timvp
03-07-2008, 05:02 AM
To extend their winning streak to 11 games, the Spurs ate the cupcake of a team that showed up at the AT&T Center on Thursday. The Indiana Pacers, who never really put up much of a fight, were simply overmatched by the Spurs. If the two teams played 100 straight games, I’m pretty confident in the Spurs winning all 100.
The Pacers are a team that plays little defense but will try to outscore you. Problem is the Spurs just put up points at will and then have the defenders needed to slow down the perimeter players on Indiana. Pacers’ head coach Jim O’Brien would have had a better chance if he had taken a wet noodle to a gun fight.
Between yawns, the Spurs gave enough effort to cruise to a 108-97 victory. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili got whatever they wanted and the Pacers were powerless to stop Los Spurs foreign legion.
Overall, the only thing to take from this game was the victory. The Spurs brought a C effort and easily won the game. The win was nice but with the brutal upcoming schedule, there isn’t much time to be happy about winning 11 straight.
-Tim Duncan had his third poor game over the span of his last four contests. He finished with six points, 12 rebounds and three turnovers, while shooting 3-for-11 from the floor. One of the main problems for Duncan was a lack of respect from the whistles. Duncan only had one free throw attempt on the night and was routinely pushed off of his position on the low block. Hopefully this lack of whistle respect doesn’t carry into the playoffs. I thought Duncan’s overall effort and energy was decent. He missed a couple of shots he usually makes and was a bit sloppy with the ball. With this rough stretch of games the Spurs are about to enter, hopefully Duncan can overcome whatever is ailing him and be the force the Spurs need him to be to win against good teams.
-Manu Ginobili had a very good game. He scored 28 effortless points on 10-for-13 shooting from the field. Ginobili poured in a lot of his buckets in the lane but did mix in a couple of beautiful mid-range shots. His only negatives on the night were his five turnovers but those can be forgiven for how well he played overall. Ginobili has to chuckle at night when thinking about how the coaches kept him off the All-Star team.
-Tony Parker played well in his 27 minutes of action. The Pacers had no hope of slowing him down as he finished with 19 points, five assists and three steals. Parker hit 6-of-8 field goal attempts but only 6-of-10 free throws. Free throws have been a trouble spot for Parker since his return from injury but his form at the line is starting to look better. With the Spurs playing so many games in such limited time over the next week and a half, the health of Parker’s ankle will be put to the test.
-Bruce Bowen had a quiet game but he was effective while he was out there. He led the team in plus/minus with a +19 and did a good job on Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy had scored 36 points in a game twice over the last week but was held to 13 points in 31 minutes against the Spurs. Bowen himself finished with eight points, four rebounds and two assists on 2-for-5 shooting from the field (2-of-3 on three-pointers). Over his last seven games, Bowen is shooting 55% (11-for-20) on three-pointers.
-Kurt Thomas started his third consecutive game at center and did a fine job. In 27 minutes, Thomas had eight points, six rebounds and a steal, while shooting 3-for-5 from the field. He seems to already have nice chemistry with Ginobili, however his high-low passing to Duncan needs work. His defense was solid and the Spurs are now averaging 50 rebounds per game as a team in games that Thomas starts.
-In the Game Thoughts from the previous game against the Nets (http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88784), I said that Pop might start Matt Bonner in this game. Although Bonner didn’t start, he did play more than Duncan and anyone off the bench. While I only being half serious, I guess Pop decided to play along. The increase in minutes had to be quite a surprise for Bonner seeing as he had barely played in the last month. His 25 minutes on Thursday were the most minutes he has played since he had 25 points and 17 rebounds against the Golden State Warriors on December 11th. In fact, he played more against the Pacers than the previous 14 games combined. To Bonner’s credit, he actually played well. He has apparently kept himself in game shape and went out there and competed at a high level. Bonner finished with 15 points, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot, while hitting 6-of-13 shots from the field. It was good see that Bonner is still ready and able even though he’s now buried on the bench. Any team in the NBA would love to have a fifth bigman as good as Bonner.
-Although Michael Finley is in a bit of a shooting slump, he’s showing signs of breaking out of it. Against the Pacers, Finley scored 12 points and pulled down five boards, while shooting 3-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. He was still hesitating on his jumpers but it wasn’t as bad as recent games. The Spurs will need him to knock down shots in their upcoming stretch.
