On January 20, Beijing time, the NBA's new season regular season continued. The Russian City Thunder, which is currently in the reconstruction stage, has ushered in a new game, away to the Holy City Spurs. Whether it's for the Thunder or the Spurs, they don't have an absolute core. Although Murray can hand over an average triple-double data this season, and Alexander also has an average of more than 20 points per game, there is still a long way to go before leading the team to glory. However, we also have to admit that even without the core players who lead the team to win, they can inadvertently give a heavy blow to the teams that claim to be the league's powerhouses.
The encounter between the Spurs and the Thunder seems to have no ornamentality in the eyes of outsiders, but in fact, it has created a lot of highlights. Looking back on that game, the Spurs continued to project three points from the outside in the first half, thus taking a lead in front of the Thunder, so that before the easy side fought again, the difference between the two sides had reached 18 points! And Easy side to fight again, the Spurs can continue to threaten, with Murray's comprehensive data of 10 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal in the third quarter, playing a 37-27 score, once extending the point difference between the two sides to 28 points.
The point difference between the two sides came here, and there was basically no great suspense in this game. In the end, at the end of the regular quarter, the Spurs completed a 22-point win with a score of 118-96. There is no doubt that the reverse leader Murray once again played his all-around leadership momentum, and in the time of playing 30 minutes, he delivered a game-high score of 23 points, as well as 10 rebounds and 14 assists. In fact, not only is Murray's performance more prominent, but mcDermott's performance in the team is also outstanding. He played just 21 minutes in a single game and was able to deliver a crucial 20 points with an efficient outside output of 9-of-6 three-pointers!
Of course, there is also the team's substitute Vassell, who also shot 4 of 5 three-pointers in this game, sending 19 points and 8 rebounds. It is said that Popovich hates teams that win with their three-point advantage on the outside, but as the times have evolved, he has had to compromise. Yes, the Spurs have significantly increased the number of outside three-point shots in recent times, and there are many games that win with outside three-pointers. Just like we saw in this game, they made 40 three-point shots in a single game and hit 15 three-pointers with a 37.5% shooting rate, effectively crushing the Thunder's 8 three-point output in a single game.
Popovich made the change, and the Spurs also won two top outside shooters in this game: McDermott and Vassell. According to the data, McDermott has been able to average 2.2 three-pointers per game this season, and can also maintain an efficient shooting rate of 42.0%, and Valan is also relatively good, averaging 1.8 three-pointers per game, and can also maintain a 35.5% shooting rate, which is not a bad performance, but it is also higher than the team's overall three-point shooting rate. Always understand that the Spurs have averaged just 11 three-pointers per game this season, ranking second from the bottom in the league and only outperforming the Washington Wizards. It is not easy to maintain such frequent outside shots today.