Game Blog: 12/29 - Spurs vs Wolves

[raspsa]

Manu would have made a terrific PG if he had decided to do so early on in his career.

[aksyunstar]

omg manu!

[outmap]

14 9 9!

[Libri]

Yes, one more assist.

[Spurs Brazil]

9asts for Manu

[ginobili fan]

14 9 9

[itzsoweezee]

pop, please let manu get the triple double

[Refocus]

Sick!

[ffadicted]

Manu making me jizz in my pants over here

[DAF86]

it is surprising he didn't have yet

No it's not, with Pop overcaring about his minutes during his whole NBA career.

[Mal]

come on Manu

[Bender]

pop would sit manu rather than let him try to get a TD

[Chieflion]

Gotta replay the NBA top 10 a hundred times for today's games.

[ducks]

yep

if it was hill he would be playing:lol:lol:lol:downspin:

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

manu has about 1 more min to get his 1 assist and board

[siraulo23]

The "determination" and "defense" ads are good

Im pretty sure the guy who made them is the guy who remixed the slap chop rap and Iverson - practice

[aksyunstar]

wthhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! manu!

[MB20]

Ooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmgggggggggggg

[Libri]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

[Mal]

Manu !!

[outmap]

10 assist!

[Spurs Brazil]

Stop Manu, please stop

WOW

[itzsoweezee]

holy shit, did i just see that?

[pawe]

yes Manu!!!!!!!! another assist! one more rebound!

[Cherry]

Oh my god!!!

[ginobili fan]

Manu is god

[Purch]

Manu for Pg love

[TIMMYD!]

Just one more rebound for Manu.

[bbarry]

bye manu.

[Dex]

Spurs at 101 with 7 minutes left? :wow

[dbestpro]

Manu is done for the night. Classic Pop.

[Mal]

That`s it for Manu. Sad

[aksyunstar]

haha then pop would sub out manu in this timeout.

[pawe]

there goes manu and his triple double. Pop is such a buzz kill

[Dex]

bye manu.

Yeah, teams who are interested in Manu are now officially on notice.

Then again, so are the Spurs, and they have all the leverage.

[ducks]

That`s it for Manu. Sad

he is not hill

[TIMMYD!]

Damn, the one game I can't watch and from what I'm hearing Manu is making some terrific passes.

[Refocus]

Holy shit that pass was money.

[timtonymanu]

you almost did it Manu! Good job tonight!

[MB20]

Someone has to make a youtube clip of Manu's passing tonight

[bbarry]

pop you asshole :lol

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

the wolves just dropped 3 3s in 1 min

[Libri]

Dammit Pop.

[ginobili fan]

Gotta replay the NBA top 10 a hundred times for today's games.

:lol

[HarlemHeat37]

That pass was just unfair..what the fuck?..

[TIMMYD!]

I feel bad for Manu. :depressed

[ducks]

Yeah, teams who are interested in Manu are now officially on notice.

Then again, so are the Spurs, and they have all the leverage.

spurs have no leverage
they are the ones that cut off talks because manu would not do what they wanted

[raspsa]

I wonder if Pop was even aware of Manu's stats.. probably not.

[DAF86]

Manu is done for the night. Classic Pop.

Oh come on! just one more lousy rebound, Manu doesn't even have to try hard, he just needs to stand besides the rim.

[Spurs Brazil]

Pop asked Manu but Manu said he doesn't care

[ducks]

why is tp back in wtf

[Mal]

I can`t believe that Manu doesn`t want triple double.

[dbestpro]

Okay sit down TP and give Haislip a taste, Pop.

[widowmaker]

Damn I wanted that TDub for him oh well the team looks good.

[ducks]

damm can two spurs have 10 assist each

[TIMMYD!]

SpursRulez4Ever, if you're out there can you make a video of this game? and Manu's assists?

[pawe]

Would that have been Manu's first triple double?

[DAF86]

Pop asked Manu but Manu said he doesn't care

Of course he's going to say that, Pop shouldn't have asked, just let him on the game for a minute or two and tell everybody to stay the fuck away of Manu's way when there's a rebound oportunity.

[Spurs Brazil]

Haislip and one!

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

watch out...

[DAF86]

Would that have been Manu's first triple double?

Yes.

[Mal]

Brian Cardinal is so great

[ginobili fan]

Pop asked Manu but Manu said he doesn't care

Of course he would say he doesn't care do you think he would say:
"yeah I want my triple double POP so you better keep me in the game ! "

Fuck...
POP you are so POP

[timtonymanu]

whos that Shaq clone on the Wolves?

