A few random thoughts

[letmk]

Great win for us. This is a battle between two hottest teams in NBA right now. Ugly, ugly, but in the end we hold on for a win.

(1) Celtics has the best defense we play against for the whole season (together with the Bulls game), hats off to them. But from Spurs' perspective, staying on the fun-and-gun track, which they are for the whole year, or trying to get back to grind-it-out mode, is a decision that Pop seems not ready to make.

Although the Celtics did not score many points either in the second half, their problem is more with the shooting touch, while ours has no movement at all, which I think is closely related with Pop's hesitation.

(2) Since we have Kawhi and Jack, never ever put Manu or Green on Pierce, and Durant and James for that matter. They are either too short or too slow, or not strong enough for both. It's doomed to be a disaster.

Moreover, although in the end Manu makes several big plays down the stretch for us to win, this game confirms my belief that Manu should never play b2b ever again. Not only is he inefficient, I'm in fear of him getting injured for the whole game with him seeming to have no-legs at all.

(2) Tony is our MVP for this season, no question about it. But the games against Bulls and this one would make us worried. It's not about shooting touch, it's about how to respond after the opponents clog the paint and he can not penetrate. The bad decision, or even worse, the in-decision and non-decision are not a good sign for us in the playoffs.

It's not necessarily because Rose and Rondo can stay with Parker. It's because they are two most disciplined teams in terms of defense (like us several years ago), how to beat a defense like that is a big question Tony has to answer for us to win.

(3) I was about to yell Neal out of court (like Pop normally would do) when Bradley plays like a prime-time Ray Allen at the beginning of 2nd quarter. Props to Pop to have faith on him, and to Neal to get it turned around immediately after Bradley single-handly erased all the leads by the Spurs.

(4) Tim's defense on last shot is as good as you can get from any big man or any player.

(5) Red Rocket delivered!! Granted, that's a very lucky shot, by that I mean a shot we are very fortunate to even have a chance to take it. But we'll take it.

(6) Tiago needs to play HUGE minutes for us to win in playoffs, especially against good defense team which is good at cutting off the guards penetration. Finally, where is Diaw? I can't figure out what Pop is thinking.

[Horse]

Good points, but an even better point is that was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. So sick of the nba sucking celtic dick. One sided allnight. Fuck garnett fuck ray allen fuck pierce and fuck the celtics.

[TMTTRIO]

Moreover, although in the end Manu makes several big plays down the stretch for us to win, this game confirms my belief that Manu should never play b2b ever again. Not only is he inefficient, I'm in fear of him getting injured for the whole game with him seeming to have no-legs at all.

If that's the case that means Manu's done. Fortunately we have enough talent to replace him. He should probably play only 15-20 minutes a game from now on or use him only in spot up minutes when we desperately need something.

[TDMVPDPOY]

the bench fkn sucks with NEAL who is a bonafide RMJv.2.0

DOES this fkn bench even run plays or anything, fck play diaw or mills damn it..we need more ball movement and extra passes

in jax i trust, this team sucks horsedick defensively when you needed a stop

[FromWayDowntown]

I understand what you're saying about Manu, but I'd be hesitant about a categorical rule that he should never play both ends of a back-to-back since the second round of the playoffs this year is likely to include a back-to-back.

[jag]

Good points, but an even better point is that was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. So sick of the nba sucking celtic dick. One sided allnight. Fuck garnett fuck ray allen fuck pierce and fuck the celtics.

Bitching about officiating is weak

[TDMVPDPOY]

I understand what you're saying about Manu, but I'd be hesitant about a categorical rule that he should never play both ends of a back-to-back since the second round of the playoffs this year is likely to include a back-to-back.

manu does alot of stupid plays thats not necessary, he should toned it down when the defense has figured out what his trying to do....how many stupid turnovers or stops did the defense did to him today....

[Obstructed_View]

Bitching about officiating is weak

The KG steamroller screen is back with a vengeance though. Lots of guys do it. If the refs aren't going to call them on anyone not named Tiago, I think the Bulls are probably going to get the most from that oversight.

[pgardn]

Parker has adjusted wonderfully to so many diff. situations this season he is to be applauded. But tonight, he got shoved around. When he plays against strong guys that are quick, adjustments are in order. He did not get to the FT line tonight. That is a problem for the type of PG he is.

[roycrikside]

the last time Manu played a b2b, he had a great game against Sacramento and the Spurs wouldn't have won without him, so let's not make definitive statements like "he should never play one again."

This game was more about his head than his legs. He just wasn't into it for whatever reason. From his first shift of the game, you could tell something was wrong. He never touched the ball the first five, six minutes he was out there. The Spurs were still scoring pretty well, but it was mostly Tony or Gary Neal. Manu took one shot and was sent promptly to the bench by Pop.

He was useless after that. Usually he gets his game going with some pick-and-rolls, but that never happened today. The Celtics trapped hard and he couldn't adjust. There were no real creative play-calls to get him going either, no back picks, no curls, no anything. Just very weird.

[sananspursfan21]

Good points, but an even better point is that was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. So sick of the nba sucking celtic dick. One sided allnight. Fuck garnett fuck ray allen fuck pierce and fuck the celtics.

man no joke...and to top it off i had to watch it on boston network and according to them every call against boston shouldn't have happened :rolleyes

[emanueldavidginobili]

Lol lets give Manu a break in the Last 4 games he has been playing great double digits in each game and a 18 and 20 point game...and had a awful game on a back to back against the best defense the spurs have played this year,and still managed to get the game winning assist after a horrible pass by his own, go figure, I bet he will come to play the next game they have...hes not even in 100% game condition yet and hasnt played that many games this year...he will deliver...its Manu Ginobili give him time, we are so deep we dont need him to be balls to the wall on a back to back game in a meaningless regular season game.

