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One of the huge huge key to this game though was Ginobili's minutes.
His minutes were not alot, and hopefully that ends up showing in game 5. THe Spurs will need a better shooting game out of him and Bowen in game 5. No question.
Yeah the decision making has improved exponentially and in turn the Spurs have tied up the series. Just keep doing what they've been doing. It's really that simple.
One of the huge huge key to this game though was Ginobili's minutes.
His minutes were not alot, and hopefully that ends up showing in game 5. THe Spurs will need a better shooting game out of him and Bowen in game 5. No question.
Sadly I missed the first half, so I only have half the story. Actually only a third, because the fourth quarter wasn't needed. How was Ginobili? I'm assuming he wasn't as agressive, since he only took 13 shot overall, but did he look hurt? I'm hoping he just deferred to Duncan and Tony, since they were having monster games, and he couldn't even dunk.That bull can happen to Bonzi, West, and Parker, but if SuperManu misses one then he's in some serious pain. 15 and 8 isn't bad, though, don't get me wrong. , he had just as many assists as Tony, and 3 more than "best player in the NBA" Chris Paul, so he did great. And he was playing smart, so it's all good.
And Vaughn neds to calm the down. I was like "OH !!! DUNK IT BRENT!!!!!!!!" And then Vaughn threw his worst pass while dress in silver and black, and ruined it. Usually he's spot on with passes, but not at full speed apparently.
Ginobili played well. Its just guys like Parker and Duncan and others just made the game go on cruise control.
No question Ginobili isn't 100%, but he isn't horribly bad right now.
How about the pushes he gets away with on defense. He's been pushing Parker in the back as soon as he goes up for a layup. I don't think there's another player who doesn't receive calls right now more than Parker.
It feels real good to know it was sickness holding Tim back. this team looks soo much better now. They need to win Tuesday. NO will come out swinging in front of their crowd.
Ginobili looked the healthiest he's looked all series. For the Spurs to win Game 5, I think Ginobili is going to have to carry a good chunk of the offensive load. He's the one player on the Spurs the Hornets don't really have an answer for defensively.
And he has that vampire thing going on.
He should go for 40 in Game 5
Awesome recap as usual...
Home court advantage is obviously big... but in this particular instance it may help going on the road. I think it might put a little more pressure on the Hornets...
It now becomes a must win for them in the sense that theyl be facing an elemination game on the Road if they dont win the next one. That has to be playing on their minds... I think its more must win for them than it is for the Spurs despite the fact they have the potential game 7 in NO.
I would prefer HCA of course but i kinda like the position we are in right now... the pressure is back on the Hornets for mine.
I disagree, that missed dunk showed that he is not healthy.
He didn't look as good as he did in game 3 IMO of course.
Cool beans. I just hope we get the next two and have to wait for LA to finally win, so Manu can just chill and get some from his wife. He should be good in no time.
Ginobili was limping around the court in Game 3. After he saved that one pass, he limped for the next five minutes up and down the court.
I didn't see him limping tonight. That miss dunk it just looked like he didn't get a good angle on the jump.
Idk, I bet everyone watching and even the NO players thought he would dunk it. I've seen missed dunks by older, washed up players(read: Shaq, Wells), but not SuperManu.
Our Big Three has to be big; their Big three has to be big.
Role players have to do their thing. We have an edge in experience which may help us withstand the pressure.
These teams are so evenly matched, Whichever side blinks, loses.
He played well in Game 3, but limped a lot.
I think it was a great call by timvp that this was one of the best playoff games Tony's ever played. The stats don't bear it out, but partly that has to do with the game being such a runaway. Really I thought Tony was amazing out there. He clearly outplayed Paul this game, on both ends, and I can't really think of any aspect of the game he didn't do well, outside of free throw shooting. His decision making was quite good and he always looked in complete control. When Pop told him, "It's your show" or whatever it was he said, that was very telling.
As for the game, I don't think either team, especially us, was as good defensively as the score suggests. It could've easily been 115-95. We missed a ton of open threes and they missed quite a few jumpers on their end. We didn't give them many easy shots, which I like, but they also were a bit cold. If we play the exact same way in New Orleans, I think they'd probably have 20 more points, easy, just because they're used to their home building, so we'll need Bruce to shoot better for sure.
I think Manu looks pretty healthy, but he still can't jump very well. I think on the missed dunk he took the steps like he was just going to lay it in like he has the whole playoffs, but at the last instant he thought, eh let me dunk it to energize the fans but he didn't jump as hard as he had to.
I'm so pissed!
Why did the spurs let the Hornets get 2-0 lead in the series?
Oh well it is what it is.
Good experience and fantastic play by the spurs. No one from the Hornets went of, there was Pargo at the end of 1st. but since when he hit those 3 pts he was back into a bench man with n ot much productivity.
Aha! (I said to myself), now you (Hornets) are hesitating the shots. The first two games spurs did it and now Hornets are thinking too much about their play. And they looked beat up.
It's now in hands of Scott to lead the mental aspect and Paul to lead on the court ifd they want to be one game closer to winning the series.
