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UTTERLY F IN PATHETIC!!!!!!!!! ONCE again.
Spurs lose a real head-scratcher
Jeff McDonald
Portland coach Nate McMillan emerged from the locker room early Wednesday evening looking like a man who had just been hit by a car and, given his luck of late, feared being next struck by lightning.
He had just learned leading scorer Brandon Roy would be joining starting center Joel Przybilla on the injured list, a night after Przybilla had joined Greg Oden, Travis Outlaw, Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum and Patrick Mills there.
“It's been unbelievable,” said McMillan, himself still on crutches after his Dec. 4 surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. “I don't really like to talk about it.”
Unbelievable pretty much covered what happened later that night at the AT&T Center, and that wasn't good news for the Spurs.
Playing with more rotation players on the injured list than on the floor, the Trail Blazers stunned the Spurs 98-94.
Jerryd Bayless, who began the season as the Blazers' 11th man, peppered the Spurs for a career-high 31 points, including a back-breaking 3-pointer that put Portland ahead 96-87 with 2:04 to go. It was Portland's second short-handed victory in as many nights, following an 85-81 triumph at Dallas.
Forget beating teams over .500, against whom the Spurs are now 2-10 this season. On Wednesday, they couldn't quite handle Portland's JV.
“This is the NBA,” Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “One guy goes down, another guy gets an opportunity.”
Down 11 with 4:39 left, the Spurs battled back within four. They would have had a chance to tie in the waning moments, but couldn't corral the rebound after Bayless missed a pull-up jumper with 3.9 seconds left. Andre Miller grabbed the ball Manu Ginobili had deflected, was fouled and made a pair of foul shots to seal the game.
That was indicative of the Spurs' night. The Blazers — so decimated they didn't have a true center active — zapped the Spurs for 11 offensive rebounds.
Afterward, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich characterized it as a “tough loss.” Given the Blazers' injury state, and the fact that it came on their home floor, it might have been the Spurs' worst of the season.
“I thought down the stretch we started to play with more aggressiveness and urgency,” Popovich said, “which we didn't have in early parts of the game.”
The Spurs (15-11) were not surprised to take the Blazers' best shot.
“In a situation like that, guys play hard,” Antonio McDyess said. “They want to show what they've got.”
Bayless showed his scoring prowess, as well as his toughness. Twice, it appeared he might be done for the night, once after falling hard on his hip in the first quarter, then after coming up with leg cramps in the third.
The Spurs lost despite 24 points and 11 rebounds from Tim Duncan, an 18-point night from Richard Jefferson and 16 points off the bench from Mason. They lost despite shooting 51.4 percent from the field, and 94.1 percent from the foul line.
Portland (19-12) had fewer players walking upright, but had more players play well. LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 points, including 14 in the second half.
Juwan Howard — a 36-year old playing out of position at center — added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Coupled with his 10-point, 10-rebound effort in Dallas, it marked Howard's first set of back-to-back double-doubles in three years.
“They were hitting a lot of us shots against us,” Jefferson said. “Tonight just wasn't our night.”
After the injury cloud that had followed them to San Antonio, the Blazers won't exactly head home touting their luck. They did, however, celebrate Wednesday's victory on the Spurs' home floor, long after the Spurs had left it.
“I would say we're playing the game the right way,” McMillan said. “I firmly believe if you do that, you give yourself a chance to win.”
UTTERLY F IN PATHETIC!!!!!!!!! ONCE again.
Wasn't our night. Might not be our year either if they don't get it going soon.
What's so confusing about it? The Spurs don't make plays, the other team does, we lose.
Well Timmy only has a couple of seasons left so they better do something soon.
This is old hat by now.
why a head scratcher? The Blazers came out with more energy and a better game plan. While it was close in the first half, the Blazers took Timmy out in the 2nd h alf and the veteran spurs couldn't adjust couple that with very poor defense and it's no secret why the Spurs lost.
In the Spurs defense the Blazers were making some of the most difficult shots I've seen in awhile. Sometimes it's just not your night. What gets me is if we were getting killed on the boards so bad, why not give Ratliff a chance? Pop deserves a big fat F tonight...
Jerryd Bayless, who began the season as the Blazers' 11th man, peppered the Spurs for a career-high 31 points, including a back-breaking 3-pointer that put Portland ahead 96-87 with 2:04 to go. It was Portland's second short-handed victory in as many nights, following an 85-81 triumph at Dallas.
not a head scratcher when you consider that this team sucks.
That's basketball. Guys hit un-stoppable shots. As soon as the Spurs forced the ball out of Bayless hands someone else hit a long contested shot.
It happens, take your lumps and move on.
This team has no heart right now.
AGAIN, nothing to do with heart. The team is playing lousy basketball. Do you actually think the spurs are trying to lose these games? That's just crazy.
Blazers down 7 players and yet they STILL prevail? What's wrong with this picture? As many roster moves as the Spurs made over the summer, it appears it wasn't enough. For now, it appears that the Blazers have more talent, athleticism, vigor, heart, and desire from players 10-15, than the Spurs do from 1-11. There is where the game was lost.
Yep...I don't know why people are getting upset at this point. The realists on this board have been pointing out this team's crappy play all year but the "it's only (month)" crowd continually turns a blind eye.
What happened to Jefferson creating shots for himself the only way I see him score is off alley-oops. He's basically the small forward version of Tyson Chandler.
Not to pile on Richard Jefferson but he's NEVER had a half court, iso game. Where that myth came from is beyond me.
Maybe we need to take some of our starters out too and we'll win games.
Exactly. McDonalds make it sound Blazers didn't deserve it. They played harder, better and they won. No head-scratcher there.
Looks like 'Tonight is not our night' happens all the time against decent teams.
Soon spurs will realize that they are no contender what so ever.
The doomsday is near
how many players have ha their season highs against the spurs this year?
Well it's true Nate told Ime he'd be the best 12th man in the league before they waived him. It seems Portland also had the best 11th man in the league.
we need a 2nd big that can rebound. it's that simple. i didn't think mcdyess was enough and now it's being proven.
manu needs to play less minutes, or stay off the court completely
The big problem was that the Spurs came out with zero aggression in the third quarter, after getting a short-handed team into serious foul issues in the first half. That's absolutely inexcusable.
Then toss in Manu hardly able to sink a shot if his life depended on it and Bayliss and Aldridge both could have thrown a blindfolded, one handed, through the legs, granny style, half-court shot up and it would have gone in and any team would be in trouble.
Howard outworked the Spurs for the boards, too. He was channeling Pryzbilla or something.
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