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Many hours have passed and I'm still pissed of about this.
Udoka was bad but that last part was mean.
The Spurs have had some bad losses this season but I can confidently say that this game was the worst of the bunch. Against a Seattle Supersonics team that had lost 14 games in a row, the Spurs found a way to lose.
This was one of those games where even if the Spurs are playing bad, they always find a way to win. It was close most of the way but I felt pretty confident that the Spurs would win. Against a Sonics team that not only sucks but wasn’t even playing particularly well, I thought the Spurs would be able to snap their two-game losing streak. I was wrong.
Props to the Sonics, I guess. Kevin Durant hit enough of his ill-advised shots to help lead his team to victory. Chris Wilcox, Nick Collison and Kurt Thomas all played well for Seattle. PJ Carlesimo has his team playing hard.
Truthfully though, this was just a horrible loss for the Spurs. I don’t even know how they found a way to lose the game. I’m hoping that this is the low point of the season but I’ve hoped that a couple times already this year.
Even worse than the loss is the news regarding Tony Parker. Parker not only missed this game, he returned to San Antonio to get an MRI on his troublesome foot. At the very least he’s out a week. It sounds as if there’s a strong possibility that he’ll be out a lot longer.
-Tim Duncan was decent. He got bullied in the low block by the Sonics’ bigs a little bit but he played well enough for the Spurs to win. His energy was good and even defensively he was better than he has been in recent games. He finished with 27 points, 12 rebounds and one blocked shots in 38 minutes of action. His defense still his room for improvement and I’d still like to see him utilize a wider repertoire on the low block, but overall Duncan wasn’t part of the problem tonight.
-Manu Ginobili played fantastic. Props to him for stepping up and having a big game with Parker sidelined. He took on a lot of the playmaking duties and on top of that scored very efficiently. Ginobili finished with 29 points, seven assists and only one turnover while shooting 10-for-17 from the field. He even led the team tonight in playing time at 40 minutes. My only complaint with Ginobili tonight was his defense suffered in the fourth quarter due to him being tired. He started reaching instead of moving his feet. However, I lay that blame on Pop more than I do Manu. Ginobili just isn’t built to play 40 minutes – not even in the playoffs, much less on the second game of a back-to-back in January.
-When Bowen played, the Spurs did well. In his 28 minutes, the Spurs had a plus/minus of +15, which was the best mark on the team. Defensively, his energy level wasn’t high but he was doing a decent job. Offensively, Bowen hit the one shot he took. Pop sat Bowen to try to get more offense into the game but it turned out that the Spurs could have used Bowen’s defense in the fourth quarter.
-Jacque Vaughn started and made every Spurs fan miss Parker tremendously. In 37 minutes, Vaughn went 2-for-9 from the floor with four points and four assists. With Parker out and a lot of the role players struggling, more offense or more playmaking from Vaughn would have been nice. The Spurs got neither.
-Fabricio Oberto was playing harder than he has in recent weeks. In 33 minutes, the Argentine bigman scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds. He hit 6-of-9 shots from the floor and his defense all night was decent enough. That said, Oberto missed a big layup late and had Wilcox score a bucket on him late. That kind of performance at the end of the game won’t win Oberto more minutes from Pop.
-With Ginobili back in the starting lineup, Michael Finley was relegated to the bench. Offensively, he was bad. He finished 2-for-7 from the field on his way to six points in 22 minutes. Defensively, he was horrible. I haven’t seen Finley play this poorly on the defensive end of the court all season. He was matched up against Durant when Durant hit what turned out to be the game-winner late in the contest. Finley’s defense on that play might have been the worst defense played by a Spur all season long. He just ran into a pick and stopped. Thanks Fin for that fabulous effort.
-Udoka played 18 minutes and did nothing. He was 0-for-4 from the floor and his defense was uncharacteristically lazy. He was getting beat around screens all night without giving his usual effort. In the fourth quarter he got elbowed in the temple and blood started squirting out. I’m not sure if that was the highlight or the lowlight for Udoka on the night.
