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Thanks LJ, great recap.
C'mon Roger Mason - if he can give that sort of effort for the rest of the year we have a shot.
(It’s great to be back in the saddle again for another season as we get to watch the San Antonio Spurs in their journey for a fifth NBA championship. Here’s to a season of good health, many wins and a fun and memorable time for players, coaches and fans alike)
In the 2008-09 season opening game, the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns played another close contest that came down to the wire. It wasn’t your typical Spurs and Suns affair, as the Spurs were adjusting to life without Manu Ginobili and the Suns were adjusting to life without Mike D’Antoni.
When the smoke cleared, the Suns were able to escape San Antonio with a 103-98 victory. The key stretch came with about three minutes to go in the fourth quarter. With the game tied at 94, Amare Stoudemire produced a three-point play and then followed it up with a layup. The Spurs fought back from that 5-0 run but in the final forty seconds both Tony Parker and Tim Duncan missed three-pointers that would have tied the game.
Although many NBA scribes and talking heads have already written the obituary for these Suns, I thought Phoenix looked good. Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal didn’t appear to have lost a step over the summer. Stoudemire, even though he never really seemed to get in a rhythm, was productive. Grant Hill was obviously much healthier than he was last year in the postseason. Leandro Barbosa even had a rare good game against the Spurs. Rookies Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic should help the Suns on the defensive end of the court and in terms of energy and hustle.
The Spurs, who lost for the first time on opening night in the Tim Duncan Era, were a mixed bag of goodness and ugliness. The most glaring aspect that must be worked on was transition defense. Under Pop’s coaching guidance, the Spurs always excel in that area – but that wasn’t the case tonight. The Suns got way too many easy buckets on the break. Rebounding, overall hustle and finding scoring outside of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were also issues that need improvement.
Overall, however, the Spurs didn’t play too poorly. It’s going to be difficult to win games against good teams without Ginobili but the Spurs mostly lost due to correctable errors. Hopefully the Spurs can address their problem areas, regroup quickly and get on the winning track as they come out of the gates for the 2008-09 campaign.
Tim Duncan
36 minutes, 32 points, six rebounds, three assists
13-for-21 from the field, 6-for-10 at the line
Tim Duncan played well in the preseason and that carried over into the first game of the regular season. He looked very smooth offensively as he knocked in a variety of shots from the perimeter. His post game also looked solid and he made very good decisions for much of the night. The only problem for Duncan offensively was that his teammates weren’t always finding him when he was open. With as well as Duncan was rolling, the Spurs should have given him the ball much more often. Defensively, Duncan wasn’t quite as sharp but he held his own. A few more rebounds would have helped but he usually had his hands full guarding either O’Neal or Stoudemire. The aspect I liked most from Duncan was his fire. He showed postseason level determination and really left everything he had out on the court. It was a very good showing for Duncan to begin a new campaign.
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Tony Parker
36 minutes, 32 points, five rebounds, five assists
13-for-24 from the field, 6-for-8 at the line
In the first quarter, Tony Parker missed all five of his shots. He finished the first half only 4-for-12 from the floor. In the second half Parker came alive, mostly because he started connecting on all the short chippies he missed in the first half. Late in the game, Parker carried the Spurs offensively, scoring 13 of the final 15 points. It was definitely an up-and-down game for Parker but he redeemed any first half follies with his play over the final two quarters. His playmaking was decent enough and his defense was actually quite good in stretches. He was part of the problem in regards to the transition defense but he was one of the few Spurs hustling on that end. With Ginobili sidelined, Parker is going to have to be more productive than usual. This was a good start.
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Bruce Bowen
21 minutes, two rebounds, one steal
0-for-1 from the field
Bruce Bowen struggled throughout the first game of the season. Defensively, he was slow to figure out what the Suns were trying to do under the new coaching staff. He oftentimes found himself out of place, which is obviously rare for Bowen on the defensive end. He wasn’t helping offensively either so Pop limited his minutes. It’s way too early to say Bowen won’t be able to provide his usual production this season. Phoenix doesn’t have a swingman who warrants Bowen’s attention, so he was mostly put on Nash. We’ll get a much better idea of where Bowen stands in the next few games.
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Michael Finley
31 minutes, eight points, three assists
4-for-7 from the field, 0-for-2 on three-pointers
Over the summer, Michael Finley did a lot of work to improve his conditioning. Even though he’s in much better shape this year, he’s still basically the same player we saw last year. If you draw up a play for him, he’ll hit the shot at a high percentage. He’ll mix in a couple stand-still jumpers. However, other than that, Finley doesn’t offer much. Defensively, at his very best he’s still below average. Against the Suns, Finley was also no help on the boards and his lack of hustle was apparent on multiple occasions. It’d be nice if he could step up with Ginobili is out but his game is so limited at this point in his career that there is only so much you can expect out of him.
