The Greatest NBA Team that NOBODY Talks About...

2016 NBA season is considered by some to be the greatest NBA season of all time the Golden State Warriors went 73-9 as Steph Curry won the first ever unanimous MVP award completely changing how the game was played along the way Kobe Bryant played his final season and dropped 60 in his final game in the league stunning the entire NBA world the LeBron Kyrie Kevin Love big three Cavs dominated in the Eastern Conference becoming one of the most iconic trios of the decade the Warriors overcame a 3-1 deficit in a brutal series versus the Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook Thunder where Klay Thompson had a Legendary game six that earned him his nickname aptly of game 6 clay and of course the Cleveland Cavaliers battled back from down 3-1 in the finals becoming the first team to win it all after facing such a deficit with the series wrapping up in a Legendary game seven that still to this day is probably the best basketball game I've ever seen and one of the greatest in the history of the sport itself the block from LeBron the shot from Kyrie Draymond going off for 30 randomly and if course the Cleveland Cavaliers lifting their first Larry O'Brien trophy in franchise history after losing the year prior it was an incredible year for the sport and one that was foundational for me as a basketball fan but along the way through all of that it feels like one Squad from That season a very important part of everything that happened that year kind of gets forgotten about and it wasn't just any team it was a historically great team that dominated the NBA nearly to the level of the record-setting Golden State Warriors from the same season that team was the San Antonio Spurs heading into the 2015-16 season the Spurs had been pretty disappointing the year prior they got knocked out in the first round by the Lob City Clippers after winning 55 games in the regular season a ridiculous Mark that was somehow only good enough to get the six seed in the most stacked Western Conference or at least one of them that we've seen in a very long time and this series with the Clippers was very hard fought it took a miraculous Chris Paul game winner to knock them off in the final seconds of that game seven but the Spurs had championship aspirations they were just coming off a finals Victory or Kawhi Leonard won Finals MVP and had just been anointed as defensive player of the year they had an aging but still very effective Trio of Tony Parker Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili a solid Supporting Cast of guys like Danny Green Marco Belinelli Patty Mills and Boris Dio amongst others they were top 10 offense top 10 defense Kawhi had become one of the best in the world they were really good and they wanted to go ahead and repeat his Champions and in most western conferences they probably would have at least made the second round if not the Conference Finals but this conference was completely stacked and to compete with the best of the best in that West they needed to be a bit better luckily for them in that off season they did a phenomenal job of not just retaining their core pieces but also bringing in new talent that really complemented the existing cast they retained key guys like Matt Bonner Danny Green Tim Duncan and Manu while also signing their Rising Superstar Kawhi Leonard to a five-year extension which was supposed to keep Kawhi Leonard in San Antonio for the long term although we know how that went in the 2019 offseason when he became a Toronto Raptor they also brought on guys like Jonathan Simmons who gave the spur some fun moments Boba marjanovic who came into place of backup big David West who also did that in a similar role most importantly though they added a new All-Star to the rotation in LaMarcus Aldridge luring him away from the Portland Trailblazers where he had played his entire career up to that point signing to a four-year 90 million dollar deal and winning the sweepstakes over really competitive teams that were also vying for his services like the Rockets the Mavericks the Lakers and the Miami Heat Lamarcus was an incredible addition to this team he was just coming off his fourth straight All-Star appearance with Portland and had averaged 23.4 points per game 10.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists on a Portland team that made the playoffs although they lost in the first round to the really tough grit and grind Grizzlies he gave San Antonio a big time scoring punch in the front court that they needed as Kawhi Leonard had led them in scoring the previous year with just 16.5 points per game now of course a big reason for this was the Spurs ball movement heavy offense that basically said we don't care who gets the shot as long as it's open but it does make sense to have at least a couple of star scores that are basically always going to be ready to go if the other guys in the roster aren't hitting their shots because role players are a bit more hit or miss than All-Star players like Aldridge was so heading into the season the Spurs had taken a 55 win team from the year prior that was top 10 offensively and defensively and added solid role players a high level scoring All-Star in the Marcus Aldridge and they seem bound to get at least a small leap from Kawhi Leonard in the upcoming season this resulted in them being considered one of the favorites to win it all heading into the year did the fifth best Championship odds only behind the Los Angeles Clippers the Oklahoma City Thunder the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers it seemed pretty certain that the Spurs at the very least would be up there amongst the West's Elite and put together a pretty good season but what a lot of people didn't expect is the fact that they would have a historically dominant season one of the best we have ever seen funnily enough this team actually struggled in the preseason there was one bleach report article that I was reading to get some