GT#48: San Antonio Spurs @ Washington Wizards 2/5 7:00PM

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

And Toronto and ATL losses make this one sting even more.

[stevemcqueen1]

And Toronto and ATL losses make this one sting even more.

I don't know that they make it sting more. It's a silver lining to me.

But it will sting if we wore the Spurs out for Brooklyn to beat them handily tonight. Or if we lay an egg against the Cavs on Friday, that would really suck too.

[Nivek]

Stats question for Kev et al.

Margin of victory is generally considered a good measure of team strength, yes? How do we interpret this individial data point then? We lost by 7, which is a large margin, but at the end if regulation and OT the game couldn't have been closer. Is the thought that this all washes out when the data is aggregated over 82 games?

Over the course of the season, it balances out. My guess is that there's already been a game this season that was a complete nail-biter until the last 30 seconds that the Wiz won by 6 or 7.

It is kinda weird when you think about it that scoring margin is the best measure of team strength given "quirky" final scores like this. I guess another way of thinking about it is that every minute counts. The Wizards played the Spurs to a draw for 53 minutes, but got outscored by 7 in the last 5.

[DCZards]

Forgive me, but I haven't read much of the thread yet. But I was in the house last night and wanted to share my impressions -- without the influence of the broadcast, WizTwitter, much in the way of highlights, etc.

Here are my takeaways, in no particular order.

1) Tim Duncan is the greatest player of the post-Jordan era. Because he doesn't crave attention, he'll never get the due that Shaq, Kobe, Lebron, etc. got, but give me Duncan over all of them. To put together the game that he did last night at his age.... Just, wow.

2) In all my years of seeing opposing fans invade DC stadia, I've never seen anything like that night. It wasn't just their sheer numbers -- I suppose I've seen more Celtic or Flyer fans at times -- but Spurs fans seemed to have 8 of every ten seats in the lower bowl from the sections extending behind their bench to behind he basket. It's like someone figured out how to buy that block of seats and then sold them to only Spurs fans. It was shocking b/c that's not a fan base that has traditionally "traveled" and they aren't a glamour/bandwagon team. Perhaps a factor is DC's significant Latino population? Anyhow, their fans weren't obnoxious in the slightest, but it does suck to be dominated in your own building. Some day when our fan base recovers and rebuilds, we'll have a home court advantage.

Fish, I was also in the house last night and I want to respond to your first two comments.

Duncan is one of the most awkward looking, slow-footed big men I've ever seen play, but when he gets the ball he is almost unstoppable. I marveled at the way in which he would methodically and patiently just push (not sure that's the right word) closer to the basket and end up with a layin or short jumper. I was like--how does he do that so effortlessly.

Yes, the joint was full of SA fans. I was also a little surprised. A Spurs fan sitting next to me asked me if the opposing team always has so many fans at Zards games. I told her it's often the case for Knicks, Boston, Lakers and Heat games, but the Spurs fans may have outdone even the fans of those teams. I think the turnout of Spurs fans has to do with the fact that they're a winning franchise and people gravitate toward winners and, as you suggest, the large Latino population in the D.C. area.

[fishercob]

Zards, seeing the amount of ground Duncan covers on D -- like when he blocked Wall's layup attempt late -- makes me think he's not slow-footed at all. Nene should follow his lead and lose some weight to take pressure off of those joints.

[DCZards]

Zards, seeing the amount of ground Duncan covers on D -- like when he blocked Wall's layup attempt late -- makes me think he's not slow-footed at all. Nene should follow his lead and lose some weight to take pressure off of those joints.

Yeah, before last season Duncan got in better shape and had a real comeback season. He hasn't done quite as well this season but you couldn'te tell from last night's performance. Less weight does indeed take a lot of the strain off the joints, especially the knees. I've have two knee operations and after each one the first thing the doc told me was to keep my weight down.

Didn't mean to suggest that TD is slow-footed, just that he often looks that way.

[dckingsfan]

I really didn't understand why Randy didn't sub in Booker/Seraphin during the OT periods. The entire team was dog tired and Randy blew it big time IMO.

I think he was trying to close it out - and you can't really argue with the end of the 1st overtime period. I thought it would have helped to have Seraphin in (I can't believe I am saying that) at the start of the 2nd overtime to provide some structure to the offense and stay away from Wall Hero ball.

I thought Randy did a good job, just not a great job.

[FAH1223]

Zards, seeing the amount of ground Duncan covers on D -- like when he blocked Wall's layup attempt late -- makes me think he's not slow-footed at all. Nene should follow his lead and lose some weight to take pressure off of those joints.

Yeah, Duncan lost 20 pounds I think after the 2011 playoffs when they lost to Memphis in the first round. Definitely has made him more effective the past couple seasons and although he had a rough start in November, he's really played well the past couple months and is starting to regain last season's All NBA Form.

[Higga]

Uuuugh tough loss. Wittman blew this one. Should have sat Nene/Gortat more. We were gassed late while the Spurs had no names lighting us up after Parker got hurt and even after Duncan fouled out late.

This was a loss on the coaching, once again. Why can't we consistently get open looks? The Spurs we're getting wide open looks with inferior players(besides Duncan).

[Zonkerbl]

Ugh. This was a really painful loss.

I blame the spurs for drafting better players than we have.

[jivelikenice]

Wall's having to do so much. The Spurs aren't giving Ariza or Webster *anything* open on the perimeter, yet they're still able to clog the lane.

You can do that defensively when there's no stretch 4. W/o Beal at minimum, we don't have much of a chance late in games with only one guy with any ability to handle the ball.

