The 2014 Spurs played the Beautiful Game

In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA finals playing a beautiful style of basketball predicated on ball movement and player movement. This video breaks down head coach Gregg Popovich's X's & O's and style of play from that 2014 season.
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Thumbnail by Nic Stelter. Contact him at [e-mail]
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0:00 Intro
3:23 Motion Weak
6:54 Advantage Basketball

[@LetMeEatDem]

2014 Boris Diaw is one of the greatest role players of all time.

[@gabrielperez82204]

For sure. Btw I love your name 😂😂

[@afterthought6889]

for sure. He doesn't get enough credit. his ball IQ was off the charts and his addition to that team was an instant floor raiser. everyone was more dangerous when Bobo was on the floor. Jokic reminds me of him a lot.

[@smokealltheteklesandthechi1906]

It's funny you say that. At the beginning of his career he had the physical attributes of a superstar but he sadly never had the mindset... One of the only players who purposely underachieved despite a good career.

[@GarkKahn]

The key for the spurs success was their depth They had one of the best bench ever

[@rosindabz3138]

yo momma

[@EzekielDBarrett]

There were a few times that season where the spurs reached a level I'd never seen before. I genuinely remember being mind blown by the movement and beauty in that offense

[@DownloadEvony]

Same man. I badly miss the spurs.

[@lukamagicgod]

Yes, i thought the Heat play well in 2014 finals the spurs is just so good! They also cant miss!

[@mureen5420]

blow outs in the 2nd quarter

[@BuzzworthyBand]

Incredible chemistry. This team sought opportunities for each other. So many hockey assists. Boris Diaw was the under the radar MVP.

[@Bolo_Podoleo]

As a Heat fan, the Spurs had the perfect counter to Miami's aggressive trapping defense, it was tough to watch, but still the most beautiful and cohesive offense any team has ever played.

[@dobz746]

This type of offense really works if you have good passing bigs and great shooting wings

[@seanmiller5460]

Last 3 games of that finals remains the most beautiful basketball I've ever seen. They do not get the credit they deserve.

[@IssacAndrew]

Pop actually gives credit to Ettore Messina for the offensive philosophy. Especially the .5 rule

[@dusk6159]

Messina is one of the greatest basketball coaches ever.

[@paulnamalomba194]

What they did to the heat in the finals was truly something we shall never see again. Obliterated them and tore them apart, insane defense and awesome motion offense the entire time…

[@ramirog9688]

The 2014 Spurs made me truly fall in love with the beautiful game. That team is still the greatest team I’ve ever seen play. I’m a Cavs fan through and through but I absolutely admired watching those spurs.

[@idahoandude3284]

:22 to :25 is some of the most brilliant basketball you can watch. The awareness of Diaw that they trapped the ball handler off of the re-screen after the pin down and his quick flash to the high post for an easier pass to Splitter was ridiculously quick. High IQ stuff.

[@technicalleon]

This is why I love the 2014 Spurs and GSW in recent years. Love to see unselfish team basketball in action.

[@rafisafdie1893]

sometimes it was hard to listen to the analysis cause i was too busy watching how pretty the plays are lol

[@dusk6159]

They're the best team ever, barring superteams.

[@des8893]

2013-2014 Spurs were one of my favorite teams to watch of all time. It was such a breath of fresh air at the time.

[@anthonynorman7545]

I could easily watch an hour of that 2014 Spurs team 😍

[@taetheruler]

The warriors took this exact offense the following year in 2015 and added high volume 3s and the rest is history

[@hectorwatt9712]

It kinda seems like everyone on the team was a role player, they had 4 guys who could probably average 20 but everyone bought in to probably the greatest coached team of all time to win a ring

[@alexiscando5709]

Well yeah, no one on that 2014 Spurs team average 20PPG in the 2014 Finals, Parker lead the team with 18PPG with Kawhi averages 17.8PPG on 64% shooting

[@Heatlifer77]

I also tear up thinking about the 2014 finals

[@partysnax1984]

Your channel is criminally under rated

[@Zl0N]

What an absolute dub video, I learned so much in this 10 minute video and I felt as if I could understand and keep up with the information as you were explaining it. Thank you so much for this video 🙏

[@IYALM]

Absolutely goated team , amazing chemistry

[@alwaysdowhatsright]

Good coach.

