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It wasn't just Manu. It was the whole team. They stunk. The coaching even stunk.
I think its best everyone forgets about this game and looks forward to Game 6.... we just flat out have to play better... Win the won in SA
It wasn't just Manu. It was the whole team. They stunk. The coaching even stunk.
The calls were also in favorite of the bees. The Hornets went to the line 33 times versus the Spurs going to the line just 18 times. That could be because the Hornets were more aggressive on the offensive end, but I didn't see that too much. Oh well.
The Spurs just didn't play well. It looked like they were playing in a regular season game mentally.
I don't understand why so many thought Hornets would roll over and die.
The only game I saw Spurs basketball in this series was game 4 - other than that it just has been pitiful to watch (except passages of game 3 of course)
On the 3 loses at NO the same thing happened. Hornets come out of the locker room in the 3rd quarter, force several TOs, the Spurs melt and start missing several shots in a row and it's game over. It appears they just can't get over the hump. What it was an even match 2 minutes ago turns to be a blowout of critical proportions.
I don't believe the Hornets are a much better team but it's clear that unless the Spurs play with a sense of urgency and don't come out flat or melt down because they can't hit some consecutive shots, they won't be able to win this series.
It's very clear at this point they didn't have that special edge to be able to recover from a hole as they have in years before. You could see the Spurs being down by 10-15 and come back to win the game. None of that has happened this series - they just mail it.
If there's a hope is what we saw in games 3 and 4 when they were both must-win games. Perhaps they didn't think game 5 was a must-win game as they still had more shots to come back from but they have put themselves into a big hole this time as I haven't seen that edge yet to come out when it counts.
In order to win the next 2 games the Spurs need to hit their shots, Duncan needs to behave like he's the captain of the team, Tony needs to be aggresive on both sides of the court, Manu needs to be manu-man, Bruce needs to keep doing what he's been doing and the rest of the team needs to play decently enough to justify they being in this team.
Composure is key in this series. The Spurs have lost theirs several times under adversity and that is a very new picture to me. I don't recall this kind of auto-dismantling, suicidal behaviour from the Spurs happening before - even when they had lost. Whenever they lost they went down fighting and the better team won - this is just pitiful display and if they mail it again one more time in any of the next 2 wins, I expect Pop to just let the starters play so they can feel it for just one time.
If your name is Tim, Tony or Manu, you know what to do the next two games.
I agree with the above. Before, when the Spurs were down 10-15 points, they would impose their will on defense and climb back in it to win by two or three points. You don't see that anymore. They roll over and die.
I think that's terrific. Would give the Spurs more time to rest and draw up some semblance of a gameplan for Game 7.
They first have to win #6
if this isn't a time for "appropriate fear", then we don't deserve to win anything. i think the Spurs actually believe they shook the confidence of NO. I mean we got lit up by a gimpy David West. We should have been like sharks smelling blood and tested him all night but no. we played like we knew they were going to roll over for us. NOTE TO SPURS: no one if afraid of you, so you'd better start playing with passion starting with Game 6 or you'll be fishing soon.
that game last night was a disgrace. and as much as i love tim, he needs to man up and play strong and not worry about the calls. he needs to worry about things he CAN control, like, the weaksauce he's bringing right now.
This was a very frustrating game all around. Even aside from the lack of intensity on the Spurs' part, there were so many shots that just went in and out like there was some sort of voodoo magic pulling the ball out of the basket.
I want to see the Spurs play better, but I guess the positive side is that even if we HAD played better, we still might not have won any of the games in NO. The Hornets have been great and you have to give them a lot of credit. I think they're the best team left in the Playoffs right now, if it's not the Spurs.
But I still feel good about this series. The Spurs have won three of the last four games where they faced elimination. They've succeeded in the face of this kind of pressure before. Just win Game 6 and it's a one game do-or-die series for both teams.
I don't get why Spurs fans continue to downplay the Hornets and not believe they aren't the better team. They up 3-2, they're the ones who have blownout the Spurs epicly in NO, not just in the postseason, but in the regular season too. They have an MVP caliber PG who doesn't take many off nights, an unguardable mismatch in David West, solid role players who are atheletic and young.
Spurs have the Big 3, a great coach, and that's about it. Maybe you can argue that the Spurs Big 3/4 is better than the Hornets, but in this series it's pretty much an even draw with the edge going to the Hornets with the way West and Paul are playing.
This Spurs team, unlike in years past, isn't as good as everyone thinks. They are showcasing the same flaws they displayed in the regular season when they would go on 3-4 game losing streaks. Outside of the Big 3, they have no reliable offensive weapon. Role players like Finley, Horry, and Barry for all their "veteran experience" do not have the legs anymore to play good defense against a younger, athletic team. We still have no reliable backup PG who can run the show. Putting Manu in that position is obviously the Spurs best option, but he's not a PG, no matter what way you dice it.
