Game Blog: Spurs vs. Lakers - Jan. 14

[Winehole23]

Blame the coaching staff for not getting the ball to Manu at all at the end of the game.I blame Kobe for playing like an MVP and getting everyone involved.

[xtremesteven33]

Kobe is just as good as Jordan.

i said it.

somebody shoot me.

[Yorae]

Kobe is just as good as Jordan.

i said it.

somebody shoot me.

Bang!!!! (did it hit you?)

[Fernando TD21]

It was the first Spurs game that I was able to watch on TV in more than a month and the TV signal got lost at the halftime :bang. Well at least Spurs won.

[erikuff]

farmar was part of the rotation. powell never plays, along with radmanovic so the same rotation would stay just replace farmar vujacic walton with powell, yue radmanovic. like i said what if the spurs had to go with vaughn instead of hill and bowen instead of mason. its a big deal!
:rollin
Yue played a minute and a half. Powell played about 6? When it was sub-time you guys played huge with Ariza and Odom at guards. We could have nearly done the same with Mason and Ginobili.

[mVp]

Blame the coaching staff for not getting the ball to Manu at all at the end of the game. The way he completely destroyed Kobe at the end of the first half and again at the end of the third quarter should have been capitalized on. No matter, the Spurs got the win without the big statement. It didn't have to be that close, though.

True, but I think Kobe played better D on Manu in the 4th... he was all over him, playing the passing lanes and making his life difficult.

[xtremesteven33]

Bang!!!! (did it hit you?)

:depressed

[greens]

Neither Manu or Tony did anything in the 4th tonight.

.



I watched the fourth quarter very closely. And there was one or two bad ball possessions by Manu.

However, the issue in my opinion was that the ball was barely in Manu's hands in the crucial last few minutes. And I found that to be odd after the excellent game that he was having. The ball possessions in the last few minutes mostly went to Tony and Timmy. I think Manu basically touched the ball twice in that whole fourth quarter.

I'm not sure why. Maybe for whatever reason, Pop specifically wanted to go to Tony and Timmy in those last few minutes.

So I can't really judge Manu's performance in the last few minutes when the guy barely touched the ball or got a pass from any of his teammates.

It's just my opinion. But I think the ball should have been more in Manu's hand regardless of his two bad possessions or something like that. But it seemed like Pop was going the other way in terms of who to write plays for in the clutch time.

Over all, I think this is Manu's best game since he got back from his surgery. I would judge his fourth quarter a lot more closely IF he touched the ball more than twice.

I mean did you honestly see Manu being the main ball handler in the last few minutes of the game? Or see him actually touch the ball more than a few times?

[pawe]

It's not TP's ball handling, it's his decision making. Twice within a couple of minutes in the 4th, he left his feet with no clear shot and no one to pass to and ended up throwing the ball away both times.

If people wonder why why Pop loves JV, it because he never does stuff like that. Maybe it'll start to rub off on Tony someday.

Did you also see Ariza bump and chop TP making him lose control of the ball hence the turnovers?

[NFGIII]

One of the best games from start to finish that I've seen in a long time. Absolutely a fantastic game! Both teams were in a such an offensive groove tonight. That type of game reminded me of the 70's & 80's.

Having said that I was disappointed with the lack of ball and player movement during that Laker run to get them back in the game in the 4th Q. It's like the Spurs took their foot off the gas. But I've have to give the Lakers some of the credit for that, too. Ariza did play Parker tough in the 4th and the refs did swallow their whistles against both teams.

[Yorae]

http://a.espncdn.com/media/apphoto/b787ab26-bec0-47f7-b61e-722d066174a3.jpg

Winning wall???

[Winehole23]

Did you also see Ariza bump and chop TP making him lose control of the ball hence the turnovers?Taking nothing away from Ariza, but you don't leave your feet with no shot and no pass.

[peacemaker885]

On a side note, where's the Bynum haters here in LA when the Lakers drafted this kid? He's going to be pretty good.

[pawe]

bynum is already good, just look at the post moves he did on Duncan. he's the future along with Howard.

