nbascribe
05-16-2006, 09:15 AM
If The Spurs Continue To Play Like Punks, They Will Be Punked Out of The Semis
By Gregory Moore, Blackathelte.net columnist
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs are playing like a bunch of punks and they know it. It seems that this team enjoys having its back up against the wall in the playoffs but the Dallas Mavericks are not the Sacramento Kings. The Kings, while young, simply woke this team up. The problem with the Mavs is that not only are they young, but they are deadly too. And as long as the Spurs continue to play like they are the NBA’s royalty, they will have their season handed to them on a dust broom and a wastebasket.
I know this is something Spurs fans don’t want to hear but heck, a good majority of them will change their tune the moment this teams wins on Monday and/or Wednesday night. For fans, it’s all about heart palpitations. Yet for the Spurs it should be about a sense of urgency. Watching last Saturday’s game was just sickening because besides listening to fans moan and groan about how the Spurs are not getting calls, in between the sidelines and the baselines, the Spurs were turning the ball over entirely too much and they were sending the Mavericks players to the free throw line fifty times in that game.
This is the type of game that diehard Spurs fans know that the team could lose.
“We don’t do well when 100 points is scored against us,” Gregg Popovich said up in Dallas before Monday’s game. “History has proven that to us over the years and it definitely did so this season.”
The game flow for this team was fine when they were up by one. It was fine when they were up by three. It was fine when they were clawing their way out of a 13-point hole. Looking inside the numbers of this game, everything seemed to be fairly even. The Spurs didn’t turn the ball over a whole lot. They dominated inside the paint with points in the paint and they kept the unanswered points total to just two points. But when you look at the numbers for the Spurs, two things will glare at you from this particular game: free throws and bench scoring.
If having the Mavs parade to the charity window fifty times wasn’t enough, the fact that the Spurs’ reserves have been all but non-existent this series is even worse. While Manu Ginobili gave the Spurs 24 points in the effort, Michael Finley gave the team only six points on 3-for-7 shooting. Brent Barry, who has been inserted into the starting line up, gave the team eight points from the shooting guard position. Even Robert Horry has been a candidate for the milk cartoon in my refrigerator because he hasn’t found his groove.
So what gives? Why is this team struggling so mightily against the Mavs this late in the season/ The only thing I can come up with is the fact that this team is evenly matched up against he Spurs and their youth, athleticism and brashness has thrown a wrinkle into how a championship team plays them on defense. Speaking of a ‘championship’ team, I’m going to continue stay to my premise that this team is not a champion. Too much hype is being thrown into what the Spurs did last season. Folks, that was last season and it doesn’t mean squat at this present time. The Spurs have struggled big time in this series and they do not deserve the moniker that everyone wants to bestow upon them at this present time. The only way this current roster will get that moniker from me from this point forward is IF they win the NBA title this season and by the way they are playing right now, the Spurs could easily go from champs to chumps to being flat out punked by a bunch of upstarts. And right now the upstarts are punking the mess out of the Spurs and the supposed champs are too damn nice to fight back.
WHERE DOES KING JAMES FIT IN PLAYOFF HISTORY
There has been some discussion amongst media types as to where does LeBron James fit as a first time participant in the playoffs. Is he better than Kobe and His Airness? To put things into perspective, Michael Jordan didn’t start winning playoff series until he started becoming a passer because he was such a threat offensively. For Kobe he and Shaq had to learn how to win once Phil Jackson came into the fray. Yet the comparisons that everyone wants to heap up on the Akron, Ohio native is unfair to him and those before him. What LeBron is doing is bringing hope back to a city that wants him to stay. He’s in a good situation but to compare his playoffs to that of others for the first time are very unfair to those who just want to enjoy him for what he is today. And right now it definitely seems that King James is living for the moment.
$40 MILLION TO GO AWAY? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
So James Dolan wants to send Suitcase Larry shuffling back to wherever he came from. Geesh how do I get a job like his. You coach the team you always dreamed about for one season and they have a 23-59 record. You bad mouth a couple of players to the press and you think all of this mess would be swept up and tossed over the Brooklyn Bridge? Not happening anytime soon on the bad press but it is definitely in the press that Dolan is sick of Brown’s way of doing things.
