INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 16: Brook Lopez #11 of the LA Clippers defends against the dribble of Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs during the second half of a game at Intuit Dome on March 16, 2026 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images Hello fellow Spurs fans! Having been a follower of Pounding the Rock for years, I had previously thought about joining in on the conversation many times, but always found a reason to stay on the sideline. That finally changed in 2026, and over the last few months I have enjoyed becoming part of the community immensely. Furthermore, I have been delighted by comments and feedback on my fan posts, and was truly humbled to be offered the chance to become a regular contributor. I want to begin my first post by expressing my gratitude to the whole community for this opportunity. Let’s begin! My game-to-game posts are — at least initially — going to center on the graded team box scores that I have been writing about in discussion threads and fan posts. Very briefly, these box scores grade winner-loser differentials for basic box score statistics, with the grade being based on the winning team’s differential relative to other NBA winners during a defined reference period. Think of it like a report card for understanding how a given winner performed relative to other winners. The reference period used runs from the start of the 2012-2013 season to the latest date of play, including only games in the same season category (i.e., regular season and playoff games are not compared to each other). As grateful as I am for this opportunity, I wish that my first post had aligned with a different game, because visually and statistically San Antonio’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers last night was a bit of a clunker. After a slow start, the Spurs absolutely stomped Los Angeles in the second quarter, setting up what I expected to be a pretty hum drum blowout. Unfortunately, San Antonio’s inconsistent play in the second half dashed that forecast and allowed a Kawhi-less Clippers team to outscore the Spurs by 10 across quarters three and four. The graded team box score below does not capture that time dimension, but it does reveal some key statistical advantages and disadvantages for both teams over the course of the game: San Antonio faced some serious deficits in shooting efficiency from the field in this game, including FG% and 3P% differentials of -2.08 and -10.15 percentage points, respectively. Only about 1.67% of regular season winners since the start of 2012-2013 have had margins as bad or worse in both of these areas. Fortunately, the Spurs made up for this relative inaccuracy from the field in several ways. For example, a +10 edge in offensive boards helped San Antonio generate more offensive opportunities, including four more total field goal attempts. San Antonio also leaned more heavily into shooting from distance, which allowed them to log just one fewer made three despite Los Angeles’ sizable edge in 3P%. Because they were outscored by one point from the field, San Antonio’s only path to victory in this game was through the free throw line, and they did just enough here to pull out the win. This included modest but critical advantages in free throw volume (+5 FTA) and shooting percentage (+4.31 percentage points), which resulted in a FTM margin of +5 for the Spurs. Although it may not have been the prettiest or most statistically impressive win, last night’s victory does mark the Spurs 18th win in 20 games, further bolstering their case as the best team in the league right now. It also underscored their ability to prevail in the kind of messy, grinding wins that are common in postseason play, and cemented the team’s first 50-win season since 2016-2017. Simply put, every win offers a reason to celebrate, and I look forward to covering as many celebrations as the Spurs can generate in the final leg of the season! Data Source: The underlying data used to create these box scores was collected from Basketball Reference. In all cases, the data are collected the morning after the game is played. Although rare, postgame statistical revisions after data collection do occur and may affect the results after the fact. ...read more read less