timvp
05-22-2008, 06:19 PM
Hurts like hell. That’s how Pop described the Game 1 loss against the Los Angeles Lakers and I have to wholeheartedly agree with his assessment. The San Antonio Spurs had this game all but won. With a 65-45 lead with six minutes to go in the third quarter, the Spurs went ice cold, Kobe Bryant caught on fire and the Spurs ended up losing 89-85.
First of all, the Lakers deserve a lot of the credit for the win. Bryant showed why he’s regarded as the best player on the planet. He carried the Lakers on his shoulders and took his team home to victory. His teammates chipped in with swarming defense and timely shooting to complete the dismantling of San Antonio’s big lead. Bryant capped off the victory by hitting the game-winning shot with less than 24 second remaining in the contest.
For the Spurs, Game 1 was a horribly wasted opportunity. Playing on the road, the Spurs could have taken a big step toward getting back to the Finals if they would have finished off the game strongly. Championships aren’t easy to win, especially when you blow chances to complete a momentum altering victory early in a series.
Offensively, the Spurs were scoring the ball well until the Lakers got rolling in the third quarter. At that point, the Spurs panicked on the offensive end of the court. They took hurried shots, stopped passing the ball and didn’t penetrate into the paint.
On the defensive end, it’s difficult to complain too much. The Lakers came into the game as the highest scoring team in the playoffs. Holding Los Angeles to 89 points should be enough to get a win. The biggest problem for the Spurs defensively was Bryant’s brilliance in the second half.
Overall, this was just a disheartening and painful loss. The Spurs definitely let one get away. The series obviously isn’t over but it will now be much more difficult than it would have been with a Game 1 victory.
-Tim Duncan’s play has to be considered a bright spot of the Game 1 loss. Duncan struggled virtually the whole series against the New Orleans Hornets but he busted out of his slump versus the Lakers. Duncan finished the game with 30 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, two assists and two steals, while shooting 12-for-25 from the field. On both ends of the court, Duncan was very good. The Lakers couldn’t handle him in one-on-one situations offensively and he came up with a lot of big plays on defense. While he didn’t play especially well down the stretch, Duncan definitely deserved more help on this night. It’s a shame the Spurs wasted such a great game by Duncan. Hopefully, Duncan can continue playing at this level against the Lakers and the Spurs can give him more help.
-Ugh. To put it nicely, Manu Ginobili wasn’t at his best against the Lakers in Game 1. Offensively, I can live with his erratic play. With Ginobili, you have to take the good with the bad. Ginobili was the latter on Wednesday night as he finished with ten points, four rebounds, three assists and four turnovers, while shooting 3-for-13 from the floor. What’s harder to deal with was Ginobili’s pitiful defensive performance. He made Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic look like Hall of Famers. I know Ginobili is hurting and he’s probably fatigued on top of being hurt, but with his smarts and his natural instincts, there’s no reason for him to be by far the worst defensive player on the court. It’d also be nice if Ginobili would reel himself in when he’s struggling offensively. He compounded his errors by forcing shots and passes when it obviously wasn’t his night. It’s no coincidence that Ginobili finished with a plus/minus of -19 on the night. It goes without saying that the Spurs need Ginobili to play much better if they are going to be able to make this a series.
-Tony Parker played two and a half very good quarters of basketball but then he fell off the cliff with the rest of the team. It wasn't totally Parker’s fault that the Spurs stopped playing well in the middle of the third quarter but he absolutely was part of the problem. Parker seemed to take his foot off the gas a bit and the result was a stagnated offense. On the night, Parker finished with 18 points, ten rebounds and six assists, while shooting 7-for-17 from the field. Despite his offensive struggles down the stretch, I was really impressed with Parker’s defense. Derek Fisher entered the game as perhaps the hottest shooter in the NBA and Fisher finished 1-for-9 from the field. Fisher’s lone basket came when Parker was on the bench. Parker also deserves credit for crashing the boards. However, in upcoming games, Parker needs to stay in attack mode offensively for 48 minutes.
-For the first 30 minutes of the game, Bruce Bowen was playing defense at an amazingly high level. While it’s true that Bryant was looking for his teammates early on, Bowen’s defense also had a major hand in Bryant’s slow start. Over the first 30 minutes, Bryant had just four points. At that point, Bowen went to the bench and Bryant responded by scoring nine points and dishing out four assists in the next six minutes. By the time Bowen returned to the court, Bryant was in an unstoppable groove and Bowen was basically helpless. Bowen did his best to slow him down but to no avail. In addition to his defensive play, Bowen was effective offensively. He scored 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc. All told, Bowen played well enough for the Spurs to win.
