Spurs @ Warriors: My thoughts

[whottt]

The Spurs sucked

[meta2007]

Warriors' post area sucks, and even Bonner can have a big game! We will easily beat them when Duncan comes back.

Give some credits to Nelson, the greatest inventor in NBA history!

[telecomguy]

Warriors' post area sucks, and even Bonner can have a big game! We will easily beat them when Duncan comes back.

Give some credits to Nelson, the greatest inventor in NBA history!

This game reminded me of the games that Warriors played against the Mavs in the playoffs last year. Very active, creating lot of turnovers and playing very aggressive defense. The reason why Spurs played badly and turned the ball over so many times was NOT because they sucked. They sucked because Warriors forced them into bad possession after bad possession with their active hands, quickness, athleticism and aggressive defense.

Basically Spurs cannot easily penetrate or find an open man for 3's against a very quick, athletic team like Warriors as the Mavs found out last year.

The key was that SPurs didn't have Duncan sucking in double-teams and creating matchup problems in the paint, freeing up our wing players.

Mavs unfortunately do not have any post-up player like Duncan to take advantage of Warrior's. Biedrins would not have stopped TD without help which would have LOOSENED up the defense. If anyone thinks TP does not need TD to get his open looks and penetration lanes, they are deluding themselves and as these past 3 games have shown, when we have Elson or Oberto playing in place of TD, the opposing Bigs are much more willing to slide in to stop TP from driving all the way to the rim for layups. With TD in the paint area, they can't leave him as TP will hand it off for easy dunks or short jump hooks.

This is why Suns will never win the ring without a dominant Big and neither will the Warriors unless Biedrins really improves and why the Mavs had so much problems with the smaller Warriors. Mavs had no one in the paint who could losen up the perimeter defenders.

[E20]

The Spurs were going to try to expose SJax for his TO problem early in the begining, they were pressuring him extra hard, but it looks like Jax ended up fucking with Ginobili and Parker playing shitty didn't help either.

[slayermin]

Tonight wasn't a big deal. But I hope we win on Thursday.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

IMO, outside of Bonner, the Spurs just plain fucking sucked.

I can stomach when the Spurs make teams beat them, but watching games when they lose due to turnovers and bricked shots :pctoss

I think the November loss to the Mavs also pissed me off.

[telecomguy]

IMO, outside of Bonner, the Spurs just plain fucking sucked.

I can stomach when the Spurs make teams beat them, but watching games when they lose due to turnovers and bricked shots :pctoss

I think the November loss to the Mavs also pissed me off.

I don't think you are being objective here. The reason why he Spurs turned the ball over so much and why they missed so many shots was because WArriors played great defense and forced the SPurs to put up prayers. Spurs passing and dribble-drive penetration don't work so well without Duncan who can command double teams.

Spurs played over their heads in wins against the Mavs and Rockets and i knew that they would not be able to keep up that level of intensity required to beat atheletic teams like Golden State.

Get well TD, I think the team still needs you badly if the Spurs have any notion of going all the way. This talk if TD passing the torch to TP or Manu is a joke and we can see why tonight. The only reason why we won against the Mavs and Rockets was because Manu played out of his mind but we cannot expect that every night as he will burn out very quickly.

[loveforthegame]

Manu and Parker sucked tonight. Even when Ginobli started the 3rd quarter and scored a few points I still didn't like his play.

Bonner was player of the game. His rebounding, hustle, and scoring was awesome. I wish he could have spread some of that energy to everyone else.

Udoka had a pretty good game as well. You can live with those mistakes when you factor in everything else he can do.

We got nothing out of the bigs though Oberto had a better showing than Elson.

I actually liked Vaughn's play in this game. Maybe that was because Parker was sucking so bad.

Finley started off ok, then sat the entire 3rd and most the 4th. Not sure why Pop bothered bringing him back in. Finley wasn't going to score after sitting so long like that.

Barry had some hits and misses but I liked how he kept moving without the ball.

We missed Duncan. You have to give credit to the Warriors for forcing all those Spurs turnovers and taking advantage of every mismatch they got.

[meta2007]

In fact, I think we will beat them next time even without Duncan. Tonight, we lost in the 1st half. The reason is that most time Manu and Tony are not together on the court. It means only one playmaker was on the court. Nelson investigated them well, and stop them easily. This is just like Mavs last playoff. They were always chasing Dirk. I think Pop realized it. In the second half, he always put Manu and Tony together on the court and it worked.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

The Spurs sucked
Sequ, whottt is not going to be pleased when he finds out you hacked his account.

