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i love you timvp
What did you expect? Another pivotal game between the Spurs and Mavs in the playoffs, another classic for the annals of history. In this contest filled with runs, the Spurs were able to make the final run to win by a final score of 94-90.
The heroics down the stretch were authored by Tony Parker. Following a Dirk Nowitzki jumper that put the Mavs up by a point with three minutes remaining, Parker nailed 20-foot jumpers in each of San Antonio's next three possessions to give the Spurs a five-point lead with 58 seconds left in the game.
During the meat of the game, the Spurs seemed to be in control. However, the Mavs exploded on a 17-0 run in the middle of the third quarter to turn a eight-point deficit into a nine-point advantage. By the end of the third period, the Spurs had trimmed the Mavs lead to four points and then began the fourth quarter by scoring the first seven points. The final stanza included big plays by both sides and the game was in doubt until Parker drained the clutch shots.
-Tim Duncan was very good once again on scoring the rock, finishing with 25 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the field. He's now averaging 25.7 points per game in this series while connecting on 34-of-57 shots. Outside of putting the ball in the hole, Duncan wasn't too sharp. He had five turnovers and pulled down only five boards. Duncan was active on defense but his execution was often lacking. The Spurs will need their big man in the middle to play smarter and more physical going forward.
-Manu Ginobili had an eventful evening. He didn't score his first field goal until less than a minute remaining in the first half. Heading into the fourth quarter, Ginobili had only four points. But, like is usually the case, Ginobili kept his best for last with a fantastic final period. On the night he finished with 15 points, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and one broken nose. Before and after the broken nose, his defense was downright dominant at times -- not to mention his inhuman hustle. His play against Caron Butler had Rick Carlisle benching Butler for the entire second half. Heading into Game 4, hopefully Ginobili won't be slowed by injury to his beak.
-Tony Parker had a rollercoaster of night. When he first entered the game, he was playing very well and sparked the Spurs. The Mavs had no answer to Parker on the pick-and-roll. To slow Parker, Dallas went to a zone defense … and it worked; that's when the 17-0 run occurred in the third quarter. That said, any sins he committed were erased by the three huge shots he hit in the final minutes. In addition to those shots, I was impressed with the defensive intensity he had throughout the contest. Parker finished with 23 points, four rebounds and three assists on 10-for-16 shooting from the field.
-Coming off of arguably his best game of the season, Richard Jefferson went back to being an afterthought. In 31 minutes, he had six points, three rebounds and three assists. To his credit, Jefferson only took three shots and didn't get many other touches. Defensively, he played well for the most part. Jefferson had a few lapses in transition defense -- but we've come to expect that out of him.
-George Hill is looking healthier and healthier. Playing a team-high 45 minutes, Hill had 17 points and five rebounds on 6-for-16 shooting. Most importantly, 15 of his 17 points came in the second half. Hill once again did a great job of hounding Jason Kidd around the court. He also had a hand in slowing down J.J. Barea near the end of the ballgame. Hill showed some hesitancy at times but all in all it was a quality outing.
-Antonio McDyess once again played top notch defense on Nowitzki. Although Nowitzki ended up with 35 points on 13-of-23 shooting, it wasn't for a lack of effort by McDyess. There were a few times McDyess found himself out of position but the vast majority of the time Nowitzki just hit tough shots. In 31 minutes, he finished with six points and six rebounds while hitting 3-of-5 field goal attempts. If McDyess can keep giving this sort of effort, the Spurs would be thrilled.
-Matt Bonner played 15 minutes and didn't do much. He missed all three of his shots and grabbed three rebounds. His defense against Nowitzki was passable. The most notable attribute he brought to the game was toughness under the hoop, although the Spurs would undoubtedly trade some of that toughness for a couple of outside shots. (Amazingly enough, the Spurs won without hitting a three-pointer -- the team was 0-for-7 from deep.) Bonner is now 5-for-15 in the series, which is even worse than it looks because the Mavs are paying little to no attention to him.
-DeJuan Blair had two points, five rebounds and an assist in four minutes of action. He seems to be playing with either too much energy or a little bit of nervousness because he's missing shots he's made all season. If Duncan is going to get any rest this series, Blair is going to have to provide it by holding down the fort. Uneven play forces Pop to go back to Duncan prematurely.
