Ten Keys To A Game Five Victory

1) Get Tim going early. Duncan needs a double-figure first quarter to get off to a good start. The Pistons have been stealing the inlet pass to him, which is as much Duncan’s fault as anyone elses. He has to seal the defender and not let them just go around him. Duncan has to be in attack mode early and taking the ball to the rim. The less jumpers and turnaround shots, the better.

2) Parker has to score. I want to see a vintage Tony Parker performance. He needs to be driving to the basket and either going up with the shot or finding players wide open. Even if he misses shots in close, Duncan and the other Spurs big have a good chance and getting the offensive rebound. Parker is a lot faster than Billups and the Spurs need him to exploit that. Get into the lane early and often.

3) Ginobili has to play smart. He can’t force things right now because that’s what the Pistons are waiting for him to do. They’ve shut down most of his driving lanes. They are taking away his left hand. What Manu has to do is play like he did in Game 2. In that game, he shot only 8 times but had a lot of assists and did a great job helping the ball movement get going. If he can get out on the break and get to the line, that is when he’s most deadly.

4) Stop turning the ball over as much. It’s just a matter of taking your time and not forcing things. The Spurs also have to play smarter to avoid the traps – especially on the corners of the court. If the Pistons come with a trap, get the ball out of the trap and then attack the basket. The Pistons always use a big to trap so the lane should be wide open.

5) Rebounding. Both offensively and defensively, the rebounds have to be there. Duncan did a good job rebounding last game, but the other bigs need to pick up the slack. Nazr Mohammed and Robert Horry haven’t shown much this series, which can’t continue if the Spurs hope to win. Those two players need to combine for at least 15 boards for the Spurs to be in position to win this game.

6) Transition defense. It’s almost as if the Spurs ended the Suns series and now don’t care about getting back on defense. When the Pistons get rolling, they get a lot of easy transition baskets. If the Spurs can get back on defense and force them to try to score in the half-court, the Pistons won’t have much success.

7) Coaching. Pop needs to find a way to stop the bleeding. I don’t want to see ten players get playing time. He needs to pick seven or eight players and let these players get a lot of run. I’d also like to see Beno Udrih play less at the end of quarters. He’s not good in those situations, but he could be useful in the middle of quarters.

8) Take away the three-pointers. If the Pistons don’t shoot and hit threes, the Spurs can handle them so much easier. When they start hitting from downtown, it makes things that much harder for the Spurs. The Spurs did a great job in the early games of forcing the Pistons to drive and shoot in-between shots. Get back to that and make this a possession-by-possession game.

9) Run. The Spurs need to run the breaks and take it to the Pistons. Detroit thrives in a walk it up pace. The Spurs are at there best when Parker gets out and Ginobili is ready to swoop in from the wings. They have a distinct speed advantage against the Pistons which they must utilize.

10) Patience. It isn’t going to be easy. The Spurs will find themselves down in the game, but they can’t start panicking. Keep running the offense, keep playing solid d and wait. The Pistons can go in extended droughts if you keep them from running and keep them off the offensive glass. Stay patient and the Pistons will start to misfire and the Spurs can take advantage.

start a no limit thread!

:tu



:bling Right on the money.

the key to today's game are number 2 and 3. manu and parker got to get it down by pentrating to the key and looking for their layups or open men.

manu needs to control the ball MUCH MUCH better. y force some of the things he does? they look very pretty when they are completed but can be costly when they dont

please spurs please

I think beno will be lucky to see 4 minutes tonight


manu or barry have to play backup point tonight

spurs can not afford two 12-0(something close to that) runs like last game when beno came in

1) Duncan needs a big game
2) Manu gets the energy up early in the game, driving to the basket, destroying Detroit's D.
3) TAKE CARE OF THE BALL.


If all that happens, it's a win for the Spurs.

Horry and Nazr were money the first two games... horry was a stealing machine. You can't say they've not shown up. They haven't shown up in Detroit -they've been horrible.

Rasho in the Game! :smokin :smokin

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L J you forgot to add # 11



SCORE MORE POINTS THAN THEM!!!

11. Energy. The Spurs need to match the Pistons energy from the opening tipoff. Except for TD, the bigs need to go allout the whole game and push their bigs, especially Big Ben, around. Pop has lots of subs if any of them get tired or in foul trouble. I would disagree about only using 7 or 8 players in this case.

Key: Stop playing like a JV girls high school team on their period.

Nazr needs another 19 point playoff game.

Get those Wallace boys in foul trouble early.

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Originally Posted by timvp

6) Transition defense. It’s almost as if the Spurs ended the Suns series and now don’t care about getting back on defense. When the Pistons get rolling, they get a lot of easy transition baskets. If the Spurs can get back on defense and force them to try to score in the half-court, the Pistons won’t have much success.

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This part of our defense has been disappointing. If your transition defense isn't great, you would hope it's because we are crashing the offensive glass. I haven't seen that happen at all the last two games.

