Game Blog: Spurs @ Nuggets - Feb. 11

[Doe]

Great win, I hope with the Lakers game being the low point of the season, this is where they start to turn things around.

[timvp]

Now I'm really confused.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I just wish I could understand some solid reason why Ian Mahinmi is getting the Bowen 09 treatment this season. He could be spelling McDyess all fucking season.

[ohmwrecker]

Geez Dick Stockton is losing it. He made so many mistakes tonight.

Did he call the Nuggets the Phoenix Suns at one point?

[itzsoweezee]

Ian answered a lot of questions why he's on the bench. It should shut ppl up

please. it was garbage time and it was only 3 min. it explains nothing.

[SouthTexasRancher]

LOL Melo @ halftime "We'll win this game" :lmao


Yeah, I wanted to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I find it a little too uncanny that once Ian was in the game, Pop calls every play to be a 5 down with Ian.

[easy7]

Ian turned the ball over twice in less than a minute, maybe that is why he is on the bench.

[Blackjack]

blkroadrunners. . .

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/image.php?u=18295&dateline=1265951939

:lol

[Spursfanfromafar]

Wow.. Now this victory kind of changes a few things.. The Spurs still have it!. I would still keep the search on for a big man.

[timtonymanu]

well at least we're not getting swept by another team.

[NRHector]

Now I'm really confused.
:lol I'm with you

[blkroadrunners]

blkroadrunners. . .

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/image.php?u=18295&dateline=1265951939

:lol

:lol

Props to Jaffies on making it :toast

[waly.mg]

Ian Mahinmi is the NEW Human Victory Cigar

[xellos88330]

I said it earlier! RJ played great tonight!

Glad to see Spurs basketball back.

What the fuck did Duncan say during the team meeting? He needs to do that shit more often.

[murpjf88]

Now I'm really confused.

Confused about what? They were way overdue.

[Budkin]

Wow I've never been so glad to eat so much crow... what a game!!!

[xellos88330]

Wow I've never been so glad to eat so much crow... what a game!!!

Crow is in season now!!!

I need to go eat some!

Small Ball actually worked tonight. (For the most part)

[Dro210]

Now I'm really confused.

I know man, wtf... why do they have to taunt us like this?

Denver had an off night, without Martin, who's key for them... and we shot well, but without Parker... but it was the little things that really made me happy tonight. The hustle and the defense and making the extra passes... it all looked right.

Gotta keep it up.

and I don't think that was a poor performance by Ian... couple ticky-tac calls, but he showed nice touch on the left handed hook, made both of his FTs.... We need more blowouts, so he can get more garbage time.

[VBM]

Did Kenny just say George Hill has a strong hard good "game?"

[HankChinaski]

Are you guys hearing Charles and Kenny making them comments after bringing up george hill on the recap. Fucking hilarious

[Donnie Hathaway]

"George Hill has a strong, hard....game" LOL!!!

Just now
"Mr. Big Shot" Reference to G HILL!!!1

[ohmwrecker]

Chris Webber is still an idiot.

[RobSM64]

TNT lol'd at george hill

XD!

[Doe]

:lol @ Kenny's comment about George Hill's "game"

[DDS4]

"George Hill has a strong, hard....game" LOL!!!

Just now
"Mr. Big Shot" Reference to G HILL!!!1

:lol

They couldn't make it through the highlights.

[Hemotivo]

TNT lol'd at george hill

XD!

:lmao

[justinandimcool]

"George Hill has a strong, hard....game" LOL!!!

Just now
"Mr. Big Shot" Reference to G HILL!!!1

:rollin :rollin :rollin

[HankChinaski]

You must have missed charles mentioning "hanging out"

[Dex]

I am 99% sure the TNT crew is sloshed.

[Stringer_Bell]

Pop executing a psy-op to give us a taste of things to come BEFORE all-star break?

Hmmm, Nuggets couldn't hit a 3 to save their lives and generally looked out of it. Still, a win is a win!

[VBM]

The hell just came out of Chuck's mouth?

[RobSM64]

I am 99% sure the TNT crew is sloshed.

more than likely haha

:lol

[HankChinaski]

I can't think of a better way to cap off the start of the all star break. A nice win and a hearty good laugh at the post game chit chat with charles and the crew.

[Juanobili]

barkley: "hill lets it all hang out when he plays"

everyone busts out laughing

bahahaha

didn't hear that one

[VBM]

George Hill is a damn legend in TNT's eyes now...this postgame needs to be on youtube at some point...

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I am 99% sure the TNT crew is sloshed.

barkley has been drunk on 99.999% of late TNT post game shows since like 2002

[bigdog]

LOL Barkley

[duncan228]

Updated.

