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I agree with all the points you said.
I know there are fans bashing Manu for not showing up
but I truly feel that Tim and Tony were equally responsible for the loss. They were extremely passive on offense.
A funny thing happened to the New Orleans Hornets heading to their funeral. The Hornets climbed out of the casket that the so-called NBA experts put them in and punched the San Antonio Spurs right in the mouth.
The Hornets flat out won this game. David West was amazing. West had 38 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, five blocked shots and two steals, while shooting 16-for-25 from the field. His performance was one of the best I’ve ever seen against the Spurs. Chris Paul also played really well, finishing with 22 points, 14 assists and only one turnover. Defensively, the Hornets were almost flawless. It was just a very, very good game for the Hornets.
For the Spurs, this game was like a reoccurring nightmare. The Spurs hit contested three-pointers in the first half to help them lead 47-44 after two quarters. In the third quarter, the Hornets exploded and the Spurs imploded. New Orleans then cruised to a 101-79 victory. For the fifth time this year, the exact same scenario played out that resulted in the Hornets blowing out the Spurs.
While the Hornets deserve a lot of credit for what happened on Tuesday night, the Spurs didn’t exactly make things difficult for New Orleans. Their offense was tentative and had no purpose. Their defense was passive and slow, especially in one-on-one situations. The Spurs were also the less physical team.
My biggest problem with how San Antonio played was they just didn’t seem to have any desperation. It was like the Spurs were waiting for the Hornets to roll over and die. To win on the road, you have to go out and take it. The Spurs played like they were going to win just by showing up.
Overall, this series has now taken a depressing turn. Trailing 2-3, the Spurs now have to survive two must-win games. I guess we’ll see what this team is made out of now that their back is against the wall. The days of excuses are over.
-Tim Duncan had 23 rebounds. That was the good. Everything else about his night was horrible. Offensively, Duncan had ten points on 5-for-18 shooting from the field. He was pathetically weak around the basket. Instead of going up strong, Duncan would attempt weak shots and then whine for a foul. Defensively, Duncan was horrible in one-on-one situations and even worse when it came to help defense. And while the rebounds were nice, it was more a matter of nobody else crashing the boards. Despite Duncan’s 23 rebounds, the Spurs were still outrebounded 50-41. This game can be discussed, broken down and analyzed but the bottomline is that the Hornets’ power forward had the game of his life while Duncan laid an egg that would make the Easter Bunny blush. If Duncan wants championship number five, he can’t be dominated like he was tonight.
-Manu Ginobili didn’t play well but he wasn’t a main problem. In 38 minutes, Ginobili finished with 20 points, seven assists and two rebounds, while shooting 5-for-15 from the field, 3-for-7 from beyond the arc and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. He didn’t shoot well but he did a good job of only having one turnover. Offensively, it just boils down to Ginobili hitting more shots. He got looks – he just has to convert those looks to made baskets more often. Defensively, he wasn’t that good. Morris Peterson scoring 12 points on four three-pointers really hurt the Spurs’ cause. Ginobili was taken off of Peja Stojakovic to limit the Hornets’ three-point shooting so now it’s imperative that Ginobili doesn’t let Peterson turn into Stojakovic. It’d be really nice if Ginobili could have one of those masterful games he had in the regular season where he carried the Spurs to wins all by himself. If the cape is available, it’s time to put it on.
-I was extremely impressed with Tony Parker in Game 4. In Game 5, he was equally as frustrating. He made poor decisions. His defense got worse as the game went on. He settled offensively at times, especially in the pivotal third quarter. The Spurs needed Parker to play great to win this game – and he didn’t deliver. If he wants to take the next step from really good player to superstar, these are the types of games Parker has to play his best. On the night, Parker finished with 18 points and four assists, while shooting 7-for-14 from the floor. Parker turned the ball over three times, which obviously didn’t help matters. To be truthful, Parker didn’t have much room to operate offensively and the Hornets made it a priority to flatten Parker and leave him sprawled out on the court as much as possible. But it’s playoff time and the excuses are over. We’ll see what Parker is made out of in the final two games of the series. For the Spurs to pull it out, Parker needs two dominating performances.
