NBA Experience - Spurs vs Blazers

by PDXBuckeye on Apr 8, 2009 10:18 AM PDT

Big game for both teams tonite, one that could set the trajectory for both teams on this home stretch of the regular season. This game could be the difference between the Blazers facing a team it just can't figure out in Houston in the first round without homecourt advantage to the Blazers having home court, where they are on fire, against a more amenable opponent. So this game is trully a pivot point.

In looking over some of the game stats for tonites matchup, comparing line ups in this one makes plain as day what everyone means when they say the Blazers are a 'young team'. It is something we all know, they are young and fun to watch, but let's look at tonite's matchup (pulled from mysanantonio.com)

STARTING LINEUPS
POS - SPURS - TRAIL BLAZERS

PG - 9 Tony Parker (6-2, 8th yr) - 2 Steve Blake (6-3, 6th yr)
Parker’s team-high and career-high 6.9 assists ranks 12th in NBA.

SG - 8 Roger Mason Jr. (6-5, 5th yr) - 7 Brandon Roy (6-6, 3rd yr)
Roy leads Blazers in scoring (22.9), assists (5.1) and steals (1.1).

SF - 4 Michael Finley (6-7, 14th yr) - 88 Nicolas Batum (6-8, 1st yr)
Only game Finley has missed was at Denver when he was rested.

PF - 21 Tim Duncan (6-11, 12th yr) - 12 L. Aldridge (6-11, 3rd yr)
Aldridge sprained wrist Sunday but played at Memphis on Tuesday.

C - 15 Matt Bonner (6-10, 5th yr) - 10 Joel Przybilla (7-1, 9th yr)
Przybilla went scoreless in 20 minutes in Sunday loss at Houston.

SPURS RESERVES
12 Bruce Bowen, F, 6-7, 13th yr
1 Malik Hairston, G, 6-6, 1st yr
3 George Hill, G, 6-2, 1st yr
7 Fabricio Oberto, C, 6-10, 4th yr
40 Kurt Thomas, C/F, 6-9, 14th yr
5 Ime Udoka, G/F, 6-5, 5th yr
11 Jacque Vaughn, G, 6-1, 12th yr

TRAIL BLAZERS RESERVES
4 Jerryd Bayless, G, 6-3, 1st yr
5 R. Fernandez, G/F, 6-6, 1st yr
44 Channing Frye, F, 6-11, 4th yr
25 Travis Outlaw, F, 6-9, 6th yr
52 Greg Oden, C, 7-0, 2nd yr
11 S. Rodriguez, G, 6-3, 3rd yr
51 Michael Ruffin, G/F, 6-8, 9th yr

When you look at the head to head matchups, only Joel has more experience than the player he is up against tonite. When you add it all together.

Starting Lineup Experience:

San Antonio = 44 years

Portland = 22 years

Bench Experience:

San Antonio = 50 years

Portland = 26 years

Total Roster Experience:

San Antonio = 94 years

Portland = 48 years

The contrast is stark and only serves to make what the Blazers have accomplished so far this season all the more impressive and exciting looking at future seasons!

Your thoughts?

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Comments

9 of our years come from Ruffin too!

by Zaig on Apr 8, 2009 10:20 AM PDT reply actions

I hadn't really considered that!

I do not know the Spurs bench well enough to know who the equivalent player is though…

Support those in crisis in Portland www.give10tell10.org

by PDXBuckeye on Apr 8, 2009 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions

Malik Hairston

looks to be their 12th man, to me. If it’s not Jacque Vaughn. – Elgin

Blazers win BDL 2 on 2 tournament!
Skeets: i’ll close it down now … congrats. you bastards

by 22baylor on Apr 8, 2009 12:50 PM PDT up reply actions

Quick!

Someone sim this game on EA and/or nba2k9!

I hope I can get a bunch of championships, like 15. " - Greg Oden

by mxpx5678 on Apr 8, 2009 10:26 AM PDT reply actions

I actually just did a fanshot that relates really well to this,

Here is the Fanshot

it links to an article by KP2 one why Portland’s lack of Playoff experience is not that big of a deal. Here is a good quote from it, (it is an insider piece)

If we look strictly at the least experienced playoff teams, it’s hard to find much evidence that their youth worked against them. The 12 teams that entered the postseason with fewer than 100 games of playoff experience on their roster combined to post a Playoff Score of 4.1 with an expected score of 2.9. In other words, they actually overachieved as a group.

by usmcr3049 on Apr 8, 2009 11:02 AM PDT reply actions

it is the sports worlds nature versus nurture argument

hunger vs knowledge

Support those in crisis in Portland www.give10tell10.org

by PDXBuckeye on Apr 8, 2009 11:09 AM PDT up reply actions

Aint no...

94 year olds gonna kick out behinds tonite!!!

by blazersrock on Apr 8, 2009 11:06 AM PDT reply actions

rather have young talent

than old guys playing with crutches :)

Momma.....der go dat man

by AllHailRoy on Apr 8, 2009 11:36 AM PDT reply actions

you betcha'

I much happier with where we are at right now than I would be looking forward as a San Antonio fan, although the past decade has been overly good to them anyway…

Support those in crisis in Portland www.give10tell10.org

by PDXBuckeye on Apr 8, 2009 12:18 PM PDT reply actions

This makes the Spurs sound really old.

It's spelled "PRZYBILLA."
vanillathrillagorillaprzybilla

by RenoBlazerFan on Apr 8, 2009 12:56 PM PDT reply actions

they certainly looked it tonite

Support those in crisis in Portland www.give10tell10.org

by PDXBuckeye on Apr 8, 2009 9:49 PM PDT up reply actions

The amazing thing about this team

Is our record in close games (less than 3 points) is like 12-1, with the only loss coming on that inane bank. Young teams don’t show that much poise usually…

Proud member of Duck nation!

by skywaker9 on Apr 8, 2009 2:24 PM PDT reply actions

And...

You’d think that the team with all the close wins would have a bad point differential. Especially considering we’ve only lost one game by less than 3.

In reality, we tend to keep our losses in single digits (although not 1-3) and we have a TON of blowouts to go with the 12 close wins.

by Zaig on Apr 8, 2009 2:39 PM PDT up reply actions