Hill steps in, leads Spurs past Nuggets 111-92 (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010021107&prov=ap)

After a month-long stretch of mediocre play, the San Antonio Spurs broke out with an emphatic victory over a top-notch team.

George Hill scored 17 points after starting in place of an injured Tony Parker and the Spurs headed into the All-Star break by routing the Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets 111-92 on Thursday night.

DeJuan Blair also scored 17 points, Tim Duncan added 16 and Manu Ginobili 15 for the Spurs, who snapped a three-game losing streak to Denver, including an 0-2 mark this season in San Antonio.

“It was big,” said Roger Mason, who had 14 points. “We’ve been struggling with our consistency. It lets us know how good we can be. This Denver team was playing probably the best in the league. They won in L.A., they beat Dallas pretty good. It shows what we can do when we focus, communicate and do the things we’re capable of.”

The Spurs had gone 8-8 since Jan. 10 before knocking off the Nuggets with one of their best all-around efforts of the season, highlighted by a superb defensive performance.

“I thought we played better than we have played,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It was one of three or four games that we played really well defensively in the first half of the season.”

The Spurs outshot the Nuggets 53.2 percent to 39.2 in winning for just the third time in six games despite missing Parker, who was sidelined with a left hip flexor strain suffered three days ago during a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Nuggets were missing their best defensive player, Kenyon Martin, who sat out a second consecutive game because of tendinitis in his left knee.

“They were hungry. They were intense and angry and had an attitude,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “It was kind of payback for the two wins we took from them down there. Sometimes, I think when we don’t score, when we don’t have offense, we get frustrated. Other than the first quarter, we shot under 35 percent all night.”

Nene had 20 points and Carmelo Anthony 19 for the Nuggets, who lost for only the fourth time in 28 games this season at the Pepsi Center.

Down by nine at the half, the Nuggets narrowed the deficit to 56-52 on a fastbreak layup by Nene before San Antonio pulled away again.

The Spurs used a 7-0 burst capped by Mason’s 3-pointer to go in front 72-58 with 4:27 left in the third, and took an 83-70 advantage into the fourth quarter.

They continued pulling away from there, scoring 12 of the first 16 points in the final period to extend their lead to 95-74, their biggest to that point.

“I think in the back of their minds, they knew that we won on their court, got ‘em twice down there, and they saw this as an opportunity to get one going into the break,” Anthony said. “It was just one of those nights.”

Going on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, the Spurs built a 40-29 advantage. Blair fueled the spree with three straight baskets, including a dunk that came after Malik Allen turned the ball over in San Antonio’s end of the court. Hill’s fastbreak layup with 6:49 left in the second extended San Antonio’s lead to 14 points, but Denver cut the deficit to 54-45 at halftime as Anthony made successive baskets in the last 52 seconds of the period.

San Antonio set a blistering shooting pace in the first quarter, hitting 72.2 percent of its shots (13 of 18), including all four from 3-point range, to take a 32-29 lead.

NOTES: The Nuggets failed to score 100 points for only the fourth time this season at the Pepsi Center. … The Spurs improved to 11-11 on the road. … San Antonio improved to 34-42 all-time in Denver. … Anthony had just his fifth sub-20 point game of the season. … Seven Spurs scored in double figures, including all five starters.

[Boss]

Great win but ends w/ a feeling of frustration seeing Ian out there. When our main weakness is interior d and everyone knows it, I don't see how it would hurt experimenting w/ Ian in the rotation. If it doesn't work move on.

But Spurs have moved on after not picking up his option. I believe running every play for Ian at the end of the game was just to showcase his abilities to other teams for a possible trade.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Denver played uninspired ball tonight.

Carmelo was obviously nowhere near 100%.

Kenyon (historically a spur-bitch) actually plays us well recently. He was gone.

Denver is riding high, just smacked down Dallas worse D-town loss in their history.

We were in a must-win (if its possible to be more must-win than we were against LA).


Result is easy win.
Don't get fooled people.

[Obstructed_View]

Great win but ends w/ a feeling of frustration seeing Ian out there. When our main weakness is interior d and everyone knows it, I don't see how it would hurt experimenting w/ Ian in the rotation. If it doesn't work move on.

But Spurs have moved on after not picking up his option. I believe running every play for Ian at the end of the game was just to showcase his abilities to other teams for a possible trade.

When Ian's out there in garbage time and he's directing guys where to go on both offense and defense, I wonder how anyone can say he isn't ready to play. When he makes that amazing spinning pivot into a soft lefty hook I wonder how anyone can say he isn't ready to play. When he stops penetrators dead in their tracks because he rotates on time and is waiting for the guy when he arrives near the paint, I wonder why he isn't starting at center. Seriously, I'll take a couple weeks of bullshit offensive fouls and bullshit travelling calls until the officials realize he can play.

