NBA power rankings say more about the Spurs than their offense does

The Spurs are 8-8 since their Christmas Day win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, struggling to look like the same team since. Despite that very mediocre record, they still sit in the top five of the NBA's latest power rankings release. Coming in at fourth, San Antonio hasn't plummeted from their perch for one simple reason: it's not just them. That should be a comfort to all those who cheer for the Silver and Black.

This team can't put together consistent offensive efforts if the city's love of breakfast tacos depended on it. However, scoring is down across the league. The difference between them and Mitch Johnson's crew is that they don't have a ferocious defense led by an advanced Xenomorph to fall back on.

Points per game are down in January across the NBA

The numbers don't lie; the Association is in an offensive funk. It goes back to Coach Johnson's not two weeks ago, when he was asked about the team's woes. "It's January in the NBA," the first-year leader said. I was harsh on him then, not giving him enough credit for summarizing the issue so efficiently and instead considering it a lazy answer, but the evidence is damning.

Let's look at the numbers for the highest-scoring team and points for the 15th-highest, as it paints a fair picture detailing the offensive trend from best to average.

October: High - 127.8 — Average - 118.2
November: High - 125.1 — Average- 116.8
December: High - 125.6 — Average - 117.3
January: High - 120.5 — Average - 114.0

It doesn't matter if you're the defending champions or a Play-In Tournament hopeful; the production is down. This circumstance turning out to be a league-wide trend is encouraging because that means it should eventually end. The All-Star Break will be imperative for the guys. That's the time for players to truly rest and gear up for the home stretch of the season.

These are professional athletes, but 82 games is still a lot, and when you do anything for an extended period of time, your focus and enthusiasm can slip. They'll be judged on how they bounce back from it more than anything.

San Antonio still has everything in front of them. The playoffs are only two and a half months away, giving them plenty of time to shake off this funk and gear up for the real season. This team has great wins this month over Western Conference foes like the Lakers and the Timberwolves. That lets you know that the giant is still in there somewhere. They just need to wake him up again.