-Bruce Bowen was one of the few Spurs who played well enough for San Antonio to win. In 34 minutes, Bowen had ten points and three rebounds, while shooting 4-for-5 from the field. Defensively, he once against help Stojakovic in check (9 points on 3-for-8 shooting). There’s not much more Bowen could have done for the Spurs tonight. He passed on a few jumpers and wasn’t making the quickest decision offensively, but that’s nitpicking pretty closely.
-Kurt Thomas was horrible. Defensively, West ate his lunch, dinner and then went to Bourbon Street and enjoyed a few adult beverages with Thomas footing the bill. Offensively, Thomas single-handedly destroyed the Spurs’ rhythm. It’s becoming obvious that the Spurs have too much trouble scoring when Thomas is in the game. The Hornets ignore him and with Thomas bricking, the Spurs are left playing 4-on-5. In Game 5, Thomas finished with two points and four rebounds on 1-for-6 shooting from the field. I say it’s definitely time to take Thomas out of the starting lineup. He’s killing the offense and isn’t doing nearly enough defensively to make up for it.
-Ime Udoka led the bench in playing time and I thought he was pretty good. He had nine points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal, while shooting 3-for-6 from the field. He didn’t finish a few easy buckets and picked up a few dumb fouls, but overall he did about as much as he’s expected to do. He’s one of the few Spurs who seems confident to shoot even when he’s not completely wide open. Udoka got 21 minutes on Tuesday night and probably earned more minutes in Game 6.
-Fabricio Oberto played 16 minutes and was helpful offensively. He passed the ball well and pulled down a few big offensive rebounds. That said, he got roasted by West on defense. Oberto played like a 6-foot-10 pylon on the defensive end. When West was doing his Hakeem Olajuwon impersonation, Oberto had front row seats. Even though Oberto isn’t playing well all things considered, he’s playing better than Thomas. Oberto should go back into the starting lineup, however he needs to perform a lot better defensively or else it won’t matter either way for San Antonio.
-The Spurs need their shooters to hit shots to space the court. Michael Finley responded by going 1-for-6 from the field. Thanks, Mike. The one shot Finley actually hit was a prayer that he accidentally banked in. When Finley wasn’t missing shots, he was playing no defense in his 15 minutes of play.
-Brent Barry played 12 minutes and he wasn’t helping the team out either. He missed all three of his shots from downtown. Barry did have a nice and-1 in the fourth, but the game was basically over at that point. If Finley is shooting blanks, it’d be nice if Barry could come in with live ammo. In Game 5, that wasn’t the case.
-Robert Horry played seven minutes and didn’t do much other than foul. He had a pair of nice assists but he just has too much rust to help out at this point. I want to believe that Horry can step up with Thomas and Oberto struggling, but I just don’t see it. He’s not a threat to score – or grab a rebound, for that matter.
-Pop has to be held accountable for a lot of the struggles we saw out of the Spurs on Tuesday night. The Spurs were thoroughly outplayed, outcoached, outhustled, outeverythinged. I mean, the Spurs have been blown out five times now by the Hornets this season with the same scenario playing out each time. It’d be nice if Pop figured out a way to stop the same thing from happening time and time again.
Defensively, Pop needs to get his bigmen to be more aware of West’s tendencies. West is good but he’s not the reincarnation of Wilt Chamberlain. There’s no excuse for getting lit up to the degree the Spurs’ bigs were lit up.
Offensively, it’d be nice for Pop to find ways for the Spurs to get easy baskets. It doesn’t help that Duncan, Ginobili, Finley, Barry and Thomas combine to shoot 13-for-45, but the Hornets aren’t good enough defensively to shut the Spurs down as much as they did in Game 5. Pushing the pace would be a good way to get some easy shots.