They have no answer for parker, Paul is good but if Scott will decide that he is not as good he can put Mo Pete on Tony, then Manu can kill Paul or they will try to guard Bowen with paul. Still Wright is there who can defend. I wonder if Scott will go for some risky tactics in pivotal game 5.
Also he must answer the question if to double team Tim as much and as hard as he used to in two first contests. Or won't let shooters go off. Tim's play was phenomanal 10-12 from the 2 point FG! But his stats do not show how phenomenal he was. He played a quarterback that is what Scott also saw in 2003 NBA Finals.
"If Pop when shooters go so was CIA" - if I'm correct. 8/26 is not looking impressive, so Scott will probably concentrate on pace of the game. Like kenny said after the game it's the most important thing. Esp. when you talk about transition D and O.
Spurs played faster, spurs played smarter and spurs played with intensity - things I said (link not necessery) that will decide who will be victorious.
All in all we can write about this game a book.
So many things were happening.
Damn hopefully Barry will be okay. And daymn the reserves were sloppy and played badly.
Ah and I want to add that I'm surprised that Scott is not using Armstrons as much as I though he will.
We need that pivotal game!
when xx(i forget who) shot free throw. there was a conversation betweet Pop and Tony. it is Parker who told Pop what the situation was on the court. that told something.
"yes, yes, baby, it's your game." Pop said to TP.
Parker become mature more and more during the playoffs.
all and all 3rd "must win" game in a row. Next game is pivotal.
OI believe it was: "... yes Sir, it's your game baby!"
Will be time to rewatch it
Last edited by polandprzem; 05-12-2008 at 06:29 AM.
I was really impressed by Ime's D on Wells.
I think for the rest of this seris Ime should check in in as soon as Bonzi comes in just to take him out of his game like Bruce is doing with Peja.
Same for Oberto, nothing spectacular but he seems to be getting under DWest skin.
The one thing I'm not so confident about for game 5 is the officiating in NO. If the zebras let CP use his forearms to clean room on offense and run away with 3 steps on each layup or to push Parker on the back on defense that could be a big disadvantage.
I think for game 5 we should attack CP repeatidly with whoever he's guarding (expect if it's Bruce... sorry Bruce but I hate it when you try to drive) and run tons of picks just to wear him out.
Yeah, nice call on that Hornets adjustment. SpursTalk on a whole seems to be one step ahead of the coaches in this series. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad sign for the coaches
It was just a matter of time before the Spurs got the Hornets out of their double-team look. You double-team Duncan hard and fast and the Spurs will eventually adjust.
The Hornets main adjustment in Game 5 will probably just be emotional. They'll be amped up in front of their fans. I also expect them to go back to double-teaming Duncan and hope the players have more energy to swarm in front of their home fans (no put intended). Double-teaming also makes sense for the Hornets because otherwise Chandler will almost positively get in foul trouble.
We'll see though. The ball is in Scott's court now. If I'm him, I probably go back to the original gameplan and hope that the Spurs' shooters aren't hitting on the road.
Nah, I think we are feeling it now. I think we take the next two. Scott has got to find a way to get another scorer involved. Bowen has pretty much eliminated Peja from the series. And you cannot bank on West putting up 20 a game. The only sure weapon that they have is Paul. Note the score last night.
As I said after Game 2, Pop's adjustment to have Bowen shut down Peja has been a key turning point in this series. Peja is done for the series, I predict - he's not good enough like a Kobe or a Lebron to be able to find a way to create his own shots. He's strictly a straight up shooter, like Barry is for us, so when you play defense on him he's got no game.
Spurs need to go into Game 5 with the same "Game 7 urgency" they played the last two with. Seriously, that's been the key to the series more than anything. The Spurs have woken up, and responded with a defensive efficiency that has opened things up on the offensive end. We still don't have homecourt advantage so the key to Game 5 is all emotional - the Hornets are going to be energized by their fans, and we need to counter by playing with the same kind of intensity that got us the last two wins.
If we win Game 5, series will end in 6 games in S.A. If not, it will be a lot tougher to win in a game 7 in NO -- but still possible.
Great post, timvp.
But, I liked what you wrote about Tony.
All this talk about CP3 being the Messiah of basketball has really been getting to me. CP3 is a great player, but Parker has proven himself and last night he showed himself to be the better of the two. Tony had a good offensive and defensive game. I couldn't have wanted more out of him.
I thought he was a bit hesitant on that play. It looked like he meant to lay it up and then, in the last nano-second, he decided to dunk it.
The guy I really liked tonight was Ime. One of his best playoff performances, if not the best.
I agree.
Ime had an outstanding game.
I disagree, tim.
Game 5 is a must win for both teams, but even more so for NO. They know that they have to win at home because winning in SA is NOT an option. They know that if they lose this one, they're done.
I think they're going to be extremely physical. I think that there's going to be a lot of cheap shots at Manu, Tim, and Tony.
I seriously doubt that a blow-out is going to happen.
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