Recapping the Spurs’ 123-96 Pounding of the 76ers

The Spurs ended a six-game home stand with a resounding 123-96 victory over the 76ers on Monday. It was a complete team win on both offense and defense.

What stood out from the game? Let’s discuss the win from San Antonio’s perspective.

3 Observations

The Spurs won the battle of the benches AND stars

Most NBA teams don’t have three stars who can compete with the 76ers’ Big Three of Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons. The Spurs certainly can’t — DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay aren’t at that level. I figured that they would have to dominate the Sixers’ bench for them to win this game.

San Antonio actually won both battles.

Embiid, Butler and Simmons were averaging 20.7 free-throw attempts per game heading into the contest, but they combined for only three on Monday. The Sixers’ stars weren’t nearly aggressive enough and ended up combining for only 35 points on a 42.4 true-shooting percentage.

DeRozan, Aldridge and Gay were clicking from inside and outside, though, and scored a combined 61 points on a 64.0 true-shooting percentage.

The Spurs’ advantage continued with the bench, though a full quarter of garbage time evened things out a bit. When the game was still in the balance, players like Davis Bertans, Derrick White and Jakob Poeltl were making a positive impact on both ends.

On the Sixers’ side, that spark was missing until Mike Muscala started hitting a few shots down 25 in the third quarter and Shake Milton kept things from getting too lopsided in the fourth quarter.

Davis Bertans is a gamer

Bertans is a deadly spot-up shooter. He’s nailing 49.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes this year, but he showed on Monday that he can impact the game in other ways. His BBall Index talent percentile for perimeter shooting is 88.8 this season, but he’s also 16-of-28 from downtown since that data was updated at the beginning of the month.

Bertans ended the game with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 from long distance and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also had six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 25 minutes.

Maybe the most impressive statistic from Bertans’ game was his team-leading 14 shot contests. He’s normally a respectable defender , but this was an excellent game from him on that end. He just always seemed to be around the ball.

Check out Bertans’ highlights from one of the best all-around games of his career.

powered by Advanced iFrame free. Get the Pro version on CodeCanyon.

On the Spurs’ six-game home stand, Bertans only played in four contests due to the birth of his daughter. In the stretch, though, his net rating is a team-best plus-40.0. He’s one of those guys who can fit in any of the Spurs’ key lineups, because his defense is at least serviceable and he provides spacing whether or not he gets many touches.

The Spurs’ defensive culture change has to start traveling

San Antonio’s defense was excellent on the six-game home stand. The last five games all produced defensive ratings of 105.4 or lower, which is the longest such streak by the team this year.

harped on this several games ago, but the Spurs still need to prove that this defensive surge is more than just an emotional high that comes from playing at home. On the season, San Antonio’s defensive rating at home (106.0) is now 10.6 points per 100 possessions better than when it plays on the road (116.6). That’s the biggest home-road swing in the NBA.

Through February 25, the Spurs have 19 of their next 31 games on the road. Will the stretch sink them defensively, or will they rise to the occasion?

2 Questions

How much of the result was due to the 76ers’ ineptitude?

The Spurs played great on both ends and got a quality win on Monday. There’s no denying that.

But if I were a Sixers fan, this game would have left a terrible taste in my mouth. Philadelphia played nothing like a team with title aspirations. They didn’t attack the rim with conviction (a season-low seven free-throw attempts) and their defense showed very little physicality outside and inside.

To be fair, Jimmy Butler is still recovering from a groin injury. And Philly was on the second night of a back-and-back, even though the first night was a blowout victory against the Cavs.

We need to digest this game in context, understanding that the Spurs got one of the Sixers’ least inspired performances of the season.

Did Bryn Forbes take anything away from his matchup against J.J. Redick?

This was a thought that ran through my mind early in the game as Redick used off-ball screens to break free from Forbes for three quick jumpers in the first five minutes of the game.

Forbes isn’t quite as gifted a shooter as Redick. However, there’s no reason he can’t pick up a few of the techniques Redick uses off the ball. The Sixers veteran utilized these tricks to manufacture both open threes and layups when defenders overcommitted. Forbes also needs to learn how to better defend these moves.

Ideally, Forbes can settle into a Redick-type role for the Spurs. He’s handled the ball more this season as the co-point guard with DeRozan, but I don’t see him having much a future on the ball once Dejounte Murray returns and Derrick White develops more.

1 Prediction

The Spurs won’t have an All-Star for the first time since 1997

DeRozan is the Spur most likely to make the All-Star Game. Unfortunately, he’s probably going to miss out.

Why? First of all, the West is stacked with talent. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Paul George, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard and Rudy Gobert all should be locks. That leaves only three spots available.

The list of guys after them who are either deserving or will get consideration based on reputation is long: Russell Westbrook, Karl-Anthony Towns, Chris Paul, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Steven Adams, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Tobias Harris, Clint Capela, C.J. McCollum, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell and Jrue Holiday will all compete with DeRozan for only three spots.

It just seems pretty unlikely that DeRozan will be one of the three to emerge from that group. First of all, he’s currently 32nd in the West in PIPM Wins Added. 19 of the 23 names listed above rank higher than he does in that statistic.

Plus, I think it’s very possible DeRozan’s counting stats and the Spurs’ winning percentage dip in the coming weeks.

Aldridge and Gay have heated up on offense lately, and the Spurs have started to feature them a bit more. DeRozan’s minutes have also been gradually decreasing, which is ultimately a good thing for him. The 23.5 points and 6.2 assists per game he’s averaging now could turn into 22 and 6 in a few weeks.

As mentioned earlier, the Spurs have a road-heavy schedule coming up. And they don’t play a team with a record worse than 14-16 until January 27. San Antonio will likely be out of the top eight seeds in the conference when most of the voting occurs. Voters won’t give the Spurs an All-Star just because of their record.

The likely lack of an All-Star this season won’t cause much sorrow in the Spurs organization. However, it is another byproduct of the franchise rapidly heading toward the end of an era.

Note: Statistics are courtesy of NBA.com. Video is from NBA.com and 3ball.io.

Photo by Mark Sobhani/Getty Images

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.