[dbestpro]

Haislip sure does have some hops.

[Spurs Brazil]

Good win, great to see the old Manu

[Chieflion]

whos that Shaq clone on the Wolves?
Nathan Jawai.

[widowmaker]

Damn I wanted that TDub for him oh well the team looks good.

[timtonymanu]

Spurs win!!!!

[anonoftheinternets]

awesome win .. good lets keep the momentum going for next few games as well...

[dbestpro]

So do you think TP now knows he does not have to score 50 pts for the Spurs to win?

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

everyone active for the spurs scored tonight woohoo

[Chomag]

As much as this game is good to win. Letting Min score that many points is nothing to cheer about.

[ducks]

Good win, great to see the old Manu

lets hope he brings it the month of feb
when spurs play contenders
lets hope he gets his confidence up and get ready

[murpjf88]

As much as this game is good to win. Letting Min score that many points is nothing to cheer about.

agreed!!

[pawe]

I hope that brings up the confidence in Manu. imagine if he can play like that for the rest of the season, Spurs would be unstoppable.

[Refocus]

Spurs Basketball.

Now for those +.500 teams. Let's do it!

[siraulo23]

Good win, now to Miami's game

Let's win the last game of this year

[ducks]

I hope that brings up the confidence in Manu. imagine if he can play like that for the rest of the season, Spurs would be unstoppable.

this spurs team only goes as far as tp can take them
duncan, manu have to play well
but tp is the key

[galvatron3000]

As much as this game is good to win. Letting Min score that many points is nothing to cheer about.

The thing is nobody is paying attention to these types of details because they are just happy for wins that puts them over .500 but what good is that when it's just smoke and mirrors. Though, I will say this the majority of the game the Spurs had them shooting under 40% so that is more telling than the score is.

[galvatron3000]

this spurs team only goes as far as tp can take them
duncan, manu have to play well
but tp is the key

I've heard this argument before and it may actually be truer now than ever but this team has won with Tony playing sub par and downright atrocious in the past, game 7 NBA Finals 2005 comes to mind.

[pawe]

this spurs team only goes as far as tp can take them
duncan, manu have to play well
but tp is the key

Can't believe this team still has to depend on TP that much after bringing in RJ and a great bench.
I can't fault TP for his current slump because it's really hard for him to figure out how to incorporate the other players in the offense when everything goes thru him.

[raspsa]

You lose ANY of the Big 3 to injury, PO hopes will be severely compromised.

[HarlemHeat37]

It doesn't matter who we add to the team, this team will always have to rely heavily on TP..he's a ball-dominant player that contributes primarily by having the ball in his hands and scoring..

adding RJ or even anybody else doesn't change anything..

[galvatron3000]

Manu has always been more to distribute the ball which he has proven again tonight. Manu on the floor has always made the offense run smoother because of that among other things. TP has to score, get to the rim, break down the opposing teams defense and get in the lane or hit his jumper he doesn't really get others involved unless he is able to penetrate but Gino was doing that and running all over the floor creating havoc, passing, creating shots for himself and others etc so I never bought the the team goes as TP goes because we won '03 and '05 with a much weaker Parker than we have now. He had absolutely no jumper nor was he getting anyone else involved. "04 against the Lakers proved that, pack the lane and make him pass.

[santymrc]

The real key right now is ball movement and lower TO's. We are having lots of assists, not only tonight. And i dont agree that we had a lousy D tonight, we were aggressive on both ends of the floor (39% for them) -props to Manu for having a hand on almost every play-.
If we want to succeed, this has to carry on. TP still has to find a rhytm but hes getting better imo (i dont know if hes really happy about this but hes realizing that with RJ - Manu and TD on the floor he has to share the ball more.
And one more thing, RM is shooting the 3's a lot better now, hes not getting all the attention but hes doing a great job right now.

And... im asking Pop something, PLEASE DONT PUT BONNER OR FINLEY AGAIN ON THE ROTATION. Chemistry wise, it looks like we are a lot better now without them.

[ElNono]

this spurs team only goes as far as tp can take them
duncan, manu have to play well
but tp is the key

Hate to tell you, but any of Manu, TD or TP going down spells trouble for the Spurs.
We won't beat top tier teams with Manu and TD merely playing well, they have to play great.

[anonoftheinternets]

And... im asking Pop something, PLEASE DONT PUT BONNER OR FINLEY AGAIN ON THE ROTATION. Chemistry wise, it looks like we are a lot better now without them.

