timvp
05-28-2008, 07:23 PM
With an opportunity to hop right back into the series, the San Antonio Spurs lost a heartbreaking Game 4. The Spurs repeatedly made comeback after comeback but could never get over the hump. Brent Barry’s desperation three-pointer at the buzzer missed and the Spurs lost 93-91.
The Los Angeles Lakers deserve a lot of credit. Every single time the Spurs fought their way back into the game, the Lakers were ready to push their lead back up once again. In fact, the Lakers never trailed in the game. Kobe Bryant led an impressive team effort that now puts the Spurs on the brink of elimination.
The biggest problem for the Spurs on this night was rebounding. The Lakers were able to get 13 demoralizing offensive rebounds. The Spurs played a lot of very good defense but couldn’t close the deal by grabbing the board.
Offensively, the shooting simply wasn’t good enough. The Spurs shot 40% from the field and were just 7-for-24 from beyond the three-point line. With San Antonio in a 3-1 hole, they’ll need three straight good shooting nights to climb out.
Truthfully though, I’m proud of the effort the Spurs exhibited. There was no quit in the San Antonio team. Even with the home fans streaming to the exits with the Spurs down seven points with less than a minute to go, the Spurs once again stormed back and had a chance to win it at the end. I can’t fault their will to win – at all.
Overall, it’s obvious what the Spurs have to do. Winning three straight games with two of those contests being in Los Angeles sounds like an impossible task. We’ll see what happens but I’m confident this team has more fight in them.
-I was especially pleased by the effort Tim Duncan gave in Game 4. He played 33 of the game’s final 34 minutes and left everything out on the court. Duncan finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots. He played 45 minutes and it was obvious that he ran out of gas at some point in the fourth quarter, however Duncan just kept fighting. Defensively, Duncan was solid all night long. Offensively, Duncan wasn't as crisp as usual. For the Spurs to win this series, he’s going to have to shoot better than the 10-for-26 showing he authored in Game 4. If Duncan can get on a roll, the Lakers haven’t shown much of an ability to stop him from doing what he wants.
-Manu Ginobili again didn’t have it in Game 4. He gave effort but his explosiveness just isn’t there right now. I’m not sure if he’s injured or tired but whatever it is, he’s physically not the Ginobili we saw in the regular season. In this game, he finished with seven points and six assists, while shooting 2-for-8 from the field. On offense, Ginobili was mostly in a passing mode. Even if he’d get a step on his defender, he was looking to pass rather than score. I thought he played good defense – even when asked to defend Bryant. The best news is his mobility was much improved. He was moving laterally well and his quickness is also starting to return. I haven’t given up hope that Ginobili will be able to bounce back. He’s obviously not 100% but he looks a lot better than he did in Game 1.
-Tony Parker played pretty well. He scored 23 points, dished out nine assists, grabbed four rebounds and only turned the ball over once, while shooting 8-for-17 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line. Offensively, Parker played well. He was passing the ball with precision and he took good shots. He missed a few shots he usually makes but you can’t complain when his decisions were mostly good. The Lakers point guards didn’t do much offensively but I thought Parker’s defense could have been better. When Parker’s defense is at his best, he should basically be able to hold Fisher scoreless. In Game 5, Parker needs to be fully recovered from the 42 minutes he played in Game 4 and be fresh and ready to dominate.
-The Spurs couldn’t have asked for much more out of Bruce Bowen. He held Bryant to 28 points on 29 shots, didn’t allow him to get to the free throw line and limited him to only one assist. The Spurs would live with those numbers night in and night out for Bryant. Offensively, Bowen hit 3-of-6 shots from the field to score 7 points in 35 minutes. He also had two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot. With Bryant looking to close out the Spurs in Game 5, Bowen will undoubtedly have his hands full once again.
-Fabricio Oberto played 22 minutes and wasn’t very effective. He didn’t take a shot on offense and grabbed only three rebounds. He did do a good job boxing out in the second half but that wasn’t enough production out of Oberto. He began the game playing good defense on Odom but his effective waned as the game went along. For the Spurs to win Game 5, Oberto needs to start rebounding more and find ways to do something offensively.
-Michael Finley started and played shockingly bad. He had a team-worst plus/minus of -18 in only nine minutes of action. Finley missed both of the shots he attempted and didn’t do anything else other than turn the ball over on the Spurs' opening possession of the game. It’s time to officially bury Finley – at least for the rest of this series. If Pop starts him again in Game 5, the season is over. At most, Finley should only play a few minutes off the bench. Even that may be pushing it.
