Game 5 advantages/disadvantages your thoughts?

[Mavtek]

Advantages:

Spurs are at home.
Spurs are somewhat against a wall and couldn't possibly play worse than game 4 (could they?)
Tim Duncan is playing well against the Kings and they have no answer for him
Spurs have slighly more overall playoff experience
Spurs are shooting lights out from 3 for most of this series

Disadvantages:

Less than 46 hours between games not good for the older legs of the Spurs
Artest is clearly in Ginobli's head
No answer for Bonzi Wells
Bibby's defensive assignment is too easy, Parker must make jumpshots
Sacremento clearly has both confidence and momentum from game 4
Sacremento has already beaten the Spurs once at home this season, and took them to OT earlier in the series

[offtheglass...]

well, I don't for a second belive that artest is in manu's head. Spurs just had a terrible game like the kings had in game 1. it happens... has before and we still made it through...

manu will step up...dribble...and plow...

[E20]

That all pretty much sounds about right.

[Vinnie_Johnson]

HC is all they need that's huge.

[DDS4]

Disadvantages:

Less than 46 hours between games not good for the older legs of the Spurs
Artest is clearly in Ginobli's head
No answer for Bonzi Wells
Bibby's defensive assignment is too easy, Parker must make jumpshots
Sacremento clearly has both confidence and momentum from game 4
Sacremento has already beaten the Spurs once at home this season, and took them to OT earlier in the series

1) It's not a back-to-back. I'm not worried about the 46 hour turnaround.
2) Remains to be seen. Manu is still mulling over the turnover he made at the end of game 3.
3) True
4) Parker started breakin' out of his slump last game, problem was, he didn't get anyone else involved in the process
5) I don't believe in confidence carrying over from game to game. If that were true, the Spurs should have won game 3 after a 2-0 lead. It's all about who plays well and executes that night.
6) Sac still hasn't beaten SA @ home in the PLAYOFFS.

[jmard5]

Advantage: home court, uh, advantage.

Needs to improve: rebounding and shooting.

Artest getting into Manu's head? That's crap. It will be the other way around. It's payback time.

[timvp]

http://67.15.149.71/i6/5/04/28/5042803451603.jpg

[Kori Ellis]

Advantages:

Spurs are at home.
Spurs are somewhat against a wall and couldn't possibly play worse than game 4 (could they?)
Tim Duncan is playing well against the Kings and they have no answer for him
Spurs have slighly more overall playoff experience
Spurs are shooting lights out from 3 for most of this series

Disadvantages:

Less than 46 hours between games not good for the older legs of the Spurs
Artest is clearly in Ginobli's head
No answer for Bonzi Wells
Bibby's defensive assignment is too easy, Parker must make jumpshots
Sacremento clearly has both confidence and momentum from game 4
Sacremento has already beaten the Spurs once at home this season, and took them to OT earlier in the series

I think Manu is bothered by both his game 3 miscue(s) and Artest. He has to break himself out of it.

Parker made 4/9 jumpshots in game 4 - that's not really the problem right now.

It's really all about Bonzi Wells.

Spurs Advantages
Homecourt
Tim Duncan

Spurs Disadvantages
Too much Bonzi Wells
Not enough Manu

The Spurs should go to Manu early and often to try to get him going in the flow of the offense. In Game 1, Manu started out extremely aggressive in the first quarter. Parker took over from there, scoring 16 in the first quarter. And then the bench continued the onslaught. I'm not saying I'm looking for a repeat of their Game 1 performance because they won't shoot 70% in the half. But they need to come out with that level of aggressiveness.

And then do whatever they need to do to slow down Bonzi a little bit. If he puts up 15 and 8 (that's still above his season averages) that's okay. But these 20+ points/12+ rebounds games need to stop.

Also, the fans need to get into the game from the get go. So don't lallygag around, get to your seat late, forget to cheer until the Spurs are down, etc. Bring your game face. Spurs players and fans alike.