[Russ]

This was a "thank you" game to the Warriors for what they did last year. The league bans actual gifts.

[The Truth #6]

No, their defense wasn't that great, at least in the beginning. There were about 5 plays in the first half were Manu practically handed the ball right to them, and that sent things spiraling downwards and motivated them out of their slumber.

[phyzik]

Spurs where due a loss without duncan 2 games ago. chill the fuck out.

I hate fucking http://casacondesa.com/mexdive.jpg

[greens]

Get well TD, I think the team still needs you badly if the Spurs have any notion of going all the way. This talk if TD passing the torch to TP or Manu is a joke and we can see why tonight. The only reason why we won against the Mavs and Rockets was because Manu played out of his mind but we cannot expect that every night as he will burn out very quickly.


Obviously the Spurs need Tim back, he's the foundation of this team. A few corrections though...The Spurs beat the Mavs and UTAH due to Manu's amazing back to back 37pts...so to say that Manu cannot create shots of his own is not exactly correct. We saw him start and play off the bench those two games with the same effect of 37pts...plus a bunch of assists and steals...Yes, he can't play like that every single game...But he can definitely create shots for himself and other players quite nicely...And if you notice when he plays, he's the first option(since TP/TD are getting their rest during the game), and he has been excellent in his job...He basically plays at the same time as Vaughn, Oberto, etc...so he's got a BUNCH of defenders on him...We even saw Dallas have THREE defenders on Manu...

However, everyone is allowed to have a bad game...TP and Manu just had an awful game today...nothing too surprising or shocking...just one bad game after basically playing with a ton of intensity in the two previous VERY physical games...so they were due for a bad night...not to mention that both are a bit injured(Tony, ankle and Manu, left hand)...So I honestly just think they ran out of gas by today's game...

I actually had a feeling the Spurs would loose today...just cuz they can't win all the time...One horrible game doesn't really say too much...

Anyway, I miss TD..and I'm hoping he plays for sure in the Laker game coming up...but to say that Manu can't do anything without TD is a bit pushing it...

[polandprzem]

Where is fire and desire?

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

I don't think you are being objective here. The reason why he Spurs turned the ball over so much and why they missed so many shots was because WArriors played great defense and forced the SPurs to put up prayers. Spurs passing and dribble-drive penetration don't work so well without Duncan who can command double teams.

Spurs played over their heads in wins against the Mavs and Rockets and i knew that they would not be able to keep up that level of intensity required to beat atheletic teams like Golden State.

Get well TD, I think the team still needs you badly if the Spurs have any notion of going all the way. This talk if TD passing the torch to TP or Manu is a joke and we can see why tonight. The only reason why we won against the Mavs and Rockets was because Manu played out of his mind but we cannot expect that every night as he will burn out very quickly.
.

I still think the team didn't play to their standards with or without Tim Duncan. But After two wins against Utah and Dallas, it was just an odd game, against an unpredictable team. But yeah, of course Duncan's presence was sorely missed tonight. I think Manu still had the ability to drive tonight, but he was forcing his game too much and couldn't finish, he also looked horrible trying to get the team involved real early which allowed for turnovers. Tony missed a lot of easy put backs and took some stupid shots.

I think both of them were hurting, but I guess it's no excuse. They just weren't thinking today. Every play was rushed.

Anyway, whatever, it was an ugly loss to watch... But I don't care anymore. :lol
I'll take a 2-1 record without Duncan, and a loss against lower-tier team this week.
Also Parker and Manu have upped their games, so I look for them to continue their consistency.

[greens]

I'd say...a really really bad game...with no intensity at all...

Maybe this has to do with it:
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83212

Manu's left hand still sore? He's not one to complain...but it sounds like it's bugging him a bit...

Tony's ankle?

Or did the whole team decide to take a full day off?

Anyway, awful defense/offense/too many turnovers/bad passes...everything that can go badly just did go badly...

But hey, it's only DECEMBER...

[dastrey]

Tim Duncan always destroys the Warriors. It's a shame he wasn't able to play. The interior defense was soft, as expected. We looked like the Mavs. Biedrins looked like 1st team All-NBA against the Duncan-less Spurs. Give credit to the Warriors for taking advantage of the situation.

[DazedAndConfused]

Laker fan here, my observations.......

