Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Magic Dec. 18

[timvp]

On paper, the game against the Orlando Magic looked like a difficult one. Shortly after the opening jump ball, the San Antonio Spurs showed why. Their listless play allowed the Magic to build a 23-point lead as the Spurs managed just 29 points in the first half. Although San Antonio was able to cut the lead to six points with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, they were simply outclassed for most of the 48 minutes and lost by a final score of 90-78.

Jameer Nelson almost single-handedly put the Spurs away once they got within six points. He scored two buckets and then fed Rashard Lewis for a three-pointer. After Hedo Turkoglu split a pair at the line, Nelson scored two more field goals to officially end the contest.

The Magic look like they could possibly make some noise in the Eastern Conference. They’ve done a good job of surrounding Dwight Howard with three-point shooters. How far they go will likely depend on how whether or not Nelson can elevate his game to an All-Star level. If he can, the Magic could give the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers a run for supremacy in the East.

As for the Spurs, it was an extremely ugly game. Though they cut the lead in the fourth, it never appeared as if they had a legit shot to win the game. The Spurs obviously lacked energy and it also didn’t help that they couldn’t hit an open shot in the first half. Overall, the Spurs were given a test with this two-game road trip – and the result of the test was a failing grade.

Tim Duncan
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3173.jpg
37 minutes, 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists
7-for-17 from the field, 5-for-6 at the line

Tim Duncan had a decent outing. Defensively, he did fine work against Dwight Howard and didn’t allow him many easy shots. He ran the court hard and kept up with Howard in transition. On the offensive end, Duncan knocked down most of his jumpers. However, Duncan struggled down low. He often rushed his shots and didn’t utilize any of his quality post moves.
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Manu Ginobili
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3380.jpg
29 minutes, ten points, eight rebounds, three assists, three turnovers
4-for-12 from the field, 1-for-3 on three-pointers

Manu Ginobili had a rough night shooting the ball but his effort was apparent. He had his second straight outstanding rebounding game and pounced on a number of loose balls. Ginobili was again a bit careless with the ball and his activity on defense wasn’t very noteworthy. It would also help if he would take the ball to the basket more often, as he has only two free throw attempts in the last two games.
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Tony Parker
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3527.jpg
36 minutes, nine points, four assists, four turnovers
3-for-17 from the field, 3-for-3 at the line

Tony Parker had a very poor performance. His 3-for-17 shooting illustrates how bad he was on offense. With the Magic letting him shoot, Parker missed early on and lost his confidence – and then his game disintegrated. Defensively, he played decently in the first half but got exploited in the second half. Parker has struggled mightily in the second game of a back-to-back sets since returning from his ankle injury. In three such games, he’s averaging ten points on 26.2% shooting from the field. In the eight other games since his return, he’s averaging 20 points while shooting 51.2%. I’m not sure what’s not allowing him to be effective on back-to-backs but something is obviously limiting him.
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Michael Finley
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3023.jpg
15 minutes, two points, three rebounds, two steals
1-for-6 from the field, 0-for-3 on three-pointers

Michael Finley wasn’t offering much help at all and as a result he played less than 20 minutes for the second time all season. In his last three games, Finley is shooting 26.1% from the field and 16.7% from beyond the three-point arc. The Spurs have actually become dependent on Finley’s scoring to win games. In the 15 wins this season, Finley is averaging 11.3 points on 46.3% shooting from the field. In their ten losses, Finley’s numbers drop to 7.6 points on 36.1%.
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Matt Bonner
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3748.jpg
22 minutes, eight points, two rebounds
3-for-5 from the field, 2-for-3 on three-pointers

After a disastrous offensive showing the previous night, Matt Bonner somewhat bounced back. His shooting was good – although he might have been a little less trigger happy than usual. Defensively he was active out on the perimeter but the Spurs could have used more than two rebounds from their starting center. It wasn’t a great showing but at least Bonner’s confidence seemed mostly intact.
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Roger Mason, Jr.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3628.jpg
27 minutes, ten points, seven rebounds, two steals
4-for-7 from the field, 2-for-4 on three-pointers

Roger Mason, Jr. was one of the better players for the Spurs on Thursday night. He hit more than half of his shots and did a very good job on the boards. Defensively he was better than usual and ran the court well. It’d be nice if the Spurs could find a way to expand his role. He hasn’t had double-digit shot attempts in his last seven games and it’s been eight games since he played at least 30 minutes. In November, he averaged more than 34 minutes and 12 shot attempts.
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Bruce Bowen
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3167.jpg
21 minutes, three points
1-for-2 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers

