Game Thread: Substantial Sanctions @ Heat - Nov. 29, 2012 @ 7 PM CST

[BanditHiro]

Turncoat Allen at the line.. What an asshole fleeing to the Heat..

fuck the celtics and their bitch ass fake tough guys

[DesignatedT]

Great, entertaining game. :tu

[Uriel]

This hurts. :( We were so close.

[capek]

Well, not the best execution down the stretch, but still a great outing for the Toros. Great game all things considered.

[Captivus]

Awesome game!! The best game so far for me. Exciting!

[Juggity]

Never thought I'd say it with this group but the Spurs choked

Temper your expectations scro

[TheSkeptic]

Heat showed why they are champs

Not really. They almost lost to our bench.

Spo should have these guys running laps after the game.

[TDMVPDPOY]

gary neal tryin to pad his stat on that last shot, shouldve sweep that clown

[loveforthegame]

Made some dumb plays but damn they fought hard and gave Miami a run.

[boutons_deux]

big choke by Spurs, really a shame.

[TheSkeptic]

Great play by our bench.

[Mugen]

last year's Dallas game written all over it. hope it pays dividends in the long run for guys like De Colo

[BatManu20]

Spurs played horrible down the stretch. Turnover's and horrible shot selection. This group showed why they're reserves and nothing more. And Neal is AWFUL as a PG and yet Pop continues to put the balls in his hands and literally every time he fails.

[Brazil]

great game :tu

fuck Stern BTW

[Boomersgold]

So our last attempt to tie the game was a contested three from about 3 feet behind the three point line? Neal, you disappoint me...

[ElNono]

:cry moral victories :cry

[Kidd K]

Good overall games by the Spurs' bench and reserves. Even though we lost, it was a very winnable game against the defending NBA champs.

Was a fun watch until the last 3 minutes where a couple of our guys really blew it. Mostly Neal.

[AusSpur]

Neal's been drinking from the same trough as Kobe! :rolleyes

[Obstructed_View]

Okay, just for education's sake:

THAT is what it looks like when hero ball goes wrong. Lay the fuck off Tony Parker.

[DesignatedT]

Spurs played horrible down the stretch. Turnover's and horrible shot selection. This group showed why they're reserves and nothing more. And Neal is AWFUL as a PG and yet Pop continues to put the balls in his hands and literally every time he fails.

:lmao

[Brazil]

Spurs played horrible down the stretch. Turnover's and horrible shot selection. This group showed why they're reserves and nothing more. And Neal is AWFUL as a PG and yet Pop continues to put the balls in his hands and literally every time he fails.

you sure are an idiot

[blkroadrunners]

Great effort tonight :tu

[InRareForm]

that lebron broken up play so damn lucky.. easily a turnover and pretty much game.

[SpurPadre]

Neal shot the team out of the game. Stupid, stupid fucking shot selection.

[Uriel]

I know there are gonna be a lot of posts condemning the people who are disappointed, saying that the fact we were even close to begin with is an accomplishment in itself. And I know they'll be right.

But the loss still hurts. The whole game, I had been conditioning my mind that we would get blown out, but when the Spurs were up 7 with 3 minutes to play, I actually believed we could pull it out. Way to shatter my hopes, Spurs.

[Josepatches_]

5 of Neal's last 6 plays were terrible.

Horrible

[DesignatedT]

So the guys who never have the ball in pressure situations, didn't perform well in a pressure situation? Shocking.

[gee]

Well, time for some substantial sanctions.

[LonghornMike]

This effort should do wonders for the 2nd unit the rest of the way,..

Agreed. Remember the Dallas game last year when Popovich rode his bench to a comeback win? I think that helped spark our torrid run through the second half of the year. Either way, great burn for the role players. Too bad Kawhi couldn't have been there to try his hand at playing a bigger role during the regular season.