-Speaking of Pop, I thought he coached another really good game. He kept Roger Mason, Jr. and Keith Bogans nailed to the bench and refrained from small ball when at all possible. He used small ball for a stretch in this game but only after the Mavs put Shawn Marion at power forward. Pop also deserves some credit for not panicking with his playcalling after the Spurs had their third quarter rut. Overall, it was a well coached game and a huge victory for San Antonio.
i love you timvp
I have to respectfully disagree on Jefferson and bonners
. Jefferson's d was fantastic. Bonner's D was Better than passable as well.
Pop's rotations were once again great.
Blair/Bonner need to start hitting some shots this series to rest Timmy and McDyess.
Hopefully Manu can play through his broken nose which I know he will.
i'm really amazed how dominant the spurs are inside given the mavs' size advantage. i hope hill will continue to be aggressive and not settle for jump shots.
Great game by Pop. Just like you said he never panicked and stayed with what worked. I thought his only mistake was sticking with Bonner for too long.
Incredible the Spurs won without hitting a three. Thank goodness they are shooting so well from the field because I don't think that will happen again.
Spurs did a passable job on the rebounds, but gave up a ton of offensive boards in the fourth quarter it seemed like.
Hill easily had his best game of the series, but he is still looking shaky offensively. Hopefully that part comes back, because the Spurs need either Hill or RJ to step up in every game as a 4th scorer. If they both step up, that will be huge.
RJ played a solid game for not being very involved.
Dice played some great defense and if the refs allow Dice to play physical, he can make Dirk work. He needs to focus more on some of those things he does wrong (grab the offensive board, but then turn it over...), but other than that, I am stunned how he has flipped the switch.
If the Spurs get any bonus production from Bonner or Blair that would help out tremendously.
Overall, the Spurs best game of the series imo.
Bonner's defense was terrible in my opinion. Dirk abused him and Marion killed him. On offense he laid a fat old goose egg. Pop went with Bonner too long.
One of the best parts of the game for me was watching Hill step up his game as soon as Manu left the floor to go to the locker room. He really struggled the last couple of games, after that injury. But you could see him dig down when Manu went out, and he came up with some really great plays.
The really good players seem to find a way to dig down when the team really needs it. It made me feel even better about the kind of player Hill is and will become.
Another high point was watching Tony and Manu get so fired up and passionate in the last couple of minutes of the game. When they play with that kind of fire, I think they have a good shot at beating any team in the league. Suddenly they looked like a team that is both tough and hungry, which I really haven't seen for the last couple of seasons.
What I was impressed with was how they responded to the Maverick's run. Had they panicked, it would have been a Mavs blowout. They showed resiliency and heart when it was most needed.
It reminded me a lot of the 2007 playoff run in that regard.
I don't think it's fair at all to criticize Jefferson for this game, for the very reason you stated - to his credit, he only took 3 shots (2-3 from the field)
if jefferson isn't open, i don't want him forcing shots for the sake of padding his own PPG potentially to the detriment of the team
Jefferson has never been an "I can create my own shot in isolation" type of player and he never will be. He thrives on receiving the ball from initial penetration and then driving it to the rim as the second penetrator, while there is movement on the floor due to the opposing team reacting to the initial driver. that's his game for the spurs, and ginobili/parker did not place him in these situations enough
so does your wifeSo do I
I agree with DPG about Bonner. We really got in a hole when Bonner played. Same as in game 1.
BONNER HAS TO PLAY BETTER ON BOTH ENDS.
Dejuan Blair needs to step up and just play his game. We need around 15 quality minutes from him. Blair can do it.
Hill played tough and so did Dice. The big 3 were great. TP AWESOME tonight.
to me the man of the game is shared between the big 3 really. Duncan did a lot of damage in the paint (18 points) and was constant whenever they played for him.
Parker was good the entire game except for being stopped during the 3rd quarter but came back with 2 clutch shots.
