Game Blog: Spurs vs Nets - Jan. 10

[Shastafarian]

He did pretty well tonight, especially considering the foul trouble. In the D-League he was able to guard the guys very well. This was his first game and he was going against one of the best centers in the league.

My feed was really shitty so it was hard for me to tell how Lopez was getting his shots off. I assumed it was a combination of the foul trouble and Ian just not being a very good defender. I'm unsure which contributed more though.

[DPG21920]

He made Brook work for most of his shots banged around pretty hard. The Spurs left him one on one to guard him so that is tough.

[Shastafarian]

I know his arms are really long and he can jump so it could just be him becoming comfortable with playing in game situations. I've always been a Ian fan and never understood why he didn't at least get scrub minutes.

[TJastal]

Sooo... is Pop ever going to say why he never played Ian until now?

Pop's strategy is always to overplay the veterans (the older the better) until the team is in dire straits at .500 or worse. Then and only then will he make feeble attempts at getting his young players minutes and valuable experience.

Once the young guys have done their jobs and given the spurs a lift, he will go right back to his favorite strategy of playing the oldest guys available.

[objective]

Considering it was his first real basketball in about 10 weeks, he was awesome. Foul trouble after not playing for 10 weeks? So what?

[HarlemHeat37]

Who would have thought that something interesting would have happened in a meaningless game vs. the Nets?..

[SCdac]

It was one good game from Ian. Lets see if he gets another opportunity and lets see if he can do it again. Not a double-double or these numbers, but the energy.

I don't even want to see people if he plays bad. They will turn on him faster than Bonner.

Not that I am one of those people, but the difference between the two is that Ian actually has the qualities of a true center (near 7 footer w/ long reach, shot blocking/altering, and athleticism ntm), something we need alot more of than a poor-mans Robert Horry who's best attribute requires him playing outside of the paint. A bad game for Bonner is not only a low scoring/rebounding/shot blocking one, but also accounts for like a third of the three point attempts/misses for SA.

[ElNono]

Good thing Devin Harris didn't play... this might have been a close game...

Plus we would have all these Harris > Parker threads... :lol

[HarlemHeat37]

Well with the way Harris has looked this year, we probably would have won by 30..

[duncan228]

Ginobili scores 21 to lead Spurs past Nets 97-85 (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010011024&prov=ap)

Manu Ginobili may have given the slow-starting San Antonio Spurs a lift, but the surprise star was a reserve center who hadn’t played since the 2007-08 season.

Ginobili scored 21 points and Ian Mahinmi added career highs of 15 points and nine rebounds as the Spurs overcame a slow start to defeat the New Jersey Nets 97-85 on Sunday night.

Ginobili stirred the home crowd with deft passing, fadeaways, a three-pointer and a Tim Duncan-like bank shot off the glass. But Mahinmi generated thunderous applause with a block, a monster dunk and strong inside scoring.

“He was great,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said of Mahinmi. “In practice, we can see that he is athletic, he can jump and block shots. But you want to see it in a real game. That’s what he did tonight.”

Brook Lopez scored 28 points and Yi Jianlian added 16 for New Jersey, which lost for the 34th time in 37 games.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Nets forward Chris Douglas-Roberts.

The Spurs received strong support from their reserves, who combined for 59 points. New Jersey’s reserves, meanwhile, contributed only 14.

“We did play the starters a lot of minutes,” New Jersey Coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. “So the bench, except for Jarvis (Hayes), didn’t get a lot of minutes. That’s a little bit by design, and perhaps we could have gotten a little tired in the third quarter and we may have substituted a little too early.”

San Antonio’s substitutions worked perfectly. Ginobili, Roger Mason Jr., George Hill and Mahinmi provided a solid punch.

Mahinmi missed last season with an ankle injury and played in just six games the season before that. So he was ready to show he belonged on the floor.

“Ian was smiling from the moment he walked in the locker room and saw the jersey hanging up in his locker,” said Hill, who scored 10 points. “You can tell he had been wanting to play for the longest time.”

Duncan scored 14 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and sat out most of the fourth quarter. San Antonio plays host to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night.

San Antonio started sluggishly, shooting 43.9 percent and committing seven first half turnovers. The Nets led by as much as six in the first quarter thanks to the shooting of Douglas-Roberts, who had seven points, and Lopez, who added six.

Despite their sloppy play, the Spurs managed to grab a 49-47 halftime lead. Duncan dominated underneath with 13 rebounds and eight points. Ginobili led all scorers with 15 points but also turned the ball over three times. The Nets held Tony Parker scoreless in the first 24 minutes.

The Spurs began taking control in the third. Parker found his rhythm and dropped in eight points, and Ginobili punctuated a late 15-7 surge with a driving, soaring slam that brought the crowd to its feet. The Nets, meanwhile, hit only seven of 20 field goal attempts in the quarter.

NOTES: The Spurs tied the NBA’s longest active winning streak against one team with their 14th straight victory over New Jersey … The Spurs also have won 14 straight against the Los Angeles Clippers … The Spurs are 14-1 against the Nets since defeating them in the 2003 NBA finals … Nets F Eduardo Najera did not make the trip. The NBA office is expected to approve on Monday a trade that will send him to the Dallas Mavericks for F Kris Humphries and swingman Shawne Williams.

[Spursmania]

Agree. I only had fun watching ian. Were still fools gold. It would be nice to see ian do a little something against la

LA would be pretty tough for him. If he does not play well Pop might never let him see the court again. I want to see him play, but since he hasn't played all regular season, I'm not so sure he is ready to play against the best team in the West and arguably in the league right now.

Also the Nets are like the D-league team in the NBA right now. They only have 3 wins. :wow It made sense having Ian play against this team, but LA? I just can't see Pop playing him.

If Pop does play him, that means he is in desperate mode and is unhappy with what he is seeing thus far from our current bigs.

[Spursmania]

Who would have thought that something interesting would have happened in a meaningless game vs. the Nets?..

True. I was at the game, and when I saw Ian practicing, I was hyped. It was a pleasant surprise. It was fun watching him play.

I was hoping he'd get one more rebound, so he could get a double double, but he was one rebound short.

We'll see what all this means as it unravels.