Bowen on Predrag
35 min 2-7 FG 1-3 3PT 8PTS
Start Manu
39 min 11-22 FG 3-9 3PT 31PTS
Bowen on Peja
35 min, 2-7 FG, 1-3 3PT, 8 points
which allowed Manu to cover Mo Pete (instead of Mo posting up Tony):
Mo Pete:
22 minutes, 1-3 FG, 1-3 3 PT, 3 points
Paul got basically the same tonight he was getting in the first two against Bowen.
Funny how that worked out...
pop ing owns byron scott.
Paul is going to get his in this series. He's just that good. We just have to hold down the other guys.
Finley hitting his shots off the bench was huge. You know his track record off the bench wasn't all that great.
If only Pop had figured this out after 1 ass-kicking at NO, we may not be in a 2-1 hole in the first place.
Good thing they have 2 full days off before the next game, because they expended a ton of energy today.
Hold down Peja. West and Paul will get theirs, but otherwise there aren't a lot of scorers on their team.
NO were the ones dragging ass in the 4th, not us. They looked gassed, big time.
IF we're going to pull this out, this is how we have to do it. Like the year Amare got 40 a game against us in the post-season, but we won the series... take away the role players and the guys like Peja that can kill you and see if Paul (and I guess you gotta throw West in here) can score enough to beat you by himself.
CP3 and West are good, but I'm not sure they're scarier than Nash & Stoudemire!
We got this!
I hope this is enough. Sunday is a long way off, and the Spurs still have to learn how to put it together for 48 minutes every night, on both ends of the court.
The Spurs are gonna get healthier as well and that can not be underestimated in how much it effected this series so far.
And the Hornet's have to be tested. No one knows how well they will react going from up 2-0 to a tied series or even a 3-2 Spurs lead, things will start to get easier for the Spurs if they can do that. But Sunday and game 5 are both absolutely must win games. The Spurs can't take even a possession off.
Pop won this game by withholding adjustment to how NO double-teams TD in this game. His TO with 4 pts lead middle in the 4th was huge. They went on 9-0 run right after. That paired with Manu going insane in the 4th and NO showing their lack of experience did them in.
Had Pop adjusted back in NO, Spurs might still have lost, but by smaller margin. It's just smart strategy by him!
The difference is that NO's does have a stopper in the middle to clog the lane up. Phx never had that. We could pretty much score on Phx at will. Chandler has until this game really clogged the lane for Parker and anyone else in general.
\The threes aren't falling like they did in that series though
CP3 can't be contained while West can. But once you got Nash nailed, the whole offense of the Suns is dead because we don't have sustainable alternatives. So, CP3 as of now is much scarier if you ask a Suns fan.
I'd like to see the spurs switching against the PnR between Paul and Chandler, what do you think?
the Nash of 07-08 can be contained. The Nash of a few years back was nearly as unstoppable as Paul.
Let me summarize it for you:
The big adjustment for this game was in Pop's mind. The match-ups worked in the Spurs' favor. The idea was to get even with Parker/Paul, try containing West the best you could and shut down everybody else completely. So at the end of the day between Paul/WEst/Peja they had about 60+ pts, not 80 like past games.
At the same time you would let them double TD but get Manu from the start with Parker being relentless at the paint, penetration and kick outs to the perimeter. Their starting SG will probably have nightmares with Manu tonight. Between the big 3 they have to give you about 70+ pts to win against this team if they continue shooting like that. If they don't shoot like that then one of the 3 can have a semi off-night with the same strategy.
I called this game the Spurs needed to keep it close and try running at the end. Their mental toughness and expertise would do the rest. This was the first time they could actually get stops down the stretch as both teams were close by the end of the 3rd. This is the first time the Hornets had to face serious adversity as they weren't up 20 pts entering the 4th.
Another thing I thought it said a lot was Scott's face around mid 3rd quarter where you could clearly see he was extremely worried. I instantly said to myself: "you ran out of tricks". I'm not sure what kind of change of strategy he could employ now to change this for game 4 but as I called it before this game, that change of strategy would be their demise as I don't think they need to change anything. They have an excellent point guard and west who is huge. As a separate note, I thought West actually missed some uncontested shots and hit almost all those that were contested. Perhaps not having anyone trying to stop his jumper takes him off his game a little bit.
Good win. I think the Spurs taking game 2 will get momentum and can probably take game 5 at NO. If game 4 goes ok, they probably have finally figured out this team.
Yeah, since reading a coach's face apparently provides insight into the outcome of games, Scott went from y to scared less in about 0.4* seconds.
I was sort of surprised when Manu was on Peja a few times that they didn't go to him.
The adjustments were perfect, and now just run the same game plan out there sunday, just don't run out a stupid ass lineup like POp did at the end of the second quarter.
The only time Peja got a shot off was when they left him alone on the break. Parker fell down on the basket, Timmy tried to pressure the inbounds play and was late getting back. Chris Paul is great, but he's going to have to score fifty on 35 shots in order to make up for what the Spurs are taking away, and I like those chances.
If the hornets beat us by CP taking jump shots all day, I can live with that. But I can't live with seeing him get his team involved and racking up 15 assts.
The game was pretty much tied with about 8-10 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Now, if that adjustment was so key then why did it take all the way until the 4th quarter to pay off? Obviously something happened in the 4th that caused the game to break the Spur's way. So while you all want to believe one simple adjustment was the key to a Spurs victory it's just not the case.
The Hornets simply lost their focus in the 4th. It's tough to stay mentally sharp for a full 48 minutes, the Spurs did it tonight since this was a desperation win. It's amazing that the Hornets stayed in the game for so long, they literally would not let SAS pull away until the final minutes of the game. I'm not saying the Spurs can't win this series, but it's clearly an uphill battle for them even after tonight's win.
The Spurs win in fourth quarters, or haven't you been watching? Playing solid defense and making Chris Paul beat you puts tremendous pressure on the other team. The only difference between this game and game 2 is that the Spurs weren't too far behind for it to matter when they went on their 4th quarter run.
The Spurs allowed 16 points in the first half of the first quarter, allowed 15 second chance points in the first quarter, and Tim Duncan went 6-13, and it still took CP hitting every stinkin' thing he threw up to keep it close. I'll take that any day. Shore up the rebounding, fix a couple of the mental lapses and let Timmy get his rhythm back and the Spurs have a chance, which is all anyone can ask.
Besides, only an idiot thinks it's not going to be a battle. Everyone in the West is good this year.
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