Spurs @ Mavs Game Thread: 12/20/2014 7:30 CT

[Darius Bieber]

4 game losing streak lol

[Malik Hairston]

:lmao Rondo is so fucking terrible:lmao..

[TE]

Ellis went 1-11 the other night and goes into God-mode against the Spurs.
He always plays well against the Spurs

[crc21209]

Beli morphed into Manu and lost the ball by himself...:td

[Nathan89]

Just leave Rondo open.

[FaM0us Skins]

If we lose tonight we still played great while missing 5 of our starters + Manu and Patty.

[Truckules]

They ran out of gas. Also, Dallas is pumping in massive amounts of crowd noise.

[Ice009]

Yep. Ellis sucks, right guys? A lot of posters here told me last off-season that he sucked. I liked him in Goldenstate and thought he could be awesome for the Spurs.

Not surprised that he's ripping us to shreds again.

[crc21209]

Just leave Rondo open.

I've been thinking the same thing..

[Beaverfuzz]

damn, out of gas. Time for some pain.

[8FOR!3]

I'm not impressed that Ellis is putting up 30 against our backups and 3rd string players.

[TE]

:lmao Woooow wtf

[loveforthegame]

Marco. :lol

[TE]

Fuck man

[NASpurs]

Belinelli went to the Manu Ginobili School of Closing Games

[Silver&Black]

Nice time for a turnover guys.................................

[weebo]

I would have liked to see kyle anderson run the offense there instead of marco

[ElNono]

:lol Turnobeli

[crc21209]

Manu Belinelli..

[RD2191]

Tank the season tbh.

[milkyway21]

beli turnover... Crucial last minutes :pctoss

[Darius Bieber]

Season over tbh.

[TE]

Four straight losses. This is as bad as it gets.

[Spur-Addict]

:lmao

[BatManu20]

:lol Cojo and Belli

[daslicer]

Atleast it won't be an OT loss.

[timtonymanu]

:lol Mavs
:lol impressive win against the 3rd unit

[loveforthegame]

Spurs had this but shit the bed late in the game. This one hurts more than the last two.

[Ice009]

Yep. Monta Ellis. BEAST of a player.

[NASpurs]

:lmao Mavs announcers with the semen cloud over beating the Austin Spurs

[daslicer]

:lmao Mavs announcers with the semen cloud over beating the Austin Spurs

Agreed can't believe they hyped this up as a big win.

[cjw]

Good effort. Mavs should be embarrassed and Rondo has a LONG way to come (yes, first game jitters but he can't shoot to save his life and has to rely on other facets to keep him at league average). Ellis doesn't blow up like this if we have either of our wing defenders available.

[Blizzardwizard]

Are the Spurs one of the worst regular season teams inside of the final 2 minutes of all time? Probably.

[timtonymanu]

Proud of our guys. This should have been a blowout win for Dallas.

[BatManu20]

Great job & great effort by the guys tonight. Don't call that choke job. None of those guys have any business being in a close game at crunch time. They put up a hell of a fight.

[Proxy]

losses to playoff teams without a full lineup in December?????

time to cut my wrists

[loveforthegame]

Let them celebrate this win. They shouldn't be as happy as they are. :lol

[timtonymanu]

Spurs had this but shit the bed late in the game. This one hurts more than the last two.

They played their 10th unit. I was surprised it was even close throughout.

[NASpurs]

Meh this shit will be forgotten when the Spurs lay the pipe on the Clippers

[Ice009]

I'm not impressed that Ellis is putting up 30 against our backups and 3rd string players.

Monta Ellis has lit us up his whole career.

Where the fuck have you been? Spurs should have went after him HARD last off-season. Our bench would have been supercharged with him and Manu.

[RD2191]

Are the Spurs one of the worst regular season teams inside of the final 2 minutes of all time? Probably.
:lol

[SpurPadre]

Great effort, guys. They've got to start executing better down the stretch no matter who's playing, though. Nevertheless, an effort to be proud of.

