San Antonio Spurs

[tackielarla]

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Rodeo Road Trip, here we come!!!

[tackielarla]

Another shameless flop from the man who's mocked floppers his whole career.

[tackielarla]

GSW tonight! Woohoo! Go Spurs Go!!!

[tackielarla]

Tim Duncan is having a monster night already!

7-9 FG, 17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist - all in the 1st quarter only!!!

[tackielarla]

Spurs win! 110-105 vs the Warriors!

Duncan: 32pts
Parker: 23 pts
Ginobili: 32 pts

Woohoo!!!

[tackielarla]

Chris Bosh wants out of Toronto

“Chris Bosh reportedly informed Toronto Raptors GM, Bryan Colangelo, that he will not re-sign with the team in 2010, according to Stephen A. Smith.

Bosh can become an unrestricted free agent in 2010.

“He has no desire to remain in Toronto,” said Smith, during a Feb. 1 interview.

Smith mentioned Miami and Dallas as possible destinations”

source

---> from the Pistons thread...

__________________________________________________ ______________

We want Bosh too! Naa sab mi cap space come 2010!

[tackielarla]

Spurs kick off road trip with OT victory
Jeff McDonald

OAKLAND, Calif. — For the past few games, Manu Ginobili has played with a singular focus: Get to the foul line.

“It's an easy two points, without having to sweat too much,” Ginobili said. “It helps you get into a groove a little bit.”

The Spurs didn't escape Oracle Arena without a sweat Monday night. But, thanks in part to Ginobili's work at the foul line, they escaped with a victory and are certainly in a groove.

Ginobili scored a season-high 32 points, getting 11 of them on free throws, as the Spurs kicked off their rodeo road trip in dramatic fashion, overcoming a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Golden State 110-105 in overtime.

Tim Duncan matched his season high with 32 points and added 15 rebounds before fouling out in the extra period. Tony Parker scored 23 points for the Spurs, who won their fourth in a row. In combination with New Orleans' loss to Portland, it allowed the Spurs (33-14) to open up a four-game lead in the Southwest Division.

It was Ginobili who kept the Spurs afloat during a Warriors outburst in the third quarter — he scored 17 of his points in that frame — and, ultimately, Ginobili who sent the game to overtime.

True to his pregame plan, Ginobili forced the extra period from the foul line. With the Spurs behind by two in the late seconds, Ginobili drove at Golden State shot-blocker Ronny Turiaf, initiating contact and drawing a foul call that had the Warriors' bench howling.

Ginobili — who earlier in the game had his streak of made free throws stopped at 40 — sank both of them to knot the game.

When Duncan threw in a jump hook on the first possession of the extra period, it marked the Spurs' first lead since the first half. They would not trail again.

“I don't know if we could have played much better than we played,” Golden State coach Don Nelson said. “When you have a team on the ropes, you've just got to close them out.”

Once the game got to overtime, it became a must-win for the Spurs. Set to resume the road trip on short rest at high altitude against Northwest Division-leading Denver tonight, the Spurs could ill afford to exhaust their tank and lose.

Of course, once the game got to overtime, the Spurs also had the Warriors (15-34) right where they wanted them. The Spurs are now a perfect 4-0 in OT games this season. It didn't even seem to matter that Duncan fouled out with 3:17 left.

The Spurs survived an uncharacteristically sloppy night, committing a season-high 20 turnovers leading to 27 Golden State points — but none in overtime. They also survived what is starting to become a typical night from ex-Spur Stephen Jackson every time he faces his former team in Oakland.

Jackson, who averaged 24.5 points against the Spurs at Oracle Arena last season, threw in 16 in the third quarter alone Monday. He finished with 33 points and a career-high 11 assists.

Back-to-back Jackson 3-pointers gave the Warriors a 10-point lead early in the third quarter.

The Spurs' gap would grow to a dozen before somebody lit the fuse on Ginobili.

Shifting into attack mode, Ginobili one-upped Jackson, going for 17 of his points in the third quarter. Ginobili had two old-fashioned 3-point plays, and missed a chance at a third when he clanked the foul shot, breaking his free-throw streak.

A deep Ginobili 3-pointer with 18.9 seconds left in the quarter brought the Spurs within four, the same deficit they had faced at half.

When it came time to win the game, the Spurs did so with defense.

Down by 12 early in the fourth, the Spurs held the Warriors without a point for six minutes to get back in the game, then again held them scoreless for the first 21/2 minutes of overtime to seize command.

