The Spurs continue their offensive domination inside the piant

The Spurs outscored the Jazz by 22 paint points in game 3 and have been outscoring them by an average of 20.6 per game on the series.

We're also averaging a blistering 62.5 FG% inside the painted area through 3 games. For comparison:

League average amongst playoff teams: 52.4% FG
The Utah Jazz: 43.5% FG

I expect more of the same in game 4. Especially if Splitter picks up where he left off tonight and Ginobili decides its time for him to score via penetration.

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Originally Posted by angelbelow

Ginobili decides its time for him to score via penetration.

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:wow

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Ginobili decides its time for him to score via penetration.

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probably not going to happen. I noticed at the beginning of the year Manu said he was going to be more of a facilitator than a scorer and I've noticed lately he's been passing a lot more and shooting/driving a lot less. I'm not sure I like the Gino that just passes the whole time. It was great tonight because he only had 1 turnover.

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Ginobili decides its time for him to score via penetration.

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probably not going to happen. I noticed at the beginning of the year Manu said he was going to be more of a facilitator than a scorer and I've noticed lately he's been passing a lot more and shooting/driving a lot less. I'm not sure I like the Gino that just passes the whole time. It was great tonight because he only had 1 turnover.

I'll take the 10 assists with the other guys putting it in the hole... count as 2 points too...

I'd rather have ginobili passing rather than shooting...if u have ginobili taking 10-15 shots a game that takes away from greens shots, jax shots, splitter shots and so on...and it would also take away from the whole point of the offense

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Originally Posted by ElNono

I'll take the 10 assists with the other guys putting it in the hole... count as 2 points too...

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That's what you got from my post? Sure, Ginobili can do whatever he wants. The outcome of the series won't matter if he remains passive. But if he decides to dominate the game with his dribble penetration; then the Jazz may have to split up their "couple of hard fouls" between him and Parker.

I'll put on my Ginobili homer goggles for a second and say that we need a big offensive game from him in game 4. He's shooting just 31.8% from the field and has missed all 8 of his 3 point attempts. Manu averaging just 5.6 ppg and the Spurs being up 3-0 is a testament to our depth and evidence that the Jazz are not ready for the playoffs. Eventually we'll need him to penetrate and make shots.

spurs doubling the jizz points in the paint every game and they still shoot twice as many free throws
i think theyre also second in the nba at putting teams at the line
while were at the very bottom

something does not compute....

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Originally Posted by freetiago

spurs doubling the jizz points in the paint every game and they still shoot twice as many free throws
i think theyre also second in the nba at putting teams at the line
while were at the very bottom

something does not compute....

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The Jazz are definitely getting some help to help keep the game close. In spite of this, the Spurs are winning by good margins.
This experience will be handy when playing the NBA darlings like OKC or the Heat later on. You know there will be issues then. Play through it and win, not whine.

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That's what you got from my post? Sure, Ginobili can do whatever he wants. The outcome of the series won't matter if he remains passive. But if he decides to dominate the game with his dribble penetration; then the Jazz may have to split up their "couple of hard fouls" between him and Parker.

I'll put on my Ginobili homer goggles for a second and say that we need a big offensive game from him in game 4. He's shooting just 31.8% from the field and has missed all 8 of his 3 point attempts. Manu averaging just 5.6 ppg and the Spurs being up 3-0 is a testament to our depth and evidence that the Jazz are not ready for the playoffs. Eventually we'll need him to penetrate and make shots.

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Well don't expect that to change anytime soon. From today's interview it sounds like Manu's going to continue relying mainly on his passing game to get by and letting the other guys do the scoring.

He'll need to score. The level of difficulty spikes after SA gets past UTA

What's the piant?

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Originally Posted by angelbelow

That's what you got from my post? Sure, Ginobili can do whatever he wants. The outcome of the series won't matter if he remains passive. But if he decides to dominate the game with his dribble penetration; then the Jazz may have to split up their "couple of hard fouls" between him and Parker.

I'll put on my Ginobili homer goggles for a second and say that we need a big offensive game from him in game 4. He's shooting just 31.8% from the field and has missed all 8 of his 3 point attempts. Manu averaging just 5.6 ppg and the Spurs being up 3-0 is a testament to our depth and evidence that the Jazz are not ready for the playoffs. Eventually we'll need him to penetrate and make shots.

