From the stats- why we lost

[Mavs<Spurs]

From the stats why we lost –

Three starters combining for a grand total of 6 points on 3 for 17 shooting.
Way too many turnovers by Timmy. 18 turnovers for the team as a whole
Only 3 players shot decently from the floor: Tony, Tim and De Juan Blair. When you shoot 42% from the field, it is difficult to win games.
Left 10 points at the free throw line.
However, De Juan Blair beasted. We need to think about starting him. McDyess gave us nothing tonight.
:(

[Spursfan092120]

Yes..Blair needs to start..yes..free throws were horrible. Boston played well tonight, however...RJ played great defense on Pierce, but really needs to find his niche. If he does, we'll be fine.

[MannyIsGod]

:lol There was a time when the Spurs shooting 43% was normal and they still dominated. The turnovers are far too high and I agree with that but when you have proper defense you can easily shoot that percentage and win.

[HarlemHeat37]

-Too slow in the 1st half..
-Too many turnovers, a lot of them were careless and led to Boston points..
-Way too many missed free throws..
-Poor lineup to end the game..
-Way too many missed open Js..
-Poor officiating in Boston's favor..

[TIMMYD!]

-Too slow in the 1st half..
-Too many turnovers, a lot of them were careless and led to Boston points..
-Way too many missed free throws..
-Poor lineup to end the game..
-Way too many missed open Js..
-Poor officiating in Boston's favor..

These pissed me off the most.

[robert1886]

I liked our defense tonight it was good and also our offensive rebounding.

[robert1886]

I liked our defense tonight it was good and also our offensive rebounding.

[SenorSpur]

Too many goddamn turnovers. So much so that one would think that Pop is fielding a team full of rookies. The players on this team are too experienced to be so careless with the rock. This isn't the first game where this has bitten them in the ass - just the latest.

[Mavs<Spurs]

We're still doing a horrible job of getting Richard Jefferson successfully involved in the offense. He has to be at least a 14 or 15 point scorer for us to be an elite team or to beat elite teams consistently.

8 rebounds, 2 assists and 6 points from 3 starters. wow. That's not good enough.

[HarlemHeat37]

BTW, I'm not going to complain about Boston's officiating, because that's what the Spurs used to get for the most part..just pointing it out, because it did affect the game..

When you have a reputation, you get calls in your favor..the Celtics have what we used to have..they are the prime Spurs in every way..

[androck]

2-16 from 3PT

Stat of the game

[HarlemHeat37]

..

[Mavs<Spurs]

I liked our defense tonight it was good and also our offensive rebounding.

If you remove Pierce, the rest of the team shot about 50% - 34 for 69.

[Mavs<Spurs]

2-16 from 3PT

Stat of the game

yeah, but Boston went 4 for 18 from 3 themselves.

And some nights you will shoot badly from 3. especially against good defensive teams that put an emphasis upon guarding the 3.

[androck]

yeah, but Boston went 4 for 18 from 3 themselves.

And some nights you will shoot badly from 3. especially against good defensive teams that put an emphasis upon guarding the 3.

I agree with you completely except we weren't missing contested 3s. Bonner, Mason, and especially RJ had open looks and they couldn't hit them. We only needed 1 of those to go in and the last minute of the game is completely different. Also, Finley stepping out of bounds.

[Mavs<Spurs]

should point that we did a hell of a job rebounding the ball. Bonner tonight didn't score much for us, but he did rebound well (aberration), grabbing 9 boards. De Juan grabbed 11 rebounds, 5 offensive. And Timmy grabbed 15 rebounds himself.

We outrebounded them by 23 boards.

That's a good way to make up for shooting a low percentage.

This time, somehow, it wasn't enough.

[Mavs<Spurs]

I agree with you completely except we weren't missing contested 3s. Bonner, Mason, and especially RJ had open looks and they couldn't hit them. We only needed 1 of those to go in and the last minute of the game is completely different. Also, Finley stepping out of bounds.

true. valid points.

[Xevious]

People need to stop pissing on about the officiating. It makes Spurs fans look bad. The Spurs had plenty of opportunity to win this. The officials didn't make Tim brick his free throws or RJ miss his layups or Finley step out of bounds or any number of other things. We have a lot to clean up. Give respect to Boston for bringing it, but this was a super sloppy game for the Spurs - and aside from Blair showing what he can do, an embarrassing outing on national TV.

[loveforthegame]

I was very happy with the defense and offensive rebounding but the missed ft's and turnovers were costly.

Didn't care for Mason's momentum killing 3 point attempts down the stretch either.

[wildbill2u]

should point that we did a hell of a job rebounding the ball. Bonner tonight didn't score much for us, but he did rebound well (aberration), grabbing 9 boards. De Juan grabbed 11 rebounds, 5 offensive. And Timmy grabbed 15 rebounds himself.

We outrebounded them by 23 boards.

That's a good way to make up for shooting a low percentage.

This time, somehow, it wasn't enough.
Normally a team that dominates the boards wins. Boston is last in league at rebounding.

However, their defense beat us. Way too many bad shots rushed as time ran out.

[Supergirl]

Spurs could have had this game if they had made their damn FTs. They outrebounded, which means they outhustled, and they played solid D. But combine crappy shooting with poor FT shooting, they did themselves in.

Spurs can ride out poor shooting nights, that's what good defense gives you. But they can't ride out poor shooting and giving up that many gimme shots.

[senorglory]

Were we playing zone defense for stretches tonight? Is that why noone rotated out to Sheed at the 3?

[senorglory]

Spurs could have had this game if they had made their damn FTs. They outrebounded, which means they outhustled, and they played solid D. But combine crappy shooting with poor FT shooting, they did themselves in.

Spurs can ride out poor shooting nights, that's what good defense gives you. But they can't ride out poor shooting and giving up that many gimme shots.

Too many uncontested Rondo layups.

[Flux451]

STAT of the Night: REBounds BOS 32 SAS 55

[raspsa]

I'm surprised the margin was only 7. When you turn the ball over as many tmes as the Spurs did and shoot that badly from the arc and the FT line, you deserve to lose by a bigger margin. So all this game did was expose things that need to get worked on w/c are still a lot. I really thought the Spurs would play better than this but had some misgivings about the long layoff leading tnto this game.

[androck]

Normally a team that dominates the boards wins. Boston is last in league at rebounding.

However, their defense beat us. Way too many bad shots rushed as time ran out.

This is not true. Rebounding does not correlate well with winning (although it's better to rebound than not rebound) because you get a lot of rebounds when you miss a lot of shots.

Top 5 rebounding teams so far this season(from NBA.com):

Lakers
Bucks
Mavs
Pacers
Wizards

The Lakers and Mavs are for real but it's not exactly a list of winners.

[murpjf88]

Their isn't one goto guy down the stretch that I feel comfortable taking a shot in the final nminutes of a game. NOT ONE!