I just though I'd take a moment to post some numbers for any of you interested in taking a look at the teams performance since Tony Parker went down due to injury on March 1. From left to right, I've ranked the games from lowest to highest in OFG%. Win or loss is indicated in parentheses (also, FYI, you might have to mess with browser zoom view to get tabular data to align well (make text a little larger than normal?).

................ DET (W) CHI (W) OKC (W) DAL (W) CLE (W) MIN (L) POR (L)

O-FG% ... .326 ....... .367 ........ .429 .......... .446 ....... .506 ....... ..537 ...... .616

O-ORtg. .. 76.5 ....... 95.7 ......... 104.6 ....... 99.3 ....... 117.3 ....... 112.7 ...... 144.0

O-3PT% . .316 ....... .450 ......... .353 ......... .421 ........ .467 ........ .600 ...... .619

SpursTO .. 11 ........... 12 ............. 12 ............ 15 ........... 18 ............. 16 ......... 12

Listed below are the bench players (minutes in parentheses) used for each game, up to 10 players, with a ten minute minimum.

........... DET (W) CHI (W) OKC (W) DAL (W) .. CLE (W) . MIN (L) .. POR (L)

Bench . SJ (26) Manu (26) GN (26) Manu (28) Manu (26) PM (24) Manu (24)

.......... Manu (22) PM (22) Manu (24) GN (25) ... ND (24) ... BD (23) ... SJ (20)

........... DJB (20) .. SJ (17) .. BD (18) .. BD (23) ... BD (23) .. Manu (22) . PM (18)

............ PM (16) ... BD (12) .. SJ (16) .... SJ (11) .... SJ (18) .... ND (20) ... BD (15)

............ ND (14)........................................................................... DJB (16) ... MB (14)

Some summary data, and observations (speculations) from both tables above:

Corey Joseph - started all 7 games - 20.7 mpg. - record: 5-2

Gary Neal - bench-qualified in 2 games - 25.5 mpg. - record: 2-0

Patty Mills - bench-qualified in 4 games - 20.0 mpg. - record: 2-2

Nando DeColo - bench-qualified in 3 games - 19.3 mpg. - record: 2-1

DeJuan Blair - bench-qualified in 2 games - 18.0 mpg. - record: 1-1

Matt Bonner - bench-qualified in 1 game - 14.0 mpg. - record: 0-1

Manu Ginobli, bench-qualified in all 7 games - record: 5-2; Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson - bench-qualified in 6 of 7 games - Jackson's record: 5-1; Diaw's record: 4-2.

• Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair only play in blowouts (either way), or in relatively meaningless minutes (for "coasting", "garbage duty", and "short stints to rest others" , or as a desperate options to shake things up when others are not playing well). In short, their entry for few, unpredictable minutes into very few games could not reasonably be perceived as a principle reason for the team's struggles. Pop is mainly sticking to a 3-big line-up.
• Corey Joseph, is being looked at as a possible sub for Tony Parker at the PG spot. However, it is probably mainly with an eye for next season.
• Mills and De Colo are being looked at as combo guards to see whether one of them is capable of stealing any minutes from Neal (if Gary were to continue to under-perform) as a 4th guard in this upcoming postseason.
• This fluctuating bench guard rotation has made it a bit more difficult for the defense to gel on the perimeter in the absence of Tony Parker, since each of them bring different styles, and strengths and weaknesses.
• The 7-game pattern above suggests that the team struggles to win even more without Parker when the OFG% gets above 45%.
• The O-3PT% has been horrible in the absence of Parker (5 of the 7 games above 42%).
• To me, the stats say we've only played two good games in the absence of Parker: Chicago, and OKC. Detroit was decent, but a lousy opponent played horrid in that game. Also, we could have easily lost to Dallas and Cleveland, and got blown out against Portland and Minnesota.
• Counterintuitively, the absence of Parker actually hurts our defense over the short-term even more than our offense for a variety of reasons, not just because he's better than his substitutes in defensive cover's and closeouts. The team has to dig deeper in defensive effort due to inevitable deteriorating efficiency at both ends. It has thus far failed to consistently respond in this regard. This is not a positive playoff sign (insufficient mental toughness and resiliency), with or without Parker, which rightfully has Pop disappointed and fuming.

These are just some of my thoughts. What do any of you have to add, or counter with?