Game Thoughts: Spurs vs. Lakers Game 4

[timvp]

With an opportunity to hop right back into the series, the San Antonio Spurs lost a heartbreaking Game 4. The Spurs repeatedly made comeback after comeback but could never get over the hump. Brent Barry’s desperation three-pointer at the buzzer missed and the Spurs lost 93-91.

The Los Angeles Lakers deserve a lot of credit. Every single time the Spurs fought their way back into the game, the Lakers were ready to push their lead back up once again. In fact, the Lakers never trailed in the game. Kobe Bryant led an impressive team effort that now puts the Spurs on the brink of elimination.

The biggest problem for the Spurs on this night was rebounding. The Lakers were able to get 13 demoralizing offensive rebounds. The Spurs played a lot of very good defense but couldn’t close the deal by grabbing the board.

Offensively, the shooting simply wasn’t good enough. The Spurs shot 40% from the field and were just 7-for-24 from beyond the three-point line. With San Antonio in a 3-1 hole, they’ll need three straight good shooting nights to climb out.

Truthfully though, I’m proud of the effort the Spurs exhibited. There was no quit in the San Antonio team. Even with the home fans streaming to the exits with the Spurs down seven points with less than a minute to go, the Spurs once again stormed back and had a chance to win it at the end. I can’t fault their will to win – at all.

Overall, it’s obvious what the Spurs have to do. Winning three straight games with two of those contests being in Los Angeles sounds like an impossible task. We’ll see what happens but I’m confident this team has more fight in them.

-I was especially pleased by the effort Tim Duncan gave in Game 4. He played 33 of the game’s final 34 minutes and left everything out on the court. Duncan finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots. He played 45 minutes and it was obvious that he ran out of gas at some point in the fourth quarter, however Duncan just kept fighting. Defensively, Duncan was solid all night long. Offensively, Duncan wasn't as crisp as usual. For the Spurs to win this series, he’s going to have to shoot better than the 10-for-26 showing he authored in Game 4. If Duncan can get on a roll, the Lakers haven’t shown much of an ability to stop him from doing what he wants.

-Manu Ginobili again didn’t have it in Game 4. He gave effort but his explosiveness just isn’t there right now. I’m not sure if he’s injured or tired but whatever it is, he’s physically not the Ginobili we saw in the regular season. In this game, he finished with seven points and six assists, while shooting 2-for-8 from the field. On offense, Ginobili was mostly in a passing mode. Even if he’d get a step on his defender, he was looking to pass rather than score. I thought he played good defense – even when asked to defend Bryant. The best news is his mobility was much improved. He was moving laterally well and his quickness is also starting to return. I haven’t given up hope that Ginobili will be able to bounce back. He’s obviously not 100% but he looks a lot better than he did in Game 1.

-Tony Parker played pretty well. He scored 23 points, dished out nine assists, grabbed four rebounds and only turned the ball over once, while shooting 8-for-17 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line. Offensively, Parker played well. He was passing the ball with precision and he took good shots. He missed a few shots he usually makes but you can’t complain when his decisions were mostly good. The Lakers point guards didn’t do much offensively but I thought Parker’s defense could have been better. When Parker’s defense is at his best, he should basically be able to hold Fisher scoreless. In Game 5, Parker needs to be fully recovered from the 42 minutes he played in Game 4 and be fresh and ready to dominate.

-The Spurs couldn’t have asked for much more out of Bruce Bowen. He held Bryant to 28 points on 29 shots, didn’t allow him to get to the free throw line and limited him to only one assist. The Spurs would live with those numbers night in and night out for Bryant. Offensively, Bowen hit 3-of-6 shots from the field to score 7 points in 35 minutes. He also had two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot. With Bryant looking to close out the Spurs in Game 5, Bowen will undoubtedly have his hands full once again.

-Fabricio Oberto played 22 minutes and wasn’t very effective. He didn’t take a shot on offense and grabbed only three rebounds. He did do a good job boxing out in the second half but that wasn’t enough production out of Oberto. He began the game playing good defense on Odom but his effective waned as the game went along. For the Spurs to win Game 5, Oberto needs to start rebounding more and find ways to do something offensively.

-Michael Finley started and played shockingly bad. He had a team-worst plus/minus of -18 in only nine minutes of action. Finley missed both of the shots he attempted and didn’t do anything else other than turn the ball over on the Spurs' opening possession of the game. It’s time to officially bury Finley – at least for the rest of this series. If Pop starts him again in Game 5, the season is over. At most, Finley should only play a few minutes off the bench. Even that may be pushing it.

