulder said - "I want to believe".

Flu sucks. Hope you feel better soon bro.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I still don't trust this team's interior defense at times, seen a lot of layup drills this season but good to see those stats

Spurs are 7th best at opponent points in the paint allowed.

We start 1sts off terribly but usually recover by the end of the quarter.

Yep - top 5 in first quarter margin.

[Cry Havoc]

So are you going to do the digging to see if the Spurs improved 1Q performance is linked to fewer 1Q minutes from Pau? I've had flu for the first time in probably 10 years, and I still feel like I'm in a rented body. Surely someone has a cool research tool that will let them automate it?

I dig into the numbers because memory will fool you. My perception is that Pau has been shamefully bad on defense at times (many times), and that has fueled a lot of the 1Q debacles. Maybe he's really gotten better, and I've been too negative about him. But my first guess is that Pop has subbed him out earlier.

Like Fox Mulder said - "I want to believe".

6:24 down 12-11 (Dedmon)
5:42 down 18-21 (Dedmon)
4:28 up 28-10 (Lee)
6:04 up 12-6 (Lee)
7:12 down 19-11 (Simmons)
-No record of Pau subbing out vs Phoenix-
5:09 up 26-8 (Lee)

These are the past 7 games, newest to oldest. Our run of blowouts (minus Atlanta) actually began 8 games ago, but Pau was inactive for the first blowout of the current run.

It does look like Pau is routinely only playing the first half of 1Q, but he is not often being subbed for Dedmon until recently.