[DPG21920]

It was unexpected to have them this close, even though guys play loose when they are in situations like this. Unfortunately, it is expected that a lot of mistakes and poor shooting take place in a situation like this especially down the stretch against Lebron against bench guys. They became aware of the what was going on, got tight, tired and made common mistakes for a group like this.

They fought damn hard, but it is disappointing knowing they had a legit shot at the end and lost it due to execution.

[DesignatedT]

Blow this team up... ... wait.

[timtonymanu]

Gotta love Spur fans bitching and moaning.

[Mugen]

:lmao GNSF

[LakerHater]

How long till we Bandwagon Heat fan chest pumpin!?

[Paranoid Pop]

Not really. They almost lost to our bench.

Spo should have these guys running laps after the game.

Or we could stop with the moral victory bads, we had plenty of close game vs very shitty teams with our starters playing big minutes. It's natural to play down to the competition.

If anything the best thing out of this game is that it allowed Anderson to show something.

[Boomersgold]

Plays that lost us the game (in order)
0. Gary Neal loses Ray Allen on defense, therefore allowing a wide open Ray Allen three.
1. De Colo turnover.
2. Gary Neal Turnover
3. Gary Neal brick three
4. Another Gary Neal brick from three.

[DAF86]

Anything but the bullshit they pulled at the end of the game would have left me with great feelings.

Why hero ball with 1 minute remaining an up 2 when team ball got us that lead? Then when we were down 2 with 22 second left why not just run own the clock and take a three at the buzzer instead of forcing a quick play and the TO?

[CitizenDwayne]

Defending champs beat the Austin Toros by 5...a win to be proud of.

As for our guys "choking", what the hell did you expect? The very fact that they were in that position is pretty amazing.

[Spursfanfromafar]

Spurs' objectives -

1) Rest the Big 3 - Check
2) Rest Danny Green and allow for more recovery for Kawhi and Stephen - Check
3) Maintain healthy distance from rest of WC contenders after road trip- 5-1 on road trip; 12-4 overall - Check
4) Get underconfident role players going and give them valuable play time - De Colo breaks out, James Anderson, Matt Bonner and Tiago get extra playing time - Check
5) Embarass the Commish by trying to win against the Champs with a third string squad - ALMOST.

[DAF86]

Anything but the bullshit they pulled at the end of the game would have left me with great feelings.

Why hero ball with 1 minute remaining an up 2 when team ball got us that lead? Then when we were down 2 with 22 second left why not just run own the clock and take a three at the buzzer instead of forcing a quick play and the TO?

[rasho8]

Toros did really well.

[DPG21920]

I can't believe they put up 100 points with our backcourt shooting as poorly as they did. Credit to getting to the line and hustling for second chance points.

[Paranoid Pop]

It was unexpected to have them this close, even though guys play loose when they are in situations like this. Unfortunately, it is expected that a lot of mistakes and poor shooting take place in a situation like this especially down the stretch against Lebron against bench guys. They became aware of the what was going on, got tight, tired and made common mistakes for a group like this.

They fought damn hard, but it is disappointing knowing they had a legit shot at the end and lost it due to execution.

Yeah surprising that Pop called for a catch and shoot on the first 3, he really set up Neal for failure.

[LakerHater]

...guess the league can go back to ignoring the Spurs, again. ...As they were.

[DPG21920]

Some players really made huge strides tonight though. Too many to name. Basically everyone but Blair/Patty showed some really nice leaps in their game. Patty/Neal combined 10/31 shooting and the Spurs still were in it :wow

Tiago showed some really bad a** stuff too which is huge since he's the most important one.

[Juggity]

Danny Green in this game might have won it for us, but still. I'm impressed.

[Boomersgold]

Gary Neal 2/8 from three
Patty Mills 1/7 from three
Cory Joseph 1/4 from three
Matt Bonner 2/5 from three

Two threes, and we would've won the game. Abysmal three point shooting from the Spurs tonight.

