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Evans is an idiot, he's the one who got hurt, and nobody on the spurs is complaining
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basket...73_sbar13.html
San Antonio hits deck hard
James, Collison, Fortson deliver message clearly
By TED MILLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
In the Sonics locker room before Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals, center Jerome James predicted he'd see bodies on the floor of KeyArena. It sounded like he and his teammates wanted to send an aggressive message, though his audience mostly smirked at the colorful pregame bravado.
After a pair of blowout defeats to the San Antonio Spurs, most folks left the Sonics for dead.
It didn't take long for the Spurs to know differently. Just ask Manu Ginobili, who was battered, banged and blitzed in the Sonics' 92-91 victory last night.
When Ginobili tried to scoot under the basket in the first quarter, Nick Collison gave him the old double-arm to the face.
The foul, which could have easily been tapped as flagrant, likely was intended to send a message: Ginobili's signature throwing his body around would be met with an equal and opposite reaction.
The message wasn't immediately received, though. Ginobili went right back to the basket, driving for a 19-18 Spurs lead, their first advantage of the game with 3:56 left in the first.
Danny Fortson then delivered the message with a megaphone, decking Ginobili on the blocks, drawing a flagrant foul call, but cheers from the partisan crowd.
The pigtailed one offered a hand to the once again grounded Spur, but it was ignored.
It was clear the Sonics wanted to bang on a guy averaging 52 percent from the field and 21.7 points per game during the playoffs, which included 28 points in Game 2 against the Sonics.
"They were tougher, more physical," Ginobili said. "They knew if they lost this game, they were out. That made them play with more determination."
That determination was on display in the paint, where Ginobili, center Tim Duncan and point guard Tony Parker were knocked to the floor repeatedly. The Spurs still got their points -- that threesome combined for 59 -- but they paid with some bruises.
That's what the Sonics were looking for, after hearing about -- and feeling -- the Spurs' lauded defense during the previous two games.
"(Ginobili) plays physical, tried to be a little tough; Bruce Bowen tries to be a tough man," Sonics forward Reggie Evans said. "So let us be a little tough, too. Don't complain. If you're going to dish it out, keep on dishing it. We set an example today."
The banging closed the previously vast gap between the teams. After failing to lead after the first quarter in the first two games, the Sonics traded 17 lead changes with the Spurs in the second half, not to mention 10 ties.
The banging wouldn't have worked if not for terrible free throw shooting from the Spurs. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili were a combined 17 of 31 from the stripe.
"We are not the best free throw shooting team in the league and it was a night off," Ginobili said. "It was a big key of the game."
Duncan certainly doesn't shy away from contact. And he has an added bonus of getting to help interpret what look like neutral, sweaty scrums inside the paint.
After the Sonics cut the Spurs' lead to two with less than three minutes left in the second quarter, Duncan had a little chat with an official under the basket.
It lasted only a few seconds, but Duncan got two quick foul calls against Vitaly Potapenko on the other end -- one while jockeying for position and the second with the ball in his hands, which turned into a pair of made free throws.
Duncan didn't commit a foul until early in the third quarter. By the end of the period, the men charged with defending him -- Evans, James, Collison, Fortson and Potapenko -- had piled up 17.
That's a lot of contact, but that might be what the Sonics needed to do.
"It's a contact sport," noted Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
...i think it's about time for the refs to take a closer look if those fouls against Manu/Duncan were intentional.. if they keep doing that, our Spurs could be on IL before this series is over.
Evans is an idiot, he's the one who got hurt, and nobody on the spurs is complaining
now i'm scared to watch game 4 already..
knock on wood.
Did Evans complain when Dunc knocked him on the ground then looked down and grined on him
For some reason Evans just irritates me. He's got no talent and still he plays and talks like he's something. Handsignals I hate and when he made that basket in Game 3 he threw his hands up in the air, it almost made me turn off the TV for a while.
I dislike players that don't have any talent at all. Like Evans, Madsen, Ostertag, and so on.
Its like they are proud of hitting guys and throwing them to the floor. , everyone is giving them praise for it. "Yes, we are tougher now, and gonna really hit people."
But what really is amazing, is that they cite the Spurs as being as physical, especially Bruce, as some sorta justification.
Well, ok. I guess we gotta stop Bruce laying out people and knocking them to the floor...damn brute that he is.