[SpursStillTippin]

Spurs advantage = 1 name.....................Robert "Game 5" Horry........any questions?

[J.T.]

I agree we need some clutch hits by Horry. Among other things, but I would like to see Horry dagger the Kings once again.

[BigD1]

Good luck tomorrow night Spurs fans. As a Maverick's fan, I really would rather see SA and Dallas go at it. That would be the best series in the playoffs, besides the Finals of course. I think the Spurs will show their true championship spirit and heart in a very crucial game 5.

[Mavtek]

Kori I only disagree with one of your points, 4 of 9 wide open shots is a problem.

Something that any scout will tell you during shoot around, if a guy can't hit 8 of 10 midrange shots with no one guarding him, he needs some serious work on his shot.

[MissAllThat]

I would love to see a re-emergence of Big Shot BOBBY!!! Yeah, I gotta go with the Timmy way of saying this.

Our advantages:
We can pull those game winning/tying 3s out of nowhere sometimes.
We have Tim Duncan.
Tony Parker is actually being consistent for once.
It's in SA.
We've been here before...SEVERAL times.
Obviously we can beat them by a lot (see game 1).
We're the reigning champs.

Disadvantages:
Where in the World Is Manu Ginobili?
Ron Artest

[Kori Ellis]

Kori I only disagree with one of your points, 4 of 9 wide open shots is a problem.

Something that any scout will tell you during shoot around, if a guy can't hit 8 of 10 midrange shots with no one guarding him, he needs some serious work on his shot.

Who said he was wide open? I'm not going to discuss Tony Parker in this thread (there is a several page thread all about it). He's been working on his shot all season, he has a shooting coach, and the stats show it's much improved.

Anyway, my point was really that the main problems right now are Manu's lack of production and Bonzi's over production. These are the important things right now to address.

[Mavtek]

Who said he was wide open? I'm not going to discuss Tony Parker in this thread (there is a several page thread all about it). He's been working on his shot all season, he has a shooting coach, and the stats show it's much improved.

Anyway, my point was really that the main problems right now are Manu's lack of production and Bonzi's over production. These are the important things right now to address.

I said he was wide open, I watched the game. Bibby has the easiest job in the world, give Parker 10' and keep him from getting in the lane. That has to change, Parker has to hit those shots. Honestly if he's improved he needs to show it in the game. Giving Bibby a free pass on the defensive side is greatly hampering the Spurs.

[maddnezz]

Who said he was wide open? I'm not going to discuss Tony Parker in this thread (there is a several page thread all about it). He's been working on his shot all season, he has a shooting coach, and the stats show it's much improved.

Anyway, my point was really that the main problems right now are Manu's lack of production and Bonzi's over production. These are the important things right now to address.
Truer words were never said better Kori! And by the way, your avitar...Man your honey is bleesed!!!!!!!! (No disrepect!!!!!) :spin

[boutons_]

Bonzi isn't getting 35 - 40 pts like Amare.

In Game4, Kings had 5 players with 14+ pts, while the Spurs had only 2 players in double figures. Even if the Spurs could stop Bonzi (they can't), the rest of the Kings are capable of, and have been, scoring. Remember SAR in Game2?

Spurs are playing pretty shitty un-Spurs-like defense, which used to be their calling card.

Combined with getting destroyed on the boards, Spurs ain't going nowhere if they don't play defense and rebound.

Bonzi isn't the problem. Spurs defense and rebbounding is.

The Spurs have looked very mediocre in Games 2-4, while the Kings have been playing hard.

[ploto]

I think the key is Manu and he will deliver.

I also want to see the Spurs from Game 1- the ones who looked really focused and really serious and really ready for a challenge.

I am surprised no one has discussed what I thought was actually the even bigger problem from game 4 than rebounding and that was all the points Sacramento got off of Spurs turnovers.

I also agree about going at Brad Miller. He can't defend anyone and gets frustrated and into foul trouble. The Spurs need to take it hard at the Kings.

