San Antonio Spurs

[MalditohoN]

---

kaya ra lagi na nila...

[ManWhore]

karate na man na ka bowen. aypa apil siya UFC.

[tackielarla]

karate na man na ka bowen. aypa apil siya UFC.

Wa mana niya tuyua brow!

[skyblue_lord]

Plus CP3 was fouled TWICE in the backcourt before Manu that pitiful excuse of a foul... refs swallowed their pieces...

Ingani ako gusto buhaton ni Bowen kang CP3 next time:


No-shadow-flying-kick!

unsay wala tuyua ckaran d ay nimo ang ikaw kuno nya ckaran tika ok ra nimo unya ingnon tka sorry bay wala nako tuyo a

[skyblue_lord]

hugaw ug dinuwa an ang spurs.....

[ju-Luis]

hugaw ug dinuwa an ang spurs.....

hugaw gd tawn... physical lng gyd mi...

[tackielarla]

unsay wala tuyua ckaran d ay nimo ang ikaw kuno nya ckaran tika ok ra nimo unya ingnon tka sorry bay wala nako tuyo a

^^^ Somebody's sarcasm-meter needs a new set of batteries.

Skyblue_lord, your simpleton ways have again made my day. For your consistency, I applaud you. Sincerely. Sana'y dumami pa ang kalahi mo!

[tackielarla]

I classified the win over the Warriors recently as a bad win. Although this 90-86 loss against the Hornets isn't quite a good loss, it's definitely an understandable loss. With the Big Three healthy and playing close to normal minutes in a playoff atmosphere for the first time in six weeks, it'd be a bit shortsighted to expect the Spurs to instantly return to their customary form. I saw enough good out of Sunday night's game to feel positive about the team going forward.

The Hornets also deserve a lot of credit. Chris Paul illustrated again why he's one of the top five basketball players on the planet, while David West continues to be a difficult matchup for the Spurs. Despite being without a number of key players, New Orleans stepped up, played hard and beat San Antonio. You can't take anything away from their effort.

As for the Spurs, the most important thing is that Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili appear to be getting healthier. It's going to take a couple games before they get back into the groove, especially considering that Pop's rotation once again was completely overhauled. If the Spurs still look out of sorts a week from now, perhaps then would be the time to worry.

-In the second quarter, Tim Duncan was Tim Duncan. He scored 12 points and was carrying the Spurs on both ends of the quarter. The rest of the game, particularly down the stretch, Duncan didn't play too well. The issue in the fourth quarter appeared to be fatigue as he didn't have anywhere near the crispness he had in the second stanza. I liked that he rebounded well but when he's getting outplayed in a stretch by Sean Marks, that's when you realize Duncan still has a ways to go before returning to health and game shape.

-Manu Ginobili played his normal amount of minutes for the first time since the All-Star break. Like Duncan, Ginobili looked like he was totally out of gas late in the contest. Throughout the game, the Hornets decided to defend him like they did last year in the playoffs by giving him the outside shot. Ginobili responded by being the only three-point shooter on the team who hit a respectable percentage of his bombs from deep. His defense wasn't very good and his playmaking was lacking but Ginobili has to be considered ahead of schedule in his return from his stress reaction.

-Some aspects of Tony Parker's game I thought were very good, namely his defense. He guarded Paul about as well as Paul is going to be guarded. The Hornets superstar still got his but Parker made him work for everything. Offensively, Parker was thinking a bit too much. The Spurs have been thriving with him in constant attack mode and he had his foot off the pedal for too long tonight. Though considering that the Spurs outscored the Hornets 80-74 in the 39 minutes he played and were outscored by the Hornets 16-6 in the nine minutes he was on the bench, it's difficult to put too much blame on Parker.

-Michael Finley, like the rest of the role playing shooters on the team, got a number of wide open looks against New Orleans. The problem was converting the open looks into made baskets. Finley had a three-pointer late that gave the Spurs a chance to steal the game but missed a number of open shots throughout. Other than his shooting, I thought Finley played well.

-Roger Mason, Jr. was held scoreless in his 23 minutes of playing time. Running the point, Mason once again struggled. That struggle was even more prominent when he didn't have Ginobili at his side. It was a bit odd that Mason didn't get more minutes considering that the Hornets were leaving shooters open but it appeared as if Pop wasn't thrilled with what Mason was doing on the defensive end.