According to a New York Times story, “There are three ways the Knicks and Brown could part. If the Knicks conclude that parting is necessary, they could fire him and pay the more than $40 million he is owed, or they could negotiate a buyout for a lesser sum. The third alternative is that Brown could decide to walk away, if he finds another lucrative opportunity”. Hmm. Let’s ponder this for a moment. Two seasons ago, Brown was the toast of the town in Detroit but he rubbed Joe Dumars and the ownership group the wrong way and they bought out his deal for $8 million. Now the mighty New York Knicks want to send him packing and they may be willing to write him a $40 million check just to go away? What is wrong with this picture?
I’ve gotten a few e-mails from passionate Knicks fans and many have said that this franchise needs to be saved. I agree and that starts by removing Isaiah Thomas, Steve Mills and Dolan from the management side of things. I can see why these fans are upset with this organization; they spend money like we run down to the corner store for a Coke with lemon in it. Knicks’ fans should be upset at this type of spending. This team is hemorrhaging and it is coming from not just player salaries but also from the coaching staff.
I need a job like his. Hey Thomas you might want to hire me. I ain’t asking much, just $5 million a year will suffice. And hey if I’m not what you want, hire my best friend. Maybe we can be on the team together and split a $15 million salary. In any case what Brown is doing is grand larceny. And if the Knicks agree to this ridiculous amount of money, they will send this franchise into a tailspin of mass proportions.
Gregory Moore is the Managing Editor of the San Antonio Informer, a weekly African American newspaper located in San Antonio, Texas and is an NBA analyst for Fox Sports Radio where he can be heard on the national and affiliate programming. Gregory has also appeared on Sporting News Radio, ESPN’s “Outside the Lines Nightly”, “Hot List” and “4 Quarters” programming as well as appearing on local sports talk radio programming in the Atlanta, Hollywood, Florida and Highpoint, North Carolina markets on a weekly basis.
By Gregory Moore, Blackathelte.net columnist
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs are playing like a bunch of punks and they know it. It seems that this team enjoys having its back up against the wall in the playoffs but the Dallas Mavericks are not the Sacramento Kings. The Kings, while young, simply woke this team up. The problem with the Mavs is that not only are they young, but they are deadly too. And as long as the Spurs continue to play like they are the NBA’s royalty, they will have their season handed to them on a dust broom and a wastebasket.
I know this is something Spurs fans don’t want to hear but heck, a good majority of them will change their tune the moment this teams wins on Monday and/or Wednesday night. For fans, it’s all about heart palpitations. Yet for the Spurs it should be about a sense of urgency. Watching last Saturday’s game was just sickening because besides listening to fans moan and groan about how the Spurs are not getting calls, in between the sidelines and the baselines, the Spurs were turning the ball over entirely too much and they were sending the Mavericks players to the free throw line fifty times in that game.
This is the type of game that diehard Spurs fans know that the team could lose.
“We don’t do well when 100 points is scored against us,” Gregg Popovich said up in Dallas before Monday’s game. “History has proven that to us over the years and it definitely did so this season.”
The game flow for this team was fine when they were up by one. It was fine when they were up by three. It was fine when they were clawing their way out of a 13-point hole. Looking inside the numbers of this game, everything seemed to be fairly even. The Spurs didn’t turn the ball over a whole lot. They dominated inside the paint with points in the paint and they kept the unanswered points total to just two points. But when you look at the numbers for the Spurs, two things will glare at you from this particular game: free throws and bench scoring.
If having the Mavs parade to the charity window fifty times wasn’t enough, the fact that the Spurs’ reserves have been all but non-existent this series is even worse. While Manu Ginobili gave the Spurs 24 points in the effort, Michael Finley gave the team only six points on 3-for-7 shooting. Brent Barry, who has been inserted into the starting line up, gave the team eight points from the shooting guard position. Even Robert Horry has been a candidate for the milk cartoon in my refrigerator because he hasn’t found his groove.
