San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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Yeah, it sucks. Oh well.

[jasonrey]

tsk tsk... pildi dah... oh well...

[tackielarla]

Game Thoughts: Spurs @ 76ers - Jan. 16

The San Antonio Spurs had an enjoyable victory against the Los Angeles Lakers but were rudely welcomed by the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night. Utilizing their unending line of athletes, the Sixers easily ran past the Spurs to post a dominating 109-87 victory.

By the middle of the third quarter, the Sixers had a comfortable double-digit lead on the Spurs. In the fourth, garbage time was on full display. It didn’t hurt Philadelphia that they hit buzzer beating three-pointers at the end of the first, second and third quarters – with respective lengths of approximately 28, 50 and 30 feet.

Honestly, the Sixers didn’t even need those end of quarter heroics on this night. Their game plan of getting back on transition defense and then running on all missed baskets worked perfectly against the lethargic Spurs bunch. In the halfcourt sets, Philadelphia either attacked the basket or penetrated and kicked to shooters.

As for San Antonio, it was definitely a night to forget. Hopefully their defense has hit rock bottom and they are hearing their wakeup call. The Spurs have surrendered at least 105 points in three straight games – which obviously isn’t going to get it done and also brings back memories of how horrible they were defensively to begin the season. The team needs to get back to basics and start playing the stifling defense that is mandatory in Spurs Basketball

Tim Duncan

29 minutes, 20 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks
5-for-10 from the field, 10-for-12 from the line

On the offensive end, Tim Duncan played well enough for the Spurs to win. He was physical with his post moves, which allowed him to tie a season-high in free throw attempts. Defensively, Duncan wasn’t nearly as helpful. His rotations to close off the lane were non-existent. He didn’t protect the rim well at all and he was a burden in pick-and-roll defense. While not all of San Antonio’s current struggles defensively are Duncan’s fault, he definitely is partly to blame for the Spurs not being as good on D as usual. Thankfully, this slow start defensively has been the case over the last few seasons and Duncan has always been able to turn it around as the seasons have progressed.
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Manu Ginobili

24 minutes, eight points, six rebounds, two assists
3-for-11 from the field, 0-for-3 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line

Manu Ginobili had a quiet and ineffective outing. In the first half, he went scoreless and didn’t look for his shot much at all. He picked up his aggressiveness in the second half but a handful of his attempts were out of rhythm. On defense, Ginobili wasn’t nearly as active as he’s been in recent weeks. He wasn’t hustling back on transition defense and his one-on-one defense was also lacking. Health-wise, he looked a little bit stiff in the first half but looked better as the game went along.
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Tony Parker

28 minutes, 12 points, six assists
5-for-10 from the field, 2-for-2 at the line

Going by the statistics, Tony Parker had a decent performance. But with the Spurs sputtering offensively, Parker needed to attack much more often on that end of the court. His passive offensive decision making played into the hands of the attacking Sixers defense. On defense, he matched up primarily with Willie Green and did an adequate job – although he lost him in off the ball situations a few times. Overall, this is the type of game the Spurs needed a big scoring outing from Parker – and they didn’t get it.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

24 minutes, eight points, one assist
3-for-8 from the field, 2-for-4 on three-pointers

Surprisingly, Roger Mason, Jr. spent most of his time on defense against Andre Miller. Mason did a commendable job against Miller by using his length to keep Miller from finding his teammates as much as usual. The fact that Pop is starting to broaden his defensive trust in Mason is a good sign for Mason’s future with the team. Offensively, he shot the ball well from beyond the arc but had a few ugly sequences when he tried to take the ball to the rim. It’d also be nice if Mason started getting rebounds and/or assists once again.
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Michael Finley

22 minutes, two points, two rebounds
1-for-9 from the field, 0-for-4 on three-pointers

Michael Finley had a frightening outing that brought back memories of some of his struggles of a year ago. On offense, he had poor shot selection and hurt the team a number of times by not hitting the open man. On the other end, Finley was totally overwhelmed by Philadelphia’s athleticism and wasn’t much of a help at all on the boards. Hopefully Finley can bounce back and this isn’t the start of one of his cold spells.
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Matt Bonner

20 minutes, 13 points, three rebounds, three turnovers
5-for-8 from the field, 3-for-3 on three-pointers

The good news is that Matt Bonner had an encouraging night when it came to his scoring. He was perfect from beyond the arc and also used the threat of his jumper to create off the dribble. He also played good perimeter defense in a number of possessions and moved his feet well when caught in mismatches. The bad news is he had a few ugly turnovers that caused Pop to boil. On the interior, he didn’t help at all in terms of keeping the Sixers from dominating in the paint. Plus, once again, Bonner’s rebounding was sub par.
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Bruce Bowen

