timvp
04-07-2008, 09:17 AM
If you were told going into the game on Sunday that the Spurs were going to score only 72 points, you’d probably expect another unsightly loss. However, not only did the Spurs win the game, they won fairly handily.
Although it ugly for almost the entire contest, the Spurs were able to beat the Blazers 72-65 in Portland. The game was relatively close throughout the second half but the outcome was never really in doubt. The Spurs did a good job of keeping the Blazers from making a legit run in the fourth quarter, though truthfully it would have been nice to see the Spurs administer a knockout punch at some point in the second half.
The Blazers are destined to be an elite team in the Western Conference for a long time. Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy form a hell of a core. Add to that a group of very good role players (Steve Blake, Joel Przybilla, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, etc.) and a quality head coach in Nate McMillan, not to mention a Spurs-trained front office, and there’s no reason why the Blazers won’t win at least one championship in the next decade.
As far as the 2008 championship is concerned, the Spurs still appear to be in decent enough shape. Their offense struggled but I don’t think it’s anything to be too worried about. The main reason the offense is struggling right now is they aren’t getting any easy baskets. The guards aren’t doing a good enough job pushing the break and the result is an amazingly slow pace. In fact, the Spurs were held without a fast break point against the Blazers. Once the offense picks up the pace, they’ll get back to scoring enough points.
Defensively, the Spurs were solid. They weren’t as spectacular as the 65 points would make you think, mostly due to the slow pace, however it was a really nice defensive showing. The Blazers were held to 34.2% shooting from the floor as the Spurs did a good job of challenging almost every shot.
Overall, I’ll take the win. It wasn’t pretty and the offense needs to get back into gear but it was an extremely important victory. The Spurs need every game from here on out to secure a top-two seed in the Western Conference.
-I was really happy with how Tim Duncan played. The guards weren’t helping him much by scoring easy baskets, so Duncan was forced to do a lot of the heavy lifting. He was active and attentive all game long and was easily the best player on the court for either team. While I do think he was still whining a bit too much, he wasn’t as bad as he was against the Jazz. On the night, Duncan finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, one block and one turnover, while shooting 10-for-22 from the court. This was a vintage Duncan game in that everyone on the Spurs was coasting, while Duncan continuously gave effort until the victory was secured.
-I’m not sure if Manu Ginobili is being commanded by Pop to not go 100% against non-playoff teams, but his lack of effort against sub par teams has been apparent for the last couple weeks. It’s like he plays just hard enough against non-playoff teams to keep the Spurs up and he won’t turn on the jets unless the Spurs need a push. While this is a very un-Manu-like strategy, I think it’s actually pretty smart. I want Ginobili as healthy as possible for the playoffs. If he wants to just go through the motions against sub par teams, so be it. In this contest, Ginobili had ten points, six assists, three rebounds and four turnovers, while shooting 3-for-5 from the floor.
-Tony Parker couldn’t buy a bucket – but other than that actually played well. He missed 12-of-16 shots from the floor on his way to eight points, seven assists, three rebounds and no turnovers. Defensively, Parker was also really good against both Blake and Jarrett Jack. Offensively, he needs to start pushing the pace more. Even though he tried a few times, he needs to be more persistent – even if no one else on the team wants to run with him. Parker attacking teams in the open court is arguably the Spurs' best offensive weapon.
-Bruce Bowen played a team-high 39 minutes and had a quality game overall. His defense against Roy was good throughout. Roy hit a few tough shots in the second half but Bowen couldn’t have guarded him much better. Offensively, Bowen hit 4-of-7 shots on his way to ten points, three rebounds and one assist. Bowen was 2-for-4 on threes – while the team was a combined 2-for-11.
-Finley was on the court for only 20 minutes but his shot looked good. His rhythm on his jumper was noticeable and he even created a couple looks for himself. Finley finished with seven points, three rebounds and one assist, while shooting 3-for-4 from the field. His defense wasn’t especially good but he was at least active.
-Fabricio Oberto was better than he was against the Jazz, however he still needs to improve a lot before the playoffs begin. He played 15 minutes and had three points and four rebounds. He again lost time to Kurt Thomas, who has outplayed him in the last few ballgames. Oberto bringing better focus and effort would do wonders for his consistency.