So what gives? Why is this team struggling so mightily against the Mavs this late in the season/ The only thing I can come up with is the fact that this team is evenly matched up against he Spurs and their youth, athleticism and brashness has thrown a wrinkle into how a championship team plays them on defense. Speaking of a ‘championship’ team, I’m going to continue stay to my premise that this team is not a champion. Too much hype is being thrown into what the Spurs did last season. Folks, that was last season and it doesn’t mean squat at this present time. The Spurs have struggled big time in this series and they do not deserve the moniker that everyone wants to bestow upon them at this present time. The only way this current roster will get that moniker from me from this point forward is IF they win the NBA title this season and by the way they are playing right now, the Spurs could easily go from champs to chumps to being flat out punked by a bunch of upstarts. And right now the upstarts are punking the mess out of the Spurs and the supposed champs are too damn nice to fight back.
WHERE DOES KING JAMES FIT IN PLAYOFF HISTORY
There has been some discussion amongst media types as to where does LeBron James fit as a first time participant in the playoffs. Is he better than Kobe and His Airness? To put things into perspective, Michael Jordan didn’t start winning playoff series until he started becoming a passer because he was such a threat offensively. For Kobe he and Shaq had to learn how to win once Phil Jackson came into the fray. Yet the comparisons that everyone wants to heap up on the Akron, Ohio native is unfair to him and those before him. What LeBron is doing is bringing hope back to a city that wants him to stay. He’s in a good situation but to compare his playoffs to that of others for the first time are very unfair to those who just want to enjoy him for what he is today. And right now it definitely seems that King James is living for the moment.
$40 MILLION TO GO AWAY? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
So James Dolan wants to send Suitcase Larry shuffling back to wherever he came from. Geesh how do I get a job like his. You coach the team you always dreamed about for one season and they have a 23-59 record. You bad mouth a couple of players to the press and you think all of this mess would be swept up and tossed over the Brooklyn Bridge? Not happening anytime soon on the bad press but it is definitely in the press that Dolan is sick of Brown’s way of doing things.
According to a New York Times story, “There are three ways the Knicks and Brown could part. If the Knicks conclude that parting is necessary, they could fire him and pay the more than $40 million he is owed, or they could negotiate a buyout for a lesser sum. The third alternative is that Brown could decide to walk away, if he finds another lucrative opportunity”. Hmm. Let’s ponder this for a moment. Two seasons ago, Brown was the toast of the town in Detroit but he rubbed Joe Dumars and the ownership group the wrong way and they bought out his deal for $8 million. Now the mighty New York Knicks want to send him packing and they may be willing to write him a $40 million check just to go away? What is wrong with this picture?
I’ve gotten a few e-mails from passionate Knicks fans and many have said that this franchise needs to be saved. I agree and that starts by removing Isaiah Thomas, Steve Mills and Dolan from the management side of things. I can see why these fans are upset with this organization; they spend money like we run down to the corner store for a Coke with lemon in it. Knicks’ fans should be upset at this type of spending. This team is hemorrhaging and it is coming from not just player salaries but also from the coaching staff.
I need a job like his. Hey Thomas you might want to hire me. I ain’t asking much, just $5 million a year will suffice. And hey if I’m not what you want, hire my best friend. Maybe we can be on the team together and split a $15 million salary. In any case what Brown is doing is grand larceny. And if the Knicks agree to this ridiculous amount of money, they will send this franchise into a tailspin of mass proportions.
Gregory Moore is the Managing Editor of the San Antonio Informer, a weekly African American newspaper located in San Antonio, Texas and is an NBA analyst for Fox Sports Radio where he can be heard on the national and affiliate programming. Gregory has also appeared on Sporting News Radio, ESPN’s “Outside the Lines Nightly”, “Hot List” and “4 Quarters” programming as well as appearing on local sports talk radio programming in the Atlanta, Hollywood, Florida and Highpoint, North Carolina markets on a weekly basis.