Burn the Tape

[timvp]

With less than 24 hours of rest on the road against a desperate team, this had blowout written all over it. Pop obviously wasn't too interested in trying to grind out a win. As it turned out, the blowout works out well. Limited minutes in this game followed by two days of rest before playing the Wizards. With the schedule getting more difficult soon, getting a break now should pay off later.

Good luck to Orlando with their new-look squad.

Fly home.

Celebrate the holidays.

Rest up for another streak.

[ItsOnlyDecember]

I support this message

[Budkin]

Not much they could do tonight...

[TE]

:toast

[polandprzem]

With less than 24 hours of rest on the road against a desperate team, this had blowout written all over it. Pop obviously wasn't too interested in trying to grind out a win. As it turned out, the blowout works out well. Limited minutes in this game followed by two days of rest before playing the Wizards. With the schedule getting more difficult soon, getting a break now should pay off later.

Good luck to Orlando with their new-look squad.

Fly home.

Celebrate the holidays.

Rest up for another streak.

Spurs wre not looking exhausted. D sucked. gameplan sucked.


GEt the rest but interior must to be fixed :)_

[HarlemHeat37]

I made a 100$ betting on the Magic and the Over tonight, so I'm good:lol..this was the most predictable game of the year..so many gamblers were telling me to bet the under, as if I don't know my own team and their poor defense:lol..

This loss doesn't mean anything for the standings, but it showed some of the problems we have been seeing lately..

[Spurs Brazil]

The perimeter D without Hill is a disaster. I hope he's back soon

[polandprzem]

In bad games you always see your teams problems more clearly

[ElNono]

Back down to earth. Not gonna win them all.
Let's just win Sunday and then next week get what you can.

[spurs1990]

Won't have another back2back until New York/Boston in two weeks.

Wait a minute....we play at Boston on a back to back. Daaaym.

[DPG21920]

"They were due"

- ST

"They hit shots"

- Pop

[Cane]

The Spurs can lose to anyone on a back to back whether it was the historically awful Nets last year or the Clippers earlier so this was a predictable L even if the Magic have an unpredictable roster. Imo it was a good move to rest the starters considering the schedule ahead (Lakers, Mavs, OKC, Knicks).

Am I alone on this or does Dwight and SVG seem like some of the biggest douche bags in the NBA :dramaquee :flipoff

The Magic do look better with more playmakers and passers out there though. Good luck against the Celtics!

[rayray2k8]

Louis coming in 3, 2, 1....

[TD 21]

Yeah, I'd have preferred a blowout to a grind out loss where they key guys are all in the 30s in minutes.

I'm not going to get into the performance, other than to say, if this coach is as serious about defense as he'd like to have everyone believe, then this has to be the end of the two worst defensive bigs on the team playing the second and third most minutes out of the bigs. You can preach defense all you want, if you're going to play poor defensive personnel, then the end result is going to continue to be shoddy defense. I have no idea how this team is ranked in the top 10 in efficiency (though they won't be after this performance).

Hill needs to play next game. It's a damn toe injury and this team needs his athleticism, ability to play heavy minutes and fill a variety of roles. They can't continue to win being as thin as they are on the perimeter, while trying to manage the starting perimeter trio's minutes.

[spurtech09]

yeah we can't win them all get over it.....move on and get ready for the wiz....but damn d. howard is a straight up punk for that tec. on udoka...no class

[yavozerb]

Hill will probably be sitting one more game, but he was missed badly..With that said, a loss is a loss, time to move on.

[Bender]

they sucked all around. give everyone a D or F. Other teams at least try all the way to the end.

[angelbelow]

Obviously, we'd prefer an emphatic win, but at this point its time to look to the future.

[Barfunk]

My Spuds just mailed it in....

lol Dwight Howard stat padding up 20 with 2 min to go

lol get ready for a media nitpick fest

lol buh buh (in Barkley voice) arghhrhhghh croby bryant arrhrthhghg shaquille oneal boston lakers but they wont beat

[Spurs 4 The Win]

The streak ended now which will help us focus on the wizards and then the fakers, we just lost a game we were supposed to lose

[024]

looks like the spurs defense can't be fixed. spurs need a trade or they will not contend again this year.