Do these people actually beleive what they say? I have a hard time thinking they're this stupid.
damn these no talent fools win one game and they start running their mouths....
Maybe Reggie ought to talk to Baby Ray about complaining."(Ginobili) plays physical, tried to be a little tough; Bruce Bowen tries to be a tough man," Sonics forward Reggie Evans said. "So let us be a little tough, too. Don't complain. If you're going to dish it out, keep on dishing it. We set an example today."
Evans, like James, is another stupid ass re ed illiterate ridiculously incoherent piece of . I haven't heard the Spurs complain once about the physical play. In fact, I heard Coach Popovich practically praising Seattle for it.
I want evans and that tub of sh*t jerome james on the floor sunday. I want to see the look on their faces when the final buzzer sounds and they're suddenly down 3-1.
Fortson, James, Evans, Potapenko, what a cheap pile of dumbass, klutzy losers.
Nate has assembled an excellent front-court.
The only big guy who plays decent basketball and hustles is Collison, and even he took a cheap shot at Tony's neck.
Like the Nuggets, we need to distance ourelves from these bas s asap and take a good, long shower to get rid of filth.
Damn, the Spurs really drew 2 ty teams in the first two rounds.
That is all they can do. The have no basketball skills. They will get their asses handed to them on sunday.
James keeps saying things like....."this will shut them up" ... and "don't complain" ... but I haven't heard them say anything.
Who is this "they"?
Why does everyone hate all our opponents?
I find this amusing.
This stuff has been going on since the dark ages in the NBA...nothing new.
The Spurs have been getting hammered by the bullies in the league since the Gervin days and the only time that the Spurs actually were the aggressors is when the Bruise Brothers were knocking the crap out of the likes of the Lakers and Sonics.
Skill still wins out in the long run.
The only team that had any success with brute tactics was the Bad Boys in the late 80s and early 90s.
That being said, the only way to stop these tactics is for the Spurs to make them pay for their transgressions, and that is knock down the FTs.
If SA keeps shooting 47% from the FT line, then you can expect more of the same, and I do not blame Seattle one bit....do you?
Hit the FTs and Spurs win.....simple as that.
Well put, Jim. If the Spurs get knocked down and either miss a free throw or stop going hard to the hoop, it costs them games, and there's no incentive for Seattle to stop doing it whatsoever.
I swear...
James and Evans must really want to get their ass kicked Sunday. How else can you talk so much about a team that can kick your ass?
Go tell that to your little fairy princess Ray Allen, mother er.Don't complain.
Reggie Evans looks like a monkey to me!! HAHA
This ing team talks way too much.
I know this is a rhetorical question, but it got me thinking, so here are my thoughts as though they are actually an answer to the question, even though they aren't.
Maybe the Sonics think the only chance they have in the series, or in any individual game, is to make it emotional. In a series of straight-up games, the Sonics lose ten out of ten times. If the Spurs get baited and play with emotion, they've been taken out of their game and probably don't play as well, and if the Sonics play with emotion, they can elevate their game, especially for their center who, while physically gifted, suffers from Athletic Narcolepsy. Seems like Nate would be smart enough to tell his players to shut up if he thought the talk would hurt their chances. If they were playing someone they thought they could beat he'd probably exert more control over them.
They are also scared less and are whistling through the graveyard.
Duncan missed on purpose anyway. He knows the Spurs are a business and closing at home is some extra cream in the bank.
Obstructed,
What's funny is AD and Nate got Jerome to shut up for Friday's shootaround, and even make what was almost an apology for talking out of his ass Thursday night.
And then while they're working on shutting him up, Evans pops off
I definitely agree with you, the only way those guys, particularly James, has a chance is to be extremely emotional about it.
I didn't realize Nate had told anyone to shut up. I guess he doesn't have enough fingers to plug the holes.
Motivation is important for the Sonics. James is a monster if he's motivated, but it just doesn't happen very often. They should call him "full moon" because he makes an appearance every few weeks.
I'm sure there is some sort of gratification in saying that a team made another team pay with bruises and intentionally hard fouls.
The article admittedly says that particular strategy wouldn't have worked if the Spurs had hit their FTs, so where is the "scoreboard value" or long-term gratification?
"The banging wouldn't have worked if not for terrible free throw shooting from the Spurs."
Well, I'm sure the various concussions, scraps and contusions make it much more difficult to make such free throws.....especially if you're trying to shoot through all of those little birdies flying around your head.
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