-Brent Barry deserved more in Game 4. Barry played the best game of his Spurs career and he just didn’t get enough help. Barry finished with 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, while shooting 7-for-14 from the field. The best way to understand how well Barry played is to look at his plus/minus of +24 on the night. The next best plus/minus on the team was Duncan at +6. Barry was often the best player on the court for San Antonio. Not only was he carrying the load at times offensively, he was playing very good defense. He’s reading passing lanes amazingly well right now and on a night where no one outside of Duncan was rebounding, Barry’s five rebounds were the second most on the team. Pop has to start Barry from now on in this series. Barry is playing great basketball and the team is responding to him being on the court. Even defensively, Barry is playing better than any perimeter player on the team outside of Bowen.
-Robert Horry played 16 minutes and still hasn’t been able to hit a shot. He was 0-for-2 in Game 4, although he did hit both of his free throws. While he had four rebounds, only one of those rebounds came on the defensive end. Horry’s defense was solid but the Spurs need more from him. A couple shots, a few big rebounds or something more than good defense.
-Ime Udoka played eight mostly invisible minutes. He was only visible when fouling Sasha Vujacic on a momentum altering four-point play late in the third quarter. Udoka’s inability to rebound in this series has been disappointing. He’s also not doing much offensively or defensively. He hasn’t shown any reason for him not to be seated next to Finley in the swingman doghouse.
-Pop didn’t coach a good game but he wasn’t the reason the Spurs lost. His main mistake was not finding more time for the Big Three to rest. Duncan and Parker can’t play 45 and 42 minutes. A limited Ginobili can’t play 36 minutes. It’s difficult right now but Pop has to trust his bench at some point in the game enough to allow the Big Three rest.
Going into Game 5, Pop has to make a few adjustments. First of all, Barry needs to start. He has to. Barry gives the Spurs good offensive punch and he’s playing well defensively. Finley, on the other hand, is sucking in all aspects of the game. It’s not a coincidence that the Spurs gained points in all of Barry’s five stints on the court and lost points in all of Finley’s four stints. If Pop doesn’t make this change, he might as well bring fishing rods to Game 5.
Pop also needs to figure out what to do with the bigmen. Should he keep hoping Horry has more magic or should he go small with Udoka? If rebounding remains a problem, playing Duncan and Kurt Thomas together may become a needed adjustment.
It's going to be tough for Pop in Game 5 because there are only about six or seven players not playing horrible right now and he has a team fighting fatigue. That is not a good combination, to say the least.
The bottomline is the Spurs face a huge challenge. Step one is winning one game on the road. The Lakers smell blood but with one win, the Spurs can shift the pressure onto the Lakers. It’s time to show the championship heart.
1.
Believe.
The Los Angeles Lakers deserve a lot of credit. Every single time the Spurs fought their way back into the game, the Lakers were ready to push their lead back up once again. In fact, the Lakers never trailed in the game. Kobe Bryant led an impressive team effort that now puts the Spurs on the brink of elimination.
The biggest problem for the Spurs on this night was rebounding. The Lakers were able to get 13 demoralizing offensive rebounds. The Spurs played a lot of very good defense but couldn’t close the deal by grabbing the board.
Offensively, the shooting simply wasn’t good enough. The Spurs shot 40% from the field and were just 7-for-24 from beyond the three-point line. With San Antonio in a 3-1 hole, they’ll need three straight good shooting nights to climb out.
Truthfully though, I’m proud of the effort the Spurs exhibited. There was no quit in the San Antonio team. Even with the home fans streaming to the exits with the Spurs down seven points with less than a minute to go, the Spurs once again stormed back and had a chance to win it at the end. I can’t fault their will to win – at all.
Overall, it’s obvious what the Spurs have to do. Winning three straight games with two of those contests being in Los Angeles sounds like an impossible task. We’ll see what happens but I’m confident this team has more fight in them.
-I was especially pleased by the effort Tim Duncan gave in Game 4. He played 33 of the game’s final 34 minutes and left everything out on the court. Duncan finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots. He played 45 minutes and it was obvious that he ran out of gas at some point in the fourth quarter, however Duncan just kept fighting. Defensively, Duncan was solid all night long. Offensively, Duncan wasn't as crisp as usual. For the Spurs to win this series, he’s going to have to shoot better than the 10-for-26 showing he authored in Game 4. If Duncan can get on a roll, the Lakers haven’t shown much of an ability to stop him from doing what he wants.
-Manu Ginobili again didn’t have it in Game 4. He gave effort but his explosiveness just isn’t there right now. I’m not sure if he’s injured or tired but whatever it is, he’s physically not the Ginobili we saw in the regular season. In this game, he finished with seven points and six assists, while shooting 2-for-8 from the field. On offense, Ginobili was mostly in a passing mode. Even if he’d get a step on his defender, he was looking to pass rather than score. I thought he played good defense – even when asked to defend Bryant. The best news is his mobility was much improved. He was moving laterally well and his quickness is also starting to return. I haven’t given up hope that Ginobili will be able to bounce back. He’s obviously not 100% but he looks a lot better than he did in Game 1.
