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Gregg Popovich's San Antonio Spurs continue to find themselves in uncharted territory heading into the 2021 offseason. The Spurs enjoyed 22 consecutive seasons making the NBA Playoffs, from 1998 to 2019.
They have now missed the postseason for consecutive seasons and are looking to improve and return to some of their past glory, though it'll be difficult.
The team has had two consecutive losing seasons after posting a 32-39 record in the 2019-20 campaign and a 33-39 clip last season. The San Antonio Spurs still made it to the NBA's Play-In tournament after finishing 10th in the Western Conference, but the Memphis Grizzlies ended their season.
5 Battles the San Antonio Spurs did not win in the 2020-21 NBA season
Overall, the 2020-21 San Antonio Spurs were not a great basketball team, even with one of the greatest coaches ever on the sidelines. The team was inconsistent offensively and defensively and struggled to put wins together for the entire season. Their largest winning streak of the season consisted of three wins.
San Antonio had DeMar DeRozan as the main offensive weapon, but he might be walking away from the team in free agency. Dejounte Murray was reliable on both ends of the floor, but the rest of the team must step it up for next year.
In this article, we will look at five issues that defined the San Antonio Spurs' 2020-21 NBA season.
Without further ado, let us start.
#5 San Antonio struggled on the boards
Rebounding is one of the most simple yet important aspects of the basketball game and the San Antonio Spurs struggled to maintain solidity in that regard during the 2020-21 NBA season.
The Spurs struggled on the boards on almost every metric, whether it was on advanced stats or traditional stats. They were 21st in Defensive Rebound percentage, 27th in Offensive Rebounds percentage and 18th in rebounds per game among the 30 NBA teams.
Not even one player from the San Antonio Spurs' roster averaged even eight rebounds per game in the 2020-21 season, with Jakob Poeltl leading the team with 7.9 rebounds per game.
#4 The Spurs were not good at home
The San Antonio Spurs were 10th in the Western Conference with a 33-39 record. Most of the team's 'success' in the 2020-21 NBA season came on the road, where they finished with a 19-17 record.
However, the reason behind the San Antonio Spurs' losing record last year came from struggles at their own AT&T Center, where they won 14 games and dropped 22.
They closed the 2020-21 NBA regular season losing eight of their last 10 home games, which was simply not good enough.
#3 Three-point shooting
The San Antonio Spurs did not really follow the three-point shooting path that most teams have adopted in the NBA. While it is one thing not to play towards the three-point line, it is different not to hit timely three-pointers.
The Spurs attempted the least three-pointers per game in the entire NBA, at 28.4 per game. Consequently, the Spurs were also last in three-pointers made, at 9.9 per game.
The real issue came from the San Antonio Spurs only hitting 35% of their three-pointers (24th in the NBA).
To top it all up, the San Antonio Spurs allowed their rivals the eighth-highest 3P percentage of the 2020-21 campaign at 37.7%.
#2 The defensive end was an issue for the Spurs
Defensively, the San Antonio Spurs struggled to be consistent, and the team allowed the 12th-most points per game to rivals (112.8). However, their middle-of-the-pack pace helped in that regard.
In terms of Defensive Rating and taking into account a minimum of 100 possessions for each team, the stats were exactly the same. The Spurs were 17th in Defensive Rating with 112.8 points allowed per 100 possessions.
The Spurs were in the bottom 10 in field-goal percentage and 3P percentage allowed to rivals and were also 20th in turnovers forced.
#1 The San Antonio Spurs' offense was not elite
While the San Antonio Spurs' defense was not exactly a shut-down unit, the Spurs' offense was arguably the main reason behind the team's losing record from the 2020-21 campaign.
The Spurs were 21st in Offensive Rating throughout the entire 2020-21 NBA season. The team scored 111 points per 100 possessions, which gave them a negative Net Rating at -1.7 (21st among the 30 NBA teams).
The team's offense was led by DeMar DeRozan, who averaged a decent 21.6 points per game with a 49/25/88 shooting split. DeRozan's own game is based away from the three-point line, and that might have had a lot to do with the Spurs' inefficiencies in offense.
Even though they shot the three-ball poorly, another issue was that the San Antonio Spurs were only 24th in two-point percentage (51.4%).
Also read: Ranking the top 5 NBA Finals from the 21st century