[Nivek]

Duncan's career, by the way, is (in my eyes at least) a major indictment of how NBA awards are handed out, especially Defensive Player of the Year. For an 11-year stretch, he was The Anchor of a defense that was the league's stingiest 5 times, was 2nd 3 times, and was 3rd twice.

During that span, the Spurs allowed 98.7 points per 100 possessions -- best in the league. The 2nd best defense was Detroit -- at 102.0 points allowed per 100 possessions. This is an oceanic gap. The difference between the Spurs defense during those years (1997-98 through 2007-2008) and the number two defense is the same as the difference between number two and number 20.

Duncan has played in a great system with terrific teammates and a great coach. But, during the time we have on/off stats available (since 2000-01), the Spurs have allowed 99.0 points per 100 possessions when he's been on the floor vs. 104.1 when he's been out of the game.

And yet, he's never won DPOY. He's probably the single best defender since Bill Russell -- certainly since Hakeem -- and somehow that's never been recognized by whoever it is that votes for the DPOY award.

By the way, in the defense part of PPA, Duncan rates as the league's top defender this season and last.

[Nivek]

One more thought on Duncan and DPOY voting. In 2000 and 2002, Duncan didn't receive a single vote for the award despite anchoring the league's 2nd ranked defense both years. Others getting votes those years: Bo Outlaw, Anthony Mason, and Kendall Gill. For his career, Duncan got about 7% of the possible DPOY voting "points". Duncan never finished higher than third in DPOY voting (he did it twice). According to his ranks in DPOY voting, he's approximately the 8th best defender in the league during his career.

Over the last five years, the following players have received more votes for the award in given seasons: Battier, Bowen, Kobe, Josh Smith, Chris Andersen, Gerald Wallace, Sefalosha, Varejao, Grant Hill, Greg Monroe and Iman Shumpert.

[fishercob]

blogworthy, Kev! Duncan is criminally under-appreciated.

[dobrojim]

Awful effort. We may lose to another poor team at home

another poor team? Really? Come on man.

[FAH1223]

One more thought on Duncan and DPOY voting. In 2000 and 2002, Duncan didn't receive a single vote for the award despite anchoring the league's 2nd ranked defense both years. Others getting votes those years: Bo Outlaw, Anthony Mason, and Kendall Gill. For his career, Duncan got about 7% of the possible DPOY voting "points". Duncan never finished higher than third in DPOY voting (he did it twice). According to his ranks in DPOY voting, he's approximately the 8th best defender in the league during his career.

Over the last five years, the following players have received more votes for the award in given seasons: Battier, Bowen, Kobe, Josh Smith, Chris Andersen, Gerald Wallace, Sefalosha, Varejao, Grant Hill, Greg Monroe and Iman Shumpert.

Duncan's career, by the way, is (in my eyes at least) a major indictment of how NBA awards are handed out, especially Defensive Player of the Year. For an 11-year stretch, he was The Anchor of a defense that was the league's stingiest 5 times, was 2nd 3 times, and was 3rd twice.

During that span, the Spurs allowed 98.7 points per 100 possessions -- best in the league. The 2nd best defense was Detroit -- at 102.0 points allowed per 100 possessions. This is an oceanic gap. The difference between the Spurs defense during those years (1997-98 through 2007-2008) and the number two defense is the same as the difference between number two and number 20.

Duncan has played in a great system with terrific teammates and a great coach. But, during the time we have on/off stats available (since 2000-01), the Spurs have allowed 99.0 points per 100 possessions when he's been on the floor vs. 104.1 when he's been out of the game.

And yet, he's never won DPOY. He's probably the single best defender since Bill Russell -- certainly since Hakeem -- and somehow that's never been recognized by whoever it is that votes for the DPOY award.

By the way, in the defense part of PPA, Duncan rates as the league's top defender this season and last.

That's criminal. I can't believe he's never won DPOY. Unbelievable.

[dobrojim]

Just got home, caught the first three quarters on the phone.

Why has Beal not played in OT?

injured

according to the paper this morning, they had a 35 minute limit on him.
They used it up.

[dobrojim]

No respect for Wall on two drives in OT... and a half hearted challenge by Webster there...

Webster got clipped on a (moving?) screen by Splitter. But he hasn't exactly been great on defense tonight.

after I watched the DVR'd game, I switched over to espn and almost as soon as I switched
there was a play where the Heat fouled JamalCraw on a corner 3, on the follow through.
But we don't get that call when Danny Green fouls Beal on a very similar play.

Not nearly enough consistency in how NBA games are reffed, unless you want to say they
are consistenly inconsistent.

[dobrojim]

They have the players. But not the coach. Pops is just better

I agree, what a difference a great coach makes. We pissed away this game.

What? Pops is better? Newsflash. Might be the best coach of all time.

his credentials speak for themselves

that said, (you know this is coming), the Spurs should have fouled MIA up 3 with the
shot clock off in game 6. They would have won the freakin champyunshihp. Nobody's perfect.

[Kanyewest]

No respect for Wall on two drives in OT... and a half hearted challenge by Webster there...

Webster got clipped on a (moving?) screen by Splitter. But he hasn't exactly been great on defense tonight.

after I watched the DVR'd game, I switched over to espn and almost as soon as I switched
there was a play where the Heat fouled JamalCraw on a corner 3, on the follow through.
But we don't get that call when Danny Green fouls Beal on a very similar play.

Not nearly enough consistency in how NBA games are reffed, unless you want to say they
are consistenly inconsistent.

Yup- I'm not sure why officiating is so awful sometimes especially late in the games. Maybe the refs are old and they are tired at the end of these games.