San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Timberwolves Dec. 13

The last time the San Antonio Spurs were in Minnesota, Tony Parker dropped 55 points on the Timberwolves to help the Spurs win a double overtime thriller and get the first victory of the 2008-09 season. On Friday night, Parker’s 16 fourth quarter points helped the Spurs secure their 14th win of the season.

Entering the fourth with only one point, Parker went 7-for-10 in the quarter and also dished off two assists. The biggest individual shot of the final quarter was authored by Matt Bonner. With the T’Wolves trimming the lead to nine points with six minutes remaining, Bonner hit a three-pointer and Minnesota never broke the double-digit barrier again. When all was said and done, the Spurs had won by a final score of 98-86 to win their fifth straight game.

Regarding the T’Wolves, Al Jefferson is a beast on the low block. There isn’t an NBA player who scores as consistently against Tim Duncan as Minnesota’s starting center. He has a disgusting array of post moves to go along with a delicate touch around the rim. It’s amazing that the T’Wolves don’t give him the ball virtually every time up the court.

The win for the Spurs was another good one. Minnesota has been a difficult destination as of late and even though San Antonio went through stretches where their energy was non-existent, the Spurs were able to turn it up in the second half to come out on top.

Tim Duncan

35 minutes, 17 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks, five turnovers
7-for-13 from the field, 3-for-6 at the line

Tim Duncan had a decent enough outing. Offensively, he scored when he was aggressive on the low post and he also drained a few jumpers. He got caught unaware a few times and was stripped of the ball by help defenders and his passes weren’t as crisp as usual – leading to his five turnovers. On the other end of the court, his individual defense against Jefferson wasn’t very good but his help defense was impressive. When the small bigmen of Minnesota tried to muscle up shots around the rim, Duncan was there to block the attempt. It wasn’t an especially good performance by Duncan but he was one of the players who turned up the energy in the second half to get the win.
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Manu Ginobili

29 minutes, 16 points, four rebounds
6-for-17 from the field, 1-for-4 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line

Manu Ginobili had one of his more hyper games since his return. He was quick to loose balls and made a number of hustle plays. However, Ginobili was a bit too quick with his trigger. A number of times he took quick shots before letting the offense create an open look. As a result of him looking often at the basket, Ginobili finished without an assist or a turnover. Overall though, it was a step in the right direction for the Argentine guard. He’s starting to get his controlled recklessness back, which is an important aspect of his game.
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Tony Parker

36 minutes, 17 points, nine assists, four rebounds
7-for-15 from the field, 3-for-4 at the line

Tony Parker’s first three quarters were rather interesting. He missed all five field goals he attempted but he didn’t seem too distressed about his struggles. Instead, he stayed patient – sometimes overly so – and was content letting others carry the load. In the fourth, he became much more aggressive looking for his own shot and was able to completely shake off his previous struggles. On the night, he also handed out nine assists and didn’t have a turnover. Defensively, he was sleepwalking in the first half but turned up his intensity in the final two quarters. On the whole, Parker’s night had to be considered a good one.
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Michael Finley

28 minutes, 12 points, seven rebounds
5-for-9 from the field, 2-for-4 on three-pointers

Michael Finley didn’t have the best shot selection but he knocked down a number of difficult looks. Defensively, he was solid once again and did a great job helping out on the defensive glass. His offseason weight loss has made him much more agile and he also looks to be jumping better. In the last five games, Finley is averaging 12.2 points per game on 53.2% shooting from the field and 47.4% from beyond the three-point arc.
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Matt Bonner

29 minutes, 12 points, four rebounds, three assists
5-for-7 from the field, 2-for-3 on three-pointers

Matt Bonner once again shot the ball well. He seems to be draining just about every open look he’s getting from the perimeter. Bonner also mixed in a few good passes and his movement without the ball is getting better and better. Defensively, his one-on-one defense was good but he struggled on his rotations for the first time in a while. He also didn’t do a very good job on the defensive glass. Although, all things considered, the Spurs have to be ecstatic with what they are getting from their center position.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

21 minutes, five points, two rebounds, two assists
2-for-6 from the field, 1-for-4 on three-pointers

Roger Mason, Jr. is going through his first slump in a Spurs uniform. He just hasn’t been able to figure out where he fits now that all the pieces are in place. It also didn’t help that he was missing wide open jumpers against the T’Wolves. The good news is he continues to shoot the ball confidently, which should allow him to break out of this slump sooner than later. In his last five games, Mason is shooting 39.5% from the floor and 29.7% from downtown.
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George Hill

22 minutes, nine points, six rebounds, three steals, one assist
3-for-5 from the field, 1-for-1 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line