context on people's thoughts about the squad heading into the season and he commented how the Spurs offense looked disastrous in the pre-season that it was a bit of an area of concern that wouldn't end up being a problem I could promise you that but I will say that in their first game of the season they lost they lost the Oklahoma City Thunder by six on the road due to a 55 combined points from Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant Aldridge had a bit of a tough debut Kawhi went crazy with 32 points eight boards three Steals and two blocks it wasn't the best opener from San Antonio but following this losses would become pretty rare for this team because over the next month the Spurs went 14-3 heading into December with a record of 14-4 the best in the entire NBA only second to the then 19-0 Golden State Warriors because of course they were 19-0 at that point this would pretty much be how the entire season would go for the Western Conference the Golden State Warriors would rack up win after win after win as they tried to inch closer to eclipsing that 72 win mark set by the Chicago Bulls back in 1996 but the Spurs were never too far behind continuously lurking in the background racking up ridiculous wind totals themselves while playing some of the best basketball in the entire NBA one of these such stretches occurred from the beginning of December to January 22nd when San Antonio would go on a ridiculous stretch of 24 wins and just two losses including a 13-game win streak where the Spurs won by an average of 18 points per game not only were they beating everyone but they were blowing opposing teams out of the water especially at home where at this point we're at right now in the season they were 24-0 additionally 16 of their wins at this point were by 20 plus points the most such wins through 44 games in NBA history they were dominating on both ends locking up defensively behind the play of Kawhi Leonard who was again a defensive player of the year front runner Tim Duncan who was still somehow playing incredible defense at 39 years old still to this day it is a tragedy that Tim Duncan never won a defensive player of the year he is one of the best defenders of all time that award was one that he should have won at least a couple of times in my opinion I can't believe he never won one and again in this season despite being pretty much on the verge of retirement Timmy D was still one of the best room protectors in the league Danny Green was clamping up on the wing Tony Park was playing some good defense at the guard spot they were basically locking down anyone and everyone on basically every night meanwhile offensively they were again a top 10 unit but this time rather than hanging around the 7-8 spot they were fighting for a top five spot with Kawhi Leonard jumping to a 20-point per game score and the Marcus Aldridge's offensive Punch coming in huge for them both hitting mid-range jumpers as well as banging down low in the paint to score near 20 points per game himself on January 25th the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs faced off for the first time that season with the Warriors sitting at 40 and 4 chasing that 96 Bulls record seemingly with a path to do so in sight I'll disperse themselves were 38-6 coming off that 13-game win streak just two games behind the dubs at this point with a chance to cut that deficit to one if they got a win in here I remember how incredibly anticipated this matchup was I found a full bleach report article breaking down every aspect of these two teams battling because it's probably one of the best record matchups we have seen in the entirety of NBA history again the warriors were seemingly on a path to 73-9 or better and the Spurs were just two games back it was a momentous occasion for the season now unfortunately uh this game was over pretty early the dubs jumped out to a 15 point lead at halftime behind a usual Steph Curry dominant performance from That season the Spurs were unable to really slow down their offense and Golden State ended up winning by 30 after a typical Warriors third quarter explosion which led to pretty much all the starters on both sides sitting in the fourth quarter it didn't live up to the hype Tim Duncan didn't play in this one and he certainly would have helped their defense although I don't think he's stopping a 30-point blowout golden state was just the better team on this night and got this big win that would help them put a little bit of space between the Spurs but it still wasn't much it was unfortunate for the Spurs that they missed this chance to gain a bit of ground on the Warriors but following the loss they would stick with what they were doing prior and go on another dominant streak winning 21 of their next 25 games including a win over the Warriors themselves where they held Golden State to just 79 points unanimous MVP and that Golden State Warriors offense they held them to 79 points that was their lowest total on the season by 10 points it was an absurd defensive effort as they handed the Warriors one of their nine losses on the entire year Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge both ended up being named All-Stars the Spurs headed into the final month of the season with a record of 59-10 just three games back of the Warriors who they would play twice more in the season and because they were so close and got a chance to play them towards the end of the year despite eventually going 73-9 the Warriors did not officially lock up the one seed until the final week of the season that's incredible for reference the 72-10 bowls locked up the one seed with about a month left and eventually would beat out the two-seeded Magic by 12 games the Golden State Warriors set the best record in NBA history but we're still playing all their starters consistently not only because they wanted to chase the record but because they had to or else the Spurs could catch up with them and take the one seed for a while people were actively