[8FOR!3]

We were set up for failure. As a player on the team, I can't look at it that way and make excuses. But as a fan I sure as hell can. We play a playoff team at home, have to fly all the way to Orlando from San Antonio, play a back to back which we've historically played piss poor at in recent years, against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Add to the fact that the Denver game was a tough as hell game, Orlando was desperate, and they couldn't make a shot. It's quite funny that this game ends up being shown on TNT. I call shenanigans.

[TDMVPDPOY]

timvp where are your shitty grades for this game


as for this game what we can take out of this game? splitter gettin the minutes...yet they still dont write plays for him and his force to self feed himself on 2nd opportunities...

[timvp]

Spurs wre not looking exhausted. The hell were you watching, po? The worst fast break team in the league outscored the Spurs 30-0 or whatever it was on the break. If that doesn't point to exhaustion, what does?


gameplan sucked.

:lol @ the thought that the gameplan was the problem.

[ploto]

I think there is a lot they can learn from watching this tape.

[Bender]

I think there is a lot they can learn from watching this tape.
how not to play?

[timvp]

Excuses.

Christmas has been fucking ruined.

New-Age Spurs Fans are getting more emo by the year.

[JR21]

With less than 24 hours of rest on the road against a desperate team, this had blowout written all over it. Pop obviously wasn't too interested in trying to grind out a win. As it turned out, the blowout works out well. Limited minutes in this game followed by two days of rest before playing the Wizards. With the schedule getting more difficult soon, getting a break now should pay off later.

Good luck to Orlando with their new-look squad.

Fly home.

Celebrate the holidays.

Rest up for another streak.
I agree but what a messed up loss on a double header TNT game. Wish it would of been against a scrub team that no one was paying attention to.:ihit

[Spursfanfromafar]

New-Age Spurs Fans are getting more emo by the year.

Ha! And that too, considering the Spurs are 25-4, still 2 wins ahead of the next best, Boston.

[TDMVPDPOY]

I think there is a lot they can learn from watching this tape.

this game was recorded on long play, fck howard and his 30secs at the ft line taking his time to take a shot....

[jag]

Wins aren't what you look at.

It's the loss column, baby, as always.

Spurs are tied with the Celtics and only up one on the Mavs.

GNSF troll is such a clever idea.

[Kori Ellis]

I like it that the Spurs lost.

The Spurs are not as good as their record indicates and if they kept winning, then maybe they wouldn't have the sense of urgency that they need. They have won a lot of fluke games this season and no matter how "professional" they are, having the best record in the league can make you a little complacent.

So if they drop a few, then start to get more consistent, focused and relentless (not just the players but the coaching staff too), then it will pay dividends in the long run.

I'd love Hill to be back for the Lakers/Mavs though. We've seen good things from Neal/Quinn, but Hill and Anderson need to get back in the mix.

[ploto]

fck howard and his 30secs at the ft line taking his time to take a shot....

Any fan of Duncan can not complain about how long a player takes at the FT line.

[Blackjack]

I'd love Hill to be back for the Lakers/Mavs though. We've seen good things from Neal/Quinn, but Hill and Anderson need to get back in the mix.

Amen.

And you know there are games every NBA team has each year that are what the coach deems a scheduling loss. And if you don't believe this was one of 'em, go watch the reaction and actions of Pop after that pathetic foul attempt of Bonner on Howard towards the end of the fourth. The guy was needling him, pretending to get on his ass, and then having a laugh with Manu and others about it.

The Spurs are freakin' 25-4. They're not as good as their record, but it sure as hell beats the alternative -- and it provides a nice cushion to become the team they need to be.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Amen.

And you know there are games every NBA team has each year that are what the coach deems a scheduling loss. And if you don't believe this was one of 'em, go watch the reaction and actions of Pop after that pathetic foul attempt of Bonner on Howard towards the end of the fourth. The guy was needling him, pretending to get on his ass, and then having a laugh with Manu and others about it.

The Spurs are freakin' 25-4. They're not as good as their record, but it sure as hell beats the alternative -- and it provides a nice cushion to become the team they need to be.

pop didnt care about the loss, just watch the part when bonner gets the foul called on him on howard then gets subbed, pop usually goes into players asses for stupid momentum killers, but he was basically just givin him the chat well done, i meant i want some ass well done.


we couldve used hill tonight, is it possible to play a backcourt with quin and hill together?

[DMC]

Excuses.

Christmas has been fucking ruined.

Not so fast young man... As I understand, there's a Transformer and Iron Man toy waiting for you...