[Budkin]

Never been this psyched for a loss!

[daslicer]

Can't be angry at this loss considering the circumstances but I hate seeing these Guards going off on the spurs such as Lillard, and now Monta. Can't wait for the spurs to be at full strength just to see these guys get locked down.

[RD2191]

Monta Ellis has lit us up his whole career.

Where the fuck have you been? Spurs should have went after him HARD last off-season. Our bench would have been supercharged with him and Manu.
People laughed at me when I mentioned him as a possible acquisition.

[Fireball]

I am proud of this team. this is a time where we fans should stop bitching and stand together because this situation is truly difficult right now.

[Ice009]

Never been this psyched for a loss!

You're psyched? Spurs threw away another winnable game. Shorthanded or not, they threw away another game.

There's no moral victories here. We're not playing for close losses against good teams.

Great effort, but that's where the positive ends for tonight's game. Another loss in the standings is the result.

[timtonymanu]

Most calm 4 game losing streak. Not worried at all.

[Blizzardwizard]

:lol

You don't agree? :lol

[crc21209]

Proud of our guys. This should have been a blowout win for Dallas.

This. That was a hell of an effort for a team missing its best 6 players (Splitter, Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Leonard, and Green...and Mills as well...)

[timtonymanu]

You're psyched? Spurs threw away another winnable game. Shorthanded or not, they threw away another game.

There's no moral victories here. We're not playing for close losses against good teams.

Tbh, your constant bitching is annoying every game. Grow a fucking pair.

[crc21209]

Most calm 4 game losing streak. Not worried at all.

This. It all means nothing. If we were 100% healthy then I think i would be worried a bit..

[spurs10]

46 minutes of good play erased by a weak finish. Too bad. How many turnovers were there in the last two minutes?

[loveforthegame]

They played their 10th unit. I was surprised it was even close throughout.

They truly had no business being in this game but they were. And it came down to poor execution again in the final minutes. Shorthanded or not its a disturbing trend.

[Johnny RIngo]

-18 for Belinelli - worst on the team :lol

Marco sucks so much. Worst wing player I've ever seen play for the Spurs. Empty stats every night. Italians are so fucking terrible at basketball.

[milkyway21]

This. That was a hell of an effort for a team missing its best 6 players (Splitter, Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Leonard, and Green...and Mills as well...)

Thanks God Manu did not suit up or he'll be crucified again.

:D

[timtonymanu]

They truly had no business being in this game but they were. And it came down to poor execution again in the final minutes. Shorthanded or not its a disturbing trend.

It was going to happen eventually this game. The only player available that closes games is Boris Diaw. I think today was a great game.

[RD2191]

You don't agree? :lol
Yes, just thought I was the only one that noticed.:lol

[Ice009]

Tbh, your constant bitching is annoying every game. Grow a fucking pair.

I haven't actually posted in the game thread during the game for probably 80% of the time in the last year or two, I'm usually at work, so I don't know where you're getting "every game" from. I guess I must have gotten to you when I do.

[SpurPadre]

7 boards, 9 dimes, and two steals for Rondo. He can do this every time for them, whether they play our D lineup or A teams in the West.

[Ice009]

And it came down to poor execution again in the final minutes. Shorthanded or not its a disturbing trend.

Exactly, but people around here don't want to admit this. This is a common trend that the Spurs have going. This happens with or without a full team. Spurs constantly fuck up at the end of games no matter who is playing.

[timtonymanu]

Exactly, but people around here don't want to admit this. This is a common trend that the Spurs have going. This happens with or without a full team. Spurs constantly fuck up at the end of games no matter who is playing.

How are they expected to close out games when they're playing their 3rd unit? The only player that actually closes games that was active tonight was Diaw. The execution definitely did suck, but some of you have unrealistic expectations anyway.

[milkyway21]

That was winnable
Well, that was the Spurs going to be if Belinelli is the option in the last min of the game

I expected a double-digit loss but they survived ..

