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They've been saying this since the start of the season.
Defensive woes dog Spurs
Jeff McDonald
Spurs forward Tim Duncan recorded his 20,000th NBA point during Friday's loss to Houston. Contrary to popular belief, the Rockets did not match him point-for-point in the second half of their 116-109 victory.
To the beleaguered Spurs, who were helpless to stop Houston's never-ending layup line, it only felt that way.
The Rockets scored 61 points in the second half, a figure that could be considered an anomaly had Utah not torched the Spurs for 60 second-half points one game prior.
“We seem to be two different teams at different times,” Duncan said. “Through five- and six-minute stretches, we play really well. Then, for five-minute stretches, everything breaks down, and we go into total lapses.
“We always talk about playing 48 minutes the right way. Right now, we're nowhere close to that.”
It's been a disconcerting stretch for the Spurs, who have dropped four of five games and have squandered the first two games of a six-game homestand meant to provide momentum heading into next month's rodeo trip. They opened Saturday in fourth place in the Western Conference but a half-game closer to 11th than third.
Having built their four-championship pedigree on the back of a smothering defense, the Spurs (25-17) are struggling to keep the likes of the Jazz and Rockets — hardly offensive juggernauts — under triple digits.
The Spurs are scoring points at a pace unprecedented in the Gregg Popovich era — 101.1 per game — but have been giving away games lately with an inability to get stops.
Against the Rockets, that meant totaling 109 points and losing, the first time that happened to the Spurs in a non-overtime game since Dec. 26, 2001, when they dropped a 126-123 affair at Dallas.
“We're scoring enough points to win games,” Popovich said. “We're scoring more points than we've ever scored in our lives. But our defense is really sub-par, and it's killing us.”
Statistically, the Spurs don't appear to be a sieve. They are allowing 96.1 points per game, sixth-fewest in the NBA. Their field-goal percentage defense number — 45.2 percent — is ranked 10th. Good, but not great.
Over the past five games, however, Spurs opponents are shooting 47.4 percent. Only New Jersey and Minnesota — the two teams with the NBA's worst records — yielded a higher percentage during that span.
“If we want to be one the best teams in the league, we have to improve,” Popovich said. “Or we can just play how we've been playing and be eighth or ninth or whatever.”
Over the past few games, the Spurs have been a jump-shooting team but without the defensive chops necessary to survive the inevitable scoring lulls.
The Rockets shot a scorching 55.1 percent against the Spurs, mostly because layups are hard to miss. Houston tallied 52 points in the paint, much of it on grade-school stuff from Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry, who scored 23 apiece.
The Spurs believe their defensive troubles to be more mental than physical.
“When things get bad, or don't go as planned, we start bouncing our heads and feeling bad about ourselves,” Manu Ginobili said. “We kind of get stuck.”
Duncan's prescription for the Spurs' defensive woes is “continued work and continued understanding that that's what's going to take us where we need to be.”
“Either we're going to do that, or we're not going to do it,” Duncan said, “but we need to understand that's where we hang our hats.”
Certainly, the Spurs cannot be taken seriously as any kind of le contender unless their attention to defensive detail improves. In a second half to the season they will spend mostly on the road, defense remains the Spurs' best hope for survival.
“I still believe we have the potential to be contenders, but we're going to have to start doing things way better,” Ginobili said. “I think we have the personnel and experience and the time to turn things.”
They've been saying this since the start of the season.
Yep, talking the talk but we have still yet to see walking the walk.
All the searching for answers ignores the larger fact that at most positions we play old and/or slow. The team is busting their ass to score two points. Given how difficult the game is for them it's no wonder there are lulls.
Last year Tony Parker could carry the team for stretches because he was not guardable. This year he is not the same player. They don't get enough easy baskets and they do not defend very well.
A positive is they are hitting their jumpers. They have shooters - McDyess, RJ, Manu, Parker. Alot more options. Come PO time, when they start duncan posting more and taking advantage of the man to man coverage, they will have that advantage. Then as the team adjusts and starts to double timmy, they'll have those mid range shooters waiting.
parker is still unguardable. The difference is they are doubling parker more and the weak side is collapsing on parker instead of covering duncan.