-Ime Udoka continues his streaky shooting ways. For a few games in a row, it seems like he’ll never miss an open shot again. Then he’ll have a game like he did against the Pacers where he goes 1-for-5. Game to game, it’s impossible to know whether Udoka is going to be red hot or ice cold. He compounded his poor shooting by being a little lazy on defense a couple of possessions. For the game, he had four points and five rebounds in 21 minutes. His rebounding continues to be a bright spot for the Spurs.
-Fabricio Oberto had a rare good game off the bench. He had six points, three rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes, while hitting all three of his field goal attempts. The six points were a season-high for Oberto in games he didn’t start. If he can play this well off the bench, it’ll be easier for Pop to consider starting Thomas.
-Damon Stoudamire played 14 minutes and once again struggled with his shooting. Out of his five attempts, he only found cord once. He also turned the ball over four times. While it’d be easy to blame Stoudamire, he’s actually just following Pop’s orders. Pop has instructed Stoudamire to be more aggressive in creating his own shots. Stoudamire is attempting to follow those orders – with less than fantastic results.
-Jacque Vaughn played 12 minutes in which he hustled continuously, as is usually the case. He didn’t do anything too good or too bad but was once again a better option than this new gunning version of Stoudamire. It appears as if Vaughn is in line to become the full-time backup point guard yet again.
-Robert Horry didn’t play. I can’t even confirm if he stayed awake during the game.
-Pop made the highlight reels when he charged the court and got ejected in the second quarter. He was peeved due to a few no calls on plays involving Duncan, Thomas and Ginobili – in that order. As far as ejections go, Pop definitely deserves style points for cutting to the chase and just going out onto the floor to get the heave-ho.
Mike Budenholzer took over for Pop after he got ejected and I was extremely impressed by the way he handled the minutes. Pop has been around the block so many times that he’s a bit paranoid about blowing a lead. Bud showed good poise in keeping the scrub lineup on the court when the Pacers were making their meaningless runs in the fourth quarter. Pop owes Bud a bottle of wine for not playing anyone on the team more than 28 minutes.
The bottomline is the Spurs won the game but the battle has just begun. In the next 11 days, the Spurs play seven games against quality competition. The only team below .500 in the stretch is the Philadelphia 76ers – and even that game is on the road on the second night of a back-to-back. The Spurs begin this run on Friday in Denver. This is when we’ll start to really see how good the Spurs actually are at this point in the season.
The Pacers are a team that plays little defense but will try to outscore you. Problem is the Spurs just put up points at will and then have the defenders needed to slow down the perimeter players on Indiana. Pacers’ head coach Jim O’Brien would have had a better chance if he had taken a wet noodle to a gun fight.
Between yawns, the Spurs gave enough effort to cruise to a 108-97 victory. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili got whatever they wanted and the Pacers were powerless to stop Los Spurs foreign legion.
Overall, the only thing to take from this game was the victory. The Spurs brought a C effort and easily won the game. The win was nice but with the brutal upcoming schedule, there isn’t much time to be happy about winning 11 straight.
-Tim Duncan had his third poor game over the span of his last four contests. He finished with six points, 12 rebounds and three turnovers, while shooting 3-for-11 from the floor. One of the main problems for Duncan was a lack of respect from the whistles. Duncan only had one free throw attempt on the night and was routinely pushed off of his position on the low block. Hopefully this lack of whistle respect doesn’t carry into the playoffs. I thought Duncan’s overall effort and energy was decent. He missed a couple of shots he usually makes and was a bit sloppy with the ball. With this rough stretch of games the Spurs are about to enter, hopefully Duncan can overcome whatever is ailing him and be the force the Spurs need him to be to win against good teams.
-Manu Ginobili had a very good game. He scored 28 effortless points on 10-for-13 shooting from the field. Ginobili poured in a lot of his buckets in the lane but did mix in a couple of beautiful mid-range shots. His only negatives on the night were his five turnovers but those can be forgiven for how well he played overall. Ginobili has to chuckle at night when thinking about how the coaches kept him off the All-Star team.
-Tony Parker played well in his 27 minutes of action. The Pacers had no hope of slowing him down as he finished with 19 points, five assists and three steals. Parker hit 6-of-8 field goal attempts but only 6-of-10 free throws. Free throws have been a trouble spot for Parker since his return from injury but his form at the line is starting to look better. With the Spurs playing so many games in such limited time over the next week and a half, the health of Parker’s ankle will be put to the test.