-Like the last time the Spurs visited New Orleans, Matt Bonner made Byron Scott look brilliant by instructing his bigs to let Bonner roam free on the perimeter. Bonner didn't knock down his open perimeter looks, except for one he hit late to cut a six-point lead in half. Though Bonner put up good rebounding numbers, he didn't corral a couple boards late that came back to bite the Spurs. Despite his uneven play, this wasn't anywhere near the disaster that the other game in New Orleans was for Bonner.

-Ime Udoka seems to have successfully carved out a role in Pop's rotation. In minutes that have traditionally gone to Bruce Bowen, Udoka is now seeing action. (In fact, Bowen registered his first DNP-CD in his Spurs career and it was the first game he missed outside of last year's suspension since 2002.) In his new role, Udoka didn't exactly earn an invite to the Hall of Fame. He missed a handful of wide, wide open looks from beyond the arc. His redeeming quality was his rebounding and he also made a few good passes within the offense.

-Drew Gooden hasn't quite integrated himself into the team concept yet. It's still very obvious that he's the round peg trying to fit into the square offensive and defensive sets. However, at least he isn't bashful and he is trying to help out. Gooden connected on four of his five shot attempts. His defense was decent at times against West but his help defense and rebounding were non-existent.

-I've been typing Kurt Thomas' praises for most of the last few months but he was horrible tonight. Since his slow start to the campaign, this was undoubtedly his worst game. He was loose with the ball offensively, out of position defensively, fouled needlessly and was just a very bad player overall. Hopefully this was a hiccup and Thomas can return to his stellar play ASAP.

-George Hill got a few minutes of action and didn't hurt the team. He gave good effort defensively and crashed the boards. On offense, he pushed the break when he got the ball. If the Spurs were to face the Hornets in the playoffs, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Pop figured out how to have Hill guard Paul for stretches of the series.

-I've been hoping for Pop to set a rotation and it appeared he did. Now the second guessing can commence. Removing Bowen from the equation is a move I don't agree with, especially when Udoka is the recipient. Udoka has had his moments but I still think it's clear that Bowen is a better player than Udoka. In what was nothing of a surprise, Pop leaned on Finley. It's inevitable that Finley will be in the rotation but I hope Pop isn't planning on bumping Mason's minutes to make room for Finley to play extended minutes each night.

Against the Hornets, I was a bit puzzled why Pop didn't go with the same strategy he used last time against New Orleans. In that victory, the Spurs went under the screen on Paul and forced him to score. Pop also started Thomas that game to not allow West to get off to a good start. In this game, Pop had the Spurs go over the screen against Paul and started Bonner on West. My guess would be that Pop didn't want the Hornets to get a free look at the defense the Spurs would play in the postseason ... but it was definitely an odd coaching maneuver.

All in all, I can live with this loss. The Spurs don't have much breathing room in the Western Conference but considering the circumstances, the positives outweighed the negatives tonight.

[menderouv]

we have only 7 games left for the season. go spurs go!make it 7 straight wins. balos lang ta sa new orleans ika april 15th. make them pay


Tue 31 vs Oklahoma City 7:30pm My35 HD 1200 WOAI
Fri 03 @ Indiana 6:00pm My35 HD 1200 WOAI
Sun 05 @ Cleveland 12:00pm 1200 WOAI
Tue 07 @ Oklahoma City 7:00pm FSNSW 1200 WOAI
Wed 08 vs Portland 6:00pm My35 HD 1200 WOAI
Fri 10 vs Utah 7:30pm FSNSW 1200 WOAI
Sun 12 @ Sacramento 8:00pm My35 HD 1200 WOAI
Mon 13 @ Golden State 9:30pm KENS HD 1200 WOAI
Wed 15 vs New Orleans 7:00pm FSNSW 1200 WOAI

[juan penduko]

hugaw ug dinuwa an ang spurs.....

ingon mo boring unya mo ingon sa mo hugaw mo dula. way klaro. suya lang mo kai kun ma pildi mi dili man mi maglagotlagot. peace brow