Spurs looked good tonight!

[tmtcsc]

No, it did happen on the defensive end, but I thought it was the next stoppage of play and the first chance they had to talk. You could be right. There was a tad too much of the players getting on each other; they looked kind of like the Cowboys secondary at times.

I went back and re-watched the game tonight on DVR. Tim getting pissed at Matt was at the culmination of a terrible 3 minute stretch for Matt which began with him taking that 3. It was followed by bad transition D and 2 straight defensive lapses on Matt's part where he was slow to give JV help and Tim help.. That last one got Tim pissed. He looked over his shoulder to see Amare gliding in for a dunk or layup and Matt was standing in mud watching him do it. You can hear Tim saying "C'mon Matt !" and shaking his head.

[Obstructed_View]

I went back and re-watched the game tonight on DVR. Tim getting pissed at Matt was at the culmination of a terrible 3 minute stretch for Matt which began with him taking that 3. It was followed by bad transition D and 2 straight defensive lapses on Matt's part where he was slow to give JV help and Tim help.. That last one got Tim pissed. He looked over his shoulder to see Amare gliding in for a dunk or layup and Matt was standing in mud watching him do it. You can hear Tim saying "C'mon Matt !" and shaking his head.

I just went back and watched it myself. A couple of thoughts.

a) The Spurs were brilliant on offense to start the quarter, and weren't getting a single stop before Bonner came into the game. The fact that the game was close wasn't because the Spurs were playing even passable defense, it's because they were just amazing on the other end. Duncan's defense was just as bad as his offense was good. Granted, he was trying not to pick up his third foul, but his rotations were terrible and Shaq was getting anywhere he wanted to be without any challenge whatsoever. That charging call against Amare (which was a really bad call) was the only stop the Spurs got in the first five minutes of the quarter, and they were lucky to get it. Bowen committed a foul on Nash with the ball out of bounds.

b) The two transition baskets were by Matt Barnes. Finley got burned on both of them and Bowen failed to stop him at the three point line on the first one, which got him benched at the timeout. Bonner got there for the second one and got beat for the rebound. It's too bad that he didn't get the rebound, but the play was hardly his fault.

c) The Amare layup (which he missed) might have been Bonner's only defensive lapse to that point, and I say might, because it looked like Mason was the one who was in position to rotate. Duncan double teamed Diaw because he had Finley practically under the basket and then swiped at Amare as he went by, while yelling at Bonner, who was on the baseline. Again, just for the sake of argument, let's put that one square on Bonner. Even so, for Duncan to have gotten that annoyed when he, Finley, and Bowen were just getting wrecked on defense is ludicrous.

There's no way someone comes away from watching that sequence and blames Bonner with no mention of, at the very least, Finley and Bowen.

[Joe Schmoogins]

I just went back and watched it myself. A couple of thoughts.

a) The Spurs were brilliant on offense to start the quarter, and weren't getting a single stop before Bonner came into the game. The fact that the game was close wasn't because the Spurs were playing even passable defense, it's because they were just amazing on the other end. Duncan's defense was just as bad as his offense was good. Granted, he was trying not to pick up his third foul, but his rotations were terrible and Shaq was getting anywhere he wanted to be without any challenge whatsoever. That charging call against Amare (which was a really bad call) was the only stop the Spurs got in the first five minutes of the quarter, and they were lucky to get it. Bowen committed a foul on Nash with the ball out of bounds.

b) The two transition baskets were by Matt Barnes. Finley got burned on both of them and Bowen failed to stop him at the three point line on the first one, which got him benched at the timeout. Bonner got there for the second one and got beat for the rebound. It's too bad that he didn't get the rebound, but the play was hardly his fault.

c) The Amare layup (which he missed) might have been Bonner's only defensive lapse to that point, and I say might, because it looked like Mason was the one who was in position to rotate. Duncan double teamed Diaw because he had Finley practically under the basket and then swiped at Amare as he went by, while yelling at Bonner, who was on the baseline. Again, just for the sake of argument, let's put that one square on Bonner. Even so, for Duncan to have gotten that annoyed when he, Finley, and Bowen were just getting wrecked on defense is ludicrous.

There's no way someone comes away from watching that sequence and blames Bonner with no mention of, at the very least, Finley and Bowen.

I agree... our defense was pretty terrible and it was definitely a community effort. I'm not giving any passes to anyone, but not putting the blame on Bonner's shoulders either. He's got to be better, but so does Timmy, Bowen, Finley, KT, and others as you mentioned.

[Obstructed_View]

Amare made everyone on the Spurs his in the fourth quarter, including Timmy. Bonner's defense on Amare was as good or better than anyone else's was. The only actual basket Bonner gave up was the dunk that got him pulled with a couple of minutes to go. Duncan scored two points after Shaq came back in and never challenged him in the post, even after Parker drew his fifth foul. That's inexcusable. The people that blame the loss on Bonner are on ing crack. Finley, Bowen and Mason got torn up. Bad.

[SenorSpur]

All the Spurs seemingly forgot about the defensive fundamentals that have become such a trademark of their championship years.