[nkdlunch]

ppl talk about Manu and shit, but where the fuck is our defense and our defensive stopper Bruce Bowen???

Spurs had a total of 1 BLK in game 4. 1 stinkin block.

Bruce Bowen has to stop somebody, I don't care who. Stop anybody, Bibby, Bonzi, Artest, even kevin Martin. no we're not gonna stop all of them. But Bowen can concentrate and singlehandly stop 1 of those.

[FromWayDowntown]

I'm torn -- but for a turnover and a difficult shot at the end of Game 3, the Spurs are either done here or coming home for a put-away game. They seriously let down in Game 4, but is that indicative of the strengths of the teams or indicative of the fact that the Spurs just let down? I'm banking on it being the latter, but tonight will tell.

Bonzi has undoubtedly been the key to the series; but I think the Spurs could deal with Bonzi scoring points. The problem is his rebounding and the Kings' offensive rebounding in Games 3 and 4. The rebounding has allowed the Kings a ridiculous number of second chance opportunities and they've done a good job of converting those opportunities for points. In some cases, they're converting them for points and free throws, which only compounds the problem. The Spurs have shot the ball well in this series (they're at 50%; the Kings are at 45%), but have allowed an average of 6 more shot attempts per game to SAC. Hard to win close games with that sort of a number.

The key to tonight's game and to the rest of this series is boxing out and rebounding on the defensive end.

It's a personnel problem to an extent -- the mismatches have caused the Spurs to scramble their defense and have left Wells matched against weaker players fighting for rebounds -- but they showed in the second half of Game 3 that a bit tougher-minded effort will allow the Spurs to compensate for the mismatches with Wells. I don't understand why it should take anything other than the fact that it's a playoff game to get the Spurs attention, but for whatever reason, the last 3 games seem to have required some additional kick in the ass to get the Spurs going. They need to bring an intensity and a tenacity to the defensive end of the floor and make it a priority to end possessions with rebounds -- you don't have a stop until you get the rebound, after all.

If the Spurs rebound the basketball, I think their offense is fine. The Kings are giving Tim single coverage in the paint, in an effort to try to stay with 3 point shooters (in Bonzi's words, to "not let the other guys beat us."). In Game 3, the Spurs moved the ball well enough to free Finley for some good looks, which he hit. The Spurs got some production from Barry, and the combination of Finley and Barry made up for Manu's struggles. In Game 4, Adelman relented from singling Tim for a while and the Spurs got looks on the perimeter again, but just didn't make them. If Tim can command taht double in the post, things open up everywhere -- if he attacks the goal like he did in Games 3 and 4, Tim will command doubles. Parker has to attack, but he also has to be mindful of his role in moving the basketball to create good angles for Tim and to create open looks for the shooters. Tony's biggest fault in Game 4, I think, was his failure to use his penetration as a means to get his teammates involved in the offense. It's fine to drive and score, but he also needs to drive and kick when appropriate. Mav fan can call out Parker for making 4/9 jumpers, but if he makes 5/9 jumpers, he shoots 56%, which is more than respectable for any jump shooter in game situations. I don't see the problem here as offense, though.

[SenorSpur]

Rebounds, rebounds, rebounds.

The Spurs absolutely MUST keep these guys off the glass at both ends, limit them to one shot and basically become the more aggressive team if they expect to win this series.

[ctpsb]

Rebounds, rebounds, rebounds.

The Spurs absolutely MUST keep these guys off the glass at both ends, limit them to one shot and basically become the more aggressive team if they expect to win this series.


I absolutely agree!!

[timvp]

Basically the Spurs need to stop going small and keep size on the court so they can get defensive rebounds. Not too complicated, but Pop for some reason is in love with small ball.

[Texas_Ranger]

Advantages:

1.Duncan
2.Defense
3.Bench
4.Homecourt

Disadvantages:

1.Off rebounds
2.BONZI