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I think the Spurs can shoot better than 10% ... that might help some.
Good article...San Antonio - While San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popo- vich joked Monday he had little problem shaking off his team's 95-89 loss Sunday to the Nuggets - "I just had a couple of beers and went right to bed. Slept fine," he cracked - the truth was a far different matter.
The adjustments that invariably happen after every postseason contest began early. By midnight, just a few hours after the opening contest had been decided, Popovich already began dissecting the hows and whys. After just a few hours of sleep, he was up by 6 a.m., going over the tapes again. Not long after that, the coach was in his office, working with his staff on coming back from a defeat that was confounding on any number of levels.
One was the sense that, despite 31 points from Allen Iverson and another 30 from Carmelo Anthony, Popovich felt like his team played pretty good defense. The uptempo attack favored by Denver was largely negated - the Nuggets had but three fast-break points in the game, well below their season average (18.6). Similarly, Denver led the NBA in points in the paint with almost 47 per game; on Sunday they finished with 36. And, while the visitors' 25 free-throw attempts were 15 more than San Antonio, that was still five fewer than the Nuggets averaged during the regular season.
"We did a lot of good things, but we still lost," Popovich said.
And really, that's where the trouble truly begins for the Spurs. A team that has won three league championships in the past eight seasons, based in large part on the idea of being mentally and physically tougher than its opponents, was neither Sunday night.
"The Nuggets had an edge about them," Popovich admitted. "I was disappointed in our physicality and our pursuit of the basketball. I thought the only guy who was really there in the sense of it being the playoffs and what we want, was Jacque Vaughn. There was no one else in his category."
No offense to Vaughn, but when a reserve point guard who played only 11 minutes is the team's standard-bearer - especially a squad with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, et al. - it can't be a good sign.
That might have been why Ginobili, the supersub who averages 16 points a game but finished with just nine in Game 1 on 4-of-15 shooting, spent much of his interview time Monday berating himself for not providing more for the Spurs. However, teammate Robert Horry said the idea of trying to take on too much may have been a factor in San Antonio's troubles.
"You look at the films and there are things where you think you're doing something, but you're not," Horry said. "We thought we were playing well offensively, but we really didn't pass the ball very well. You could see everybody thought they had to take it upon themselves to lift the team."
Provided they had the opportunity to do so. When Bruce Bowen picked up two fouls in the opening seven minutes of play Sunday, he was relegated to the bench. The defensive stopper, a member of the all-NBA defensive team the past six seasons, finished with only three personals, but played only 19 minutes total, helpless to stop Anthony or Iverson from taking over the game.
"That bothered me," Bowen said. "It's always the coach's decision. They don't want you getting three fouls in the first half. But when you finish the game with just three and you've played only 19 minutes, you're thinking, 'Yeah, I really wanted to be out there."'
I think the Spurs can shoot better than 10% ... that might help some.
It'd be surprising for the Spurs to continue to shoot miserably. Like Ohio State against Florida, had the Spurs shot poorly instead of miserably in key stretches, they might have won the game.
I think Denver fans are getting a little to excited. Talk to us when/if were on the brink of elimination.
I think it's actually a good thing the press in Denver is already writing us off.
btw: Crow tastes better with Tabasco.
Our excitement is validated^^
I could think of ways why we're different than the 05 team and NONE of them (addition of AI, vast improvement of Nene, maturation of Melo, deeper bench J.R/ Kleiza, subtraction of Boykins) is a valid one.
The real factor that makes us truly different: defense
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And I'll keep that in mind celldweller
If Melo and AI continue to score 30+ppg ,there´s no way to stop the Nuggets(or any team in the playoffs)So,the spurs need to defend better in order to win the series.I wanna see Bowen,TP and Manu getting some steals and slowing the nuggets guards and wings,and Tim getting 5+bloks and 15+boards.
boykins always killed the spurs when we played the nuggets
^But he always gets killed back on defense... to have such a small guy on the backcourt, demoralizes the whole team's morale as it tries to play D the right way. Even if Boykins tries his earnest, it's never going to be good enough because of his size.
If Denver beats SA, I am going on record that Denver will win the West. Karl has this team rolling and they have all the pieces to go deep in the playoffs.
Granted, but to write articles burrying a series after game one, against a championship caliber team, even you got to admit is comical at best.Our excitement is validated^^
I could think of ways why we're different than the 05 team and NONE of them (addition of AI, vast improvement of Nene, maturation of Melo, deeper bench J.R/ Kleiza, subtraction of Boykins) is a valid one.
The real factor that makes us truly different: defense
---
And I'll keep that in mind celldweller
You could see everybody thought they had to take it upon themselves to lift the team." DUNCAN was forcing bad shots
The Nuggets made a huge number of very difficult shots in Game 1. The Spurs missed a bunch of easy ones, notably the Tony Parker layup.
We'll see if they can continue hitting fadeaways all game in Game 2.
How about this...
The Denver defense in the second half was a of a lot better than their defense in the first half, and they spurs scored more points....
That tell you anything?
You should be very afraid...
all journalists that le an article sleepless in city name should lose their job for life. there's no excuse for a writer to completely devoid of originality.
Denver's defense sucks balls.
Most of our turnovers were self inflicted. and most of the shots we missed were open shots. come on
"The Nuggets had an edge about them," Popovich admitted. "I was disappointed in our physicality and our pursuit of the basketball. I thought the only guy who was really there in the sense of it being the playoffs and what we want, was Jacque Vaughn. There was no one else in his category."
He didn't mention Oberto?
Well, I, for one, will be a little worried IF the Spurs lose game #2...until then, I believe they'll be just fine.
Isn't it is also unusual for the Spurs to have two 24 second shot clock violations?
Note to Snake and anyone else posting "articles":
Please post the name of the author and a link, if possible, when quoting articles such as the one quoted in this thread. Thank you.
I don't see Snake signed-in at the moment, so here is the link:
http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_5735289
Go figure...it's a Denver columnist.
^My bad I thought I posted the link...
They still scored only 47 in the second half...
I thought the D in the first half wasn't that bad, aside of some really really wide open three pt shooters 3-4 times. Granted, if we keep leaving you guys open from those area, we'll get killed.
Really wide open 3 pt shooters... missing LAYUPS (probably 10 by our big 3)
we arent going to shoot like that again...
If make our shots in the first half... we are up by 10 at halftime and Denver starts to point fingers at each other and go away...
The nuggets defense was definitely better than I expected, but this dude was their best defender, by far.
No we're tighter than that
lol
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