[JRHernandez88]

Dam the spurs took me to the top of the cliff and pushed me off tonight :( fuckers

[WeNeedLength]

:lmao at the whiny Spurs fans after that game. Ya'll be stupid.

[El Contusion II]

What has happened to Blair's touch around the rim? He tries this pop a shot just about every time and clanks it. Frustrating to watch.

[DapDaGenius]

if after tonight game you blame someone you are an idiot

Please shut the fuck up. He said he was blaming Neal. All I am saying is that if I WERE TO blame someone, it would be Nando. "I'd" means "I would".....as in(again) If I WERE to blame someone I WOULD blame Nando. But all in all I'm not blaming anyone after this game, because there is no need to. So please kindly shut the fuck up....."idiot".

[PingPong]

If Green was there, De Colo's stupid turnovers and perhaps the stupid shoot attempts from Neal should not happened and...

[JRHernandez88]

Shit was fun tho

[freetiago]

pops fault tbh
sat splitter out way to long
played less than 30 minutes and pretty much had a efficient 20/10 game
if he plays 35 we probably could get the W
miami definitely got gifted during the end of the game
i didnt even see ray allen get fouled
i thought they rebounded it and called timeout
james just threw his body into splitter and got his fouls as well
and obviously the broken play that ends in a ray 3

[LakerHater]

Diaw- ZERO assists!

[Boomersgold]

If Green was there, De Colo's stupid turnovers and perhaps the stupid shoot attempts from Neal should not happened and...

Weren't those 'stupid shot attempts' by Neal plays drawn up specifically for Neal by Pop? I blame Pop for drawing those terrible plays.

[$pursDynasty]

Danny Green in this game might have won it for us, but still. I'm impressed.

I was thinking the same thing :depressed

[Kool Bob Love]

Hope the Toros rest up.

Opening Night Saturday. CANT WAIT.

[Brazil]

Please shut the fuck up. He said he was blaming Neal. All I am saying is that if I WERE TO blame someone, it would be Nando. "I'd" means "I would".....as in(again) If I WERE to blame someone I WOULD blame Nando. But all in all I'm not blaming anyone after this game, because there is no need to. So please kindly shut the fuck up....."idiot".

u mad ?

[$pursDynasty]

The Heat knew that Neal was the only real scoring threat in there did you see how hard they were covering him? I was more disappointed with Diaw, he was the only 'starter' in the game and he didn't do much of anything but defer to others and yet not get any assists.

[TE]

Hope the Toros rest up.

Opening Night Saturday. CANT WAIT.
F yeah

[SpurSwag]

I'm proud of the guys and everything, but that loss stings. That would have been a win for the books

[MR-Clutch]

Was anyone else impressed with James Anderson? Not only does he look skinnier but he looked more confident then he did at any point last year.

[Kidd K]

:lmao GNSF

Tbh, that's not even an insult anymore. Many of the bolded name posters are among the worst on the board.

[Boomersgold]

As a huge Patty fan, I can't help but say that I was disappointed by his play tonight. Instead of taking simple three pointers, almost all of Patty's three point attempts were contested fade away threes. WTF was he thinking?

[bigfan]

A great game to watch and if you have to lose, this one is just fine with me. Probably scared the hell out of the Heat and we got a real good look at the guys who dont play too much normally.

[Obstructed_View]

Was anyone else impressed with James Anderson? Not only does he look skinnier but he looked more confident then he did at any point last year.

Surprising hops too. He's clearly feeling better on that foot. Still plays too tentatively to stick in the rotation.

[crc21209]

As awesome as De Colo was, it's mainly his and Neal's fault we lost. De Colo had a clear layup and turned it over. His basket would have been HUGE. Neal also had a stupid turnover in the last minute that also sealed the game for Miami...

[TheSkeptic]

The Heat knew that Neal was the only real scoring threat in there did you see how hard they were covering him? I was more disappointed with Diaw, he was the only 'starter' in the game and he didn't do much of anything but defer to others and yet not get any assists.

