Parker watches while Spurs wilt
By John Hollinger
PORTLAND -- All Tony Parker could do was sit and watch. Marooned at the scorer's table while he waited for a whistle to get him back in the game, he saw the clock tick inside 4 minutes ... and 3 ... and 2 ... while a six-point San Antonio turned into a dispiriting 96-93 defeat to Portland.
Parker’s whistle never came, courtesy of a 3:32 stretch without a dead ball, and by the time Parker got back in his team was trailing 88-87 and he was ice cold after spending five fourth-quarter minutes on the bench. San Antonio went 3:29 without scoring, encompassing five entry trips, until Manu Ginobili's lay-up with 18.5 seconds left and the outcome largely in hand.
The defeat continued a recent Spurs' pattern of floundering late in games, something Popovich mentioned before Sunday's game against Denver and again after tonight's defeat.
"We turned it over down the stretch," said Popovich, whose team made four miscues in the first 44 minutes but two in the five-possession sequence that basically cost them the game.
“Usually we’ve been a very mature team,” said Ginobili, “very experienced closing out games, and now we are not doing it right. I don’t think it’s a secret or something we’re messing up, but it’s a play here, a possession there... since we’re not winning that often it puts a lot of pressure on very possession and things are not going our way.
The ending ruined what had been a near-perfect start. With Parker back in the lineup from an ankle injury the Spurs looked like a much more formidable unit than the one that had lost four of six in its last homestand. Parker burned Portland for 16 first-half points by combining his speed off the dribble and periodic mid-range jump shots, and he finished with 18 and six assists in 30 minutes. Ginobili (23) and Tim Duncan (15 points, 12 boards) looked like the Big Three of old for much of the night.
Until the fourth quarter, that is, when a 76-66 San Antonio lead wilted under Portland's defensive pressure and clutch shooting by Martell Webster, who made all five of his 3-point attempts. LaMarcus Aldridge had a breakout game with 28 points and 13 rebounds to help the undermanned Blazers rally.
The Spurs had a chance to tie after a missed Andre Miller free throw left the door open and ran a beautiful play out of a timeout to free Ginobili in the corner, but he missed a wide-open 3 with 11 seconds left to seal the Spurs' fate.
“I thought [George Hill] was going to shoot it so I was going to the rebound and then I came back. But I had plenty of time, I stayed with the shot, but it didn’t look good form the beginning.”
Andre Miller left the door open with a brain-dead foul on George Hill with 2.1 seconds left and his team ahead by four. Hill made the first and intentionally missed the second, but the Spurs couldn't tap the ball out for another game-tying 3 attempt.
But the crucial sequence came with the Spurs up by four, just under five minutes left and Parker, who checked out at the eight-minute mark, at the scorer's table ready to check in for Hill. Popovich said the team weighed calling a timeout to get Parker back in the game, but never did until the Blazers called one of their own with 1:45 left.
While the timeouts proved useful at the end, helping design the play that nearly tied it, in 20-20 hindsight they probably wish they used it at the three-minute mark for Parker to help salvage an offense that was going off the rails.
If there’s a positive for San Antonio, it’s that Parker and Ginobili looks as good as they have all season. Ginobili told me this is the best he’s felt physically this season, while Parker tore up the Blazers defense in the first half in his first game back from a sprained ankle.
Nonetheless, the results need to change for the Spurs to start feeling good about the renewed vigor of their stars. San Anotnio’s Rodeo Road Trip continues with a winnable game against the Clippers on Saturday before heading into the break with a Lakers-Nuggets one-two punch, and it would help their psyche immensely if they can finish off a win against a quality team—something they’ve struggled to do in losing seven of their past 11 games.
"We just haven't played well and hit shots the last minutes of the game or executed the way we need to," said Richard Jefferson, and for a Spurs team that doesn’t deal in moral victories that will need to change quickly.
I think Pop really mismanaged Parker's minutes in the 4th. I'm not saying that he would have been a savior. However, when Parker went out around the 8 min mark, the Spurs were up 8. Pop really needed to call a timeout somewhere between 4 min and the 1:46 mark when TP finally got back in. I get it that the Spurs didn't have a lot of timeouts, but they were reeling... and even if they didn't need Parker, they needed to re-focus.
problem down the stretch was lack of aggressiveness. i saw manu take it to the rim multiple times throughout the game... but the last 4 minutes he wouldnt step foot into the paint... until that gimme with 40 sec left....
he even took a 3 from like 2 feet behind the damn 3 point line.... seriously need to take it in and get a foul call or something... be aggressive. watching the old spurs teams we were always taking the ball to the rim when we didnt go to td in the post... now we just float around like pussies and shoot jumpers.
Pop ed up again
i thought pop did a good job tonight. he was very involved. his halftime adjustments were fantastic... his play at the end... i thought he put this team in every possible position to win this game and the players couldnt get it done...
I was happy with the overall team performance tonight besides the last 5 minutes of the game... and chemistry has a lot to do with how a team plays down the stretch.. defense looked a lot better in the third quarter and beginning of the 4th... missed rotations by the NEW guys lost us this game... plain and simple.
I'm a huge Ginobili fan but something is off this year. He's not the guy he used to be and it seems like he can't handle it. Yelling at his teammates, then making excuses for missing the 3 while mentioning Hill, hmmm....
He just explained what happened, no big deal...
I agree With You! You cant Blame Pop For Mcdyess Not Rotating... You cant Blame Pop For Duncan Having 3 One on ones down the stretch, and missing all 3 jumpers pretty badly... You cant Blame Pop for Ginobili Missing A wide open Shot, That Pop Actually Drew up from the sideline.... The players were in A Position To win the Game, But Down the stretch They Choked. Its As Simple as That.
