whottt
01-29-2008, 02:31 AM
First of all, the Jazz are back. Hacking, pushing and flopping, this was a vintage Utah Jazz performance circa 1996 when they were the dirtiest team in the NBA.
Take away the Malone elbows and Stockton shots to the groin, and the Jazz were still the dirtiest team in the NBA then, and if they continue to play like they did tonight, they will reclaim that crown in short order.
I hate the Jazz.
The Spurs played poorly early and spent the rest of the game playing catch up before finally, as has been their trend of late, losing direction and energy in the fourth.
On the plus side, the Spurs seemed to make a concentrated effort to go to Duncan tonight. On the negative side, they forgot about him in the fourth in a maelstrom of Parker and Manu cluelessness and Finley bricks.
And awayyyyyyyyyy we go:
Duncan - Duncan kicked butt tonight. He made a bevy of difficult shots against a filthy Jazz defense. He was clearly the most intense Spur on the court tonight. He did make a fair share of turnovers, but most of that was the physicality and rule pushing of the Jazz. Defensively he was so so on Boozer, but a lot of that had to do with Boozer.
Parker - It's just not there for Parker right now, on either end of the court. He seems tired, and he continues to struggle late in the fourth quarters of games. To his credit, you can tell he's trying to fight through whatever it is that's bothering him, but that battle is not going well right now. He got smoked by Deron Williams tonight.
Manu - I saw Manu hitting his midrange J early and predicted a Spurs win. Usually when his midrange is going early, he has a huge game, and the Spurs win. He played well tonight offensively, and he tried to take over the game several times defensively, but he went as the Spurs have been going lately in the fourth, and lost focus and energy. His effort on D was nice but Kirilenko ate his lunch. Then again, Kirilenko ate just about everyones' lunch tonight.
Bruce - Bruce sucked tonight. I love Bruce, but I cannot think of single meaningful thing he did tonight, and he didn't come close to stopping anybody either.
Oberto - Oberto had a nice line but unfortunately was plagued with foul trouble. Going back to the playoffs last season, I think Oberto is a key player when going against the Jazz and maybe Pop does too, so maybe the reason he didn't really come back into the game late is because Pop was playing it close to the vest in case of a series agains the Jazz in the playoffs.
Finley - When Finley's shots go in it's a typical Finley good game. When Finley's shots don't go in it's a typical Finley bad game. His shots didn't go in tonight. It's just that simple with Mike.
Horry - Horry's problem is clearly his conditioning. He came into the game in the first half and for the first 5 minutes he was playing one of his better games of the season defensively, including a nice block on Williams. After that initial 5 minutes, he was gassed, for pretty much the rest of the game. I think all of Horry's problems, including his shooting, can now be attributed to his conditioning, something that won't be fixed by spending more time on the bench.
Elson - I never think Elson plays as badly as everyone else does. I think he's an athletic player that has the potential to be extremely disruptive to both the offense and defense of our opponents just based on sheer athleticism and speed. Tonight seemed to be one of those disruptive games to me, at least in the first half. Pop disagreed.
Udoka - We all know Udoka is starting to find his role on the team, but what I saw tonight was something new, and that was a guy that seems to have both the desire and willingness to step up into a leadership role on this team. He's growing more and more comfortable on both sides of the ball and getting more confident. Unfortuantely, Udoka was ejected late in the fourth quarter of this game and with him went the Spurs' momentum. I don't like small ball against the Jazz, but it's difficult to fault Pop for going with it when Udoka was playing as well as he was tonight.
Jacques Vaughn - Vaughn sucked worse than Parker. I think he hit an open shot at some point in the first half. Props Jacques :tu
Bonner - Bonner is slow, no longer rebounds, and can't hit a shot under pressure to save his life. I like Bonner, but I do not care if he doesn't get off the bench, and neither does the Spurs' W-L record.
Pop - Pop is as guilty of going through the motions right now as anyone on the team. The Jazz manhandle smallball teams yet Pop elected to try and close out the game with a smallball lineup. Did he do that because he truly felt it was the best lineup? Was he not tipping his hand to a potential playoff opponent? I don't know, but what I do know is that the way he elected to match up with the Jazz tonight bore no resemblance to the way he elected to match up with them in the 2007 playoffs. Make of that what you will.
In summary, the Spurs have a variety of ills right now. They are showing their age late in games and more importantly they are showing an alarming lack of leadership and focus late in games as well. It's time the Spurs get back to what they truly are, and that's Tim Duncan's team, inside and out. You'll be amazed what that does for our 3 shooting and fourth quarter poise.
