The San Antonio Spurs Will Be the 2012 NBA Champions.

Resolution: The San Antonio Spurs will win the 2012 NBA Championship. IntroductionMy opponent has chosen to argue for the Miami Heat, so I will make my comparisons between the two. There are two primary ways to affirm the resolution and predict that a team will do will: 1) Success thus far 2) Assurances of future success So I will present my argument in two parts. In the first I will compare the regular season and playoff performances of the Spurs and the Heat. In the Second, I will look at the factors that will determine whether the same level of performance will continue. I. Past Performance [1] A. Comparison of 2012 Regular Season Performance OFFENSIVE STATISTICS: The Spurs had an incredible regular season, finishing 1st in the West, tied for first in the league. They averaged 104 PPG (2nd in the NBA) compared to Miami's meager 98 (7th). And they, unlike high-scoring Denver, were able to maintain a solid defensive structure, only allowing their opponent to score 96 PPG. This gives them the second highest win margin (7.16 points) in the NBA, beating Miami. The Spurs also had the highest FG% in the NBA (48%), ahead of Miami's 4th place 46.9%. The Spurs also led the league in 3-PT % with an impressive 39%. Miami was left in the dust, 9th overall.Finally, the Spurs were fourth in Assists per game. Miami was 21st....21st. DEFENSIVE STATISTICS: In terms of rebounding (difference), this is the ONLY statistic in which Miami does better. How much better you ask? Miami was 6th in the NBA. San Antonio was tied for 7th, hardly a notable difference. SAS was 7th in Blocks per game. Miami was, again, ......21st, 2 places ahead of Charlotte, the worst team in the NBA. So we have now established that San Antonio is better than Miami in every major statistic except for rebounding. They finished the season with 4 more wins, and four fewer losses than Miami, ending on a 10-game win streak. Miami won only 6 of their last 10 games by comparison. B. Comparison of 2012 Post-Season Performance Before I get to the stats, there are two streaks to mention. The first is the 15-year streak. For the past 15 years, the Spurs have gone to playoffs. This is the longest playoff streak in the NBA (with Dallas at second with 12). The second is an 18-game streak. The Spurs are on an 18-game win streak, with a perfect playoff record. PPG: SA: 103--1stMiami: 95 Win Margin: SA: 14 pts.--1stMiami: 9.9 pts. FG%: SA: 49%--1stMiami: 45.6% Record: SA: 8-0 --1stMiami: 8-3 3-pt %: SA: 43%!!!--1stMiami: 33% APG: SA: 24 ---1stMiami: 17 In every major statistic, not only does SA beat Miami by a massive margin, they beat everyone in the playoffs. They're only team with a perfect record, sweeping both the Clippers and Utah. The last time the Spurs lost a game was April 11th.[4] II. Future Success A. Coaching Great coaching is essential to winning games. Coaches that have shown they cannot finish key series (*cough* Spoelstra *cough*) in the past are unlikely to do so in the future. SA's Greg Popovich was the 2012 Coach of the Year. He has numerous championships to add to that. Meanwhile in South Beach, there were talks of dropping Erik Spoelstra during the Pacer's series. In fact, he is unable to control his players. D Wade yelled and hit Spoelstra during a game in that series. This is a cohesive, well-coached unit? Greg Popovich is the longest tenured coach, not only in the NBA, but in ANY of the four major sports. That's called experience, experience that will ensure SA's continued success. B. Veteran Players [2] Secondly, teams that have veteran players with playoff experience are much better suited to win there. San Antonio has more combined playoff experience than any team in the NBA. Tin Duncan (14 years/14 playoffs) Tony Parker (11 years/11playoffs) Manu Ginobli (9 years/9 playoffs) Matt Bonner (7 years/6 playoffs) Some of the players have spent their entire careers for SA and gone to the playoffs all that time. C. Depth of Bench [3,5] Over an entire season, a single player's contribution can be noted. But over a series, depending on two or even three players to win will backfire if there is no assurance of success if either player struggles. San Antonio does not have this problem. They have an EXTREMELY competent bench ready to pick up should Ginobli, Parker, or Duncan struggle. They have the BEST BENCH IN THE NBA. That is unquestionable. Miami has arguably one of the worst benches in the NBA. Points Per Game: SA: 1st in the NBA (42 points)Miami: 28th in the NBA! 28th! (24 points). RPG: SA: 4thMiami: 15th Assists: SA: 2ndMiami: 29th! Steals: SA: 9thMiami: 21st Blocks: SA: 13thMiami: 23rd FG%: SA: 1stMiami: 23rd 3-pt %: SA: 3rdMiami: 7th FT%: SA: 6thMiami: 12th Minutes played: SA: 1stMiami 13th This is another key stat. Miami is so overly reliant on their two bigs (Wade and LeBron), that should any of them struggle, their bench doesn't have the skill or playing time to pick up the slack. This problem was HUGE in the Pacer's series. The Miami bench is terrible. Plain and simple. You don't win the NBA championship with the 28th best bench in the NBA. LeBron has more rings than the Miami bench has good players. __________________ 1. http://www.nba.com... 2. http://espn.go.com... 3. http://www.hoopsstats.com... 4. http://www.nba.com... 5. http://espn.go.com...