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oh yes rj and dice helped right the ship
Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks threw the first punch with a Game 1 victory. The Spurs took the hit and responded with a roundhouse of their own in Game 2. Led by Tim Duncan's domination down the stretch, the Spurs escaped Dallas with a 102-88 victory and head to San Antonio with the series tied 1-1.
The Spurs grew their lead to 20 points with three and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter, however the Mavs weren't going down without a fight. With seven minutes left in the contest, Dallas had cut the spread to five points -- but that's when Tim Duncan went Tim Duncan. Over the next four minutes, Duncan had a personal 8-0 run to seal the deal.
-If you had forgotten what a healthy Tim Duncan looks like in the postseason, tonight was a reminder. The Spurs looked on the verge of a horrific meltdown when Duncan came to the rescue. On the night, he was 11-for-19 from the field for 25 points. His 17 rebounds allowed the Spurs to control the glass (51-42) and his defense was superb -- he even took his turns defending Nowitzki. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that he didn't turn the ball over after making it a point to cut down his six Game 1 turnovers. Legendary performance.
-Manu Ginobili continues his superstar level play. He hit 4-of-6 three-pointers and now has 49 points in this series on only 30 field goal attempts. By attacking and exploiting Dallas' defense early on, he forced the Mavs to concentrate on him, which opened the court up for everyone else. Compared to Game 1, Ginobili did a better job of taking care of the ball and defending Caron Butler. He needs to keep pumping in the stats like he did tonight (23 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals) for the Spurs to have a chance in this series.
-Tony Parker was surprisingly sharp in Game 2. His play, particularly in the first half, was invaluable in keeping the team rolling when Duncan and Ginobili were resting. His 16 points were important but not as important as his eight assists and no turnovers. I was also very impressed with his defense and his hustle on both ends. Parker still shows some rust from time to time but he's playing about as well as could have been expected given the cir stances of his season from .
-That was the Richard Jefferson the Spurs traded for last offseason. His first half was his best half of the season -- and he picked a great time to unleash it. He scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half and also pulled down seven rebounds for the game. I loved his aggressiveness, confidence and his devil-may-care at ude. Jefferson played good defense, limited his mental mistakes and acted like the fourth star this team wanted and needed.
-Antonio McDyess was perhaps the Most Valuable Player for the Spurs. His defense on Nowitzki was fantastic, holding the former NBA MVP to 9-for-24 shooting. When he wasn't defending Nowitzki, McDyess was crashing the glass on both ends. He finished with nine boards (five offensive) and the team's only blocked shot. If McDyess can keep making Nowitzki work without fouling him, he'll be worth every penny the Spurs paid him this summer to coax him out of Detroit.
-George Hill was again in the starting lineup despite his gimpy play in Game 1. Although Hill didn't do much this time out either, he had great timing. Both of Hill's made field goals were in the fourth quarter (a three-pointer and a long two-pointer off of a Duncan double-team). Hill's defense was much, much better and even though he's still hurting, he battled and gave the Spurs 31 extremely important minutes -- even more important when you consider the alternatives options the Spurs have on the bench.
-Baby steps. Matt Bonner didn't exactly play great but he wasn't a total disaster, which has been the case for Bonner during the postseason. Bonner hit half of his six shots including two three-pointers. His defense was pretty good against Nowitzki; most importantly, he didn't foul him unnecessarily. Rebounding (two in 20 minutes) remains a concern but the Spurs can live with Bonner playing average basketball.
-DeJuan Blair had a difficult second career playoff game. He had four rebounds in 11 minutes of play but missed all four of his field goal attempts. The Mavs were also able to exploit his lack of height. Going forward the Spurs need Blair to play better when Duncan rests to help keep the ship from taking on water.
-I can't be mad with Roger Mason, Jr. He's having a bad season so it's best that he goes out on the court and tries to blend into the scenery. In six minutes, Mason had nothing of note other than a missed shot and a personal foul. Honestly, that's better than him going out on the court and pretending he's a professional basketball player.
-I was extremely happy with what Pop did and didn't do. He did make sure the ball was put into Ginobili's hands early and often. He didn't play Keith Bogans for one second. He did keep two bigs out on the court at all times. He didn't overreact and send too much help at Nowitzki. Overall, I thought Pop coached a game that showed why he's headed to the Hall of Fame.
oh yes rj and dice helped right the ship
Great write-up timvp.