George Hill quietly had one of his better all-around games of the season. Defensively, he was exceptional. His one-on-one defense was good but he really shined when it came to his help defense and his rebounding. Hill’s defensive energy seemed to be lacking over the last week but he had boundless energy on Friday night. Thanks to his defensive exploits, Pop used him to close out the game. On offense, Hill picked his spots nicely and coolly switched between point guard and shooting guard duties.
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Kurt Thomas

18 minutes, six points, four rebounds, three blocks
1-for-4 from the field, 4-for-4 at the line

With the Spurs getting beat on the offensive boards, Kurt Thomas was called into action to add some physicality. He did a great job of doing just that. He rebounded well and defended the rim with authority – as his three blocked shots suggest. On offense, Thomas set good picks and his physical play led to a season-high four free throw attempts. After a slow start to the season, Thomas seems to be finding his niche on this team.
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Fabricio Oberto

Ten minutes, one point, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks
0-for-2 from the field, 1-for-2 at the line

Fabricio Oberto continues his positive play. He was a factor on the boards and even blocked two shots – doubling his season total. In fact, he has three of his four blocks in his last two games. Offensively, even though his shot wasn't dropping, he was still effective. He set sturdy picks and he made a few fantastic passes. The area to be most excited about Oberto’s progression is his rebounding. In November, he averaged 7.8 rebounds per 48 minutes. In December, that number has risen to 13.2.
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Bruce Bowen

Ten minutes, one assist, one block

Since Minnesota doesn’t have a perimeter scorer that needs extra attention, Bruce Bowen wasn’t needed much on Friday night. He had a few quality defensive plays while he was in the game but he didn’t play in the final 32 minutes of the contest.
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Gregg Popovich


Pop coached a good game against the T’Wolves. He recognized the need for toughness and Thomas delivered when he was called upon. Playing Hill extra minutes was good to see and had positive results. My only complaint is how he’s handling Mason’s minutes. Mason has had five consecutive games with less than 30 minutes and had only 21 minutes against Minnesota. I’d like to see Pop carve out a role for Mason that has him playing 30-32 minutes per game.
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Offense

The offense started out very slowly but each quarter the Spurs scored more points than the previous quarter. By the fourth, the offense was rolling and they were able to put 32 points on the board. For the night, the Spurs shot 46.8% from the floor, connected on 8-of-18 three-pointers and had 23 assists to only ten turnovers. Don’t look now but San Antonio seems to be climbing the ranks offensively. In their last nine victories, the Spurs are averaging 108.6 points per game.

Defense

The Spurs did a great job defending the T’Wolves. They set a season-high with 12 blocks and held Minnesota to 40.9% field goal shooting. Take out the 8-for-8 showing by the T’Wolves in garbage time at the end of the game and that percentage lowers to 35%. The Spurs also did good work when it came to closing out on shooters, as the T’Wolves shot just 2-for-6 on three-pointers. The rebounding was a struggle at some points but San Antonio came away with a 47-44 edge in that category.

Drive to Five

At 14-8, the Spurs have to be very happy with where they sit. As long as they stay healthy, they should be able to have a good chance at a high seed. On Sunday, the Spurs take on the 2-22 Oklahoma City Thunder. A letdown here is unacceptable, especially considering the difficult set of games on the upcoming schedule. A stomping of the Thunder would be a nice way to get some revenge for the fired PJ Carlesimo.

Believe.

[joshuakang]

go spurs go..

[tackielarla]

Spurs - Hornets Preview

The New Orleans Hornets had their breakthrough season cut short by the San Antonio Spurs last spring.
Though both teams could have deep playoff runs ahead of them this season, neither looked ready for that kind of success recently.

The Hornets and Spurs look to bounce back from shaky performances in wins over last-place teams as the Southwest Division rivals square off for the first time since last season’s playoffs on Wednesday night in New Orleans.

After three straight trips to the lottery, New Orleans won a franchise-record 56 games last season and got their first playoff series win since 2002 by beating Dallas in the first round.

The Hornets’ stunning success ended when they lost a seven-game series against the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals.

Both teams expect to be back in the postseason this spring, but that’ll likely take better performances than they put together in their last games.

San Antonio ( 15-8 ) nearly blew a 26-point lead in a tight 109-104 win over NBA-worst Oklahoma City on Sunday, and New Orleans (14-7) needed a late surge on Tuesday to pull out a 91-84 win over Memphis, the last-place team in the Southwest.

Spurs guard Tony Parker scored six straight points in the final minutes on Sunday to help San Antonio escape with its sixth straight win and 13th in 16 games after a 2-5 start.

“You never want to (have a big lead early in a game), because it’s always dangerous,” said Parker, who finished with 22 points and seven assists and went 9-for-18 from the field. “At the end it was kind of ugly, but we got the win and that’s the most important thing.”

That’s similar to what Hornets All-Star point guard Chris Paul said on Tuesday after scoring five points with three assists in the final five minutes to help New Orleans pull out its ninth win in 11 games.

