I ran across a great story on the Spurs at a site I've never heard of before -- the Inpredictable. As my dad used to say, "Boy, howdy!" It's a good one.

Sure, we knew San Antonio's defense was great. It's on a pace to be historic, and as Michael Beuoy at the Inpredictable says, the Spurs "are better at defense than the Warriors are on offense" according to the way they break things down per possession. But that's just the beginning:

There are bad defensive teams, there are good defensive teams, there's a yawning chasm, and then there's the Spurs.

To illustrate, there's this chart:

After going into the way Coach Pop brought focus onto the team's transition defense after he blamed a failure in that area for the loss to the Clippers in the first round of last year's playoffs, Beuoy shares more data to reveal:

To put this in context, the Spurs have better defensive efficiency off of turnovers (the most efficient possession type) than any other NBA team manages on all possessions.

I'm not going to pull all of the goodies out of Beuoy's piece -- the entire article is worth your time and I suggest you read it -- but I must point out that, once again, it's great to see the way that PATFO reacts to a season-ending loss: by turning what was a weakness into a strength.

After the sweep by the Phoenix Suns in 2010, Pop redesigned the offense. After last year, it was the defense. And what a weapon it is now.