-Bruce Bowen had a quiet game but he was effective while he was out there. He led the team in plus/minus with a +19 and did a good job on Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy had scored 36 points in a game twice over the last week but was held to 13 points in 31 minutes against the Spurs. Bowen himself finished with eight points, four rebounds and two assists on 2-for-5 shooting from the field (2-of-3 on three-pointers). Over his last seven games, Bowen is shooting 55% (11-for-20) on three-pointers.
-Kurt Thomas started his third consecutive game at center and did a fine job. In 27 minutes, Thomas had eight points, six rebounds and a steal, while shooting 3-for-5 from the field. He seems to already have nice chemistry with Ginobili, however his high-low passing to Duncan needs work. His defense was solid and the Spurs are now averaging 50 rebounds per game as a team in games that Thomas starts.
-In the Game Thoughts from the previous game against the Nets (http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88784), I said that Pop might start Matt Bonner in this game. Although Bonner didn’t start, he did play more than Duncan and anyone off the bench. While I only being half serious, I guess Pop decided to play along. The increase in minutes had to be quite a surprise for Bonner seeing as he had barely played in the last month. His 25 minutes on Thursday were the most minutes he has played since he had 25 points and 17 rebounds against the Golden State Warriors on December 11th. In fact, he played more against the Pacers than the previous 14 games combined. To Bonner’s credit, he actually played well. He has apparently kept himself in game shape and went out there and competed at a high level. Bonner finished with 15 points, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot, while hitting 6-of-13 shots from the field. It was good see that Bonner is still ready and able even though he’s now buried on the bench. Any team in the NBA would love to have a fifth bigman as good as Bonner.
-Although Michael Finley is in a bit of a shooting slump, he’s showing signs of breaking out of it. Against the Pacers, Finley scored 12 points and pulled down five boards, while shooting 3-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. He was still hesitating on his jumpers but it wasn’t as bad as recent games. The Spurs will need him to knock down shots in their upcoming stretch.
-Ime Udoka continues his streaky shooting ways. For a few games in a row, it seems like he’ll never miss an open shot again. Then he’ll have a game like he did against the Pacers where he goes 1-for-5. Game to game, it’s impossible to know whether Udoka is going to be red hot or ice cold. He compounded his poor shooting by being a little lazy on defense a couple of possessions. For the game, he had four points and five rebounds in 21 minutes. His rebounding continues to be a bright spot for the Spurs.
-Fabricio Oberto had a rare good game off the bench. He had six points, three rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes, while hitting all three of his field goal attempts. The six points were a season-high for Oberto in games he didn’t start. If he can play this well off the bench, it’ll be easier for Pop to consider starting Thomas.
-Damon Stoudamire played 14 minutes and once again struggled with his shooting. Out of his five attempts, he only found cord once. He also turned the ball over four times. While it’d be easy to blame Stoudamire, he’s actually just following Pop’s orders. Pop has instructed Stoudamire to be more aggressive in creating his own shots. Stoudamire is attempting to follow those orders – with less than fantastic results.
-Jacque Vaughn played 12 minutes in which he hustled continuously, as is usually the case. He didn’t do anything too good or too bad but was once again a better option than this new gunning version of Stoudamire. It appears as if Vaughn is in line to become the full-time backup point guard yet again.
-Robert Horry didn’t play. I can’t even confirm if he stayed awake during the game.
-Pop made the highlight reels when he charged the court and got ejected in the second quarter. He was peeved due to a few no calls on plays involving Duncan, Thomas and Ginobili – in that order. As far as ejections go, Pop definitely deserves style points for cutting to the chase and just going out onto the floor to get the heave-ho.
Mike Budenholzer took over for Pop after he got ejected and I was extremely impressed by the way he handled the minutes. Pop has been around the block so many times that he’s a bit paranoid about blowing a lead. Bud showed good poise in keeping the scrub lineup on the court when the Pacers were making their meaningless runs in the fourth quarter. Pop owes Bud a bottle of wine for not playing anyone on the team more than 28 minutes.
The bottomline is the Spurs won the game but the battle has just begun. In the next 11 days, the Spurs play seven games against quality competition. The only team below .500 in the stretch is the Philadelphia 76ers – and even that game is on the road on the second night of a back-to-back. The Spurs begin this run on Friday in Denver. This is when we’ll start to really see how good the Spurs actually are at this point in the season.