-Brent Barry deserved more in Game 4. Barry played the best game of his Spurs career and he just didn’t get enough help. Barry finished with 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, while shooting 7-for-14 from the field. The best way to understand how well Barry played is to look at his plus/minus of +24 on the night. The next best plus/minus on the team was Duncan at +6. Barry was often the best player on the court for San Antonio. Not only was he carrying the load at times offensively, he was playing very good defense. He’s reading passing lanes amazingly well right now and on a night where no one outside of Duncan was rebounding, Barry’s five rebounds were the second most on the team. Pop has to start Barry from now on in this series. Barry is playing great basketball and the team is responding to him being on the court. Even defensively, Barry is playing better than any perimeter player on the team outside of Bowen.

-Robert Horry played 16 minutes and still hasn’t been able to hit a shot. He was 0-for-2 in Game 4, although he did hit both of his free throws. While he had four rebounds, only one of those rebounds came on the defensive end. Horry’s defense was solid but the Spurs need more from him. A couple shots, a few big rebounds or something more than good defense.

-Ime Udoka played eight mostly invisible minutes. He was only visible when fouling Sasha Vujacic on a momentum altering four-point play late in the third quarter. Udoka’s inability to rebound in this series has been disappointing. He’s also not doing much offensively or defensively. He hasn’t shown any reason for him not to be seated next to Finley in the swingman doghouse.

-Pop didn’t coach a good game but he wasn’t the reason the Spurs lost. His main mistake was not finding more time for the Big Three to rest. Duncan and Parker can’t play 45 and 42 minutes. A limited Ginobili can’t play 36 minutes. It’s difficult right now but Pop has to trust his bench at some point in the game enough to allow the Big Three rest.

Going into Game 5, Pop has to make a few adjustments. First of all, Barry needs to start. He has to. Barry gives the Spurs good offensive punch and he’s playing well defensively. Finley, on the other hand, is sucking in all aspects of the game. It’s not a coincidence that the Spurs gained points in all of Barry’s five stints on the court and lost points in all of Finley’s four stints. If Pop doesn’t make this change, he might as well bring fishing rods to Game 5.

Pop also needs to figure out what to do with the bigmen. Should he keep hoping Horry has more magic or should he go small with Udoka? If rebounding remains a problem, playing Duncan and Kurt Thomas together may become a needed adjustment.

It's going to be tough for Pop in Game 5 because there are only about six or seven players not playing horrible right now and he has a team fighting fatigue. That is not a good combination, to say the least.

The bottomline is the Spurs face a huge challenge. Step one is winning one game on the road. The Lakers smell blood but with one win, the Spurs can shift the pressure onto the Lakers. It’s time to show the championship heart.

1.

Believe.

[Emanuel20]

Great job as always!

[urunobili]

thanks timvp.. btw parker was 7-7 from the line... or charity stripe... i also believe they have one more fight in them... i dunno if they'd like LA to have a show in their face in game 5...

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Another great job.
Faith +1

[bigfundamental21]

Thanks for the thoughts, timvp.

Truthfully though, I’m proud of the effort the Spurs exhibited. There was no quit in the San Antonio team. Even with the home fans streaming to the exits with the Spurs down seven points with less than a minute to go, the Spurs once again stormed back and had a chance to win it at the end. I can’t fault their will to win – at all.

Overall, it’s obvious what the Spurs have to do. Winning three straight games with two of those contests being in Los Angeles sounds like an impossible task. We’ll see what happens but I’m confident this team has more fight in them.

The effort was there, but just a little more from a couple more players and the outcome would have been different. I think we just dug such an early hole that we ended up fighting the whole game to get back. I too still believe this team will fight back. We just have to take it one game at a time.

I was especially pleased by the effort Tim Duncan gave in Game 4. He played 33 of the game’s final 34 minutes and left everything out on the court. Duncan finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots. He played 45 minutes and it was obvious that he ran out of gas at some point in the fourth quarter, however Duncan just kept fighting. Defensively, Duncan was solid all night long. Offensively, Duncan wasn't as crisp as usual. For the Spurs to win this series, he’s going to have to shoot better than the 10-for-26 showing he authored in Game 4. If Duncan can get on a roll, the Lakers haven’t shown much of an ability to stop him from doing what he wants.

Duncan has been a workhorse and we all know he will leave it all out on the floor each night. He is getting hammered more often than not and it is important for him to keep fighting... but when he passes out of the double teams, his teammates need to hit shots. Until that happens, Duncan will have to struggle to score against double teams all night.

Going into Game 5, Pop has to make a few adjustments. First of all, Barry needs to start. He has to. Barry gives the Spurs good offensive punch and he’s playing well defensively. Finley, on the other hand, is sucking in all aspects of the game. It’s not a coincidence that the Spurs gained points in all of Barry’s five stints on the court and lost points in all of Finley’s four stints. If Pop doesn’t make this change, he might as well bring fishing rods to Game 5.

, yeah, Barry needs to start! When you get no production from Finley... you gotta get Barry more minutes and why not start him. He is playing fantastic and deserves more minutes.


