Random Thoughts Before Game 3

[EricB]

[MannyIsGod]

Seriously though. I never thought Pop would do what he's doing and not play Bogans. I'm pretty ing impressed.

[Spurminator]

Playing the best players, little to no Small Ball... It's a dream come true.

[MannyIsGod]

Maybe he's sobered up now that Finley is off the team.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Seriously though. I never thought Pop would do what he's doing and not play Bogans. I'm pretty ing impressed.

It's almost scary how pleased I can assume we've all been with Pop so far.




Speaking of Pop....does anyone else seem to think Rick Carlisle is kind of like a young Pop? I mean in terms of his demeanor, and how he looks like it's a ing BEATING for him to do his job, he looks so mad all the time, never pleased, never like he's having fun? Also how he interacts with the press. Call me a , but save for his semi- ing remark about no-calls tonight, I think his personality is like a championship-less, young, angry-as- Pop.


Also--gonna use this thread instead of starting a new one....

Does the spurs shooting 48.7% tonight, combined with 49% in game 2, and 50% in game 1 mean anything?

Is it a trend? Is it a trend that matters?


Curious for yalls opinions.

[DPG21920]

The thing that gets me is when I checked the Box score in the third, the Mavs were 50% FG, 46% 3PT and 91% FT

The Spurs dropped their FG% a ton, and I cannot believe they won a game where not only they did not hit a 3, but the Mavs were on fire from 3.

[td4mvp21]

The thing that gets me is when I checked the Box score in the third, the Mavs were 50% FG, 46% 3PT and 91% FT

The Spurs dropped their FG% a ton, and I cannot believe they won a game where not only they did not hit a 3, but the Mavs were on fire from 3.

At some point late in the 4th quarter (I forget when, but it was before the Mavs made all the garbage buckets when the game was over), I believe Hubie said the Mavs had been held to 3-15 fgs in the fourth quarter. Spurs went on lockdown.

[ShoogarBear]

Playing the best players, little to no Small Ball... It's a dream come true.

And no more live by the three/die by the three.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I don't want to get ahead of myself

but how impressive is this win for the simple fact that we actually won with hardcore playoff defense? We didn't depend on in 3 point jacker jumpshots like we have for the longest time now.

We missed everything, stopped taking them, and just took it to a team. That owns us. What an incredible win.

Damn it feels good to be a Spurs fan.

[crc21209]

I don't want to get ahead of myself

but how impressive is this win for the simple fact that we actually won with hardcore playoff defense? We didn't depend on in 3 point jacker jumpshots like we have for the longest time now.

We missed everything, stopped taking them, and just took it to a team. That owns us. What an incredible win.

Damn it feels good to be a Spurs fan.

Amen. Classic, rugged, grind it out, old school Spurs win...and I fkn LOVE it.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Technically, the Spurs will be at home tonight for Game 3. But against these Mavs, there really isn't any homecourt advantage. Since the 2006 playoffs, the Mavs have been extremely comfortable in the AT&T Center. In fact, the Mavs seem to execute better against the Spurs in San Antonio than in Dallas.

This season, the Mavs have been great on the road. Their 27-14 road record in the regular season was the best in the entire NBA. If the Spurs don't bring the same type of intensity and attention to detail they had in Game 2, the Mavs could easily jump on the Spurs early.

Why are the Mavs so good on the road? A lot of it has to do with Jason Terry. At home, Terry averaged 15.8 points on 41.7% shooting from the field and 31.9% on three-pointers. On the road, Terry was much better: 17.5 points on 46% from the field and 40.8% on threes. It'd be wise if the Spurs paid extra attention to Terry tonight.

Here are some other concerns for Game 3:

Don't forcefeed RJ. Richard Jeferson had a really good Game 2 but with as uneven as his play has been this season, there should be no expectations of a repeat performance in Game 3. I especially don't like it when the coaching staff calls post-ups for RJ. He's never been good on the post, he wasn't good posting up during the regular season and won't suddenly be good at it in the playoffs. Let him score on the break and in the halfcourt when he can penetrate against a rotating defense.

Manu Ginobili needs to drive to score. When Ginobili runs pick-and-rolls, a lot of times scoring for himself isn't a priority. However, against the Mavs, that is a mistake. The Mavs are very long and active on defense and they can make a passing lane disappear in an instant. What the Mavs don't do as well is protect the paint on pick-and-rolls. For that reason, Ginobili needs to try to score each and every time he quarterbacks a pick-and-roll. If the Mavs overplay pick-and-rolls to keep Ginobili out of the lane, that's when the Argentine star can create open looks for others.

Matt Bonner has to hit shots. The Mavs have been leaving Bonner open most of the time. Bonner has been a better shooter at home (45% on threes at home, 32.4% on the road) so he needs to take advantage of the open looks. If the Spurs are going to blow open the game, they'll need Bonner to spread the defense by draining shots from deep.

Keep the pressure on Dallas' starting guards. With Jason Kidd, the Spurs need to pressure his dribble as much as possible. If you give him too much freedom, he's smart and talented enough to beat the Spurs by himself. As for Caron Butler, the Spurs need make him feel playoff pressure. In Game 2, he was hesitant and past up a number of open looks. Keep Butler second-guessing and the Spurs have a great chance in this series.

Well, you got 3/4...