[@ighsight]

I had to subscribe, this video captures so much of what I think about basketball and what that 2014 team did for the game. The 2014 Spurs played the game at the highest level it's been played, it was truly incredible to watch. I was a big Heat fan but you could just see that the Spurs had a harmony that could not be countered or interrupted. The Warriors reached a similar level of beauty when they won that first ring and followed up with the 73-9 season.

[@fachriranu1041]

I dont think GSW reach 2014 Spurs play. The difference is 3pt shoot. GSW have 2 of the best shooter to ever live. Spurs didnt have, they have to move the ball organically and take the shoot wherever they get 3pt, middle, paint didn't matter. Thats why to me 2014 still the most beautiful team play i ever watch.

[@markdwighttadina7655]

The 2014 Spurs Beautiful game is one of the Ingridients of Golden State Warriors' 4 championships ('15, '17, '18, '22) along with the Triangle offense.

[@blender_wiki]

The most beautiful basketball in the history of the sport. Everything look so easy and smooth.

[@Aaron-nm1ob]

That Tony Parker floater was absolute cash

[@Ryk0411]

Those Heat vs Spurs series were so spectacular

[@traviscansler223]

I thought Tiago was going to at least have a couple of all-stars for us. This team was so great, it was a mindfully created roster. Not a single role was neglected.

[@dusk6159]

Splitter at C with Duncan as the forward was damn good stuff.

[@artLopez24]

It’s crazy on how many teams copy the spurs lol I mean they were the first to really start drafting euro players and I’d like to think Steve Kerr took a lot of his cutting from pop whoever the warriors do it at a much higher level since they have 2 of the best shooters of all time

[@elcochino8139]

That 2014 Spurs set the standard for this new eras style of play

[@maartenvz]

There is so much happening often you need to rewind to catch it all. This is how basketball should be played, 5 fingers moving as 1 hand. Poetry in motion. The Warriors come very close but run a little too much pnr for steph. Damn those analytics ;)

[@futurehofer1564]

They barely do pnr for Steph, they should do more tbh and they did more in the Finals because Steph is the best pnr player of all time and they needed him to carry them

[@AT-qu2bz]

@@futurehofer1564 making steph move around the court makes life easier to the rest of the team, you can defend 2 guys but you can't defend a whole team

[@artLopez24]

The warriors don’t move the ball aswell but they are more deadly in my opinion because they run a free flowing offense with 2 of the best shooters of all time

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

illegal screens

[@ryandick9649]

Superb analysis and explanations of an outstanding team. Just like a coach can win with great players, your channel wins because of the good topics and teams you pick to demonstrate those topics.

[@ghost_screens]

Love and appreciate your work always Jordan(and team)!

[@Sebastian_85]

This is why I don’t understand what Durant was saying about Steve Kerrs offense when in reality Popovich did so well doing this offense. Steve Kerr was the student of Popovich as well as Phill Jackson’s understanding the Triangle and Motion offense along with Mike D’Antonie’s 7 seconds or less to make a beautiful hybrid offense. Everyone on the Warriors, every player had success had played a lot better when Steve Kerr created an offense thaught to him by so many. For Durant to come to the Warriors during that time and to say it won’t work was a mistake because when he left, the Warriors won their championship using the same offense almost the same players. Ignorance is bliss 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@dky2006]

Great video! All the short clips these days focus only on the player with the ball, but off-the-ball movement is just as critical. I hope more teams play this way.

[@indamaking]

There is absolutely nothing better than playing on a team where everybody plays for one another

[@zacharygiardina9042]

Truly my favorite nba team of all time💯🔥

[@BasketballSociety_]

When all five players on the floor are not only committed to passing & spacing, but truly understand it, beautiful things happen

[@ranielcyrusechon1159]

2014 spurs vs 2022 warriors, both teams shares the ball, has good team chemistry and have home grown big 3, the only difference is the warriors are more fast paced ball movement vs the half court calculated ball movement of the spurs

[@zyxwut321]

You watch the Duncan era Spurs and the Bird era Celtics and the game looks so easy and simple. Move, position, cut, pick, pass. On defense, switch, don't get out of position, help, use your length and contest everything. Then box out, rebound, quickly outlet and run smartly and strategically. You do that, you don't always need the most explosive athletes who can jump out of the gym. In fact, you can use your opponents athleticism against them, making them overreact and goad them into taking foolish shots and chances. It's an easy game when executed well.

