San Antonio Spurs

[johnphil7]

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hapit na ang lakers vs spurs!!! goodluck!

[tackielarla]

Wednesday bro.

[tackielarla]

Game Thoughts: Spurs vs. Magic Jan. 11

The Orlando Magic came to San Antonio as the best road team in the NBA and left with another notch on their belt. Out-executing the Spurs down the stretch, the Magic were able to pull away late and capture a 105-98 victory.

The biggest play of the game came with about two and a half minutes left in the contest. After Manu Ginobili tied the game at 94, the Spurs were clamping down on D for a stop. However, with just a few seconds on the shot clock, Roger Mason, Jr. inexplicably double-teamed Dwight Howard and in doing so left JJ Redick wide open for a three-pointer. The Magic would never trail again in the contest.

Orlando deserves a lot of props for the win. Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson all played very well. Stan Van Gundy also drew up a masterful gameplan that both limited San Antonio’s three-point opportunities and forced the Spurs to scramble to cover Orlando’s long range shooters. It’ll be tough for the Magic to make it to the Finals this season but they have the look of a legitimate championship contender.

As for the Spurs, it was a difficult loss. The only bright spot is that they can point to one statistic as the reason for the defeat – three-pointers. The Magic hit a stunning 14-of-22 from beyond the three-point arc compared to 3-of-13 for the Spurs. In virtually every other statistic, the Spurs had the edge. That said, a loss is a loss and the Spurs still have a lot to prove – especially against the better teams in the league.

Tim Duncan

37 minutes, 18 points, ten rebounds, five assists, three blocks
7-for-14 from the field, 4-for-4 from the line

Tim Duncan came out of the gates on fire offensively, cooled off for a large stretch in the middle and then closed the game decently. Although Howard deserves some credit for defending him well, the Spurs could have used a more demonstrative and aggressive Duncan in the final three quarters. On defense, Duncan didn’t start out too well but eventually got into a good groove defending Howard. Overall, it was an acceptable effort but the Spurs needed an exceptional effort – especially considering that the Magic weren’t sending many double-teams Duncan’s way.
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Manu Ginobili

32 minutes, 18 points, four assists, three rebounds, four turnovers
5-for-13 from the field, 1-for-5 on three-pointers, 7-for-7 at the line

As has been the case lately, Manu Ginobili’s stats look solid outside of his three-point shooting. However, this time Ginobili’s impact wasn’t nearly as positive. He seemed to have difficulty getting into a rhythm on both ends of the court. Ginobili was either trying to do too much or not doing enough. His team-worst plus/minus of -19 is indicative of his struggles on the night. One of his main issues is his three-point shooting. Connecting on just 16.7% of his threes in his last five games seems to have robbed him of some of his confidence and has made him indecisive at times. The good news is that he got to the free throw line seven times for a new season-high mark.
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Tony Parker

37 minutes, 31 points, six assists, three rebounds
13-for-22 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers, 4-for-4 at the line

Tony Parker had a peculiar game. He played really well for the first three quarters and then appeared to simply run out of gas down the stretch. In his first 27 minutes, Parker had 29 points and six assists. In his ten minute stretch in the fourth quarter, Parker had only two points on 1-for-4 shooting and didn’t have his usual elevation on two late shots at the rim. Parker’s defense also suffered in the fourth. Heading into the fourth, he had limited Nelson to ten points on 4-for-12 shooting. In the final stanza, Nelson had 12 points in ten minutes. Parker’s fourth quarters struggles tarnished an otherwise fine performance and were strange because the fourth has been his most productive quarter this season.
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Michael Finley

31 minutes, ten points, three rebounds, three assists
4-for-9 from the field, 0-for-3 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line

Michael Finley was the one player outside of the Big Three to find a way to hit double figures. He played hard and contributed offensively despite missing all three of his shots from beyond the arc. Defensively, Finley was mostly above average and even made a few of the better perimeter rotations for the Spurs on the night. And, for the first time in eight games, Finley drew a foul to get to the free throw line.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

33 minutes, five points, four rebounds, three assists
2-for-4 from the field, 1-for-1 on three-pointers

Roger Mason, Jr. had a quiet night. With the Magic keying on him, he only got four shot attempts in 33 minutes. To his credit, he made a few good passes to help out a bit offensively despite the lack of attempts. The shame about his botched late game defensive rotation is that he had actually been playing good defense up until that point.
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Matt Bonner

