Spursfanfromafar
02-04-2011, 10:17 AM
The spontaneous smile on the otherwise stoic Gregg Popovich (in victory) said it all. Antonio McDyess' tip shot while the clock ticked at 0.02 seconds, tipped the Spurs over their perennial top rivals the Lakers enabling them to win 89-88 in a closely fought encounter of the meaningless regular season kind. Coach Pop is given very less to emotions that show satisfaction or happiness in games, although his anger and passion is quite a regular sight. But even he could not restrain himself from giving a guffaw of immense satisfaction after seeing his veteran free agent signing of 2009 outwork the lengthy Laker frontcourt and grab yet another offensive rebound to tip the Spurs over.
The interesting aspect about McDyess' final tip was that, it wasn't surprising. As Buck Harvey of San Antonio Express points out, he had provided key offensive rebounds in the key final possession after misses by Ginobili, Parker and finally Duncan. And it fit that pattern that the Spurs had set for the season - they were no longer only a three horse, one stallion team. They were beating their competition through a committed committee system, with rejuvenated Richard Jefferson and meteoric McDyess adding to the efforts to win apart from lesser but equally effective parts such as the gangling George Hill and gunning Gary Neal. And the final possession epitomised it - misses by the big 3 in the near past would have been curtains for the Spurs, but not necessarily this season.
That the Spurs were threatening as a committee also forced the position that McDyess had to win the tip off Duncan's missed shot. As this excellent breakdown by Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook points out, the threat offered by clutch shooter Manu Ginobili and efforts by other committee members Richard Jefferson and McDyess to set Manu free, actually predicated the Lakers' defensive strategy of off ball screens to allow Ron Artest keep up pace with Manu. Only this led to McDyess getting space away from his defender Odom and avoiding being boxed out from prime rebounding position.
Read more here. (http://reigningblack.blogspot.com/2011/02/corporate-breakthrough.html)
The interesting aspect about McDyess' final tip was that, it wasn't surprising. As Buck Harvey of San Antonio Express points out, he had provided key offensive rebounds in the key final possession after misses by Ginobili, Parker and finally Duncan. And it fit that pattern that the Spurs had set for the season - they were no longer only a three horse, one stallion team. They were beating their competition through a committed committee system, with rejuvenated Richard Jefferson and meteoric McDyess adding to the efforts to win apart from lesser but equally effective parts such as the gangling George Hill and gunning Gary Neal. And the final possession epitomised it - misses by the big 3 in the near past would have been curtains for the Spurs, but not necessarily this season.
That the Spurs were threatening as a committee also forced the position that McDyess had to win the tip off Duncan's missed shot. As this excellent breakdown by Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook points out, the threat offered by clutch shooter Manu Ginobili and efforts by other committee members Richard Jefferson and McDyess to set Manu free, actually predicated the Lakers' defensive strategy of off ball screens to allow Ron Artest keep up pace with Manu. Only this led to McDyess getting space away from his defender Odom and avoiding being boxed out from prime rebounding position.
Read more here. (http://reigningblack.blogspot.com/2011/02/corporate-breakthrough.html)