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The San Antonio Spurs Are Back

By Mark Vandeusen

Mar 25, 2015; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker (9) drives to the basket as Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (34) defends during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2015; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker (9) drives to the basket as Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter (34) defends during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /
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The San Antonio Spurs are officially back.  Not that they were ever gone in the first place, but you don’t usually consider teams hanging around the bottom of a conference playoff race to be a serious championship contender.

On Wednesday night, the Spurs obliterated the Oklahoma City Thunder by the score of 130-91–the same Thunder team that had won four in a row and 15 of its last 20.  The 39-point winning margin was San Antonio’s largest of the season, and the fourth-highest in the tenure of head coach Gregg Popovich.

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The Spurs scored 71 points in the first half, which actually wasn’t even their season high (they put up 72 against the Los Angeles Clippers on December 22).

Via Elias Sports:

"The Spurs made 61.9 percent of their three-point attempts (13-of-21) in their victory over the Thunder on Wednesday night. It’s the second time that San Antonio made at least 60 percent of their three-point shots with at least 20 attempts in a game this season (13-for-21 against Minnesota on November 21). No other team has done that more than once this season."

But, there’s much more than just one very impressive game to signify that the defending champs are officially once again a force to be reckoned with.

On Feb. 25, the Spurs lost to the Trail Blazers in Portland, their fourth straight defeat, which dropped their record to 34-23.  At the time San Antonio was in seventh place in the West, only two games in front of the Thunder for the conference’s final playoff spot.

After an 11-3 stretch the Spurs are now in sixth, but trail the Clippers by just 1.5 games for potential home court advantage in Round 1.

San Antonio has done a lot of things well in its past 14 outings:

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    • Before Feb. 27 the Spurs were averaging 102.8 points per game, good for the ninth-best output in the league.  Since that date they’re putting up 112.4 PPG, the best in the NBA.  San Antonio has outscored its opponents by an average margin of 13.4 points in its last 14 contests, a league-best as well.

    In each of the Spurs last 11 victories, they’ve won by double-digits, including a 114-95 trouncing of the East-leading Atlanta Hawks on March 22.

    The Spurs .495 field goal percentage since Feb. 27 is up significantly from the .463 they were shooting before.  In the past month San Antonio also leads the NBA in fewest turnovers per 100 possessions (12.1), effective field goal percentage (adjusted for three-pointers, 54.3) and true shooting percentage (adjusted for threes and free throws, 58.5).

    A major reason for the Spurs recent success is the improved play of point guard Tony Parker.  Through San Antonio’s first 43 games, Parker averaged 13.8 PPG while shooting 46 percent from the field.  Over the last 14, his scoring total has jumped to 18.1 PPG and he’s shooting 54 percent.

    The likely difference is that Parker is penetrating more and getting better shots closer to the basket.  From ESPN Stats & Info:

    "One of the keys to the Spurs’ recent success was on display on Wednesday.Tony Parker scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the paint. He has scored at least 10 points in the paint seven times this month. He had scored 10 or more only nine times all season entering March."

    Next up for the Spurs is a rematch with the Dallas Mavericks (who they lost to on Tuesday), followed by a showdown with the Memphis Grizzlies.  If San Antonio keeps up its torrid play in those two contests, it’ll be hard not to view the Spurs as a real threat to defend their title.

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