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Study Hall: Spurs burn the Nets

The Spurs struggled in the first half before clamping down in the second and smothering the Nets with a balanced attack, dominant rebounding and stifling defense to claim their first victory of the year.

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Spurs 102, Nets 75 - Oct 30, '15

The Spurs started off reasonably well, taking a 4 point lead into the 2nd quarter, but completely lost their way in the frame, scoring just 14 points en route to a 5-point halftime deficit.  The second half was a different story as the Spurs outscored the suddenly hapless Nets 60-28.  The Spurs ball movement looked better and their defense and rebounding were outstanding as Brooklyn simply couldn't buy a shot.  

Statistic of the night: Spurs +11 in Expected Offensive Rebounds.  That is the kind of stat that can turn a close game into a comfortable victory.  Or in this case, a comfortable victory into a route.  The poor Nets managed just 2 offensive boards on the night - by comparison, Boban Marjanovic tallied 3 in a single late-game possession.

Two more stats that probably sent Pop to bed with a smile on his face: the Nets' combined second chance and fast break points: 0.  It doesn't get any better than that from a "little-things" standpoint.

Another quintessentially Spursy aspect of this game was the remarkably balanced attack - the Spurs had 6 players in double figures, 5 in double figures for Adj. GS, and no one played over 30 minutes.  Granted, this was a blowout, but it's encouraging to see the Spurs be effective with such a varied attack.  Kawhi Leonard came back down to Earth after his 32-point showing against OKC, and the Spurs as a team didn't skip a beat (although they did skip that second quarter).

That being said, it's exciting to see LMA atop the AdjGS chart for the first time as a Spur.  He did a little bit of everything in this one, playing assertive defense, dominating the boards, spreading the ball around and taking it to the rack.  In the second half he even broke a smile and appeared to be enjoying himself for the first time this year. That's scary for the rest of the league, for whom a relaxed, confident LaMarcus might spell certain doom.

Jesus Gomez, in his pre-season writeup, mentioned the need for the Spurs to make up for Bellinelli's lost shooting.  In game 1, they didn't, going just 5-15 as Danny went 0-5 from deep.  Against the Nets on Friday, Danny shot his career average, going 2-5 from downtown, and Patty Mills nailed 3 of 5 as the Spurs shot a reassuring 40.9% on 22 threes.  

Last year, the Spurs experienced some marked regression in three point percentage, with Diaw and Mills both falling from over 40% to 32% and 34% respectively.  So far this season, Boris is sitting at 100% while Patty is struggling to keep up with a lackluster 62% from deep.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say if those two keep that up, the Spurs won't feel Marco's absence at all.

I think I speak for all Spurs fans when I say that the most unexpectedly enjoyable part of the night was Boban Marjanovic's debut.  The BFG (a nickname I'm hoping will stick) quickly amassed 6 points, 5 boards, an assist and 2 TOs in just 4:34 minutes of play, racking up an impressive 66% Usage Rate and a team high 49.5 Net Rating.  The implication is clear: if Boban plays 40 minutes a night, he will average 53 points, 44 boards, 9 assists and 18 turnovers and hold opponents under 50 points for the night.  Make it happen, Pop.

It was great to see the Spurs exhibit the kind of lock-down D, head-spinning ball movement and accurate shooting that made them the 2013-2014 Finals champs, and so early in the season.  Hopefully we see less and less of that second quarter funk and more of the execution the second half brought in this one.  If so, it'll be a fun year.

Four Factors (def.)