Manu was good most of the game, not so much on his shooting but on everything else. When he left because of the injury I think it took everyone a little bit out of the game plus the D adjustment by Dallas. Manu was also instrumental in getting the Spurs back in the game when he returned with several relentless drives to the basket. I think the Spurs only then had a shot at the game after being up most of the time.
i'm worry about Manu broken nose, i'm hope this injury will not hurt us!
timvp as always right on the money..
You cannot underestimate how much the defensive adjustment on Kidd has turned the series.
That has really stifled him. He hates being run off the three point line. Spurs are generally doing a great job at running the Mavs off the three point line. Nothing you can do when the Mavs are just on fire from there on the rare occasion you leave the open. Only thing you can do is try and limit their attempts.
Kidd is going to have to hit mid range shots in order to beat this strategy and that is not something that he can do regularly. If he does, tip the hat and move on.
Playing JJB helps them in that regard, but hurts them defensively.
I think the most important thing going forward is the point you made about DeJuan Blair. Duncan needs some rest, jesus I was worried less going into the final 6 minutes knowing Duncan had got little to no rest in a long time.
If Blair hits those baby shots he always hits, and jesus CHRIST he was going against the walking corpse of eddie najera and gave up Offensive Rebounds, Duncan can get some well-needed in-game rest.
The Ginobili shnozz-bloading was actually a blessing in disguise. He came back soon enough that he was still warm, had more than enough energy to throw the Mavs some patented Ginobili-layups (which erased the deficit Parker is responsible for earning) and that put us even score....after the Mavs switched out of zone for fear of Manu, Parker then took the reigns.
Tonight's game was truly a thing of beauty if you are a Spurs purist. Absolutely amazing how seamlessly the Big Three kept shifting the bulk of the work even while Manu got bloaded.
I think Hill's defence on Kidd is one of the keys to the series. Jason is yet to really put a stamp on anything, and that's down to Hill mostly, but also running him off the 3pt line (where he shot over 40% this year), as DPG said.
Superb game of basketball to watch - tough, see-sawing, indefatigable, awesome. Game of the Year so far for mine.
GO SPURS GO!
Exactly. We were saying how NOONE had seen that kind of fire from Parker and Ginobili in quite some time.
It reminded me a lot of the 2007 playoff run in that regard.
1) they're probably sick and tired of the team being owned by the Mavs in the playoffs
2) maybe it takes two complete playoff heartbreak seasons in a row to re-kindle the compe ive fire in their hearts
they seem so into it, and it makes the series so much more legendary
Great take TIMVP.
I thought I would say that Jefferson had a few looks but he helped the offense move the ball, his d was pretty decent. Although he wasn't making a presence with scoring he was helping the rest out on the court with his play.
Hill was amazing on Kidd, and when Manu went out with the nose you saw Hill tug on his sack and stepped up big for a stretch there on offense. It was good to see.
Dice was superb, I kept watching the end of the 3rd and thinking to myself about at the 9 to 8 minute lefts to the game stretch he'll be back and we just need Bonner to stick around and not blow up horribly on defense.
Tony was a genuine spark off the bench. It was great seeing him going back to the things that worked for him.... THE FLOATER. His hussle on defense was amazing. He went clutch at the end there and I was happy to see that out of him. He may not be full on 100% speed but he's definitely getting his rhythm back the further we get along in the playoffs. He's showing us to shut all those naysayers.
Manu was epic. Offensively for the first half and into the third wasn't anything you go bragging about but on the other end of the court he was all over the place. Butler was just a empty jersey out there. His run into the fourth was legendary. I can't say enough about that guy. The nose is the only downer, good news hopefully for sunday.
Pop, great coached game. This 7/8 man rotation is what is going to be what we will be seeing for the rest of the series out with Dallas.
Sunday, I'm expecting a similiar trend from Dallas if they can't get around with something with Marion and Butler. That 3 guard rotation from dallas was actually pestering us. I'm curious what Pop and the crew can take from the game footage to work on this.
Great win, its been awhile to this excited over a win for the spurs.
Agree. I don't expect much of anything from him against Dirk, but Marion was just abusing him. I also have gotten to the point where I'm already looking if we have somebody to grab the offensive rebound right before he releases his shot.
It's unfortunate that Blair has been very timid so far.
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