Yes a player that had had 22 and 29 cutting him down to 8 points had no effect what so ever.
GENIUS!!!!![]()
That was the smartest post in this thread. So many people are focusing on the Peja-Bowen matchup as the key to victory, but it really wasn't the deciding factor. The Spurs won on pure heart, desire, and effort.
What has to worry Spurs fans is that NOH was still able to hang with the Spurs for almost the entire game. Can the Spurs bring that kind of energy and intensity for the rest of the series and can Pop afford to use that short of a rotation? It's going to catch up with them at some point, they are just too old. NOH, OTOH, can play a so-so game and still have a shot at beating the Spurs. This is their series to lose.
Yes a player that had had 22 and 29 cutting him down to 8 points had no effect what so ever.
GENIUS!!!!![]()
You know, I'm agreeing more and more with your takes.
This feels like a series where the Hornets will have to pick their poison with matchups. Either Duncan destroys the paint, or Manu and Parker are free to do whatever they feel like. Either way, you take a risk if you're coaching the Hornets.
Meanwhile, aside from West and Paul, who's going to score consistently against the Spurs now that Bowen is chopping off their second/3rd option?
If Scott will decide to go with Peja of the screens Bowen won't as effective as he was in G3.
More then matchups is the way you play and what you bring to the table.
fixed.
If Pooh writes a book in the forest, and no one chooses to read it, does the book actually exist?
Question.
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They don't need consistant enforcer.
All they want is somebody to explode. Like Bonzi or Pargo (also Mo Pete, Wright).
Paul and West will do their stuff but, unpredictable performance can kill any team.
Would a tree even need to fall to make the paper?
Are you sure you're a Spurs fan? You are making way too much sense.
The odds of Mo Pete, Peja, Bonzi, and Pargo having cold games are actually pretty low. They are all streaky sort of players and if one or two of them gets hot alongside West and CP3 then the Hornets are very tough to beat. The Spurs scoring 110 pts is not going to keep up for the rest of the series.
A little bit of wishful thinking there... and I think 110 pts are more than enough to beat the hornets if you are the Spurs.
He's a Spurs hater dude, all his posts are about what the Spurs are doing wrong or how they won't keep up what they're doing. He said the same in the Suns series.
The Spurs weren't 100% in game 3, especially not in games 1 and 2. They have dug themselves into a hole because of all of the sickness/injuries, and they ran into a team that matches up very well and is on a roll.
Spurs have overcome teams like this before, but never from 0-2 down. That is what worries me, and give adage to the saying that you have to be very lucky to win a championship.
Especially Back-to-Back.
This would make sense if you have never watched the Spurs play, so I'm not surprised that you're using this kind of logic.
I'm not a Spur's hater. Trust me the best thing for the Lakers is if this series goes the distance, not if it ends 4-5.
I just don't think the Spurs did enough in their win to show me they can beat NOH 3 more times. They didn't stop NOH from getting easy shots, they pretty much won this game on the offensive end (110 pts is well above their average). It was a desperation win, plain and simple. Eerily similar to DAL's win in Game 3.
So, if Bonzi goeas off like he had a history against the spurs who the spurs will cover him with?
Ginobili?
If you want to use Udoka youve got a small ball lineup with TP,MG,IU,BB,TD
Good luck with covering Chandler and West with TD and Manu (Bowen on Peja).
Is that illogical logic?
I assume you assume that the spurs can contain everybody from 1 to 10 no matter their day shape.
I'm really sick of this fake New Orleans team. I hate them and their lucky fake shots.
I'm hoping Byron Scott's adjustment is running Peja off screens against Bowen. That'd work out nicely for the Spurs. That's what the Kings always did and it rarely worked as long as Bowen was on him.
The Spurs have been pretty hopeless against Paul and West. I'd much rather have the Hornets forcing it to Peja off screens. Any possession where a Hornet not named Paul or West shoots a contested shot is a successful possession.
The Hornets might have some success with Bonzi and Peja taking Ginobili and Bowen to the low block ... but then again, probably not as much success as they can have in the pick-and-roll with Paul and isolation for West.
Bowen has always owned Peja. Mo Pete/Bonzi/Pargo are all average to below average players.
The odds of them getting shut down again are much higher than the odds of Peterson repeating his game 2 performance or Wells matching his game 1 numbers.
2006 Bonzi >>>>>> 2008 Bonzi
Game 1 is about as well as Bonzi is capable of playing against this team, and even that was just 10 points/4 boards on 55% from the floor.
Bonzi is not the beast on the boards that he was 2 years ago - and the Spurs are a better defensive rebounding team than they were then. You keep him off of the offensive glass - thus taking away his put-backs - then you have severely negated what he can do to hurt you.