Spurs looked slow. Telegraphed passes, didn't protect the ball while dribbling, didn't hold down rebounds. Obviously Timmy would have made a huge difference, but the Spurs played pretty sloppy tonight. They just didn't seem to match the energy level of the W's.

Still with Timmy in the lineup you would probably win that game. The way to beat the W's is to play an inside out game. Run your offense through your center and force them to double team him. They don't really play great team defense, but they can disrupt passing lanes and get steals better than any team in the league. Force feeding it into the post negates that advantage and allows you to exploit their weaknesses. We torched the W's by feeding it into Bynum a lot, and Bynum isn't half the post player that TD is.

Anyways, thanks for losing tonight against our division rival :(

[SouthernFried]

This was a "thank you" game to the Warriors for what they did last year. The league bans actual gifts.

:lmao
:toast

[SenorSpur]

TP and Gino pressed too hard. They were constantly forcing the issue, dribbling too much and trying to do too much on their own. Which played right into the hands of the Warriors swarming defense.

Which leads me to the Spurs wings. Funny how the Spurs lead the league in fewest number of turnovers - until they play a team with quick, swarming, athletic, perimeter players. Players who swipe at the ball and pry it loose before the Spurs players can react. Players who trap them and force the Spurs into an uncharacteristically high number of costly turnovers. Players who seemingly get into passing lanes and disrupt the slow, telegraphed passes of the Spurs. Same thing happened during Warriors game also occurred during the first game versus Dallas. A season-high for turnovers.

As a fan, the shortcomings on the perimeter (the excessive age, lack of quickness, and limited athleticism) are now an old, sort spot for me. While 3-point shooting is desparately needed to space the floor, the fact is all the wing players on this team (not named Manu and Bruce) get continously outhustled, outquicked and outrun by the younger wing players of the opposition at both ends. Losses like this only compound that deficiency. I'll never get used to that. And I don't know why Pop seemingly ignores this.

Age and experience do have their place and obviously this is a championship-level team. However, there are times that you must simply matchup better in order to beat sheer athleticism. Quickness or quickness. Skill on skill. Mix that with the "corporate knowledge" that Pop likes to tout and you have a formidable combination of skill and BB IQ. I don't know who the Spurs will eventually acquire as replacement players on the perimeter for next year, but they can't get here fast enough for me.

SJax reminded me of what it used to be like to have another "killer" on the court beside Manu. He does a lot for the Warriors and I wish he'd never gotten away from the Spurs.

[urunobili]

The Spurs were going to try to expose SJax for his TO problem early in the begining, they were pressuring him extra hard, but it looks like Jax ended up fucking with Ginobili and Parker playing shitty didn't help either.
remember february 2006 when jax was putting up a show in Indiana against us and was celebrating the victory already and then manu hit that half court three to tie the game and then won it??? he still has a big mouth and has the attitude.. reason why he is not a spur no more... so doesn;t matter how good he played against us... he is still yet to accomplish something without us... :pctoss

[SAGambler]

This was a "thank you" game to the Warriors for what they did last year. The league bans actual gifts.

That could very well be a true statement.

Plus it helps the Warriors in their division this year.

Could Pop be thinking he wants GS to meet the Mavs again in the playoffs?

Only The Shadow knows.

[703 Spurz]

What is the big deal here? The team is 17-4. The warriors were the better team tonight who cares? This wasn't a playoff game, no big deal there is another game Thursday night.

It's funny I saw the same the same exact thread after the Kings game..

Are people going to keep having threads about how bad the team is after every defeat?

Well if so I guess I should expect to see another 18-23 of these!

yeah Manu and Tony played horrible so fucking what? They can’t play great every single night, there allowed to have bad games..That is why we usually have the big 3 when 2 of them play bad the other one picks up the slack.

Damn people act like we are about to be tossed from the Playoffs.

Does any remember how awful the Spurs were playing at this point last year?

Relax.

That's what happens when your team usually wins 60 games a year for 10 straight year. You aren't used to losing so this how people react.

I mean Christ we're 17-4. Everyone outside of Boston and Phoenix would murder someone to have that record.

[George Gervin's Afro]

The Spurs sucked


well, only for the final 40 minutes..



I think this was also one of manu's annual suck it games... it's alright though because we always get our ass kicked at least once in while at Golden State

[WalterBenitez]

This was a "thank you" game to the Warriors for what they did last year. The league bans actual gifts.

:rolleyes THANKS GS ... no more gift thi year? :D