Bruce Bowen wasn’t very effective against the Magic. Part of the problem was that he spent a lot of time at power forward and the Spurs were unable to overcome the lack of size on the court. Bowen had a few good individual defensive possessions but his team defense was lacking most of the night. Offensively, Bowen has just six field goal attempts in his last 86 minutes.
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George Hill
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/4488.jpg
20 minutes, three points, two rebounds, one assist
1-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers, 1-for-2 at the line

George Hill got a few extra minutes against Orlando but failed to capitalize. Offensively, he wasn’t very aggressive and had a few questionable shot attempts. On defense, he wasn’t his typically energetic self. Hill’s streak of four straight games with a three-pointer ended and he’s just 2-for-9 from the field over his last two games.
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Ime Udoka
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3501.jpg
19 minutes, six points, two rebounds
2-for-4 from the field, 2-for-3 on three-pointers

After five straight games in which he didn’t play more than one minute, Ime Udoka was inserted into the game early on to combat smaller personnel of the Magic. In the first half, Udoka wasn’t very good at all. The Spurs were outscored by ten points in the six minutes he played as he missed both of his shots. In the second half, Udoka played better. He was more active defensively and he hit both of his shots from the field. It’ll be interesting to see if Udoka continues to be a specialist who only plays against teams that use a lot of small ball.
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Kurt Thomas
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3012.jpg
11 minutes, six points, four rebounds, one block
3-for-5 from the field

Kurt Thomas played well in his 11 minutes. At the end of the first half, he helped the Spurs cut into Orlando’s lead by playing good defense and hitting a couple of shots on the offensive end. As of late, Thomas has been more aggressive in going for blocks. In his last four games, Thomas has five blocks. He’s now averaging a respectable 2.4 blocks per 48 minutes.
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Gregg Popovich
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/topstory/sports/popovich_gregg030428.jpg

I wasn’t too impressed by Pop’s attitude heading into the game. Even before the contest began, he was already talking about the difficulty of this back-to-back set. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that the Spurs came out of the gates asleep and with their white flags waving. As for his rotation, it was the right move to take minutes from Finley but I still would like to see Mason play more often. Instead of playing small ball, Bonner seemed like a good match against the Lewis and Turkoglu combination. I also wasn’t too thrilled that Duncan played the first 21 minutes of the second half without rest – especially since the game seemed so unwinnable.
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Offense

The offense wasn’t too bad in the second half but it was horrible in the first two quarters. In the first 22 minutes of the game, the Spurs scored 23 points. It took 49 second half points for the Spurs to even put a halfway respectable score on the board. For the game, the Spurs shot 37.5% from the field and went 8-for-20 from the three-point line. The three-point shooting looks good but the Spurs began the game 1-for-10 from deep. Other problems offensively were the extremely low number of free throw attempts (13), the low number of assists (15) and the high number of turnovers (15).

Defense

The defense was acceptable on the whole. The Magic shot 44.7% from the field but hit only 6-of-25 three-pointers and got to the line only ten times. The Spurs also did a good job of limiting the Magic to only 16 assists. Rebounding-wise, the Spurs lost that battle for the second straight game. Orlando finished with 44 boards while San Antonio pulled down 39.

Drive to Five

On Saturday night, the Spurs start a stretch of three straight very winnable home games when the Toronto Raptors come to town. San Antonio really needs a win here to avoid a tailspin. At 15-10, the Spurs are still in a pretty good spot in the Western Conference standings, but they can’t afford a prolonged slump at this point.

Believe.

[mrspurs]

I think we can finish out the rest of this year without a loss.

[benefactor]

The Spurs have actually become dependent on Finley’s scoring to win games.
God help us.

Part of the problem was that he spent a lot of time at power forward and the Spurs were unable to overcome the lack of size on the court.
Tolliver is coming back up so hopefully that will help some in situations like this. Richard Hendrix would have been a nice option to have for this situation too(hint, hint).

[Fabbs]

I wasn’t too impressed by Pop’s attitude heading into the game. Even before the contest began, he was already talking about the difficulty of this back-to-back set. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that the Spurs came out of the gates asleep and with their white flags waving. As for his rotation, it was the right move to take minutes from Finley but I still would like to see Mason play more often. Instead of playing small ball, Bonner seemed like a good match against the Lewis and Turkoglu combination. I also wasn’t too thrilled that Duncan played the first 21 minutes of the second half without rest – especially since the game seemed so unwinnable.

Believe.
Now that's pathetic.

Takes a few minutes from Finley. Bricktard still got plenty of minutes.
Attitude? Oh he shot it well before this game started with the Hornets 4th qtr fiasco the night before.

