Game Blog: Rockets @ Spurs - Nov. 6

[maddnezz]

I gotta go wipe my ass!

[210Max]

that game was crazy....but in unrelated news ima have to hate on this ishmail smith guy. he just looks like a douchebag. and he plays like a douchebag. fuck him.

[GSH]

Well losing would have been worse, but it's hard to feel too good about that one. The Rockets had three of their best players out, and we got another huge game from RJ, and still had to sweat overtime. I feel good about any W, but it doesn't make me feel good about next game.

[Tp9gospursgo]

You noticed that too, eh?

That was horrible.

[BillMc]

Rockets really didn't want to be 0-5....

[silverblk mystix]

spurs just toying with the winless rockets...

I'm NOT the kind of guy that would say...

I told you so...

[Obstructed_View]

just stating what pop does.......for me, if it's around 6 or 7 seconds I prefer fouling.

I normally wouldn't have thought about it, but the Spurs weren't playing very good defense. I absolutely have no clue what the fuck he was thinking putting Hill in for Dice.

[Ginobili2Duncan]

I'm glad the Spurs got the win, but that was a little too close for comfort against a Houston team with no Yao for the whole game and without Martin and Brooks for half of the game.

[Obstructed_View]

But Matt Bonner is injured.

Even Matt Bonner is better than smallball when you're trying to defend.

[ducks]

Manu and TP need to look for RJ more in crunch time...

rj all last year did not play this well

spur players are going to start trusting him more in crunch time if he keeps making shots


he SUCKED last year

he has to still gain the trust of pop in crunch time for him to tell tp to look for him in crunch time

[maddnezz]

I normally wouldn't have thought about it, but the Spurs weren't playing very good defense. I absolutely have no clue what the fuck he was thinking putting Hill in for Dice.This!!!!!!!!!!:(

[NASpurs]

This game felt like a loss but whatever, a win is a win.

[Big P]

rofl@ scola mowing everyone down & not getting any calls...nice win!

[NRHector]

gotta feel bad for houston they haven't won

[Cessation]

im not too worried, spurs got lazy in the fourth having the double digit lead, and the rockets scrubs gayed them, it happens

[NRHector]

rj all last year did not play this well

spur players are going to start trusting him more in crunch time if he keeps making shots


he SUCKED last year

he has to still gain the trust of pop in crunch time for him to tell tp to look for him in crunch timehe sucked last year because RMJ and finley were getting too much playing time

[barbacoataco]

Ugly win. Spurs defense is crap. Always good to win, but if you look at the guys they were playing they should have won easily.

[ducks]

he sucked last year because RMJ and finley were getting too much playing time

he sucked because he could not shot

[TE]

Anyone notice how easy it was for the refs to blow their whistle if it was the Rockets who had possession.


I find it fucking appalling how the Spurs almost lost due to a combination of, as follows:


Horrible shot selections
Not feeding blazing hot Jefferson
Allowing offensive boards
Allowing these Scrub ass players of the Rockets to come back



and most of all,



Horrible fucking officiating.


I am currently on my 5th shot of tequila right now but I still am so down to earth to the point where I can say: are you fucking kidding me about these calls?




Stern, and NBA officiating make me fucking sick. Total buzz kill man.


Not good.



Not good AT ALL.

[VBM]

Manu got a little too trigger-happy, but I guess when you send the game into OT, you're entitled to a few wtf 3-pointers...

[quentin_compson]

It shouldn't have been that close, but I'll take it.

[benefactor]

For a close win in overtime...this was a very forgettable game.

[jestersmash]

For a close win in overtime...this was a very forgettable game.

No

[easy7]

That was a hell of a game, glad Spurs won!!! :toast

[Spurs Brazil]

TP with 21pts 14asts 5stls

[dunkman]

The Spurs big 4 are scoring in every game, but the defense needs some work. Another detail is that the Rockets reserves very better than the Spurs reserves. Now that Manu's starting, the Spurs bench production may suffer.

[jestersmash]

I love reading people's reactions to ginobili throughout the game, particularly near the end -

yes YES GINOBILI YES THANK YOU YES WHAT A STEP BACK JUMPER HOLY SHIT OVER TIME MOTHER FUCKERS


2 minutes later

no, NO NO NO NONONONO I HATE YOU GINOBILI YOU FUCKING 3 POINT CHUCKING PIECE OF HSIT NONONOANLAL;OSIDFHAOSDFHALSDF

2 minutes later

GINOBILI WITH THE STEAL HOLY SHIT LHASLF THANK OYU HE ALWAYS C OMES THORUGH IN THE CLUTCH!!@!!!!!