To be fair, I believe Blair was the only starter. :D

But yeah I think that the main problem is that the guards shot a little bit too much. A few more touches for Diaw, JA, or even a couple more pick and rolls with Tiago earlier and the Spurs are in better shape. Stop that Ray Allen 3 and the Spurs probably take it. But that's life. The guys did well.

[ace3g]

Still wished Pop would have taken adv of Diaw posting up Lebron (got to the basket easily twice). He can still use his passing skills as well, but you have to make him the focal point of the offense on some plays.

[Paranoid Pop]

Surprising hops too. He's clearly feeling better on that foot. Still plays too tentatively to stick in the rotation.

I disagree, as long as he plays that kind of defense I want him on the second unit.

Anderson to back up SF, Sjax to back up PF, Blair for a second rounder. Please.

[Obstructed_View]

De Colo had several nice passes in the first quarter that Matt Bonner simply wasn't looking for. He gave up two layups, which is bad, but otherwise I thought he played rather well. Even his jumper started to look good.

[TDMVPDPOY]

bonner the fkn scrub needs to learn to shoot with a hand i n his face, he fkn hesitates every time a defender runs out to him passing up a shot....

[ace3g]

Main reason we were leading in 4th because Pop took Blair out (too many missed layups and bad passes) for Diaw/Splitter. Would have liked JA to get a few more minutes.

[DapDaGenius]

u mad ?

Nope. If you speak to me disrespectfully, that's how I speak to you. It doesn't help your case that you lacked the ability to comprehend what I was saying. :p:

[TDMVPDPOY]

diaw is too fkn good to be deferring too much....

[$pursDynasty]

Still wished Pop would have taken adv of Diaw posting up Lebron (got to the basket easily twice). He can still use his passing skills as well, but you have to make him the focal point of the offense on some plays.
That's what I was thinking with all the rookies and newbies in the game, I expected Diaw to lead the charge and be like young fella's follow me:flag:

[LakerHater]

Spurs were up 92-85 with 5 mins left!

[BatManu20]

Ray Allen was a huge pick up for them. He will be shitting on teams throughout the playoffs this year unfortunately.

[$pursDynasty]

diaw is too fkn good to be deferring too much....

my thoughts exactly, be a dang leader out there

[BatManu20]

Spurs were up 92-85 with 5 mins left!

And still managed to lose.. Neal at PG is a real issue tbh.

[Brazil]

Nope. If you speak to me disrespectfully, that's how I speak to you. It doesn't help your case that you lacked the ability to comprehend what I was saying. :p:

that's all good brah

[LakerHater]

So the Spurs BENCH put up 100 on the defending champs

[$pursDynasty]

And still managed to lose.. Neal at PG is a real issue tbh.
yea Patty at point and Neal at the 2 would be ideal since he was the best 'scorer' in that lineup.

[Mugen]

btw, Nando >>>>>>>>> Patty as a backup PG.

[$pursDynasty]

btw, Nando >>>>>>>>> Patty as a backup PG.
NOt sold on Nando just yet tries too many of those cute Rubio like passes when a straight fundamental pass would be the better option. The players he is passing to aren't ready for a hot dog w/ that much mustard on it. Manu and Tony may be able to expect and handle those passes but not our deep bench guys. He was trying to be too fancy by half.

[Mugen]

NOt sold on Nando just yet tries too many of those cute Rubio like passes when a straight fundamental pass would be the better option. The players he is passing to aren't ready for a hot dog w/ that much mustard on it. Manu and Tony may be able to expect and handle those passes but not our deep bench guys. He was trying to be too fancy by half.

Patty can't even make the easy fundamental passes tbh.

[SpurPadre]

Hating Neal's shot selection and decision making aside, great moral victory for the team...but did it increase the trade value of anybody we should be willing to deal like Neal?