Saying "we're soft" and rolling out the practice balls just isn't working anymore.

[Borosai]

The Spurs look just like last year with these long scoring droughts during the past two games. When 2 of the big 3 aren't scoring well, the team just sucks. They need to involve other players (Mason) more instead of forcing shit to the guys that are struggling. What's the point of having depth if you don't use it.

[duncan228]

Thanks as always timvp. You continue to give us insight on our team better than anything I find out there. It's greatly appreciated.

A quick question. I haven't had time to re-watch the game, just out of curiousity how many of Howard's 5 fouls did Duncan draw?


The Magic look like they could possibly make some noise in the Eastern Conference.

A short piece on NBA.com that ties into your thoughts on the Magic.

Magic take step closer to becoming an elite squad (http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/12/19/1218.ata/)

[bigfundamental21]

Thankfully, I did not get to watch this game as I had to work, but I appreciate how you break down the game for me, timvp.

I agree that Mason should get more minutes and definitely more shots. I think this game was just an extension of the 4th quarter of the Hornets game. We just backed down and let the opponent have its way. I want to see the competitiveness and fire instead of the lackluster play and timidness. Even Pop's body language says a lot, when I see images of him with his head in his hands on the bench, you know it's bad. I know this team has it in them, just haven't seen the intensity that I am used to.

I hope this lights a fire under them and pushes the team to new heights. We shall see.

[SenorSpur]

I'm afraid there's more to this "age issue'" that is rearing it's ugly head again. Take last season for example. The Spurs struggles in back-to-back games were very evident during the regular season and into the playoffs. Once the playoffs started, the Spurs did very well in against the Suns, in closing them out in 5 games. Obviously, the Spurs were THE better team. However, one thing that worked in the Spurs favor was a favorable schedule that allowed for sufficient rest. The NBA schedule makers allowed 3 days off between each of the first 3 games of the series. By that time, the Spurs were up 3-0 and the series was just about over. The one game the Spurs lost, a Game 4 blowout in Phoenix 105-86, came after just 1 day of rest, and normal travel in between.

As the team went deeper into the playoffs, we saw the Spurs struggle against the younger, quicker Hornets. The Spurs were literally outrebounded and outhustled in virtually every game, getting blown out in both Games 1,2 & 5 by 19, 18 & 22 points, respectively. Games 2 & 5 were played with just one day in between contests. Ultimately, the Spurs asserted themselves in the series and edged out the inexperienced Hornets in an epic Game 7, on the road. One thing that worked in the Spurs favor was the Game 7 schedule. The Spurs drew 4 days of rest in between, as Game 6 was played on Thurs 5/15, while Game 7 was played on Monday 5/19.

It was in the WCF, versus the Fakers, where we again saw the how the team was affected by an extremely, unfavorable schedule, and a Manu injury. All of which factored into their undoing. You may recall that games were played on an unprecedented "every-other-day" schedule, starting 5/21 thru 5/29. That schedule, along with aircraft issues leaving the New Orleans airport, worked against the Spurs in Game 1. Despite that fact, the Spurs were in just about every game, except Game 2, where they were blown out 101-71. Overall, the team seemed slow, sluggish and tired. While I still have no doubt the Spurs were every bit as good as the Fakers, it just seemed as though the tight series schedule was a hidden opponent that worked against the Spurs, every bit as much as Manu's injury.

My point to all this is we're now into another season and we're still seeing evidence as to how the schedule often can work against an older team, whose key contributing players, have logged so many minutes (regular season and playoffs) over the past 5-7 seasons. It's not so much the age as it is the mileage on the bodies of Duncan, Manu, Parker, Bowen and Finley. They've played a lot of basketball and at some point, diminished returns will be realized. This is a point that Sir Charles Barkley has harped on since last season and one that I agree with.

The good news is Pop took the que, over the offseason, and finally injected some youth onto the roster. All of which means that Pop is in a much better position to counter the effects and manage minutes than ever before. Of course, it's way too early to realize or judge the benefits of that movement. However, I firmly believe the big key to offsetting this issue will be the ability of Pop to allow that core of younger players to develop and contribute on a consistent basis -even if it means living with some mistakes here and there. Historically Pop has proven to be a guru in managing the minutes of his star players. Now, he's going to have to trust the the younger guys enough to give them minutes too.

Obviously, the good health of the Big Three, the overall team talent level, and experience will ensure the team will remain in contention. However, developing that core of young, bench players will help the Spurs better combat both the younger, quicker opponents, and an intense playoff schedule.