Game Blog: Raptors @ Spurs - Jan. 19

[Dex]

Dice is such a badass.

I want this guy to get a championship so damn bad.

[DesignatedT]

keep piling up the W's.... haters gunna hate and always complain about something.

[jestersmash]

Haven't heard that one. :lol

I think it's more "Man-o" instead of "Mono." Craig Sager says Mano (mah-no) all the time.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Jason Kidd has 21pts! againt the Fakers - schooling Fish, I guess... and yes, that was a pun. :D

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I think it's more "Man-o" instead of "Mono." Craig Sager says Mano (mah-no) all the time.

Ah, Sager, what a douche. :lol

[jestersmash]

Utah lost to New Jersey tonight.

OKC/Denver play each other (one of them obviously guaranteed a loss).

LA/Dallas play each other, and Dallas is up.

Good day in terms of standings.

[ShoogarBear]

I didn't say that. But he is closer to being an All-Star (keep in mind Yao is an all-star this year) than Blair is to being better than him.

Yao? Weak argument unless your definition of an all-star performer has nothing to do with actual play.

Anyway, the original point is that all you hear about around here is how bad and clueless Blair is on defense. Yeah, he's got a lot of work, but that's nothing compared to Bargnani, who is also allegedly a center.

[ShoogarBear]

I don't understand how you can be skeptical when you (probably) haven't watched him play all season. Or have you?

Yes he has a strong case for being voted on as an all star reserve.

Yeah, I watched him make JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche look like the second coming of McHale and Parish from a good seat at the Verizon Center Saturday night.

If he gets voted as a reserve, then Corey Maggette should sue for all those years he should have been a reserve.

[Dex]

30 games above .500! :lmao That's just redonkulous.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Nice one SPurs, well done Spurs fans (no cliffjumping at half-time today).

See you next time.

:toast

[Dex]

With the win tonight and the Laker's loss, the Spurs are now further ahead of any team in the West by more losses than they've had all season.

Truly an amazing season. Doesn't guarantee anything, but may give them their best chance to make it matter.

[DPG21920]

Yao? Weak argument unless your definition of an all-star performer has nothing to do with actual play.

Anyway, the original point is that all you hear about around here is how bad and clueless Blair is on defense. Yeah, he's got a lot of work, but that's nothing compared to Bargnani, who is also allegedly a center.

:lol Weak argument or factual. All-Star is All-Star, I don't make the requirements. No one said he was all NBA. They said All-Star.

Bargnani is better than Blair on defense. That does not make either of them good on that end, but Bargnani is better there. At least Bargnani's individual defense is solid, especially on the block.

He had a bad game, but that doesn't erase everything :lol


Yeah, I watched him make JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche look like the second coming of McHale and Parish from a good seat at the Verizon Center Saturday night.

If he gets voted as a reserve, then Corey Maggette should sue for all those years he should have been a reserve.

Speaking of a weak argument :lol Did you see Tim make Darko look like Hakeem compared to Drob?

Did you see Tim struggle to score against the Wiz even with McGee and Blatche out?

Those games happen. Quit taking small samples and making them into something larger.

Again, Bargnani is not good defensively. But he is better than Blair. He is light years better offensively.

[EricB]

On what planet is that stiff "light years ahead on D"

[jestersmash]

^ light years ahead offensively, not defensively.

[DPG21920]

On what planet is that stiff "light years ahead on D"

I said he is better defensively. Light years better offensively.

[duncan228]

Post-Game Video

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170729

Quotes

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170728


Blair helps Spurs beat Raptors for 7th straight (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2011011924)

The San Antonio Spurs did just about everything wrong in the first half.

DeJuan Blair helped correct things after that.

Blair had 22 points and 11 rebounds to help the Spurs rally from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors 104-95 on Wednesday night for their seventh straight victory.

“We had 12 turnovers for 15 points in the first half. We were 0 for 15 on jump shots,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Our defensive coverage was poor, and our mental and physical focus were both poor in the first half.

“In the second half, we got back in the game because we played very, very good defense. People started paying attention and taking some pride in individual and team ‘D.”’

Manu Ginobili scored 23 points and Tony Parker added 17 for the Spurs, who improved their NBA-best record to 36-6, their best ever after 42 games.

DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points for the Raptors, who lost their fifth straight and ninth in the last 10 games. He was held to just eight points in the second half against an array of double-teams.

“It was like back in high school. They were sending doubles and everything,” DeRozan said. “It’s just tough. I had a few turnovers that really hurt us and that’s what made it even worse.”

The Spurs surged into the lead midway through the third quarter. Tim Duncan’s turnaround jumper to open the third got the Spurs off to a solid start, starting a 15-4 run to tie it at 57 when Duncan found a cutting Blair for back-to-back running layups.

Blair ran the floor well and used his quickness to get past the Raptors center Andrea Bargnani, who was a step slow against the second-year forward.

“DeJuan, he was worrying too much about being perfect; about where to be on the court instead of just competing and playing,” Popovich said. “I thought in the third quarter, he just went out and had fun and played basketball. He did a great job for us.”

Two quick baskets by point guard Jose Calderon helped Toronto regain the lead, but it would be short-lived. Blair’s follow shot off Parker’s miss capped a 12-0 run to give San Antonio a 71-65 lead.

The Raptors would get no closer than six points the rest of the way.

“I thought for the first half, take away the 10-0 run to start the game, we battled back and did a really nice job,” Toronto coach Jay Triano said. “At halftime, we knew they were going to come out. They probably got read the riot act. they were going to come out. I don’t know if it was our inability to stop them as much as our inability to score as the game went on. We just had a hard time scoring. We became very one dimensional. DeMar was the only one that could score for us.”

Calderon and Bargnani each finished with 14 points for the Raptors.

The Spurs struggled in the first half, shooting just 35 percent. DeRozan scored five points during a 9-0 run that gave the Raptors a 49-38 lead with two minutes left in the half.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” DeRozan said. “We were beating up on one of the best teams in the NBA, but we got to hold the lead. It’s definitely frustrating.”

Notes: Guard James Anderson, the Spurs’ 2010 first-round draft pick from Oklahoma State, was activated and in uniform, but didn’t play against the Raptors. …The Spurs tied the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers for the fourth-best start after 42 games.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2011011924

[EricB]

Throw the tape away on this game. Trap game after two days off playing a pathetic Toronto ball club who's best player is a 7 foot Matt bonner.


Better test Friday against a very good Knicks team.

[duncan228]

San Antonio Spurs 104, Toronto Raptors 95: The Raptors were in the zone, and then they weren’t (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/)
by Jesse Blanchard
48 Minutes of Hell

Excluding a blistering 10-0 start, the San Antonio Spurs started the second half of their season with one of the worst halves of basketball this year before reality, and a dose of Manu Ginobili and DeJuan Blair, kicked in to set things straight.

At the heart of the Spurs troubles in the opening half were a combination of sloppy execution and an active Toronto Raptors zone defense. I struggle to recall a team so blatantly playing a straight zone defense for such a long stretch, as the Raptors did through pretty much the entire second quarter. But such is the life of an NBA team forced to play defensive turnstiles Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani together for 35-plus minutes.

The lone effective practitioner of the zone as a base defense, the Dallas Mavericks, get away with it by disguising it with different looks in man-to-man defensive principles. The Raptors game plan was to stay exclusively in a zone, and for a half it worked to perfection.

Keep reading → (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-104-toronto-raptors-95-the-raptors-were-in-the-zone-and-then-they-werent#more-12475)

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

Had to miss the whole game, but judging from the highlights, it looked like Spurs were struggling in the first 3 quarters.

[Cessation]

I predicted blairs big night, for a "hater", I seem to know his game pretty well.

[TampaDude]

Had to miss the whole game, but judging from the highlights, it looked like Spurs were struggling in the first 3 quarters.

Nope...just the first half. The Spurs smashed the Raps 33-16 in the 3rd.

[duncan228]

Spurs survive a poor shooting night (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/)
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of Hell

AT&T CENTER — The subtle shift of relying on perimeter shooting more than pounding the rock inside to Tim Duncan time after time means one thing: you have to knock down shots. But for most of the night during the San Antonio Spurs’ 104-95 win over the Toronto Raptors (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-104-toronto-raptors-95-the-raptors-were-in-the-zone-and-then-they-werent), the silver and black failed to do that.

Keep reading → (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/spurs-survive-a-poor-shooting-night#more-12473)