I know I made excuses earlier in the year for the Spurs' poor showing in the opponent's field goal percentage category, but this is getting ridiculous. 26th in the league? Behind teams who don't even play defense such as the Sonics and the Knicks?
The Spurs have always been near the top of the league in this category and to a Spurs fan, it's arguably the most important stat year in and year out. 26th after one game is unacceptable. 26th after 15 games is unimaginable.
I don't overly care about winning and losing at this point of the season but the defense should never be this bad. I'd much rather the Spurs be 8-7 near the top of the league in this category than to be 12-3 and near the bottom of the league. All that winning how the Spurs are winning is doing is creating bad habits.
If this were Jan or Feb, I'd be concerned.
The point diff is a more telling stat.
They'll lock down when they're ready which will probably be after Pop throws the annual 'soft' label out. This team is too smart and too experienced not to realize what makes a champ.
this just goes to show what kind of team we are supposed to be.
we don't care about the win-loss, we don't care about power rankings, we don't care about the division standings, we only care about our championship-winning defense.
and right now, our defense sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls.
but I'm pretty sure now that we lost one to the Kings, of all teams, it will dawn on the Spurs that maybe winning the way they've been winning is not the way to go. And I'm sure Pop is making sure that the point comes across to the players.
Timvp I remember last year, though not as bad, the team seemed to be winning using offense instead of defense and some of the same issues were also brought up. Do you think that the trend continues as last year and sometime around Feb March things will eventually change or do you believe this might be a real problem?
Pop already started the defense siren last night.
See: http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82328
Yet they are 3rd in PPG allowed and 2nd in +/- differential. I wouldn't get too upset just yet.
Would you rather the Spurs be say #6 in the statistical ranking and be 3-9 in the win-loss column? Chillax. Your team is 12-3.
By the way, I can't believe I just used the word "chillax."
26th in the league is pretty bad. Actually its really bad. The Spurs are usually top five if not top three in this category. Thank God its still early in the season.
So who do you blame for this atrocity?
And to think...we haven't even played the Suns yet.
What makes it even more strange is that Bruce Bowen is having one of the strongest starts to his career ever...and Brent Barry is actually trying on D...so where does the blame lie?
There aren't enough Bruce Bowens to go around on D.
it seemed as though it was the 2nd line of defense that was crumbling... everytime a player would drive on us, tim was a bit late and the shot was barely contested. at one point i swear they had about 5 layups in a row.
When you're the defending champs and in the middle of a dynasty teams have a tendency to step it up against you.
"where does the blame lie?"
Apart from Francisco, our bigs don't seem very committed to shutting down Spurs' paint or closing out short jumper shooters. As Tim goes, so go the Spurs, on both ends.
The perim defenders don't seem to be staying close to their guy, permitting open jumpers.
Offense is fun, defense is hard, it's November.
Finley has alway been terrible on D. I mean, absolutely horrible. I love the guy, but...it is what it is.
And nobody has ever said Parker is a defensive stopper.
Manu and Bruce have both been playing good D so far. Timmy seems to be way down on that. Fab seems to be doing ok.
Sooo...
Finley, Tony and Tim probably all need to step it up some on D. We all know Timmy can do that. Finley can't. And Tony...??
Start Brent. He's earned it...imho.
I'm hopeful it's not a real problem. If there is one coach who can make a team flip the switch and start playing defense -- it's Pop.
But unless the Spurs turn it around on their own soon, they might need some losses to get their attention.
I was just trying to figure that out. The odd part is Bowen, Ginobili, Parker, Barry and even Finley are all playing right around their normal level of regular season defense. Bowen has actually been ahead of schedule this season.
But I think I found the answer. While the Spurs allow teams to shot only 33% on three-pointers, they allow teams to shoot 49.7% on two pointers. 49.7%. I haven't done the math but that might be the worst in the league.
When teams shoot that well on two-pointers, the problem usually lies in the middle of the defense. Duncan has been in full regular season mode defensively (in other words, not that good) but that has been compounded by the lack of defense the Spurs are getting out of the other big. Oberto, Elson, Bonner ... none of those guys have done much defensively so far this year. Oberto has been decent at times but sometimes he's loafs on that end of the court. Bonner has been horrible defensively and Elson has oscillated between horrible and very bad.
Also, not to be forgotten is the fact that Horry hasn't played yet. Even at 55 years old, Horry is by far the second best bigman defender on this team. By far. Without him and without dominant postseason defense out of Duncan, the middle of the Spurs defense is beyond weak. The Spurs are 24th in the league in blocked shots at 4.26 per game. That's probably one of the lowest marks in Spurs history. Duncan is averaging a career-low in blocks (1.9) and the player second on the team in blocks per game is Ian Mahinmi
Elson for being as tall and athletic as he is, is averaging a pathetic .47 blocks per game. Fabricio Oberto is averaging as many blocks as Tony Parker (.2).
The problem is the bigs. Get well soon, Horry. And get well soon to whatever has robbed Elson of his shotblocking ability.
Where's Rasho when you need him. I honestly think Tim needs to step up his defense, but its not all on him. Fabricio is doing a good job boards and getting layups, but I don't think anyone fears him when they get in the paint. The team as a whole needs to step up Whott. I don't think you can blame one person for the team's "soft" defense.
The only thing Francisco has been committed to this season is fumbling passes.
He is looking more like Nazr Mohammed.
Well to improve the situation it's time for Pop to free Ime Udoka.
Ime hit 40% from 3 last season and with consistant minutes playing along Duncan should be able to match that mark. Udoka can also play some serious D and should be getting more run than he is now.
I also hate to say it but I think Elson needs to play a little more as well. He helps on the boards and makes it harder for opponents to get easy putbacks when he is out there.
As i see it, the minutes would have to come from Finley and Bonner and give Elson 6 more minutes a game and Udoka a solid rotation spot and 10 more minutes a game. Finley just isn't producing at a high enough level to warrant that much playing time and Bonner is getting too many minutes for what he contibutes on D and the boards.
That is really interesting. I also believe that the problem is interior defense. I really hope this is a thing that can be turned around during the season.
I only thing i "like" about this is, that the Spurs still win. If they manage to go back to their usual defense along with their good offense they are tough to beat.
robert horry was usually good for a block or 2 ... and sometimes even more than that in his occasional game where he plays 10 years younger.
looks like that might be the reason there.
Opponent's PPG is a deceiving stat because the Spurs play at a slower pace than anyone and the Spurs don't foul. With those two traits combined, the Spurs have to be near the top of the league in opponent's PPG.
That is true.Wait for december it will be different basketball category.GO Spurs Go.
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