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The Golden State Warriors have captured the basketball world’s attention this season. Their history-making 24-0 start to the season was breathtaking, and the Warriors’ fast-paced and deadly offensive onslaught, combined with smothering defence, had NBA fans singing their praises.
The Warriors now sit 31-2, first in the Western Conference, with losses coming against the Milwaukee Bucks – in what was the Warriors’ final game of a seven-game road trip – and a tough loss to the Dallas Mavericks, a game in which MVP Stephen Curry didn’t play.
So, while Golden State has had some hiccups, many would still proclaim them as the league’s best team.
While it’s a fair and sensible point, it is wrong.
A team has overtaken the Warriors as the league’s best and, like everything else they do, it has flown under the radar.
The San Antonio Spurs.
San Antonio have been playing beautiful basketball this season, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Despite falling in the first round of last season’s playoffs – in an epic, seven-game series with the Los Angeles Clippers – the Spurs reloaded in the off-season with the signing of LaMarcus Aldridge and the re-signing of Kawhi Leonard.
While Aldridge has slowly worked his way into Gregg Popovich’s system – averaging 15.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.2per cent from the field – Leonard has absolutely exploded this season.
Leonard has been the league’s best two-way player, developing a consistent and effective offensive attack to complement his always-tremendous defence. His per-game numbers of 20.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.9 blocks, while shooting 51.3 per cent from the field and 49.6 per cent from three-point range, are simply amazing. His metamorphosis into a legitimate offensive weapon had added another dimension to not only his game, but to the Spurs’ already excellent offensive attack.
San Antonio’s ball movement has always been a staple of their system, and it still is – the Spurs are second in assists per game, third in assists percentage, first in assist-to-turnover ratio, second in assist ratio, and third in field goals made off assists.
The evolution of Leonard’s offensive game has given the Spurs (along with Aldridge) two scoring threats who can create their own shot in clutch moments. While Leonard is still more effective in catch-and-shoot situations, where he has a field goal percentage of 49.0 per cent, he can now put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. In pull-up scenarios, Leonard is shooting a respectable 45.6 per cent, which is an improvement over last season’s 42.4 per cent rate.
As his offence has developed, Leonard’s defence has still been stellar. When being guarded by Leonard, opponents are shooting just 36.7 per cent from the field, which is 7.3 per cent below their season average. Leonard’s large hands allow him to be the NBA’s best at stripping opposing players, and his boisterous on-ball pressure makes him a pain to play against.
In fact, Leonard’s excellent defensive work is an indication of how dominant the entire Spurs team has been on that side of the ball this season. The Spurs’ ball and player movement on the offensive side of the ball is wonderful, but their effort on the ‘ugly’ side of the ball has been the key in their start to the season.
The Spurs have the best defence in the entire league; their rotations are sharp, they communicate at a high level, and they end the possession with the defensive rebound – an underrated aspect of the defensive end.
Acquiring veteran David West over the off-season has been one of the major factors in the Spurs defensive onslaught, according to Danny Green, via Tom Orsborn of Express News.
“The reason why our defence is so good is because of how focused we are with the vets we’ve brought in, and he’s the main one,” Green said. “He’s very focused defensively, very on top of things, encouraging guys. He talks us through and helps us see different things defensively. He’s a big communicator on the floor.”
The Spurs are first in the league in defensive rating – and it isn’t even close. San Antonio has a defensive rating of 92.9, 4.9 points better than the second-best team, the Boston Celtics, who have a defensive rating of 97.8.
San Antonio have done an excellent job at limiting both the points scored and effectiveness of opposing offences in multiple areas of the game, leading to them boasting the league’s top offence.
The Spurs allow the least amount of points scored by the opposition in the entire league, as teams are putting up just 89.0 points per game. Both the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers give up 94.5 points per game.
Opponents are not only struggling to score against the Spurs, they are also struggling to shoot effectively. San Antonio rank second in the league in opponent field-goal percentage, the only allow teams to shoot 42.4 per cent. From the three-point line, the Spurs are tied first with the New York Knicks, only allowing teams to connect at a 31.5 per cent from beyond the arc.
Two other areas where the Spurs are disturbing opposition teams is not allowing to score off turnovers and second-chance points. Off turnovers, the Spurs are allowing the least amount of points per game, only giving up 14.1 points.
Off second-chance points, the Spurs are only allowing 9.1 points per game, which is an indication of how good of at defensive rebounding the Spurs have been.
Defensive rebounding is an underrated aspect of basketball. You can play excellent defence for 24 seconds, but if you don’t grab the rebound, the possession goes to waste. The Spurs have no such issues, as they rank first in the league in defensive rebounding percentage, with an 80.8 per cent mark.
San Antonio are winning games on the defensive end, but their offence has been clicking at a high rate, which is no surprise to anyone who has watched the Spurs under Popovich.
The Spurs’ ball movement is sensational, having built a system many teams are attempting to copy. Their unselfish play has led them to be near or at the top of most of the most telling offensive categories.
San Antonio rank first in the league in field goal percentage, third in the league in offensive rating, second in the league in effective field goals percentage, and second in the league in true shooting percentage.
While it isn’t as dominant as their league-destroying defence, the Spurs’ offence is still one of the best – an ominous sign for the rest of the NBA.
The Warriors have received all the attention this season, but the Spurs have retaken the mantle of the league’s best team.
On January 26 the Spurs visit Oracle Arena for a must-watch game against the Warriors.
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