DeMar DeRozan San Antonio Spurs
Photo: San Antonio Spurs

The NBA is vastly controlled by teams that obey the rules of the “Pace and Space” era. This means that many are trying to be relative to the regulation that 3 is worth more than 2, which lead to players taking the three whenever they can.

If they cannot make the three point shot, they try to attack the paint or get to the free throw line. In this side of the field, we could see teams like the Houston Rockets(40.2 % of their points are coming from behind the arc) or the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors.

On the other hand, there are teams like the San Antonio Spurs and the Indiana Pacers, which remain faithful to what they do best.

The Spurs are still the mid-range juggernaut of the league scoring about 18.2% of their points from there(1st in the NBA) and being 2nd in the NBA in the %FGA2P having the 71.2% of their field goals coming from the 2-point distance(1st on the list the Pacers with 73.2%). San Antonio has on its disposal the best mid range scorers in the league right now, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan.

DeRozan is shooting in a 50% clip from the 20-24 ft distance and he only attempted 2 three pointers(0-2) in the first 9 games of the season. Moreover, Aldridge is quite efficient inside the paint with a 71% FG% on shots that were taken from 5ft distance and closer, while the ex-Portland “bigman” is shooting a 58.8% from the 20-24ft area.

Greg Popovich, one of the greatest coaches of all-time, never backed-down on three point “controversy” and repeatedly criticized the direction of the majority in the NBA nowadays

“I hate it, but I always have. I’ve hated the three for 20 years. That’s why I make a joke all the time (and say) if we’re going to make it a different game, let’s have a four-point play. Because if everybody likes the three, they’ll really like the four. People will jump out of their seats if you have a five-point play. It will be great. There’s no basketball anymore, there’s no beauty in it. It’s pretty boring. But it is what it is and you need to work with it”, Spur’s coach said last season per Sam Smith.

In conclusion, the Spurs are riding a different wave right now having a none capable shooter from the three point line among their best players. As said above, Aldridge and DeRozan are not making threes and Dejounte Murray is relying mostly on his creativity, rebounding and defense to help his team win.

Standing on a 5-4 record, San Antonio’s team probably is not going to make it to the NBA Finals, but they will stick to what they do best in order to be competitive, while going “against the grain” in this new era of basketball.

Stats:NBA.com