[crc21209]

I like it that the Spurs lost.

The Spurs are not as good as their record indicates and if they kept winning, then maybe they wouldn't have the sense of urgency that they need. They have won a lot of fluke games this season and no matter how "professional" they are, having the best record in the league can make you a little complacent.

So if they drop a few, then start to get more consistent, focused and relentless (not just the players but the coaching staff too), then it will pay dividends in the long run.

I'd love Hill to be back for the Lakers/Mavs though. We've seen good things from Neal/Quinn, but Hill and Anderson need to get back in the mix.

The Spurs NEED Hill badly to be back for the Lakers and Mavs games. I'm not so confident in Quinn and Neal to get it done against those teams playing major minutes...

[DMC]

The way the Magic played tonight, not much you can do. All teams have lost at least one game, actually they've lost at least 10.

We will never see Orlando in the post season.

[DMC]

*Cuts self*

well at least my mom gave me my phone back and gave me a 50 dollar bill...im going to be asked to be dropped off at the mall so i can spend it at hot topic. not too bad a day eh?

I wish my grass was emo like you, so it would cut itself.

[ohmwrecker]

GNSF troll is such a clever idea.

Stop making me look up all these goddamn acronyms!

[TD 21]

I like it that the Spurs lost.

The Spurs are not as good as their record indicates and if they kept winning, then maybe they wouldn't have the sense of urgency that they need. They have won a lot of fluke games this season and no matter how "professional" they are, having the best record in the league can make you a little complacent.

So if they drop a few, then start to get more consistent, focused and relentless (not just the players but the coaching staff too), then it will pay dividends in the long run.

I'd love Hill to be back for the Lakers/Mavs though. We've seen good things from Neal/Quinn, but Hill and Anderson need to get back in the mix.

No one is as good as the Spurs record. Not even the four hype machines.

I agree with the sentiment, though. This team needs to start playing better (it starts with changing the big rotation), otherwise they're due to come back to the pack a bit. I don't care how good a shooting team one is, no team is going to continue to shoot the lights out in close games. At some point, if they're to continue winning at a league leading clip, they'll have to win some games with defense.

Hill should be back next game. It's a sprained toe or whatever, not a broken leg. Pop needs to stop being overly cautious. Bryant had a litany of injuries last season, yet Jackson still ran him into the ground, despite the amount of mileage on his body and the fact that he was their best player. The end result? A championship.

Quinn has filled in admirably, but he's not a rotation caliber player and Udoka is barely a D-League caliber player at this point. They need more perimeter depth. They're barely winning games with Neal playing out of his mind. What happens if he's off one game?

[duncan228]

Hill should be back next game...

Getting this from the recap, but not what the source is. Waiting to see if it's from Pop or not.


Spurs G George Hill did not play for the fourth straight game because of a sprained right big toe and is expected to miss a few more games.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010122319

[TDMVPDPOY]

The Spurs NEED Hill badly to be back for the Lakers and Mavs games. I'm not so confident in Quinn and Neal to get it done against those teams playing major minutes...

if neal can play like in those games where he scores +20pts, then we are unbeatable....

whether ur free or not, pull the trigger my friend and just neal with it, i dont like it when he challenges himself to hesitate taking the shot and penetrating inside for a shot then the defense collapse on him forcing a weird next play. Sometimes when his doing too much it hurts his game if it doesnt go as planned...

him the same with bonner out in the perimter dribbling is just asking for a turnover to happen as we have seen so many times for the last couple of games...

[Blackjack]

Speaking of Udoka, he almost salvaged the night. For a minute there, I thought he was going to treat Howard like one of those Algerian Team members.

But, as is often the case, Ime left me disappointed. Doubly . . .

[crc21209]

if neal can play like in those games where he scores +20pts, then we are unbeatable....

whether ur free or not, pull the trigger my friend and just neal with it, i dont like it when he challenges himself to hesitate taking the shot and penetrating inside for a shot then the defense collapse on him forcing a weird next play. Sometimes when his doing too much it hurts his game if it doesnt go as planned...

him the same with bonner out in the perimter dribbling is just asking for a turnover to happen as we have seen so many times for the last couple of games...

I agree with the scoring part. But he doesnt bring the "defensive edge" that Hill can bring to a game. Hill bothers scorers with his long arms and is alot better on man to man D than Neal is...

