18 Years in the Making: How the Spurs Have Sustained Their Success for So Long
Offensive Production: Pouring In the Points
While the Spurs managed to accumulate more than 1,000 wins in this 18-year span, their defense -- not their offense -- is the biggest reason. However, they have still been one of the best offenses in the league from a points scored perspective.
| Top 10 in Points | Points Scored | 3pt FG% | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suns | 146,075 | 36.9% | 50.8% |
| Lakers | 145,079 | 35.2% | 49.8% |
| Kings | 144,158 | 35.3% | 48.9% |
| Mavericks | 144,066 | 36.6% | 49.9% |
| Warriors | 143,759 | 35.8% | 48.4% |
| Nuggets | 143,090 | 34.3% | 48.6% |
| Sonics/Thunder | 142,848 | 36.1% | 49.7% |
| Rockets | 140,290 | 35.6% | 49.5% |
| Spurs | 140,073 | 37.5% | 50.7% |
| Timberwolves | 139,571 | 34.6% | 48.1% |
The Suns and Lakers are the top teams with more than 145,000 points, and the Spurs have eclipsed 140,000 themselves, one of the nine teams to have done so the last 18 years. What's more impressive, though, is their margin of victory in these 18 years -- they have outscored their opponents by an average of 500.72 points. The next closest team is the Mavericks and they aren't even half of that (230.44).
Excellent Shooters
A lot of points come either from a lot of attempts or from great shooters -- and the Spurs have always had good shooters, especially three-point shooters. Terry Porter, Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry have made plenty of big shots in games for the Spurs in the past, and they've been replaced with sharpshooters just as good in Marco Belinelli, Patty Mills, Danny Green.
Over the last 18 years, the Spurs have made 9,218 three-pointers (the 10th highest total) and attempted 24,576 (12th-highest), giving them a percentage of 37.5%, the best team mark in the league. For comparison, the Rockets and Suns lead the way in three-point attempts and makes -- however, the Suns hold the second-best percentage (36.9%) over the last 18 years while the Rockets have the 13th-best (35.6%).
Shooting well from beyond the arc helps the Spurs in the Effective Field Goal percentage (eFG%) category as this percentage weights three-pointers together with two-pointers. The league average in eFG% is 48.7%, and only 11 teams have shot over 49% in eFG% during this 18-year period. The Spurs and Suns have done even better, as they are the only two teams above 50% in eFG%, with the Suns leading by .1% (50.8% to 50.7%).