[@jihadijohn9408]

Hoopvision68 is a beautiful channel

[@etiennedessaudes3300]

Wonderful video thank you for the hard work putting it together !

[@benrekosh6379]

Fantastic video

[@ND-pe9zg]

incredible video, keep it up!

[@alwaysdowhatsright]

Most underrated coach of all time.

[@SoloPerICommenti]

amazing video, as usual

[@kevinbao6905]

Your channel is seriously underrated bro

[@sliqvic]

Great video

[@lucasisto1744]

great! I hope this is the second episode (after the 09 magic) of an incredible series 🙂

[@Jonas-PD]

Still the greatest basketball i’ve ever watched.

[@utar-kc1dg]

hope to 2002 kings break down

[@gabrielperez82204]

I just love your vids man, always a good day when you upload

[@codyeble6764]

Won't see that again.. perfect pieces around each other, everybody did their job, zero egos

[@ziyinwang499]

My favorite team ever!

[@killagilla24]

It was the best games of Basketball I've ever seen. Can't beleive ppl aren't talking about it.

[@terrancematthews2044]

2014 Spurs team was one of the most dominant teams in NBA history. They beat Miami to the point where you really felt like they was holding their Championship from the previous year.

[@allenroughton]

If you are looking for ways to improve your animation of the top-down plays, a really easy change is to easy-eases the movement, which gives the speed graph a nice curve. You should be able to look up how to do it in whatever program you are using and it's always a very easy change that really helps animations flow smoothly. Regardless, this is great content as always!

[@chumark54]

The good old days.

[@zolimajster8313]

Such a great team but let me remind that Timmy was their main dude. Actually I had similar feeling with this year's dubs. Their previous evolution were probably better basketball wise, but GPII made them so unpredictable and fun to watch.

[@AidenBF56]

Shout out KOT4Q for telling people to watch this team

[@rathohanwu5249]

That Spurs Basketball is beautiful to watch. Nice ball movement, everyone know what to do and what other might do. Is Pure team Sports

[@yll9704]

Spurs played around basic skills. The Warriors blend this style with heavy screening actions and develop a unique Warriorball. They are just beautiful to watch.

[@truckturner6522]

There's no beauty in watching the warriors set a 1000 moving screens.

[@Hieuby_Dooby]

that's some beautiful basketball!

[@Merin512]

Isn't it crazy how this team doesn't get the credit they deserve! If you look up greatest teams of all time they are nowhere to be found and whats worse? You'll see the 2013 Heat mentioned lmao. The heat barely won in a 7 game series and then got crushed the next year. It's clear the 2014 spurs is better than the 2013 heat. And bron fans say it's not a big deal he lost to the spurs in 14 because it was the most beautiful basketball ever played, I do agree with the second part of that statement but then why doesn't the team get credit as a all time best team? They destroyed 4 hof players including prime lebron. Can someone name a another team with 4 hof players on it that got beat up like that? It's not possible. The 2014 spurs set the nba finals record for largest win margin. Against 4 hof players and prime Bron. Give the 2014 spurs their credit people! They are easily top 3 to 5 team of all time

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

do you think they beat todays warriors?

[@Merin512]

@@theonlygoodonehere2259 yes I do. They beat the brakes off prime lebron and 3 other hof players so there is no reason to think otherwise. They played the best basketball ever. They set multiple records including the highest fg% for a quarter and for a half. They were the beautiful game. They had it all. Experience in the big 3, youth in Kawhi and the best bench ever. They could shoot the 3 ball with Patty, Danny, Kwai and Genobli. They had coach pop. And Boris Diaw was so intelligent and a amazing roleplayer. And in 2015 they were beating a better version of the warriors by like 20 pts before Kawhi got hurt and the spurs got rid of pieces from the 2014 team so they weren't as good too.

