Game Blog: Spurs @ Clippers - Dec. 1

[Cessation]

this game was lost in the second quarter when bonner checked in for most of it, clips went on an 18-2 run, when spurs had to double his man, griffin, and he kicked out for multiple 3s, otherwise he made ginger his , and pop sealed it by continuing to play 0-6 bonner, in second half and in crunch time

[EricB]

You can monitor minutes, but there is only so many players....

[DesignatedT]

I think it has to do with our starting PG basically not playing... Tony laid an egg out there today. Sure, a lot of guys sucked, but you look at the score, and if he puts up half his averages, we win.

Very confused on this situation tonight.

[itzsoweezee]

Why do you guys keep wanting to turn this into a Tiago vs Bonner thing? They were both bad. AD was bad too for that matter. Duncan was bad. Manu was bad. Tony was - well bad then he was just I don't know wtf. Hill was bad. Richard wasn't that bad, but he was fairly passive. Neal was ok but then he realized he was OK and started chucking.

Its just one of those games.

Has Bonner done anything in his career warranting him being awarded with 30 minutes of playing time?

[DubMcDub]

lol this team is just dog tired. you can tell. pop really needs to start watching these minutes because we have no chance of winning if our guys are this tired down the stretch of the season.

If they're tired, there's something wrong, because your guys haven't been playing high minutes all season.

[TampaDude]

I'd like to think there's a silver lining to all this...maybe Pop won't play Bonner so ing much...probably too much to ask.

Just one of those nights. If this is how the Spurs play on the second night of a B2B, then we might as well put an L next to all such games for the rest of the season. A good team would have beaten the Spurs by 30 tonight.

[maddnezz]

and still played better d than matt !

And knocked Griffin on his ass!
Clean your tv screen sir!

[MannyIsGod]

Uh, weren't you the one who incorrectly suggested that Splitter didn't do anything to contribute to the run that started when Bonner came out of the game?

Incorrectly?

Tiago scored 2 points, gave up about 8 on the other side, but the fact that he drew some meaningless fouls was a huge factor for you. Yeah ok. Go back to talking about halfcourt shots.

[Mugen]

lol Pop doing Vinny a solid

[Chomag]

Blake Griffen tore our front line to pieces.

[MannyIsGod]

Most of us realize it's not the only reason.

But it is one of the most glaring by FAR.
Reason being:

Bonner was leading the team in minutes at the half. Tiago had zero.
Bonner was stone-cold. He was doing NOTHING. Zero impact in every aspect of the game. Therefore, any player who does ANYTHING is being better than Bonner.

When Tiago came in, he not only caused fouls, he scored the ball, got to the free throw line, and when he left it was a 6 point game.
He was running the floor much faster than Bonner, and was being aggressive...which used to be rewarded by Pop once upon a time.

Then when we reward Bonner's cold shooting with more minutes he responds with more cold shooting.

I wouldn't have mind seeing Blair get some of those minutes either, and I'm not saying Tiago was Robinson out there on the Clippers but he did help us get back into the game. And then he was benched.

Dude the most glaring reason by far is the big 3 sucking. Its not even close. You know how many games the Spurs are going to win when the big 3 suck? Yeah, not many.

[Ice009]

I'd like an answer to my question MannyIsGod.

[Obstructed_View]

I guess the best backcourt in the NBA has to play like the best backcourt in the NBA every single game to be able to win. The Spurs' offense really gets cooking when they're putting up ten or eleven threes a quarter though. That was amazing to watch.

Oh well, it's nice to lose a game and still have the best record in the league.

[timtonymanu]

This game needed some James Anderson. Replace Anderson with Udoka in that one stretch and we would have won.

[siraulo23]

whats up with tp

[MannyIsGod]

Time to start resting Duncan on the b2b's i dgaf who were playing. Seeing our guys this tired is really discouraging. they were clearly fatigued tonight.

Probably more of a factor of B2B and jet lag. Duncan's minutes are low as . You really can't manage them much better.

[itzsoweezee]

By the way, the Spurs were making a run in the second half, then Bonner came back in the game . . .

[TampaDude]

this game was lost in the second quarter when bonner checked in for most of it, clips went on an 18-2 run, when spurs had to double his man, griffin, and he kicked out for multiple 3s, otherwise he made ginger his , and pop sealed it by continuing to play 0-6 bonner, in second half and in crunch time

^ this

The Spurs had all the momentum, and then the Bonner/Udoka show came out on stage and ed all over that momentum.

[janetcn12]

Stop blaming on Tony....almost everybody didn't play up to par

[MannyIsGod]

I guess the best backcourt in the NBA has to play like the best backcourt in the NBA every single game to be able to win. The Spurs' offense really gets cooking when they're putting up ten or eleven threes a quarter though. That was amazing to watch.

Oh well, it's nice to lose a game and still have the best record in the league.

They have to play better than they did tonight and on most nights they will have to play like the best back court to win. Why is that a shock? I'd imagine that was common sense.

[Death In June]

30 minutes for Bonner is about 20 minutes too much.

[Crookshanks]

Dude the most glaring reason by far is the big 3 sucking. Its not even close. You know how many games the Spurs are going to win when the big 3 suck? Yeah, not many.

I agree - Tony scored, what, 4 points? And did Timmy get into double digits? The Big 3 were a big Zero tonight - and that was the game.

[GSH]

Blame it on whoever you want, but the Clippers absolutely dominated us in the middle. They had 56 points in the paint, and they kicked our asses in the paint defensively.

[TampaDude]

By the way, the Spurs were making a run in the second half, then Bonner came back in the game . . .

Bonner the rally killer!!!

[jestersmash]

My reaction to this loss: "Oh well. 15-3"

We weren't going to have a 100% success rate against sub-.500 teams. Never have, never will.

This is the entire reason for building such a strong buffer to begin the season. We can take a couple of losses like this and not be phased as far as overall playoff seeding goes.