wondering are we gonna see two separate teams win 70 plus games something that up to this point had only happened once in NBA history with the bulls in not just the same year but in the same conference now obviously the Spurs wouldn't quite get there they lost three straight games towards the end of the season two of those losses coming to the Golden State Warriors who again they played twice to kind of round out the year they would finish with a couple of wins and wrap up the year with a record of 67 and 15 somehow only good enough for second in the west obviously from this fall season breakdown and the record itself you can probably tell that the Spurs were pretty good but if we dive into the numbers we can see just how historically great this team was and this is why I wanted to make this video because you can take a look at the record the fact that they did so in a stacked Western Conference and understand that yeah this team has pretty good but they were historically great the numbers back them up as one of the greatest teams in NBA history going back to the standings their record of 67 and 15 is tied for the seventh best record in league history and is tied for the second best record of the 2000s with the 2015 and 2017 Warriors as well as the 2007 Dallas Mavericks on the road the Spurs went 27-14 the second best Mark in the NBA That season but at home they finished with a record of 40 and one yes they won 40 games at home and lost just a single matchup when they were playing in San Antonio time for the best single season home record of all time with the 8586 Boston Celtics if we put this into a percentage they won 97.6 percent of their home games which doesn't even feel possible if you went to a Spurs home game you picked one at random there was a 98 chance that you were gonna witness them win the only time they lost an entire year was in that three-game losing streak at the end of the season where they lost the Golden State Warriors by six points only the 73-9 warriors were able to prevent the Spurs from going perfect on the year at home offensively they finished with the fourth best rating in the NBA That season behind the Golden State Warriors the Thunder the Cavs as well as tying with the Toronto Raptors so they were great on that end you know Kawhi Leonard of course like I mentioned was averaging 20 points per game the play-making of Manu Ginobili Off the Bench Tony Parker the great offense of the Marcus Aldridge a cast of role players who were able to consistently contribute it was a really good offensive Squad but defensively is really where they made their mark on the record books this season defensively they finished with a rating of 98.2 which was not only the best in league but it was the best in the league by a margin of 2.6 points which is ridiculous for perspective this past season the Cleveland Cavaliers had the best defense in the league and were just .7 points ahead of the second spot Celtics I went all the way back to the 1996-97 season which is as far back as nba.com Advanced stats for letting me go and there wasn't a single other instance of a team finishing this far ahead of the second place Squad in defensive raiding if we take a look at their defense from a strict opponent's Point per game perspective they held opposing teams to just 92.9 points per game that season a full three points better than any other Squad again I went back to 96-97 and only one other time did this happen and it was the Cleveland Cavaliers in 97 who were 3.3 opposing points per game better than the competition so they're the second team to have that type of margin in the last what 27 years and they were the only team in that range to have a defensive rating that was that much better than the competition they were just on a complete other planet this season defensively it resulted in Kawhi winning defensive player of the year for the second year in a row as he also secured seconded MVP voting although he was behind unanimous MVP Steph Curry so that doesn't mean too much when you have a team that was top five in offense and also a historically great defense you probably expect their net rating to be pretty good which is exactly the case they finished this season with a net rating of 11.3 which was not only the highest net rating That season yes they eclip the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in that rating but it is the fourth best net rating by any team ever in a single season it's only behind the 96 and 97 bowls as well as the 2017 Warriors all of which are considered some of the greatest teams of all time if you ask people what's the best team in NBA history most people are going to say either those Bulls teams or that Warrior Squad the San Antonio Spurs are right there behind them in net rating in a single season and perhaps the craziest part is it wasn't like there were some super team with three All-Stars they were of course led by Kawhi Leonard who had become one of the better players in the world at that point he averaged 21.2 points per game 6.8 rebounds 2.6 assists 1.8 steals one block on 50.6 field goal percentage 44.3 from 3 and 87.4 from the line so yeah he was a 20 point per game score scoring near 50 40 90 guy that played de-point defense he was ridiculous and Aldridge was also really good with 18 points per game 8.5 rebounds 1.5 dimes 1.1 blocks on 51.3 shooting from the field who also was holding his own defensively like those guys were great but outside of them it was just overall great team play you had 33 year old Tony Parker putting up 11.9 points per game in 5.3 assists 38 year old Manu dropping 9.6 points per game off the bench and 3.1 assists Tim Duncan at 39 years old again being one of the more impactful Rim protectors and overall defenders in the league adding 8.6 points per game 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists a knight Patty Mills and Danny Green each contributed about 8.5 points per game in a couple of Dimes David West added seven points and four boards