It's no coincidence that with just 1 offensive rebound, he's shooting 39% in this series. In the last 2 games, he has 0 offensive rebounds and his shooting 28%.
It's good he is down isn't it?
He do not even need to be great all game. He can provide a punch in one decisive quarter.
Sometimes unexpected performances occures.
Who of you did not want Barry to hit 4 treys to give much needed oxygen to the spurs bench? Are the Hornets aware of Barry?
Not much, he either hit treys in garbage or did not play when the spurs won the game.
As for Bowen off screens. Well timvp you once said that TP is better then Bruce defending the guy who is involved with screen play.
I would love to see Bowen be as good playing Peja on screen plays then plaing him straight up.
It's the difference between performances that are unlikely vs. performances that are unlikely.
Yes, it's possible that Bonzi could go off for 30 points or 10 in a quarter. It's also possible that Finley can go for 25 or Horry can own the 4th quarter as he has in the past.
But none of those things should be expected. And most Spurs fans are not banking on big performances from any of our guys that don't typically give one.
Yup, and I'm wondering who gave us an offensive punch lately (other then big3)
And yes, I would rather see them play Peja more then constantly breaking our D with p&r , Paul and West.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Besides winning les, there's another reason Tony Parker loves playing in the NBA.
The San Antonio point guard thrives on a good 1-on-1 matchup, such as the one he's got going with New Orleans' Chris Paul in the Western Conference semifinals.
"It's great fun, great matchup, a great challenge for me. So I'm having a lot of fun," Parker said Saturday. "It's always good when you play against the best players. That's why you want to play in the NBA, to play against the best."
Parker certainly has that in Paul, and Paul in Parker.
The two point guards matched each other almost point-for-point, assist-for-assist in Game 3 of the series on Thursday, and figure to do so again in Game 4 on Sunday.
The Hornets have a 2-1 lead and the Spurs want to even things up before returning to New Orleans for Game 5.
Parker, who turns 26 on May 17, racked up 31 points and 11 assists in the Spurs' Game 3 win. Paul, who turned 23 on Tuesday, had 35 points and nine assists.
"They're both very good basketball players," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "They're both very unselfish. They both have the ability to score, at the same time use their teammates, to help their teammates to score."
Hornets coach Byron Scott agrees, and sees a few differences.
"I think Chris Paul is a true point guard. When I say true point guard, he's a pass-first type point guard. I think Tony Parker is more of a scoring point guard," Scott said. "I think both of them are extremely quick. CP shoots it a little bit better, Tony's probably a better finisher. But they're both very good at what they do."
The numbers these playoffs seem to bear out Scott's opinion. Parker has the slight edge on scoring so far in the first two rounds, 26.6 points to Paul's 25.6. Paul has 11.8 assists per game to 6.8 from Parker.
"They are kind of similar. I think that Chris Paul is getting really good getting to the paint and finding the open teammate," the Spurs' Manu Ginobili said after Game 3. "I think Tony plays faster. He's deadly in transition. So I think Paul uses more of the pick-and-roll and is getting very smart and very used to that kind of system with those teammates. ... They are two of the most impressive point guards in the league for sure."
Paul was runner-up for MVP this season as he led the Hornets to the Southwest Division le and No. 2 seed (they finished with the same record as the third-seeded Spurs but won the tiebreaker) after not even making the postseason last year.
Parker was voted the MVP of last year's NBA finals after leading the Spurs to a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"Both of them are unbelievable players," the Hornets' Peja Stojakovic said. "(Paul) led us to the second round and he is a true leader. And Tony also, Tony, his results speak for (themselves). ... It's a great battle."
In Game 3, Ginobili and Parker -- who often sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he drives to the basket -- got to the rim consistently. Paul said the Hornets don't want to let that happen again.
"They shot a lot of layups. Him and Manu had 62 points, probably more than half of them was layups," Paul said. "So we just got to control the paint like we did in the first two games and we'll be fine."
Paul had the shot of the night Thursday. In the third quarter he spun around, his back to the basket, then he flipped up the ball, sinking the shot and getting fouled in the process.
Controlling Paul has been a challenge for the Spurs, who acknowledge that the third-year star will probably score no matter what they try on him. In Game 3, the Spurs switched top defender Bruce Bowen from Paul to Stojakovic, who was largely shut down and scored only eight points.
"We're going to try to still take care of the role players" in Game 4, Ginobili said. "But at the same time try to bring Paul and (David) West a little down, too."
Whether the Spurs can stop Paul is anybody's guess. But Parker isn't planning to change his game Sunday.
"I just think for me to help my team I just have to be aggressive," he said. "I have to try to do both, score and pass the ball. So I don't really look at it like I have to match him. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help my team win."
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