Spurs keep dominating defensively.

[2pac]

I'm not talking about rebounds, points against or opposing FG% that you can see every Tom, and Charles Barkley yell about on your favorite post game show.

What I am talking about is opposing assists. The Spurs disrupt passes and offenses better than anyone in the league - by a long shot.

Tonight - the Spurs played the hapless Golden State Warriors. Tony Parker had 9 assists in 28 minutes of play. In the 240 total minutes that the Warriors played (5 players always on the court for a 48 minute game) the Warriors had 9 assists.

Ehh - so what? A poor team with a poor coach - what does that prove? To tell you the truth - nothing. But it is just the latest showing of a team that has been doing this all year.

The Spurs' opponents are averaging 15 assists per game - or just a couple more than Steve Nash. The next two teams are Memphis and New Jersey - both of whom are playing slow ball to keep the games close while they play without injured players like James Posey or Jason Kidd.

The Spurs are keeping the pace up - scoring an average of 96 PPG while allowing their starters to rest more than any top team in the league. Against Golden State, Tim Duncan played 27 minutes and Tony Parker played 28. Duncan is only averaging 35 MPG and Parker has 33. The Suns have four players averaging more minutes than Duncan.

Coach Gregg Popavitch's swarming defense forces players to try to take players one-on-one. This forces point guards to try to move past lightning-quick Tony Parker. When that does not work, its time to try getting the ball to your best wing player - who happens to be guarded by the best perimeter defender not facing rioting charges in Detroit.

When all else fails try to get it inside - if you have a post presence that can deal with two agile seven foot defenders. Both are good enough defenders that the Spurs guards are not forced to collapse into a double team - allowing for easy open shots - they can keep their man at bay while the post struggles to get the ball past Duncan or center Rasho Nesterovic.

Getting past the Spurs quick and agile defenders has proven to be difficult. Getting an easy backdoor pass or setting up an open shot has proven all but impossible.

And as new players like Brent Barry and Beno Udrih may struggle for a while to learn this unmatched defense - the rewards will be held above their heads again in June 2005 as Coach Pop proves once again that solid fundamental basketball wins Championships.

[timvp]

Very nice post. I don't get why people don't understand that the Spurs win or lose with defense. That is the reason why Pop is playing hardball with Barry ... you don't play D, you don't play. It's as simple as that.

The Spurs didn't become the best defensive team in the league by giving new players free passes. If they don't adapt quickly, they'll have to figure it out in practice. To Barry's credit, it seems like he did just that.

Beno got burned again by Speedy, but that's just an impossible matchup. Speedy is a top five point guard when it comes to quicks, so Beno is just going to have to learn how and where to funnel him.

The untold secret of the Spurs' defense this year is Tony Parker. He's turning into an All-NBA defender. It's amazing to see how much better he's gotten from seasons past.

[MannyIsGod]

Offense can go by the wayside for even the best offensive teams and it can cost you in the playoffs unless you have a solid defense to keep you in games.

Just look back at the Lakers series last year.

[exstatic]

Offense can go by the wayside for even the best offensive teams...

I remember reading something almost exactly like that from Pop. He said something like offense comes and goes, but the defense can ALWAYS be there with effort.

People were ING about the game last night, how the offense stalled, and we couldn't hit our FTs. THAT'S why you emphasize defense. A lesser defensive club would have given the game away. As it was, in spite of the off night by the offense, the defense strangled them, allowing just 67 points, and it was a 16 point win.