[jestersmash]

that's what makes ginobili ginobili i wouldn't have it any other way

[BillMc]

that's what makes ginobili ginobili i wouldn't have it any other way

This.

[ducks]

those three attempts were as bad as jr smith's three attempts

[ShoogarBear]

those three attempts were as bad as jr smith's three attempts

Were they as bad as World B. Free's three attempts?

[BillMc]

What's Tony's career high in assists?

[ducks]

I find it funny people trash jr smith shot selection but are ok with manu's

[jestersmash]

I find it funny people trash jr smith shot selection but are ok with manu's

That's probably because your analogy was terrible and JR's shot selection is nothing like ginobili's shot selection.

[benefactor]

I find it funny that you hate Manu when this team is not even a division title contender without him.

[maddnezz]

Were they as bad as World B. Free's three attempts?:rollin

[ducks]

oh manu was 0 with +- tonight

tp was plus +12

[jestersmash]

oh manu was 0 with +- tonight

tp was plus +12

I'm literally smacking my head against a wall right now.

[lilvic922]

manu is god
tp is god too
rj is godfather

[benefactor]

lol plus minus...Matt Bonner says hi.

[jestersmash]

Wait guys!!!!!, dejuan blair had a +/- of +13, so he clearly was more important to this win than ball chucking ginobili!!!1!!!!11

[ducks]

I find it funny that you hate Manu when this team is not even a division title contender without him.

you replace manu with another player that can score 15 a night
they would be


rj is proven he can be a number one guy on team
right now he is number 4

he could easily score more and be a number 2 or 3 option on this team

[jestersmash]

you replace manu with another player that can score 15 a night
they would be


rj is proven he can be a number one guy on team
right now he is number 4

he could easily score more and be a number 2 or 3 option on this team

Interesting, I think I understand your argument. What you're trying to say is (in summarized fashion): "I'm going to make up whatever I want and hope they believe me!!!!!!"

You've made the positive assertion here, you're going to have to provide actual evidence for that other than your gut feeling.

Unfortunately for you, I'll tell you right now that you can't provide evidence because we've never seen such a scenario.

The correct stance to take is to not make any positive assertion about whether or not the team would be the same if we replaced ginobili "with another guy who can score 15/night"

You've made the positive assertion without evidence. People here are justified to ignore you due to insufficient evidence to justify the claim. the end.

[benefactor]

you replace manu with another player that can score 15 a night
they would be


rj is proven he can be a number one guy on team
right now he is number 4

he could easily score more and be a number 2 or 3 option on this team
nfHOQAT0-Mk

[ducks]

you know people said spurs were done when david robinson retired

well you know what they have won titles without david robinson

that is evidence that when one player leaves they could still win

[jestersmash]

you know people said spurs were done when david robinson retired

well you know what they have won titles without david robinson

that is evidence that when one player leaves they could still win

Great. Unfortunately that's not the positive assertion you made. You did not say "I think the spurs can win if one player leaves"

You said "If we replace ginobili with another person who can score 15/night they'd be the same"

If you need me to spell out in detail how those two assertions are radically different (one more general, one a very specific claim) then I'm sorry.

[Capt Bringdown]

Great to see RJ play well.

However, I've often wondered if there's a problem with the Spurs unstated rule or expectation that "it takes a year for a player to accommodate/learn the system." Seems to me that this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and a bit of a cop-out.

How come other teams don't suffer this limitation?

[Nathan89]

Ducks

Do you not like ginobili?

[Nathan89]

Great to see RJ play well.

However, I've often wondered if there's a problem with the Spurs unstated rule or expectation that "it takes a year for a player to accommodate/learn the system." Seems to me that this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and a bit of a cop-out.

How come other teams don't suffer this limitation?

The system is to complicated.:rolleyes

[jestersmash]

Great to see RJ play well.

However, I've often wondered if there's a problem with the Spurs unstated rule or expectation that "it takes a year for a player to accommodate/learn the system." Seems to me that this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and a bit of a cop-out.

How come other teams don't suffer this limitation?