The victory pulled the Hornets into a virtual tie with San Antonio and Houston atop the division.

“We feel like we’ve been through a lot of things, and we were able to pull it together in the fourth,” said Paul, who had 18 points, nine assists and five steals. Paul recorded a steal in his 105th straight contest, tying Alvin Robertson’s NBA record.

Now, Paul will try to claim sole possession of that mark against a San Antonio team he averaged 23.1 points, 10.4 assists and 2.3 steals against last season, including the playoffs. He also shot 51.5 percent from the field as New Orleans went 5-6 in those 11 overall games.

Despite Paul’s consistent success, the Spurs overcame an 0-2 deficit in the playoffs by winning four of the clubs’ last five games, including a series-clinching 91-82 road win on May 19.

San Antonio was 2-4 overall in New Orleans in 2007-08.

The Hornets are averaging 106.0 points and shooting 50.0 percent during their four-game home winning streak, during which they’ve outscored opponents by an average of 15.0 points.

The Spurs, meanwhile, have won six of seven on the road.

[tackielarla]

15-14 Spurs after the 1st Q. Terrible offense by both teams...

[tackielarla]

42-37 Spurs after the half.

[tackielarla]

70-63 Spurs at the end of the 3rd.

[tackielarla]

Men... we had them by the throat...

Oh well...

[kamikaze426]

2nd time in a row nga ni colapse ang spurs. may gani sa kato okc naka daog pa sila, karon na pildi na gyud

[jasonrey]

sayanga oy. they were leading most of the game. sige lang, bawi nalang ta sunod spurs fans!

[tackielarla]

Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Hornets Dec. 17
(courtesy of timvp from spurstalk)

For about three and a half quarters, the San Antonio Spurs were outplaying the New Orleans Hornets. But then the Hornets got rolling offensively and the Spurs couldn’t buy a basket. When it was all said and done, the Spurs lost a very winnable game against a team they could very likely see in the 2009 playoffs.

After a Matt Bonner jumper with about five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Spurs led 79-72. Over the course of the next four minutes, the Hornets went on a 15-0 run highlighted by two three-pointers by David West and one from James Posey. The Spurs didn’t score again until Tyson Chandler goaltended a Tony Parker floater with 48 seconds remaining in the game.

The win for the Hornets was extra impressive due to the fact that they were playing without both Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson. Chris Paul was again very good and the frontcourt combination of David West and Tyson Chandler remains extremely tough to handle. The addition of Posey, and Antonio Daniels to a lesser degree, will make the Hornets an even more difficult team for the Spurs to beat this season.

As for Spurs, this loss is sure to leave a bad taste. They were doing a good enough job for much of the game but then the shooting dried up and the offense collapsed. It was especially frustrating because the role players who had been playing well for much of the year took a step backwards in arguably the biggest game to date this season. When the playoff seedings are decided, this loss could very well be one loss that stands out for San Antonio.

Tim Duncan

38 minutes, 16 points, 11 rebounds
5-for-14 from the field, 6-for-7 at the line

Tim Duncan’s statistics don’t look too aesthetically pleasing but he was better than those numbers indicate. The problem for Duncan on the night was spacing. With the three-point shooters coming up dry for large stretches, the Hornets were able to pack the lane on him and force Duncan into difficult shots. His decisions offensively weren’t great but overall he picked his spots well. On defense, Duncan defended the pick-and-roll well and his help defense was almost always on time. It was far from his best game but a lot of his struggles were exacerbated by his teammates.
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Manu Ginobili

31 minutes, 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five turnovers
7-for-12 from the field, 3-for-4 on three-pointers

Manu Ginobili had a lot of positives on Wednesday night. He shot the ball well, he was a force on the boards and he continually hustled. The 3-for-4 three-point shooting was especially good to see because he had been one for his last eight from downtown. His five assists led the team but he also had five turnovers – mostly due to forced or careless passes. With as many open shots as the Spurs were getting against New Orleans, there really wasn’t much reason for him to make inadvisable passes. Ginobili also could have been more aggressive driving to the hoop, especially considering he didn’t get to the line in his 31 minutes of action. However, on the whole, Ginobili definitely helped more than he hurt.
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Tony Parker

34 minutes, 20 points, five rebounds, four assists
8-for-13 from the field, 3-for-3 at the line

Tony Parker produced well when he was aggressive. The problem for him on the night was that he wasn’t aggressive enough. Considering that he was 5-for-7 on jumpers, Parker definitely should have been more selfish. It’s tough to criticize a point guard for running the offense but I would have liked to have seen him break off more plays to look for his own shot. Defensively, he gave a good effort against Paul and kept him from totally taking over.
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Michael Finley

27 minutes, five points, two steals
2-for-9 from the field, 1-for-5 on three-pointers