-Fabricio Oberto started at center but only played 12 minutes. I thought he played rather well on both end of the court. He finished with four points, four rebounds and connected on half of his four field goal attempts. Most impressively, he defended Lamar Odom well. Oberto earned more minutes in this series going forward, especially when the Lakers play both Gasol and Odom at the same time.
-After a heroic final four games against the Hornets, Ime Udoka came crashing back down to earth in Game 1 against the Lakers. Udoka played 25 minutes but managed just seven points and one rebound, while shooting 3-for-7 from the floor. His stats don’t explain how poorly he played. Offensively, Udoka fired a number of questionable shots and made a handful of poor decisions. On defense, Udoka was fouling way too much and did a poor job against Bryant. His defense, outside of the time he spent on Bryant, was solid but he needs to play much better for the Spurs to have a chance. Another poor outing like Game 1 and he’ll find himself reburied on the bench.
-I don’t think there’s a word in the English language that can convey exactly how Michael Finley played. Finley was horrible, putrid, pitiful or any other synonym you want to throw out there. In 22 minutes, he went scoreless by missing all five of his shots. His defense was poor and the Lakers took advantage of every minute he was on the court. Truthfully though, part of Finley’s problem was Pop putting him in positions to fail – like when he put him on Odom late in the fourth quarter defensively.
-Brent Barry played 11 minutes and did more good than bad. He finished with two points, one rebound, one assist and one steal. His steal was especially impressive because defense has been his weakest point since his return from injury. With as poorly as Udoka and Finley played, Barry could be in line for more minutes in upcoming games.
-Robert Horry played five minutes in the first quarter but then didn't return to the court until the final seconds. In his five minutes, Horry played good defense and had a blocked shot. He didn’t attempt a shot from the field.
-Kurt Thomas played four minutes and hit one of his two shots. Thomas finished without a rebound and was embarrassed by Pau Gasol on one defensive possession.
-As well as Pop coached in the first two rounds of the playoffs, that’s how poorly he coached in Game 1 against the Lakers. By far his biggest coaching mistake of the game was benching Bowen in the middle of the third quarter. I’ve thought about what the hell Pop could have been thinking and I still haven’t figured out the faulty logic he used to bench Bowen.
The Spurs were up by 20 points with six minutes to go in the third quarter and Bryant had four points. Bowen picked up his third foul and inexplicably Pop put Bowen on the bench. Why? That’s the question I will never figure out. Sure, you don’t want Bowen to pick up his fourth foul but the Lakers were on the ropes. A couple more minutes of dominating defense and the game would have been over. Bowen was in great rhythm against Bryant and the Lakers were just about at their breaking point.
I’ve tried to think of a similar poor decision in Pop’s coaching career and I can’t think of a move that was so destructive. You simply don’t bench Bowen at that point in time. You step on the Lakers’ throats – you don’t conserve fouls with a big lead on a player who wasn’t even in foul trouble. To make it worse, Pop eventually put Ginobili on Bryant. The same Ginobili who couldn’t defend Radmanovic or Vujacic. Bryant was on fire so Pop decided to try to cool him off pouring gasoline on him? Great going, Pop.
Pop had other mistakes but that one substitution was an unforgivable mistake. Right when Bowen went to the bench for no reason, the Lakers went on a 14-0 run. You could literally see Bryant’s eyes light up. Seriously, Pop couldn’t have messed up the game more if he tried. If Phil Jackson could have told Pop what he wanted the Spurs to do to choke away the game, Jackson would have been hard pressed to think of such a great plan.
The bottomline is the Spurs blew a golden opportunity. While it’s painful, the Spurs can’t let it be demoralizing. Instead, the Spurs need to use this loss as fuel to go out and get Game 2.
Honestly, a lot of good things happened in Game 1. Duncan snapped out of his funk. Parker played well for a majority of the game. Bowen played well. Oberto and Horry showed they can stay with Odom. The Spurs built a 20-point lead by playing great defense and smart offense. If it wasn’t for the coaching blunder to end all coaching blunders, the Spurs would have been in good shape.