-Matt Bonner played 17 minutes but didn’t give Pop a reason why he should be put back into the rotation. Five points, two rebounds and 2-for-7 shooting against a horrible team isn’t exactly the performance you want to see from a guy who is trying to fight for more minutes. Bonner seems like a smart guy but it’d be nice if some of his real life IQ translated to basketball IQ at some point in his career. He had a defensive three seconds violation that had me wondering if Bonner had ever played in the NBA before tonight.
-Robert Horry played nine minutes and – surprise – did nothing. He missed his only shot from the field. He didn’t grab a rebound. Pop gave Bonner his minutes in the second half but Bonner made sure that the Horry experiment will live to see another day.
-This isn’t funny anymore, Pop. The Spurs are now only two games away from not even being in the playoffs. Their starting point guard is gone indefinitely. The Spurs are playing Duncan and Ginobili big minutes and even when they both play well at the same time, the Spurs are losing to horrible teams. Not good.
If you have a panic button at home or work or where ever you are reading this, it might not be time to push that button but you should definitely locate it hover your hand over it. If Parker is going to miss a significant amount of time, the Spurs won’t be fighting to move up the standings, they’ll be fighting to make the playoffs. This is the new reality.
With regards to the Sonics game, I thought Pop made an alarmingly high number of blunders. Bowen should have played more in the fourth because the supposed shooters weren’t hitting shots anyways. And, uh, Pop did you forget that Ginobili needs to rest? Ginobili was running on fumes in the fourth quarter. I know the bench sucks but the Spurs can’t pull out wins with Parker gone and Ginobili dead tired late in the fourth.
Next up, the Suns. In a weird way, this might be just what the doctor ordered. The Suns get destroyed by capable bigmen. Duncan is rather capable. The Suns also force the tempo and the Spurs would do well to actually have to run. Against the Sonics, the Spurs finished with a whopping zero fast break points. I know Parker was out but damn.
Logic tells me the Suns are going to destroy the Spurs. That said, I have a surprisingly good feeling about that game. I think the Spurs will beat the Suns. Then again, I was confident in the Spurs throughout the whole Sonics game and we saw how well that worked out.
Thanks TIMVP, Your summary is pretty accurate description for those who can't watch the game.
Frankly speaking I am worried about the spurs’ performance lately; I mean we are losing against Toronto, Grizllies, Charlote, Pistons, Jazz and whoever came in town or we visited; no matter if we have TD on court or TP and Manu sidelined, some games were mediocre.
I read about is January and so on, but come on, in some point we need to realize we aren’t go far in playoffs with this style of playing.
Is there any estimation about TP's absence?
Imagine the shock around here if the Spurs miss the playoffs.
Man - I wouldn't have contemplated that before in the least but I know see it as a (slim) possibility.
Thanks TimVP. I read every summary you wrote after each game & it was as if I watched the games with a good commentator!
I also agreed that Pop should do something. One of my suggestion would be to give Ian Mahammi a chance to play. I understand Pop has a schedule regarding his development, and also he is not "NBA ready". However, those risks are relatively less costly with the team's recent level of play. The worse scenerio is that Ian sucks, causing more losses to the team & go back to the D-league with a loss of confidence. However the present scenerio isn't too far worse.
But with Ian's defensive skills, I doubt Pop will trust him. Also he has not developed the midrange jumper necessary to play with Duncan (so as to make room for Duncan to operate). But I think Ian can learn most from his own mistakes in the NBA rather than enjoy success from the NBDL.
Are the Spurs "under the radar" yet?
From one of the favorites, to "will they make the playoffs?" We got the league just where we want 'em.
Oh yeah. Good analysis Tim. Didn't see much of game, just last couple of minutes. Gave me a good feel for how the rest of the game went. Gracias
Thanks Timvp, great report as usual.
I really think Pop should be doing something by now. I know it's only January, but getting abused by ty teams eventually messes up your confidence. Now is the time when no 3rd PG is hurting the team badly. I think Pop relied too much on TP and Barry's health and now the team is paying it big time.
I agree this is not funny anymore.
Spurs looked like last year the same time but the rest of the west team were not that good. West playoffs seeds are packed with high quality teams.