[polandprzem]

The hell were you watching, po? The worst fast break team in the league outscored the Spurs 30-0 or whatever it was on the break. If that doesn't point to exhaustion, what does?[\quote]

And you was watching the game saying the spurs had zero at FB points :)
Spurs refuse to run. They push the ball less then normal.
They might be tired but exhausted? Against Clippers they looked bad but now it looked like they were lost more then exhausted. And they were lacking concentration.
Also they wanted to put DH in a foul trouble more then execute the ofense.


[QUOTE]:lol @ the thought that the gameplan was the problem.

Out of mind penetrtations and TD funky shots was a good gameplan.


Ohh sorry that was an exhaustion - my bad



I used to be poland now I'm po :D

[TDMVPDPOY]

No one is as good as the Spurs record. Not even the four hype machines.

I agree with the sentiment, though. This team needs to start playing better (it starts with changing the big rotation), otherwise they're due to come back to the pack a bit. I don't care how good a shooting team one is, no team is going to continue to shoot the lights out in close games. At some point, if they're to continue winning at a league leading clip, they'll have to win some games with defense.


this teams roster has been exactly the same for 2 years now, its just a well oiled machine working in synchronization as shown by our record and tuning of game style.

We are still missing something to take us to the next step....im not concern with the bowen replacement, im fine with our wings atm, we need a fkn bully down low to dish out hard fouls and pull down boards block shots....

[DeadlyDynasty]

It's just the regular season...there are few, if any "statement" wins or losses. Shit happens.

[duncan228]

...Never one to make excuses, Popovich was willing to cut some slack for a team that played a tough game against the Nuggets on Wednesday night and didn’t arrive at its Orlando hotel until 3:30 Thursday morning. Fatigue was evident in the first half, when the Magic outscored the Spurs in fast-break points, 18-0.

“I wasn’t too disturbed about anything,” he said. “I didn’t like it, but when it was 18-0 in fast break points at halftime, you know the juice just isn’t there.

“You can only push so far, and teams are made up of people. Situations arise and you have to understand what’s going on.”

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/12/23/magic-shoot-down-spurs-win-streak/

[TD 21]

Getting this from the recap, but not what the source is. Waiting to see if it's from Pop or not.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010122319

If it were up to Hill, he'd have probably played through the injury. At this point, he's had a week off and will get another two days off. Good enough. This is not a strained groin or something to where it could easily be re-aggravated and linger. It's a toe.

I'd rather him play and be somewhat ineffective as opposed to letting the minutes pile up on Parker and Ginobili in particular.


this teams roster has been exactly the same for 2 years now, its just a well oiled machine working in synchronization as shown by our record and tuning of game style.

We are still missing something to take us to the next step....im not concern with the bowen replacement, im fine with our wings atm, we need a fkn bully down low to dish out hard fouls and pull down boards block shots....

I don't know about a "bully" (the Lakers don't have a big who's a "bully" and they're the two time defending champs), they need more size and rim protection, though. They have that on the roster, unfortunately it's being utilized sparingly.

[Cessation]

No one is as good as the Spurs record. Not even the four hype machines.

I agree with the sentiment, though. This team needs to start playing better (it starts with changing the big rotation), otherwise they're due to come back to the pack a bit. I don't care how good a shooting team one is, no team is going to continue to shoot the lights out in close games. At some point, if they're to continue winning at a league leading clip, they'll have to win some games with defense.

Hill should be back next game. It's a sprained toe or whatever, not a broken leg. Pop needs to stop being overly cautious. Bryant had a litany of injuries last season, yet Jackson still ran him into the ground, despite the amount of mileage on his body and the fact that he was their best player. The end result? A championship.

Quinn has filled in admirably, but he's not a rotation caliber player and Udoka is barely a D-League caliber player at this point. They need more perimeter depth. They're barely winning games with Neal playing out of his mind. What happens if he's off one game?

Didn't read this.

[Dex]

:tu timvp playing the wiseman, once again.

[jjktkk]

The Magic gave the Spurs a dose of their own medicine. The Magic fastbreaked the Spurs to death, rained down 3's on the Spurs. The one big difference was Howard's usual dominance in the paint. You could say, with the Magic's new look, that they are a better version of the Spurs. A derth of 3 point shooters and a dominant big man in Howard.

