The thing I took away from the game is how amazingly deep this team is. Jeff will get into things eventually-it's hard for a guy to go from numero uno on a team to playing more of a team role-but he's done it before and likes it and he will be huge come playoffs. I hope once playoffs comes around we have about 8 guys playing the minutes....lower bonner eventually while raising dice and blair. Lower finley/maybe mason a little to play jefferson/hill more. But I'm super excited for the season and think anyone we face will have a tough tough time because of the depth.
Its only one game but to compare minutes played. Check out the Laker times vs Clippers last night:
R. Artest 40:51
L. Odom 40:04
A. Bynum 38:12
K. Bryant 38:20
D. Fisher 33:01
J. Farmar 14:59
S. Vujacic 04:46
D. Mbenga 09:48
S. Brown 08:41
J. Powell 07:56
L. Walton 03:22
I wonder how that kind of milage is going to effect them by the end of the year.
It doesn't mean too much now since it's just the first game of the regular season but it indicates a weak bench for the lakers and a huge drop off between starters and bench players obviously.
It makes you wonder how comfortable will Phil be bringing in his bench against the bench of the Spurs? Can he really afford to take out a couple of his starters at a time to take a break? I know it's only one game and I don't want to overhype the fact that the Spurs had one good game but just something to think about.
It'll definitely be a factor later in the season and the playoffs if the Lakers minutes continue to look like that. The only argument for the Lakers is that they are relatively younger so playing that much minutes throughout the season may not hurt them that much.
May not play much of a factor now or in a single game, but in a seven game series this is a big, big factor.
Don't forget Gasol did not play.
^ not really
with Pau back those guys limited won't be as high..Odom will be more fresh so will Bynum.
Fact is though the Lakers in total are a young enough team...they aren't aging players who are all in the 30's...Kobe and Fisher are but the rest aren't. Chances are throughout the season fisher's minutes will be limited.
lakers do have a good bench when Pau is healthy...it isn't amazing but it is still good enough to give guys good rest. chances are the lakers will be blowing alot of teams out anyway so the stars will get rest.
it really is a non issue...if all our main players were in their early 30's like Boston then it could be a problem
Honestly, I think RJ impressed me the most. Those passes were impressive. The way he moved, and the constant threat he represents. He's going to be a huge part of this team and quickly.
Boring Spurs basketball is back.
The kid is amazing. It's just that 10rpg would be such an historical anomaly, but it seems entirely possible. At this point, only his defensive deficiencies and the whistle can hold him back.
Kinda my thought as well. Especially the fouls called on him. The defense ought to improve with more playing time against the more elite players. The whistles on the other hand may be harder to reduce. NBA officials tend to be harder (less flexible) when it comes to rookies no matter how well they play.
I think we had already scored 36 points by the time TP hit his first field goal...that really brought a smile to my face.
Great night, seriously. Far better than expected.
Whole team looked great: Blair was fantastic, Manu's coming back, Dice and RJ soooo welcome to the party. Glad Pop realizes Hill is the real deal and won't forget him this season, unlike last year. Bonner's nice game I will pass by in silence. Can't wait for the rest of the season.
OTOH, who knew the Hairnets would be so bad? CP must be PO'd. Wonder if they need a new coach? They looked so lifeless out there.
The game was really fun to watch. I hope to see another great one tonight
*sniff*
We're back.
Its a great thing. I was watching last night in shock and awe. This team is re- ing-loaded....Its going to be a great to see us play the Lakers. Lakers got their ring but now its time for the return of the king.
Yeah, I tend to lose interest around the 3rd quarter of those blow-outs as well.
l mfing yes!!
I completely forgot that Gasol didn't play.
/deepest team in the NBA/
Beside obviously being impressed with Blair, as I knew I would be; I agree that Jefferson looked great. Some of those passes in traffic were amazing. I as most of you look forward to much growing this season.
Lakers are fortunate they resigned Odom. Not that there was much doubt, but without him, they have to play their bench guys much more, and frankly the Lakers might have the worst bench in the league, not even among contenders.
After I got home late and watched the game I didn't make it to bed until after midnight. I would normally sleep in as I am off today, but I found myself still so excited from the night before I was up at 6am.
I don't think I have felt this good about a Spurs team in my 10ish years as a fan. We are more than just back...we are brand new and better than ever.
But with Odom it is a very respectable bench and would be mid of the range..certainly good enough to win the le with again.
yep. that's why when i heard we got McDyess AND the Beast, i knew we would kick ass. we had the perimeter players. we had the slashers. we had the coach. and we had timmy. but for the past couple of years, we lost a LOT of games on the boards.
some of it was Pop's fault, for idiotically experimenting with small-ball...but a lot of the time, we just had a grand total of ONE rebounder on the team. you CANNOT win the Championship with one rebounder, especially if that rebounder also happens to be one of your offensive threats.
finally getting Timmy some help in the post is going to make ALL the difference. mark my words.
Maybe with having three great rebounders, the Spurs can run the fast break a bit more now than in the past.
I remember in the past that since Tim was the only one rebounding, teams would have a feast on the offensive boards. So Pop would have the guards stay back and help with rebounding.
Man the spurs look to nice out there yesterday everything wuz jus smooth as silk those 3's were jus killa and manu look like he wuz one of the young guns out dere runnin, stealin, and pullin j's in peoples faces oweeeeeee hornets jus flat out got the buisnesss lol
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