TD is playing big minutes latelly, and still spurs are uable to feel comfortable on the floor. They are being outplayed in every game they played last moth +
I tend to belive in spurs considerating the past but now we could face something new and this year might be the most disapointed in TD's era. In Td's era spurs never were below 2nd place in the division ...
I didn;t see the team playing THAT bad... i still believe we will fall lower than this... and the lower the fall the greater the recovery... GO SPURS!
Another great summary.
locating the panic button, I'm pressing it a few times.
This is absolutely ridiculous;. Spurs are now the proud owners of a 3 game losing streak. At the rate they're playing, the Suns should destroy them on Thursday night.
Maybe it isn't time to press the panic button but I am going to press the EASY button.
Forgot about that button. OK, I'll press the EASY button first. I'll wait to press the panic button once I see their record at the conclusion of the RRT.
Duncan will break out with 33 points and 17 rebounds vs Suns
"Duncan will break out with 33 points"
who will score the Spurs' other 80 points required to beat the Suns?
Vaughn, Udoka and Finley's +/- were horrible. They cost you the game, again.
Without one of the big 3 the Spurs are always in danger of losing a game because of their bench play.
Hopefully, Parker can get back into the lineup and the Spurs can salvage the remainder of this long road trip.
But again, it is still early. There is no need to panic yet. If the team focuses in on what it needs to do, as they usually don on this long road trip, then after the All Star break you should see the real Spurs playing again.
The biggest problem is that you can not afford to get too far behind in the compe ive West.
Remember I told you I'd tell you when we're in too deep?
worst part is, the whole league knows we're down so they will step on us, especially the Suns. we're in deep
JV running the point while parker is out terrifies me to no end. i know Stoudamire isn't a savior but he is an upgrade over Vaughn. If JV continues to run the point, thing will only get worse.
It's like the stock market, you keep thinking it's the bottom but you never know. Not until a few weeks later can you you tell in retrospect.
We all focus on the losing as the big problem, but I think the Spurs will cure that eventually and start playing well. The bigger problem in the long run may be overusing Manu in a desperate attempt to win these games. Right now, it's the worst of all worlds -- they're tiring out Manu for the stretch and playoffs and still losing. If they're gonna lose, they might as well get Manu his rest.
Vaughn is totally useless. Especially when he is asked to play extended minutes.
I've said from the start we need a better backup pg, but at least if you can limit him to 10 minutes or so, he can't hurt you too bad. But when he is running point for 30 plus minutes, Spurs are screwed. I just hold my breath any time it begins to look like he is going to have to create in the final seconds of the shot clock, or any time he tosses it up. Spurs need a new rule. Never give Vaughn the ball in the final 12 seconds of the shot clock.
And why come down on Bonner for a 3 second violation? IIRC Duncan also had one. And not the first time this year. Is his BB IQ low too?
It looks like Finley coming off the bench, doesn't think he needs to play D any more. Just throw up more bricks. Is this his way of saying "I'm a starter, not a bench player"?
Face it, the Spurs suck right now. And the MAIN reason they suck is because Tony is either sitting, hurt or sick or any combination of the 3. Does anyone understand yet that the offense may run THRU Duncan, but it doesn't work unless Tony is on the floor at near 100%?
Bottom line.. If TP has to miss several games, and we fail to acquire an adequate backup point, the Spurs aren't going to sniff the playoffs, much less repeat. The West is too damn strong to think Parker can come back healthy in March and they can just waltz through.
I thought the end of the Spurs' run was last January. They'll make the playoffs and win it all. See you guys once the sky stops falling.
I didn't want to watch the ending because I had a feeling they were going to find a way to snap Sonics losing streak.
One thing about this game that made it unique is that the Spurs were winning. With about 4 minutes to go, they were up by 6 or 7 points IIRC. The fact that they blew a lead at the end of a game to a young, awful team was the most surprising part.
I tried to tell people a couple of weeks ago that it was different this year- that it was not the usual Spurs slump of recent seasons. There is something different this time- and it is not just about an injured Tony Pakrer. The Spurs have been through stretches without Duncan that looked infinitely better than this. There is something just off.
With Tony out, any thoughts on this possible Stoudamire deal?
I told you timvp.. Finley sucks.
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