[CitizenDwayne]

Yeah bitching about officiating AND commentary is certainly well-deserved in this case.

[Yuixafun]

Bitching about officiating is weak

Did you see Ray Allen kick the ball and they didn't call it, lucky we were able to corral the ball...

It was so obvious and distorted the play in the Celtics favor.

[wildbill2u]

During the 3rd quarter we couldn't hit a shot, played ugly offense and only scored 9 points.

Guess what, Boston only scored 16 so our defense didn't fail us. And neither did the hearts of our players. They hung tough. They supported each other.

It was only the hearts of our wussy fans that failed. If you'd been at the game, you'd have been booing our team instead of encouraging them. You know who you are.

The Spurs deserve better fans than some on this site.

[letmk]

You might get me wrong. I did not intend to bash Manu at all. I'm not saying he should not play b2b because he is hurting us. What I'm trying to say is that:
(1) He might not be able to help the team much on b2b.
(2) More importantly, standing comfortably at No.2, we don't need to win "more" games to begin with. Plus, the risk of losing him outweighs anything positive we might get from playing him in b2b games.

Although we rely much less on him this season than last season, we're still doomed if he got injured.

In terms of playing itself, Manu just played bad tonight, I didn't read too much into it. Instead, if anything, I'm more worried about Tony might have a "pattern" or "deeper" problem when facing good low-post defense team, ala last year's series versus Grizzlies.


the last time Manu played a b2b, he had a great game against Sacramento and the Spurs wouldn't have won without him, so let's not make definitive statements like "he should never play one again."

This game was more about his head than his legs. He just wasn't into it for whatever reason. From his first shift of the game, you could tell something was wrong. He never touched the ball the first five, six minutes he was out there. The Spurs were still scoring pretty well, but it was mostly Tony or Gary Neal. Manu took one shot and was sent promptly to the bench by Pop.

He was useless after that. Usually he gets his game going with some pick-and-rolls, but that never happened today. The Celtics trapped hard and he couldn't adjust. There were no real creative play-calls to get him going either, no back picks, no curls, no anything. Just very weird.

[Yuixafun]

Manu did make that one crazy shot to stem the tided in the third?

where he was out deep but then reversed course towards the basket and shot a leaner, threw the ball like it was a dart and banked it in.

Spurs win by 1.

[SenorSpur]

It's amazing to me that the Celtics, for all their supposed advanced age, still play demon-like defense. Even the young kid, Avery Bradley, was an all-out pest. He got his hands on a lot of balls, pressured the Spurs guards into turnovers and simply caused the Spurs all sorts of headaches.

The Spurs carelessness and laziness played right into the hands of the Celtics, which is why the game turned out to be closer than it should have been.

[DMC]

Ref smack. If you don't see Pop bitching, and no Spur got a tech for bitching, it didn't mean anything. Sure there were some missed calls, but if that's what you saw tonight, you need to record and watch it again.

[pgardn]

It's amazing to me that the Celtics, for all their supposed advanced age, still play demon-like defense. Even the young kid, Avery Bradley, was an all-out pest. He got his hands on a lot of balls, pressured the Spurs guards into turnovers and simply caused the Spurs all sorts of headaches.

The Spurs carelessness and laziness played right into the hands of the Celtics, which is why the game turned out to be closer than it should have been.

Between Rondo and Bradley, they are very tough on D while on the dribble. Parker got taken out of his game by both. That being said we did handle them on the boards. They are actually weak down low. Garnett can get shoved around, no more Perkins.

Refs: they let the game become more like a playoff game. We must adjust. I wish we had more games like this. Cleveland's D and then Boston is a fairly radical shift.

[Fireball]

Even the young kid, Avery Bradley, was an all-out pest. He got his hands on a lot of balls, pressured the Spurs guards into turnovers and simply caused the Spurs all sorts of headaches.

I think this kid already belongs in the All-Defensive First Team ... he has such a quick lateral movement, always makes the move in the right direction, works his way around screens (although he profits from the Celtics playing the PnR fairly good) and if he is beaten he still comes back ...

[urunobili]

It's amazing to me that the Celtics, for all their supposed advanced age, still play demon-like defense. Even the young kid, Avery Bradley, was an all-out pest. He got his hands on a lot of balls, pressured the Spurs guards into turnovers and simply caused the Spurs all sorts of headaches.

The Spurs carelessness and laziness played right into the hands of the Celtics, which is why the game turned out to be closer than it should have been.

Couldn't have said it any better.

50% in the Celtics comeback was Spurs sloppiness the other 50% their own D.

That kid Bradley looked like the next best Guard Defender in the league TBH.

[mkurts]

Matt Bonner - clutch 2 pointer gamewinner seals win.

[Slutter McGee]

Yeah, we got mauled in the paint early and there were several no calls. Other than the touch foul called on us after Duncan got murdered under the basket was the only glaring inconsistency I saw. Celtics didn't bang it down in paint much either, so its kind of hard to tell if the officials would have continued their no calls.

Certainly not a good officiated game. But I have seen a million that were worse. No reason to whine about it. Stupid shots, passes, and poor ball handling let them back in the game. Not officiating.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee