TD has got to touch the ball more

[2centsworth]

I blame both Manu and Tony. Good news is Tony and Manu look for each other a whole bunch.

[2centsworth]

Sac started playing Zone that is why they couldn't get into Duncan!
same thing in Seattle in the 4th. TD barely touched the ball.

[RC's Boss]

and SA didn't shoot well from beyond the arc, so the zone remained.

[SequSpur]

I agree. The Spurs had been playing wide open and were successful. When they realized in the first quarter everyone was dead, they could've slowed it down a little, but shit Duncan was dead also.

[2centsworth]

Force the ball to TD, Plain and Simple. I'm not so concerned about early season loses as much as the Spurs forgetting that TD should always be the focal point of the offense. Aggieshoopsfan has way too much influence on Pop. Bring back 4Down.

[milkyway21]

same thing in Seattle in the 4th. TD barely touched the ball.yeap.

there were numerous times TD was raising his hands but nobody seems to notice he's free :wakeup
Duncan is healthy, he's having an improving FT stats than ever, he can draw fouls, he shld be handling the ball more often than those 2-Manu & TP.

[SRJ]

Yes, but also the ball has got to move a lot more than it did tonight.

I saw too many possessions where the ball, and the players off the ball, stopped moving.

[2centsworth]

Sorry easier said than down. Teams play zone to take out big guys...you can't just forced feed without getting a lot turnovers. The Spurs have enough good 3 point shooters to combat the zone, but it didn't work well tonight.
sorry, but this is nothing new. TD and the spurs have faced all sorts of defenses in the past, TD is a hall of famer because he's unstoppable. The league didn't all of sudden discover how to stop him. That's about all the time I'm gonna spend on that nonsense.

[timvp]

If this weren't November, I'd agree.

[dbreiden83080]

I never put any stock into a loss on the 2 end of a back to back. Especially when the team you are playing had time off. Sac had not played since Fri for god's sake. Spurs are 12-3 and playing very well for the most part, they don't need to change a thing.

[urunobili]

Manu's and TP's fault

[telecomguy]

yeap.

there were numerous times TD was raising his hands but nobody seems to notice he's free :wakeup
Duncan is healthy, he's having an improving FT stats than ever, he can draw fouls, he shld be handling the ball more often than those 2-Manu & TP.


I saw number of plays where Duncan was posted deep and OPEN, and Parker is like looking at him but doesn't pass the ball! INstead he dribbles around more and then passes it to Manu or Finley who chucks a contested jumper and misses. I am going like....is Parker blind? Not only that Duncan had Miller or Mikey Moore defeding him which is like a license to for TD to do his post moves.

very frustrating.

[telecomguy]

so your basically say that Tony and Manu didn't try to pass to Duncan? They should have just lobbed it in there and hope Duncan can catch the ball against 3 defenders that are camping in the key? Oh yeah I forgot Tim jumps as High as Dwight Howard so of course just throw up anything and Duncan will definitely catch it.

YOu can't force feed someone if a team is playing zone if you do it might work once or twice but it's going to lead to turnovers.

And If Pop believed that they could force feed him.. he would told Tony and Manu to do it!

yeah but i thought everyone said Pop told Parker to shoot 25 times a game. Oh well......i guess Parker is good at following orders even if it doesn't make any sense (not that i ever believed that Pop would say something so stupid or rigid to Parker!!)

[SpurOutofTownFan]

Parker is supposed to attempt over 20 shots a game because of his scoring responsibilities on top of running the point and feeding his teammates.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

20 shots a game?? I don't think any of the big three average that much. I know Tony is averaging more than Tim and Manu, but I would've guessed somewhere in the 15 or 16 shots a game, which is not that much.

[Cry Havoc]

We're 12-3. We're doing something right. Our guys just came out dead and got outplayed. If teams continue to zone against us, we'll annihilate them. Shooting was just off tonight.

[Josepatches]

That is why teams go into zone to keep Duncan from touching the ball..and the Spurs are the best 3 point shooting team in the league or one of them; they just didn't shoot well tonight. It happens!

The Spurs is one of the best 3 point shooting team because they had Duncan and he gives more space to the shooters than every other player in the league.

[milkyway21]

20 shots a game?? I don't think any of the big three average that much. I know Tony is averaging more than Tim and Manu, but I would've guessed somewhere in the 15 or 16 shots a game, which is not that much.

correct me if I'm wrong but I think I saw somewhere stats of one Spurs game

Duncan : 11-18 = 61%
TP : 8-20 = 40%

I don't know if this is Pop's plan or what but kind of ridiculous to me. Duncan is unstoppable esp in the middle esp against Sac, shot better but did he just game in a few shots later in the game or what? :oops

[T Park]

Its NOvember.

4down makes its reappearance in april and aggie has his shit fit, but then chills when it wins another title.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

sorry, but this is nothing new. TD and the spurs have faced all sorts of defenses in the past, TD is a hall of famer because he's unstoppable. The league didn't all of sudden discover how to stop him. That's about all the time I'm gonna spend on that nonsense.

Actually, I think you are incorrect. Forcing it to Duncan and expecting him to score against a zone would be downright idiotic. However, getting it to him as a passing conduit to cutters from the high post - much better idea.

I wrote this two days ago about the game with Seattle:

"However, I saw the second half, and something I noticed was that we don't seem to know how to get inside on a zone. Thankfully we have a great 3pt shooting team, so zone busting playing outside isn't very difficult, but on a night when the 3s aren't falling I worry about us vs a zone. Tonight TP overdribbled against the zone and there weren't enough cutters. You have to throw 2-3 dummy cutters through a zone to get them out of shape and create a space down low, but we didn't do that at all."

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82240

I'd say use TD in the high post, where he can shoot or pass the ball, and run lots of baseline cuts. I'm surprised Pop hasn't twigged to this as the classic way to attack a zone with a dominant big man is through the high post.