Winnah, winnah, chicken dinnah. An offensive drought is death to this team now. They absolutely CANNOT PLAY FROM BEHIND, no matter what the pace of the game is. I've seen it repeatedly. If they're behind by 5 points or more at any point in the 4th, you might as well change the channel. They can't get consecutive stops. They'll get one, then they'll make a shot, and then the next time back, they'll give back a basket, miss on their end, then give up another one, and suddenly 3 is 7, on the deficit end. They can no longer climb out of a hole.
You can't protect the paint with any of Bonner, Finley, Jefferson, or Mason playing power forward or center.
Someone print this out and staple it to Pop's forehead. Maybe he'll get a clue.
Parker is slower because of the PF. He was quick enough before, that he could create out of that defensive double team by driving deep enough, very quickly, to get them to BOTH follow him to the basket, and then get rid of the ball. He isn't even close to being able to do that this year. Now, one of them has time to drop off him, and the other can actually guard him now.
Parker is broken. He shows occasional flashes, but mostly his own scoring. It takes so much effort by him to do even that, that he isn't able to create on the move any more.
I think what is missing from our Spurs is what Pop said Corporate Knowledge. Proof of this is that we lose close games and make zero comebacks.... that used to be a strong point in the past...
Wait is the best medicine right now... that and hard work... lets not forget that we don't play at 100% its only January after all...
I expect, after the all-star break, tony, manu and Dice to play at a higher level, if that happens and somehow RJ plays better D we will do fine, secure a playoff spot and take it from there...
You're talking about a pick and roll. That would have nothing to do with speed. Bonner can drive on a pick and roll. Maybe Parker isn't 100% but I have not noticed his ability to get to the basket diminish.
It's sad that Tim must to be the best defensive guy on the team every night
To me it's really depressing seeing two HOFers and an AllStar guy having trouble advancing to the playoffs not being near the contension of winning the le.
And still the Spurs went through long stretches where they couldn't score or play defense. This team hasn't gone through a stretch where they've played for the full 48 minutes in what seems like several years. This current stretch is nothing new, and smacks of 2006 when they couldn't stop anyone because there were healthy bigs sitting on the bench watching the other team score in the paint.
Again, corporate knowledge seems to be relying on vets to keep the team motivated and to make good plays. At some point the coach needs to cultivate that, and keeping young energetic players from getting playing time and experience is NOT a way to do that.
I understand where you are coming from... but what young energetic players are you talking about? Hill and Blair starting games proves you wrong.... Ian is not the answer to our problems by any stretch of imagination... we have seen in the past and this year too, that Pop is not afraid to play young players.
Blair's been starting lately more out of desperation than anything else, and it took Pop longer than anyone else to see that he should be starting. Hill did really well starting out last year and then hardly played at all during the end of the season all the way to the point where the Spurs were halfway out of the playoffs before he saw any time. Ian is absoutely the answer to the team's problems in every way: he's big, he can block shots and rebound, and he's young and can give everyone else a rest, and he knows the system since he's been here for years. Pop has shown that he's terrified to trust young players and relies on "corporate knowledge" to get by.
Really, at what point do you stop doing what isn't working and try something else? If Pop had been playing Ian 20 minutes the last five games, the worst thing that could have happened is that they'd have lost one more game then they did. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.
Pop won't play Ian as long as Blair is putting up gaudy numbers against stiffs like Nenad Krystic.
Maybe once he realizes Blair is useless against teams with formidable centers / frontlines we'll see Ian get some run.
The problem, though, includes stupid play from guys who have been here and playing together. I have seen Tim, Tony, and Manu play this season like they just started playing together.
I have said before what is lacking is trust that one's treammates will be in the right spot and do the right things scheme-wise.
It's really too bad, because no matter how good Blair and Duncan are, they don't play 48 minutes each. Therefore, the Spurs still need another good young defensive shot-blocking big.
The Spurs scored 113 points two of their first three games this season. Not knowing where to be or what to do is really not an excuse this far into the season, at least on offense.
You don't need to dog on Blair to make a case for Ian. There's plenty of room in the rotation for both if we want to play tall ball.
Ian should start over Blair IMO.
Blair is a good player but not starting material. His best games so far have come against the likes of Nenad Krystic, Joel Anthony, and Chuck Hayes.
He's a specialty player much like Matt Bonner and belongs on the bench.
Blair best game so far has been against Perkins/Garnett...
true that, Ian simply at the moment does not fit into Pop plans... I can agree with ppl saying he could be playing a bit more. But giving him starters minutes its ludicrous... he hasn't proven anything yet! One big game in his whole career and ppl saying he is our savior...lol
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