San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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dili man lubong kaaau bro....... mada ra ug smyle....

[skyblue_lord]

so on so on man ka ug commet sa other tread nako bro.....Palagot man na sa kontra imo bro ing ana jud ka ug attitude sah..... mao na g tudlo sa imong parents....

[tackielarla]

35-35 even for the last 10 years(LAKERS vs SPURS)...what a rivalry very respectful and competitive.no big issues its all about basketball.heads up for these 2 teams.mao ni winners not losers.7 championships combined in the last 10 years (correct me if im wrong).

all i can say is RESPECT!!!! tothe Spurs and the Lakers.

Thanks bro. And I've only got the highest respect for this Lakers team. Somehow everytime we play you guys, it's always a must-win game.

so on so on man ka ug commet sa other tread nako bro.....Palagot man na sa kontra imo bro ing ana jud ka ug attitude sah..... mao na g tudlo sa imong parents....

Erm, ok...? Was that a question or a statement?

[tackielarla]

Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Lakers - Jan. 25

After eking out a home victory earlier in the month against the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs tried to go out on the road and get another win against their conference rival. Mission unsuccessful. The Lakers quickly expanded a modest halftime lead and had Pop waving the white flag long before the 99-85 final score was decided.

The two backbreaking shots came early in the second half. The first was a wide open Kobe Bryant three-pointer that came courtesy of a botched defense rotation. On the Lakers’ next possession, the Spurs failed to rotate and Derek Fisher connected on an open shot from downtown. Those two treys expanded a six-point halftime lead to 12 and the Spurs were never able to get back into the contest.

As for the Lakers, there’s no denying that they are a very good team and the favorites in the Western Conference. Bryant is a great player and he has an exceptionally deep group of talented players around him. Add Phil Jackson, arguably the best coach in NBA history, and it’s going to take an unbelievable effort by any team in the West to eliminate Los Angeles in the playoffs this season.

The Spurs can’t take any positives from this game. The effort wasn’t there. The dedication to details wasn’t there. The teamwork wasn’t there. No player on the team had an above average game. To put it bluntly, the Spurs simply got embarrassed and went down without a fight.

Tim Duncan

27 minutes, 15 points, eight rebounds
6-for-12 from the field, 3-for-3 from the line

After one of his better games of the season, Tim Duncan didn’t come to play against the Lakers. Defensively, he gave almost no effort on the low block. He let the bigs for the Lakers setup wherever they wanted and he didn’t show much resistance in any aspect of his defensive play. On the offensive end, he was decent when he actually attacked the rim but those forays were too few and far between. For the Spurs to beat the Lakers, Duncan has to dominate – especially when the Lakers aren’t sending an abundance of help. That wasn’t anywhere near the case on Sunday afternoon.
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Manu Ginobili

25 minutes, nine points, eight rebounds, two steals, four turnovers
4-for-11 from the field, 1-for-6 on three-pointers

Outside of his rebounding, Manu Ginobili had a poor showing. Turnovers were again a problem. The cause for the miscues was usually Ginobili trying to do too much and not letting the game come to him. Eight of his 11 shots came from the perimeter and his lack of aggression kept him off the free throw line. Defensively, Ginobili didn’t play well at all. He looked stiff and a step slow on that end. Ginobili has at times recently looked relatively healthy and close to form, while at other times he looks like a shadow of his former self. Hopefully this is all part of his recovery process and he can find his groove soon.
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Tony Parker

29 minutes, 19 points, six assists, three rebounds, four turnovers
8-for-17 from the field, 3-for-4 at the line

Tony Parker was the closest thing the Spurs had to a player performing at his capabilities but he too was flawed. His four turnovers were too many and his aggressiveness wasn’t always where it needed to be, especially with so many of his teammates struggling. The good news is that he had a quality mix of shooting and passing, plus his defense was solid. On the whole, Parker was playing well enough for the Spurs to win but he had room to improve on his game.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

19 minutes, five points, two rebounds, three turnovers
1-for-7 from the field, 1-for-5 on three-pointers

Roger Mason, Jr. continues to struggle. Since the previous Lakers game, his defense has been shoddy and his shooting has been poor. Bryant’s backbreaking three-pointer at the beginning of the third quarter was his fault when he puzzlingly switched on a screen and left him wide open. On offense, Mason missed a host of open jumpers and compounded his struggles by attempting a number of bad passes. For the Spurs to be a serious contender this season, Mason has to be an asset and not part of the problem.
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Michael Finley

24 minutes, eight points, two rebounds, two assists
3-for-8 from the field, 2-for-2 on three-pointers

