NBA San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs’ Bench Continues to Improve in Win Over Celtics

Aron Baynes Spurs

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After a rough first half, the San Antonio Spurs rallied in the second half and easily coasted to a 111-89 victory over the Boston Celtics.

Ten players for the Spurs scored at least five points. While the “Big Three” of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili struggled to get going, only combining for 30 points, the real story was the supporting cast of the team. Danny Green recorded four three-pointers in an 18-point effort, and Boris Diaw put up 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in only 24 minutes.

The success of the Spurs has always been tied to the Big Three and how they have bought into the system head coach Gregg Popovich preaches, but the Spurs are starting to show that they are truly a 12-men deep. They were once again without Tiago Splitter and Patty Mills due to their injuries, but the contributions by Aron Baynes (13 points and 5 rebounds) and Cory Joseph (8 points, 4 assists) demonstrated just how far the end of the bench has come.

Granted, this game was against the Celtics, who are a rebuilding team and were not favored to win this match, but now that players like Baynes and Joseph are finding themselves with the team and finding ways to attack the basket with confidence, it is truly scary to imagine just how good this Spurs team will be once they get everyone back at full strength. Popovich has masterfully balanced the amount of minutes he gives each one of his players over the last few years, and this season will be his greatest test yet in order to keep everyone happy given just how deep, talented and dangerous this Spurs team is.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.

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