LaMarcus Aldridge became a more aggressive and efficient scorer for the San Antonio Spurs after Tim Duncan missed a stretch of time beginning in January. Since Duncan has returned, Aldridge has continued his high level of production.

From the start of the season until January 22nd, Aldridge averaged 15.9 points per game on 48.7 percent shooting and 13.6 field goal attempts. Between January 23rd and February 18th, Aldridge averaged 20.8 points on 54.7 percent shooting and 13.9 field goal attempts. From February 18th until March 17th, Aldridge has averaged 20.2 points on 52.6 percent shooting and 15.2 field goal attempts.

“It’s a subjective thing, but I think it’s logical to think that that may have been a little bit of a catalyst,” said Gregg Popovich. “He realized he had to do some things and there wasn’t anybody else to defer to, as far as bigs are concerned. That probably had a little bit to do with it. It’s also been a process where he’s become more comfortable in the offense, catching it in different places than he was used to, and it was a process for me too to give him the ball more in places that he was used to. So a little bit of both and then as time went on his confidence level went up when he would miss shots, and he realized we don’t care.”

“We care if you don’t shoot them if you’re open,” continued Popovich. “If you miss them, we don’t care, you can’t control that.”