Initial Reaction: Spurs vs. Mavs - Game 4

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

All I ask is for Tony to quit leaving Terry wide open in the corner for three. JT loves that shot.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I don't think the Spurs as a team have been this physical since 99. Hill, Dice, and Blair play physical. Even RJ got a flagrant tonight. Great to see the team as a whole not backing down. It's a good sign, the Mavs are probably getting rattled.

Having recently played in a grand final against a bunch of bullies, this is crucial. Basketball is a game of mental toughness, and you have to stand up to being bullied. That doesn't mean you respond with dirty play, in fact quite the opposite. You have to respond with toughness - getting up in their grill, wrestling for position, hard fouls when beaten. If you stick to your guns and play harder than your opponent, you will wear them down more often than not, especially if they are bullies who are used to getting their way.

And yes, we won the grand final and I kept my guy (an 18ppg scorer) to 5pts and had him foul out early in the 4th (after out-toughing him all game then drawing 3 charges in the 3rd quarter ).

All I ask is for Tony to quit leaving Terry wide open in the corner for three. JT loves that shot.

Indeed.

You'd have to think that Pop would have a word to him about that after this game, no?

[NewJerSpur]

I don't think the Spurs as a team have been this physical since 99. Hill, Dice, and Blair play physical. Even RJ got a flagrant tonight. Great to see the team as a whole not backing down. It's a good sign, the Mavs are probably getting rattled.

After Horry faded coming off the injury in 2008 and Bowen's trade and retirement, it's nice to see guys chipping in with tough plays around the basket and on looseball situations. The three guys to mentioned made some plays on offense that go outside the stats.....everytime a ball was around the basket on offense in the 3rd it seemed Blair had a hand on it, even amongst the trees on Dallas.

[Spurminator]

Duncan looked a little slower at times, but sometimes it seemed like he just wasn't putting his usual Playoff effort into plays. Case in point, the play where he let Haywood get a layup instead of fouling or going for the block. It was a very regular season looking play for Duncan. I'm sure it's hard to play 82 games one way and then flip the switch permanently... Anyway, I think he'll bounce back in Game 5. We'll need it.

Wasn't wild about Tony's game after the first quarter. Far to many turnovers and bad decisions on offense, and he left Terry in the corner too often to guard no one in particular.

I wanted less shooting and more penetration from Manu. Seeing the nose bandage he began the game with, I was not confident he was going to have a very good shooting touch. It had to be visually distracting.

I would have George Hill's child if science would allow it.

Blair was a game changer. He completely swung the "loose ball" game our way.

This was definitely Jefferson's best game of the series. He brought it both halves this time.

Bonner is not only missing, he's missing bad. I have no confidence he will ever be able to consistently hit open 3's in pressure situations. If we play the Lakers, they will leave him even more open than the Mavs are, and this could be disastrous.

I ing hate Najera. I've always believed he was an injury waiting to happen. If anyone ever dies on the basketball court I give 2:1 odds Najera will be somewhere in the vicinity.

[NFGIII]

Damn, Blair only got 12 minutes?

Those were some killer minutes.

Absolutely Killer! What an energy guy he was tonight. So in a 48 minute game that would be 48 pts with 48 rebounds. Nice you think?

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.

I think this team did an about face when he hit the floor. His energy is contagious. I especially liked the play where he interrupted an inbounds pass to Haywood and knocked it in the direction of RJ. What a hustle play!

On one of them, he was doubling and all the way over. He wasn't just a few steps off. The other one, I don't know WTF he was doing.

He cheats/gambles sometimes too much for me. Leaving Terry along in the corner for a 3 when he is the hot shooter isn't a very good defensive play.

The question then is what he was doing doubling off Terry at all? Surely the one guy you should stay at home on against the Mavs, especially when they needed 3s, is Terry. That is about all I can say to criticize the Spurs D tonight though, because it was incredible all night. 2005 level. Just totally

I will also say that, before those lapses, TP had played tough, in your face D, especially on Kidd, and helped to keep him out of the game yet again.

TP has been playing great D as of late. Like many of the other Spurs the defensive level has jumped - except for the obvious culprits ...ie...Bonner and Mase. Even Bogans played good D tonight though as usual he was offensively challenged.

[Blackjack]

The question then is what he was doing doubling off Terry at all? Surely the one guy you should stay at home on against the Mavs, especially when they needed 3s, is Terry. That is about all I can say to criticize the Spurs D tonight though, because it was incredible all night. 2005 level. Just totally

I will also say that, before those lapses, TP had played tough, in your face D, especially on Kidd, and helped to keep him out of the game yet again.