Relatively speaking, Michael Finley wasn’t horrible. He gave good effort on defense – both on the block and out on the perimeter. However, he was responsible for Fisher’s three-pointer in the early part of the third quarter when he rotated to the wrong man. Offensively, Finley hit both of his three-pointers but his shot selection on a number of his two-pointers was questionable.
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Matt Bonner

21 minutes, six points, two rebounds, two assists, one block
3-for-8 from the field, 0-for-4 on three-pointers

Matt Bonner’s inability to knock down open three-pointers was the beginning of the end. In the second quarter, he got a number of open looks and couldn’t knock down the threes. That allowed the Lakers to sag even more into the paint and Bonner appeared to lose all of his confidence. When he came out in the third, he was passive on both ends of the court. His defense during his 21 minutes was on and off, though he was poor on the boards throughout. With the Spurs playing a number of top level teams on the road in the upcoming days and weeks, Bonner is going to have to step up and play well against quality competition. If not, he could see his role on the team change significantly.
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Bruce Bowen

26 minutes, two points, three steals
1-for-3 from the field

Bruce Bowen played good defense against Bryant in the first half, holding him to 4-for-11 shooting from the field. In the second half, Bowen didn’t have an opportunity to guard Bryant as Pop instead opted for offensively powered lineups. On offense, Bowen was 0-for-2 from the floor when it mattered. It will be interesting to see if Bowen will get more minutes as the playoffs near or if he’ll be relegated to spot action.
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Fabricio Oberto

19 minutes, eight points, five rebounds, two steals
4-for-5 from the field

Fabricio Oberto appears as if he’s getting back into shape. He was moving well and did a good job running the floor. It was also good to see Oberto pull down three rebounds in his four minutes of play in the first quarter. For him to reclaim a spot in the rotation, he’s going to have to show he can rebound and defend like he has in past seasons. Although his scoring looks to be a positive on paper, most of it came late when the game had long since been decided.
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Kurt Thomas

18 minutes, two points, three rebounds, three assists, one block
1-for-3 from the field

One of the worst parts of the game from the Spurs’ point of view was the fact that Kurt Thomas looked overmatched on the defensive end against both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Thomas was helpless to stop L.A.’s large duo, especially when he was playing post defense in the paint. To survive against the Lakers, he’s going to have to be much more physical and do his work earlier in the possession. Pulling down more rebounds would also help matters. Offensively, Thomas was somewhat helpful, particularly when he looked to pass.
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George Hill

16 minutes, four points, two rebounds, two assists
0-for-4 from the field, 4-for-4 at the line

George Hill didn’t get much of a chance to show what he could do. Less than three minutes into his first stint, Pop put Hill back on the bench. The next time Hill got into the game, Pop was already pulling the white flag out of his pocket. Overall, his aggression level almost always tells the story. If Hill is attacking on offense and pressuring on defense, he’s a very effective backup point guard. When he’s not pressing the issue, he becomes a placeholder.
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Ime Udoka

10 minutes, five points, four rebounds, four steals
1-for-8 from the field, 1-for-4 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line

Ime Udoka got all of his minutes in garbage time and was extremely active. He did a fine job of grabbing rebounds, swiping steals and missing shots. His 1-for-8 showing from the floor dropped his field goal percentage down to 37.6% - a drop of nearly 5% from last season.
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Austin Croshere

Five minutes, two points, two assists
1-for-2 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

Playing the last five minutes of garbage time, Austin Croshere didn’t show much good or bad. With his ten-day contract almost over, expect the Spurs to give him another ten-dayer to get a few more looks at what he can do.
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Gregg Popovich


Pop had a number of questionable decisions against the Lakers. He could have mixed up the offensive playcalling to try to get more players going. The amount of scrambling on defense due to double-teams wasn’t helping. Benching Hill in the first half seemed to disrupt the offensive rhythm. Not playing Bowen in the third quarter was an iffy decision. Calling off the dogs so early in the fourth could also be questioned. Overall, it was an unsuccessful day at the office for Pop in which almost everything he tried to do didn’t work.
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Offense

To say the offense was anemic would be an understatement. For the game, the Spurs shot 37.5% from the floor, 5-for-23 on three-pointers and attempted only 16 free throws. They had 21 assists on 33 baskets while turning the ball over 14 times – which are all acceptable yet unspectacular numbers. If you take out Parker, Duncan and Oberto, the rest of the team shot 27.8% from the court. The Spurs simply can’t beat a team like the Lakers if they can’t hit shots, especially with how San Antonio’s team is constructed this season.