RJ and Dice stepped up tonight and Pop had a great coaching game. Let's hope this continues.
Honestly, that's better than him going out on the court and pretending he's a professional basketball player.
Huge key to the game imo.
Great game and great writeup...
Agreed about dice. Dice showed all year he could defend Dirk and showed it in game 1 and 2.
One big question for me is.....
is it just good luck that we are hitting 50% in game 1 and 48% in game 2 against this Mavs team?
Are we headed back down to earth soon? Or are we really able to score this efficiently against them?
Props to McDyess and Jefferson. They responded well to Pop destroying them in the locker room. Let's hope they can continue the intensity.
Great analysis timvp! Tonight's game was so fun to watch - the complete opposite of game 1. Glad to see RJ and Dice stepping up when we really need them. I thought it was a good strategy to not double Dirk. He was really off tonight, and Dice played him one-on-one just fine. That meant we didn't have to leave any shooters open.
agreed. pop finally did what fans have been urging him to do. hopefully, this is the new status quo.
I would've made such a claim for past spurs teams, but not for this spurs team.
Offensive efficiency has not been our problem this year. Our inconsistent lock down team defense has been a problem. Obviously tonight it wasn't, we stepped it up in that department.
Good read Timvp, and nice call on Dice last offseason when I was hollering out for Gortat.....it may very well appear that the investment in him was made for the postseason above all. Hopefully it continues to pay dividends.
Nice job by Pop overall on the rotations as the game progressed.
Very nice writing.
Hope Pop understands that the win came mostly for that factors you mentionated.
I like that Blair is watching and learning how the big boys play under pressure. This is going to be valuable experience for him.-DeJuan Blair had a difficult second career playoff game. He had four rebounds in 11 minutes of play but missed all four of his field goal attempts. The Mavs were also able to exploit his lack of height. Going forward the Spurs need Blair to play better when Duncan rests to help keep the ship from taking on water.
I don't know why you're still so negative about Bogans though. There were times when I would have preferred to have him out there instead of Hill, Blair, or Bonner. He plays good defense and could have protected that 20 pt lead a little better than some of the guys out there.
Otherwise a good write up.
Quote TIMVP
-I can't be mad with Roger Mason, Jr. He's having a bad season so it's best that he goes out on the court and tries to blend into the scenery. In six minutes, Mason had nothing of note other than a missed shot and a personal foul. Honestly, that's better than him going out on the court and pretending he's a professional basketball player.
First, you walked away like "ok, i wont go there" just to get impulse and brake the door open with a monster kick, hahaha.
I told you to get a clue in your previous Initial Reaction thread. This one looks better, I agree with you.
100% agree with Bonner..
For me, he just has to be average/passable IMO..he just has to play the role of an energy big man off the bench..just play even or slightly better and I'm good with having him get minutes..
Keep the defense up, Spurs.
I don't think we will score this efficiently forever. However, we don't need to in order to win. I think we will get more FT calls at home (I think that is standard for every team), and we will get better and better at defending each other.
pops rotations during the regular season are mostly experimental
I too think Bogans can be valuable moving forward against a Kobe or another great perimeter scorer. I think Pop is saving him for a series that would feature that calibur player with that body type. Only thing is he has to find his offensive legs.
Exactly what was expected of McDyess and Jefferson when they were acquired.
Great to see the Big 3 able to step it up in the postseason.
Great to see Pop willing to deep six a personal favorite like Bogans when he doesn't fit the series. Also glad to see him go big (and have the personnel to do so) against the Mavs.
Maybe it just took a little longer for this team to gel and live up to its potential than was anticipated last summer.
Agree with everything. Thought Blair was pretty bad out there but he was the only one.
Obviously less Bonner the better but he played decent for the time he was out there.
Dice is a man and a beast on the boards.
Very glad to see RJ step up big.. just hope he continues this play in game 3.. I could easily see him come out and be his content/passive self that we have seen so often this season.
Hill looked a lot better than game 1 but you can still see that ankle is bothering him or it could be confidence issues. Either way hes still a better option than any of our other alternatives.
Tony,Tim,Manu
cant wait for friday. late tip off and a weekend game at the at&t... going to be wild
Not quite, Game 1 says Pop finally understood Bogans and Mase can't play BB. (Maybe Bogans against Bryant if it comes to it but not against the Mavs).
I've said it and was laughed at. Pop will go big if he's got the personnell.
I'm also glad to see Hill and Blair getting minutes.
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