McDonald: Defense, Duncan And Drew: A Heaping Helping Of Randomness

Defense, Duncan and Drew: A heaping helping of randomness
By Jeff McDonald

Scattered thoughts, while wondering whatever happened to Zarko Paspalj:

* Lost amid the uncomfortable fact that the Spurs have dropped three of their past four games and have slid beneath the Rockets in the division race is this bit of comfort food: The Spurs are actually playing fairly well. Especially on defense. Since the All-Star break, the Spurs rank first in the league in points allowed (87.9) and second field-goal percentage defense (42.8). These are two very positive indicators. If you believe the Spurs are in a recession right now, those numbers might portend a breakthrough headed down the stretch.

* Yes, we're still worried about Tim Duncan. Those who know him say just the fact that he's talking about his sore knees proves just how uncomfortable he is. Duncan is a guy who never complains about anything physical.

Duncan is a gamer, and he will continue to fight through it, but if this is the Duncan the Spurs get in the playoffs, they're in for a tough ride. Wouldn't be surprised to see Duncan get a day off soon, especially with a back-to-back against Golden State and at Atlanta beginning Tuesday.

* Two words guaranteed to ruin a Spurs fan's day: Luis Scola.

* The Spurs woke up Monday morning out of first place in the Southwest Division for the first time since Jan. 6, technically half a game behind Houston. The Spurs, however, are still a game better than the Rockets in the loss column. Of Houston's 10 remaining games, six are on the road and seven are against teams better than .500. The Spurs have 13 games left, seven on the road and six against teams with a winning record.

* Yes, Tony Parker had the critical missed free throws against Boston, and yes his jumper has been misfiring the past two games, but give the guy credit for stepping up in Manu Ginobili's absence. In 23 games without Ginobili this season, Parker is averaging 24.7 points. He's been the most consistent of the Spurs' stars. Of course, he's also been the most healthy.

* Kurt Thomas got the start in place of Matt Bonner against Houston, but that was most likely just a matchup thing. The Rockets have a physical front line with Yao and Scola. The Warriors, not so much. We'd expect to see the Red Rocket in the first five again Tuesday night.

* Drew Gooden, the Spurs' prized free-agent acquisition, hasn't played in the second half in two of the past three games. The journeyman power forward ought to play a key role in the postseason. First, however, he must gain the trust of his coaches. In San Antonio, that takes time.

Whatever happened to 'RC is the bestest GM of all time' and 'losing talent to save $$$ is fucking awesome when you're a fan'?

I didn't notice Drew not playing in the second half the past three games. Interesting.

I'll always remember the day the Spurs gave the Rockets Luis Scola and didn't even ask for a receipt for tax purposes.

Charley Rosen wrote a while back that the Scola move was pretty much Peter Holt's choice, you can't blame RC/Pop if the boss doesn't want to invest the money.

Don't turn this into a Scola thread!

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Originally Posted by McDonald

* Two words guaranteed to ruin a Spurs fan's day: Luis Scola.

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:td
I don't give a fuck about Scrubla and the crappy Rockets.

For me, only one word is enough to ruin my day: tendinosis.
Duncan's health is by far my biggest concern about Spurs.

I don't get the choice to sit Gooden in second halves if you think he's someone who might contribute in those moments at playoff time. Unless he's physically wrong, I'd think he's been proficient enough at finding ways to score and rebound on a fairly consistent basis, to warrant some burn in each half of games.

I agree that Parker has been the best Spur all season and that he's a gigantic reason this team still has reasonable aspirations to win the division and more. If Parker's not an All-NBA player this year, it will be a travesty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruno

:td
I don't give a fuck about Scrubla and the crappy Rockets.

For me, only one word is enough to ruin my day: tendinosis.
Duncan's health is by far my biggest concern about Spurs.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruno

For me, only one word is enough to ruin my day: tendinosis.
Duncan's health is by far my biggest concern about Spurs.

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Mine too.

There are a lot of pieces that need to fall into place for this team to have any chance, but nothing matters more than Duncan at close to his Playoff best.

Drew not playing in the second half of games is ridiculous.

What exactly is Pop waiting for? An active big who can rebound and make things happen?

His name is Drew, coach. Play him. Oh, I guess you'd rather play Finley at the 4 spot down the stretch. Brilliant.

hey lets play a game of Scola-who?

All I care about is our team, our guys' health and especially how TD's health will be in the playoffs. I'm not even sure who we want the first round. I just want the Spurs to put D first like they have been doing, get Manu back and get their rotation straight.

