The Spurs’ league-leading bench is key to their success

Though the upcoming All-Star Weekend will comprise part of the 10% of San Antonio’s franchise history where no members will be present to participate in any of the festivities, the surprising squad from South Texas is starting to garner more important national recognition lately for their play on the court.

Despite the team occupying the tier markedly below the West’s title contending trio of the Lakers, Clippers, and Jazz, Dan Devine of The Ringer does a splendid job of celebrating a roster re-tooled on the fly — and specifically the lineup of star guard Dejounte Murray, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay, Jakob Poeltl, and rookie Devin Vassell - observing that they are “absolutely hammering teams. That five-man unit has torched opponents by 52 points in 82 minutes—tops of any lineup on a surprising San Antonio squad that sits at 16-11, fifth in the ultra-competitive West. In fact, the lineup boasts the eighth-best mark in the entire league.”

Devine surprisingly does an expanded deep dive into the rest of the roster and here are several juicy tidbits from this worthwhile and encouraging read.

On the above quintet:

With regards to the starting lineup changes that generated this recent run of success, Devine notes:

The chef’s kiss comes at the close of Devine’s investigation into the Spurs’ prospects:

Now that the truncated Rodeo Road Trip is done, let’s see how this and Pop’s other lineups handle this daunting closing stretch of the season!