27 minutes, four points, seven rebounds, two steals
2-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

Like Mason, the Magic purposely tried to limit Bonner’s looks. With a small forward on him for most of the game, Bonner had a tough time getting open. A good sign is that Bonner stuck with it and scored both of his hoops in the final half of the fourth quarter – a point of the game in which production out of Bonner isn’t very common. Defensively, he actually defended Lewis quite well for long stretches. More good news is that Bonner finally had a good rebounding game. The seven boards were the most he’s had since the fateful Hornets game.
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Bruce Bowen

21 minutes, three rebounds
0-for-1 from the field

Bruce Bowen didn’t have a very good game. He was scoreless on the offensive end and he didn’t make too much of a difference on the other end. Bowen’s defensive rotations weren't very sharp and he got beat in a few one-on-one situations. The only aspect of the game where he was helpful was on the defensive boards.
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George Hill

12 minutes, four points, two rebounds
2-for-5 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

George Hill wasn’t horrible but he also wasn’t as good as he was in his last two outings. His defensive intensity wasn’t at its highest level and he wasn’t aggressive enough offensively. When he attacks the rim with a purpose, he’s good at making plays. But when he goes to the rim unsure of himself, he oftentimes gets caught in no man’s land.
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Kurt Thomas

11 minutes, eight points, three rebounds
4-for-5 from the field

Kurt Thomas had his second consecutive quality showing. On offense, he was setting mean screens and connected on four shots from the perimeter. Defensively, Thomas roamed the paint well, rebounded with authority and played physical post defense. He basically played how the Spurs hoped he’d play when they traded for him last season.
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Gregg Popovich


Although it’s tough to beat a team that is shooting lights out, Pop probably would have changed a few things if he could go back and do it again. First of all, it became pretty apparent that Parker needed a few more minutes of rest before his final stint. Also, a few more minutes of Thomas in place of Duncan probably would have helped Duncan at the end. With as much attention as the Big Three were getting, I didn’t think it made much sense for Pop to continually draw up plays for Duncan and Ginobili. More plays for Mason, Bonner or Finley could have helped lighten the load and allowed for more Big Three juice at the end.
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Offense

The Spurs did enough offensively to win the game. If the Spurs score 98 points, they should come out victorious. On the night, San Antonio shot 50.6% from the field, connected on all 17 of their free throw attempts and had 23 assists to only 11 turnovers. The 3-for-13 three-point shooting wasn’t too helpful and it’d be nice if the Spurs could make life easier by getting to the line more often.

Defense

It’d be easy to say that the Spurs played good defense if you ignore the three-point shooting, but it wasn’t like the Magic hit 14 contested three-pointers. In fact, most of their 14 three-pointers were wide open looks. The Spurs were just not very quick on the perimeter rotations, didn’t pick up three-point shooters well enough in transition and collapsed too much on penetration. For the game, the Magic shot 63.6% on three-pointers, 42.3% on two-pointers, hit 19-of-23 from the line and had 22 assists. The Magic only had six offensive rebounds and were outrebounded by a final count of 38-33.

Drive to Five

That was a tough loss to swallow and I’m sure the Spurs players, coaches and fans will have dreams of raining three-pointers. However, the most important thing now is to forget about the Magic and prepare for the test we’ve all been waiting for – the Los Angeles Lakers. On Wednesday, the Spurs and Lakers will rekindle their rivalry in the AT&T Center. A win would be a good way to forget all about the loss against Orlando.

Believe.

[joshuakang]

spurs all the way!

[tackielarla]

Spurs refuse to dwell on non-call
Mike Monroe

HOUSTON — Deep in their hearts, the Spurs knew their last best hope to qualify for the 2008 NBA Finals was lost in the silence of a referee’s whistle that didn’t blow in the final moments of their final home game of the Western Conference finals.

Tonight, they will be waiting at their AT&T Center court, rested and ready, for their first opportunity since May 27 to gain a tiny measure of atonement against the defending Western Conference champion Lakers.

The Lakers will bring the NBA’s best record and the league’s most dangerous offensive weapon, Kobe Bryant, to the Spurs’ building. Spurs fans, however, will reserve a special dose of odium for Derek Fisher, the Los Angeles point guard.