Spurs Nets
Shooting (eFG%) 49% 44%
Ball Handling (TO%) 18% 16%
Off Rebounding (OR%) 29% 4%
Shooting FTs (FT Rate) 15% 20%

Team Stats (Definitions at bottom of post)

Spurs Nets
Pace (No. of Possessions) 97.2
Points Per Possession (PPP) 1.05 0.77
Points Per Shot (PPS) 1.19 0.97
2-PT FG% 48.4% 42.6%
3-PT FG% 40.9% 31.3%
FT% 100.0% 53.3%
True Shooting % 55.6% 44.9%
Spurs
Nets
Offensive Rating 104.4 77.6
Defensive Rating 77.6 104.4
Net Rating 26.7 -26.7
Spurs Nets
Passes / poss. 3.6 3.2
% of FGA uncontested 44.2% 46.8%
Points in the paint 44 30
Second chance points 15 0
Fast break points 9 0
Spurs Nets
Assists 23 17
Steals 7 6
Turnovers 18 15
Ball Control Index (BCI)
(Assists + Steals) / TO
1.67 1.53
Spurs Nets
Expected Offensive Rebounds 10.5 11.5
Offensive Rebounds 12 2
Difference 1.5 -9.5

Spurs Shot Chart

Nets Shot Chart

Players (Definitions at bottom of post, columns sortable)

Spurs

Player
Min
AdjGS
GS/Min
Line
Usage%
Floor%
OffRtg
DefRtg
NetRtg
LaMarcus Aldridge 30 15.3 0.52 10 Pts (5-11 FG, ) 11 Reb (5 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 TO 18% 51% 117.0 70.6 46.4
Tim Duncan 29 15.1 0.52 15 Pts (4-7 FG, 7-7 FT) 8 Reb (0 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO, 2 PF 19% 67% 115.8 70.1 45.8
Patty Mills 18 14.9 0.81 11 Pts (4-6 FG, 3-5 3PT ) 3 Reb (1 Off), 3 Ast, 14% 75% 87.4 95.5 -8.1
Manu Ginobili 22 13.4 0.62 12 Pts (5-12 FG, 2-6 3PT ) 5 Reb (0 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO 26% 48% 108.4 74.9 33.5
Kawhi Leonard 26 11.1 0.43 16 Pts (6-16 FG, 0-2 3PT, 4-4 FT) 10 Reb (1 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 4 TO, 3 PF 38% 39% 104.5 73.6 30.8
Tony Parker 24 9.2 0.39 10 Pts (5-8 FG, ) 1 Reb (0 Off), 4 Ast, 1 TO, 3 PF 17% 64% 123.5 74.2 49.4
Danny Green 27 8.1 0.30 8 Pts (3-6 FG, 2-5 3PT ) 4 Reb (2 Off), 2 Ast, 2 TO 14% 43% 115.2 82.2 32.9
Boris Diaw 19 7.4 0.40 7 Pts (3-5 FG, 1-1 3PT ) 3 Reb (0 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 2 PF 16% 51% 90.3 93.0 -2.7
Boban Marjanovic 5 5.9 1.28 6 Pts (2-5 FG, 2-2 FT) 5 Reb (3 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO 66% 43% 90.1 40.5 49.6
Ray McCallum 6 2.9 0.50 2 Pts (1-1 FG, ) , 2 Stl, 1 TO, 1 PF 13% 44% 84.2 39.2 45.0
Rasual Butler 11 1.1 0.10 3 Pts (1-4 FG, 1-3 3PT ) 1 Reb (0 Off), 15% 26% 96.2 105.1 -9.0
Kyle Anderson 11 0.5 0.05 0 Pts (0-1 FG, ) 2 Reb (0 Off), 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 3 PF 4% 0% 76.6 56.0 20.6
David West 14 -2.9 -0.21 2 Pts (1-4 FG, ) 3 Reb (0 Off), 2 TO, 2 PF 18% 16% 80.3 99.7 -19.4

Show Nets Players

Spurs Index: 105.5 (def.)

Factor Value Score
Passing (AST%) 57.5% 27.8
Shooting (eFG%) 48.8% 18.2
Defensive Rebounding (DReb%) 95.7% 25.1
Defense (DefRtg) 77.6 25.8
Opponent % of FGA Uncontested 46.8% 8.7
Total 105.5

Nets Spurs Index: 90.0 Show Breakdown

Confused? Show Advanced Stats Glossary