Going forward, I expect Ginobili to come to life and a few role players to step up. If Pop can just not get in the way, the Spurs still have a very good chance to win this series. Bryant is playing amazing basketball and the Lakers are an extremely talented and well-coached team, but the Spurs can climb this mountain. I know they can.
Believe.
First of all, the Lakers deserve a lot of the credit for the win. Bryant showed why he’s regarded as the best player on the planet. He carried the Lakers on his shoulders and took his team home to victory. His teammates chipped in with swarming defense and timely shooting to complete the dismantling of San Antonio’s big lead. Bryant capped off the victory by hitting the game-winning shot with less than 24 second remaining in the contest.
For the Spurs, Game 1 was a horribly wasted opportunity. Playing on the road, the Spurs could have taken a big step toward getting back to the Finals if they would have finished off the game strongly. Championships aren’t easy to win, especially when you blow chances to complete a momentum altering victory early in a series.
Offensively, the Spurs were scoring the ball well until the Lakers got rolling in the third quarter. At that point, the Spurs panicked on the offensive end of the court. They took hurried shots, stopped passing the ball and didn’t penetrate into the paint.
On the defensive end, it’s difficult to complain too much. The Lakers came into the game as the highest scoring team in the playoffs. Holding Los Angeles to 89 points should be enough to get a win. The biggest problem for the Spurs defensively was Bryant’s brilliance in the second half.
Overall, this was just a disheartening and painful loss. The Spurs definitely let one get away. The series obviously isn’t over but it will now be much more difficult than it would have been with a Game 1 victory.
-Tim Duncan’s play has to be considered a bright spot of the Game 1 loss. Duncan struggled virtually the whole series against the New Orleans Hornets but he busted out of his slump versus the Lakers. Duncan finished the game with 30 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, two assists and two steals, while shooting 12-for-25 from the field. On both ends of the court, Duncan was very good. The Lakers couldn’t handle him in one-on-one situations offensively and he came up with a lot of big plays on defense. While he didn’t play especially well down the stretch, Duncan definitely deserved more help on this night. It’s a shame the Spurs wasted such a great game by Duncan. Hopefully, Duncan can continue playing at this level against the Lakers and the Spurs can give him more help.
-Ugh. To put it nicely, Manu Ginobili wasn’t at his best against the Lakers in Game 1. Offensively, I can live with his erratic play. With Ginobili, you have to take the good with the bad. Ginobili was the latter on Wednesday night as he finished with ten points, four rebounds, three assists and four turnovers, while shooting 3-for-13 from the floor. What’s harder to deal with was Ginobili’s pitiful defensive performance. He made Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic look like Hall of Famers. I know Ginobili is hurting and he’s probably fatigued on top of being hurt, but with his smarts and his natural instincts, there’s no reason for him to be by far the worst defensive player on the court. It’d also be nice if Ginobili would reel himself in when he’s struggling offensively. He compounded his errors by forcing shots and passes when it obviously wasn’t his night. It’s no coincidence that Ginobili finished with a plus/minus of -19 on the night. It goes without saying that the Spurs need Ginobili to play much better if they are going to be able to make this a series.
-Tony Parker played two and a half very good quarters of basketball but then he fell off the cliff with the rest of the team. It wasn't totally Parker’s fault that the Spurs stopped playing well in the middle of the third quarter but he absolutely was part of the problem. Parker seemed to take his foot off the gas a bit and the result was a stagnated offense. On the night, Parker finished with 18 points, ten rebounds and six assists, while shooting 7-for-17 from the field. Despite his offensive struggles down the stretch, I was really impressed with Parker’s defense. Derek Fisher entered the game as perhaps the hottest shooter in the NBA and Fisher finished 1-for-9 from the field. Fisher’s lone basket came when Parker was on the bench. Parker also deserves credit for crashing the boards. However, in upcoming games, Parker needs to stay in attack mode offensively for 48 minutes.
-For the first 30 minutes of the game, Bruce Bowen was playing defense at an amazingly high level. While it’s true that Bryant was looking for his teammates early on, Bowen’s defense also had a major hand in Bryant’s slow start. Over the first 30 minutes, Bryant had just four points. At that point, Bowen went to the bench and Bryant responded by scoring nine points and dishing out four assists in the next six minutes. By the time Bowen returned to the court, Bryant was in an unstoppable groove and Bowen was basically helpless. Bowen did his best to slow him down but to no avail. In addition to his defensive play, Bowen was effective offensively. He scored 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc. All told, Bowen played well enough for the Spurs to win.
