I also remember Vicario making a series of important saves, but there was more to it than that. The metrics those first ten games strongly supported that Spurs were consistently in good positions to outscore the opposition and win games. What the defence was giving up at one end was counterbalanced (and then some) by what was being created at the other,
That flipped when Romero, VDV and Udogie all went down at once, which is both understandable but also indicative of Postecoglou’s unwillingness to adapt. What there’s no question over was the importance of that first choice defence. As has been noted numerous times, when all 5 played together Ange maintained a top 5-ish record across both seasons. But that’s obviously by the by because the reality is that the record was considerably worse when others had to step in and play.