It was Fisher, the Laker whose buzzer-beating 3-point shot defeated the Spurs in Game 5 of a 2004 conference semifinal series, who got away with fouling Spurs guard Brent Barry on the final play of Game 4 of last season’s conference finals.

Televised replays were so conclusive that the NBA, two days after the fact, issued a statement officially recognizing the error by the officiating crew, headed by Joey Crawford. Barry, with the Spurs trailing 93-91 with seconds left, had pump-faked Fisher off his feet. Fisher crashed down on him just before Barry heaved up an off-balance shot.

The league determined that Barry should have been awarded two free throws.

Officially sanctioned 20-20 hindsight didn’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now, but Fisher knows what to expect from an anticipated sellout crowd when he is introduced before tonight’s game.

“There have been so many calls in our game that have either been called or not called,” Fisher said of the league’s official mea culpa, “and for them to make an official announcement that it was incorrect just seemed odd.”

Spurs players quickly got past the oddity of the Game 4 finish and its league-sanctioned controversy.

The victim of the Fisher non-call, Barry, now plays for the Houston Rockets, but his final game at the AT&T Center with the Spurs still resonates.

“You think about what Pop (coach Gregg Popovich) always told us about how fragile success in this league is,” Barry said, “and how few those opportunities are that you get when you have an opportunity to win it. It’s such a crap shoot.”

Manu Ginobili understood the Game 4 loss meant the Spurs needed an unlikely miracle to win the series, but he said the final play did not determine the Spurs’ fate.

“You can’t blame a call,” he said. “That’s going to happen here or there. Sometimes, it’s going to go for them; sometimes, it’s going to go for us. We didn’t play our best game (in Game 4). I didn’t play a good game, and we went back to L.A. down 3-1.”

Fisher understands why he is demonized by a segment of Spurs fans but regards it as a back-handed compliment.

“When you really think about it, and consider the consistently high level the Spurs have played at for such a long period of time, if you’re involved in crucial, winning playoff plays in San Antonio, it means you’re doing something right,” he said.

“I just happened to stumble into the right place at the right time. Or maybe it’s the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on whom you ask. I feel fortunate.”

Bryant feels fortunate to have Fisher running the Lakers’ show. With Jordan Farmar out for another three to five weeks after knee surgery on Christmas Eve, Fisher’s work load has increased. At age 34, he is averaging 31.1 minutes per game. He remains one of the league’s most accurate 3-point shooters, making 44 percent of his long-range shots.

“Where would we be without Fish?” Bryant says. “Without a very good point guard. Fish is extremely solid. His experience has done wonders for us, and his toughness. He’s a glue guy; a great leader.”

Fisher laughs at the notion his workman’s share of playing time should be unusual because he is 34.

“It’s crazy that in today’s time, with so many advances in technology, 34 is considered ‘at your age.’ But in our sport, you obviously can ask that sort of question. I don’t feel old.”

Neither does Bryant, who, at age 30 already has played 754 regular-season games and 152 in the playoffs. The reigning MVP trails only fellow Olympians Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in scoring, averaging 27.0 points per game. He remains the league’s best clutch shooter and is the Lakers’ best perimeter defender.


34-plus years, 30-plus minutes

With Lakers backup point guard Jordan Farmar injured, 34-year-old Derek Fisher is logging heavier minutes than usual. Here are players 34 or older, listed from oldest to youngest, who through Monday were playing 30 or more minutes per game.

Player, team — Age (DOB) — MPG

Shaquille O’Neal, Suns — 36 (March 6, 1972) — 30:06
Jason Kidd, Mavericks — 35 (March 23, 1973) — 35:23
Steve Nash, Suns — 34 (Feb. 7, 1974) — 33:42
Marcus Camby, Clippers — 34 (March 22, 1974) — 34:53
Derek Fisher, Lakers — 34 (Aug. 9, 1974) — 31:06
Rasheed Wallace, Pistons — 34 (Sept. 17, 1974) — 32:53

[tackielarla]

Lamia's dula! 1-pt win by the Spurs! Woohoo!!!

[johnphil7]

nakataghap napud!!!hehehe

[jasonrey]

a win is a win! woohoo!

[level42]

nakataghap napud!!!hehehe

taghap og di a win is a win

[kamikaze426]

Roger Mason Jr. saves the day again!