[Harry Callahan]

Exactly, but people around here don't want to admit this. This is a common trend that the Spurs have going. This happens with or without a full team. Spurs constantly fuck up at the end of games no matter who is playing.

When have they had a full team this year?

[Ice009]

How are they expected to close out games when they're playing their 3rd unit? The only player that actually closes games that was active tonight was Diaw. The execution definitely did suck, but some of you have unrealistic expectations anyway.

I said it was winnable. I didn't say the game was a certainty and that they should always win in these situations. They've had 3 winnable games and thrown them all away because of poor execution. That's a fact. If you can't understand that, I don't know what else to tell you.

[Harry Callahan]

The Spurs lost out to Monkeyball again tonight just like last night.

The Mavs were allowed to get very physical in the fourth quarter and the backups did not have the talent to score at the end.

They played their guts out the whole game. Hopefully, the aware people on ST noticed that.

Not having any of your top six players and losing by 4-6 is a tough effort.

The Mavericks weren't ready to play, but they got away with it because of Ellis.

I'm sorry Baynes could not get a killer shot on him with a foul.

[dude1394]

An absolutely wonderful game by pop and the spurs. It is amazing how it hardly makes any difference who suits up.

[Harry Callahan]

I said it was winnable. I didn't say the game was a certainty and that they should always win in these situations. They've had 3 winnable games and thrown them all away because of poor execution. That's a fact. If you can't understand that, I don't know what else to tell you.

They Mavericks execution was way worse than the Spurs tonight. They were able to get away with it because they could just throw the ball to Ellis and get out of the way. If you can't recognize that, I don't know what to tell you.

[timtonymanu]

I said it was winnable. I didn't say the game was a certainty and that they should always win in these situations. They've had 3 winnable games and thrown them all away because of poor execution. That's a fact. If you can't understand that, I don't know what else to tell you.

The execution is definitely poor, but like I said, the circumstances are different right now. No need for people to bitch about something that is obvious. The Spurs aren't going to win these games shorthanded.

[Ice009]

When have they had a full team this year?

That's a weak excuse. So just lose all the games and execute poorly because we don't have a full team? Not at full strength makes it OK in all those games, does it? Is that your philosophy? How do you improve and win games with that? There's lots of teams in NBA history that have played shorthanded and won games.

The Spurs weren't great in tight games last year either. This difference was that they won a lot of them big, so it didn't really come down to late game execution that much.

It shouldn't need to be said, but I will go on record and say that the Spurs played their asses off these few games. The effort was incredible, but the execution as has been the case lately was not.

[timtonymanu]

They Mavericks execution was way worse than the Spurs tonight. They were able to get away with it because they could just throw the ball to Ellis and get out of the way. If you can't recognize that, I don't know what to tell you.

:cry buh there's no such thing as moral victories.
:cry my team should have won. Now I'm mad.

[timtonymanu]

This. It all means nothing. If we were 100% healthy then I think i would be worried a bit..

This dude gets it. :toast

Just have to hope we get healthy.

[Ice009]

They Mavericks execution was way worse than the Spurs tonight. They were able to get away with it because they could just throw the ball to Ellis and get out of the way. If you can't recognize that, I don't know what to tell you.

Poor defensive attention from the Spurs. He's a deadly player that has given them massive problems since his Goldenstate days. If the Spurs want to lose him and leave him open all the time, that's what they're going to get. He can get hot from the outside and then also get to the rack and finish. If the Spurs wanted to put defensive attention on Rondo and play loose with Ellis, then they deserve what they get.

[timtonymanu]

Poor defensive attention from the Spurs. He's a deadly player that has given them massive problems since his Goldenstate days. If the Spurs want to lose him and leave him open all the time, that's what they're going to get. He can get hot from the outside and then also get to the rack and finish. If the Spurs wanted to put defensive attention on Rondo and play loose with Ellis, then they deserve what they get.

You do realize the two best perimeter defenders on the team sat out tonight? Of course he'll go off when the players that can guard him are an inconsistent Joseph and awful Belinelli. You really can't be this dense.

