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Just curious, did you notice Oberto looking a little pale this game?
For the second consecutive game, the San Antonio Spurs used great defense and timely offense to climb out of a double-digit deficit and post a two-point victory. As a result, the Spurs are riding their first winning streak of the season. The Sacramento Kings had control for much of the game but the Spurs took over at the end to win by a final score of 90-88.
With two minutes to go in the game, Michael Finley tied the score with a difficult leaner in the lane. Former Spur Beno Udrih then hit two free throws to put the Kings back up by two with a little over a minute to go. Tim Duncan responded with a hoop, and then after a defensive stop, Duncan hit a running layup with 15 seconds to go that ended up being the game winner.
The Kings actually played quite well, considering they are arguably more shorthanded than the Spurs. With Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia out with injury, John Salmons was amazing – scoring 31 points on only 13 field goal attempts. Udrih also played well, as did Quincy Douby who hit a number of difficult shots before missing a desperation three-point heave at the buzzer.
The Spurs have to be very happy with this latest win. They showed great mental toughness even though the Kings got u by as much as 11 points in the second half. Defensively, the Spurs were once again stout, especially in the fourth quarter in which the Kings only scored 16 points. When Tony Parker joined Manu Ginobili on the sidelines, it appeared as if the Spurs could freefall out of playoff contention. Three wins in four games later, San Antonio is just one game under .500 and Spurs Basketball has seemingly been rediscovered.
Tim Duncan
35 minutes, 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, five turnovers
8-for-15 from the field, 4-for-8 at the line
Tim Duncan had his work cut out for him on Sunday night. Although the Kings didn’t have all their perimeter players, they had four lively 6-foot-11 or taller players to throw at him – three of which were in the starting lineup. Defensively, he was very good for much of night. He rotated well and contested shots at the rim. On offense, his scoring was choppy until it became money time. In the final four minutes, Duncan accounted for all eight Spurs points with three buckets and an assist. Overall, it wasn’t a great game for Duncan but he stood strong and came out victorious at the end.
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Roger Mason, Jr.
38 minutes, 18 points, two rebounds, two steals
6-for-14 from the field, 3-for-8 on three-pointers, 3-for-3 at the line
Roger Mason, Jr. had an interesting outing. On defense, I thought he was actually somewhat good but Salmons repeatedly scored on him. And although Mason’s all-around game wasn’t as varied as we’ve seen in recent outings, his scoring touch returned. He had a big three-point play in the fourth quarter and also did a good job running the show to end the game. Shooting-wise, it was his best game since Parker went down with his ankle injury. Mason led the Spurs in minutes and has quickly become an indispensable part of the rotation.
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Michael Finley
35 minutes, 21 points, three rebounds
8-for-17 from the field, 3-for-5 on three-pointers, 2-for-2 at the line
Not too long ago, Michael Finley was mired in a massive slump. Now, for the fourth straight game, Finley played excellent basketball. Although his scoring numbers look good, I think it all begins with his defensive play. Matched up against rookie power forward Jason Thompson to begin the game, Finley gave great effort and didn’t let the Kings use that mismatch to their advantage. On the offensive end, Finley was ultra aggressive and even mixed in one of his old school dunks over the top of Brad Miller. Starting at small forward, Finley’s play recently has been a big reason why the Spurs have been able to win games.
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George Hill
20 minutes, four points, three assists, two rebounds, two turnovers
2-for-7 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers
Fresh off the best game of his young career, George Hill took a step backwards against the Kings. Defensively, he was decent enough but he lacked that relentless effort we’ve become accustomed to seeing. On the other end, Hill went back and forth between being too passive and playing too quickly. As a result, Pop had to look elsewhere for production from the point guard spot. Hopefully Hill can continue to learn, stay confident and take games like these as small bumps in the road.
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Fabricio Oberto
26 minutes, two points, four rebounds
1-for-2 from the field
Fabricio Oberto started at center once again and played decently well. His biggest play of the game came late when he forced Thompson into a difficult shot on a post-up attempt out of a timeout. I’d still like to see Oberto step it up on the boards. His rebounding numbers are way down on the season and against the Kings he only had two defensive rebounds in 26 minutes of action. On the positive side, Oberto was able to pick up his first blocked shot of the season against Sacramento.