The Spurs were coming after Dirk much more in this game and, as strange as it was to see, were somewhat conceding the short-corner 3 -- the bane of Pop's defensive existence.

Pop had the bigs closing out hard to the corner to get a contest on the 3 but he clearly took a calculated gamble that the resulting shot would do less damage over the course of the game than playing Dirk straight-up.

There looked to be a switch in the rotation on one or both of the last plays from Pop, so Tony might not be completely at fault -- it looked like he did have a gaffe on one of them, though. (Pop couldn't have felt the percentages were with him if Terry was in the short-corner.)

[TIMMYD!]

Not worried about Tim, he was just having an off game. Just watch, he will bounce back in Game 5.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Hopefully that Suns/Blazers series goes every BIT of 7 games and we close things out Tuesday. The HUGE positive from tonight is that we took what might have been the best shot the Mavs had and we have experience in THIS series stomping them out on the road. Nothing's guaranteed, but I say this to say that the team is prepared for whatever happens at either end of the spectrum.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Mavs have not given us anything resembling their best possible effort.

We are D'ing them up pretty damn well but if we play like the 2nd quarter for two or three quarters we will lose that game quite handily.

[EricB]

Duncan looked a little slower at times, but sometimes it seemed like he just wasn't putting his usual Playoff effort into plays. Case in point, the play where he let Haywood get a layup instead of fouling or going for the block. It was a very regular season looking play for Duncan. I'm sure it's hard to play 82 games one way and then flip the switch permanently... Anyway, I think he'll bounce back in Game 5. We'll need it.

Wasn't wild about Tony's game after the first quarter. Far to many turnovers and bad decisions on offense, and he left Terry in the corner too often to guard no one in particular.

I wanted less shooting and more penetration from Manu. Seeing the nose bandage he began the game with, I was not confident he was going to have a very good shooting touch. It had to be visually distracting.

I would have George Hill's child if science would allow it.

Blair was a game changer. He completely swung the "loose ball" game our way.

This was definitely Jefferson's best game of the series. He brought it both halves this time.

Bonner is not only missing, he's missing bad. I have no confidence he will ever be able to consistently hit open 3's in pressure situations. If we play the Lakers, they will leave him even more open than the Mavs are, and this could be disastrous.

I ing hate Najera. I've always believed he was an injury waiting to happen. If anyone ever dies on the basketball court I give 2:1 odds Najera will be somewhere in the vicinity.

Agreed 100% on all points. I thought Manu was very passive and very unagressive tonight and would've liked to see more drives.

Hopefully that changes tuesday when he's more comfortable with the tape.

[Blackjack]

As for Tim, he didn't look terrible physically but he didn't look nearly as spry as he had through the first three games.

It's difficult to know for sure with him nowadays, because his margin for error is razor thin offensively (if he's a hair off mentally or physically with his shot or attack he can look pretty bad), but he does look fatigued to me -- not as bad as he was when I mentioned to end the year but it's significant enough.

I usually look to see where he's catching the ball and what kind of progress he makes backing people down when he's on the box, and there's definitely been a drop off from Games 1-3 -- he was burying both Damp and Haywood and backing them down to pretty much wherever he wanted to go early ... tonight he was getting stood up and feeling the defender more than overwhelming or imposing his physicality.

It makes sense, though. He had all sorts of rest coming into the series and a couple of days off in between 1 and 2. He played big, physical, playoff minutes, and now he's playing every-other-day -- the Spurs would be wise to end this thing in 5, he and Manu could use the days off.

[EricB]

Yeah agreed.

Although I don't think he was as tired as said, its wise all the way around just to end this thing before Dallas gets even a shred of confidence.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I'd like to see Manu wear a mask - that way he can go to the rim without worrying about his nose. With only a bandage, what if he cops another elbow? it could put him out for a game or the series. I hope he sees reason on this. Playing with just a bandage seems an unnecessary risk to me, especially since he shot poorly anyway.

[Blackjack]

He's actually got a specially molded piece of plastic (Basically the same stuff the mask is made of) under the bandage, so it's pretty much serves the same purpose.

He has better vision with this and it's more comfortable and easier to play with, though.

[DespЏrado]

If Tim starts to have another bad game like tonight, I'd like to see him on the three point line knocking something down. It can't be any worse than what Bonner takes, and it might open the floor up just a little for himself. And they would be easy points being so unexpected.