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Manu is excelling as a facilitator. However, I don't know that we need Manu to drive into the paint much. Neal and Parker can do that. We have Pick and Roll to create openings into the lane, as well as cuts off of motion offense screens, etc. Green, Leonard, manu and Sjax can all contribute there.

What I am concerned with is Manu's 3pt and spot up shooting. Hopefully he recovers from this serious slump. He is clearly healthy, given his production (rebounds, assists, etc). If enough of our outside shooting goes cold, we will see our percentage in the paint plummet.

I think that our offense is simply not as effective if Manu is not an outside shooting threat. TBH, I think that is partially why we see his minutes are low: 28 minutes in game 3, 19 in game 2, and 25 minutes in game 1.

Manu is playing enough minutes that, for the offense to leave enough room in the paint, we need the other guys on the floor to be an outside shooting threat. Otherwise, we will see manu's man collapse into the paint and that will impact our Pick and Roll.

If manu is running the pick and roll and he is not hitting his jumper, I think it will really reduce the effectiveness of the roll man if the other team is at all able to game plan and execute defensively.

These are not concerns yet, they are concerns for the next round. Yes, I am getting ahead of myself but this series is 3-0, and this Utah jazz team will not be the first team to come back from such a hole.

IN any case, I am hopeful that he will turn his shooting around.

We have enough shooters right now that Manu's slump has not hurt us, but it will if another 2 of the shooters go cold.

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Originally Posted by DJB

What's the piant?

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It's the area of the court nearest the bsaket.

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Originally Posted by angelbelow

The Spurs outscored the Jazz by 22 paint points in game 3 and have been outscoring them by an average of 20.6 per game on the series.

We're also averaging a blistering 62.5 FG% inside the painted area through 3 games. For comparison:

League average amongst playoff teams: 52.4% FG
The Utah Jazz: 43.5% FG

I expect more of the same in game 4. Especially if Splitter picks up where he left off tonight and Ginobili decides its time for him to score via penetration.

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Manu could care less whether he scores a bunch of points, as long as the team is winning. And neither do I. If the team can still win with Manu just facilitating and not risking an injury that could likely cost the spurs a title, that is highly desirable.

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Originally Posted by spursfaninla

Manu is excelling as a facilitator. However, I don't know that we need Manu to drive into the paint much. Neal and Parker can do that. We have Pick and Roll to create openings into the lane, as well as cuts off of motion offense screens, etc. Green, Leonard, manu and Sjax can all contribute there.

What I am concerned with is Manu's 3pt and spot up shooting. Hopefully he recovers from this serious slump. He is clearly healthy, given his production (rebounds, assists, etc). If enough of our outside shooting goes cold, we will see our percentage in the paint plummet.

I think that our offense is simply not as effective if Manu is not an outside shooting threat. TBH, I think that is partially why we see his minutes are low: 28 minutes in game 3, 19 in game 2, and 25 minutes in game 1.

Manu is playing enough minutes that, for the offense to leave enough room in the paint, we need the other guys on the floor to be an outside shooting threat. Otherwise, we will see manu's man collapse into the paint and that will impact our Pick and Roll.

If manu is running the pick and roll and he is not hitting his jumper, I think it will really reduce the effectiveness of the roll man if the other team is at all able to game plan and execute defensively.

These are not concerns yet, they are concerns for the next round. Yes, I am getting ahead of myself but this series is 3-0, and this Utah jazz team will not be the first team to come back from such a hole.

IN any case, I am hopeful that he will turn his shooting around.

We have enough shooters right now that Manu's slump has not hurt us, but it will if another 2 of the shooters go cold.

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+1

But I'm not at all worried about Manu's outside shot. I'm very confident he'll make them when has has to.

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Originally Posted by TampaDude

It's the area of the court nearest the bsaket.

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What's a bsaket?

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Originally Posted by TJastal

What's a bsaket?

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The thing at the end of the piant, of course! :lol

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Originally Posted by TMTTRIO

probably not going to happen. I noticed at the beginning of the year Manu said he was going to be more of a facilitator than a scorer and I've noticed lately he's been passing a lot more and shooting/driving a lot less. I'm not sure I like the Gino that just passes the whole time. It was great tonight because he only had 1 turnover.