It's not a prophecy or expectation or rule by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a fun little "irrational" correlation to grasp onto in times of despair (i.e. when a new player who we expect to perform greatly ends up performing relatively poorly in his first year).

It's kind of like praying to god. Praying to god demonstrably does not accomplish anything. And yet, I'm sure people who still know this will "pray" from time to time in times of despair.

If I'm on an airplane and we get into really shaky turbulence, sometimes I'll (somewhat jokingly) pray for a safe landing, even though the rational side of me understands that prayer has been demonstrably shown to be non-existent relative to chance.

I think it's the same case with "players always play better in their second year" thing. Obviously it's not some magical vodoo rule, it's just something spurs fans use to "hope" that an underperforming new guy will perform better in his 2nd year.

So to ask why it's not "seen" for other teams is irrelevant. It's not a valid phenomenon to begin with, it's simply a correlation.

[Spursmania]

This was a great game to be at... So glad Spurs won!:downspin:

[Nathan89]

Jestersmash

With some very nice post on the last page or two.

[duncan228]

What's Tony's career high in assists?

I think it's 14. Anyone know for sure?

[jestersmash]

Parker has 15 career high assists

"15 vs. L.A. Clippers 12/08/06"

[Spurs Brazil]

I think it's 14. Anyone know for sure?

15 vs. L.A. Clippers 12/08/06

[rjfan2spurs]

Spurs fans, sign up for our site to give you the best up to the minute sports coverage
http://dailysportsupdates.webs.com/

[benefactor]

Piss off, spammer.

[ThaBigFundamental21]

Splitter looks lost.

[duncan228]

Thanks guys. Not bad, I was one off without looking it up. :lol

[ducks]

not bad sinc it was not duncan

[duncan228]

"We absolutely lost our focus," Pop said. "Once you do that, it's tough to get it back." TP: "No excuse. We let them back into the game."

[jestersmash]

I'm itching for some post game interviews. They allow me to really savor the win.

[rjfan2spurs]

Piss off, spammer.

not a spammer, its an actual website.

[duncan228]

Most stunning stat of the night: Richard Jefferson shot 61.5 percent (8 of 13). It was his worst shooting night of the year.

[duncan228]

Winless Rockets lose Brooks, fall to Spurs in OT (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010110624)
By Paul J. Weber

The San Antonio Spurs caught a break when the winless Houston Rockets decided to rest Yao Ming.

Then the Rockets (0-5), the only NBA team without a victory this season, gave the Spurs a few more.

Houston lost starters Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin to left ankle sprains, then missed three 3-pointers in the frantic final seconds to let the Spurs escape with a 124-121 overtime victory Saturday night.

Tony Parker had 21 points and 14 assists for the Spurs, including seven points in overtime. Richard Jefferson added 22 points and was 4 of 5 from behind the 3-point line.

And if San Antonio had managed to lose this one?

“We would be talking about it in three months, tomorrow, next week and in a month,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who scored 28.

Forcing the Spurs to overtime without Brooks and Martin was of little consolation to the Rockets. Houston is off to its worst start since 1999, and left without knowing if it will have its starting backcourt available Sunday against Minnesota.

Shane Battier, who scored 14 points, stayed optimistic after another loss.

“If we play like this every night,” he said, “we’ll be fine the rest of the way.”

Tim Duncan shook off a miserable first half and finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio.

“We played well for most of the game and then we let them back in it,” Parker said. “We lost our focus.”

Martin led the Rockets with 24 points before leaving in the third quarter with his ankle sprain. Luis Scola had 20, and shot the last of a trio of missed 3-pointers that Houston was able to attempt while the scrambling Spurs couldn’t corral a rebound.

Brooks was hurt during an awkward landing after heaving an errant halfcourt shot at the halftime buzzer. X-rays were negative, and the Rockets said both Martin and Brooks would be re-evaluated Sunday.

With the Rockets already saving Yao for Sunday’s game against Minnesota, the injuries to Brooks and Martin left them without three starters for the final stretch. It almost didn’t matter.

The Rockets had two chances to put the Spurs away in the final 16.8 seconds of regulation, but Courtney Lee missed two free throws that would’ve pushed the lead to four and rookie Ishmael Smith missed a potential game-winning runner with 2.8 seconds left.

