duncan228
12-02-2008, 11:45 PM
Updated.
Spurs melt down against Motown (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_melt_down_against_Motown.html)
By Jeff McDonald
Sometimes, it takes a dissertation to discuss the outcome of a given NBA game. There are so many nuances to each nightly chess match, so many ifs and thens, one could spend, say, an entire charter flight to Denver dissecting what happened and why.
On Tuesday night, it took Spurs coach Gregg Popovich exactly 60 seconds to sum up his team’s 89-77 loss to Detroit at the AT&T Center.
In a post-game Q&A media session that was all ‘A’ and no ‘Q,’ Popovich challenged his team’s effort, intensity and — in not so many words — its manhood.
“I thought tonight we played very poorly, very unwisely,” the soliloquy began. “We have to have more people play well. There are too many people playing poorly at this point.”
“The most disturbing thing is I think we were very soft,” Popovich said. “I think Detroit intimidated us. I think they ran us all over the court with their aggressiveness and physicality.
“It was really sad to watch, in that respect. I thought we totally folded to their aggressive play. Thus, the loss.”
Popovich took no questions afterward, figuring all answers to be self-evident.
As far as postgame news conferences go, it wasn’t much. Then again, it was more than Popovich said to his team.
After watching the Pistons manhandle the Spurs down the stretch, outscoring them 28-14 in the fourth quarter, Popovich’s entire postgame speech consisted of an announcement: The plane for Thursday’s game at Denver leaves at 3 o’clock.
“He didn’t say anything else,” Manu Ginobili said. “But (his message) was easy to detect.”
Rasheed Wallace had 19 points, including three fourth-quarter 3-pointers, and Allen Iverson added 19 more, as the Pistons did everything but pull the Spurs’ collective Jockeys over their collective head.
Detroit blitzed the Spurs into 17 turnovers, including six in the fourth quarter for 10 points.
On a night in which the Spurs’ Big Three reunited in the starting lineup for the first time this season, with Ginobili joining Tim Duncan and Tony Parker in the first five, they still managed to match a season scoring low.
Duncan had 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Spurs, but was limited to just five points after halftime. Parker had 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, while Ginobili labored through a 13-point, 4-of-11 night.
It was the second consecutive loss for the Spurs (9-8), coming on the heels of a 103-84 faceplant Saturday at Houston.
“It was disappointing because we didn’t have the effort,” guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “We didn’t have the intensity that we needed to compete at the NBA level.”
In the first half, the Spurs were content to ride Duncan. Nothing the Pistons threw at him seemed to work.
They tried Wallace. They tried Jason Maxiell. In the dictionary definition of “overmatched,” they tried Kwame Brown.
By half, Duncan had 18 points, and the Spurs were ahead 45-40, and twice went up by 10 points in the third quarter. Ahead by two points entering the fourth, the Spurs commenced a spectacular self-destruction.
Ginobili airballed a step-back 16-footer. Fabricio Oberto botched a layup. Matt Bonner threw the ball to Arron Affalo. Parker took off on a wild drive, only to have his shot rudely returned by Affalo.
Duncan, after a 7-of-11 first half, was only 2 of 8 in the second, after Wallace became interested in defending him.
When Wallace swished a 3-pointer with 8:03 to go, it put the Pistons ahead 68-66 — their first lead since the second quarter.
Still, the Spurs’ meltdown wasn’t complete.
By the time Wallace dropped in his next 3-pointer, with 3:01 to go, it put Detroit ahead by 11.
“Some nights we’re out there (messing around),” Wallace said, “and some nights we bring it.”
In the second half Tuesday, the Pistons brought it. The Spurs, much to the dismay of their head coach, wilted.
To explain why, Popovich needed just 60 seconds.
Spurs melt down against Motown (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_melt_down_against_Motown.html)
By Jeff McDonald
Sometimes, it takes a dissertation to discuss the outcome of a given NBA game. There are so many nuances to each nightly chess match, so many ifs and thens, one could spend, say, an entire charter flight to Denver dissecting what happened and why.
On Tuesday night, it took Spurs coach Gregg Popovich exactly 60 seconds to sum up his team’s 89-77 loss to Detroit at the AT&T Center.
In a post-game Q&A media session that was all ‘A’ and no ‘Q,’ Popovich challenged his team’s effort, intensity and — in not so many words — its manhood.
“I thought tonight we played very poorly, very unwisely,” the soliloquy began. “We have to have more people play well. There are too many people playing poorly at this point.”
“The most disturbing thing is I think we were very soft,” Popovich said. “I think Detroit intimidated us. I think they ran us all over the court with their aggressiveness and physicality.
“It was really sad to watch, in that respect. I thought we totally folded to their aggressive play. Thus, the loss.”
Popovich took no questions afterward, figuring all answers to be self-evident.
As far as postgame news conferences go, it wasn’t much. Then again, it was more than Popovich said to his team.
After watching the Pistons manhandle the Spurs down the stretch, outscoring them 28-14 in the fourth quarter, Popovich’s entire postgame speech consisted of an announcement: The plane for Thursday’s game at Denver leaves at 3 o’clock.
“He didn’t say anything else,” Manu Ginobili said. “But (his message) was easy to detect.”
Rasheed Wallace had 19 points, including three fourth-quarter 3-pointers, and Allen Iverson added 19 more, as the Pistons did everything but pull the Spurs’ collective Jockeys over their collective head.
Detroit blitzed the Spurs into 17 turnovers, including six in the fourth quarter for 10 points.
On a night in which the Spurs’ Big Three reunited in the starting lineup for the first time this season, with Ginobili joining Tim Duncan and Tony Parker in the first five, they still managed to match a season scoring low.
Duncan had 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Spurs, but was limited to just five points after halftime. Parker had 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, while Ginobili labored through a 13-point, 4-of-11 night.
It was the second consecutive loss for the Spurs (9-8), coming on the heels of a 103-84 faceplant Saturday at Houston.
“It was disappointing because we didn’t have the effort,” guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “We didn’t have the intensity that we needed to compete at the NBA level.”
In the first half, the Spurs were content to ride Duncan. Nothing the Pistons threw at him seemed to work.
They tried Wallace. They tried Jason Maxiell. In the dictionary definition of “overmatched,” they tried Kwame Brown.
By half, Duncan had 18 points, and the Spurs were ahead 45-40, and twice went up by 10 points in the third quarter. Ahead by two points entering the fourth, the Spurs commenced a spectacular self-destruction.
Ginobili airballed a step-back 16-footer. Fabricio Oberto botched a layup. Matt Bonner threw the ball to Arron Affalo. Parker took off on a wild drive, only to have his shot rudely returned by Affalo.
Duncan, after a 7-of-11 first half, was only 2 of 8 in the second, after Wallace became interested in defending him.
When Wallace swished a 3-pointer with 8:03 to go, it put the Pistons ahead 68-66 — their first lead since the second quarter.
Still, the Spurs’ meltdown wasn’t complete.
By the time Wallace dropped in his next 3-pointer, with 3:01 to go, it put Detroit ahead by 11.
“Some nights we’re out there (messing around),” Wallace said, “and some nights we bring it.”
In the second half Tuesday, the Pistons brought it. The Spurs, much to the dismay of their head coach, wilted.
To explain why, Popovich needed just 60 seconds.