LakeShow
05-24-2008, 10:45 PM
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=2Do the math: Spurs need to play better
Spurs won't be facing a must-win situation on Sunday but they might as well be.
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/columnist/jeff.miller.jpgJEFF MILLER
Register columnist
[email protected]
Comments 0 (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-game-going-2051541-san-spurs#slComments) | Recommend (javascript:recommendReview('OCRArticle2051541'))0
SAN ANTONIO -- The Lakers are leading in games 2-0, the Spurs by the end Friday appeared to be trailing in games 20-0, and still Phil Jackson, referring to the largest Laker of them all, chose the term "weenie."
Having just left the opposition beaten and wilted, what does this team's coach want, contused and hemorrhaging, as well?
Actually, Jackson was talking about Pau Gasol being timid with his field-goal attempts early in Game 2, labeling them "weenie shots."
A celebrated author, a self-styled intellectual, an occasional employer of two-ton words and Jackson opted for "weenie?" Why not "sissy," suggesting Gasol perhaps even was carrying "cooties"?
The word choice couldn't have been more fitting, really, entering Game 3 of the Western Conference finals here today.
For all the grownup dissection that followed the Lakers' consecutive victories at Staples Center, what must happen now is so simple a child could deduce it using Elmer's and elbow macaroni.
"We need to play better," San Antonio guard Tony Parker said. "That's the bottom line. We just have to play better, and hopefully playing at home will help us."
The Spurs aren't going to beat the Lakers shooting 40.5 percent like they did in Game 1.
They aren't going to beat the Lakers missing half their free throws like they did in Game 2.
They aren't going to beat the Lakers scoring 34 points in the second half like they did in Games 1 and2.
Parker is coached by Gregg Popovich, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the holder of a Master's degree. In order words, the guy doesn't possess the IQ of a Spalding.
"We definitely have to have more people playing better," Popovich philosophized, "to get this done."
Sometimes basketball is a game of conflicting wits, of moves and counter-moves — pawns vs. pawns — designed to force defeat upon the opposition. Other times, it's just a chest match.
It's two guys going sternum to sternum in the context of 5 on 5, the victorious team determined by which one wins more of those individual battles.
So far, other than Tim Duncan in Game 1, the Lakers have claimed all the other victories available, with a couple pushes thrown in.
Certainly, there are strategic adjustments. The Lakers' defensive handling of Duncan. The Spurs' approach to dealing with Kobe Bryant. One team trying to push the pace and the other trying to swallow it.
But honestly, these players have matched up often enough, these coaching staffs know each well enough that unless Popovich appears tonight wearing a pair of Daisy Dukes, the surprises will be few.
"I think we're just playing good, solid basketball," Lakers reserve guard Jordan Farmar said before — in keeping with today's theme — adding, "We aren't really thinking too much."
The Lakers have been reading and reacting, trusting their instincts and smoothly controlling the Spurs.
Since opening a 20-point lead in the third quarter of Game 1, San Antonio has been outscored something like 1,124-12. We would do the actual math, but remember, this really isn't all that complicated. There's no need for a calculator.
Now a calendar, that's a different story. The Spurs appear to be a team in need of rest, rest that won't be coming. Playing every other day might just bury these guys, if the Lakers don't manage to do it first.
Obviously short on insight after Game 2, both Duncan and teammate Manu Ginobili concluded "it is what it is." We would counter that so far, it isn't what it is, or at least what it is supposed to be — a series.
That could change Sunday, but probably only if Ginobili's jammed ankle and torn fingernail are improved enough to allow him to unleash his skills. To assess his performance in the conference finals, we ask this question:
How do you spell manure? Start with Manu.
"We're going home and one of two things is going to happen," Duncan revealed after Game 2. "Either we're going to turn it around and make this thing into a series or we're not."
Thanks for that contribution.
And now this one from Farmar:
"We've done well on the road this postseason. So we have to go up there and win a couple games."
Up there? Los Angeles to San Antonio?
If Farmar didn't realize the team flew south Saturday, that San Antonio in relation to Los Angeles is, technically, down there, it might have occurred to him upon deplaning here. Saturday's highs in south Texas were near 100 degrees.
It's supposed to be just as hot today for a game that isn't a must-win for San Antonio mathematically, only practically.
At 2-1, this thing is heading toward being a series. At 3-0, the Spurs have a snowman's chance in San Angelo.