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Kurt Thomas
27 minutes, two points, seven rebounds
1-for-5 from the field
Usually a steady player, Kurt Thomas had a poor outing tonight. He missed most a number of open jumpers and defensively he was nothing special. In fact, Stoudemire’s late three-point play was with Thomas defending. The 36-year-old Thomas is a player to watch to see if he loses a step. This wasn’t a good opening performance but it didn’t look like it was due to losing a step – or at least that should be the hope.
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Roger Mason, Jr.
30 minutes, 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, two blocks
4-for-7 from the field, 3-for-4 on three-pointers
Personally, the biggest bright spot for the Spurs was the play of Roger Mason, Jr. After an uneven preseason, Mason showed why the coaching staff has been gushing over him since he signed as a free agent. Outside of Duncan and Parker, Mason was the only Spur to hit double-figures in scoring. Offensively, he showed a wide repertoire. He hit a mid-range jumper off the dribble and also had a stop and pop three-pointer on a fast break. I was also impressed with his patience and his ballhandling on the offensive end. Defensively, he also showed a lot of promise. He still is a work in progress, especially on transition defense, but he’s an active defender. Whether he was on Barbosa on the wing or Matt Barnes in the low block, Mason competed and gave the appearance that he could grow into being a good defender in the Spurs system. On the whole, I was very impressed with what I saw from Mason in his San Antonio debut.
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Matt Bonner
30 minutes, eight points, seven rebounds
3-for-9 from the field, 2-for-5 on three-pointers
It was a tale of two halves for Matt Bonner. In the first half, Bonner played quite well. He was hitting shots, rebounding the ball and being aggressive on defense. In the second half, it was a totally different story. Bonner became spastic offensively as he grew unsure of himself and he compounded the issue by not crashing the boards as much. The one aspect of his game I was impressed with for the most part was his individual post defense. He fought for position early and didn’t bail out the opposing player by fouling like he typical has done in the past. His defensive rotations, on the other hand, need a whole lot of work. If Bonner can bottle what he did in the first half, that would be enough for him to be a rotation player for the duration of the season. But the second half was an example of why Pop always seems to lose confidence in him.
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Ime Udoka
16 minutes, two points, five rebounds
1-for-4 from the field, 0-for-2 on three-pointers
Ime Udoka gave good effort in his 16 minutes of action. Like Bowen, Pop likely opted to go with Finley and Mason due to Udoka’s shortcomings on offense. But while he was out there, Udoka did a very nice job on the boards and was arguably the team’s most physical presence. He ended up leading the team in plus/minus with a +13. With Fabricio Oberto out with a reoccurrence of his heart condition, Ian Mahinmi out with an ankle injury and Anthony Tolliver at home dealing with the death of his mother, Udoka is the emergency bigman on the roster – even though he’s only 6-foot-5.
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Jacque Vaughn
12 minutes, two points, three assists
1-for-2 from the field
Jacque Vaughn got the call as the backup point guard behind Parker. George Hill will likely be given a chance soon enough to supplant Vaughn, but Vaughn held on for at least another game. And actually, Vaughn wasn’t half bad. He gave good effort defensively and even mixed in an impressive drive to the basket. At this stage of his career, Vaughn is more suited to be a third string point guard but showed tonight that it’s not the end of the world if he’s forced into backup duty.
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Gregg Popovich
Pop had a lot of interesting maneuvers in the opening game of the season. He broke out Hack-a-Shaq in the first half, with marginal success. He opted against using Hill but he did give Mason a larger than expected amount of minutes. Seeing Mason out there to close the game was surprising considering that Pop usually likes to go to his known quan ies to close out games. Either Pop already has a high level of confidence in Mason or he was doing some early season experimenting.
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Offense
The Spurs offense was good but not as good as the 98 points would indicate. Duncan bailed the Spurs out with a number of difficult perimeter jumpers. The Spurs were also way too reliant on Duncan and Parker for their scoring, especially in the second half and down the stretch. The ball movement was good and San Antonio only had seven turnovers, so it has to be considered a better than average offensive start to the season.
Defense
Phoenix scored 84 points over the final three quarters of the game, which is obviously way too much as far as the Spurs’ defense is concerned. I can’t reinforce enough how bad the transition defense was tonight and I’m sure that Pop will have the tape ready tomorrow to show the team exactly that point. The pick-and-roll defense also needs work but I thought the one-on-one defense was good for the most part.
Drive to Five
The Portland Trail Blazers will host the Spurs for a Halloween game on Friday. Greg Oden will miss the contest but the Blazers have more than enough talent to make it a difficult contest for San Antonio. It’s going to be a tough game to win but if the Spurs can improve their transition defense, keep the crowd out of the game and get production from their role players, win number one should be within reach.
Thanks LJ, great recap.