-Fabricio Oberto started at center but only played 12 minutes. I thought he played rather well on both end of the court. He finished with four points, four rebounds and connected on half of his four field goal attempts. Most impressively, he defended Lamar Odom well. Oberto earned more minutes in this series going forward, especially when the Lakers play both Gasol and Odom at the same time.
-After a heroic final four games against the Hornets, Ime Udoka came crashing back down to earth in Game 1 against the Lakers. Udoka played 25 minutes but managed just seven points and one rebound, while shooting 3-for-7 from the floor. His stats don’t explain how poorly he played. Offensively, Udoka fired a number of questionable shots and made a handful of poor decisions. On defense, Udoka was fouling way too much and did a poor job against Bryant. His defense, outside of the time he spent on Bryant, was solid but he needs to play much better for the Spurs to have a chance. Another poor outing like Game 1 and he’ll find himself reburied on the bench.
-I don’t think there’s a word in the English language that can convey exactly how Michael Finley played. Finley was horrible, putrid, pitiful or any other synonym you want to throw out there. In 22 minutes, he went scoreless by missing all five of his shots. His defense was poor and the Lakers took advantage of every minute he was on the court. Truthfully though, part of Finley’s problem was Pop putting him in positions to fail – like when he put him on Odom late in the fourth quarter defensively.
-Brent Barry played 11 minutes and did more good than bad. He finished with two points, one rebound, one assist and one steal. His steal was especially impressive because defense has been his weakest point since his return from injury. With as poorly as Udoka and Finley played, Barry could be in line for more minutes in upcoming games.
-Robert Horry played five minutes in the first quarter but then didn't return to the court until the final seconds. In his five minutes, Horry played good defense and had a blocked shot. He didn’t attempt a shot from the field.
-Kurt Thomas played four minutes and hit one of his two shots. Thomas finished without a rebound and was embarrassed by Pau Gasol on one defensive possession.
-As well as Pop coached in the first two rounds of the playoffs, that’s how poorly he coached in Game 1 against the Lakers. By far his biggest coaching mistake of the game was benching Bowen in the middle of the third quarter. I’ve thought about what the hell Pop could have been thinking and I still haven’t figured out the faulty logic he used to bench Bowen.
The Spurs were up by 20 points with six minutes to go in the third quarter and Bryant had four points. Bowen picked up his third foul and inexplicably Pop put Bowen on the bench. Why? That’s the question I will never figure out. Sure, you don’t want Bowen to pick up his fourth foul but the Lakers were on the ropes. A couple more minutes of dominating defense and the game would have been over. Bowen was in great rhythm against Bryant and the Lakers were just about at their breaking point.
I’ve tried to think of a similar poor decision in Pop’s coaching career and I can’t think of a move that was so destructive. You simply don’t bench Bowen at that point in time. You step on the Lakers’ throats – you don’t conserve fouls with a big lead on a player who wasn’t even in foul trouble. To make it worse, Pop eventually put Ginobili on Bryant. The same Ginobili who couldn’t defend Radmanovic or Vujacic. Bryant was on fire so Pop decided to try to cool him off pouring gasoline on him? Great going, Pop.
Pop had other mistakes but that one substitution was an unforgivable mistake. Right when Bowen went to the bench for no reason, the Lakers went on a 14-0 run. You could literally see Bryant’s eyes light up. Seriously, Pop couldn’t have messed up the game more if he tried. If Phil Jackson could have told Pop what he wanted the Spurs to do to choke away the game, Jackson would have been hard pressed to think of such a great plan.
The bottomline is the Spurs blew a golden opportunity. While it’s painful, the Spurs can’t let it be demoralizing. Instead, the Spurs need to use this loss as fuel to go out and get Game 2.
Honestly, a lot of good things happened in Game 1. Duncan snapped out of his funk. Parker played well for a majority of the game. Bowen played well. Oberto and Horry showed they can stay with Odom. The Spurs built a 20-point lead by playing great defense and smart offense. If it wasn’t for the coaching blunder to end all coaching blunders, the Spurs would have been in good shape.
Going forward, I expect Ginobili to come to life and a few role players to step up. If Pop can just not get in the way, the Spurs still have a very good chance to win this series. Bryant is playing amazing basketball and the Lakers are an extremely talented and well-coached team, but the Spurs can climb this mountain. I know they can.
Believe.