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@Merin512 reading this whole comment was perfection and gold, as celtics fan, I fully admit the same thing, they would destroy us and the warriors as a finalists team if they played us, they prob would sweep us if we ever played them without our finals run roster 😂

[@jasonmoukala8909]

The 2013 heat are there for a reason and 2014 spurs are there on top 10 list of greatest teams of all time

[@jeremyfuller7730]

I think the Warriors in 15 and 22 were the closest to them in terms of team ball

[@jeremyfuller7730]

Nevermind you mentioned it lol

[@sergiokezen]

Shoutout to Tiago Splitter, the greatest Brazilian to ever play in the nba! Sadly so underrated

[@RugumiTenshi]

Felicio exists tho

[@afterthought6889]

Nene Hilario played in the NBA. so did Barbosa. Verajao was also better than Splitter. this is a terrible take.

[@srj34]

@@afterthought6889 Varejao was not better than Splitter. He offered much less on the offensive end than Splitter did. Good man defender, sure. More physically durable, sure. But if both players are available to me, I'm taking the guy who's good on both ends.

[@eattheburgers259431]

Leandro Barbosa and Nene were better players, Tiago was very solid for SA that year though

[@friedbergje]

Dude great video. Spur are always ignored in the conversation about the evolution of b-ball.

[@daddy3357]

One of the most underrated great teams of all time.

[@EnduringArts]

This type of ball movement was common in the 1960s. It's not just a beautiful game... It's the old game.

[@dumitrunancu1082]

Agree,love my spurs ❤️❤️

[@geoffreyzziwambazza7862]

I wonder which coach, who won his last ring as a player, played for Coach Pop? It would only make sense that Kerr would be able to emulate the successes of the Spurs’ Dynasty.

[@universeliminate]

Now imagine this kind of passing with two of the best shooters the game has ever seen. That is the warriors. Warriors without kd> warriors with kd

[@juliandelara8767]

2014 Spurs were underrated. They can compete and win to any team in today's league.

[@user-kp7ls7ml1h]

2023 nba season warrior play this strartegy so good

[@eloramirez5181]

Love the Spurs offense beautiful but I remember running that motion in 1996. Not sure who I got it from, but it's been around quite a while. Of course, the spurs put it on the map. Just a tidbit of info for the young basketball lover.

[@PoliticusRex632]

I actually have not watched an NBA game since the 2014 Finals. Today's game sucks in comparison.

[@williambillingsford9987]

If the Spurs dynasty doesn't get a 30 for 30.........

[@Alphadestrious]

Greatest team play ever

[@nathanlawson313]

How about a breakdown of the other side? The '04 Pistons BEAUTIFUL defense. Set every defensive record in shot clock era. Every game was a mauling from a hyper-athletic attacking defense, rotating perfectly in unison. Boring? Nah, it was a party 🎉. They even locked up the west all stars in 05 😂

[@MindfulAttraction2.0]

Boris is the best passing role player ever. I don't care who else. Him and Manu made the spurs so much fun

[@daedelus6602]

It also helped that 11 of those players came from leagues where they played according FIBA rules.

[@fupalover]

To me this is the greatest championship team ever. They set final records before the league became so 3pt centric.

[@ajaxieder]

I didnt know they were playing football

[@MrE_]

The rest of the league was playing basketball, the spurs were playing football

[@malxhxh8196]

For basketball, this Spurs offense was what tiki taka was for football. Just a beauty to watch

[@srj34]

"The", "Beautiful" and "Game" can be used for lots of different games, soccer included

[@glovs4188]

Why are the spurs so good in reading on the fly? Its cause they used the entire season to practice it through repetition. Not one player is allowed to hold the ball the entire shot clock and statpad like how guys like westbrook, lebron and harden generate their stats. Put lebron in that spurs team his numbers will dip to 16ppg, 7 rebs and 4 assts at best. Of course players wants to get paid thus no one wants to play in this style of offense.

[@jasonmoukala8909]

Bron doesn’t stat pad. Don’t compare a top 5-10 player all time to westbrick and harden. He’s not the same as them and doesn’t play the way they do

[@glovs4188]

@@jasonmoukala8909 lmfao. Bron literally kills any player or ball movement a team can have. That's exactly what makes him great. His ball dominant style is extremely mediocre, but he can still win with it. Imagine him in a spurs or warriors style offense in the draymond role, a screener and roller and facilitate sometimes. Yes his stats will drastically plummet to 18ppg, 6apg but that offense will be unstoppable. Weve seen a lot of teams lock him down with his mediocre hold the ball for 20secs up top offense which limited his superteam's players.