“We're playing pretty well right now on the defensive end of the court,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “If we can continue that, we'll be in decent shape.”

[tackielarla]

The San Antonio Spurs hoped to land in Golden State, comfortably win the game against the Warriors and then prepare for their showdown against the Denver Nuggets. Things didn’t exactly go as plan. The Warriors gave fantastic effort and it took a couple of ferocious comebacks plus five minutes of extra time for the Spurs to escape with a 110-105 victory.

With the Spurs down by a dozen in the third, Manu Ginobili entered the game and his 17 points in the quarter helped the team close the gap. However, the Spurs once again found themselves down 12 points, this time with eight and a half minutes remaining in the fourth. San Antonio, thanks in large part to four points and two assists from Tony Parker, once again battled back and scored 12 straight points to tie the game.

After the Warriors rebuilt their lead to four points with a minute left in the contest, Ginobili sank four free throws in the final 50 seconds to tie the game. Bruce Bowen’s defense against Stephen Jackson forced overtime and once into the extra session, the Spurs were able to get off to a fast start and put the game away.

Golden State failed to close out the contest but their competitiveness was commendable. Stephen Jackson, specifically, was very good. He finished with a season-high 33 points and tied his season-high with 11 assists. The Warriors won’t be making the playoffs but they will likely be a dangerous spoiler in the second half of the season.

As for the Spurs, this win was more difficult than they had hoped but it was a good win nonetheless. They overcame an uncharacteristically high amount of turnovers, poor three-point shooting and a hot Jack to claim the victory. There were many opportunities to wave the white flag and move on but the Spurs kept fighting back.

Tim Duncan

42 minutes, 32 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, six turnovers
13-for-20 from the field, 6-for-8 from the line

Although Tim Duncan’s stat line looks gaudy, it was a rollercoaster ride of a night. He began the game playing amazing basketball, hitting seven of his first eight shot attempts and pulling down seven first quarter rebounds. Then Duncan cooled off, in large part due to fervent defense by Ronny Turiaf. Near the end of the game, Duncan once again got on a roll. However, after scoring the opening five points of the overtime period, Duncan picked up his sixth personal foul and was forced to watch the final three minutes of the game from the sidelines. Overall, Duncan was a bit inconsistent and a bit sloppy, although it’s tough to argue with 32 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.
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Manu Ginobili

35 minutes, 32 points, three assists, three rebounds, two steals, three turnovers
10-for-23 from the field, 1-for-6 on three-pointers, 11-for-12 at the line

The hits keep coming for Manu Ginobili. Against the Warriors, he turned his best two-game stretch of the season into his best three-game stretch by scoring a season-high 32 points in an unbelievable effort. He relentlessly attacked the rim and when he wasn’t scoring at the rim or drawing free throws, he was doing both. In a four minute segment of the third quarter, Ginobili had three and-ones on layups at the basket. The two fouls and four free throws he hit in the final minute of regulation were clutch and he continued his fantastic play in overtime. On the defensive end, Ginobili played well. Especially late in the game, he stayed mentally engaged on that end of the court and avoided roaming when it would have been detrimental to the team. All told, Spurs fans have to be very excited by how Ginobili is playing.
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Tony Parker

43 minutes, 23 points, seven assists, five rebounds, six turnovers

8-for-18 from the field, 7-for-12 at the line

At times, it appeared as if Tony Parker was headed toward a disappointing outing. He struggled with turnovers, missed a few easy shots, blew a couple defensive assignment and basically just looked out of rhythm. Then, out of nowhere, Parker found his rhythm in the middle of the fourth quarter. His best stretch came with about four and a half minutes left in the game and the Spurs down six points. Over the next minute, Parker fed Kurt Thomas for a jumper, fed Duncan for a slam and then finished off his flurry with a miraculous layup while drawing a foul. Defensively, though he began the game somewhat soft, I thought his defense was very good for much of the fourth and the overtime.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

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

It was more of the same for Roger Mason, Jr. against the Warriors. He just seems a little bit out of sorts and hasn’t completely figured out what his role should be right now. With the Big Three all playing well and deserving of shot attempts, Mason has to find his complementary niche. He did some good things against the Warriors, including his passing and, most of the time, his defense. Hopefully Mason can figure it out quickly because the Spurs need a dependable fourth scorer to truly become elite.
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Michael Finley

36 minutes, five points, five rebounds
2-for-6 from the field, 1-for-3 on three-pointers

