Thoughts on the Miami game...

[TwoHandJam]

In no particular order....

- Manu. What can I say, he was awesome. His confidence is sky high and Pop seems to be wisely giving him the green light to be the kind of player he is with his national team. He seems destined to become Duncan's "Kobe".

- Duncan had a solid game considering the Heat were swarming him all night "a la Suns" type defense. Shaq tried to bully him since Rasho frustrated him so much in the first half. Tim's FT ghosts seemed to come back and haunt him though. I think he's clanking more since he seems to have changed his shooting form by trying to put more arc on his shot and it's still a little foreign for him. I hope he sticks with it though since his usual line-drive FTs are low percentage shots.

- Tony had a nice game offensively but still made some mental errors and still seems to be thinking too much about his game instead of playing it. Forget the contract Tony and just play. I think the biggest weakness in Parker's game continues to be his defense. Luckily he didn't have to guard Wade tonight.

- Rasho played great D on Shaq but he needs to work on his rebounding. We got outrebounded badly with only Tim pulling down double digit boards. Hopefully LIII can help in this area. Not sure if it's just me but teams seem to be trying to bully our frontcourt more and we're not fighting back to my liking. Massenburg and Malik need to be more physical.

- Beno looked out of his element tonight, ditto for Devin.

- The Heat really wanted this game and played us tough considering they were on a back-to-back. To be fair though I think they got really lucky from 3pt land. I don't want to think too much about what might have happened had Wade played. We played well but our D could have been better. I know it should get better as the season progresses.

All things considered, a good early-season win for the squad. :fro

[boutons]

Walton was really complimenting Rasho's efforts on Shaq. I think Rasho showed no fear, much looser and more aggressive than he was last year. His second year with the Spurs will be much better, methinks.

[Solid D]

This Heat team, and particularly Malik Allen, Udonis Haslem, Rasual Butler and Shaq really played their hearts out. They competed as well as they could, even though they made some big mistakes down the stretch. The calls went the Spurs way but the Heat still played through it.

Now, the Spurs played pretty well but they did not shoot particularly well from the outside with the exception of Tony and Manu. Beno did not perform very well and some of the perimeter defense was poor at the very worst times, but the game plan was good....they were giving the shots to the role players (the role players knocked down the shots but the calculated risk was worth taking).

The Spurs really needed Brent and others to bring the offense early in the 4th while Manu sat. It didn't happen. Pop finally put Manu back in - in the last 5 minutes after the lead had melted from 12 down to little or nothing. Turning point was after Shaq got it within 1 pt., Manu's 6 straight points including his 3-pointer after a FT miss all within about 40 seconds.

[pjjrfan]

It's a good sign that the team can find a way to win with Tim having a bad offensive game. The D was there, Manu carried the offensive burden and did it like he can do it a lot if he has to, and guys stepped up to help. Now they have another test, obviously this was a big game tonight, but tomorrows game is even bigger in my mind, because it will show me how mentally tough this team is going to be. The Hawks are a team that can bite them in the ass if they don't come mentally prepared to play just as hard as they did tonight.

[TwoHandJam]

It's a good sign that the team can find a way to win with Tim having a bad offensive game. The D was there, Manu carried the offensive burden and did it like he can do it a lot if he has to, and guys stepped up to help. Now they have another test, obviously this was a big game tonight, but tomorrows game is even bigger in my mind, because it will show me how mentally tough this team is going to be. The Hawks are a team that can bite them in the ass if they don't come mentally prepared to play just as hard as they did tonight.I dunno. The Hawks used to be real tough at home last year but are they the same team without Jackson and Terry?

Walker and Drobjnak? Damn, I hope we don't lose to them.

[texbound]

- Tim's FT ghosts seemed to come back and haunt him though. I think he's clanking more since he seems to have changed his shooting form by trying to put more arc on his shot and it's still a little foreign for him. I hope he sticks with it though since his usual line-drive FTs are low percentage shots.

Tim was shooting great from the line until he tweaked his ANKLE (not the knee) against GS on Wednesday. He had good arc up until that point. He went to the line for 4 straight FT after that incident and clanked all 4 shots off the front of the rim. Maybe his FT shooting woes have something to do that.

[TwoHandJam]

Tim was shooting great from the line until he tweaked his knee against GS on Wednesday. Huh? I thought it was his ankle that got tweaked. If it is his knee I hope it's nothing serious.

[texbound]

You're right. IT was the ankle. I was having flashbacks to 2000.

[grjr]

Tim is bending his knees when he shoots the Fts BUT he's locking them back up before he lets go of the ball. This negates the knee bending completely. Somebody please tell him to either bend his knees more or straighten them slower.

[Shelly]

Shaq has lost tons of weight! SW and I didn't even recognize him at first. He looks a lot smaller in person.

Manu rules!

[pjjrfan]

I dunno. The Hawks used to be real tough at home last year but are they the same team without Jackson and Terry?

Walker and Drobjnak? Damn, I hope we don't lose to them.

I'm not worried about who is on the Hawks, I'm worried about how the Spurs come out and play. They haven't looked as sharp since the laker game, but they are playing better defense, and that's what I would like for them to continue to do. I'll be worried if they have another lackluster defensive effort like the one in Seattle, even if they win, which they should.

[Marcus Bryant]

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20041104/capt.sad10111040303.kings_spurs_sad101.jpg
http://www.nxtlevel.com/images/NXTbanner.jpg

[smeagol]

I think I've seen this picture elsewhere . . .

[E20]

Yup in my sig. :smokin