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

Player	Min	AdjGS	GS/Min	Line	Usage%	Floor%	OffRtg	DefRtg	NetRtg
Brook Lopez	32	22.6	0.71	17 Pts (6-11 FG, 5-6 FT) 3 Reb (0 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 3 PF	24%	57%	72.5	109.6	-37.2
Jarrett Jack	27	19.2	0.71	12 Pts (5-13 FG, 2-3 3PT ) 6 Reb (0 Off), 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO	27%	43%	71.5	117.0	-45.5
Shane Larkin	16	12.3	0.75	7 Pts (3-5 FG, 1-2 FT) , 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 TO	21%	59%	99.4	88.6	10.8
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson	26	11.4	0.44	10 Pts (5-7 FG, ) 4 Reb (0 Off), 2 Blk, 3 TO, 1 PF	19%	45%	85.4	82.3	3.1
Andrea Bargnani	16	6.0	0.37	5 Pts (2-4 FG, 1-1 3PT ) 1 Reb (0 Off),	12%	45%	93.4	105.7	-12.4
Thaddeus Young	28	5.1	0.18	9 Pts (4-11 FG, 1-2 3PT, 0-3 FT) 7 Reb (2 Off), 1 TO, 2 PF	23%	26%	74.3	116.4	-42.1
Thomas Robinson	15	4.0	0.26	2 Pts (1-2 FG, ) 4 Reb (0 Off), 2 Blk, 1 TO, 1 PF	9%	29%	86.9	75.3	11.6
Bojan Bogdanovic	20	1.8	0.09	6 Pts (3-6 FG, 0-2 3PT, 0-2 FT) 4 Reb (0 Off), 2 TO, 1 PF	23%	30%	98.3	95.2	3.1
Sergey Karasev	2	1.8	0.77	2 Pts ( 2-2 FT) , 1 TO	32%	56%	34.0	40.0	-6.0
Wayne Ellington	18	1.3	0.07	3 Pts (1-6 FG, 1-4 3PT ) 1 Reb (0 Off), 2 Stl, 2 PF	16%	14%	74.3	129.9	-55.6
Donald Sloan	5	-1.3	-0.27	0 Pts (0-1 FG, ) , 1 Stl, 1 TO	18%	0%	40.5	90.1	-49.6
Markel Brown	8	-3.4	-0.41	0 Pts (0-4 FG, 0-3 3PT ) , 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 PF	22%	9%	40.7	123.0	-82.3
Joe Johnson	25	-5.8	-0.23	2 Pts (1-7 FG, 0-1 3PT ) 2 Reb (0 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 5 PF	16%	15%	67.7	117.1	-49.3

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

Factor	Value	Score
Passing (AST%)	54.8%	26.5
Shooting (eFG%)	44.2%	16.4
Defensive Rebounding (DReb%)	71.4%	18.7
Defense (DefRtg)	104.4	19.2
Opponent % of FGA Uncontested	44.2%	9.2
Total		90.0

Confused? Show Advanced Stats Glossary

eFG%: Effective Field Goal percentage. (via) Effective Field Goal Percentage; the formula is (FG + 0.5 * 3P) / FGA. This statistic adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal. For example, suppose Player A goes 4 for 10 with 2 threes, while Player B goes 5 for 10 with 0 threes. Each player would have 10 points from field goals, and thus would have the same effective field goal percentage (50%).

AdjGS: a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds. It takes points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account to determine an individual's "score" for a given game. The "adjustment" in Adjusted Game Score is simply matching the total game scores to the total points scored in the game, thereby redistributing the game's points scored to those who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.

Usage%: This "estimates the % of team possessions a player consumes while on the floor" (via). The usage of those possessions is determined via a formula using field goal and free throw attempts, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. The higher the number, the more prevalent a player is (good or bad) in a team's offensive outcome.

Floor%: Via Basketball-Reference.com: Floor % answers the question, "when Player X uses a possession, what is the probability that his team scores at least 1 point?". The higher the Floor%, the more frequently the team probably scores when the given player is involved.

Offensive Rating (offRtg): Points per 100 possessions.

Defensive Rating (defRtg): Points allowed per 100 possessions.

Spurs Index: The Spurs Index © is a just-for-fun formula that attempts to quantify just how "Spursy" a particular game is, based off averages for the 2013-2014 regular season. A perfectly average game would have a Spurs Index of 100. The formula consists of four factors which the Spurs are known for and lead or nearly lead the league in: Shooting (effective Field Goal %), Passing (Assist percentage), Defensive Rebounding Rate, and Defensive Rating. These metrics are weighted as follows:

Factor	Weight	Average
Passing (AST%)	30%	62.1%
Shooting (eFG%)	20%	53.7%
Defensive Rebounding (DReb%)	20%	76.4%
Defense (DefRtg)	20%	100.1
Opponent % of FGA Uncontested	10%	40.8%

The values for each metric are determined based on how a particular game's performance compares to the Spurs 2013-2014 regular season average for that metric. For instance, the average effective Field Goal percentage for 2013-2014 was 53.7%. So if the Spurs shot 60% in a given game, the score for eFG% would be calculated by: (0.6 / 0.537) * 20, which would yield a "score" for that factor of 22.3.

Special thanks to:

• Bill Connelly over at our sister blog Rock M Nation, for the idea for Study Hall (and many of the stats and definitions)
• Nick Bottomley, whose nba stats API project made it possible to automate the statistical breakdowns for every game