Spurs looked good tonight!

[Joe Schmoogins]

With all the hate going on this board... I feel it's important to point out that the Spurs looked pretty good tonight. We nearly beat a very solid Phoenix Suns team with only 3 bigs, no Hill, and no Manu. That's impressive.

The loss doesn't matter what does matter is this:

Duncan looked excellent
Parker looked excellent
Mason looked comfortable and a great addition
Finley played well
Bonner played well, yes he did. (led the team in rebounding, hit two threes, and was the only big to block a shot, that's not bad at all)

We lost because we were undermanned and this led to shotty defense in the fourth.

[hater]

:tu

Pop played this one like it's pre-season.

Yeah will will struggle vs. West teams until Manu comes back.

[m33p0]

:clap thank you. finally, someone with a level head.

[jrmp317]

I was happy with the effort, undermanned and nearly beat a good Suns team.

[xtremesteven33]

:tu

Pop played this one like it's pre-season.

Yeah will will struggle vs. West teams until Manu comes back.



very suprsing that pop coached in this fashion. It seems like he coached to expirement rather than to win. Very unlike pop

[byrdman31]

i agree. but he did leave bonner on there toooo long.

[hater]

i agree. but he did leave bonner on there toooo long.

agree

[mexicanjunior]

I was happy with their effort and the performances by Duncan, Parker, Mason and Finley. They kept it alot closer than I expected they would but I think it is too much to expect Duncan and Parker to be able to put up 30 a night to keep the Spurs in it. Duncan uncharacteristically hit alot of outside jumpers that boosted his scoring total, not something we can really count on night in and night out...

[tp2021]

With all the hate going on this board... I feel it's important to point out that the Spurs looked pretty good tonight. We nearly beat a very solid Phoenix Suns team with only 3 bigs, no Hill, and no Manu. That's impressive.

The loss doesn't matter what does matter is this:

Duncan looked excellent
Parker looked excellent
Mason looked comfortable and a great addition
Finley played well
Bonner played well, yes he did. (led the team in rebounding, hit two threes, and was the only big to block a shot, that's not bad at all)

We lost because we were undermanned and this led to shotty defense in the fourth.
+1

Good man. Good post.

[Purple & Gold]

suns are an average team in the West.

[sa_kid20]

i agree. but he did leave bonner on there toooo long.
Well who would have you put in? Thomas sucked and Tim has to rest sometimes. There just wasn't anybody else. And I don't think bonner played bad at all really.

[Joe Schmoogins]

I was happy with their effort and the performances by Duncan, Parker, Mason and Finley. They kept it alot closer than I expected they would but I think it is too much to expect Duncan and Parker to be able to put up 30 a night to keep the Spurs in it. Duncan uncharacteristically hit alot of outside jumpers that boosted his scoring total, not something we can really count on night in and night out...

well if we had to rely on Duncan and Parker to put up 30 a night we wouldn't be a championship caliber team... but the point of this thread is that those who played tonight played well... and there is a great amount of help on the way.

[mexicanjunior]

and there is a great amount of help on the way.

Let's just hope the Spurs are still in contention by the time the main help (Manu) makes it back and is performing at his normal All-Star level...and that Duncan and Parker aren't burned out in the process trying to carry the offensive and defensive load by themselves.

[HarlemHeat37]

some of you are REALLY overrating the West..

LA is the favorite..the Hornets, Rockets, Jazz and Suns are legit..who's after that? the Mavs are a huge ? with a new coach, Jason Kidd on a heavy decline, and they just don't have a good team in general..Portland is a ? and their hyped big man is already hurt..Denver has little depth and already has defensive problems..the Clippers suck..

the Spurs WITHOUT Manu will be the 7th/8th seed..

[jack sommerset]

Spews will be lucky to make playoffs

[xtremesteven33]

I am almost 100% sure if the spurs wouldve won tonight we wouldve seen threads like...