Take away the Malone elbows and Stockton shots to the groin, and the Jazz were still the dirtiest team in the NBA then, and if they continue to play like they did tonight, they will reclaim that crown in short order.
I hate the Jazz.
The Spurs played poorly early and spent the rest of the game playing catch up before finally, as has been their trend of late, losing direction and energy in the fourth.
On the plus side, the Spurs seemed to make a concentrated effort to go to Duncan tonight. On the negative side, they forgot about him in the fourth in a maelstrom of Parker and Manu cluelessness and Finley bricks.
And awayyyyyyyyyy we go:
Duncan - Duncan kicked butt tonight. He made a bevy of difficult shots against a filthy Jazz defense. He was clearly the most intense Spur on the court tonight. He did make a fair share of turnovers, but most of that was the physicality and rule pushing of the Jazz. Defensively he was so so on Boozer, but a lot of that had to do with Boozer.
Parker - It's just not there for Parker right now, on either end of the court. He seems tired, and he continues to struggle late in the fourth quarters of games. To his credit, you can tell he's trying to fight through whatever it is that's bothering him, but that battle is not going well right now. He got smoked by Deron Williams tonight.
Manu - I saw Manu hitting his midrange J early and predicted a Spurs win. Usually when his midrange is going early, he has a huge game, and the Spurs win. He played well tonight offensively, and he tried to take over the game several times defensively, but he went as the Spurs have been going lately in the fourth, and lost focus and energy. His effort on D was nice but Kirilenko ate his lunch. Then again, Kirilenko ate just about everyones' lunch tonight.
Bruce - Bruce sucked tonight. I love Bruce, but I cannot think of single meaningful thing he did tonight, and he didn't come close to stopping anybody either.
Oberto - Oberto had a nice line but unfortunately was plagued with foul trouble. Going back to the playoffs last season, I think Oberto is a key player when going against the Jazz and maybe Pop does too, so maybe the reason he didn't really come back into the game late is because Pop was playing it close to the vest in case of a series agains the Jazz in the playoffs.
Finley - When Finley's shots go in it's a typical Finley good game. When Finley's shots don't go in it's a typical Finley bad game. His shots didn't go in tonight. It's just that simple with Mike.
Horry - Horry's problem is clearly his conditioning. He came into the game in the first half and for the first 5 minutes he was playing one of his better games of the season defensively, including a nice block on Williams. After that initial 5 minutes, he was gassed, for pretty much the rest of the game. I think all of Horry's problems, including his shooting, can now be attributed to his conditioning, something that won't be fixed by spending more time on the bench.
Elson - I never think Elson plays as badly as everyone else does. I think he's an athletic player that has the potential to be extremely disruptive to both the offense and defense of our opponents just based on sheer athleticism and speed. Tonight seemed to be one of those disruptive games to me, at least in the first half. Pop disagreed.
Udoka - We all know Udoka is starting to find his role on the team, but what I saw tonight was something new, and that was a guy that seems to have both the desire and willingness to step up into a leadership role on this team. He's growing more and more comfortable on both sides of the ball and getting more confident. Unfortuantely, Udoka was ejected late in the fourth quarter of this game and with him went the Spurs' momentum. I don't like small ball against the Jazz, but it's difficult to fault Pop for going with it when Udoka was playing as well as he was tonight.
Jacques Vaughn - Vaughn sucked worse than Parker. I think he hit an open shot at some point in the first half. Props Jacques :tu
Bonner - Bonner is slow, no longer rebounds, and can't hit a shot under pressure to save his life. I like Bonner, but I do not care if he doesn't get off the bench, and neither does the Spurs' W-L record.
Pop - Pop is as guilty of going through the motions right now as anyone on the team. The Jazz manhandle smallball teams yet Pop elected to try and close out the game with a smallball lineup. Did he do that because he truly felt it was the best lineup? Was he not tipping his hand to a potential playoff opponent? I don't know, but what I do know is that the way he elected to match up with the Jazz tonight bore no resemblance to the way he elected to match up with them in the 2007 playoffs. Make of that what you will.
In summary, the Spurs have a variety of ills right now. They are showing their age late in games and more importantly they are showing an alarming lack of leadership and focus late in games as well. It's time the Spurs get back to what they truly are, and that's Tim Duncan's team, inside and out. You'll be amazed what that does for our 3 shooting and fourth quarter poise.