Before arriving in San Antonio, the Rockets could take some comfort in losing to four teams that were a combined 18-3 entering Saturday, including unbeaten New Orleans and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Silver linings in this loss might be tough to find.

“There’s no satisfaction in losing this game,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “We need a win.”

Brooks had 18 points before writhing on the court while his teammates trotted to the locker room without the club’s third-leading scorer.

Towering over Brooks on the court in a blazer was Yao, who didn’t play on the first night of back-to-back games. Faced with choosing between Yao defending San Antonio’s pick-and-roll or Minnesota’s Darko Milicic, Adelman preserved Yao for the Timberwolves.

“I don’t know if it’s right or not,” the coach said.

The Rockets are putting strict limits on Yao’s minutes to try and keep the injury-plagued star healthy for a full season. The 7-foot-6 center is averaging 12.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

Notes: The Spurs are off to their first 4-1 start since the 2007-08 season. … Spurs F Matt Bonner (ankle) is expected to make the trip to Charlotte on Wednesday but isn’t expected to play.

*********************

Post Game Quotes here.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165469

[ace3g]

Caption time:

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/ap/b0/fullj.ac04f0228e2a0234f15fda3e2d615d83/dd86174bc9ef41729b21118a9f370eae.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/ap/62/fullj.0631d87b779790d3d52f7a5af2548c49/ace5ade0a1564689a09942baf3a93b1f.jpg

[duncan228]

Notes on a scorecard: Winning the kind of game the Spurs would have lost early last season (http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/11/06/notes-on-a-scorecard-winning-the-kind-of-game-the-spurs-would-have-lost-early-last-season/)
by Tim Griffin

*********************

Spurs celebrate one that didn’t get away (http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/11/06/spurs-celebrate-one-that-didn%e2%80%99t-get-away/)
by Jeff McDonald

*********************

McDyess makes play with long outlet pass (http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/11/06/mcdyess-makes-play-with-long-outlet-pass/)
By Mike Monroe

[jiggy_55]

Our defense has been horrendous. No Ming, and no Brooks or Martin for half the game and we need overtime to beat these lowly 0-4 Rockets.

We need to step up, don't be fooled by the record - we're playing easy teams. Dejuan needs to start playing better or he's going to lose minutes and his starting spot. What the hell happened to him after a great rookie year and great pre-season? Pop needs to run some plays for him to force him to get going. Even that jumper he displayed in the pre-season has disappeared, I haven't seen him take one since pre-season.

[Bukefal]

Couldn't see the whole game, but nice numbers by TP and RJ. :flag: It sucks seeing Blair like this though.

[Bruno]

Easy win against a bunch of scrubs but Spurs' D needs to be significantly better.

[nickdaquick]

you replace manu with another player that can score 15 a night
they would be


rj is proven he can be a number one guy on team
right now he is number 4

he could easily score more and be a number 2 or 3 option on this team

Ok find a guy who scores like Ginobili and has the intangibles of Ginobili (steal at the end of the game on Lee).

You can't find a better winner in the league (outside of maybe Kobe) then Manu.

[ducks]

tony got a big steak at the end of the game

[ducks]

you know spur never got a player that brought everything david robinson brought but they still won it all

[duncan228]

San Antonio Spurs 124, Houston Rockets 121 (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/)
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of Hell

AT&T CENTER — The San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets in overtime 124-121 on Saturday night. It was a very exciting game, especially for it being only five games into the season.

Richard Jefferson scored 22 points and hit 4 of 5 3-pointers in what is one of the best stories of the young season (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-112-phoenix-suns-110-richard-jefferson-goes-nuts) for the Spurs. Manu Ginobili was very Manu Ginobili-like on Saturday night. He scored 28 points and was the go-to player in the clutch, hitting a step-back, fall away jumper with 9.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Tony Parker had 14 assists, Tim Duncan had 19 & 11, and the Spurs shot 9-21 from behind the 3-point line.

Keep reading → (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-124-houston-rockets-121#more-10960)

[ElNono]

I'll take the W, but this San Antonio Suns thing is not really working for me. The 30+ point quarters are going to be the death of this team's chances if they lurk around.

[daslicer]

I'll take the W, but this San Antonio Suns thing is not really working for me. The 30+ point quarters are going to be the death of this team's chances if they lurk around.