"Spurs are Great"
"Spurs will be Good"
"Spurs are the Best"


But we end up losing a heartbreaker, now we suck.....gotta love spurstalk

[tp2021]

A season opener, with 5 of the 15 players unavailable, going up against a frontline with size, strength, speed, and athleticism with only 3 bigmen in the rotation, in which all the Spurs' role players played their role well, resulting in a loss by only 5 points=Heartbreak?

[Whisky Dog]

There were a lot of good signs offensively that if they hold up can really be big later in the year.

The defense was horrible, especially in the 4th, and having Bonner and Finley having to play those crunch time minutes because Manu and Tolliver/Mahinmi were out is a big reason why the defense was horrible. The huge question mark to me between this team being a legit title contender and very stout or just a very good team is Tolliver/Mahinmi. If one or a combination of those two can man the 4 in crunch time in big games and actually perform for the Spurs to get stops then this team appears to have the added offensive punch this season to be really good. This is assuming Manu comes back as Manu, which is obviously necessary.

Hill being a serviceable point guard who can defend the hell out of the opposing point would be icing on the cake, and if all of these things come together this team can be special.

[Spork KIller]

With all the hate going on this board... I feel it's important to point out that the Spurs looked pretty good tonight. We nearly beat a very solid Phoenix Suns team with only 3 bigs, no Hill, and no Manu. That's impressive.

The loss doesn't matter what does matter is this:

Duncan looked excellent
Parker looked excellent
Mason looked comfortable and a great addition
Finley played well
Bonner played well, yes he did. (led the team in rebounding, hit two threes, and was the only big to block a shot, that's not bad at all)

We lost because we were undermanned and this led to shotty defense in the fourth.

Keep telling that to yourself loser!

[Spork KIller]

A season opener, with 5 of the 15 players unavailable, going up against a frontline with size, strength, speed, and athleticism with only 3 bigmen in the rotation, in which all the Spurs' role players played their role well, resulting in a loss by only 5 points=Heartbreak? A loss is a loss being by 1 or 100 points...

Sore losers!

[knee-knee-3]

A season opener, with 5 of the 15 players unavailable, going up against a frontline with size, strength, speed, and athleticism with only 3 bigmen in the rotation, in which all the Spurs' role players played their role well, resulting in a loss by only 5 points=Heartbreak?

No shit! Duncan and Parker looked great, Mason looked promising and aggressive, and Bonner (though I think he'll be ultimaltely inadequate) played hard. What's ta hate?

[mavsfan1000]

I disagree.
1. The Spurs were at home.
2. Phoenix is not that good anymore either
3. The other players players played slightly above normal.
The spurs are in survival mode until Manu comes back. Who knows if Manu can get back to what he was the last 6 years or so.

[HarlemHeat37]

the Suns are still a good team..any team with Amare, Nash and Shaq is still a good team..

the Mavs on the other hand..

[Spurtacus]

Spurs put in a good effort tonight. I would have liked to see us completely healthy though. We could have won this with Manu and Oberto.

[xellos88330]

A loss is a loss being by 1 or 100 points...

Sore losers!

I don't think anyone listens to you. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about considering you predicted the Suns would win by 29 points.

[xellos88330]

I agree that the Spurs have definitely put some of my fears to rest. Granted they lost, however, Timmy must be telling the basketball world... "Who is in decline bitches???"

[knee-knee-3]

I disagree.
1. The Spurs were at home.
2. Phoenix is not that good anymore either
3. The other players players played slightly above normal.
The spurs are in survival mode until Manu comes back. Who knows if Manu can get back to what he was the last 6 years or so.

The Spurs were shorthanded; Phoenix was (and is) obviously formidable; and Mason, Finley and Bonner performed adequately.

Call me in April, sucka...

[Rummpd]

It was a "revenge game" for the Suns that was horribly called with the Road team getting all the love (gee figure) and the Spurs still had a shot to tie it.

They did not execute well last 1-2 minutes but were also without their best closer.
No worries!

[ducks]

PEOPLE SAID spurs could not score
they put up 98 in the first game


hello without manu the six man award person

98 points will win 95% of spur games

[sa_butta]

I think we just needed more inside presence on D. We actually only lost the rebounding battle by 1. A full throttle Spurs team could have pulled this one off. While I never like losing the performance and the effort were definitely there.