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Originally Posted by inagra

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:lol

So basically all we have to do is improve in every aspect of the game.

This might be crazy enough to work!

1. more points for the Spurs

2. fewer points for the Pistons

3. fewer Spurs' TO's

4. better poise from the Spurs

5. Consistent refs.

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Originally Posted by inagra

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I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind giving Beno a couple breather minutes for Tony...he's been known to hit back-to-back clutch threes when we need them.

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Get those Wallace boys in foul trouble early.

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won't happen at the Palace.

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just thought id join in lol

On the offensive end, in addition to making better decisions with the rock, I think the Spurs need to do a better job getting off some mid-range shots. A number of times there have been opportunities that the Spurs have not taken, esp from the top of the key out to both elbows. I'm still kind of surprised that Pop hasn't gone to GRobinson more, perhaps with some screen rolls with Big Dog and a penetrator. Detroit is so determined to cut off penetration and collapse on Duncan that they are leaving that open.

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Originally Posted by timvp

1) Get Tim going early. Duncan needs a double-figure first quarter to get off to a good start. The Pistons have been stealing the inlet pass to him, which is as much Duncan’s fault as anyone elses. He has to seal the defender and not let them just go around him. Duncan has to be in attack mode early and taking the ball to the rim. The less jumpers and turnaround shots, the better.

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Duncan had eight points in the first quarter. Close enough. He didn't get an inlet pass stolen and down the stretch, did a good job of not shooting fadaways and bad jumpers.

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2) Parker has to score. I want to see a vintage Tony Parker performance. He needs to be driving to the basket and either going up with the shot or finding players wide open. Even if he misses shots in close, Duncan and the other Spurs big have a good chance and getting the offensive rebound. Parker is a lot faster than Billups and the Spurs need him to exploit that. Get into the lane early and often.

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12 points in the first half. He came out attacking. Plus Tim, Nazr and others scored even after he missed short shots because he drew the shotblockers.

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3) Ginobili has to play smart. He can’t force things right now because that’s what the Pistons are waiting for him to do. They’ve shut down most of his driving lanes. They are taking away his left hand. What Manu has to do is play like he did in Game 2. In that game, he shot only 8 times but had a lot of assists and did a great job helping the ball movement get going. If he can get out on the break and get to the line, that is when he’s most deadly.

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Nine assists. Good ball movement.

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4) Stop turning the ball over as much. It’s just a matter of taking your time and not forcing things. The Spurs also have to play smarter to avoid the traps – especially on the corners of the court. If the Pistons come with a trap, get the ball out of the trap and then attack the basket. The Pistons always use a big to trap so the lane should be wide open.

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16 turnovers still not great but not bad considering it went into overtime. Another good thing is not many of them led to easy fast break opps.

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5) Rebounding. Both offensively and defensively, the rebounds have to be there. Duncan did a good job rebounding last game, but the other bigs need to pick up the slack. Nazr Mohammed and Robert Horry haven’t shown much this series, which can’t continue if the Spurs hope to win. Those two players need to combine for at least 15 boards for the Spurs to be in position to win this game.

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They combined for 10 rebounds but um ... Horry kind of made up for that :)

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6) Transition defense. It’s almost as if the Spurs ended the Suns series and now don’t care about getting back on defense. When the Pistons get rolling, they get a lot of easy transition baskets. If the Spurs can get back on defense and force them to try to score in the half-court, the Pistons won’t have much success.

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Pistons with only nine fast break points.

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7) Coaching. Pop needs to find a way to stop the bleeding. I don’t want to see ten players get playing time. He needs to pick seven or eight players and let these players get a lot of run. I’d also like to see Beno Udrih play less at the end of quarters. He’s not good in those situations, but he could be useful in the middle of quarters.

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Seven man rotation. :elephant

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8) Take away the three-pointers. If the Pistons don’t shoot and hit threes, the Spurs can handle them so much easier. When they start hitting from downtown, it makes things that much harder for the Spurs. The Spurs did a great job in the early games of forcing the Pistons to drive and shoot in-between shots. Get back to that and make this a possession-by-possession game.

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2-9 on threes.

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9) Run. The Spurs need to run the breaks and take it to the Pistons. Detroit thrives in a walk it up pace. The Spurs are at there best when Parker gets out and Ginobili is ready to swoop in from the wings. They have a distinct speed advantage against the Pistons which they must utilize.

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8 fast break points. :depressed

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10) Patience. It isn’t going to be easy. The Spurs will find themselves down in the game, but they can’t start panicking. Keep running the offense, keep playing solid d and wait. The Pistons can go in extended droughts if you keep them from running and keep them off the offensive glass. Stay patient and the Pistons will start to misfire and the Spurs can take advantage.

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That was the best patience I've seen from a team since the '99 team. They didn't get scared when the Pistons went up. wooooooooooooooooooo

still boils down to

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Actually tonight it boiled down to Robert Horry.