San Antonio is now 25-2 since February 1st, with a good chunk of those wins being blowouts (or at least blowout-adjacent). This latter outcome has been especially common recently, as the Spurs\u2019 schedule has been laden with hapless teams more interested in collecting ping pong balls than wins. The stereotype is that conditions like this breed complacency, often resulting in a disappointing loss to an underqualified opponent.<\/p>\n
I never actually thought that Chicago would win last night\u2019s game, but the first quarter at least raised the specter of this cautionary tale. Outside of some spectacular play by Wemby, the Spurs felt a bit disconnected, inconsistent, and bored (I love puns!) during that period. However, by the start of the second everyone seemed to get on the same page, and San Antonio was off to the races. This game ended up being a pretty vanilla blowout in which the Spurs earned several respectable but unspectacular box score margins. Even so, there were a number of notable highlights:<\/p>\n
What are Team Graded Box Scores?<\/p>\n
Very briefly, these box scores grade winner-loser differentials for basic box score statistics, with the grade being based on the winning team\u2019s differential relative to other NBA winners during a defined reference period. Think of it like a report card for understanding how a given winner performed relative to other winners. The reference period used runs from the start of the 2012-2013 season to the latest date of play, including only games in the same season category (i.e., regular season and playoff games are not compared to each other).<\/p>\n