Kurt THomas is way too emotional a player to be deemed "smart." He commits at least 2 or 3 bad fouls a game. Oberto doesn't have the size or strength to be effective in guarding the paint.
You look at the Spurs big 2 wins in this series, and it was just a combination of the Big 3 playing outstanding and Bowen playing great defense and the Hornets missing some pretty open shots. You look at the Hornets big 3 wins and they did it by playing solid defense on the Spurs Big 3, denying the paint for Parker/Ginobili, double teaming Duncan, and daring anyone else to beat them.
The funny thing is the Hornets will probably be easily beat in 5 games by the Lakers/Jazz.
They are clearly the better team so far, in that they have been consistently good and put themselves in a position to win each time they take the floor. I don't know that anyone is disagreeing with that point. Only a fool thinks that the Spurs aren't capable of playing every game like they did in game 4 and should have taken control of this series by now.
I thought game 5 was in the bag, but I never thought the Hornets would roll over and die at home. David West is a 90% mid range jump shooter at home now. He's a monster. This is fact now, and theres no way a team with that kind of firepower would roll over and die.
I can't believe Duncan did this. I seriously believe his lackadaisical play filtered over to Parker by the thid quarter. Parker was playing passive by then, and Ginobili was getting bad passes in a position not to do anything with the ball.
Duncan, you're on notice now. Theres no excuse in a million years for Duncan to ever be blocked by david west on a turnaround move.
I hate to recongnize that 3q we sucks ... TP poor decision making, Manu & TD couldn't carry the team, the rest of the crew couldn't step up.
Holy ... we out ... hate to say that.
I think that will be huge for us.
They still have a good chance in Game 6, but Game 7 looks like it will be another Spurs loss at the Hive.
Hey, for the start of the 3d quarter, they should wheel out a lineup of Vaughn, Stoudamire, Udoka, Horry, and Oberto.
Why the &(#@ not? Could they be any worse than the starters?
There were a couple plays that clearly showed me the Spurs were about to melt down: a key TO when Udoka had a clear lay up and instead of going strong he let West block the shot (that was from a very good pass from TP) and the second was when West went under the rim and on a reverse hook score on Tim's face. I thought those were signature plays and the end was near.
The truth of the matter is that our Big Three are getting beat by their Big Two plus a lot of hustle by their role players.
Give a lot of credit to the NO defense which is shutting down Duncan and closing the lane for Parker and Ginobili. If we can't figure out how to beat their defense--and execute to do it--then we deserve to lose.
Also, we lost focus in the 3rd--and they didn't--and made some really costly turnovers which turned the game around. Once they got ahead, they had the confidence and we didn't.
I was checking out some stats from the Wages of Wins. According to their (PER-Like) stats, the Hornets are very marginally a better team than us. I think they have us the 6th ranked team in the league? If their model is predictive, then they should be favored over us in the series given that and home-court. Interestingly, the Jazz are ranked above both.
Their stats showed the Spurs to be a dominant team the years we won.
They also favor Garnett slightly over Duncan in productivity (with the slight caveat that because his teammates are worse, he may get more #s). Especially interestingly, they have Kobe ranked as only the 9th best player in the league because of his lack of productivity in anything besides scoring. Given that his teams without dominant help (Shaq; Gasol) have been mediocre, it actually makes sense.
The Spurs played with no heart in this game, bottom-line.
I've been a Spurs fan for almost 33 years and I've never seen the Spurs play so poorly on the road in playoff games...ever.
I always believe, but if the Spurs can't play with passion on the road a potential game seven will be the 4th 20 point Hornet victory of the series. Heck, I'm hoping the Spurs can fire themselves up enough to get game 6. You can't convince me that NO is the better team, and that's what's making these losses so disappointing. In '06 I knew that Dallas had a pretty darn good team that matched up well with us. The Laker teams that beat us were championship teams so I could tip my hat to the fact that they beat us. Heck, had we lost these three games by 2 or 3 points in games that I saw the Spurs give it all they had...well that would be admirable in some respects. But this team is just flat out not getting after it in these games and I can't figure out why.
Personally, I'm a little in shock. I had no idea who would win, but I sure didn't think we'd have a repeat of Game 1 and 2. Normally by this time, things get figured out and games get tighter. What I saw was that West had a career-type night, the NO defense really stepped up and took away what the Spurs wanted to do. I saw indecisiveness and confusion on the Spurs part, confounded by a distressing lack of adjustments in the 3rd quarter and terrible shooting.
Spurs battled back from double digit leads against the Suns. Of course it's just the Suns.
I didn't underestimate the Hornets, guess I was hoping the Spurs had turned the momentum around going into game 5.
Game 5 was definitely a heart breaker. That 11 point 3rd quarter will go down in infamy I'm afraid. Kinda hard to believe in this year's team after that.
My thoughts discuss more strategy. Timvp appears to regurgitate stats.
33 FTs to 18? That's a big difference.
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