[TampaDude]

So the Spurs BENCH put up 100 on the defending champs

^ this

LOL Heat :lmao

[Obstructed_View]

NOt sold on Nando just yet tries too many of those cute Rubio like passes when a straight fundamental pass would be the better option. The players he is passing to aren't ready for a hot dog w/ that much mustard on it. Manu and Tony may be able to expect and handle those passes but not our deep bench guys. He was trying to be too fancy by half.

Passing up the two layups was bad. The other players should be fucking ready for a pass that hits them in the hands. The unforgivable sin by Nando was in allowing Ray Allen to get the inbound with 13 seconds left. Even my wife knows that Allen's the best free throw shooter on the team.

[LakerHater]

^ this

LOL Heat :lmao
Its gotta be a record!

[ace3g]

Nando De Colo ‏@NandoDeColo (https://twitter.com/NandoDeColo) Very closed game vs. the Heat ! Some stupids TO at the end but it's good to play, and I will learn about it... for the rest of the season.

Nando De Colo ‏@NandoDeColo (https://twitter.com/NandoDeColo)
Good job guys tonight, it wan't easy but we tried to work and play together to win this game vs. the Heat. Now, go back in San Antonio...

[ace3g]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANrEwwaUK-0&feature=g-all

[LakerHater]

^^ Nasty!!

[capek]

NOt sold on Nando just yet tries too many of those cute Rubio like passes when a straight fundamental pass would be the better option. The players he is passing to aren't ready for a hot dog w/ that much mustard on it. Manu and Tony may be able to expect and handle those passes but not our deep bench guys. He was trying to be too fancy by half.

The way I read it, this is the "freshman" gitters for Nando. We're going to see some of this until he's gotten more court time and experience. He's not yet up to speed or comfortable with the speed of the NBA game and actually playing in the league. So he goes through the bipolar-like swings of first being too passive, and then trying to do too much. But tonight seemed like a definite improvement. Forget for a second WHEN his bad plays happened, and just break down his minutes. Out of the 33.5 minutes he played tonight, I'd say only about 5-8 were really in the "look at how green I am, I'm screwing up" category. On the other hand, I saw 10-15 good minutes where he looked like a seasoned NBA player (like how Danny looked last year whenever he'd have his hot stretches), during which time he hit a couple BIG buckets. The rest he was being a little passive, although his defense of Wade had me pretty fucking impressed! tbh

And this is his first year in the NBA? and was able to manage 10-15 minutes of basically running the show against the defending champs, no Timmy, no Tony, no Manu. Four starters at home. Hitting some big shots (after hitting almost nothing the entire season). As good as Beno's rookie season was, he'd have shit his pants at that assignment.

Now of course, he shit the bed at the end there. :( But from what I've seen this season and tonight (even with the shit stain on the sheets), De Colo to me looks like he's gonna be another find from Pop's Euro D-league.

Actually, I'm gonna make a prediction. Nando won't break out with the level of hype Goran Dragic mustered, but he's going to end up having a better career.

[The_Worlds_finest]

Oh btw had Danny Green played this would have been a spurs W, just saying.

[Arcadian]

Why would anyone think this loss hurts? This was one of the worst lineups in Spurs franchise history going against the defending champion Heat, and they led for most of the 4th quarter. And this loss has no consequences.

We were missing 6 - not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 - of our normal rotation players. When's the last time any team could say that? And the third string played well.

If there was ever a loss that felt good, this was it!

[TampaDude]

Why would anyone think this loss hurts? This was one of the worst lineups in Spurs franchise history going against the defending champion Heat, and they led for most of the 4th quarter. And this loss has no consequences.

We were missing 6 - not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 - of our normal rotation players. When's the last time any team could say that? And the third string played well.

If there was ever a loss that felt good, this was it!

I told my wife at halftime, "If the Heat win, but only by single digits, they should still be embarrassed."

Had the Heat lost, it would've been the most embarrassing regular-season loss in their franchise's history.