Michael Finley was quiet for much of Monday night. The Warriors weren’t leaving him open, forcing him to create a few difficult looks. That said, Finley’s lone three-pointer was a trey in the fourth quarter that helped ignite the 12-0 run to tie the game. Defensively, he was overmatched most of the night, especially when guarding Jackson. Though, to his credit, Finley had a few good defensive possessions when the Spurs needed it most.
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Matt Bonner

18 minutes, four rebounds
0-for-1 from the field

Once upon a time, Matt Bonner went David Robinson against the Warriors in Oakland. Suffice to say, Bonner didn’t have another such night. In this affair, he took only one shot on the offensive end, struggled defensively and was overall more of a hindrance than a help. Bonner got a bit flustered on offense and made a number of mistakes. On defense, he was always matched up against a quicker player and was unable to compensate.
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Kurt Thomas

27 minutes, seven points, 15 rebounds
3-for-8 from the field, 1-for-1 at the line

After not playing in the first 17 minutes of the game, Kurt Thomas entered and played exceedingly well. He pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end. Thomas’ rebounding allowed the Spurs to punish Don Nelson for continuously trotting out small lineups. Besides his rebounding, Thomas authored a couple of important scores in the fourth quarter and overtime. Defensively, Thomas was very good. Surprisingly enough, Thomas’ quickness was his biggest asset on defense as he was able to stay in front of smaller and faster opponents.
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Bruce Bowen

16 minutes, four points, three rebounds
2-for-3 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

Bruce Bowen had a non-descript performance outside of one play. With the game tied and less than nine seconds remaining in regulation, Bowen bodied up Jackson and forced him into a miss as time expired. On the night, Bowen played the most consistent defense against Jackson, however Pop only opted to play him 16 minutes. Offensively, Bowen knocked down two of his three shots, including a rare offensive rebound tip in plus the foul.
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George Hill

13 minutes, one assist, one block
0-for-2 from the field

George Hill had a nearly silent 13 minutes of action. He played acceptable defense but his typical energy wasn’t apparent. On offense, he could have been much more aggressive. Like Mason, Hill has to find a niche that will allow him to help out in a complementary role. For a rookie who is playing a new position, it’s not surprising that it’s taking him some time.
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Malik Hairston

Two minutes, one assist

Pop inserted Malik Hairston in the game to begin the second quarter to help match up with the small ball lineup Nelson had in the game for Golden State. In most of his two minutes on the court, Hairston looked confused and unsure of himself. That said, the whole team looked confused and unsure because Pop had Bowen and Finley at center and power forward, respectively. Considering the weirdness, Hairston did a good job of simply avoiding spontaneous combustion.
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Gregg Popovich


Pop didn’t do a very good coaching job for much of the contest, however he eventually figured out what to do by using trial and error. His first experiment was using micro ball against the Warriors by using Bowen and Finley as the bigmen. That didn’t work. He then tried a zone defense and the Warriors were able to exploit it. Eventually, Pop found that he could have success if he used size against the smaller Warriors. By pairing Thomas and Duncan, the Spurs were finally able to gain traction. Overall, it wasn’t a great job of coaching but at least Pop figured it out before it was too late.
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Offense

The offense was ugly for much of the night, with a major culprit being the season-high of 20 turnovers. The 3-for-13 three-point shooting also didn’t help matters. Thankfully, the Spurs got to the line 34 times and got timely contributions from their Big Three. On the night, the Spurs finished the game shooting 46.1% from the field, 25-for-34 at the line and they also tallied 24 assists.

Defense

Once again, the Spurs followed a familiar pattern. They struggled on the defensive end for much of the first three quarters and then turned up the dial in the fourth. At one point in the final period, the Spurs forced ten straight missed shots by the Warriors. To close out the game, Golden State hit only eight of their final 26 shots. Previously, they were shooting 52.9% from the floor. Overall, the Warriors ended the night at 46.8% from the field, hit 5-of-13 three-pointers and finished with 23 assists. The Spurs did a good job of limiting free throw attempts (1, forcing turnovers (17) and hitting the boards (51-43).

Drive to Five

It was a good win against the Warriors but now the Spurs face an almost impossible task. Playing a back-to-back against the Denver Nuggets, it would be asking a whole lot for the Spurs to win this game. Having less than 20 hours to recuperate following a exhausting overtime contest while playing in altitude against a very good team? A win would be amazing but I’d gladly settle for the Spurs staying healthy.

Health.

[tackielarla]

Spurs vs Denver tonight. The kicker? No Timmy, no Manu, no Parker. All 3 are resting.

[johnphil7]

nanong wala man ang 3?