'09 Spurs are Most Clutch Spurs Team in Recent Memory

Anyone else notice that the Spurs have had many games come down to the wire this year? Well, I took a closer look at the numbers and the ’09 Spurs are the most clutch Spurs team since at least the 2003 championship season. They are more clutch than the ’03, ’05, and ’07 championship teams and all the teams in between.

This season, the Spurs have played in 16 games that have been decided by 5 points or less. The Spurs’ record in these games is 12-4. If you only look at the games in which the Big Three played in, the record improves to a stunning 8-1. You can chalk this up to many different things, but I like to think that this means when Pop stops messing around with the rotation, and plays the lineups that are going to win, the Spurs take care of business. When the playoffs come around, and the good lineups that consist of Manu, Tony, and Tim spend the majority of the game on the floor, watch out.

Now, let’s take a look at the numbers I just derived to see how this team compares to those of the past. Up to this point in the season in previous years, the following are the Spurs records in games decided by 5 points or less:
Year W-L
’03 9-7
’04 4-6
’05 5-5
’06 8-2
’07 3-6
’08 3-5
’09 8-1 with full roster. 12-4 including games without Tony or Manu.

In the championship seasons, here is a complete record of games decided by 5 points or less including playoffs:

Year W-L
‘03 23-14
’05 13-12
’07 13-11
'08 12-4

Retrieved from 82games.com, here are our most clutch players. These points are based on how productive a player is in a game with five minutes remaining and neither team leading by more than 5 points, extending the 5 minutes of production to a 48 minute average. In other words, if Tony played as aggresivley as he does in the last 5 minutes of a close game, he would average 40.3 points over 48 minutes of playing time.

Tony Parker 40.3 Points
Manu Ginobili 28.0 Points
Tim Duncan 27.4 Points
Roger Mason 20.4 Points

So, now you can see why the Spurs are 8-1 with Tony, Manu, and Tim on the floor in close games. As the season progresses, expect to see Tony’s clutch points drop and Manu’s to increase. Manu’s are lower because he had been struggling to find his rhythm since returning from injury. But Manu has played much better recently and expect him to have the ball more often than not in tight games. Clearly, the addition of Roger Mason cannot be overstated. Two of those 8 victories can be credited to him. And in years past, we have not had a consistent fourth clutch player in the closing minutes of tight games.


Side note: The $100 I put on the Spurs to win it all is looking like a better and better bet as the season progresses.