[Def Rowe]

Bahh... painful. I'll tell you what though, that was one very entertaining game. Spurs fans got a chance to see that despite that last play Ariza is pretty good, and Bynum is not a total BUST, and us Lakers fans got to see that Mason and Hill are the real deal. Especially Mason. There was some strange officiating but I think it pretty much evened out. I think this was a good loss for the Lakers. I hope it sticks in their craw and they learn from it.

[SenorSpur]

One of the best games from start to finish that I've seen in a long time. Absolutely a fantastic game! Both teams were in a such an offensive groove tonight. That type of game reminded me of the 70's & 80's.

Having said that I was disappointed with the lack of ball and player movement during that Laker run to get them back in the game in the 4th Q. It's like the Spurs took their foot off the gas. But I've have to give the Lakers some of the credit for that, too. Ariza did play Parker tough in the 4th and the refs did swallow their whistles against both teams.

There. Somebody said it. :toast

Terrible, terrible offensive execution.

[DrHouse]

Eh, good game and the Lakers gave as good an effort as they could given the circumstances. Just wasn't their night. Move on to ORL and CLE.

Those games will tell me more about where the team is at than this one did.

[Obstructed_View]

True, but I think Kobe played better D on Manu in the 4th... he was all over him, playing the passing lanes and making his life difficult.

Parker brought the ball up and played two man with Duncan in the post. Those are designed plays, and they are called by the coach. They have precisely zero to do with defense by anyone. Kobe played D on Manu at the end of the second and third quarters too and got his ass handed to him.

[itzsoweezee]

powell should get more playing time for the lakers. he's better than walton.

[duncan228]

http://a.espncdn.com/media/apphoto/b787ab26-bec0-47f7-b61e-722d066174a3.jpg

Winning wall???

Winning wall.

http://www.nba.com/media/spurs/wallpaper_090114_1024.jpg

[pawe]

^^^ Beautiful!

[Reck]

Winning wall.

Thank you. :toast

[EricB]

Parker brought the ball up and played two man with Duncan in the post. Those are designed plays, and they are called by the coach. They have precisely zero to do with defense by anyone. Kobe played D on Manu at the end of the second and third quarters too and got his ass handed to him.

Last play of the game was designed for him.

[mystargtr34]

This was a typical Lakers Spurs game from the playoffs last season. The Spurs outplay the Lakers for large stretches of the game, then choke and piss away a double digit lead in the last 5 minutes.

Gotta play better down the stretch - this should have been a 10 points win. The Spurs played better for 40 minutes tonight.

[EricB]

This was a typical Lakers Spurs game from the playoffs last season. The Spurs outplay the Lakers for large stretches of the game, then choke and piss away a double digit lead in the last 5 minutes.

Gotta play better down the stretch - this should have been a 10 points win. The Spurs played better for 40 minutes tonight.


Or maybe the Lakers played good defense and good offense to cut into the lead?


Nahhhh.

[LA24]

Or maybe the Lakers played good defense and good offense to cut into the lead?


Nahhhh.

It's funny how you were offended by "players" who do that "nut grabbin" antic as an nba fan, so offended you've decided to put Mason's version of it in your sig. Classic spur fan.

[Key]

roger For president!!
Beautiful game!!

[mystargtr34]

Or maybe the Lakers played good defense and good offense to cut into the lead?


Nahhhh.

Have u seen the Spurs execute down the stretch against the Lakers. They're almost to afraid to take a shot, during the series last season it felt like nearly every shot in the last few minutes was with the shot clock winding down.

Maybe the Lakers deserve some credit, but its not like theyre a lock you down defensive team.

[Obstructed_View]

Last play of the game was designed for him.

Designed for whom?

[Obstructed_View]

I thought it was a decent win for the Spurs, considering that they played good defense for about ten minutes total, the majority of it to begin the second half. It's also encouraging that they could keep their offense clicking for such a large percentage of the game. With all the complaining from the Lakers fans about their missing people, one might forget that the Spurs were without Oberto and Mahinmi.

