SAN ANTONIO SPURS
2011-12 Regular Season Numbers:
Advanced Numbers
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4 Factors
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Overall
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#'s
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Rank
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Offense
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#'s
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Rank
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Defense
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#'s
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Rank
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Pace
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91.33
|
7
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eFG% Off
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53.0%
|
1
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eFG% Def
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49.0%
|
16
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Offense
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113.07
|
1
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TO% Off
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12.79
|
3
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TO% Def
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12.94
|
24
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Defense
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104.87
|
11
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Reb% Off
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25.01
|
24
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Reb% Def
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23.82
|
1
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Rebound
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50.59
|
11
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FT% Off
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19.85
|
19
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FT% Def
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17.01
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2
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The Spurs were two games away from reaching the Finals last season and that didn't look very hard to achieve looking at the way the team was playing and the fact that they had won the first two games of the series against Oklahoma City in the conference finals.
It’s important to know what happened to a team that had a 12-9 record at the end of January, good for the 8th place in the Western conference standings, just to completely dominate the season afterwards. Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson were good signings in the middle of the season (especially Boris Diaw) and the Spurs between the regular season and the playoffs had a sequence of 34 wins and just 3 losses.
The decisive day for the Spurs – January 29, 2012
In my opinion, the most important moment of the Spurs season happened in January 29th. In that day, the Spurs were facing the reigning champions Dallas Mavericks on the road and they were being crushed by the Mavs – as with just four minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, Dallas was winning by 67-49 when Gregg Popovich “gave up” on the game and replaced all their starters.
What happened afterwards? The second unit of the Spurs managed to make a spectacular comeback and sent the game to overtime. What would any “decent” head coach do afterwards? He would surely reinsert the starters into the court to have a bigger chance to win the game. But Popovich didn’t do that! He gave the opportunity to the players that made the comeback to play the entire overtime period as well. Eventually the Spurs lost the game by just one point, but Popovich “won” a team in that day and sent an important message to their players: whoever does a better job on the court gets to play.
01/29/2012
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Before
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After
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W/L
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12-9
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38-7
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Point dif.
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3.0
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9.1
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Pace
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89.5
|
92.2
|
Offense
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107.6
|
115.6
|
Defense
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106.4
|
104.1
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Rebound
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49.6
|
51.1
|
A/TO
|
1.8
|
1.9
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eFG%
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51.2%
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53.9%
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The Spurs improved in every area of the game, but it was on offense where the team became almost unstoppable. The team’s secret is that while the rest of the league was using a 7/8 players rotation, Gregg Popovich would use the whole bench! The Spurs bench led the league in minutes per game with 21.5 min/game, while being the most efficient bench in the league as well.
4 losses in a row to Oklahoma City in the playoffs
The Spurs formula continued in the playoffs and San Antonio quickly got rid of the Jazz and the Clippers. Against the Thunder, San Antonio won the first two games just to lose the following two games on the road. The Game 5 was the key game in the series and it revealed the failure of a winning formula when Popovich decided to insert Manu Ginobili in the starting lineup. Ginobili ended up having a wonderful game with 34 points, but the team’s philosophy changed and the Thunder’s bench outscored the Spurs’ bench by 40-22, winning the game and showing that they were the better team of that series.
Offseason moves 2012-13:
The Spurs have been by far the best organized team in the NBA for a while now and that’s due to the combination between coach Popovich and GM R.C. Buford.
For this season, the Spurs decided to maintain the same structure from last season (as they always do), while they decided to bring some players from Europe that they previous drafted or traded a few years ago.
One of these players was the French player Nando de Colo, who has been playing alongside Tony Parker and Boris Draw in the French national team, so he won’t be a total stranger in the middle of the organization.
However, the main goal of this offseason was Erazem Lorbek, who is possibly the best player currently in Europe and who has been playing in the team that has been dominating the European basketball: Barcelona. The Slovene had the option of leaving for the NBA on his second year of contract, something that the Spurs wanted to happen, but Barcelona offered him the biggest contract in team’s history and Lorbek decided to stay in Europe. With Lorbek, the Spurs would have had a frontcourt player with more offensive talent than any of the current frontcourt players of the team, barring obviously Tim Duncan.
Final Thoughts:
The Spurs maintain the same structure that gave them 34 wins in 37 games, so there are no doubts that they will be competitive this season. They have the best coach in the league and suddenly, the division that was considered to be the most competitive in the league is now a bit weaker with major changes happening in Dallas, Houston and New Orleans.
The key in here will be as always to know the level the team’s “big 3” will present. If Parker, Ginobili and Duncan continue to show the level they presented over the last few seasons, something that happened due to the excellent play management from Popovich, then the Spurs will be one of the main contenders to have the best record in the West during the regular season.
The problem will be in the playoffs against the explosiveness from Oklahoma City and the re-surging of the Lakers, but anyway history has been teaching us that we should never count the Spurs out with their high competition levels.
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Atlantic Division Northwest Division
Boston Celtics Denver Nuggets
Brooklyn Nets Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks Oklahoma City Thunder
Philadelphia 76ers Portland Trailblazers
Toronto Raptors Utah Jazz
Southeast Division Southwest Division
Atlanta Hawks Dallas Mavericks
Charlotte Bobcats Houston Rockets
Miami Heat Memphis Grizzlies
Orlando Magic New Orleans Hornets
Washington Wizards San Antonio Spurs
Central Division Pacific Division
Chicago Bulls Golden State Warriors
Cleveland Cavaliers Los Angeles Clippers
Detroit Pistons Los Angeles Lakers
Indiana Pacers Phoenix Suns
Milwaukee Bucks Sacramento Kings
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Atlantic Division Northwest Division
Boston Celtics Denver Nuggets
Brooklyn Nets Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks Oklahoma City Thunder
Philadelphia 76ers Portland Trailblazers
Toronto Raptors Utah Jazz
Southeast Division Southwest Division
Atlanta Hawks Dallas Mavericks
Charlotte Bobcats Houston Rockets
Miami Heat Memphis Grizzlies
Orlando Magic New Orleans Hornets
Washington Wizards San Antonio Spurs
Central Division Pacific Division
Chicago Bulls Golden State Warriors
Cleveland Cavaliers Los Angeles Clippers
Detroit Pistons Los Angeles Lakers
Indiana Pacers Phoenix Suns
Milwaukee Bucks Sacramento Kings
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