I think you're reeading too much into his statement. Seems that he was describing the play and HIll was part of it. I've never read where Manu ever made excuses about his play or the team's, either.
Anyway I'm concerned with the fact that this team can't make shots down the stretch. Many of their shots were open and when I heard either Collins or one of the announcers at TNT talk about Portland's D I just. There were plenty of chances to hit a shot or two and they didn't. More times than not this is what is happening in the close games. The other team is making them while we aren't.
There is still time left to fix this but this team has got to get it into gear before time runs out. At times they seem to be getting it together and then they regress. Just some damn frustrating to see them see saw back and forth like this.
You have to give props to Portland too. They played good defense, and Webster was on fire...
Webster is a terrific shooter. You can't leave that kid open.
amen Kori ... I'm not a Pop basher
I guess Im a supporter or apologist ...but i thought he screwed the pooch on TP last night ...
I think an irony in the whole butchering of Parker's minutes last night is that actually proved his intrinsic value to the club -- or, more specifically, it demonstrated that the notion that George Hill can just run this team and nothing will change is a bit far-fetched.
What killed the Spurs at the end of that game was execution (or the lack thereof) on both ends. The two vapor locks on Webster were absolutely inexcusable. I'm not sure that Parker necessarily changes either of those plays. But the Spurs had the chance to overcome those mistakes by staying poised on the offensive end, getting into their sets, and finding offense when they needed it. Presumably, the criticism of Pop in not getting Parker back into the game during that long whistle-less stretch includes an acknowledgment that things would have been better with Parker on the floor. I absolutely agree with that, but I think the truth of that is more about how the Spurs run offense with Parker. For several days, we've read here that the Spurs should deal Parker, hand the reins over to Hill, rely on Manu and Mason as alternate initiators, and all would be fine. But without Parker in the game in those crucial moments, the Spurs seemed flustered on the offensive end and didn't seem to have a clue about what to do to find scores. Tony Parker might not be an ideal point guard, but there's a reason that he's among the best at that position in this game right now and that is related to how he runs his team in crucial moments.
I agree with you in the sense that Parker is definitely the best PG this ballclub has ever had (and only PG at this point, IMO), plus he was having a great game last night despite being slowed down by his injury. That said, I'm not sold that's a sure thing we win last night's game with Tony running the point at the end either. I think this team's problem run much deeper. Giving up two 8 point leads in the first half was terrible. Allowing Portland to shoot 60+% in the first half will come back to bite you. I mean, go take a look at the defense in the second quarter and the defense in the third quarter, and tell me they don't look like completely different teams? And I'm not sticking this on Tony in particular, or TD or Manu in particular. This is a team problem. Intensity is not there, attention to detail is not there, execution is not there. We always end up with the last image, because it's the freshest, so it's easy to just point out the last quarter of the last game. But we have been suffering the same problems all season long. I recall thinking last night that if we lose the lead, we lose the game. We can't execute worth anything this season anymore, with or without Tony. I thought the 3rd quarter defense was tops in the season. If they can repeat that on a consistent basis, we'll win more games than what we'll lose, period.
and tried to act like it was Antonio's fault for not closing out!LOL he got so pissed.
There's a reason we didn't execute down the stretch - it's because Parker wasn't in the freaking game.
Parker is extremely fast with the ball, so he's extremely valuable down the stretch, even if his jumper is not the best in the world. Point is, he can get to spots on the floor with the ball - pretty much wherever he wants. And last night he played way better than anybody expected him to in his first game back.
Yet Pop let him sit at the scorer's table for an eternity as our lead was disappearing. Believe me, players know when a guy is at the scorer's table, especially their startng PG, and they kind of go through the motions until that guy comes in. Plus, I think the guys were expecting - waiting for - Pop to call a TO. Which miraculously never came. I mean, you lose a 10-point lead to a young team in a loud gym...you call a freaking TO.
Parker should have sat from the 8:00 mark to the 6:00 mark, if at all. But the longer he sat at the scorer's table, I knew he would be ice cold getting back in. That's just common sense for a guy coming back from an ankle sprain. You have to keep that thing loose - not sit out for 20 minutes. Literally, this is Basketball 101, and Pop failed with flying colors. It was classic game mismanagment.
That said, it is becoming increasingly obvious that our crunchtime 5 needs to be Parker, Hill, Manu, Dice, and Tim.
Never in my life have I seen a high-priced player be less effective in an NBA basketball game than Richard Jefferson was last night. I can't even count the number of blown assignments, and on offense he does very little but stand behind the three-point line. Honestly, Tracy McGrady is more valuable to the Rockets right now than RJ is for the Spurs.
Well this IDIOT D will leave open great shooters late in a game, thats their style this year it seems.
Im not to sure who was in, but if it was RJ I certainly would have put Parker in for him when things went south offensively. This years Spurs defense can only hold a team for so little while. Parker at least would have broken the defense down and opened up the 3pt game. Drive and kick, thats what he has always been good at and last night in the final minutes it would have been nice to have that. In winning time when Parker did come in the lineup was TP/Hill/Manu/Timmy/Dice. No RJ and that speaks volumes. Doug Collins said during that closing period that "the guys you have on the floor at the end of games are the guys that the coach trust THE MOST." Hill was in, but RJ was warming someones seat. Whats wrong with that picture?
The team's iden y this year is that every game the good shooters will go off but also there will be that one shooter that hits everything. Nuggets=Martin, Kings=Evans, Portland=Howard. The list goes on and on. If it's was only a few times you'd just say, they had a career night. But... this happens all too often.
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