And even most children know the story of Frosty.
Spurs won't be facing a must-win situation on Sunday but they might as well be.
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/columnist/jeff.miller.jpgJEFF MILLER
Register columnist
[email protected]
Comments 0 (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-game-going-2051541-san-spurs#slComments) | Recommend (javascript:recommendReview('OCRArticle2051541'))0
SAN ANTONIO -- The Lakers are leading in games 2-0, the Spurs by the end Friday appeared to be trailing in games 20-0, and still Phil Jackson, referring to the largest Laker of them all, chose the term "weenie."
Having just left the opposition beaten and wilted, what does this team's coach want, contused and hemorrhaging, as well?
Actually, Jackson was talking about Pau Gasol being timid with his field-goal attempts early in Game 2, labeling them "weenie shots."
A celebrated author, a self-styled intellectual, an occasional employer of two-ton words and Jackson opted for "weenie?" Why not "sissy," suggesting Gasol perhaps even was carrying "cooties"?
The word choice couldn't have been more fitting, really, entering Game 3 of the Western Conference finals here today.
For all the grownup dissection that followed the Lakers' consecutive victories at Staples Center, what must happen now is so simple a child could deduce it using Elmer's and elbow macaroni.
"We need to play better," San Antonio guard Tony Parker said. "That's the bottom line. We just have to play better, and hopefully playing at home will help us."
The Spurs aren't going to beat the Lakers shooting 40.5 percent like they did in Game 1.
They aren't going to beat the Lakers missing half their free throws like they did in Game 2.
They aren't going to beat the Lakers scoring 34 points in the second half like they did in Games 1 and2.
Parker is coached by Gregg Popovich, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the holder of a Master's degree. In order words, the guy doesn't possess the IQ of a Spalding.
"We definitely have to have more people playing better," Popovich philosophized, "to get this done."
Sometimes basketball is a game of conflicting wits, of moves and counter-moves — pawns vs. pawns — designed to force defeat upon the opposition. Other times, it's just a chest match.
It's two guys going sternum to sternum in the context of 5 on 5, the victorious team determined by which one wins more of those individual battles.
So far, other than Tim Duncan in Game 1, the Lakers have claimed all the other victories available, with a couple pushes thrown in.
Certainly, there are strategic adjustments. The Lakers' defensive handling of Duncan. The Spurs' approach to dealing with Kobe Bryant. One team trying to push the pace and the other trying to swallow it.
But honestly, these players have matched up often enough, these coaching staffs know each well enough that unless Popovich appears tonight wearing a pair of Daisy Dukes, the surprises will be few.
"I think we're just playing good, solid basketball," Lakers reserve guard Jordan Farmar said before — in keeping with today's theme — adding, "We aren't really thinking too much."
The Lakers have been reading and reacting, trusting their instincts and smoothly controlling the Spurs.
Since opening a 20-point lead in the third quarter of Game 1, San Antonio has been outscored something like 1,124-12. We would do the actual math, but remember, this really isn't all that complicated. There's no need for a calculator.
Now a calendar, that's a different story. The Spurs appear to be a team in need of rest, rest that won't be coming. Playing every other day might just bury these guys, if the Lakers don't manage to do it first.
Obviously short on insight after Game 2, both Duncan and teammate Manu Ginobili concluded "it is what it is." We would counter that so far, it isn't what it is, or at least what it is supposed to be — a series.
That could change Sunday, but probably only if Ginobili's jammed ankle and torn fingernail are improved enough to allow him to unleash his skills. To assess his performance in the conference finals, we ask this question:
How do you spell manure? Start with Manu.
"We're going home and one of two things is going to happen," Duncan revealed after Game 2. "Either we're going to turn it around and make this thing into a series or we're not."
Thanks for that contribution.
And now this one from Farmar:
"We've done well on the road this postseason. So we have to go up there and win a couple games."
Up there? Los Angeles to San Antonio?
If Farmar didn't realize the team flew south Saturday, that San Antonio in relation to Los Angeles is, technically, down there, it might have occurred to him upon deplaning here. Saturday's highs in south Texas were near 100 degrees.
It's supposed to be just as hot today for a game that isn't a must-win for San Antonio mathematically, only practically.
At 2-1, this thing is heading toward being a series. At 3-0, the Spurs have a snowman's chance in San Angelo.
And even most children know the story of Frosty.