-Kurt Thomas had one of his better games as a Spur. In 26 minutes of the bench, Thomas had two points and 13 rebounds. Of his 13 rebounds, nine came in the first half. Pop used a small ball alignment that featured Thomas as the big and he reacted by becoming a beast on the boards. If he can continue to grab rebounds when the Spurs go small, Pop may toy with that lineup more often.
-Ime Udoka returned to where he spent last season, his college days and his high school days. The Portland native played decently in his homecoming, although it was obvious he was pressing at times. To his credit, he did hit a big three-pointer in the second half. On the night, Udoka had five points and one steal, while shooting 2-for-7 from the floor. As of late, Udoka’s rebounding has been erratic, which is a concern. He needs to make rebounding a priority on a nightly basis.
-Jacque Vaughn and Damon Stoudamire split the backup point guard minutes yet again. I’m hypothesizing that Pop went with Stoudamire in the second half to try to wakeup the team’s stagnant offense. Stoudmaire responded by missing all three of his shots, but truthfully he didn’t play that bad. He pushed the pace a bit and got the Spurs into their offense decently enough. I’m a bit concerned with Vaughn because his heroic five or six game stretch where he played like the best backup point guard in the NBA is over – and apparently the real Jacque Vaughn has returned.
-Matt Bonner, Brent Barry and Robert Horry didn’t play. Barry and Horry continue to battle injuries. Bonner actually played but I don’t feel like typing about how he performed. If you missed out on his one minute of garbage time, it’s your loss.
-I’m sure Pop doesn’t like seeing the offense this stagnant but I find it hard to believe that he’s too worried. It’s obvious that once Parker and Ginobili start pushing the pace more, the offense will be able to return. Right now, the Spurs are grinding it out offensively even more than usual and the result is ugly, low scoring affairs.
While I grimaced when Stoudamire entered the game, Pop is smartly trying to rebuild Stoudamire’s confidence after a couple horrible outings in the last few weeks. There may come a time when Stoudamire is needed in the playoffs so Pop might as well give him playing time here and there to keep him sharp.
The bottomline is the Spurs are in a position where every game has huge playoff implications. With five games left on the schedule, the Spurs can’t afford to go through a rough patch. They need to keep winning – especially this coming Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns. It’s time to give Sun Fan yet another thing to complain about.
Believe.
Although it ugly for almost the entire contest, the Spurs were able to beat the Blazers 72-65 in Portland. The game was relatively close throughout the second half but the outcome was never really in doubt. The Spurs did a good job of keeping the Blazers from making a legit run in the fourth quarter, though truthfully it would have been nice to see the Spurs administer a knockout punch at some point in the second half.
The Blazers are destined to be an elite team in the Western Conference for a long time. Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy form a hell of a core. Add to that a group of very good role players (Steve Blake, Joel Przybilla, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, etc.) and a quality head coach in Nate McMillan, not to mention a Spurs-trained front office, and there’s no reason why the Blazers won’t win at least one championship in the next decade.
As far as the 2008 championship is concerned, the Spurs still appear to be in decent enough shape. Their offense struggled but I don’t think it’s anything to be too worried about. The main reason the offense is struggling right now is they aren’t getting any easy baskets. The guards aren’t doing a good enough job pushing the break and the result is an amazingly slow pace. In fact, the Spurs were held without a fast break point against the Blazers. Once the offense picks up the pace, they’ll get back to scoring enough points.
Defensively, the Spurs were solid. They weren’t as spectacular as the 65 points would make you think, mostly due to the slow pace, however it was a really nice defensive showing. The Blazers were held to 34.2% shooting from the floor as the Spurs did a good job of challenging almost every shot.
Overall, I’ll take the win. It wasn’t pretty and the offense needs to get back into gear but it was an extremely important victory. The Spurs need every game from here on out to secure a top-two seed in the Western Conference.
-I was really happy with how Tim Duncan played. The guards weren’t helping him much by scoring easy baskets, so Duncan was forced to do a lot of the heavy lifting. He was active and attentive all game long and was easily the best player on the court for either team. While I do think he was still whining a bit too much, he wasn’t as bad as he was against the Jazz. On the night, Duncan finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, one block and one turnover, while shooting 10-for-22 from the court. This was a vintage Duncan game in that everyone on the Spurs was coasting, while Duncan continuously gave effort until the victory was secured.
