Don't look now, but these guys are playing some really good defense. The biggest differences between this year and last year are 1) everyone is healthy, and 2) the defense this year is very good. Green, Leonard and SJax are extremely versatile defenders. Duncan turned back the clock 3 years and is anchoring pretty well. Even Diaw and Blair are holding their own a little on the other side of the lane.

Statistically they may be middle-of-the-pack, and obviously teams like Miami and Chicago are more solid. But this Spurs defense is as good as I've seen in a long time, and it is really making things happen on the offensive end. Last night was a perfect example. They had active hands early on against Utah, which got out of rhythm very early and never recovered. Ginobili, Green and Leonard were playing the passing lanes beautifully and were either stealing every other ball or knocking them out of bounds.

[This message has been edited by MassAggie97 (edited 5/3/2012 8:32a).]

Duncan was defending Jefferson very well, forced some terrible shots. Like you said, it also seemed like every other Jazz pass got deflected or stolen.

The one thing they did poorly was rebound. Utah also got more loose balls until the Spurs started on the 22-2 run that broke the game open.

Yeah the offensive rebounding situation by Utah was driving me nuts. I think not having Splitter's big body to throw in there hurt us more than anything as far as that is concerned. If Duncan and Diaw aren't getting the job done, and your only other options are Bonner and Blair, then what?

It is what hurt the Spurs last year and it is a pretty obvious blueprint for anyone looking to beat them this year.

Splitter coming back will help, but I think a big part of it was the Spurs losing focus after the hot start. Once they turned it back on the offensive rebounds stopped coming for the Jazz.

Rebounding is not a strength of this team, but they can still do it.

Matt Bonner is also playing some surprisingly salty defense in the post.

And they are doing it against a team with Devin Harris (who has burned SA a lot in the past) and ALJeff (who plays similar to the guys that killed SA last year.)

And they held every player on the Jazz to 10 points or less. Has that ever happened before in the playoffs in the modern era?

To me the most impressive thing was holding a team to 28 points in a half.

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As of 5/3/2012, there have been 1 objections to this post.

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This is not really even new information.

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Yet how many times have you heard TV commentators remark about how the Spurs defense "isn't near what it used to be". I disagree with that notion. It isn't 100% as good, but it is very close.

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Your problem is this: in the last decade, there's been no teams that have won the title that have not been in top 10 in defensive efficiency. The Spurs are 11th.

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No laker team since 1988 has won a championship without Derek Fisher on the floor. See how dumb it sounds when you throw out mindless statistics to try and make a point?

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I see 5 other previously created Spurs threads on the first page alone that this could've been a post in. Do we really need a thread every time you guys see something about the spurs you like?

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If I ever feel like my real mom isn't getting the job done remind me to give you a call. You seem like you want the job.

Simplebay edited basketball-relevant conversation into his post after it got voted down. Interesting.

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Yet how many times have you heard TV commentators remark about how the Spurs defense "isn't near what it used to be". I disagree with that notion. It isn't 100% as good, but it is very close.

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It's not close. I agree with your OP that the Spurs are playing much better defense, and see glimpses of championship level defense and potential with the Jackson trade and commitment to team defense.

But they can't compare at all to the dynasty years teams that always were top 2/3 in the league and made it their main identity. If the Spurs win the title this year it will be remembered as a year where an offense-first team broke through (and will drive even more Phoenix fans over the ledge)

I don't have the statistics in front of me, nor the desire to dig 'em up, but I'd be curious to see the Spurs efficiency over the past 2 months or so. I bet it's been in the top 10 at least, and higher wouldn't surprise me. We've had a lot of blow outs in which teams have scored once the rout was on, so that doesn't help either.

They have turned it up a notch the first two games of the playoffs. I don't care who they are playing, holding a team to 28 points in a half is impressive... and it wasn't because they were missing shots, it was because they couldn't get a good shot.