[TDMVPDPOY]

The Magic gave the Spurs a dose of their own medicine. The Magic fastbreaked the Spurs to death, rained down 3's on the Spurs. The one big difference was Howard's usual dominance in the paint. You could say, with the Magic's new look, that they are a better version of the Spurs. A derth of 3 point shooters and a dominant big man in Howard.

the new revamp magic look good on paper,

but this game first quarter the refs took our bigs out of the game....

[senorglory]

Stop making me look up all these goddamn acronyms!

i'm too lazy to look it up, what does it mean?

[TDfan2007]

I like it that the Spurs lost.

The Spurs are not as good as their record indicates and if they kept winning, then maybe they wouldn't have the sense of urgency that they need. They have won a lot of fluke games this season and no matter how "professional" they are, having the best record in the league can make you a little complacent.

So if they drop a few, then start to get more consistent, focused and relentless (not just the players but the coaching staff too), then it will pay dividends in the long run.

I'd love Hill to be back for the Lakers/Mavs though. We've seen good things from Neal/Quinn, but Hill and Anderson need to get back in the mix.

:tu x 100000000

[PURO SAN ANTO 210!]

Pop thru in the flag at halftime wut a bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bruno]

6th game in 9 days, difficult b2b, on the road, against a great team that was really motivated... Burn The Tape seems to be a good idea.

Being 25-4 is damn great. Spurs are even lucky to have that record given that they are 6-0 in games decided by 1 or 2 points and games that went to OT.

[DxB]

I made a 100$ betting on the Magic and the Over tonight, so I'm good:lol..this was the most predictable game of the year..so many gamblers were telling me to bet the under, as if I don't know my own team and their poor defense:lol..

This loss doesn't mean anything for the standings, but it showed some of the problems we have been seeing lately..

I was thinking about doing this and now i regret the fuck out of it!

Bout time I start gaining some monetary value from all this fkin spurstalk

[TJastal]

I made a 100$ betting on the Magic and the Over tonight, so I'm good:lol..this was the most predictable game of the year..so many gamblers were telling me to bet the under, as if I don't know my own team and their poor defense:lol..

This loss doesn't mean anything for the standings, but it showed some of the problems we have been seeing lately..

lol the traditional "harlem bets against the spurs and brags about it on ST" post

[benefactor]

Excuses.

Christmas has been fucking ruined.
I'm sure you and your buddies can find a random Jew or black man to beat down to make you feel better.

[benefactor]

The OP basically echoes my sentiments in the game blog. It's better to avoid injuries and take the loss...especially with the Spurs having the kind of record they have.

[E-RockWill]

“You can only push so far, and teams are made up of people...."

:wow

It's made up of peeeeeeople!

Last night set the standard for the "Spurs gave up" game. That, combined w/ bulls-eye shooting from the Magic, made it rough to watch all 4 quarters.

At least nobody got hurt.

[ploto]

I just don't buy the got in at 3:00 AM excuse. Teams get in at 3:00 AM all the time. It is not like these guys have regular jobs where they still have to get up at 6:30 and go to work after getting in at 3:00. They can still sleep all they want. They are professionals and get paid a whole helluva lot of money to play a game 82 times a year.

As for burning the tape, do you not think this game reveals some weaknesses that the Spurs need to work on? Was Dwight Howard a fluke?

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

With less than 24 hours of rest on the road against a desperate team, this had blowout written all over it. Pop obviously wasn't too interested in trying to grind out a win. As it turned out, the blowout works out well. Limited minutes in this game followed by two days of rest before playing the Wizards. With the schedule getting more difficult soon, getting a break now should pay off later.

Good luck to Orlando with their new-look squad.

Fly home.

Celebrate the holidays.

Rest up for another streak.
:tu

[LaMarcus Bryant]

I have a really bad feeling about the next streak of games.

And if we end up losing more games than winning in this stretch, it makes this team all the more hollower considering how we've barely been winning the past 4 or 5 wins.

Why the hell are the spurs the only team in the freaking league that consistently looks tired as hell on back-to-backs, even when some of the tired legs didn't even play much the night before???? So F'ing sick of that.

[SpursDynasty85]

The perimeter D without Hill is a disaster. I hope he's back soon


Agree. There is a major hole on the perimeter D with out Hill.