Oddly enough I trust Tim's three point stroke more than I trust almost everyone outside of Manu and Hill.
/end pipe dream

[Cant_Be_Faded]

If Tim starts to have another bad game like tonight, I'd like to see him on the three point line knocking something down. It can't be any worse than what Bonner takes

funny cuz true

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

He's actually got a specially molded piece of plastic (Basically the same stuff the mask is made of) under the bandage, so it's pretty much serves the same purpose.

He has better vision with this and it's more comfortable and easier to play with, though.

Okay, thanks, didn't know that. I think the mask works by spreading the force of any impact across its entire surface though, so a smaller piece of plastic would be less effective at doing that.

Anyway, we just have to trust in Manu, and I'm willing to do that - he knows what's best for him.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

As for Tim, he didn't look terrible physically but he didn't look nearly as spry as he had through the first three games.

It's difficult to know for sure with him nowadays, because his margin for error is razor thin offensively (if he's a hair off mentally or physically with his shot or attack he can look pretty bad), but he does look fatigued to me -- not as bad as he was when I mentioned to end the year but it's significant enough.

I usually look to see where he's catching the ball and what kind of progress he makes backing people down when he's on the box, and there's definitely been a drop off from Games 1-3 -- he was burying both Damp and Haywood and backing them down to pretty much wherever he wanted to go early ... tonight he was getting stood up and feeling the defender more than overwhelming or imposing his physicality.

It makes sense, though. He had all sorts of rest coming into the series and a couple of days off in between 1 and 2. He played big, physical, playoff minutes, and now he's playing every-other-day -- the Spurs would be wise to end this thing in 5, he and Manu could use the days off.

I want to see Tim go back to facing these guys up and going to his running hook. When Dampier is effective against Tim it is usually because he can muscle him around, but he can't do that when Tim's driving around him. Tim has more of a chance successfully posting Haywood.

BTW, where has the banker gone? We haven't seen it in weeks!

[HarlemHeat37]

He tried a bank shot tonight, but it rimmed out..

Tonight was the first game where Duncan was settling..in the other games, he was attacking quickly and aggressively..there was a clear difference tonight..

He was facing up Dampier to death in the other games, tonight he went back to the post ups for some reason..

[Blackjack]

I'm sure the mask would definitely be better, for the reasons you mentioned, but I think Manu will take the trade-off -- greater ability to play unen bered and a little more susceptible to injury, as apposed to the other way around.

He's Manu Ginobili -- it's who he is.

[NewJerSpur]

BTW, where has the banker gone? We haven't seen it in weeks!

He's made a concerted effort it appears to go away from the long range jumpers unless he's absolutely open, which is a good thing, especially with the legnth of the Mavs bigs. Now he just needs to give the fadeaways a rest because when he's facing up driving to the basket he's been nearly impossible for them to guard.

[peskypesky]

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.

I thought Pop had a hit-and-miss game... a couple more minutes for Blair wouldn't have hurt matters.

ya think?

[mingus]

yeah, with Duncan it seemed to me he wasn't getting that much lift, and he was slow getting up the court. besides that, he wasn't that aggressive with his offensive moves. he never really went to the basket. most of his shots were either hooks or shots where he was fading away. and then he had one missed banker. it could be that he wasn't feeling the explosiveness that is needed to make those aggressive moves toward the basket to get his game going that explains his lack of offensive aggression.

[peskypesky]

i'm surprised so many people are wondering what happened to Tim in this game. It's simple. He turned 34. he's aging, and every birthday takes him closer to the end of his career, and he knows it. it's depressing. i know because my birthday is today, and even though i'm acting like it's no big deal, i'm kind of depressed at the moment. i want to be getting younger, not older. tim does too. he was just bummed out today.

[Blackjack]

Yeah, he went glass early tonight, rimmed out, but he just didn't look decisive with his moves -- this banker looked like more of him settling than mixing up his game.

During the first three games, he actually had a good first step. He was beating the bigs to the middle, getting to the front of the cup, but he just didn't have it tonight. I mean, he was even backing Damp down a good 10-feet to shoot his jump hook, which is something he's had trouble with since losing all the weight -- some could be attributed to playoff Timmy, but most had to do with the fresh legs he had from the rest.

He looked so good to start the series and was making moves as well as he had in years. I'm really hoping this schedule doesn't kick his ass now that he's played the minutes he has and won't get more than a day break, but I guess we'll see.

The guy better be in a hot tub and chillin' until game time Tuesday.

[mingus]

and big props to McDyess. His jumper and play is making it so that the Spurs don't have to play Bonner that much. He's doing what's expected of him now. IF Blair can be counted on to do what he did tonight, it'll do more to not having to play Bonner. and not enough can be said about Hill. Hill jumper is a thing of beauty right now.