-I’m not sure if Manu Ginobili is being commanded by Pop to not go 100% against non-playoff teams, but his lack of effort against sub par teams has been apparent for the last couple weeks. It’s like he plays just hard enough against non-playoff teams to keep the Spurs up and he won’t turn on the jets unless the Spurs need a push. While this is a very un-Manu-like strategy, I think it’s actually pretty smart. I want Ginobili as healthy as possible for the playoffs. If he wants to just go through the motions against sub par teams, so be it. In this contest, Ginobili had ten points, six assists, three rebounds and four turnovers, while shooting 3-for-5 from the floor.
-Tony Parker couldn’t buy a bucket – but other than that actually played well. He missed 12-of-16 shots from the floor on his way to eight points, seven assists, three rebounds and no turnovers. Defensively, Parker was also really good against both Blake and Jarrett Jack. Offensively, he needs to start pushing the pace more. Even though he tried a few times, he needs to be more persistent – even if no one else on the team wants to run with him. Parker attacking teams in the open court is arguably the Spurs' best offensive weapon.
-Bruce Bowen played a team-high 39 minutes and had a quality game overall. His defense against Roy was good throughout. Roy hit a few tough shots in the second half but Bowen couldn’t have guarded him much better. Offensively, Bowen hit 4-of-7 shots on his way to ten points, three rebounds and one assist. Bowen was 2-for-4 on threes – while the team was a combined 2-for-11.
-Finley was on the court for only 20 minutes but his shot looked good. His rhythm on his jumper was noticeable and he even created a couple looks for himself. Finley finished with seven points, three rebounds and one assist, while shooting 3-for-4 from the field. His defense wasn’t especially good but he was at least active.
-Fabricio Oberto was better than he was against the Jazz, however he still needs to improve a lot before the playoffs begin. He played 15 minutes and had three points and four rebounds. He again lost time to Kurt Thomas, who has outplayed him in the last few ballgames. Oberto bringing better focus and effort would do wonders for his consistency.
-Kurt Thomas had one of his better games as a Spur. In 26 minutes of the bench, Thomas had two points and 13 rebounds. Of his 13 rebounds, nine came in the first half. Pop used a small ball alignment that featured Thomas as the big and he reacted by becoming a beast on the boards. If he can continue to grab rebounds when the Spurs go small, Pop may toy with that lineup more often.
-Ime Udoka returned to where he spent last season, his college days and his high school days. The Portland native played decently in his homecoming, although it was obvious he was pressing at times. To his credit, he did hit a big three-pointer in the second half. On the night, Udoka had five points and one steal, while shooting 2-for-7 from the floor. As of late, Udoka’s rebounding has been erratic, which is a concern. He needs to make rebounding a priority on a nightly basis.
-Jacque Vaughn and Damon Stoudamire split the backup point guard minutes yet again. I’m hypothesizing that Pop went with Stoudamire in the second half to try to wakeup the team’s stagnant offense. Stoudmaire responded by missing all three of his shots, but truthfully he didn’t play that bad. He pushed the pace a bit and got the Spurs into their offense decently enough. I’m a bit concerned with Vaughn because his heroic five or six game stretch where he played like the best backup point guard in the NBA is over – and apparently the real Jacque Vaughn has returned.
-Matt Bonner, Brent Barry and Robert Horry didn’t play. Barry and Horry continue to battle injuries. Bonner actually played but I don’t feel like typing about how he performed. If you missed out on his one minute of garbage time, it’s your loss.
-I’m sure Pop doesn’t like seeing the offense this stagnant but I find it hard to believe that he’s too worried. It’s obvious that once Parker and Ginobili start pushing the pace more, the offense will be able to return. Right now, the Spurs are grinding it out offensively even more than usual and the result is ugly, low scoring affairs.
While I grimaced when Stoudamire entered the game, Pop is smartly trying to rebuild Stoudamire’s confidence after a couple horrible outings in the last few weeks. There may come a time when Stoudamire is needed in the playoffs so Pop might as well give him playing time here and there to keep him sharp.
The bottomline is the Spurs are in a position where every game has huge playoff implications. With five games left on the schedule, the Spurs can’t afford to go through a rough patch. They need to keep winning – especially this coming Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns. It’s time to give Sun Fan yet another thing to complain about.
Believe.