[Ice009]

You do realize the two best perimeter defenders on the team sat out tonight? Of course he'll go off when the players that can guard him are an inconsistent Joseph and awful Belinelli. You really can't be this dense.

They should never have had Belinelli on him at all. Joseph should have gotten the assignment for the whole game. He's their best, most dynamic scoring guard, so Joseph should have had the challenge. I guess he didn't want it. A guy that takes pride in his defense would have wanted that challenge. Even Kawhi got his ass lit up by Ellis last playoffs. The Spurs need to realize that you have to put your best wing defender that you have available on him.

If you guys want to keep making excuses, go for it. I won't agree at all.

[timtonymanu]

They should never have had Belinelli on him at all. Joseph should have gotten the assignment for the whole game. He's their best, most dynamic scoring guard, so Joseph should have had the challenge. I guess he didn't want it. A guy that takes pride in his defense would have wanted that challenge. Even Kawhi got his ass lit up by Ellis last playoffs. The Spurs need to realize that you have to put your best wing defender that you have available on him.

Joseph has actually been awful defensively overall this year. He's too damn inconsistent. But you're right that the execution is poor and yes it's hurting the Spurs in the standings. But what can we expect from them right now, when there is an injury every week. You can't execute well when there is a lineup change every game.

[Harry Callahan]

Poor defensive attention from the Spurs. He's a deadly player that has given them massive problems since his Goldenstate days. If the Spurs want to lose him and leave him open all the time, that's what they're going to get. He can get hot from the outside and then also get to the rack and finish. If the Spurs wanted to put defensive attention on Rondo and play loose with Ellis, then they deserve what they get.

Ellis was hitting contested shots and threes at the end where he would contort his body and hit the shot. He was great.

Answer me this since you didn't earlier, where was this Ellis when it really counted in game seven last April? He missed out on that one didn't he?

[timtonymanu]

They should never have had Belinelli on him at all. Joseph should have gotten the assignment for the whole game. He's their best, most dynamic scoring guard, so Joseph should have had the challenge. I guess he didn't want it. A guy that takes pride in his defense would have wanted that challenge. Even Kawhi got his ass lit up by Ellis last playoffs. The Spurs need to realize that you have to put your best wing defender that you have available on him.

Joseph has actually been awful defensively overall this year. He's too damn inconsistent. But you're right that the execution is poor and yes it's hurting the Spurs in the standings. But what can we expect from them right now, when there is an injury every week. You can't execute well when there is a lineup change every game.

[Ice009]

Ellis was hitting contested shots and threes at the end where he would contort his body and hit the shot. He was great.

Answer me this since you didn't earlier, where was this Ellis when it really counted in game seven last April? He missed out on that one didn't he?

He's not a 1A player, but he's a fantastic 2nd guy to have. That's why I thought he'd be great on the Spurs. Who would you say was the leader of that Dallas team last season? Did that guy show up in that game?

[Budkin]

As soon as we're healthy we're going to tear shit up!

[BillMc]

This was great experience for the second team. It will help in the long run.

Bet we beat the Clippers...

[Ice009]

You can't execute well when there is a lineup change every game.

Fair enough, I will concede that point. I just would have liked them to win one of these 3 games rather than lose all of them because of their poor execution.

The execution this season has been far off from the John Stockton led Utah teams execution that Pop has mentioned in the past that he's trying to emulate.

[BatManu20]

Spurs went 26-26 from the line tonight.

Finally hit all our FT's and still lost :lol

[Ice009]

This was great experience for the second team. It will help in the long run.

Bet we beat the Clippers...

4 or 5 days ago people said we're gonna smash Portland.

It's going to be a hard game. We don't even know who's playing yet.

[Ice009]

Spurs went 26-26 from the line tonight.

Finally hit all our FT's and still lost :lol

I saw that in the game but didn't want to comment on it.

That's another reason these last three games have been so frustrating.