23 minutes, three points
1-for-2 from the field, 1-for-1 on three-pointers

Bruce Bowen had one of his worst games of the season. His defense was downright bad in many instances. Bowen was brought in to try to cool down the Sixers but he usually had the opposite effect. Over the last week to ten days, Bowen’s play has started to slip. Hopefully he can recapture his form and Pop can figure out how to put him in situations in which he can succeed.
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George Hill

20 minutes, four points, three assists, three rebounds, two steals
1-for-9 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line

George Hill’s horrific shooting night ruined an otherwise positive outing. He simply couldn’t hit a shot in the halfcourt offense. Hill’s one basket was on a dunk following one of his two steals. The his credit, Hill’s effort was consistent and he kept his aggression level high despite his struggles.
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Kurt Thomas

16 minutes, six points, two rebounds
3-for-5 from the field

Kurt Thomas continues to be hot from the field but the rest of his game wasn’t too impressive on this night. He simply got beat to ball and to spots on the court far too often. Thomas also seemed to have trouble keeping up once the pace of the game got elevated. When going against a player who is vastly more athletic, Thomas has to do a better job of using his strength and gain his position early. Lately, he’s been swiping at the ball or fouling after it’s too late.
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Ime Udoka

14 minutes, seven points, two turnovers
3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-3 on three-pointers

Pop inserted Ime Udoka into the game in hopes that he could provide a spark. It didn’t work. Udoka started off cold offensively and by the time he warmed up, the Sixers were running away with the game. His defense was nothing special and he failed to corral a rebound in his 14 minutes of play. Udoka’s overall game that he showed at times last year continues to allude him this season.
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Fabricio Oberto

12 minutes, two points, five rebounds, two assists, two turnovers
0-for-2 from the field, 2-for-2 at the line

Fabricio Oberto played the most minutes since Dec. 10 against the Hawks. Despite all that down time, Oberto actually looked to be in relatively good shape. He ran the court well and pulled down a healthy amount of rebounds. Obviously he wasn’t going to help negate Philadelphia’s athleticism advantage but he showed that he’s healthy and ready to play minutes.
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Austin Croshere

Seven minutes, two points, six rebounds
1-for-4 from the field, 0-for-2 from the field

Making his Spurs debut after signing a ten-day contract earlier in the day, Austin Croshere actually looked decent. He moved his feet well, ran the court hard and scored his lone bucket on a driving dunk. His six rebounds in seven minutes should earn him some kudos from the coaching staff and could come in handy if the Spurs are once again getting crushed on the boards.
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Gregg Popovich


Pop didn’t have a very productive night calling the shots. He seemingly couldn’t figure out what to do with the Sixers. First he tried to go big. Then he tried to go small. Then he broke out Udoka. By that time, the Sixers had run down the throats of the discombobulated Spurs. It’s true that Pop didn’t get many good individual performances but he wasn’t helping matters on this night. The only positive that can be pointed to is that no one played more than 30 minutes, which should come in handy in the back-to-back.
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Offense

The Spurs simply couldn’t get anything going offensively. Instead of playing as a team, there were a lot of disjointed efforts. For the game, the Spurs shot 36.5% from the floor, hit 7-of-21 free throws and had 19 assists compared to 13 turnovers. The only good stat for the Spurs on offense was their 18-for-20 shooting from the charity stripe.

Defense

The defense literally got ran out of the building. The Spurs alternated between looking disinterested, disorganized and, at times, simply too slow. The Sixers finished the game at 50% from the floor and 57.1% from beyond the three-point arc. They also had 22 assists and smashed the Spurs on the boards by a final count of 51-40. And really, their advantage during the guts of the game on the glass was even larger. Overall, it was one of the most disheartening performances by San Antonio’s defense on the season.

Drive to Five

The Spurs don’t have much time to feel sorry for themselves. On Saturday night, the Spurs travel to Chicago to take on the Bulls. Although the Bulls are just 18-22 on the season, they are fresh off of a home win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Spurs need to come out with a much better effort – especially defensively – if they are to avoid a losing streak.

Believe.

[tackielarla]

Oh yeah. We just signed Austin Croshere to a 10-day contract. It's been a long time coming for this guy. I've always wanted him to be a Spur since his days with the Pacers. Hopefully he can find his game and contribute to the Spurs rebounding and big man roles.

[kamote_kid]

If there was a tagline for the San Antonio-Chicago game, it must be the "Night of the Argentinians". Argentina teammates Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni had big nights and both came off the bench.

