Game Blog: Pacers @ Spurs - Oct. 27

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Blake Griffin is my new favourite non-Spur. What a great kid.

[Obstructed_View]

A good summary, although you forgot your avatar man! Manu looked like mid-decade Manu tonight - creative, tough, healthy, and ahppy to be playing basketball.

Also, TP - started slowly, but improved as the game went on. Madea couple of bone-headed TOs but mostly made good decisions. Finishing improved as the game went on. Jumper still there. All in all, nice to see.

:)

I thought Manu was amazing, but there's really nothing noteworthy about that to me. When he's healthy, that's how he plays. It's even better when they're playing a team that isn't bothering to defend him. :)

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The argument was done before your retarded post, moron. Shut the fuck up and stop acting like so high and mighty like your post was necessary to resolve our dispute, because it wasn't.

Why does the rest of the forum need to see your childish dispute? OV was right to tell you to take it to PMs.

Seriously, grow up, or take your anger management issues elsewhere.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I thought Manu was amazing, but there's really nothing noteworthy about that to me. When he's healthy, that's how he plays. It's even better when they're playing a team that isn't bothering to defend him. :)

True enough. ;)

[GSH]

In other news, JKidd with 18 dimes tonight.


Disclaimer: I am not one of the Parker-haters here. Never was.


18 assists, damn! As much as I like and appreciate Parker, I can't help but think about what it could have been like to have Kidd distributing the ball when Duncan was in his prime. Two guys who are walking double-doubles, and no overlap.

[Solid D]

There were numerous times that TP ended up with the ball with 7 or 8 seconds left on the shot clock and the result was a successful trip. Driving and dishing to the open man (Hill several times in the 4th). Rising up for the wing jumper. Getting to the line. Hustle steals. He was very, very good tonight...as were Timmy, Manu, RJ and 2nd half Hill.

[YoMamaIsCallin]

Since the defense showed up, I'll now share a couple of thoughts:

First of all, if the NBA is going to terminate the broadcast before the game is over, they can kiss goodbye any chance of my purchasing it. Really the opposite of what a free preview is supposed to do.

I just watched the whole thing on NBA League Pass (had to record it) and I got the whole game. This was Time Warner Cable Austin. So if yours was terminated early, it wasn't the NBA's fault, it was your provider's.

[ducks]

Disclaimer: I am not one of the Parker-haters here. Never was.


18 assists, damn! As much as I like and appreciate Parker, I can't help but think about what it could have been like to have Kidd distributing the ball when Duncan was in his prime. Two guys who are walking double-doubles, and no overlap.

I wonder how many titles spurs would have with david had he had duncan's suporting cast

I mean aj no jump shot

[duncan228]

'Stern wake-up call about defense' at halftime from Pop. :lol


Duncan, Ginobili push Spurs past Pacers in opener (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-pacers-spurs)
By Paul J. Weber

If this is the last go-around for San Antonio’s Big Three, they got off to a familiar-looking start together.

“I think we’re going to see that a lot this year,” said Spurs guard Tony Parker, beginning the final season of his contract.

The Spurs hope so.

Tim Duncan had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Manu Ginobili scored 22 points and Parker had 20, pushing the Spurs past a shaky defensive performance and the Indiana Pacers in a 122-109 victory on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.

San Antonio blew an early double-digit lead and didn’t shake off the Pacers for good until the fourth quarter. It came after what was apparently a stern wake-up call about defense from coach Gregg Popovich at halftime.

“He was not really happy,” Parker said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Added Duncan, “We don’t want to give up 100-plus every night.”

Roy Hibbert led Indiana with 28 points and Danny Granger had 26. Darren Collison scored 19 points in his debut for the Pacers.

“We went stagnant on offense,” Granger said. “We froze.”

The Pacers, coming off a dreadful 32-win season, showed promise before squandering a close game. They erased an early 10-point deficit thanks to Hibbert, who was 10 of 17 from the field, and carried a slim lead late into the third.

But the Spurs pulled away in the fourth.

Richard Jefferson opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner, and after Mike Dunleavy missed two free throws that would have tied the game, Ginobili gave the Spurs momentum for good with another 3-pointer.

Ginobili was 5 of 9 from behind the 3-point line in a familiar Big Three-led win for the Spurs. How much longer the championship trio will be together is in doubt with Parker’s contract situation, though the star point guard has repeatedly said he wants to remain in San Antonio.