The bottomline is the Spurs need to win Game 6. The Spurs played well in Game 4 but they can’t bank on the same type of performance. Game 6 is going to be a war. If the Spurs take Game 6 for granted and look ahead to Game 7, the Hornets will come in and end the Spurs season in front of the AT&T Center crowd.
The Spurs are now backed into a corner. It’s either fight back or roll over and die. The time is now. One win.
1.
Believe.
I agree with all the points you said.
I know there are fans bashing Manu for not showing up
but I truly feel that Tim and Tony were equally responsible for the loss. They were extremely passive on offense.
Last edited by SpursFan0728; 05-14-2008 at 04:10 AM.
Believe it or not, at times I was imploring Bruce to shoot more. He was shooting with confidence in the first half, yet passed up open shots later on. It's like the rest of the team was waiting on the big three to "bail them out".
I can live with a miss of a wide open shot, by one of the shooters. What I can't live with is these ongoing forced/bad shots late in the shot clock or a forced pass leading to turnover and basket at the other end.
Agree. This loss isn't just the fault of Manu. Tony and Tim were equally to blame. Both of them tucked their tails when it counted. Unfortunately, the Spurs do not have another "dog" on the bench who can force the defense to defend them honestly.
The Big Three as a unit didn't play well enough to win a playoff road game. That's all that matters.
It's a good thing we signed Bonner over Scola, that move has really paid sweet dividends, eh?It’s becoming obvious that the Spurs have too much trouble scoring when Thomas is in the game.
This game was too similar to game 1 + 2. Not in the way saying that Home Court is affecting the Spurs. I mean something fishy is going on. It can't be a coincidence that in the 3 playoff games that were in N.O. home, Spurs are up by the half, then suddenly play uncharacteristically bad coming out of halftime. Unforced turnovers, Parker/Ginobili ignoring open shooters and waiting until the shot clock ran down to shoot.
It's gone this way almost like clockwork for game 1, 2 and 5. It's as if something is making the Spurs throw away the game in the 2nd half when in N.O. home. I wonder, are they trying to milk this series by purposely making it go 7 games or is something else happening? This isn't blaming the refs. This is talking about the fishy Spurs play that hints at a set-up.
I hate to say, but an excellent recap.
erm...why game 7 is at monday???
4 days between game 6 and 7 ???
That's nothing to about...that rest is GOOD for us.
wtf we got no rest before game 6
Again most of you are acting like we have won game 6 and heading to NO for game 7
Jeeez the Hornets are much more hungrier dammit. I do not know why spurs alowe themselves to be in that situation. In-game adjustments aren't there.
Where is the Phoenix SERIES intensity and will to win?
Damn I know they want to win bad. But they have to put everything they got and leave it on the floor at AT&T Center
or else
Well, the team is definitely on the ropes. I'm looking forward to Thursday night, just based on the sense that this group will fight back or their season will abruptly end. Either way, it's gotta be repeated that younger, fresher legs will be needed next season. I'm both saddened and proud, today. Saddened that this great bunch of guys can't seem to find a consistently high-level of intensity and passion, yet proud that they haven't completely surrendered to a younger, hungrier team (Heat against Bulls last playoffs).
We'll just have to see if this group of guys want it enough, and if they don't will Pop/R.C. make the apprioprate moves in the off-season?
drive and dish or drive and lay it up. That happened in our 2 wins and didn't in our 3 losses. NO wasn't clogging the lane much that I saw. There was absolutly no aggression from Tony, Manu or Timmy. The best 2 drives I saw were by Ime and Berry. Timmy waiting for the doubleteam instead of driving as soon as he gets it. Chandler saw that and was directing the rest of his team when to double with his left arm. We've all seen Tony make layups with five defenders around him and the same with Manu. If Pop told them that EVERY play needed to go through Timmy, then he made a bad coaching decision. They better get their straight or they'll never make it to 7, much less ,win it.