[Mr. Body]

How many games will Parker and Duncan be able to put up 32 a piece?

[DROB4EVER]

We did not look good! Scoring more points maybe, but remember we where at home on opening night, played against a sub par defensive team who is aging. We looked awwwwffuulllll on D! KT and Bowen are done, they give use nothing. Thomas can not rotate on D and cant hit a shot to save his life.

Bowen cant stay with guys his own age anymore. I would rather see us move Fin to the 3 and let Mason start at the 2 with Hill Ian and Manu Udoka off the bench. WTF was Bonner on the floor so much, he cant defend anyone. I give him credit he works hard, but we have to many guys on the floor who give us nothing on either side of the ball.

We need to make a trade for a younger 3 or an athletic 4-5....go get Williams from NJ he is already in the doghouse there.

[Dex]

I still think Pop was just trying to give Porter his first coaching win.

No time out? Duncan for three?

Riiiight. :rolleyes

[Mr. Body]

We need to make a trade for a younger 3

That's a novel idea.

[mytespurs]

Thanks for this discussion. I was wondering how the Spurs looked overall last night. I saw some of the third and 4th quarters-I missed Ginobili out there.
I think I caught a glimpse on him encouraging the team towards the end of the game. :toast

[dbestpro]

I disagree.
1. The Spurs were at home.
2. Phoenix is not that good anymore either
3. The other players players played slightly above normal.
The spurs are in survival mode until Manu comes back. Who knows if Manu can get back to what he was the last 6 years or so.

1. No home court advantage (look at the number of fouls called)
2. Suns are as good if not better than Dallas
3. Slightly above normal is okay for Dallas but is below normal for the Spurs.
4. New players are still getting use to one another.

[tonylongoriafan]

until we're 100%, i think a lot of games are going to be close down the stretch, regardless of opponents. meaning the spurs must execute in the final 3 minutes. that's why we lost last night...gave up offensive rebound, fouls, turnovers, and pour shoot selections...all in the last 3 minutes. we execute, we win

i think it's going to take 50 wins to make the playoffs (give or take 1 or 2)...that's 31 losses, which isn't a lot of mulligans...got to execute down the stretch, can't afford to give any away.

[mavsfan1000]

PEOPLE SAID spurs could not score
they put up 98 in the first game


hello without manu the six man award person

98 points will win 95% of spur games
The old spurs teams would score 110 against Phoenix. I expect them to have more problems scoring against better defensive teams. Especially on the road.

[4everSpurFan]

suns fans on here are ridiculous... I didn't watch game due to I was at school last night so can't comment on the game. They did much better than I thought. I was predicting a blowout.

[ElNono]

The old spurs teams would score 110 against Phoenix. I expect them to have more problems scoring against better defensive teams. Especially on the road.

You mean the ones with Ginobili? :rolleyes

[mrspurs]

The spurs did look great until the 4th quarter. Thats when the game really counts. And thats where we got beat last year and its on to this year. If you cant stop anyone in the 4th quarter, your not going far. Amare did nothing all game. Then the 4th comes around and nooone could stop him. Not even that great one on one defensive minded player Kurt.(whata joke). We waste to much time on Ian, and because manu got hurt we wasted to much time looking for his backup. In the mean time we didnt do anything to help what killed us last season. And thats someone playing next to Tim. Or at least someone who can give Tim some rest and we dont have to foul other teams players. Pop said it not me. We had to foul because when Timmy sits we cant guard their players. Well why didnt you address that during the offseason, after all you made the mess when you brought in Kurt. And knowing how soft Fab is, and knowing how dumb Matt is. I dont understand why pop gets so pissed. You brought in these old,soft dummies. What do you expect. Timmy cant carry us he proved that last year. But the FO couldnt see that. Expect to see what we saw last night. A great game until the 4th.

[tmtcsc]

Tim and Tony took Brain Fart 3 pointers. Those were terrible shots. No one had the sense to take a damn time out and set up a good shot.