Manu Ginobili: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 9/11 FTs
Tony Parker: 20 points, 8 assists
Tim Duncan: 18 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks
Matt Bonner: 12 points, 11 rebounds
Michael Finley: 11 points

Ben Gordon: 20 points, 9/15 FGs
Andres Nocioni: 17 points, 15 rebounds, 6/8 FGs
Loul Deng: 12 points, 10 rebounds
Derrick Rose: 12 points, 8 assists
Drew Gooden: 11 points

[tackielarla]

Good win vs the Bulls. Nice to see us playing defense again.

[annahojkram]

go spurs go spurs!!!!!!

[tackielarla]

Ginobili helps Spurs bury Bulls
Jeff McDonald

CHICAGO — The way Manu Ginobili sees it, there are really two Spurs teams.

There is the group of grizzled, seasoned veterans capable of grinding out tough points and delivering tough victories with a sense of been-there, done-that savvy.

And then there is the Spurs team that showed up Friday night in Philadelphia.

“Sometimes, we look like a rookie team,” Ginobili said. “What happened in Philadelphia was embarrassing. We were not ready in any way.”

A night after suffering a 22-point loss to the 76ers, their most lopsided of the season, the good old Spurs were back Saturday night at the United Center, making (almost) all the right plays down the stretch to earn a 92-87 victory over the Chicago Bulls the hard way.

Ginobili scored nine of his team-leading 21 points in the final 1:04, and the Spurs’ defense, maligned of late, held the Bulls without a field goal over the final 3:13 to seal the victory.

With it, the Spurs (26-13) were able to remain a game up on New Orleans in the Southwest Division and in a virtual tie with Denver for second-place in the Western Conference.

Tony Parker had 20 points and eight assists for the Spurs, including the go-ahead basket with 1:41 to play, but made what coach Gregg Popovich called a “stone mental error” by fouling Andres Nocioni on a late 3-pointer.

Tim Duncan added 18 points and 14 rebounds for his 25th double-double of the season.

The Spurs were ahead by six with 31 seconds left when Nocioni lined up a 3-pointer. Parker stuck his hand up, grazing Nocioni on the elbow.

“He got my thumb,” Parker said. “That’s how close it was.”

Officials whistled Parker for the foul, and Nocioni — who finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds — sank three foul shots to make it a one-possession game.

“It was just one of those plays that could go either way,” Parker said, “but I should not have put myself in that situation.”

It was the one rookie mistake the veteran Spurs would make Saturday.

Seconds later, Ginobili made sure it wouldn’t matter. He dribbled down most of the shot clock, then pumped faked a 3-pointer. Nocioni went airborne for the block, Ginobili leaned into him and earned three foul shots of his own.

He sank two of them to seal the game with 7.5 seconds left.

“We got it close and had our chances,” said Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro, whose team dropped to 18-23. “But they executed down the stretch and we didn’t.”

When it mattered most Saturday night, the Spurs lived up to their reputation on defense.

The Spurs held the Bulls — who had established their reputation as a giant-killer by beating East-leading Cleveland on Thursday night — to 44.7 percent shooting. They put the clamps on rookie sensation Derrick Rose, limiting him to 12 points on 6-of-21 shooting.

Ben Gordon scored 20 to lead the Bulls, but cooled off after a 4-for-4 start — and after Popovich set Bruce Bowen loose on him in the second half.

The Spurs got a series of key stops down the stretch, twice denying Rose at the rim and once harassing Nocioni into a bad pass. These were the seasoned, veteran Spurs you’ve heard so much about.

“That’s who we are,” Popovich said. “People have to score in the 80s and 90s for us to win. If they score in the 100s, we’re just an average team.”

It was a far cry from a night before in Philadelphia, when the Spurs allowed the 76ers to shoot 50 percent from the field and score a whopping 30 points on the fast break.

That bad taste in the Spurs’ mouths as they flew out of Philly? That wasn’t from a bad cheesesteak.

“I can’t talk for the whole team,” Ginobili said. “But it was really upsetting to me in Philadelphia. I was disappointed with the way we played.”

Sometimes, a bad game can be a good motivator.

The Spurs weren’t ready to pronounce all their problems cured in Saturday night’s victory. There is far too much season to go and far too little margin for error.

But it was, as Parker would say afterwards, “a good first step.”

[tackielarla]

Spurs win vs the Bobcats 86-84!

[jasonrey]

Spurs win vs the Bobcats 86-84!

good thing Diaw’s 3-point attempt after Duncan's block didn't go in