-Tony Parker played pretty well. He scored 23 points, dished out nine assists, grabbed four rebounds and only turned the ball over once, while shooting 8-for-17 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line. Offensively, Parker played well. He was passing the ball with precision and he took good shots. He missed a few shots he usually makes but you can’t complain when his decisions were mostly good. The Lakers point guards didn’t do much offensively but I thought Parker’s defense could have been better. When Parker’s defense is at his best, he should basically be able to hold Fisher scoreless. In Game 5, Parker needs to be fully recovered from the 42 minutes he played in Game 4 and be fresh and ready to dominate.
-The Spurs couldn’t have asked for much more out of Bruce Bowen. He held Bryant to 28 points on 29 shots, didn’t allow him to get to the free throw line and limited him to only one assist. The Spurs would live with those numbers night in and night out for Bryant. Offensively, Bowen hit 3-of-6 shots from the field to score 7 points in 35 minutes. He also had two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot. With Bryant looking to close out the Spurs in Game 5, Bowen will undoubtedly have his hands full once again.
-Fabricio Oberto played 22 minutes and wasn’t very effective. He didn’t take a shot on offense and grabbed only three rebounds. He did do a good job boxing out in the second half but that wasn’t enough production out of Oberto. He began the game playing good defense on Odom but his effective waned as the game went along. For the Spurs to win Game 5, Oberto needs to start rebounding more and find ways to do something offensively.
-Michael Finley started and played shockingly bad. He had a team-worst plus/minus of -18 in only nine minutes of action. Finley missed both of the shots he attempted and didn’t do anything else other than turn the ball over on the Spurs' opening possession of the game. It’s time to officially bury Finley – at least for the rest of this series. If Pop starts him again in Game 5, the season is over. At most, Finley should only play a few minutes off the bench. Even that may be pushing it.
-Brent Barry deserved more in Game 4. Barry played the best game of his Spurs career and he just didn’t get enough help. Barry finished with 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, while shooting 7-for-14 from the field. The best way to understand how well Barry played is to look at his plus/minus of +24 on the night. The next best plus/minus on the team was Duncan at +6. Barry was often the best player on the court for San Antonio. Not only was he carrying the load at times offensively, he was playing very good defense. He’s reading passing lanes amazingly well right now and on a night where no one outside of Duncan was rebounding, Barry’s five rebounds were the second most on the team. Pop has to start Barry from now on in this series. Barry is playing great basketball and the team is responding to him being on the court. Even defensively, Barry is playing better than any perimeter player on the team outside of Bowen.
-Robert Horry played 16 minutes and still hasn’t been able to hit a shot. He was 0-for-2 in Game 4, although he did hit both of his free throws. While he had four rebounds, only one of those rebounds came on the defensive end. Horry’s defense was solid but the Spurs need more from him. A couple shots, a few big rebounds or something more than good defense.
-Ime Udoka played eight mostly invisible minutes. He was only visible when fouling Sasha Vujacic on a momentum altering four-point play late in the third quarter. Udoka’s inability to rebound in this series has been disappointing. He’s also not doing much offensively or defensively. He hasn’t shown any reason for him not to be seated next to Finley in the swingman doghouse.
-Pop didn’t coach a good game but he wasn’t the reason the Spurs lost. His main mistake was not finding more time for the Big Three to rest. Duncan and Parker can’t play 45 and 42 minutes. A limited Ginobili can’t play 36 minutes. It’s difficult right now but Pop has to trust his bench at some point in the game enough to allow the Big Three rest.
Going into Game 5, Pop has to make a few adjustments. First of all, Barry needs to start. He has to. Barry gives the Spurs good offensive punch and he’s playing well defensively. Finley, on the other hand, is sucking in all aspects of the game. It’s not a coincidence that the Spurs gained points in all of Barry’s five stints on the court and lost points in all of Finley’s four stints. If Pop doesn’t make this change, he might as well bring fishing rods to Game 5.
Pop also needs to figure out what to do with the bigmen. Should he keep hoping Horry has more magic or should he go small with Udoka? If rebounding remains a problem, playing Duncan and Kurt Thomas together may become a needed adjustment.
It's going to be tough for Pop in Game 5 because there are only about six or seven players not playing horrible right now and he has a team fighting fatigue. That is not a good combination, to say the least.
The bottomline is the Spurs face a huge challenge. Step one is winning one game on the road. The Lakers smell blood but with one win, the Spurs can shift the pressure onto the Lakers. It’s time to show the championship heart.
1.
Believe.