The Spurs are going to have to improve their post defense if they want to compete with the Lakers in a series, because that team has a lot of really good post players, and when the Spurs double teamed, they didn't rotate well and wide open threes were the result.

[EricB]

Designed for whom?


Ginobili....

[EricB]

Have u seen the Spurs execute down the stretch against the Lakers. They're almost to afraid to take a shot, during the series last season it felt like nearly every shot in the last few minutes was with the shot clock winding down.

Maybe the Lakers deserve some credit, but its not like theyre a lock you down defensive team.


Uh no. The Lakers when they want to be are a damn good defensive team. When Kobe Bryant WANTS to be, hes a damn damn good defensive player. The Lakers down the stretch played good defense, especially late in the game, they deserve credit.

[wildbill2u]

Winning wall.

That's the WAILING WALL behing him.

http://www.nba.com/media/spurs/wallpaper_090114_1024.jpg

[Obstructed_View]

Ginobili....

Perhaps you might watch that inbounds play one more time, because Manu wasn't even trying to get open until Bonner got in trouble.

[koriwhat]

there were nothing but sore losers in the at&t center last night. bunch of fuckin' kobe cocksuckin' chumps! ah what a great feeling it was to see that game in person.

thank you ma$e!

[magui86770]

Was at the game last night...

What a tremendous atmosphere..

A win is win but we barely survive a underman Laker team on their second back to back game. Should have won by double digits and we blew the lead with stagnant possessions and turnovers in the middle of the fourth quarter.

I hope this is the start of great run against good teams in the next 2 weeks.

[EricB]

Perhaps you might watch that inbounds play one more time, because Manu wasn't even trying to get open until Bonner got in trouble.

You might want to re read Bonner saying that "Manu was option A, there was no option B"

[Obstructed_View]

You might want to re read Bonner saying that "Manu was option A, there was no option B"

I also heard Roger say that the play was for Tim and Tony and Manu. If Bonner thought Manu was the only option, then it's not surprising that he had trouble getting the ball in. Watch the replay. If Manu was supposed to receive the inbounds pass he did a piss poor job of trying to get open, which I don't believe. You can't credit Kobe for defending him because Manu didn't even try to get to Bonner until right before he threw it to Mason. That play was not drawn up to get the inbounds pass to him.

[EricB]

I also heard Roger say that the play was for Tim and Tony and Manu. If Bonner thought Manu was the only option, then it's not surprising that he had trouble getting the ball in. Watch the replay. If Manu was supposed to receive the inbounds pass he did a piss poor job of trying to get open, which I don't believe. You can't credit Kobe for defending him because Manu didn't even try to get to Bonner until right before he threw it to Mason. That play was not drawn up to get the inbounds pass to him.


I think I'm gonna go with the guy who said the play was drawn up for who was given the task of imbounding the ball.

[Obstructed_View]

I think I'm gonna go with the guy who said the play was drawn up for who was given the task of imbounding the ball.

Okay, but you could go with the guy who got the inbounds pass and made the game winning shot, who said something completely different in his interview on ESPN at the end of the game. Or you could realize that the play being drawn up for Manu doesn't mean he was supposed to get the inbounds pass.

[Lakers Dynasty 2000]

Hey everyone, what a fantastic game last night. Of course, I thought there were some questionable calls - Mason, Ariza. But you know what, you have to play through it. Bottom line. Sometimes it happens... and seriously... sometimes it doesn't (WCF g4 2008).

I am very happy with the Lakers performance and the Spurs impressed me last night. I still feel confident against your Spurs in a playoffs series but there is no question, no doubt, these two teams put together one of the best games of the seasons.

Wanted to drop by, to say hi, and say congrats. That being said, that wasn't a foul on Fish.:lol

:lobt2:

[monkeypunk]

It's funny how you were offended by "players" who do that "nut grabbin" antic as an nba fan, so offended you've decided to put Mason's version of it in your sig. Classic spur fan.

I'm pretty sure that Mason doing it directly after Kobe doing it was his way of calling out Kobe for being such a dumbass...

Classic rapist fan.