Forget Pop coaching like it was a preseason game, Tim and Tony were in preseason mode by taking those 3's. Besides that, I thought Matt Bonner was really bad on Defense. Really bad. We all know he can make shots but he gave no help defense to Tim.

At one point, Tim grabbed Matt's head with both his hands and pulled him closer to tell him to get his shit together ? Did tv show that ? It was almost like a plea to rotate faster and stop leaving him on an island in the lane.

This is Matt's 3rd year in San Antonio right ? Dude should have much better court awareness on D by now. He's going to find himself right back on the bench if we have better defensive options.

I didn't think Bruce or KT was the reason we lost although Kurt could have played much better.

We just need to hold things together at a .500 pace AT LEAST until Manu gets back. Portland may spank us on Friday. It's going to take a little time for us to settle in with our under-manned rotations.

[duncan228]

At one point, Tim grabbed Matt's head with both his hands and pulled him closer to tell him to get his shit together ? Did tv show that ? It was almost like a plea to rotate faster and stop leaving him on an island in the lane.

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/temp%20duncan/10-29-0814.jpg

[tmtcsc]

Thank you sir...

[Dramon]

You mean the ones with Ginobili? :rolleyes

You mean the ones against a D'antoni run defense?

[tp2021]

Thank you sir...

She's a lady.

[tmtcsc]

She's a lady.

http://images.usatoday.com/weather/_photos/2006/07/19/axxedit25.jpg

"I did not know that."

Thank you Madame.

[Obstructed_View]

At one point, Tim grabbed Matt's head with both his hands and pulled him closer to tell him to get his shit together ? Did tv show that ? It was almost like a plea to rotate faster and stop leaving him on an island in the lane.


Bonner had an open three pointer and Timmy was open in front of the basket. Timmy waved his arms like crazy and Bonner missed the three. That's why Timmy did that. If he were doing that to teammates for poor defense then you'd also see a picture of him doing it to KT and Fin.

[tmtcsc]

Bonner had an open three pointer and Timmy was open in front of the basket. Timmy waved his arms like crazy and Bonner missed the three. That's why Timmy did that. If he were doing that to teammates for poor defense then you'd also see a picture of him doing it to KT and Fin.


Really ??? I could have sworn we were on defense. That just shows you what a couple of $ 6.75 beers will do to your memory.

In any case, you can probably insert several different reasons for Timmy not being happy with Matt's performance. Amare abused Kurt and Finley was a non factor for the most part. Mason was good though.

[Obstructed_View]

Really ??? I could have sworn we were on defense. That just shows you what a couple of $ 6.75 beers will do to your memory.

In any case, you can probably insert several different reasons for Timmy not being happy with Matt's performance. Amare abused Kurt and Finley was a non factor for the most part. Mason was good though.

No, it did happen on the defensive end, but I thought it was the next stoppage of play and the first chance they had to talk. You could be right. There was a tad too much of the players getting on each other; they looked kind of like the Cowboys secondary at times.

[tmtcsc]

No, it did happen on the defensive end, but I thought it was the next stoppage of play and the first chance they had to talk. You could be right. There was a tad too much of the players getting on each other; they looked kind of like the Cowboys secondary at times.

I went back and re-watched the game tonight on DVR. Tim getting pissed at Matt was at the culmination of a terrible 3 minute stretch for Matt which began with him taking that 3. It was followed by bad transition D and 2 straight defensive lapses on Matt's part where he was slow to give JV help and Tim help.. That last one got Tim pissed. He looked over his shoulder to see Amare gliding in for a dunk or layup and Matt was standing in mud watching him do it. You can hear Tim saying "C'mon Matt !" and shaking his head.

[Obstructed_View]

I went back and re-watched the game tonight on DVR. Tim getting pissed at Matt was at the culmination of a terrible 3 minute stretch for Matt which began with him taking that 3. It was followed by bad transition D and 2 straight defensive lapses on Matt's part where he was slow to give JV help and Tim help.. That last one got Tim pissed. He looked over his shoulder to see Amare gliding in for a dunk or layup and Matt was standing in mud watching him do it. You can hear Tim saying "C'mon Matt !" and shaking his head.

