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My initial reaction is much shorter:
Yippy!!!!!
First, the Spurs won Game 3 without hitting a three-pointer. Then, to raise the difficulty level even more, the Spurs won Game 4 without much help from the Big 3. With the Big 3 a combined 9-for-36, San Antonio relied on their "dogs" to defeat the Mavs by a final score of 92-89.
The Spurs were up 24-20 with 9:14 remaining in the first half when San Antonio collapsed. Dallas went on a 23-4 run over the next seven minutes to take a 15-point lead. To get the Spurs back into the game, the Spurs turned to second-year guard George Hill. In a two and a half stretch in the third period, Hill scored eight straight points to help spark a 15-0 run to give the Spurs a five-point lead.
The Spurs had a 13-point lead with five minutes remaining but the Mavs fought back once again. With two minutes to go, the San Antonio's lead was trimmed to two points -- until Manu Ginobili hit a three-pointer to push it back to five. Both teams continued to scratch and claw down the stretch until the Mavs had the ball with 0.1 seconds remaining and trailing by three-point. Fortunately, 0.4 wasn't outdone and the Spurs pushed their lead in the series to 3-1.
-Tim Duncan had one of the worst games you'll ever see him play in the postseason. In 36 minutes, Duncan had four points, 11 rebounds and three assists on 1-for-9 shooting from the field. Duncan looked gassed the entire night. He couldn't jump, he wasn't moving well laterally and was slow up and down the court. Considering that the playoffs have just begun, that is definitely not a good sign for the Spurs going forward. The best thing he did was rebound well. Also, not forcing the action down the stretch was a smart move.
-Playing with a thickly padded broken nose, Manu Ginobili had a lot of difficulty putting the ball in the hoop. He made 4-of-16 shots from the field, including only 1-of-7 three-pointers. To Ginobili's credit, he did good work in other areas. He had seven assists to only one turnovers, pulled down four boards and swiped four steals. That said, the Spurs need Ginobili to score more and with better efficiency to have consistent success in the playoffs.
-Tony Parker played well early on but his performance waned as the game progressed. He finished with ten points, five assists and five turnovers in 27 minutes. I thought his defense was solid but he didn't play with enough smarts offensively and continuously found himself in trouble. In Game 5, Parker needs to do a better job of using his speed to his advantage, especially when it comes to pushing the ball in transition.
-George Hill had the game of his life. In 45 minutes, Hill had 29 points and four rebounds while hitting 11-of-16 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point land. Without Hill, this would be a tied series right now. His shooting was a godsend -- the team was 1-for-11 on three-pointers outside of Hill. His scoring in the third quarter forced the Spurs back into the game. Now looking completely healthy, Hill's defense was very good and his hustle was contagious. Let's hope this was Hill's coming out party and a sign of things to come.
-Antonio McDyess had another very good game. He helped limit Dirk Nowitzki to 4-for-10 shooting and pulled down eight big boards. His passing (three assists) was also impressive. Along with Hill, it was McDyess hitting shots to get the Spurs back into it. He connected on 5-of-9 field goals, which were attempted with a good amount of confidence. All in all, it's great to see McDyess raise his level of play in the postseason.
-While his Game 2 outing was more eye-catching, Richard Jefferson's Game 4 may have quietly been more impressive. In 37 minutes, Jefferson had 15 points, four rebounds and a block while knocking down 6-of-9 shots from the field. A couple of his buckets were huge shots the Spurs desperately needed. Jefferson did a fantastic job of picking his spots and taking what the defense was giving him. Defensively, he was very good -- it was arguably one of his better defensive games of the season. Overall, Jefferson was another of the "dogs" turned hero in Game 4.
-DeJuan Blair was a human ball of energy in his 12 minutes of action. He had seven points and seven rebounds to go along with a block, assist and steal. Finally looking in rhythm, Blair utilized his massive bulk to bully the Mavs down low. He helped changed the tone of the game from a passive affair to a physical brawl. Blair's teammates and the crowd seemed to feed off of his energy and his play allowed Duncan some extra rest. Considering Duncan's woes, that was huge.
-Matt Bonner be playing his way out of San Antonio. He didn't play in the second half after playing eight weak minutes in the first half. He missed both of his shots and didn't pull down a rebound. He's now 5-for-17 from the floor this series and has only nine rebounds in 62 minutes. Bonner's nervous play is close to proving the widely held theory that Bonner doesn't have the intestinal for ude to play well in the playoffs.
-After not playing in either of the last two games, Keith Bogans didn't play too horribly in his six minutes. He pulled down two rebounds and a steal while playing good defense on multiple Mavs. Although his individual play was decent enough, his presence on the court bogged down San Antonio's offense. I can't say it's a coincidence that the Spurs scored only 11 points in the next 14 minutes after Bogans entered the game.
-I thought Pop had a hit-and-miss game. Unearthing Bogans didn't make much sense -- he killed the Spurs in Game 1 and the Spurs won both games he got DNP-CDs. I thought he could have gotten Hill a few more looks and a couple more minutes for Blair wouldn't have hurt matters. Parker's playing time was so sporadic that it was hard for him to get into rhythm. On the other hand, Pop benched Bogans and Bonner the entire second half and never played Roger Mason, Jr., which worked out well. Pop's gameplan against Nowitzki was very good and Pop adjusting well to Rick Carlisle's ever-changing schemes.
My initial reaction is much shorter:
Yippy!!!!!
