duncan228
12-18-2008, 03:17 PM
Jeff McDonald: We'll have the Turkey O'Toole (http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/2008/12/jeff-mcdonald-w-10.html)
By Jeff McDonald
ORLANDO -- Thoughts, while wondering why the powers-that-be here don't just break down and re-name Orlando "The Benningan's Capital of the World" ...
* Hornets 90, Spurs 83. For a while there, it looked like a carbon copy of Game 7 of last season's Western Conference semifinals. The Spurs had done everything they needed to do, and were in control of the game ... and then got outscored 20-5 during a 10-minute span of the fourth quarter. The Spurs seemed to run out of gas, which is a bad sign considering they've got the second game of a back-to-back tonight.
* Gregg Popovich has pressed Matt Bonner to shoot when he's open, whether shots have been falling or not. Bonner followed those directions to a 'T' Wednesday night, taking a team-high 15 shots. He missed 12 of them, including a dunk. To be fair, Bonner also converted a dunk in the third quarter. He didn't exactly dunk ON Tyson Chandler, but he dunked NEAR him. Good enough.
* Fabricio Oberto logged just 41 seconds of playing time. It's obvious he has become the latest one-time starter to fall from Popovich's rotation, for the time being. Against New Orleans, Kurt Thomas got the bulk of reserve minutes among Spurs big men -- logging 23 minutes, 30 seconds for his longest outing since opening night. The Spurs found Thomas useful for banging on David West.
* If you had offered the Spurs a split of this two-game road swing before they departed for New Orleans, they probably would have taken it. Can they pull it off tonight in Orlando? If Dwight Howard doesn't play, their chances increase exponentially. The Spurs have beaten just five teams this season with a winning record. Orlando is 19-6, and with or without Howard, would make a fine addition to the Spurs' victory collection.
By Jeff McDonald
ORLANDO -- Thoughts, while wondering why the powers-that-be here don't just break down and re-name Orlando "The Benningan's Capital of the World" ...
* Hornets 90, Spurs 83. For a while there, it looked like a carbon copy of Game 7 of last season's Western Conference semifinals. The Spurs had done everything they needed to do, and were in control of the game ... and then got outscored 20-5 during a 10-minute span of the fourth quarter. The Spurs seemed to run out of gas, which is a bad sign considering they've got the second game of a back-to-back tonight.
* Gregg Popovich has pressed Matt Bonner to shoot when he's open, whether shots have been falling or not. Bonner followed those directions to a 'T' Wednesday night, taking a team-high 15 shots. He missed 12 of them, including a dunk. To be fair, Bonner also converted a dunk in the third quarter. He didn't exactly dunk ON Tyson Chandler, but he dunked NEAR him. Good enough.
* Fabricio Oberto logged just 41 seconds of playing time. It's obvious he has become the latest one-time starter to fall from Popovich's rotation, for the time being. Against New Orleans, Kurt Thomas got the bulk of reserve minutes among Spurs big men -- logging 23 minutes, 30 seconds for his longest outing since opening night. The Spurs found Thomas useful for banging on David West.
* If you had offered the Spurs a split of this two-game road swing before they departed for New Orleans, they probably would have taken it. Can they pull it off tonight in Orlando? If Dwight Howard doesn't play, their chances increase exponentially. The Spurs have beaten just five teams this season with a winning record. Orlando is 19-6, and with or without Howard, would make a fine addition to the Spurs' victory collection.