[Dex]

I just don't buy the got in at 3:00 AM excuse. Teams get in at 3:00 AM all the time. It is not like these guys have regular jobs where they still have to get up at 6:30 and go to work after getting in at 3:00. They can still sleep all they want. They are professionals and get paid a whole helluva lot of money to play a game 82 times a year.

As for burning the tape, do you not think this game reveals some weaknesses that the Spurs need to work on? Was Dwight Howard a fluke?

I don't think you realize the toll 20-35 minutes of NBA basketball takes on the body.

Do you really think it's easy to play a highly athletic, competitive game, then immediately turn around, commute to the airport, take a 4-5 hour flight across timezones, land at 3:30AM, probably get to your hotel and actually in bed around 4:30AM, then try to completely rest your body for another shootaround and game the next day?

Sure, it's not really an excuse because all teams have to deal with it through the season. But pretending like it shouldn't have any effect on the players is just silly.

[alchemist]

Orlando hit circus shots, wide open shots, contested shots...........the Spurs were not going to win it last night even if they had rest the previous night. It was one of those games that shouldn't make you lose sleep.

[SpursDynasty85]

They can still sleep all they want.


Are you sure they can sleep all they want? Of course I would personally want to sleep until 2pm too, but these guys are on a strict schedule so they can't mess up their sleep patterns too much I would think.



They are professionals and get paid a whole helluva lot of money to play a game 82 times a year.

Sure, but an NbA game is equivalent to 5 fullcourt games we play at the Rec center tho. And they play 82 of these in a span of 6months not 12.

[The Truth #6]

Yeah, I'd have preferred a blowout to a grind out loss where they key guys are all in the 30s in minutes.

I'm not going to get into the performance, other than to say, if this coach is as serious about defense as he'd like to have everyone believe, then this has to be the end of the two worst defensive bigs on the team playing the second and third most minutes out of the bigs. You can preach defense all you want, if you're going to play poor defensive personnel, then the end result is going to continue to be shoddy defense. I have no idea how this team is ranked in the top 10 in efficiency (though they won't be after this performance).

Hill needs to play next game. It's a damn toe injury and this team needs his athleticism, ability to play heavy minutes and fill a variety of roles. They can't continue to win being as thin as they are on the perimeter, while trying to manage the starting perimeter trio's minutes.

On the TNT broadcast, Reggie Miller mentioned talking to Pop and how Tim is no longer the great defender he once was. I think that's obvious to everyone here. Of course Pop wants them to play good defense but he's realized that he should play to the strength of his offensive players. Isn't that why we have the record we do right now? I'd call it adapting and facing facts more than any sort of two-faced denial.

Tim got abused last night on defense. I'm not sure what Pop is going to do about that.

[kobyz]

i don't like it at all... i thought we stop with the shit of giving up games this year, with all that mindset, coming to a game like this not tough enough to win, with sense of give up because of excuses like b2b and practically accepting to get blowout.
this why we are not real contender team like Celtics, Lakers and even Mavs, those teams would have never came to game like this like we did, fuck they would have came with sense of taking advantage of a team with 6 new player, team that not even a week together and that still does not used of playing together.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

i don't like it at all... i thought we stop with the shit of giving up games this year, with all that mindset, coming to a game like this not tough enough to win, with sense of give up because of excuses like b2b and practically accepting to get blowout.
this why we are not real contender team like Celtics, Lakers and even Mavs, those teams would have never came to game like this like we did, fuck they would have came with sense of taking advantage of a team with 6 new player, team that not even a week together and that still does not used of playing together.

You mean like the Lakers did with Milwaukee? Oh wait...:rolleyes

[maddnezz]

It's just the regular season...there are few, if any "statement" wins or losses. Shit happens.You R the only Laker fan that should be allowed to post here brah! Happy Holidays!:toast

[kobyz]

You mean like the Lakers did with Milwaukee? Oh wait...:rolleyes

come on! that was totally somthing else, the Lakers lost to Milwaukee because they in bad stress in generally and not playing well period of time already, not because they gave up on the game and not fight like the Spurs!

[ElNono]

You mean like the Lakers did with Milwaukee? Oh wait...:rolleyes

To his credit, Kobe (until he got kicked out), Pau, Artest and Odom were all playing even when the bucks went 15 points up in the 4th quarter...