[Thompson]

Just wait until after the trade deadline, Pop will bring out Ian as our 'secret weapon' and everyone's heads will explode.

And some of those calls on Ian were BS.

[ElNono]

Denver played uninspired ball tonight.

Carmelo was obviously nowhere near 100%.

Kenyon (historically a spur-bitch) actually plays us well recently. He was gone.

Denver is riding high, just smacked down Dallas worse D-town loss in their history.

We were in a must-win (if its possible to be more must-win than we were against LA).

Result is easy win.
Don't get fooled people.

Honestly, I've seen Denver all season long and I've never seen struggling with their shot so bad. Especially Chauncey and JR Smith.

But you know what? We did play decent defense for stretches and we finally managed to get some shots going in. It's a good confidence builder and we needed a win.

So, this is a good first step. The thing is to build from here.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

When Ian's out there in garbage time and he's directing guys where to go on both offense and defense, I wonder how anyone can say he isn't ready to play. When he makes that amazing spinning pivot into a soft lefty hook I wonder how anyone can say he isn't ready to play. When he stops penetrators dead in their tracks because he rotates on time and is waiting for the guy when he arrives near the paint, I wonder why he isn't starting at center. Seriously, I'll take a couple weeks of bullshit offensive fouls and bullshit travelling calls until the officials realize he can play.

I will chalk up his first turnover on NBA ref BS and his second on over eagerness to finally do something.

His quickness with the ball is noticeable to even the casual fan. He runs the damn floor. Him on the court would make us fast....there could be great combinations on the floor when McDyess sits and we go with an Ian lineup.

I'm fully on the boat where I honestly cannot understand why the fuck we are not letting this guy prove himself.

WHY

WHY

i just don't fucking get it.

[iminol]

http://bt.davka.info watch it again

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Give him a stretch of games....hell, with as crazy as Pop has been...START the guy for a game....but no

stubborn ass pop is giving him the treatment and making it obvious to all fans that theres no possible way we're going to let Ian even try to prove his worth.

it speaks beyond reasoning. Drop the small ball bull shit for a stretch of games and try to play Ian/Duncan or Ian/Blair with the 2nd team.

makes
no
sense

[scottspurs]

Great Job Tonight Spurs. Damn Great Job

[Obstructed_View]

I will chalk up his first turnover on NBA ref BS and his second on over eagerness to finally do something.

His quickness with the ball is noticeable to even the casual fan. He runs the damn floor. Him on the court would make us fast....there could be great combinations on the floor when McDyess sits and we go with an Ian lineup.

I'm fully on the boat where I honestly cannot understand why the fuck we are not letting this guy prove himself.

WHY

WHY

i just don't fucking get it.

The two most painful things to watch were two plays, one on offense and one on defense.

The great high/low play made me think of Dave and Timmy. It hasn't been that long since it was part of the offense but it feels that way.

When someone got a step on Blair and headed to the paint. The Nuggets had scored on that play several times during the second half because they could beat the rotating defender, usually a guard or small forward. This time, Ian was there with his feet set and his hands straight up. He and Blair made a wall and the momentum of the ball came to a sudden halt.

[ElNono]

Give him a stretch of games....hell, with as crazy as Pop has been...START the guy for a game....but no

stubborn ass pop is giving him the treatment and making it obvious to all fans that theres no possible way we're going to let Ian even try to prove his worth.

it speaks beyond reasoning. Drop the small ball bull shit for a stretch of games and try to play Ian/Duncan or Ian/Blair with the 2nd team.

makes
no
sense

I think they're shipping him. I think it was obvious the coaching staff wanted to have one last look. We'll see what they think soon.

[thispego]

I think they're shipping him. I think it was obvious the coaching staff wanted to have one last look. We'll see what they think soon.

it was obvious?

[ElNono]

it was obvious?

They ran every single play for him the last 2:30 mins of the game. That's not obvious enough for you?

[thispego]

thats what i was asking. i was distracted at the bar during garbage time.

although i dont think the spurs are going to do shit (trade-wise)

[thispego]

e20dylan sighting!!!!

[Obstructed_View]

They ran every single play for him the last 2:30 mins of the game. That's not obvious enough for you?

Frankly, I don't understand anything that goes through their heads. Ian clearly knows the offense and defense well enough to direct people and to know when to rotate and where to be. He is in position to get blocks and rebounds. He wasn't establishing his position in the post before decisively calling for the ball, but once the ball was in his hands he made good moves and good decisions. He got caught under the basket when he stepped out of bounds on that one play and should probably have never headed that direction, and he was clearly amped up at the opportunity to get playing time.