Michael Finley did a whole lot of nothing – yet he still got 27 minutes. He had three wide open jumpers in the fourth quarter and missed all three. Earlier in the game, he forced a few ugly misses. On defense, he was decent but offered no help on the boards. Over the last five games, Finley is averaging more than 31 minutes per game – the most of anyone outside of the Big Three.
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Matt Bonner

34 minutes, seven points, seven rebounds, two assists
3-for-15 from the field, 1-for-8 on three-pointers

Matt Bonner was eventually going to have a bad shooting game. Too bad it happened against a quality opponent. With his defender routinely sagging off of him, Bonner hit only 3-of-15 shots from the field and only 1-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc. Most of his shots were open, which made his misses that much more damaging. Hopefully this was indeed just an off night and not a sign that Bonner is going to struggle shooting against the best teams in the league. On the defense end, Bonner was actually pretty good. He rotated well for the most part and his one-on-one defense was adequate. A few more rebounds would have been nice but he wasn’t a pushover on the glass.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

25 minutes, five points, three turnovers
2-for-7 from the field, 1-for-4 on three-pointers

Roger Mason, Jr. didn’t give Pop much reason to play him. He shot the ball poorly, he turned the ball over and his defense wasn’t anything to write home about. Mason continues to struggle to find his niche now that all the pieces are back in the puzzle. It might help if the Spurs run a few plays early to get him going. Giving him a few minutes at point guard while moving Parker or Hill to shooting guard could help Mason get more involved. Right now, the Mason of earlier in the season is missing in action.
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Kurt Thomas

24 minutes, two points, four rebounds
1-for-2 from the field

Playing the most minutes he has since opening night, Kurt Thomas performed quite well. He set physical screens offensively and knocked down one of his two shots. On defense, he clogged the lane and altered a few shots around the rim. He also pulled down a few contested rebounds. Defensively against West, Thomas looked much better than he did last year in the playoffs. Overall, he’s looking smoother in his movements and in much better shape.
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Bruce Bowen

14 minutes, five points, two steals
2-for-3 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers

Bruce Bowen played 14 minutes of quality basketball. After not shooting in the last two games, he hit two of three shots. On defense, he was feisty and was able to create a few turnovers. I don’t see how a few more minutes for Bowen could have hurt the team. Over his last five games, Bowen has averaged only 18.4 minutes per contest.
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George Hill

14 minutes, six points, two assists
1-for-5 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line

Although his field goal percentage wasn’t the greatest, I thought George Hill played a fine game. He was aggressive offensively with both his shots and his passes. He took care of the ball and was the only perimeter player creating contact in the lane to get to the line. Defensively, Hill was again very strong. All in all, I was encouraged that Hill played with so much confidence against a very good team in a hostile atmosphere.

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Gregg Popovich


Pop didn’t coach a bad game but I question whether he could have pushed better buttons. First of all, more of Bowen made a lot of sense. Bowen was making it difficult for the Hornets to get easy possessions offensively and on the other end of the court, he has a history of being able to knock down open shots – which the Spurs were getting in abundance. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the Hornets’ 15-0 run took place shortly after Bowen left the quarter in the fourth. I also would have liked to have seen a few minutes of Hill next to Parker. The Spurs needed to attack the basket more and that guard duo could have done just that. Bonner didn’t shoot well but I can’t blame Pop for playing him 34 minutes. Having the league’s top three-point shooter percentage-wise getting open look after open look isn’t poor coaching.

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Offense

In the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter, the Spurs were 2-for-18 from the court – including 0-for-8 on three-pointers. That putrid shooting doomed the Spurs on the night and made their final shooting number look much worse than they were during the meat of the game. The Spurs ended up shooting 38.8% from the floor and 9-of-26 three-pointers. Outside of that stretch of play, the Spurs were 46.8% from the floor and hit half of their 18 three-point attempts. The 17 assists as a team were a little bit low, while the 15 free throw attempts were much too low.

Defense

On defense, the Spurs actually played well for a lot of the night. The Hornets ended up shooting 43.2% from the floor and 41.2% on their three-pointers. Outside of that fourth quarter 15-0 run, the Hornets shot 41.9% from the floor and 28.6% from beyond the arc. The Spurs did a good job of forcing the Hornets into turnovers (15) and limiting their free throws (10 prior to the intentional fouls at the end). On the boards, the Spurs had one of their worst showings in quite a while. The Hornets won the rebound battle 48-39 and were able to pull down 14 offensive rebounds.

Drive to Five

It’d be nice to have a few days to regroup after this tough loss – but the Spurs don’t have that luxury. Instead, they play on Thursday night against the 19-6 Magic in Orlando. Hopefully the role players who struggled can bounce back and help the Spurs get this difficult road contest. We’ll have a better idea of the true competitive spirit of the 2008-09 Spurs at the end of the Magic game.

Believe.