Please dont confuse cause with effect. Bonner and finley were shooting 3s at an amazing clip before they went down. If anything they were keeping us in games. If bonner and finley made threes at that clip right now when we are peaking. We are absolutely scary. Dont you rmemeber mason looked like crap before? Is that bonner/finleys fault?

And its not playing time either, mason had a number of open shots that he just couldnt find the rim. It happens to the best of them. Say this happens during a series, finley would be an awesome sub. You jus gotta juggle them all keep them warm, have multiple people for multiple roles, and plug them in to win a series at a time. The more options the better for the spurs so we can plug in/out of the system.

[TD 21]

Lousy defense? The Spurs held the Wolves to 39.6 % from the field and 33.3 % from three. The saving grace offensively for the Wolves was their blistering 92% (23 made) from the foul line. Sure, the defense became somewhat lax in garbage time (all 4 Wolves three's came then), but that's customary.

[santymrc]

Please dont confuse cause with effect. Bonner and finley were shooting 3s at an amazing clip before they went down. If anything they were keeping us in games. If bonner and finley made threes at that clip right now when we are peaking. We are absolutely scary. Dont you rmemeber mason looked like crap before? Is that bonner/finleys fault?

And its not playing time either, mason had a number of open shots that he just couldnt find the rim. It happens to the best of them. Say this happens during a series, finley would be an awesome sub. You jus gotta juggle them all keep them warm, have multiple people for multiple roles, and plug them in to win a series at a time. The more options the better for the spurs so we can plug in/out of the system.

Well, in a way, your right. But, to have too much of anything, allways ends badly. I mean, i think we have to set a rotation with NOT THAT MANY players evolved. Having bonner and fin back will make Blair - Manu - Hill - RJ - get fewer minuts, and thats something that has to stop. I want them all fresh for PO, but if we keep a "too long rotation", chemistry goes to hell.
The team looks better without them. Im not saying lets get rid of them, but i want to keep them only for some occasions were we desperately need 3's and nobody is finding the rim (like Steve Kerr once was).

[Bukefal]

Some nice plays they had. Everything looked pretty solid. It looks like they finally got used to eachother and are able to read the steps of their teammates.

[TJastal]

Well, in a way, your right. But, to have too much of anything, allways ends badly. I mean, i think we have to set a rotation with NOT THAT MANY players evolved. Having bonner and fin back will make Blair - Manu - Hill - RJ - get fewer minuts, and thats something that has to stop. I want them all fresh for PO, but if we keep a "too long rotation", chemistry goes to hell.
The team looks better without them. Im not saying lets get rid of them, but i want to keep them only for some occasions were we desperately need 3's and nobody is finding the rim (like Steve Kerr once was).

+10000000

Right now I don't see any minutes for Finley, and only 10-15 for Bonner. Not only do I agree with the argument of having too many in the rotation as a bad thing, but the more important thing is the spurs have developed good chemistry and are on a roll now, and you don't want to mess that up just to be a "fair, kindhearted coach who gives all his guys equal time". Fuck that.

[Ikstomi]

:lobt2:
GO SPURS GO! Now I want victory against +.500 teams. :hat

[raspsa]

Manu, RJ and Mason were hitting their 3-pointers tonight.. unfortunately, that's not alway going to be the case. Bonner and Finley have a definite role to play.. they're 2 of the teams the teams best 3-point shooters and add that much more depth. They also bring size and can play decent defense.

[TJastal]

Manu, RJ and Mason were hitting their 3-pointers tonight.. unfortunately, that's not alway going to be the case. Bonner and Finley have a definite role to play.. they're 2 of the teams the teams best 3-point shooters and add that much more depth. They also bring size and can play decent defense.

Depth is good to have esp if someone goes out for a week or 2. Or someone goes into a shooting slump. Other than that, it would be dumb for Pop to revert back to the 10-11 man rotation he was using earlier in the season that had the team a discombobulated mess. He seems to have settled in on a solid 9 man regular rotation and the team is coming together without these two playing. No matter how you try to rationalize their contributions, that is a fact.

And lets not be stupid here either, neither Bonner nor Finley are especially good defenders in any capacity. In man to man, help, and transition defense both are poor. And offensively, neither one brings much to the transition game that has been fueling the spurs' recent success.

Finley's 3 point shooting and veteran saavy might come in handy down the road in the playoffs, but right now him taking away minutes from Hill and RMJ would just disrupt the chemistry. Bonner otoh I agree can still can help some, esp with Blair being a rookie and undersized.