GO SPURS GO!!!!

BELIEVE!!

[duncan228]

Thanks timvp. This one could not have been easy to re-watch and write. Same ending, same heartbreak every time. Appreciate the effort.

As a fan, I always believe. That's my definition of fan. It's a tough climb, but no where does it say it can't be done. This team can pull from within and make this happen. One game at a time. Bring it back to SA.

Believe.

[PDXSpursFan]

Once again the Spurs are victim of the scoring drought syndrome . And it doesn't have to do anything with the Lakers defense. We saw the same on the Hornets series and even several times during the 2nd haft of the regular season. Regardless of how the Spurs season ends, this should be the P1 issue to be addressed by the staff at training camp.

[Russ]

I think the Spurs' only hope tomorrow is for Duncan to be a beast down low and put the team on his shoulders.

That will establish order on the boards and also set up the other players offensively. It will also shut up the Office Max crowd.

[VaSpursFan]

Once again the Spurs are victim of the scoring drought syndrome . And it doesn't have to do anything with the Lakers defense. We saw the same on the Hornets series and even several times during the 2nd haft of the regular season. Regardless of how the Spurs season ends, this should be the P1 issue to be addressed by the staff at training camp.

ITA. our defense is great but when you can't put the ball in the hole for 5 minute stretches in games, you won't win many games. every team we played in the playoffs had 3 to 4 solid scoring options in their starting 5 (phx: snaq, amare, nash; noh: paul, peja, west; lakers: kobe, gasol, odom). our starting 5 has only 2 real scoring options (duncan and parker) and we end up getting into double digit holes. barry has to replace finley in the starting line-up. after last nights performance, it's a no-brainer. i know he won't go for 23 every game, but he's a legit 3rd scorer and he can definitely hit the 3 ball.

[aka_USAPA]

Once again the Spurs are victim of the scoring drought syndrome . And it doesn't have to do anything with the Lakers defense. We saw the same on the Hornets series and even several times during the 2nd haft of the regular season. Regardless of how the Spurs season ends, this should be the P1 issue to be addressed by the staff at training camp.

I love it that the Laker defense is underrated and the fans underestimate it regardless of that the TNT commentators say about it. I wish the Spurs believed that but they know better. If only Pop could convince the Spurs that it's not the defense of the Lakers but them not making shots... if he can do just that, Game 5 and the series will be in the bag.

[mrspurs]

bro's and sis spurfans......i honestly dont think it was our players fault this season was so hard....i honestly think the staff let the players down...they seen shaq move to phoenix and jumped like alot of teams and gambled some player moves that i never really understood...i didnt understand the trade for elson (only cos the trade was at the end of the season, and his height) and bringing in mighty mouse and blowing 1 or 2 value games that would have secured us homecourt advantage...i give it up to our players...thumbs down to our staff... go spurs go

[SRJ]

Truthfully though, I’m proud of the effort the Spurs exhibited. There was no quit in the San Antonio team. Even with the home fans streaming to the exits with the Spurs down seven points with less than a minute to go, the Spurs once again stormed back and had a chance to win it at the end. I can’t fault their will to win – at all.

Once in the 22-8 hole, the effort was great - but the Lakers playing like they were down 3-1, rather than up 2-1, at the start of the game was troubling. The Spurs needed a 14-point wake-up call and that shouldn't have happened in that situation.

Great effort after that early deficit, but unfortunately it set the tone for the rest of the game.

[duncan228]

We've seen the Spurs scoring drought syndrome all season long. This isn't new to the Lakers series. This isn't all due to the Lakers defense. Laker fans have no way of knowing that, they've only seen a handful of Spurs games. For those of us that don't miss a Spurs game these droughts have been going on all season, not just the Playoffs.

[timvp]

thanks timvp.. btw parker was 7-7 from the line

Thanks. Fixed.

, yeah, Barry needs to start!

Yeah the more I look at it, the more it makes sense. Basically, Finley can't play another minute in this series. That is key #1 when it comes to getting back into this series. Just take a look at the +/- in this series (not counting the Game 2 blowout):

Barry +38
Bowen +27
Duncan +22
Parker +21
Horry +18
Ginobili -1
Oberto -6
Udoka -8
Finley -40

The Spurs are actually dominating the action when Finley isn't in the game. This actually gives me hope because those numbers are pretty damn staggering.

What's amazing is Finley is killing this team even though he plays a lot of minutes with Duncan and Parker. Usually players with bad +/- stats are players who come off the bench. Finley doesn't have that excuse.

Eliminate Finley from the equation and the numbers for the Spurs actually look pretty good.

The minutes rotation in Game 5 should look something like:

Oberto - 30
Duncan - 40
Bowen - 40
Barry - 33
Parker - 39
Ginobili - 32
Horry - 26

If Pop wants to go small or the bigs are not producing, use Udoka for spot minutes. Finley shouldn't really even board the plane to LA. His lack of athleticism is just getting used and abused by the Lakers.