Can anyone come up with an answer as to why Baynes was benched the previous two games before this one? Pop was very silly to do that IMO. He should be in the rotation IMO. He's earned it.

[timtonymanu]

Can anyone come up with an answer as to why Baynes was benched the previous two games before this one? Pop was very silly to do that IMO. He should be in the rotation IMO. He's earned it.

Pop playing his mind games per par. Someone made a thread about it but I think Baynes was missing rebounds in the game in Portland and has been benched ever since. Stupid move but Pop always does shit like that.

[BillMc]

Bonner had 14 points yet didn't even attempt a 3. How often does that happen?

[Ice009]

Bonner had 14 points yet didn't even attempt a 3. How often does that happen?

He did, he got fouled on one.

[Ice009]

Pop playing his mind games per par. Someone made a thread about it but I think Baynes was missing rebounds in the game in Portland and has been benched ever since. Stupid move but Pop always does shit like that.

I was upset with him missing some of those boards too, but I never would have benched him completely for it. I still would have played him 10-15 minutes. I can never work out what Pop thinks sometimes.

[BillMc]

He did, he got fouled on one.

Yes, you're right.

[DubMcDub]

Answer me this since you didn't earlier, where was this Ellis when it really counted in game seven last April? He missed out on that one didn't he?

The Spurs were winning by 12 after one quarter and 22 at halftime in that game. Ellis's performance (or lack thereof) was virtually irrelevant. He's the primary reason the Mavs won Game 6 and even forced that Game 7, too.

[Budkin]

You're psyched? Spurs threw away another winnable game. Shorthanded or not, they threw away another game.

There's no moral victories here. We're not playing for close losses against good teams.

Great effort, but that's where the positive ends for tonight's game. Another loss in the standings is the result.

Dude I thought we'd lose by 40 but I also didn't watch the game so it didn't affect me.

[Ice009]

Dude I thought we'd lose by 40 but I also didn't watch the game so it didn't affect me.

I thought we'd fight hard and give great effort. That's what I thought coming into the game. I never expect big losses.

So why didn't you watch the game if you don't mind me asking? I'm at home and had a chance to watch it live, and even though we were shorthanded and not likely to win this one tonight, I was never going to not watch it because of the low probability of winning.

[hyhy]

What examples of postseason play that had a zone defense vs triangle offense are you referencing here?

I think it was the suns vs Lakers.. Cant really rmb

[Budkin]

I thought we'd fight hard and give great effort. That's what I thought coming into the game. I never expect big losses.

So why didn't you watch the game if you don't mind me asking? I'm at home and had a chance to watch it live, and even though we were shorthanded and not likely to win this one tonight, I was never going to not watch it because of the low probability of winning.

Mainly because I was at a party but also because last nights game made me so angry that I fought with my wife over how ridiculous I was behaving at realized I needed to take a step back to gain perspective.

[hyhy]

Spurs went 26-26 from the line tonight.

Finally hit all our FT's and still lost :lol

Free throw misses were by our starters.

[TE]

Mainly because I was at a party but also because last nights game made me so angry that I fought with my wife over how ridiculous I was behaving at realized I needed to take a step back to gain perspective.
At the end of the day it's just basketball. If anything, Game 6 makes everything easy to get over when it comes to basketball. It doesn't get worse than that on any level of basketball.

[DMC]

10 assists total. CoJo with 2 assists. Anyone else want to bitch about Patty Mills?

[Budkin]

At the end of the day it's just basketball. If anything, Game 6 makes everything easy to get over when it comes to basketball. It doesn't get worse than that on any level of basketball.

Agreed. Nothing can can touch having the title in your hand and having it taken away.

[Ice009]

Mainly because I was at a party but also because last nights game made me so angry that I fought with my wife over how ridiculous I was behaving at realized I needed to take a step back to gain perspective.

Glad I asked you that question. I think I need to do the same thing tonight. Take a step back and put things in perspective.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Mainly because I was at a party but also because last nights game made me so angry that I fought with my wife over how ridiculous I was behaving at realized I needed to take a step back to gain perspective.

