Defense Wins Championships

Earlier in the year I drew comparisons to several of the Spurs loses and victories by focusing on their opponent's field goal percentage. When it exceed 50% the opponents won. Just like clock work the Spurs have used their Rodeo trip to fine tune their playoff engines. Since that trip we have seen marked improvement in there offense and defense but most importantly their defense. Over the last 10 games the Spurs defense has held opponents offense to 41% and the results are a 9-1 record during this time. What happens next? With the acquisition of Kurt Thomas, the Spurs appear primed to improve on their defense, a defense that has earned them 4 championships. Could a 5th championship be on the way? Time will tell.

Is It Gambling Time?

The trade deadline is less than 3 weeks away. The Lakers acquisition of Pau Gasol probably have alot of GMs thinking trade, trade trade! The Spurs have acquired point guard, Damon Stoudamire (former teammate of Gasol) but could the Spurs make another unexpected trade before the deadline? Sure, why not. Of all the possible players/teams in the trade market, my bet would be a trade between the Spurs and Kings. If the Kings are looking for cap flexibility similiar to want prompted Memphis to trade their only all-star, then the Spurs have the perfect deal for them. Kings receive shooting big man (Matt Bonner) to compliment Brad Miller and Brent Barry's expiring contact. The Spurs acquire Ron Artest! Perhaps this trade is onesided, (I am a Spurs fan, of course it would be onesided) but if it works for the Lakers why not the Spurs.

Youth Movement

Happy New! Have you taken notice? Are you paying attention to what the defending champs are doing? While all the media attention has been focused the red hot Celtics and steady Pistons, the Champs have quietly amassed a tidey 21-8 mark at this point. More importantly, they have infused their roster with youth and athleticism. The Spurs roster currently stand at 15 players, of the 15 players, only 6 have more than 6 years of nba experience. The Spurs also infused the team with athleticism at the wing position by adding Langford (6.4') and Demarr Johnson (6.9').
Both players are great on ball defenders and with Demarr's size and quickness, the opposing teams shooting guard or small forward will have a match-up nightmare. Look for the Spurs to continue in their 'throttle down' mode until their annual rodeo road trip next month while slowly intergrating the new players into their system. The youth movement has begun in San Antonio.

Suns Draw Firstblood

Last night's game is what Spurs and Suns fans have come to expect. Another game decided at the end...this time victory belonging to the visitors. Even though the Suns drew first blood in the best of four regular season games, my focus was on the match-up in the middle. There has been something a little off about Amare this season thus far; maybe it was the disappointing loss in the playoffs, the off-season trade speculations or the fact that there is no Kurt Thomas, meaning he will almost always be playing out of position. In the end, Amare did not play with the same intensity that we have come to expect. Ending with his eruption against the Duncan led Spurs in their 2006 playoff series, Duncan has systematically gotten the better of his younger counterpart. Stat will have another gaudy Duncan stat line to digest as Tim went for 36 points and 17 rebounds. The Suns may have drawn first blood but Rambo won the battle in the middle and this should be of utmost concern to the Pheonix Suns faithful.

Switching Positions

I've had a week to think about my next post. During that time the Spurs continued, business as usual until Duncan went down with a ankle/knee injury during the Portland game. It was this incident that generated much debate about what direction the team would go in IF there was no more Duncan this year. Thankfully, his injury was not serious and he may possibly see action tomorrow when the Spurs host the Jazz. Nonetheless, I still pondered the what IF. My conclusion is this.... the Spurs position or direction will always remain the same, they will continue to play with the same defensive intensity, cohesion and passion. The reason for this is because it would seem that the entire team is made up of players who are unselfish and can switch to any position on the court when necessary. Ginobli and Barry can play point, Elson, Horry and Bonner can handle the 3, 4, 5 spot when needed. In short, it is the entire team's ability to switch positions that gives the defending champions a greater chance to repeat this year than in years past.

A Few Cents More

The Spurs split their last two games against their division rivals, Dallas and Houston. Certainly with an 8 – 2 start there is no real cause for alarm, however there might be one area requiring more than the usual attention. Even though the Spurs managed to hold on for the win against the Rockets, they did not make much improvement in the opponent’s field goal percentage. Both the Mavericks and the Rockets managed to shoot over 50% against the Spurs defense. Contrast this number to their two games against the Buck and Lakers of which they won handily and we can readily identify the one area requiring a little more attention, the one area where a ‘few cents’ more makes all the difference between a win and a loss.

In Championship Form

The Spurs execution both defensively and offensively was flawless last night. Tony is establishing himself as the premiere point guard in the league and Manu is unstoppable in the early part of the season. The two played so well that Kobe took it upon himself to guard each on several occasions. In one sequence he got burned by manu's drive to the basket; with incredible english on the ball, Manu managed to roll it between Bynum's outstretched hands while Kobe trying to recover on defense clobbered Manu from behind sending him into the camera man thus resulting in a 3 point play. The Spurs spacing and outside shooting was at playoff level. This game was over midway through the 3rd and they did it without Duncan. They appear to be already in championship form.