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Bruce Bowen
29 minutes, two points, three rebounds
1-for-2 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers
Bruce Bowen spent all 29 of his minutes chasing around different players. Pop had him on everyone from Salmons to Udrih to Douby. Like Mason, Bowen wasn't able to slow down Salmons even though he was forcing him into tough shots. However, Bowen’s defense late in the game was critical in getting stops. On the offensive end, Bowen hit one of his two shots as he continues to shoot very well this season. The 29 minutes played were the most for Bowen in his new bench role.
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Matt Bonner
27 minutes, 11 points, seven rebounds
4-for-9 from the field, 3-for-5 on three-pointers
For the second straight game, Matt Bonner played very well. Building upon his effort against the Rockets, Bonner played smart basketball, gave good effort on the boards, defended well and hit big shots. Compared to what we’ve seen out of him last season and the beginning of this season, Bonner seems to be playing with a lot more confidence and isn’t looking over at Pop after each mistake. If he can stay locked in, there’s no reason for him to make his way back into the doghouse. This was the Bonner the Spurs were hoping for when they gave him his current contract.
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Jacque Vaughn
23 minutes, ten points, six assists
3-for-7 from the field, 4-for-4 at the line
Jacque Vaughn played by far his best game of the season. He scored well by being aggressive and physical on forays to the hoop. Vaughn also passed the ball very well. On the whole, the Spurs offense clicked best when Vaughn was running the show. Defensively, he gave great effort and used his excess tenacity to his advantage. The Spurs simply would not have won without this effort out of their veteran point guard.
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Anthony Tolliver
seven minutes, two points, one rebound
1-for-1 from the field
Anthony Tolliver was decent in his seven minutes of play. His energy was a plus and he played good transition defense. On the other side of the coin, Tolliver made a few mistakes defensively and was in the wrong place offensively a couple of times as well. This was an outing where it was obvious that Tolliver is a rookie who is still learning the system.
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Ime Udoka
0 minutes
After three consecutive games in the starting lineup, Ime Udoka was sent from the penthouse to the doghouse. Udoka’s poor play as a starter was rewarded with a DNP-CD on Sunday night. Kurt Thomas and the newly signed Blake Ahearn also didn’t get off the bench, although Udoka’s absence was the most notable.
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Gregg Popovich
I liked how Pop coached this game. He was able to keep Duncan’s minutes reasonable while also giving the team a chance to win the game. Although I typically want him to play Hill as much as possible, I agreed with his decision to go with Vaughn more than usual and to go with Mason at point guard down the stretch. Playing Bonner as the main bigman off the bench was the right move, as was giving Finley a lot of early plays to get him going. Defensively, Pop putting Hill on Salmons would have been interesting to see if that would have slowed him down, since nothing else could.
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Offense
Although they had a number of droughts, the offense overall played about as well as could be expected. Scoring 90 points, shooting 45.9% from the field and going 9-for-20 on threes are stats I’ll take every night from this squad. Most of the scoring was thanks to good individual performances from Finley and Mason in the starting lineup and Bonner and Vaughn off the bench. One thing the Spurs have done well all season is not turn the ball over. The Spurs are second in the league in fewest turnovers and only had 13 against the Kings.
Defense
On defense, the Spurs weren’t quite as dominant as they were the last three games but they were still very good. The only quarter that got away from them was the third, in which the Kings were able to score 30 points. For the game, Sacramento shot 44.6% from the field and were forced into 17 turnovers. The boards, however, were still a problem area for San Antonio. The Kings outrebounded the Spurs 42-34 and were able to pull down nine offensive rebounds. If the Spurs could solve their current rebounding issues, their defense would be even better than it is currently.
Drive to Survive
With two straight wins to their name, the Spurs will try to keep the momentum going as they play a back-to-back tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers are struggling with a 1-8 record, so this is a very good opportunity for the 4-5 Spurs to get another win.
Believe.
Just curious, did you notice Oberto looking a little pale this game?
