Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the San Antonio Spurs needed to beat the Golden State Warriors to keep their hopes alive for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. After a hotly contested first quarter, the Spurs dominated the middle two quarters to waltz to a 101-72 victory in Golden State.
Defense and rebounding were the two keys to San Antonio's blowout victory. They forced the Warriors into contested shots all night long and then did a fantastic job on the boards. With the playoffs starting in a matter of days, it was great to see the defense playing at such a high level.
The Warriors were massively short-handed, however their seven-man rotation had done some damage in previous games. They had won at Utah and against New Orleans at home within the last ten days. And Don Nelson might be the best coach in the history of the NBA in dealing with a limited roster and figuring out ways to fit pieces together to give the opponent a difficult time. Thankfully, the Spurs grabbed control of the game before Nellie could junk it up too much.
Overall, it was an important win and the blowout should be helpful in terms of rest heading into the postseason. The Spurs now have just one final regular season game before the beginning of the real season.
Tim Duncan
23 minutes, 16 points, 13 rebounds, four assists
6-for-14 from the field, 4-for-7 at the line
Tim Duncan once again looked relatively healthy. Wearing only one knee brace, Duncan competed in the low block and had a few quality moves around the basket. He's still rusty and he's still lacking his usual mobility but hopefully he can round into form quickly once the playoffs begin.
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Tony Parker
27 minutes, 17 points, five rebounds, two assists
7-for-13 from the field, 3-for-5 at the line
Tony Parker had another slicing and dicing performance. He kept his foot on the gas and broke down the Warriors defense repeatedly. In his 27 minutes, he finished with a team best plus/minus of +29. It seems like he's making more of an effort to rebound as of late. Averaging 3.1 boards per game on the season, he has five straight games with at least four rebounds.
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Roger Mason, Jr.
19 minutes, 14 points, two assists, one rebound
6-for-8 from the field, 2-for-3 on three-pointers
Roger Mason, Jr. once again played well. He hit six of his eight shots and looked comfortable at both shooting guard and point guard. Since Manu Ginobili went down, Mason is averaging 16.6 points per game on 45.6% from the field and 51.6% from beyond the three-point arc. The Spurs desperately need for him to have that sort of production in the playoffs.
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Michael Finley
19 minutes, four rebounds
0-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers
I liked Michael Finley's energy and defense once again but it appears as if he's going through one of his shooting slumps. Over the last three games, he's now just 4-for-18 from the field and 1-for-9 on three-pointers -- and that lone three-pointer shouldn't have counted. Let's hope Finley shoots well in the season finale so that he can enter the postseason feeling good about his stroke.
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Matt Bonner
15 minutes, eight points, eight rebounds
3-for-9 from the field, 2-for-5 on three-pointers
Matt Bonner began the game 0-for-4 from the field but got it going in the second half. It was good to see him rebound well, even against a small team. He still doesn't look too healthy at the moment but all the excuses will be out the window once the playoffs begin. Going against the Hornets, the team that has caused a few Bonner nightmares, it'll be interesting to see if he can hang.
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Bruce Bowen
30 minutes, three points, four rebounds
1-for-4 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers
I've been critical of Bruce Bowen's defense lately but I thought he was very much improved against the Warriors. In the second quarter, he had a few dominant stretches on the defense end and he set the tone for the rest of the game. As the playoffs are shaking out, it appears as if Bowen will be needed for the Spurs to advance past the first round.
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Ime Udoka
27 minutes, two points, six rebounds, three assist
0-for-5 from the field, 0-for-4 on three-pointers, 2-for-4 at the line
Ime Udoka is giving Finley a run for his money for the le of the streakiest player on the team. Following two very impressive shooting performances, Udoka laid an egg against Golden State. It's good that he rebounded and he also made a couple of nice passes, but Udoka needs to at least be halfway accurate from the field to be an asset. He's too naturally aggressive on the offensive end to blend in when he's struggling.
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Drew Gooden
22 minutes, 20 points, 15 rebounds
7-for-12 from the field, 6-for-8 at the line
Drew Gooden finished with one of the most impressive stat lines we've seen out of a Spurs player this season. 20 points and 15 rebounds in 22 minutes? Wow. As you could expect, he really dominated the action when he was on the court. He punished the smaller defenders who attempted to defend him and he ate the glass on both ends of the court. Since he arrived in San Antonio, Gooden is now averaging 9.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in only 16.9 minutes per game. Too bad there aren't a couple more weeks of regular season action to get Gooden acclimated. As it is, the Spurs are just now figuring out that the bench unit's offense should be run through him.