Boris DL put up six points and three boards Kevin Martin Jonathan Simmons and bobon all added between 5.5 and 6 points per game it was a team that was led by two All-Stars but just played incredible team basketball which is a mantra that it's really synonymous with all of those mid-2010 Spurs teams but this season in particular I feel like gets forgotten when we talk about some of the greatest Spurs squads of all time teams that played amazing team ball while still having incredible stars like Kawhi Leonard like LaMarcus Aldridge they locked up defensively they had again one of the best net ratings of all time they were of course being orchestrated by in my opinion the greatest coach of all time in Greg Popovich it was just an unbelievable team watching them chase the Warriors while establishing greatness in their own right all season was ridiculously fun and it set up a potential matchup between Titans and that Year's Western Conference Finals between Golden State and San Antonio although it wouldn't be a matchup that we would end up seeing in the first round of the playoffs this Spurs match up with a pretty beat up Memphis Grizzly Squad who they swept in pretty dominant fashion Memphis was missing Mike Conley as well as Marc Gasol and were LED in scoring by Zach Randolph Lance Stevenson and a 39 year old Vince Carter so they didn't stand much of a chance the Grizzlies lost game won by 32 lost game 2 by 26 were held just 68 points in that game lost game three by nine and the sweep is finished with a 21 Point Victory for San Antonio meanwhile on the other side of the bracket the Oklahoma City Thunder led by Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant who dispersed loss to in game one of the Season we're also taking care of business defeating the Mavericks in a pretty dominant fashion in five games I can tell you as a die-hard thunder fan this series had me worried like I was optimistic obviously and believed that we could win this because we had Katie we had Russ Ibaka Stephen Adams we were finally fully healthy with all of our stars good to go we had a good Supporting Cast like I certainly believed in the team but this spur Squad was terrifying and they flexed their muscles in the first game dominating winning by 32 points at home LED by 38 points from the Marcus Aldridge who has just always been a guy who has terrorized the Oklahoma City Thunder like I have nightmares about some of the things that Lamarcus did to OKC throughout that late mid 2010s era he was a monster not only did he have 38 in this game but he would pretty much destroy us most of the series he said his career high a few years later I think it was in 2019 against us or he had I think it was 56 points Lamarcus is one of those guys every franchise has a couple of players that just destroy them and for a while that guy for us was the Marcus Aldridge in my opinion truly one of the most underappreciated stars of that 2010's era and he would again terrorize Us in game two putting up 41 points but we managed to bounce back getting out of San Antonio with a one-point win in game two stealing home court advantage away some of you may remember this was an incredibly controversial game specifically in the final like 15 seconds we had the ball inbounding it up one with 13.5 seconds to go Dion Waiters was inbounding at being guarded by Manu Ginobili and Dion couldn't seem to get the ball in now part of this was because Manu Ginobili was stepping over the out of bounds line which isn't allowed but then I'll admit Dion Waiters threw an elbow a little bit into the chest of Manu Ginobili pushing him away which is definitely not allowed he managed to inbound the ball to Kevin Durant who brought it down and got struck by Danny Green Giving the Spurs a quick fast break he kicked it ahead to Patty Mills who got it to Ginobili who drove and kicked it out on a kind of over the head behind the back pass to Patty Mills in the corner who ended up missing the three due to its Steven Adams contest Aldridge grabs the board Adams tries to get back into the play after flying into the crowd fans grab his legs so he can't get back in the ball gets knocked out if altered just hands it's loose on the ground a bucket grabs it falls over time expires the Thunder win it was completely hectic people were freaking out like I said there was a lot of controversy I think a last two minutes report came out after that and there was like a billion missed calls on both sides it was ridiculous but in the end the Thunder did end up getting the win officially sending the series back to Oklahoma City tied 1-1 but game three saw the Spurs bounce back and win OKC behind 74 combined points from the Marcus Kawhi and Tony Parker before the Thunder took game 4 by 14 as Kevin Durant torched the Spurs for 41 points on 56 shooting despite being primarily guarded by Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard and that is one thing I want to give Kevin Durant a lot of credit for in this series series Kauai played some incredible defense but a lot of times it just didn't matter Katie was kind of on a mission in this one and he was a big reason why the thunder were able to stay so competitive throughout most of these games but in game five it was Ross's turn as he put up a 35 Point 11 rebound 9 assist performance to lead the Thunder to a four-point win putting them a game away from the Western Conference Finals as the series progressed I think one of the biggest factors to why the Spurs kind of underperformed here is that the age of some of their key players really caught up with them their defense struggled to keep up with the Thunder's top five offense fast-moving guys like Russell Westbrook in the fast break or even in the half court when he was trying to attack the Roman dunk on he was playmaking was incredible kind of slicing them up Kevin Durant hitting shots the Spurs just really weren't able to keep up with an incredibly high-powered Thunder offense at that moment and in game six this all