I just went back and watched it myself. A couple of thoughts.

a) The Spurs were brilliant on offense to start the quarter, and weren't getting a single stop before Bonner came into the game. The fact that the game was close wasn't because the Spurs were playing even passable defense, it's because they were just amazing on the other end. Duncan's defense was just as bad as his offense was good. Granted, he was trying not to pick up his third foul, but his rotations were terrible and Shaq was getting anywhere he wanted to be without any challenge whatsoever. That charging call against Amare (which was a really bad call) was the only stop the Spurs got in the first five minutes of the quarter, and they were lucky to get it. Bowen committed a foul on Nash with the ball out of bounds.

b) The two transition baskets were by Matt Barnes. Finley got burned on both of them and Bowen failed to stop him at the three point line on the first one, which got him benched at the timeout. Bonner got there for the second one and got beat for the rebound. It's too bad that he didn't get the rebound, but the play was hardly his fault.

c) The Amare layup (which he missed) might have been Bonner's only defensive lapse to that point, and I say might, because it looked like Mason was the one who was in position to rotate. Duncan double teamed Diaw because he had Finley practically under the basket and then swiped at Amare as he went by, while yelling at Bonner, who was on the baseline. Again, just for the sake of argument, let's put that one square on Bonner. Even so, for Duncan to have gotten that annoyed when he, Finley, and Bowen were just getting wrecked on defense is ludicrous.

There's no way someone comes away from watching that sequence and blames Bonner with no mention of, at the very least, Finley and Bowen.

[Joe Schmoogins]

I just went back and watched it myself. A couple of thoughts.

a) The Spurs were brilliant on offense to start the quarter, and weren't getting a single stop before Bonner came into the game. The fact that the game was close wasn't because the Spurs were playing even passable defense, it's because they were just amazing on the other end. Duncan's defense was just as bad as his offense was good. Granted, he was trying not to pick up his third foul, but his rotations were terrible and Shaq was getting anywhere he wanted to be without any challenge whatsoever. That charging call against Amare (which was a really bad call) was the only stop the Spurs got in the first five minutes of the quarter, and they were lucky to get it. Bowen committed a foul on Nash with the ball out of bounds.

b) The two transition baskets were by Matt Barnes. Finley got burned on both of them and Bowen failed to stop him at the three point line on the first one, which got him benched at the timeout. Bonner got there for the second one and got beat for the rebound. It's too bad that he didn't get the rebound, but the play was hardly his fault.

c) The Amare layup (which he missed) might have been Bonner's only defensive lapse to that point, and I say might, because it looked like Mason was the one who was in position to rotate. Duncan double teamed Diaw because he had Finley practically under the basket and then swiped at Amare as he went by, while yelling at Bonner, who was on the baseline. Again, just for the sake of argument, let's put that one square on Bonner. Even so, for Duncan to have gotten that annoyed when he, Finley, and Bowen were just getting wrecked on defense is ludicrous.

There's no way someone comes away from watching that sequence and blames Bonner with no mention of, at the very least, Finley and Bowen.


I agree... our defense was pretty terrible and it was definitely a community effort. I'm not giving any passes to anyone, but not putting the blame on Bonner's shoulders either. He's got to be better, but so does Timmy, Bowen, Finley, KT, and others as you mentioned.

[Obstructed_View]

Amare made everyone on the Spurs his bitch in the fourth quarter, including Timmy. Bonner's defense on Amare was as good or better than anyone else's was. The only actual basket Bonner gave up was the dunk that got him pulled with a couple of minutes to go. Duncan scored two points after Shaq came back in and never challenged him in the post, even after Parker drew his fifth foul. That's inexcusable. The people that blame the loss on Bonner are on fucking crack. Finley, Bowen and Mason got torn up. Bad.

[SenorSpur]

All the Spurs seemingly forgot about the defensive fundamentals that have become such a trademark of their championship years.