No longer among the NBA favorites, the Spurs are mindful of beating the teams they should beat and not falling behind early in the West. San Antonio labored out of the gate with an overhauled roster last year and doesn’t want to be so patient this time.

“All three played pretty well for the first game of the season,” Ginobili said. “And when that happens, everything becomes better.”

Collison was 7 of 13 and had seven assists. The Pacers hope they’ve found their point guard after years of shuffling at the position, acquiring the New Orleans point guard who filled in for Chris Paul when Hornets star was injured last season.

Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said Collison had a nice game for having his hands full with Parker.

He also praised Hibbert, but the third-year center wasn’t as satisfied with himself.

“I really feel like I let the team down,” Hibbert said. “I let Tim get going in the fourth quarter and they solidified their run. Offensively I feel like I’m coming into my own, but defensively I need to get better.”

Unlike the Pacers and Collison, the Spurs didn’t get to show off their prized new addition. Brazilian 7-footer Tiago Splitter watched from the bench in street clothes while continuing to nurse a calf sprain he got just three days into training camp.

Popovich said before the game that Splitter would likely miss Saturday’s game against New Orleans but would probably play Monday at the Los Angeles Clippers.

“He’s quite frustrated,” Popovich said.

Even without Splitter, the Spurs still unveiled a change in their frontcourt, starting DeJuan Blair at center. Blair was a 6-7 spark plug off the bench as a rookie a year ago, but his debut as an opening-night starter was shaky.

Blair had nine points on just 2-of-9 shooting and three rebounds. He was the youngest opening-night starter for the Spurs since Parker was 20 in 2002.

Notes: Spurs F Matt Bonner sprained his ankle in the third quarter and did not return. … Popovich improved to 13-1 in season openers with the Spurs. … The Pacers have lost seven straight to San Antonio.

[nbaman99]

hey guys i missed the game. How is Anderson and Jefferson's performances tonight?

[duncan228]

San Antonio Spurs 122, Indiana Pacers 109 (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/)
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of hell

It was a popular storyline in the preseason, the San Antonio Spurs are going to push the pace. San Antonio is going to try to speed things up and score a few extra baskets a game.

No one really bought it, though. We don’t believe you, you need more people (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=We%20don't%20believe%20you,%20you% 20need%20more%20people).

Then San Antonio went out and scored 37 points in the first quarter against the Indiana Pacers and 66 points in the first half en route to a 122-109 win.

Keep Reading... (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-122-indiana-pacers-109#more-10496)

[duncan228]

Notes on a scorecard: Why T.D. will be badly missed one of these days (http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/10/27/notes-on-a-scorecard-why-t-d-will-be-badly-missed-one-of-these-days/)
by Tim Griffin

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/10/27/notes-on-a-scorecard-why-t-d-will-be-badly-missed-one-of-these-days/

[Bukefal]

I could not see the whole game. But, nice score. Well done Timmy, Tony and Manu!

[Obstructed_View]

I just watched the whole thing on NBA League Pass (had to record it) and I got the whole game. This was Time Warner Cable Austin. So if yours was terminated early, it wasn't the NBA's fault, it was your provider's.

Strange. There was an NBA logo on the screen that said "good night" with about two minutes to go. Verizon actually shares the NBA channels with the MLS channels, which seems silly. They basically guaranteed I'm not spending the money to miss the end of games. Glad the rest of you get to see the whole game though.

[Obstructed_View]

hey guys i missed the game. How is Anderson and Jefferson's performances tonight?

Anderson was a rookie playing in his first game at small forward against Danny Granger. All those things considered, I'd have to say he was pretty good. He missed one wide open three pretty badly but hit a couple of others. His defense at the small forward position was far better than I'd have expected. He bit on pump fakes too much and he didn't get a rebound, but he contested, used his fouls and he was in the right place more often than Michael Finley was. I'm pretty encouraged. Rookies cannot buy a foul in this league though. Kid couldn't get a call.

As someone who's been very critical of RJ, I have to say I'm extremely encouraged by his performance. RJ looked like a cog in the machine. The defense wasn't good for the first three quarters but they locked it down at the end. RJ was in position, made the right pass, the right shot, the right cut, the right rotation the whole game and made his numbers mean something. If he can play this well within the team the Spurs are going to be much much better this year. Jefferson also had a GREAT block that was called a foul. Even the Indiana broadcasters thought it was a clean block.