Please, Pop. Give this team a chance.

[Emanuel20]

We've seen the Spurs scoring drought syndrome all season long. This isn't new to the Lakers series. This isn't all due to the Lakers defense. Laker fans have no way of knowing that, they've only seen a handful of Spurs games. For those of us that don't miss a Spurs game these droughts have been going on all season, not just the Playoffs.

The bad thing is that it's still happening and it seems that we are not improving it...

[mrspurs]

you know a few friends of mine and myself were talking about this series and for whatever reason we still think we can overcome the lakers by winning just one more game....we really dont know why, it just feels that way....go spurs go

[timvp]

I think the Spurs' only hope tomorrow is for Duncan to be a beast down low and put the team on his shoulders.

That will establish order on the boards and also set up the other players offensively. It will also shut up the Office Max crowd.

Yeah, gotta play like they did in the first 2.5 quarters of Game 1. That was a perfect display of how to play the Lakers in LA.

This time, Pop, keep Bowen on the floor. Thanks

[ipeefreely]

I love it that the Laker defense is underrated and the fans underestimate it regardless of that the TNT commentators say about it. I wish the Spurs believed that but they know better. If only Pop could convince the Spurs that it's not the defense of the Lakers but them not making shots... if he can do just that, Game 5 and the series will be in the bag.

Doug Collins is the biggest Tim Duncan homer on the planet, he all but offers to toss his salad on national TV.....

So be it, the Lakers didnt get respect the whole year, they earned it and frankly they are the best team in the NBA right now...Both Boston and Det look beatable....

Time to get really scared too...
Imagine...

Fisher
Kobe
Odom
Gasol
Bynum
LOL, that is 65-70 wins right there...

[1Parker1]

What did you think Timvp of the Spurs going away from their motion offense for most of the game (at least to start and those minutes Barry wasn't in)?

[TampaDude]

you know a few friends of mine and myself were talking about this series and for whatever reason we still think we can overcome the lakers by winning just one more game....we really dont know why, it just feels that way....go spurs go

Let's look at it this way...

Game 5 - Spurs must win to stay alive...and if they do, it's on to...

Game 6 - Spurs are back at home, must win, and will probably win...which brings us to...

Game 7 - Having already won Game 5, the Spurs know they can win in LA, plus it's GAME 7...anything can happen...remember the Hornets series...

Really, it all rests on Game 5 for the Spurs...win, and they actually have a good chance of forcing Game 7...lose, and their season is over.

GO SPURS GO!!! BELIEVE!!!

[wildbill2u]

Its a shame that Bonner was left to rot on the bench for most of the season after a few good-- and a few mediocre-- outings. He might have improved his play with some minutes in game situations.

He would have given us hustle, a three point shooter, and a tough rebounding presence on the court against the Laker bigs.

Unfortunately, Pop always has some player permanently in the doghouse and doesn't develop them for potential useful minutes when they might be needed.

[Cry Havoc]

If we win Game 5, anything is possible. We're going to go home with a LOT of momentum for Game 6.

But first, we have to win 1.

1.

[cobbler]

We've seen the Spurs scoring drought syndrome all season long. This isn't new to the Lakers series. This isn't all due to the Lakers defense. Laker fans have no way of knowing that, they've only seen a handful of Spurs games. For those of us that don't miss a Spurs game these droughts have been going on all season, not just the Playoffs.

Actually, I have noticed this happening with quite a few different teams this year. The lakers have blown 20 point leads with regularity all year long. The suns as well. Some can be attributed to defensive stands and others just sucking on shots. Probably its a mixture of both.

I'd like to say it's just you guys having these droughts but unfortunately our team has done the same. My two cents worth.

Note: Impressive review Timvp. Kudos

[DDS4]

Frustrating part during game 4 was there were about 2-3 instances where the Spurs had a chance to take a lead with a 3 from Barry/Manu.

That Udoka foul on Vujacic really was critical too.

[whottt]

-Brent Barry deserved more in Game 4. Barry played the best game of his Spurs career and he just didn’t get enough help. Barry finished with 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, while shooting 7-for-14 from the field. The best way to understand how well Barry played is to look at his plus/minus of +24 on the night. The next best plus/minus on the team was Duncan at +6. Barry was often the best player on the court for San Antonio. Not only was he carrying the load at times offensively, he was playing very good defense. He’s reading passing lanes amazingly well right now and on a night where no one outside of Duncan was rebounding, Barry’s five rebounds were the second most on the team. Pop has to start Barry from now on in this series. Barry is playing great basketball and the team is responding to him being on the court. Even defensively, Barry is playing better than any perimeter player on the team outside of Bowen.

:faint