C'mon Roger Mason - if he can give that sort of effort for the rest of the year we have a shot.
The one thing the Spurs didn't suffer from tonight was lack of effort. Everyone showed up to play. It seems easier to fix mistakes so long as everyone is working hard on both ends. I expect the errors to diminish as the guys become more accustomed to each other, and that's after a game where they only turned the ball over seven times.
I don't even support the Spurs but always read this. Props.
Hope Bonner can take what he did in the first half, and do that the whole game against Portland. Also, I'd love for TD and TP to force a blowout by the second half. That seems the only way to get Farmer and Hill serious minutes. With Fin and JV playing so much yeterday, I know there are enough minutes to spread around. Hill might still be hurt/sick, but I know Farmer is raring to go.
Matt Bonner
30 minutes, eight points, seven rebounds
3-for-9 from the field, 2-for-5 on three-pointers
It was a tale of two halves for Matt Bonner. In the first half, Bonner played quite well. He was hitting shots, rebounding the ball and being aggressive on defense. In the second half, it was a totally different story. Bonner became spastic offensively as he grew unsure of himself and he compounded the issue by not crashing the boards as much. The one aspect of his game I was impressed with for the most part was his individual post defense. He fought for position early and didn’t bail out the opposing player by fouling like he typical has done in the past. His defensive rotations, on the other hand, need a whole lot of work. If Bonner can bottle what he did in the first half, that would be enough for him to be a rotation player for the duration of the season. But the second half was an example of why Pop always seems to lose confidence in him.
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Looks like we saw some of the same stuff
Hey LJ you need to put bearded Pop pic next time
And damn I hate "The Gibobili excuse" eklement. Well I hate all the excuses but excuse like this can weaken the team.
Well we were playing without Manu, we will be fine when he come back
And if they will lose with Gino out there, then the mentality (of a fighters) can go down.
btw. Are they so weak without Manu? Because I can't imagine jordan Bulls being so much worse of a team without Scottie.
i really like a mason/ginoboli/bowen back court off the bench....
still need a big who can rebound and play defense....
If you sincerely believe this, you should probably stop watching basketball all together...or at least stop talking about it.Hey LJ you need to put bearded Pop pic next time
And damn I hate "The Gibobili excuse" eklement. Well I hate all the excuses but excuse like this can weaken the team.
Well we were playing without Manu, we will be fine when he come back
And if they will lose with Gino out there, then the mentality (of a fighters) can go down.
btw. Are they so weak without Manu? Because I can't imagine jordan Bulls being so much worse of a team without Scottie.
Can I add my 2 cents on the officiating? ----It was very 1 sided in favor of Phoenix. I hate to bemoan officitiating, but when its so 1 sided in favor of 1 team, it simply must be pointed out, there's really no excuse for it.
And the main culprit was Violet Palmer. Numerous times mostly in the first half, she bailed out the suns' big men with cheap fouls (esp ticky tack fouls on Bonner). And I mean cheap, the kind of foul where Bonner had his arms extended straight not trying to block a shot, but might have made slight body contact, which is normally never called, esp when the offensive player is initiating the contact. I remember at least 3 possessions where solid defense was played, Suns missed the shot, and ol' Violet bailed them out with free throws. So 5-6 freebies there. Oh, and on the other end of the floor, Duncan gets a knocked to the floor on his driving layup by Shaq. I watched the replay in slo-mo on my direct-tv. Shaq just took the flat of his hand and pushed him in the chest. It really can't get any more obvious. And all 3 officials fail to make the foul call, and of course its a turnover, cuz Duncan was forced to heave up a shot while crashing to the floor. Irony on that one being they call Bonner immediately after that for the tick-tack foul. That pissed me off.
And Bennet Salvatore (I think? the silver haired one) picked up in the 4th quarter where Violet Palmer left off in the first half. I remember this guy from last year, he is generally very unfair on his fouls in regards to the spurs. Duncan had a great block on Stoudemire driving baseline, just smothered it completely. Salvatore somehow thought this was a foul. So Stoudemire got 2 more cheap ones on that play. He also called a traveling on Roger Mason, which (at least on my replay) showed he had established his pivot as his left, and drove leading with his right foot which is perfectly legal. Salvatore was right there 10 feet away making this call too, with no obstruction. That was a critical play as the spurs were building some momentum in the 4th quarter, that traveling snuffed out that momentum.
There was other "questionable" if not outright terrible calls. Kurt Thomas getting called for that foul on Stoudemire going baseline, very questionable.