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Fabricio Oberto
18 minutes, two points, four rebound
1-for-3 from the field
Fabricio Oberto got more extended run and while he looked a little better than last game, he still doesn't appear to be in too great of basketball shape. With Gooden exploding onto the scene and Thomas playing well, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which Pop will go to Oberto in the playoffs.
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George Hill
17 minutes, 13 points, one rebound, one assist, two steals
4-for-8 from the field, 2-for-4 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line
George Hill got his first extended playing time in a while and he actually looked pretty darn good. He got to run the show at point guard for some of his time on the court, which is the first time we've seen him at point guard in a long while. The most impressive aspect of his night was his shooting. He had no hesitation and his shot mechanics seemed to be improved -- higher elevation on his jump and a quicker release. Hill has obviously been working on his game and these types of improvements bode well for his future in the league.
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Kurt Thomas
11 minutes, two points, one rebound
1-for-1 from the field
In a game in which the Spurs dominated on the glass, it was odd that Thomas didn't get in on the rebounding party. In fact, he didn't do much of anything. It was just a nice, relaxing day at the office for Thomas.
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Gregg Popovich
Pop was obviously worried about this game because he had Duncan skip the Sacramento game so that Duncan would be ready to go against the Warriors. As it turned out, the Kings game was the more difficult affair. All in all, there's not much to note about Pop's coaching performance against Golden State. Giving Bowen extended minutes was the right call and letting Hill run the team was good to see. Without another back-to-back this season, Pop can now just worry about winning games.
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Offense
Despite scoring 101 points, the offense wasn't too spectacular. The Spurs finished the game shooting 43.5% from the field, 38.1% from beyond the three-point line and 63.3% at the charity stripe. The free throw attempts (30), offensive rebounds (15) and lack of turnovers (11) combined with a fast pace allowed San Antonio to rack up the points.
Defense
The defense was really good. Holding the Warriors to 72 points is very impressive. On the night, Golden State shot 34.1% from the field and hit 2-of-10 three-pointers and 14-of-19 free throws. The Spurs ended up out-rebounding the Warriors by a final count of 59-43. The points the Warriors did score were mostly off of isolation plays, as evident by the 11 assists they finished with.
Drive to Five
One more game. The Spurs need to defeat the Hornets to have any shot at homecourt advantage in the first round. Let's hope the Spurs can extend their winning streak to four games to end the 2008-09 regular season.
Believe.
I too am going to be watching Bonner. I said this earlier; this is the first "clutch" game of the season imo. I want to see if Bonner will let if fly and more importantly if they go in. It will be interesting to see how Pop uses Bonner and his minutes played.
Not to bust your bubble but according to a couple report, the Hornets aren't going to try to win.
But yeah, if they do try to win, I want to see how Bonner performs.
Vinny Del Negro
8 hours room 337 Hilton Hotel
3 for 3 with pregnancy tests. Can do a 3 on 3 with drop of a hat!
Good with the women, has a thick wallet and a package to match. Look for him to be hooking up with Eva while Parker is on the court doing Manus job.
Why would they activate Tyson then?
They don't want him to get hurt, but want him to get some sort of rhythm before the playoffs. Usually, that's against an opponent you an afford to not play at the top of your game and still win, but instead they just don't plan on winning. Maybe.
Thanks for the recap... This team has a solid chance of making some noise in the playoffs... damn they can even win it all without Manu 2!
I'll let Byron Scott answer that.
Scott could be bluffing, though. We'll see.
Thanks for the review. You mentioned that Bonner's not healthy; what's wrong with him?
whoooooowhat!Vinny Del Negro
8 hours room 337 Hilton Hotel
3 for 3 with pregnancy tests. Can do a 3 on 3 with drop of a hat!
Good with the women, has a thick wallet and a package to match. Look for him to be hooking up with Eva while Parker is on the court doing Manus job.
I'm lost again why the hornets don't want to win ?
He's had a wrap around his lower leg but there hasn't been any official report. Most likely calf, achilles or shin.
My question also. In addition, do you believe that the sources who told you that the Hornets were not going to try to win this game are good sources and should know?
Gooden could be the unexpected X-factor in these playoffs??
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