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In games 1 and 2 he had 4 AST and 3 TO, and 3 AST and 4 TO. And that doesn't count all the times his passes were so far off the mark that guys had to practically kill themselves getting to the ball. Those passes don't get counted as TO's, but they destroy the spacing and ball movement.

I love Manu, and I'm still confident he'll get it together. But he's been way less than stellar so far. To be more specific, he's been pretty damned sloppy with the ball at times, he's 7-22 from the floor, and he's only gotten to the line twice, for a total of 4 FT's. That's not Manu-like. I'm not saying he's a crappy player, but I'm not going to deny that he hasn't played at the level the Spurs need, to win it all.

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Originally Posted by TJastal

Manu could care less whether he scores a bunch of points, as long as the team is winning. And neither do I. If the team can still win with Manu just facilitating and not risking an injury that could likely cost the spurs a title, that is highly desirable.

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We definitely need him to score more when the good defensive teams start clamping down on the role players.

I'm trying to be hopeful of the Spurs' title chances but 2 games against great defensive teams stick out - the 30+ point beat down vs MIA and the very close (low-scoring) win vs BOS (without Ray Allen). The offensive numbers (vs league) are wonderful but it's the good/great defensive teams I'm worried about - that paint is going to be shut down as it was last year vs MEM. So I guess the real question is will Parker's jumpers and the 3pters go in under playoff pressure?

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Originally Posted by therealtruth

We definitely need him to score more when the good defensive teams start clamping down on the role players.

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I'm not so sure about that even. Just in the reserve unit alone (where Manu spends most of his minutes) we have Gary Neal who is proving capable of putting up big numbers on offense, Splitter also can do it from the low block and P&R, and there is also Stephen Jackson.

I think the only thing Manu needs worry about right now is focusing on hitting a higher % of 3's.

The only time he should flip the switch and go into super Manu mode and start attacking the rim relentlessly is if the spurs are down a game or more and really need to win a game badly. Or if the spurs are smelling blood in the 4th quarter and a key basket would drive the nail into the opposing teams' coffin. That's the only times I see it being smart to take the risk.

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Originally Posted by TJastal

What's a bsaket?

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It's the thing sticking out of the bakcboard.

It's not the i and the a that are misplaced, it's the t. The Spurs have dominated the piano for years now.

The piant is the best place to score.

Tony parker is a heck of a post scorer :P

Spurs should be most interested in getting an injury-free W. That's it. The other stuff about being a hot knife through butter will come if they play as a team, but it's not important for Manu to take it hard to the basket.

Once the Spurs really need that to generate offense, then..and only then...do they need strong penetration or scoring from Ginobili.

Keep the flow.

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Originally Posted by spurs_fan_in_exile

It's not the i and the a that are misplaced, it's the t. The Spurs have dominated the piano for years now.

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Hehe, davy really tickles the ivories

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Originally Posted by Solid D

Spurs should be most interested in getting an injury-free W. That's it. The other stuff about being a hot knife through butter will come if they play as a team, but it's not important for Manu to take it hard to the basket.

Once the Spurs really need that to generate offense, then..and only then...do they need strong penetration or scoring from Ginobili.

Keep the flow.

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Yes, ideally we want to remain healthy. But health alone isn't going to win us important ball games. Ginobili needs to find his rhythm sooner rather then later. The Jazz have proven to be an easy opponent for us so why not use this series as a warm up?

His game 3 statline was impressive from his assists to turnover ratio perspective. But that isn't something that is easily reproduced, even for someone like Manu. Otherwise, as GSH pointed out, hes been sloppy with the ball.

I personally want to see Ginobili dominate game 4. It doesn't have to be scoring or penetration nor does he have to play 35+ minutes. But I want to see some sort of big contribution from him like his play making in game 3. Would be great to see him find his shot and put some points on the board.

And the whole injury thing, if you're going to play Manu then expect him to play hard. You can't really predict who gets injured in the midst of a competitive game or series (unless maybe Artest is on the court). Don't see the point in being so fearful when its out of our control.