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Definitely. We can't afford to lose to these teams. We are only a few games behind the crowded 3rd seed. We need home advantage and the Spurs have got to win these type of games. The room for errors and losses is shrinking.
Spurs just sucked tonight. There are nights like that for every team. No excuses.
Definitely. We can't afford to lose to these teams. We are only a few games behind the crowded 3rd seed. We need home advantage and the Spurs have got to win these type of games. The room for errors and losses is shrinking.
Agreed. Need to attack the rim!
I didn't see the game (league pass broadband had it blacked out, which sounds like it ended up being a benefit) can you guys tell me if all Hill's shots were jumpers or did he attack the rim at all?
Would love to see Mason attack the rim, but if you can't finish when you get there, what's the point?
2 more weeks?? ...
Bowen is having a good year. His numbers are the basically the same if not better than last year ( field goal percentage wise).He's just not getting called upon by Pop. And I haven't really seen that much of a lost step defensively from him compared to last year. I think something had to have happened between bruce and pop. I know Pop's not an idiot. And only an idiot would play Udoka over bowen.
How do you lose to the Thunder? It is embarrassing.
Mason looses the ball more than half the time on his way to the rim. And the other times when he does get there, I think I've seen him finish at the rim maybe 4 times total all year and 3 of those were circus shots.
Last edited by MaNu4Tres; 03-16-2009 at 11:22 PM.
He's OK at getting there, but he's a terrible finisher.
I'm not saying Bowen doesn't deserve Udoka's minutes, I think he should be starting ahead of Finley. My comment was more an indictment on Pop refusing to play him at the expense of the team...
The only logical reason on why Pop has Bruce in the Malik/ Nazr doghouse is that something had to have happened between the two behind closed doors. Thats the only logical reason I can come up with that would give Ime Udoka the most minutes off the bench from the wing position.
1. Udoka gives us nothing on both ends of the court. There is nothing he can do better than Hairston.
2. Finley needs to come off the bench. He will be able to score easier and his defense wouldn't get exposed.
3. Rest Duncan tomorrow. He needs it. If we can't win at home against the Wolves without Al Jefferson we deserve to lose the 2nd seed.
4. It's been a of a season for you Bonner, but the law of averages has caught up. Time to move to the bench.
5. Just imagine this team with Splitter and Gist. How long until 2010?
I haven't been too impressed with Bowen's defense in the last month or so. He hasn't been top notch defender he usually is.
However, I think there are reasons. First of all, it's tough for a defender to play limited minutes and have an impact. Bowen is usually coming in against players that are already rolling. Bowen's age probably doesn't help him in terms of loosening up right away coming from the bench.
Secondly, Bowen has always been a tad bit streaky defensively in the regular season. Even during his physical peak, he had stretches were he wasn't at the top of his game. This could very well be one of those stretches.
All that said, I'd still rather have Bowen on the court than Udoka in almost every conceivable situation. Perhaps the only players I'd rather have Udoka defend are Ron Artest and Bonzi Wells ... and Bonzi isn't in the NBA.
Pop has been trying to force Udoka into the rotation all year. The only reason it has taken this long is that Udoka has been horrible for much of the year.
Spurs fans tend to forget but when Pop benched Bowen originally, it was for Udoka and not Finley. Finley was the third option after Udoka was horrible in his short stint as a starter.
For whatever reasons, Pop likes the idea of Udoka as part of the rotation. And I'm growing more and more certain that Bowen isn't just being kept fresh for the playoffs. I think Pop actually has started the phasing out stage
Bowen doesnt look happy.
sad to see a spurs legend like this....and yes he is a spurs legend.
I hope losses like this put to rest notions of this Spurs team as being championship-calibre. They're not. Not even close.
They are a very good team and nothing more.
This shot chart pretty much shows why there will be nights like these:
Outside of Tony & Tim (and an occasional drive by Finley), it seems like all the Spur players are allergic to the paint. When your jumpshots aren't going in, you gotta take them to the rim.
3-19 from 3 point land (16%), 42% from the field overall.
Spurs are one of the best outside shooting teams in the NBA but when the shots just aren't falling, they can lose to the Thundah.
Yeah, at this point I have to agree with you. The Spurs are playing well most of the time, but not at the level we saw in 2007 and even 2008. They often look tired, bored, or some combo of the two. Could it be that they are just so jaded by the 82-game grind to get to the postseason that they really don't give a about some games? I mean, it's not like they're gonna see the Thunder in the playoffs. Maybe they just didn't give a damn...their execution after the 1st quarter was atrocious, save for TP.
The Lakers, even without Bynum, would have won by 30+ against the Thunder tonight. Yes, the Lakers are playing THAT MUCH BETTER. The Spurs need to find that spark, and quickly, or it's gonna be a short postseason.
The Lakers are playing with the same fire the Mavericks had in 2007. They were embareseed in the Finals and look to take out their fustration on everybody.
And look what happened to the Mavericks.....Spurs will be ok
Tim wasn't doubled in the normal way but once he made his move, there was a convergence of hands. Timmy has been holding the ball too low on his moves. He knows better.
The 17-2 run in the second quarter was horrible basketball by the Spurs. Missed layups, sloppy ball-handling, poor choices on passes, to go with good old poor 3-point shooting. It was the worst exhibit of professional basketball I've seen by a "playoff" team this year.
Oh, by the way, Derrick Collins is way down the list of quality officials...as in bottom-feeder. Credit the Thunder for their excellent defense tonight. Green, Collison and Thabo were particularly effective. Collison had 14 fouls tonight but he was still good.
No, I don't think so. The Black & Silver are tough, committed veterans who play hard night in and night out. I am sure they put in the work and effort. They lose because the other team is better, not because they don't play hard enough.
That said, I expect the boys to come out, beat Minnesota and most of the rest of the squads they play, nab a top 4 seed, and play until they get faceplanted by L.A. And they'll lose not because of effort -- the Spurs will play their best -- but because the Lakers are far, far superior. At every position.
Not even arguing the point of whether or not they are championship contenders, but losing to bad teams has never been a way to judge whether or not the Spurs are championship quality. This season, they're beating bad teams at a better clip than any of the other championship years.
Compared to losses in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007, losing to a team that split its last ten games while on the road and without Ginobili doesn't even register a ranking on the bad-loss-o-meter.
What is worrisome is that a healthy Duncan eats those soft double-teams for breakfast. Usually, teams don't get away with throwing a soft, reaching double at him after the bounce.
I'm not sure if he's moving too slow and defenders are able to cut off his lanes or if he's just not taking care of the ball. Hopefully you are right and it's just a technical issue with Duncan.
+1. i want to see this too. they could go hi-lo since gooden and timmy can hit that top of the key jumper consistently. i really like gooden's offensive rebounding prowess. that is something that we have not had in a while.
Something tells me that Manu is finished for the season...both reg & PO's. It does not look good at this point and without Manu we are nothing against good teams!
I thought you were a big advocator of Gooden not starting with Timmy, since they both prefer the low block for O? Maybe I am remembering incorrectly. But I do support KT starting, he's been the most consistently good Spur over the 09 part of the season, outside of Tony.
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