:lol melting down over a pointless regular season game. Good lord.

[james evans]

didn't watch the game, only saw the box score but for us to only lose by 6 with no starters has me excited. I'm actually happy.

[TampaDude]

didn't watch the game, only saw the box score but for us to only lose by 6 with no starters has me excited. I'm actually happy.

^ this

The Mavs struggled at home to beat our 8-player bench team. When we are healthy again, we will go on a long winning streak, don't worry.

After ringing for the fifth time last season, anything else is gravy, but we're still gonna win 55 games and make the playoffs.

R E L A X.

[Harry Callahan]

He's not a 1A player, but he's a fantastic 2nd guy to have. That's why I thought he'd be great on the Spurs. Who would you say was the leader of that Dallas team last season? Did that guy show up in that game?


I'm not sure anyone showed up as the leader on the Dallas roster last year - Coach RC really leads that group as much as anything. Dirk is more of a lead by my play type player, but I don't see how things are off the court.

Tell me how the Spurs could have acquired Ellis last year (summer of 2013) with their cap situation. Ellis was nothing but a backup plan for Dallas - a third or forth choice after other stuff fell through like Dwight Howard and Derron Williams . In the end, they were still one and done.

Do you really think Pop would have signed off on bringing in a guy like Ellis coming off an NBA finals appearance with his shaky rep as a Chucker and a coach killer? The Mavs had a lot less to lose with their situation as well as tons of cap room due to their ill fated attempt at cap room in the summer of 2013. They blew up their finals team for that.

Guess what, Cuban now has to decide on three different guys looking for huge contracts this summer (Rondo, Ellis, and Chandler). The revolving door may continue there outside of Dirk.

[Budkin]

:lol melting down over a pointless regular season game. Good lord.

I admit it's a problem. An unhealthy addiction with this team.

[Legacy]

This was a great game. Great experience for the bench. We had the lead throughout the whole game until the last few minutes (something the Spurs do need to work on, tbh) and the Mavs had their full playoff roster and looked like utter shit out there. I was NOT impressed by their performance at all.

:lol Mavs
:lol Dirt
:lol Jizzing over a win when The Spurs are missing half of the team
:lol Turtle head
:lol Regular season champs

[Legacy]

Spurs went 26-26 from the line tonight.

Finally hit all our FT's and still lost :lol

Was still beautiful to watch. A lot of games can be won that way.

[Ice009]

Was still beautiful to watch. A lot of games can be won that way.

Looks like by sitting out Manu and Tim, it didn't infect the team with their free throw misses ;).

I can't believe how far Manu has fallen. Up until 3 or 4 years ago, he was the guy I would pick out of anyone in NBA history to take free throws in pressure situations.

I'm not sure if people remember how good he was at the free throw line with the game on the line back in the day. He was an ice cold killer. I don't know how, when or why he started missing them. I first recall noticing him being shaky at the line during the 2013 regular season, don't recall if it started before then though. I was worried about it during the regular season, and it turns out that it cost us in the finals :(.

Great free throw shooters don't normally regress like that. I don't know what's happened with him there.

[timtonymanu]

Looks like by sitting out Manu and Tim, it didn't infect the team with their free throw misses ;).

I can't believe how far Manu has fallen. Up until 3 or 4 years ago, he was the guy I would pick out of anyone in NBA history to take free throws in pressure situations.

I'm not sure if people remember how good he was at the free throw line with the game on the line back in the day. He was an ice cold killer. I don't know how, when or why he started missing them. I first recall noticing him being shaky at the line during the 2013 regular season, don't recall if it started before then though. I was worried about it during the regular season, and it turns out that it cost us in the finals :(.

Great free throw shooters don't normally regress like that. I don't know what's happened with him there.

Tired legs and having to carry on a heavy load at this point in his career. It's why Turnobili has been making an appearance every game. He desperately needs TP and Patty to come back since Joseph is slow as fuck and Green isn't a playmaker.