[@glovs4188]

@@jasonmoukala8909 lol. Harden and westbrick didnt have the luxury of playing in the leastern conference and superteams. Dont forget that the harden rockets took the kd warriors to 7 games while the superteam cavs got gentleman swept.

[@cdgates1]

Popovich is the greatest NBA coach. Ever since 2014 every team that has went to the finals (except the bubble) has been Pop affiliated

[@TheStranger513]

Man Danny Green was so hot from 3 that year before when they lost it.

[@JapseyeSpecs]

With the way they played in the finals they would’ve stood a very good chance against any team in history. Best team basketball I’ve ever seen.

[@glovs4188]

This 2014 finals is contrast of 2 styles. The spurs run a 5 man threat free flowing offense. The heat ran an isolation your turn my turn offense. Everyone just stand and wait for my pass.

[@TheGeorgeD13]

Not really true about the Heat. They did a lot of movement too. It was out of the pick and pop and pick and roll rather than the motion, but they did move it around.

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@TheGeorgeD13 true thats how they used to beat us in the playoffs

[@jasonmoukala8909]

That last part bout the heat isn’t true at all

[@cdgates1]

Miami tried to speed the Spurs up but Popovich had other ideas. He knew Miami was a fast break team so Pop decided that the opposite of fast is slow. He wanted all his players to have a pg mentality....Slow the offense down to find the open man. Like Charles Barkley has always said about the Spurs....They only have 1 speed.

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@cdgates1 yeah, spurs were past their primes, so they had to set the tempo against teams like heat and thunder, and it crushed them both

[@hanyuzhu7276]

Didn’t know that the 2014 Spurs were actually a soccer team

[@omnitheus5442]

Second best squad I've seen play the game after that 73 win Warriors squad. Ahead of Jordan's Bulls and KD's Warriors. Took something special to stop that Heat two headed monster of CB and Bron (DWade was well past it for me by then).

[@davidgayle5567]

Good times

[@user-fc9ge1ln4l]

GM🔥

[@imjustplaying9205]

The kind of game that Lebron, Harden, Westbrook ang Irving will never understand! 😏

[@christiansamaroo]

You are changing the narrative. I remember people who respected the spurs because of their winning culture but did not like to watch simply because they were boring

[@xXryanleifursonXx]

Why do you not have more subscribers? I don't get it.

[@athanasiossavvidis4571]

This is actually how european basketball is played just on a little bit of a lower level

[@TheULMOnaut]

There is a reasonable point in saying, MJ destroyed the game, the Spurs showed us, what the leauge may look like.

[@x-man9473]

Sure. But that's just as silly as blaming Curry for destroying the game. >Curry and the Warriors 3 point dominance led to the league jacking up more 3s than necessary. That's not Curry's fault. It's what made his team dominant. It's the fault of the league for not understanding the context and trying to mimic it. >Same with MJ. The Bulls were a horrible scoring team. In order for the Bulls to win, it required MJ to take on a lot of scoring roles, score a lot of the team's points, and revolve a lot of the offense around him. It worked and they won. Now other teams, that don't understand the context of the Bulls reliance on MJ are trying to mimic it and it's leading to the problems we have today.

[@TheULMOnaut]

@@x-man9473 I actually agree, the blame should not be on Curry or MJ.

[@lpy1102]

I am still curious about how tf the mavs won three times on this Spurs in the first round.

[@NotAnAstronaut2k]

Vince Carter

[@quinnolivarez]

The amount of 3 sec violations that don’t get called against this team is shocking

[@tpg81]

FIBA basquetball and players + NBA basquetball and players = 2014 Spurs. Always remember that the Spurs (by Pop's express order) were the first, and still one of the few, to replace the word "World" with "NBA" on their champion banners.

[@akalapov]

Spurs basketball during 2014-2015 is the best basketball ever played.

[@MiguelSantiago22]

I was a Heat fan during that time I was upset

[@kcblack4989]

There’s a reason they won 5 rings