Damn, I can't believe I missed all but the last minute of regulation, which turned into 5 minutes, lol. But I'm glad the Spurs are fighting for everything right now. Hope KT and Toll show up tonight so Tim can play what could be his 1st under 33min game.
And looking up the stats, it's nice to see Bonner is making half of his 3's so far. And Bonner/KT/Fab are all avging around 17 mins, but I don't put the blame on Pop, they just need to step up, especially when tim is off the court. Fab should be aggressive like he is with Argentina, KT needs to get back to what he used to be before the injury, and bonner just needs to keep playing the same way, and not get down on himself.
Since I didn't get to watch the game last night I've been waiting for Timvp's recap all day.
My finger hurts from hitting the 'refresh' button on the web browser all day long.
I wonder if Pop is looking to make a move to address the rebounding deficiency. Since I haven't heard much from the Spurs camp about Antonio McDyess going to San Antonio, I'm assuming that the F.O. must be working pretty hard on making that deal a reality.
Nice win, hope we can get a back to back win it will be sweet.
For all the Frenchies, the game is live tonight on Sport+ at 4:30 am.
Now is the time to ship Bonner and Finley. Sell high.
I thought it was telling that at the end, Pop had Bowen on Beno.
re : George Hill
prior to the last time he was pulled, Schoening on the WOAI broadcast was saying that it looked like Hill had re-injured his thumb, so maybe that had just as much to do with Hill not playing as much.
Pop was asked after the game if Hill had hurt his thumb at all and he said no. Although I did see him grab it in the first half and it could be part of the reason why he struggled.
who is this micheal finley fellow? he seems very good. and this matt bonner, dead-eye at the 3.
. Yeah, the quieter the better on that front.
That was a nice curveball by Pop. Although Theus helped out by drawing up two of the worst end of game plays I've ever seen . . .
Spurs aren't gonna solve their rebounding problem with a trade.
The only way is for everybody to crash the boards, block out, move to the ball. Just 1 more RB per each of the first 8 rotation, and we've fixed the RB deficit.
i'm surprised that udoka is playing so poorly that he actually registered a DNP. in the last game he played, he committed 3 TO in nine minutes. he really needs to step up his offense and defense because the spurs can't count on bowen and finley to consistently produce. finley is not going to score 15-20 points every game and can go cold any second. another wing player not named mason has to pick up the slack.
Don't you think the Spurs rebounding problem has to do with their small ball lineup? A lot of the time their is only one big on the court, and Finley is playing the "power forward" position. As long as they win, I guess it works. But rebounding is always going to be a problem when the other team has such a size advantage.
The Spurs played the whole game with two bigs on the court against the Kings. Overall, the Spurs are playing much less small ball than they did last season.
timvp, how important is for Mahinmi not to be a bust this season, seeing as how TD is the only scoring big worth a damn right now. Tolliver has some nice energy, but his shot as been completely MIA.
I'm kinda thinking Mahinmi is gonna be a huge X factor in determining how far the Spurs really can go.
I don't think personally mahinmi will make or break the spurs season
But do you have enough faith that a big outside of TD can score AND rebound on a consistent basis in the roster that we have right now?
It's not really Mahinmi's offense that is needed. It's his size and his ability to block shots. Oberto, Thomas, Bonner and Tolliver can do a lot of things ... but they can't block shots. In theory, that is something Mahinmi can bring.
I don't think it's quite Mahinmi or Bust but if Mahinmi can provide some athleticism and alter a few shots, that could make the defense even better. Whatever Mahinmi can provide on the offensive end would be bonus. With the Big Three plus Mason, I don't think offense is anywhere near the biggest issue once everyone is healthy.
The Spurs didn't play small at all against Houston and Milwaukee and their rebounding was terrible.
The only concerns for me regarding Mahinmi are aggression and an ability to stay out of foul trouble. He balances those two things out well and everything else will follow.
Exactly. Small ball isn't the reason for being outrebounded. I'm not sure exactly where the problem is but it's not helping that the bigs aren't doing as good as they did last year on the boards. Each big, including Duncan, is rebounding at a worse rate. Oberto, for one, is way down.
The bigs need to step it up and then the smalls need to chase down the long rebounds.
First game thoughts I have read this season. Very nice.
No I don't have HD
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