[benefactor]

Very encouraging first game from the big three. They all look well rested and ready for the season. Duncan was in regulation mode...23/12/3/3/4. Not bad for an old man. As others have said, RJ looked much more comfortable within the flow of the game. He will need to prove he can do it against better competition, but early results are promising. Anderson with 10pts off the bench in his first NBA game is a nice surprise. He knocked down a few threes and did a good job of staying within his abilities without forcing things. He also played pretty good defense. He didn't look like a rookie out there...which is the best than can be asked for when it's his first game.

The defense was bad, but I expected that. After watching them in preseason games I knew it was going to be a work in progress. So far Pop's "pushing the pace" philosophy equals San Antonio Warriors basketball more than it represents Spurs basketball. I think the Spurs should run selectively, but overall they are still built as a half court team. We'll see how it shakes out. I have trouble visualizing them as both a running team and a defensive minded team.

Rebounding was another thing that was pretty bad. Outside of Duncan and Dice there was not a lot of effort on the boards. If Blair plans to stay in the starting lineup he has to give the Spurs more than 3 boards in 20 minutes. He's always going to be somewhat of a liability on the defensive end because of his size, but he can offset that by pulling down 8-10 boards per game...which is what the Spurs need out of him. If the Spurs are going to continue to struggle on defense(and I think they will), they have to work hard on the glass to take up the slack.

[EricB]

Jefferson's work in the offseason look liked it paid off in THIS game.

Lets hope it continues.

[duncan228]

Lots of quotes.

NBA PM: San Antonio's Key Discovery (http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=17744)
By: Yannis Koutroupis
Hoopsworld

Tale Of Two Halves: Unlike in years past, the San Antonio Spurs are putting a big emphasis this season on having a strong start. They struggled out of the gates in 2009-2010, going 12-9 en route to a seventh-place finish in the Western Conference. With the big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili healthy the Spurs figured to be much better early on this year, but they found themselves playing very uncharacteristically midway through last night's season opener.

After 24 minutes the Spurs led the Indiana Pacers 66-65, much to the displeasure of head coach Gregg Popovich. Although Popovich has all the respect in the world for New York Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni, he doesn't want to play the same style as him. So during the break he made sure to reiterate what he wants defensively.

"It was really bad, especially after talking about defense all training camp," admitted Parker to HOOPSWORLD about the defense in the first half. "We didn't make many changes. It was more about the mentality and paying more attention. Pop was not really happy; I'll leave it at that."

Popovich, who has won four championships with his defensive expertise, said the right things at the half to make the team far better defensively in the final 24 minutes.

"It's all about our defense," stated Popovich. "We have to have a defensive identity. They scored 44 points in the second half and that's what it was all about… It started with defense in the second half. We had to bounce back from a horrific first half of defense. That was the best part for us. We made mistakes. They played hard but didn't play wise on defense. The reaction wasn't very good more than anything."

The second half of Wednesday night's contest was vintage Spurs basketball. They locked down defensively and rode Duncan, Parker and Ginobili offensively to a 122-109 win.

"I think we're going to see a lot of that this year," predicted Parker. "George (Hill) also played great and James (Anderson) hit two big 3's. Richard (Jefferson) was aggressive as well, getting to the free throw line. That was huge for us."

"It was huge to get a good start," added Duncan. "We didn't have a great first half defensively. They shot the ball well even when we contested them. We did a better job in the second half slowing them down. It's a good win for us and a good start. We have a lot of work to do, obviously, to be consistent for 48 minutes but that's what it's all about."

While Coach Popovich is encouraging the team to get out and run on the break when they can, you shouldn't get accustomed to seeing them put up 122 points a night.

"I don't think Pop is going to be too happy about that," acknowledged Duncan. "I don't think that's where he wants us to play. It was good night for us scoring the basketball, but that's not the kind of games we want to have. To have the ability is great for us, but we don't want to give up 100+ every night."

The Spurs learned in the second half last night that when they play smart defensively and minimize the mistakes they can be very difficult to score against. Duncan tallied four blocks and they forced 23 turnovers as a team, which they scored 32 points off of. It's a valuable lesson to learn early on and if they can build on it they could find themselves in the race for home court again.

[duncan228]

Popovich sees both good, bad in victory (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/popovich_sees_both_good_bad_in_victory_106278518.h tml?showFullArticle=y)
By Jeff McDonald

“We had to bounce back from a horrific first half of defense,” Popovich said. “That was the best part of the game for us.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/popovich_sees_both_good_bad_in_victory_106278518.h tml?showFullArticle=y