BTW, anybody see the Knicks owner call D'antoni, "D'ANTONIO" at the press conference?
no offense for ing.... but acutally i am from singapore, so the time zone for me for game 7 is tuesday morning.
then i would not be able to watch the match live cause i will be in school...
Couldn't have said it better myself..
I don't know if I have ever seen teams play so bad on the opposing teams courts before during the playoffs. Unbelievable!!!
This scenario has played itself out too many times to be a coincidence. The Spurs just don't seem to be capable of putting it together consistently enough to win a le, and what's really sad is that it's on the offensive end that dooms them. When they are watching the Hornets on TV next week, they should be looking at last night's game as the one that got away, because they knew exactly what they needed to fix, and then didn't do it. The Hornets stepped up. They may not be capable of winning in San Antonio, but then again they don't have to, since the Spurs don't seem to be capable of even competing in New Orleans.
The lack of desperation by the Spurs was disappointing.
We will truly see what this team is made of on Thursday.
Force game seven and let the chips fall where they may.
Seriously, I don't see why they should bother. They obviously have no interest in winning a championship if that's all the effort they could muster on the road. They should probably just play as weakly as they did last night and give us all the weekend off. I'd be upset at the Spurs' losing if they actually looked like they wanted to win.
Spurs offense, especially this season, is so overrealiant on the Big 3 all having big games. If just one of them is off, it affects the rest of the team. Tonight it was Duncan and Parker. Spurs have no one else outside of those 3 who can come in and create their own shot if the offense is stagnant. They have no one who can come in and surprise you for 15-20 points outside of the Big 3. Closest thing is Finley and he's obviously done.
I thought Pop's coaching was a big reason the Spurs lost. He waited way too long to put Brent Barry in and his rust showed. When the Spurs offense was stagnant in the 3rd and they couldn't get a basket; He decides to put in Horry and Udoka?!?!
The fact that this game was yet again a blowout is very worrisome. Spurs in the past have always gone down fighting, but this team blew an ideal chance to put a team away. Championship level teams don't do that in pivotal games. I think the Spurs have a 3% chance to win this series now. And that 3% is only if the Big 3 somehow manage to play out of their minds for 2 straight games.
I am very disapointed in Ginobili this series. He should be dominating the Hornets the way West is dominating the Spurs. He's a complete mismatch out there. Especially after the amazing regular season he's had, I have yet to see even glimpses of SuperManu. In the past when the Spurs would have quarters like they did in the 3rd, Ginobili would be the wildcard coming in and making things happen. He's settling way too much for 3's, he's not playing good defensively, and he hasn't been getting to the line which is indicative of his aggressiveness. And don't tell me about his injured ankle because he appears to be moving fine the last couple of games.
As for Duncan, I have no idea what his excuse was for Game 5.
I just hope we never have to see Michael Finley in a Spurs uniform after this season is over.
Good game play by Scott--he knew Tim was struggling so he went to a zone early in the 3rd quarter w/ double teams after his first dribble. No one wanted to shoot and no one played defense. Hornets weren't whistled for fouls so they played aggressively.
I am most disappointed with Pop. He didn't seem like he knew what to do. I know its the players that go out there and execute, but Pop has to find a way to counter that run in the third quarter.
Tim Duncan played like a school girl. I hate his constant whining. It gets really old.
Tony wasn't his best. Same goes for Manu. Finley needs to hit those open shots.
I thought I was the only one who thought this. It really seems fishy. It seems the NBA told the teams to stretch this series to 7 games. Both teams complete for a half and then the visitors let the home team win it. Pop had some really odd rotations and the end of the game. When the Spurs were down by 10 or 12 he subbed all his starters out. Then NO pulled away again. Just weird.
Weren't there a lot in here waiting for one on one coverage on Tim??? What happened? Duncan was manhandled. Some of it was Tim's frustration, but still I give credit to Tyson for making it hard on Tim last night.
i can;t believe everybody is making manu responsible for the loss... WE HAVE TO WIN GAME 6!
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