There was 1 lone play that I thought was a bad call against the suns, and that was in the 4th quarter, when Parker drove to the basket, and used his forearm to push off Grant Hill before making a layup, and they called Hill for a foul. But that was just ONE bad call that went against the Suns the whole game, in contrast to a dozen or so the other way. And yet the spurs still managed to play well enough to almost pull it out at the end, and that was without 1 of their top players (Ginobili)
I think what it shows (other than Stoudemire is making late night visits to Violet Palmer) is that the spurs are far from finished, but my fear is the officials are going to beat them down so hard this year, they may barely miss the playoffs in a very stacked western conference. Hope that's not the case and the spurs can overcome it all, because if they make it into the playoffs and are healthy, they will be honed and tough to take out.
Last edited by TJastal; 10-30-2008 at 07:01 AM.
I was appalled at the majority of the calls that Amare got. He got so many preferential calls all night that we were calling it "Amare Welfare Night". The guy couldn't buy a FG until late in the 3rd, but he still had plenty of points off of ticky tack fouls.
...and run!
It could be Mahinmi, but this summer I would have signed/traded for De Sagana Diop with the nets...who lost him for nothing!
Diop, differently from Thomas, is still young enough to run on defense, intimidate shots and block them, rebound.
Everybody say he's a liability on offense, but I think that, for the offense, consiering he would be paliyng with tim, his offensive rebounding would have been enough to let him play more than our "centers".
Oh, and he also run enough to be good also for our transition defense.
Any chance to deal for him ? in Dallas he's still the back-up center...with limited minutes (Dampier, Bass and Nowitzki being their primary bigs).
How long until Mason is the starting SG?
Pop should have gone to Farmer and play more small ball vs. playing Bonner that much on the second half.
Thanks for the thoughts, timvp. It's always great to read your game thoughts after every game.
I agree that our defense was the reason we lost this game. Especially our fourth quarter defense in the paint. It seemed like every possession, the Suns were getting quality shots and even uncontested shots at the rim during the final minutes of the game.
Duncan and Parker were fantastic, but they got almost zero help offensively from the rest of the team. I was impressed with Mason's debut as well and I hope to see him get even more minutes as the season goes on.
Although this was our first season opening loss in the Duncan era, I was not disappointed with the overall effort. It was a close game throughout and it just came down to execution at the end. Hopefully, the Spurs will bounce back with a victory on Friday. It's going to be a tough road until Manu comes back, but I still feel that we will be okay.
+1
Pop could bump up Udoka's minutes too if needed, as I think Udoka's game is more well rounded, and he just plays smarter out there. Bonner just seems to make too many miscues, and his offensive repertoire is too limited for him to be an effective NBA player IMO. I also recall at least 2 times he got outrebounded by Barnes, who is playing small forward. Having Bonner out getting alot of minutes is just a liability any way you slice it. Hopefully, once Oberto is back, the spurs will at least have a guy out there that can outrebound most small forwards.
I think you're being a little too generous with Bonner. He's just not the type of player who you ever want to be out there when the game is within 7-8 points and still reachable. He showed that tonight in the second half.
Officiating? I thought it was one sided to the Spurs? Guess it depends on who you're going for. BTW, you guys scared the out of Dragic, hope he's not traumatized.
OK, put any spin on it that is needed, but Bonner in the second half was straight up awful on both ends of the floor. But Pop kept putting him in.
He has GOT to have photos of Pop doing something with a wine bottle when they were over in Europe.
I don't know if this is going to be a permanent thing, but it looks like the Spurs went away from the alleged "motion" offense for the most part, and went back to the old reliable "4-down", and had relative success. The offense ran mostly through Duncan, and that is never a bad thing.
bonner does not show that he has the propensity to string 2 solid halves of basketball together. further, he has the b-ball IQ of a brick. one play in particular sticks out in my mind that demonstrates this. timmy is WIDE open under the basket and motioning for the ball...bonner catches it and jacks up a 3. timmy showed the most frustration i have even seen for a teamate. he was livid. why chuck a 3 for the sure 2? that's bonner in a nuts .
When you do something stupid enough for Timmy to show frustration about in on the court, then you did something really stupid.
I know that Bonner is trying to play the Horry role, but Robert got a pass on jacking up a three early in the shot clock because, well, he was sort of known for being able to make them.
I have said this in another thread but..
We didn't lose because of Bonner, or even that Manu is out.
We also didn't lose because of the officiating tonight.
We lost because the suns exploited our greatest weakness which is our defensive presence in the paint. We really need to get some intimidation in there or else I see every team using this area to beat us.
Timmy just cant hold the paint all by himself...
If you have to frame your comment as a question, then maybe your just not 100% sure... maybe... possibly?... perhaps?...
Okay, if you think the big bad official crew of Violet and Bennett was so bad and awful to your poor lil' suns, name me 2 other bad calls on the suns (or no calls against the spurs) .. besides the one I mentioned on Parker.
If you can actually come up with two things, I will have to go by memory because I already deleted the game off my direct tv disk, but I am going to start saving them to dvd so I can review later because I'm 100% sure anything you say is going to be 100% bull
Timvp should be working for ESPN, instead of all those " experts "
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