All that said, I'm not convinced there's a big in the NBA that the Spurs could get right now that has more of a chance to contribute than Ian does. If they aren't going to use him, let's all hope to the basketball gods that he did enough tonight to get someone to offer something useful for him over the all-star break.

[ElNono]

Frankly, I don't understand anything that goes through their heads. Ian clearly knows the offense and defense well enough to direct people and to know when to rotate and where to be. He is in position to get blocks and rebounds. He wasn't establishing his position in the post before decisively calling for the ball, but once the ball was in his hands he made good moves and good decisions. He got caught under the basket when he stepped out of bounds on that one play and should probably have never headed that direction, and he was clearly amped up at the opportunity to get playing time.

All that said, I'm not convinced there's a big in the NBA that the Spurs could get right now that has more of a chance to contribute than Ian does. If they aren't going to use him, let's all hope to the basketball gods that he did enough tonight to get someone to offer something useful for him over the all-star break.

Well, if he doesn't see the floor for the next 10 games, I guess we can just chalk it up to just playing garbage time.

[Obstructed_View]

Well, if he doesn't see the floor for the next 10 games, I guess we can just chalk it up to just playing garbage time.

Yah, pretty much if he doesn't play AND they don't trade him I have no idea how to even guess what's going through their collective minds.

[spurs10]

If RJ can play with more confidence and energy, like he did tonight, and Ian can bring his size and speed, we might have that elusive thing that we've been missing- a SF and another C.

[J_Paco]

Yah, pretty much if he doesn't play AND they don't trade him I have no idea how to even guess what's going through their collective minds.


Well, Collins and Stockton were mentioning how Pop plans on "making changes," although I really find that hard to believe with only 30 games left in the season. The kid should've been given chances to play throughout the beginning of the season, then they could have made a more educated decision on his future with the team.

Oh yeah, and that guy who is tearing up the D-League should get a chance as well. Reminds of a guy that used to play for us that won that league MVP, helped bring youth and energy off our championship winning bench. I can't remember their names though????

[Obstructed_View]

Oh yeah, and that guy who is tearing up the D-League should get a chance as well. Reminds of a guy that used to play for us that won that league MVP, helped bring youth and energy off our championship winning bench. I can't remember their names though????

Okay, maybe it's getting late, but I have no idea who you're talking about here. :drunk

[timvp]

Oh yeah, and that guy who is tearing up the D-League should get a chance as well. Reminds of a guy that used to play for us that won that league MVP, helped bring youth and energy off our championship winning bench. I can't remember their names though????

The one and only Devin Brown. :hat

[J_Paco]

Boy, I miss the days when Pop would give long shots a chance to prove whether they belong.

I can't believe that in our team's recent history that James White, Darius Washington and Blake Ahearn were all given an chance to play (for varying circumstances), yet Malik and Ian are equipped with better physical tools and "corporate knowledge,'' but aren't afforded the same chances.

[FeZZy]

trade. soon.

[Obstructed_View]

The one and only Devin Brown. :hat

Oh. D-league MVP. :lol

[admiralsnackbar]

When Ian's out there in garbage time and he's directing guys where to go on both offense and defense, I wonder how anyone can say he isn't ready to play.

I remember Amal McCaskill doing the same shit before we cut him.

[Ikstomi]

where can i download this game?? pm please

[Obstructed_View]

I remember Amal McCaskill doing the same shit before we cut him.

Okay. His career high in points was nine, and his career high in rebounds was seven. Ian eclipsed both in a single game this season.

[admiralsnackbar]

Okay. His career high in points was nine, and his career high in rebounds was seven. Ian eclipsed both in a single game this season.

How many PFs per game did he avg? :lol

[DPG21920]

Free the avvy sons.

[Killakobe81]

IF RJ plays like THAT yall can win in the playoffs great game by Hill I LOVE that guy ...FUTURE Laker ...LOL

[Obstructed_View]

How many PFs per game did he avg? :lol

So I guess you don't remember him after all.

[admiralsnackbar]

So I guess you don't remember him after all.

You need to try and enjoy life a little more, man :toast

[peskypesky]

I said it earlier! RJ played great tonight!

Glad to see Spurs basketball back.

What the fuck did Duncan say during the team meeting? He needs to do that shit more often.

i think he said, "Guys, Tony is out tonight, so we should be able to win this."

[elgato21]

im enjoying to see how manu is getting like he was... maybe he should let his hair grow again ;)