I\u2019m not going to lie, I came into this game a bit disgruntled. First, I found out that Victor wouldn\u2019t be playing in the team\u2019s first contest against a competent opponent in some time. Second, the OKC-Lakers game had started, and it was already abundantly clear that the Spurs weren\u2019t going to be gaining any ground in the standings via this game. Put simply, I found myself reflecting on the real possibility that San Antonio could lose against the Clippers, which – together with OKC\u2019s win over the Lakers – would have just about slammed the door on any chance of the Spurs securing the #1 seed.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, this iteration of the Silver and Black is exceptionally deep came to play last night despite their best player being out. As a result, San Antonio mostly cruised to yet another blowout victory. On top of that, they managed to produce a box score with a number of interesting gems:<\/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