I actually find this team very excited to watch but I don't know even if they played old school spurs basketball that they could win a title. The team seems a little bit undersized when it comes to the frontline. My only expectation for this squad is to continue the 50+ win season streak. Anything on top of that is icing on the cake.

[ElNono]

I actually find this team very excited to watch but I don't know even if they played old school spurs basketball that they could win a title. The team seems a little bit undersized when it comes to the frontline. My only expectation for this squad is to continue the 50+ win season streak. Anything on top of that is icing on the cake.

You can gather from a good amount of posters here that expectations have been reduced for them, and that's fine by me. I just wish we could send a warrior like Duncan out into the sunset in the same way the Admiral went away. With a LOB. He deserves nothing less.

[Obstructed_View]

A buddy of mine in Houston said that there's talk down there that Manu did something dirty to Aaron Brooks to cause his injury. Anyone that watched the game care to comment?

[DesignatedT]

i guess you can judge for yourself

gpwqIQaGFmg

[ElNono]

A buddy of mine in Houston said that there's talk down there that Manu did something dirty to Aaron Brooks to cause his injury. Anyone that watched the game care to comment?

Here's the video:
http://www.nba.com/video/games/spurs/2010/11/06/0021000084_hou_sas_recap.nba/

You can see Manu trying to get in the way to make Brooks uncomfortable or draw the charge, but at no moment he looks down. You would think the league would be all over this if there was something premeditated.

[mexpurs21]

A buddy of mine in Houston said that there's talk down there that Manu did something dirty to Aaron Brooks to cause his injury. Anyone that watched the game care to comment?

WTF Manu was just standing there, there's no way that was dirty.

[TMTTRIO]

I love how all those people think that Pop told Manu to do that too :lol. I guess they didn't see that Manu stayed out on the court after all the players had gone in just to check on him and make sure he was ok. There's no way that was on purpose like they're all talking about. He was just standing there. What was he supposed to do? Let them get an easy basket? I don't like how a lot of them are wishing a really bad injury on Manu too.

[TIMMYD!]

Wasn't dirty at all, he was just trying to draw the charge.

[Ice009]

Cleanest play I have ever seen. Rockets fans are absolute fucking idiots if they think that is dirty. I cannot stress enough how stupid you'd have to be to think that play was dirty.

[daslicer]

You can gather from a good amount of posters here that expectations have been reduced for them, and that's fine by me. I just wish we could send a warrior like Duncan out into the sunset in the same way the Admiral went away. With a LOB. He deserves nothing less.

I definitely feel the same way as you do about Duncan going out on top. That would be great to see if it was possible. The problem is realistically I haven't felt this team was a legit contender since '08 and after that it just fell apart. Horry retired, Bowen declined significantly and then retired, Oberto got old and left, Finley became useless, Barry left. Those were 5 key guys who had big roles in '07 and we couldn't replace them and then Duncan declined which resulted into this team not being a contender. I feel to get back the spurs need another legit big next to Duncan. I think Tiago is going to be solid soon but the spurs need another big to get boards, and we still don't have a lockdown defender equivalent of Bowen. Until those things happen this team is going to be the San Antonio Suns. I have just accepted it the way it is right now so my expectations aren't high.

[ThaBigFundamental21]

Splitter doesn't look like the answer at all. I am highly disappointed with that guy. I didn't expect a ton, but maybe 10 and 8 a night.

[Chieflion]

Splitter doesn't look like the answer at all. I am highly disappointed with that guy. I didn't expect a ton, but maybe 10 and 8 a night.

That's a ton of expectations. He is still trying to find his groove, working back from an injury. He is usually winded after a few minutes of playing time and hasn't received any huge minutes as of yet to be able to garner so many points and rebounds, especially since he rarely touches the ball on offense and has butter fingers on the rebounding side. His job is to provide post defense and pick and roll defense for now.

[Obstructed_View]

Splitter's job at this point is to get back into shape, not aggravate his injury, and not screw up. So far he's done a great job at that.

[duncan228]

Out of the Timeout: A corner 3 for Richard Jefferson (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/)
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of Hell

In our Out of the Timeout (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/category/out-of-the-timeout) series this week, we look at a play the San Antonio Spurs ran in the fourth quarter of their 124-121 overtime win against the Houston Rockets (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-124-houston-rockets-121) on Saturday night.

Keep reading → (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/out-of-the-timeout-spurs-offense-play-richard-jefferson-3-pointer#more-11004)