Defense

The defense was below average but it wasn’t nearly as bad as we’ve seen over the last month. The main problem was that the Spurs sent the Lakers to the line 32 times and committed a large amount of needless fouls. The Spurs also didn’t guard the three-point line very well, allowing the Lakers to hit 7-of-17 shots from beyond the arc. The Lakers shot 46.4% from the field, which is a mark that should keep the Spurs competitive if the rest of their defensive play is up to par. The 20 assists and 18 turnovers for the Lakers were both good enough marks for the Spurs to win. But overall, the Spurs were too undisciplined and made too many defensive mistakes.

Drive to Five

The loss against the Lakers definitely stings, especially since the effort was lacking and the number of mental errors was high. The Spurs need to rebound quickly from the loss and shift their concentration to the Utah Jazz. The Jazz are once again a very good home team and the Spurs will need to be playing at a high level to escape Salt Lake City with a win on Tuesday night.

Believe.

[tackielarla]

Yee-haw! Spurs win vs the Jazz 106-100!

[desertfox]

^^^dili man kaayo ka fans anang Spurs brad sa...I'm just guessin'

[tackielarla]

^Erm, di tanto. Diri rako pirme tambay part.

[tackielarla]

Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Jazz - Jan. 27

Coming off of a depressing loss in Los Angeles against the Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs were looking to right their ship against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Entering the fourth quarter with the score tied at 80, the Spurs ratcheted up their defense, came up with a few big offensive plays and then hit their free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The most important basket of the night came with about a minute left in the fourth when the Jazz had cut the Spurs’ lead to one point. Tim Duncan had the ball, felt the extra attention and then passed it off to Manu Ginobili who hit an acrobatic reverse layup. Ginobili and Roger Mason, Jr. then went 10-for-10 at the line in the final 44 seconds.

The Jazz, who were playing without both Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko, put up a very good fight. Ronnie Brewer utilized his supreme athleticism to make life difficult for the Spurs’ perimeter defenders, while Deron Williams did a fine job running the show.

After the loss against the Lakers, this was a very impressive and very important bounce back win. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the Spurs came out angry and worked hard to get back into the win column. The defense was shaky, especially in the first three quarters, but buckling down in the final stanza on the road against a quality home team is definitely a character-building win.

Tim Duncan

37 minutes, 24 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, three blocks, two steals, three turnovers
10-for-16 from the field, 4-for-10 from the line

Tim Duncan played a really good all-around game. On the defensive end, he showed up and was active for most of the night. Even when he got into foul trouble he still did a better than average job of protecting the rim. While the Spurs weren’t very good defensively for a lot of the game, this time it wasn’t his fault. On offense, Duncan was fantastic. He attacked the basket throughout and even threw down a pair of vintage dunks. When Duncan wasn’t scoring on his own, he was handing out eight assists. All in all, it’d be tough to ask for much more from the franchise player.
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Manu Ginobili

29 minutes, 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals, six turnovers
1-for-5 from the field, 0-for-3 on three-pointers, 11-for-12 at the line

If you look at Manu Ginobili’s line and see his 1-for-5 shooting and his six turnovers, you’d probably assume that Ginobili had a woeful evening. In reality, he actually played well for a majority of his 29 minutes. I thought he did a great job of letting the game come to him and not forcing the issue. He recognized that the Jazz were blitzing pick-and-rolls and collapsing on him when he got into the lane and his five assists illustrate how he was able to find the open shooters. Defensively, Ginobili played hard and made a number of plays, especially down the stretch. For the second straight game, his rebounding was also a bright spot. Of his six turnovers, they were almost all of the aggressive variety instead of him trying to do too much and his shooting from the field was made up by his clutch free throw shooting. Overall, Ginobili can play better but he definitely helped out.
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Tony Parker

39 minutes, 24 points, six assists
9-for-18 from the field, 2-for-4 on three-pointers, 4-for-6 at the line

Tony Parker recovered from a slow shooting start to post a quality outing. After making only two of his first seven attempts from the field, Parker then hit seven of his next nine shots from the floor. He also made a number of good passes and limited his turnovers. Defensively, he struggled early on keeping Williams out of the paint but got better and better in that regard as the game progressed. Although Parker was quiet at the end of the contest, the Spurs wouldn’t have been in it if he didn’t carry the team for long stretches in the first 40 minutes of the affair.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

36 minutes, 13 points, three rebounds, three assists
4-for-7 from the field, 3-for-4 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line

Having struggled in his last five games, it was good to see Roger Mason, Jr. get back on track. He appeared smooth and confident in himself on the offensive end for the first time in a while. On defense, Mason still has a lot to learn but he made a few good rotations on that end. This was Mason’s first time hitting at least half of his shots since the home win against the Lakers.
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Michael Finley