-George Hill had the game of his life. In 45 minutes, Hill had 29 points and four rebounds while hitting 11-of-16 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point land. Without Hill, this would be a tied series right now. His shooting was a godsend -- the team was 1-for-11 on three-pointers outside of Hill. His scoring in the third quarter forced the Spurs back into the game. Now looking completely healthy, Hill's defense was very good and his hustle was contagious. Let's hope this was Hill's coming out party and a sign of things to come.
As always, thanks for the breakdown. Feel better, mang.
Damn, Blair only got 12 minutes?
Those were some killer minutes.
Yup, Blair changed the game I thought. The momentum was theirs and he came in, banged, finished, every loose ball was ours it seemed after he came in. And like TimVp said, because of this, Pop was able to keep TD on the bench to rest and that's a double bonus when TD is struggling.
Incredibly exciting game, and not too good for my heart. Man, the swings were ridiculous.
I'll say this though... I am VERY encouraged by seeing our "little 3" (Hill, RJ, and Blair) getting their post-season act together and playing like vets suddenly. If RJ continues to have games like this, I might not mind seeing him around too much longer.
RJ's continuation plays were magnificent tonight, and his aggressive cuts to the hoop really capitalized on the Mavs small ball.
I'd really like to see Pop calling more post-ups when Barea is in the game. For the love of the Iceman, I'm pretty sure that -I- could back down the lawn gnome, so I'm assuming even Parker wouldn't have much of a problem scoring in the block when JJ is on the court. If he comes in, we should be exploiting his defense as much as humanly possible.
More Bogans wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, he made a couple of plays while he was in the game.
The only coaching job worse than Pop's 1st half was Carlisle's 2nd half. He completely abandoned what got him the lead and went too small again giving Hill all sorts of space to shoot and maneuver. I didn't understand him benching Marion when Marion actually responded well in the first half.
Tremendous, composed win.
Eh, Duncan didn't looked too gassed. He looked like he just had an off night. His tip in near the end showed he had some jump in his step. He just had an off night.
Hopefully Manu and Tony can get back on track.
They NEED to finish it in game 5.
Letting Dallas win in game 5 just gives them confidence. Right now Dallas is arguing amongst themselves, they are really down, you need to freaking step on their necks NOW.
thank you. good summary.
I don't really know how to feel after this game. They won? Seriously?
Hill was next level. He recognized that the Spurs stars were struggling and stepped up in a way that one could have expected. What a great future this kid has ahead of him.
All in all, the X-factor was the team defense. I had many doubts about this team defensively going into playoffs...as they were still making a lot of mistakes late in the season that should have been corrected long ago. Seemingly out of nowhere, they have they have managed to play the type of defense the can bail out the Big Three on a 9-36 night...in the playoffs. Just amazing.
nice thread ..
I disagree he was getting almost no lift on any rebound or move he made. Very sluggish to me.
Team defense is the biggest thing we have going for us now.
Rebounding still suspect.
great writeup, thanks Timvp.
I would only add that I think game 3 was Hill's coming out party and was a sign of things to come. Game 4 was things coming, lol
so, no one else thinks were were getting the benefit of the doubt with the refs? seemed like Dirk was getting mugged out there to me
Sorry, Bonner's choking playoff performances isn't close to being proven, it's already been proven.
It's like the platypus. It's existence has already been proven. All that happens now are observations of it's existence. And each observation results in an exclamation of "What the ! Come on! Are you serious? A duck billed furry creature that lays eggs!??! What kind of a joke is this?"
Matt Bonner . . . the Platypus of Plus/Minus choking.
he looks like a panther on this pic.
Seriously props to him!
he was not a good game for TP with these 5 TOs, he didn't shoot bad (4-9) I guess and gave us a huge jumper in the 4th. More impressive he continues coming off the bench with no apparent problems and he let the ball to the hot guy, it was a time when Pop asked him to shoot 20 times per game tonite he shot 9 balls letting Hill and Manu having 32.
kudos to Parker
yeah, I saw the Box on Blair, in only 11:39 he gets a 7-7.
I thought only duncan was laying an egg, but now I see tony and manu were off this game too.
Duncan looked very bad. It has me very concerned. Manu has had two poor shooting games. That has me concerned. Spurs left the Mavs open for three, that has me concerned. Pop went back to Bogans and that has me concerned.
But somehow they keep winning. They are doing a lot of good things obviously, but still room for improvement. I hope Tim is ok because they can't survive another game like that. Dirk is not going to have an off game like Tim did tonight.
Mugged?
He's getting bodied up and defended well. When he drives tot he lane he flails.
WTF.
What other benefits are they getting?
The Jason Kidd "flagrant" foul beneficial? The BS flagrant on Dirk from Jefferson?
Oh yeah, CLEARLY in their cornerfail
Overlooked was RJ's block on Caron at the end of the first half. I think it set the tone for the third.
Agreed on Barea. Punish that little f'er in the post when he's in.
On Bogans - got to put him out there with a better lineup than Tony, RJ, Blair, and Bonner if you're going to do it.
Bogans and Bonner on the court just means there's two people the Mavs don't have to cover on D (and they didn't in the second, our spacing was horrible, and we got clowned on).
Manu had a pretty good shooting 4th quarter in game 3.
They are defending well, its not all just those guys.
Man, it's weird to think just last week the Spurs were in the "doghouse". What a turnaround and an old school Spurs win.
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