Lakers are the frontrunners, the WCF is theirs for the taking or the choking. Spurs health may be too much to overcome against an experienced and hungry team like the Lakers. All other WCT's can kiss Duncan's ass because even with Duncan not 100%, they will not beat us.

Enough of the Scola bullshit already, this isnt a Rockets forum. What happened happened, we can't change anything now. So be it. The Spurs have 4 titles in the past 9 years without Scola. The Rockets have a 1st round exit to the Jazz with Scola. That is All.

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Originally Posted by duncan228

Mine too.

There are a lot of pieces that need to fall into place for this team to have any chance, but nothing matters more than Duncan at close to his Playoff best.

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Amen :tu

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Originally Posted by Baseline

Drew not playing in the second half of games is ridiculous.

What exactly is Pop waiting for? An active big who can rebound and make things happen?

His name is Drew, coach. Play him. Oh, I guess you'd rather play Finley at the 4 spot down the stretch. Brilliant.

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For Gooden to play like he doesn't have a lump of coal between his ears.....

Which will never happen BTW.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruno

:td
I don't give a fuck about Scrubla and the crappy Rockets.

For me, only one word is enough to ruin my day: tendinosis.
Duncan's health is by far my biggest concern about Spurs.

---

:tu

Quote:

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Drew Gooden, the Spurs' prized free-agent acquisition, hasn't played in the second half in two of the past three games. The journeyman power forward ought to play a key role in the postseason. First, however, he must gain the trust of his coaches. In San Antonio, that takes time.

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:pctoss

I guess it's back to small ball again in the playoffs.

In addition to the meme about Pop not being able to coach backup point guards, perhaps we should add new players to that list as well.

Yes, it seems the Spurs system is God's gift to basketball...

Pop's gotten too big for his britches and needs to practice what he preaches about "getting over himself" FFS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

:pctoss

I guess it's back to small ball again in the playoffs.

In addition to the meme about Pop not being able to coach backup point guards, perhaps we should add new players to that list as well.

Yes, it seems the Spurs system is God's gift to basketball...

Pop's gotten too big for his britches and needs to practice what he preaches about "getting over himself" FFS.

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Couldn't agree more, talent wins out in these types of situations, especially when you are under-manned. Even though Pop is defintely one of the better coaches in the game, he has got to be one of the most stubborn as well.

For the life of me, i can't understand why the guy continues to play Finley 30-35 minutes a game, while an Defensive All-NBA player sits on the bench. Meanwhile, we're giving up uncontested layups and easy drives in the paint since no one in our starting lineup outside of Tim (When Healthy) can guard his own shadow.

But there is a silver lining.....the Spurs lead the league in "corporate knowledge".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

:pctoss

I guess it's back to small ball again in the playoffs.

In addition to the meme about Pop not being able to coach backup point guards, perhaps we should add new players to that list as well.

Yes, it seems the Spurs system is God's gift to basketball...

Pop's gotten too big for his britches and needs to practice what he preaches about "getting over himself" FFS.

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:lmfao

just because Drew Gooden doesn't play that equals small ball?


YOu fucking people are retards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Baseline

Drew not playing in the second half of games is ridiculous.

What exactly is Pop waiting for? An active big who can rebound and make things happen?

His name is Drew, coach. Play him. Oh, I guess you'd rather play Finley at the 4 spot down the stretch. Brilliant.

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You must not watch the games very closely. When Gooden comes in, the offense stops. There's a reason that we got worked by 9 points in the second quarter, essentially costing us the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by exstatic

You must not watch the games very closely. When Gooden comes in, the offense stops. There's a reason that we got worked by 9 points in the second quarter, essentially costing us the game.

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The same might be said for Finley on one of his patented 1 for 8 ghost appearances. Or Bonner in general.

How can Gooden be solely responsible for the offense stopping?

How healthy is Drew? and what will be his role in Spurs?

Few things about this:

1. I agree that Gooden has been on the floor when we've stalled but those are also times when our back-up PG woes are at their worst and I don't know that we can fairly blame that on Gooden.

2. Good to hear about our D. Pop said we have to be in top 3 of fg % allowed to win and we're there after the all-star break.

3. I think Pop will try to sit TD this game or next but I bet TD will protest sitting after two frustrating losses. Of course we'd never hear about it because they're such a tightly knit franchise, but I bet Timmy wouldn't like that idea at all. But I think its for the best.

Yeah I think Drew played about seven minutes last game. The limitation was interesting in itself.

Gooden's probably going to get a start at the 4 one of the next two games, so we'll see how the offense fares while he's in with the first team.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruno

:td
I don't give a fuck about Scrubla and the crappy Rockets.

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:lol Sig worthy.