came to a head as Oklahoma City blew them out going up by 24 at halftime and leading by as much as 28 during the game the Spurs would end up cutting the deficit to 14 points by the end but ultimately fell in the second round to the Oklahoma City Thunder who would end up surely going on to defeat the Golden State Warriors after going up 3-1 let me pretend that that actually happened it was a disappointing end for a San Antonio Spurs team that really dominated in every sense of the war during the regular season they made a statement against the Grizzlies did so again in game one against the Thunder But ultimately age really came into play and they just weren't able to keep up with OKC's two superstars this game would actually end up being the final game from Tim Duncan who quietly retired following the loss opting to not go for a retirement tour in typical reserved Tim Duncan fashion the Spurs would end up making the Western Conference Finals The Following season with a pretty similar core but would lose to the Kevin Durant Warriors after Kauai suffered an ankle injury at the hands of Zaza pachulia or I guess the foot in the landing space of Kawhi Leonard of Zaza pachulia an injury that would ultimately kinda end up leading to his exit from San Antonio not too long afterwards and although that 2015-16 Spurs team didn't go on to win a title or battle the Warriors in the Conference Finals to this day this first team remains one of my favorite teams to watch and in my opinion in the most underrated team may be in NBA history they were a juggernaut they dominated with team play Elite defense to really fun All-Stars to watch including a rising superstar in Kawhi Leonard they gave the greatest regular season team of all time a fight in the standings all year you saw Kawhi Leonard at a de-point level for the final time the final season of Tim Duncan who again somehow remained a force till the very end and All-Star season from LaMarcus Aldridge who again in my opinion is one of the most underappreciated stars of the 2010s of course contributions from the old big three of Tony Parker Manu Tim Duncan Greg Popovich of course in the fold as well they just played incredible team basketball and 10 they went 40-1 at home and helped make 2016 one of the best seasons of all time you had all that stuff I mentioned at the beginning with the Golden State Warriors the series between them and the Thunder game six play the Cavaliers what they did in the NBA Finals Kobe Bryant's final game you had all these amazing moments but this 67 win Spurs team that partially rewrote some of the history books the deserves to be mentioned with some of those greatest teams that we've seen in the modern era some of those great moments of an incredible 2016 season they deserve their flowers I tweeted about this team today as I'm recording this video before I did so and I talked about how they're underappreciated I tweeted out that there were 41 at home you know the incredible defense Kawhi Leonard's play and I basically said that they were one of the most forgotten NBA juggernauts really of all time and a lot of people were like yeah I remember this team they were super fun to watch and also gave them their flowers but there was a good number of people that said that oh they deserve to be forgotten because they lost in the second round they didn't win a title what did they do in the playoffs this and that I don't like that way of looking at Hoops if we discounted every team that ever lost in a second round or did It win the finals we would miss out on remembering so many great squads my opinion it's way more fun to reminisce on these teams and talk about their dominance even if it didn't end the way that it was supposed to in their Vision me personally I'll always remember the Spurs team and appreciate what they brought to the game in this season the fear that they gave me as a thunder fan and overall the diamonds that they showed that entire season as one of the most forgotten and underappreciated juggernauts in NBA history with all that being said I appreciate you watching make sure to leave a like And subscribe if you enjoyed and hit that notification Bell so you don't miss out on any of these videos I want to make more content like this breaking down old teams or you know individual Seasons from players as the off season progresses I've already written down a full list of some videos I want to make there's one about Isaiah Thomas's MVP fifth place finish season coming up soon I want to make one about Wizards John Wall particularly in like that 2016 to 2018 era where he was in conversations for one of the best point guards in the league I think I want to make one like Indiana Paul George even maybe OKC Paul George the year then he finished top three in MVP and defensive player of the year voting there's some other teams and players on that list those are just the ones off the top of my head but if there's any others that you want to see go ahead and comment them down below I'd love to hear your suggestions I'm sure there are some teams that I'm under appreciating that you really want to see me talk about and maybe by kind of getting my memory jogged from your comment I'll remember how great they were and end up making a video about them if I see one of your comments and I use your idea I'll definitely make sure to credit you in the video there's also like always a Google form that's down there for video suggestions if you ever want to use that too but yeah I appreciate you watching again I'll see y'all later everyone say it back

Channel: ThreeCone

Views: 93,577

Keywords: NBA, Basketball, San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, NBA Trades, Damian Lillard, Portland Trailblazers, NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kobe Bryant, NBA History, NBA Reactions, NBA News, NBA Rumors, NBA Predictions, ThreeCone, 2016 WCF, 2016 Finals

Id: Sf6I-4COqkU

Length: 25min 22sec (1522 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 28 2023