[Stabula]

Why would anyone think this loss hurts? This was one of the worst lineups in Spurs franchise history going against the defending champion Heat, and they led for most of the 4th quarter. And this loss has no consequences. We were missing 6 - not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 - of our normal rotation players. When's the last time any team could say that? And the third string played well. If there was ever a loss that felt good, this was it! shut your whore mouth

[TampaDude]

shut your whore mouth

Why? He's right. The Spurs will murder the Heat in the Finals.

[silverblackfan]

Why would anyone think this loss hurts? This was one of the worst lineups in Spurs franchise history going against the defending champion Heat, and they led for most of the 4th quarter. And this loss has no consequences.

We were missing 6 - not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 - of our normal rotation players. When's the last time any team could say that? And the third string played well.

If there was ever a loss that felt good, this was it!

Agreed. I actually like this loss. We had a tough game to play and the team played hard with just 9 players. Put up 100 points on the Defending Champs at Home on TNT. Very valuable experience for De Colo and CJ. Pop got to see a bit of what works on the Heat with his bench and didn't have to use his guys to do it.
Moral victories aside, it was a good learning experience and should piss the Heat off a bit.

[TampaDude]

and should piss the Heat off a bit.

^ the best part :lol

[ace3g]

By the way, it seemed like Bosh got away with 2 goal tending calls. The first couldn't exactly tell because of the camera angle but the 2nd was after the De Colo (I think) missed FT, Splitter went for the tip in, after the foul, Bosh hit the ball out of the rim should have been an and 1 and not 2 FTs (Splitter went 1/2).

[crc21209]

Man, it would've been so damn sweet to see the Spurs pull this W out. But it's a big W for all the bench guys anyway. For them to take the defending champions to the last 26 seconds of the game and Miami barely pulling out the win with a Ray Allen 3 has to be huge for their confidence. We all know what happened after last year's game when the bench took Dallas to the wire in Dallas, the team took off like a rocket. Hopefully the bench plays with tons of confidence for the rest of the season...

[TDMVPDPOY]

barkleys first question, he tried to troll pops.....are u happy with the pace?

pop wouldve answered back like a dick if it was sager interviewing him...

[Trainwreck2100]

barkleys first question, he tried to troll pops.....are u happy with the pace?

pop wouldve answered back like a dick if it was sager interviewing him...

Pop told chuck "i love you" at the end of the interview, he's got some respect there. And when Sager did interview him after the game pop was back in mad as fuck mode. Still want to know if those two are trolling us with the way Pop acts to him. After tonight pop has been confirmed for Master Level Troll.

[Obstructed_View]

barkleys first question, he tried to troll pops.....are u happy with the pace?

pop wouldve answered back like a dick if it was sager interviewing him...

Pop doesn't like stupid questions. None of Barkley's questions were stupid.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Pop doesn't like stupid questions. None of Barkley's questions were stupid.

no, but barkley did ask him a question that had a word HAPPY...

i expected pop to go nasty on him with the reply he gave a few games ago what he thinks HAPPY is...

[Obstructed_View]

no, but barkley did ask him a question that had a word HAPPY...

i expected pop to go nasty on him with the reply he gave a few games ago what he thinks HAPPY is...

Oh yeah. :lol Pop probably answered it straight because it was a better question. :)

[biskvito]

It all comes down to this dumb idea of stars being more important than teams. Stern makes the public so entitled he forgets about fairness in sports, promoting a bizarre mix of athleticism and favoritism. I guess it's just another extreme situation promoted by decades of greed, making the public forget sane values and demand their "show" like a soda or a fast food product. :greedy

[racm]

Why would anyone think this loss hurts? This was one of the worst lineups in Spurs franchise history going against the defending champion Heat, and they led for most of the 4th quarter. And this loss has no consequences.

We were missing 6 - not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 - of our normal rotation players. When's the last time any team could say that? And the third string played well.

If there was ever a loss that felt good, this was it!

I see what you did there.

Must be embarrassing to have Matt Bonner put up 10 rebounds.

[Bruno]

:tu @ the thread title.