[jjktkk]

i don't like it at all... i thought we stop with the shit of giving up games this year, with all that mindset, coming to a game like this not tough enough to win, with sense of give up because of excuses like b2b and practically accepting to get blowout.
this why we are not real contender team like Celtics, Lakers and even Mavs, those teams would have never came to game like this like we did, fuck they would have came with sense of taking advantage of a team with 6 new player, team that not even a week together and that still does not used of playing together.

None of us like it, but you have to understand the circumstances with this loss to Orlando. When some of your best players are on the downside of their career in terms of age, theres no sense in risking injury and wearing them out for one regular season game. You can't win them all. Maybe this would be a different story if this game was played in the spring and the Spurs were fighting for playoff positioning, but right now theres no need to over analyze one loss IMO.

[DMC]

Yeah if you recall last year Pop sat all his starters in Denver (I think it was last year) and still almost won. He did that because he was on a back to back. Pop does that shit on the road, never at home. Pop knows Spurs fans pay to see players play, and he gives them that. Road games are more open to Pop's coaching nuances.

[polandprzem]

I don't think you realize the toll 20-35 minutes of NBA basketball takes on the body.

Do you really think it's easy to play a highly athletic, competitive game, then immediately turn around, commute to the airport, take a 4-5 hour flight across timezones, land at 3:30AM, probably get to your hotel and actually in bed around 4:30AM, then try to completely rest your body for another shootaround and game the next day?

Sure, it's not really an excuse because all teams have to deal with it through the season. But pretending like it shouldn't have any effect on the players is just silly.

Was shootaround a tactical mistake?

[DPG21920]

Crofl. I guess Orlando was only "due" for the spurs game. In their 4 games with their new team, they have struggled so much to score in three of them. The one they didn't was the spurs where they dropped 120+.

[mingus]

It was a bad loss, but the Spurs played 6 games in 9 nights and it was the second game of a back to back. Plus George Hill was out and he helps hold it together defensively. They play against Orlando today and it's a different story.

[jjktkk]

Crofl. I guess Orlando was only "due" for the spurs game. In their 4 games with their new team, they have struggled so much to score in three of them. The one they didn't was the spurs where they dropped 120+.

Or they were just "due", and the Spurs just happened to be their opponent. Who knows?

[DPG21920]

I understand the loss, but the "they were due" shtick bothers me. How about saying the Spurs played poorly. Had nothing to do with Orlando being due. They are continuing to struggle to put up points.

[pjjrfan]

this team has a grittiness to it that I like, and that wasn't there last year. They had a bad game, the defense looks suspect at times but most of our wins this year have come from one great defensive qtr to go along with one great offensive qtr. And it's mostly in the 3rd or 4th that this occurs. I gotta like that.

[jjktkk]

I understand the loss, but the "they were due" shtick bothers me. How about saying the Spurs played poorly. Had nothing to do with Orlando being due. They are continuing to struggle to put up points.

Orlando looked pretty good toaday @ Boston. A few factors were in play with the Spurs losing against Orlando. Not upset with the loss.

[urunobili]

we still managed to score a 100 on them didnt we?

[mingus]

I understand the loss, but the "they were due" shtick bothers me. How about saying the Spurs played poorly. Had nothing to do with Orlando being due. They are continuing to struggle to put up points.

it was more that the Spurs were due for a loss. i knew going into it they were going to have heavy legs. that will continue to be the case when they have stretches where they're playing 6/9 nights and back-to-backs. int he playoffs that won't happen though, so that's why i'm not too worrried about it.

[EricB]

I understand the loss, but the "they were due" shtick bothers me. How about saying the Spurs played poorly. Had nothing to do with Orlando being due. They are continuing to struggle to put up points.


How about a combo of both?

I mean seriously they've lost 4 games. Do u people demand they be undefeated?

[DPG21920]

What do you mean by "you people"

[UnWantedTheory]

What do you mean by "you people"
NO. What do YOU mean by "you people"?

[UnWantedTheory]

We can't win them all. Lets see if we can put a stretch together against quality teams while playing quality ball.

[polandprzem]

it was more that the Spurs were due for a loss. i knew going into it they were going to have heavy legs. that will continue to be the case when they have stretches where they're playing 6/9 nights and back-to-backs. int he playoffs that won't happen though, so that's why i'm not too worrried about it.

No

That's exactly how it is in the playoffs.
People say that in playoffs there are no b2b's but the intensity level is up and you've got shorter rotation. So it's kinda indication of what might happen in the PO.