Orsborn: Spurs To Lean On Old Standby-Defense

[duncan228]

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblog...rn_spu_10.html

Tom Orsborn: Spurs to lean on old standby - defense

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Lost in the cloud of disappointment generated by the outcome of the Game 1 loss to the Lakers is the fact the Spurs played well defensively.

The Lakers entered the game averaging a playoff-best 112 points per game. Their 89-85 victory over the Spurs represented their lowest point total of the playoffs.

The previous low was 99 points at Utah on May 9.

"We were very pleased overall defensively with what we did," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "You are not going to keep a team at 60 points or something. But considering what they have been scoring and seeing what we were able to do defensively, I thought we did a good job. We can do some things better. But, for us, we have to have that same defensive effort to have a chance tomorrow night. That's where it begins for us."

[degenerate_gambler]

reading that, I just heard Stan Kelly's nasally, cracking voice hollering "Deeeeefense!" in my head..

[xtremesteven33]

reading that, I just heard Stan Kelly's nasally, cracking voice hollering "Deeeeefense!" in my head..

[urunobili]

i am somehow starting to feel better for game 2... thank you duncan228!

[TampaDude]

Exactly...we were all so pissed off at blowing the lead, that we didn't notice the Spurs held the Lakers' high-flying offense to a paltry 89 points.

Spurs in 6.

[spursfaninla]

I thought we did a good job in stretches on them...

We can't take credit for all of thier offensive inep ude....some of it was rust. They missed some really easy baskets, and I don't think that was us.

I expect them to crack 100 next game, so we better start scoring.

[DazedAndConfused]

The Laker offense sputtered because the Spurs were committed to shutting down the interior scoring of Odom and Gasol. They backed off Odom and dared him to shoot and crowded the paint to prevent interior passing. But this is what the Spurs do, they take away your primary options on offense and force you to beat them with something else.

Unfortunately for them our something else is Kobe Bryant, and when he gets going not only is he impossible to stop he is able to get everyone else involved because he breaks down defenses. I thought the P&R with Gasol was very effective late in the game, I can see why Phil saved it. The bottomline is the Lakers are going to need to find ways to score without relying on Bryant's penetration. I expect Phil to make some adjustments and start going with smaller lineups with better shooters to open up those passing lanes for our bigs.