24 minutes
0-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

Did Michael Finley catch the flight to Salt Lake City? He was virtually invisible on the floor in his 24 minutes of action. His only marks on the scorecard were his four missed shots and his one assist. On the defensive end, Finley might have been even worse. His one-on-one defense was deplorable. At times, he looked like that old guy at the gym who should have retired his sneakers a few years ago.
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Matt Bonner

32 minutes, 20 points, five rebounds, two steals
7-for-10 from the field, 6-for-7 on three-pointers

Matt Bonner put his poor shooting performance against the Lakers behind him and responded with his best shooting performance of the season on Tuesday night. He scored a season-high 20 points and connected on his first six three-pointers. It was a very good sign that he fired without hesitation and didn’t look depressed about the Lakers game. On defense, he was about average, although it would have been nice if he helped out more on the boards.
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Bruce Bowen

Nine minutes, four points
2-for-3 from the field

In the first three quarters, Bruce Bowen didn’t get off the bench. To start the fourth quarter, Pop put Bowen into the game. Good call. Bowen responded with a great defensive stretch that saw him single-handedly throw Mehmet Okur out of rhythm. Okur entered the fourth with 19 points but Bowen helped hold him scoreless in the final period before Duncan fouled him with less than 30 seconds to go in the ballgame. Bowen also chipped in on the offensive end, scoring the first four points for the Spurs in the fourth. Although he only ended up playing nine minutes, Bowen was a very big part of the win against the Jazz.
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George Hill

Nine minutes, four points, four rebounds
2-for-4 from the field

George Hill had a very good showing, especially considering he only played nine minutes and was playing in one of the most hostile environments in the NBA. Offensively, he was aggressive and did a very good job of attacking the basket. When pressed, he showed off his stellar ball handling and court awareness. On the other end, Hill’s defense was also very good. He harassed his man, contested shots and then crashed the boards. All in all, the Spurs got a notable boost from their backup point guard.
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Kurt Thomas

Nine minutes, one rebound, one block
0-for-2 from the field

Kurt Thomas wasn’t much of a help against Utah. He wasn’t moving his feet too well on the defensive end, which resulted in the Spurs giving up a number of easy layups on his watch. Thomas also wasn’t pulling down the boards he needed to corral. Offensively, Thomas’ jumper looked hurried both times he shot. He helped out in the physicality department but not in many other departments on this night.
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Ime Udoka

Nine minutes
0-for-1 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

Ime Udoka played some key minutes in the rotation and mostly underwhelmed again. His lone shot attempt on offense was a three-pointer that missed the rim by a few feet. Udoka had a few good possessions defensively and banged well but he failed to pull down a rebound in his nine minutes of work. Overall, I thought his defense was better than we’ve seen on most nights but Udoka remains a long ways away from being a dependable reserve option.
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Fabricio Oberto

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

When Duncan got in foul trouble, Fabricio Oberto subbed in and gave a few decent minutes. I liked his aggressiveness on the boards and he also moved very well without the ball to get into spots where he could be effective on the offensive end. Slowly but surely, Oberto appears to be improving. If he can get back into his 2007 playoff form, San Antonio’s bigman depth could suddenly appear to be adequate.
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Gregg Popovich


A number of the players had bounce back performances and Pop himself had a bounce back performance. The buttons he pushed against the Jazz worked and he had a definite hand in this victory. Putting Bowen on Okur turned out to be a brilliant move. He also mixed up the playcalling quite nicely – calling plays for not only the Big Three but also for Mason and Bonner. If I had to nitpick, I’d say that Bowen should have played more and Hill might have been helpful at shooting guard to help negate some of Utah’s athletic advantage.
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Offense

The offense was consistently humming for most of the night. In each of the four quarters, the Spurs scored at least 25 points. For the game, they shot 51.4% from the floor, knocked down 11-of-20 three-pointers, got to the free throw line 32 times and handed out 24 assists. The 13 turnovers were an acceptable amount in this relatively fast paced contest.

Defense

The defense was hard to watch for much of the first three quarters. While the Jazz deserve credit for playing well, the Spurs also helped out by giving up an inordinate number of open shots. In the fourth, the Spurs picked up their defensive intensity and held the Jazz to 7-of-22 shooting. Overall, the Jazz shot 48.1% from the floor, got to the line 25 times, racked up 23 assists and out-rebounded the Spurs 46-35. The Jazz hit only 6-of-17 three-pointers, however a number of those misses were open looks.

Drive to Five

The Spurs will look to end this three-game road trip on a good note Thursday night in Phoenix. The fans will be into it and the Suns will want revenge from their Christmas Day loss. Hopefully the Spurs can do what they do best and ruin Phoenix’s hopes once again.

Believe.

[tackielarla]

We need another big man!

[EvenStar]

si Diop ta to bagay kaayo sa inyo bai,napunta man hinuon sa charlotte na trade.