Did this game resemble a playoff game to you? If it did, are you pleased with the outcome?
IMO, it didn't feel like a playoff game until the flagrant foul. The crowd got really rowdy after that. If the Spurs did take the game as such, I can take a couple of things out of it.
1. Heart - the Spurs definitely have it. Didn't ever read in their body language that they could not win.
2. At ude - The Spurs seemed to raise their intensity level after the altercation, and it looked like they were playing with a chip on their shoulder. Especially McDyess and Neal.
3. Gary Neal - Dude will be fine come the playoffs if this game was what we could expect in a playoff game. To a lesser extent, Bonner was pretty clutch on the offensive end. Maybe this will be the Red Rockets time to shed his post season woes.
4. Size - The Spurs were outrebounded by a playoff bound team, and still get the "W". Perhaps the excellent guard play of the Spurs really could counter the lack of size. What is the Spurs record when being outrebounded anyways?
Ok SpursTalkers, what are your opinions?
FTL!!!
The rebounding was kind of wierd last PM as it seemed there were at least 5 times when a Spurs could have had the ball and it just bounced wierdly - plus when Duncan was in there the Spurs seemed to rebound fine. Remember in the playoffs Duncan plays more - no real worries here.
Duncan was blocking shots left and right, and also seemed alittle more determined offensively. I think the bear is coming out of hibernation.
McDyess played limited minutes and Manu played crappy-otherwise this would have been an easy win.
Manu sucked
McDyess is the ing man is what I take away from the game, love the way he jumped in to defend TP.
you're not worried about our rebounding ? really ? Our rebounding effort was worrisome, I don't care if we are not good at O rebounds but we gave up a lot of D rebounds giving a bunch of second opportunities for OKC.
The big + of a good rebounding team is the capacity to survive to a very poor shooting night.
We got the win despite our lack of rebounding because we hit our 3s outstandingly (not sure outstandingly exist tbh) well. Not going to happen 4 times on a 7 games serie. So yeah the rebounding or lack of is maybe my biggest concern after health.
- OKC came out like it's playoffs
- Spurs came out like they just came from allstar break
- Manu was walking out there most of the game, hopefully not hurt
- Neal, Pop + McDyess the MVPs of this game
concerned but the sky is not falling on rebounding, Thunder are a very athletic team ala Portland that can grab a lot of boards in streaks. Boston is 19th worst in rebounding and has that really hurt them?
http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/tea...rt/reboundRate
Spurs 11th in rebounding (better than Mavs, Boston and this is despite Duncan playing 26 or so minutes a game.) By NBA stats both Boston and Dallas also worse
http://www.nba.com/statistics/sortab...ml?cnf=1&prd=1
That the Spurs can beat Oklahoma by playing ~10 minutes of serious basketball in a 48 minute game.
Manu showed up in crunch time, PTs, RBs, ASTs, FTs, he won the game, Tony's jumper put the dagger in (compensating for his missed FT). Manu 6/6 FT, Spurs win by 3.
OKC still has a ways to go...
Neal kicked ass, but played slacker D on the back to back treys he gave up. The 1st one, Harden held the ball for quite a while looking to pass. Twice Neal came up and harrassed him, but then with the shot clock winding down Neal backed up and gave him room to jump and hit. Basketball 101 do just the opposite with the clock about out. Very fixable.
Rebounding.
Timmy Dunks was great, shades of Championships past.
Dyss was beastly too.
Even Bonbon at least gave an effort and kept one board alive by batting the ball and then Manu swooped in and scooped it. Way to bat it Bonbon!
Manu. Yeah he looked kinda gassed. Still contributed as he always does. The reverse layup which espnLaker s.com called "a wild shot that did not draw rim" was clearly Manu drawing the foul which he deserved to FTs. Lame no call. So Manu is still clutch. I'm concerned as are others of his overdoing the 3 pointer attempts.
Parkers drives were also shades of MVP Finals year. When Tonys drives are on he is the best offensive point guard.
All in all a huge team win. Props to OKC for bringin it and bigger props to Spurs for coming out on top.
Game grades will be up in a couple of hours.
rebounding was awful, defense was subpar, manu is still going through a tough stretch...
...and despite all those things, if we didn't blow so many layups, our guys win by 15-20.
Game grades will be up in a couple of hours.
waiting for your post man
lol
all i gotta say is "I want Dice!"
My impression is that we won't go far in the playoffs if we keep giving up 35+ point quarters at home like we did last night...
Very pleased with the manner in which the Spurs closed out the game. It showed veteran savvy and experience on full display. Neal's contribution was both timely and exceptional. The way was creating plays for others was "off the chain". Without his effort and scoring, the Spurs don't win this game.
That said, here are some lingering concerns:
Manu's struggles (fatigue or slump): I can't tell if Manu's struggles stem from fatigue (which would be odd being off for four days) or if he's simply in a slump. His shot is shot and his decision-making and shot-selection have been extremely poor. Personally, I believe he's probably playing slightly more minutes that he should. Obviously, it's been out of necessity. Now that JA is back, I'd prefer to see him integrated, on a gradual basis - especially against inferior opponents. This would enable him to get some much-needed rest so that he'd be fresh for the playoffs.
Rebounds: The Spurs clearly outrebounded the 3 opponents (Kings, Raptors and Nets) before facing off against the Bulls and Thunder. The result? OKC outrebounded the Spurs 54-37. Bulls outrebounded the Spurs 41-29. That's a disconcerning number against 2 playoff-caliber opponents. It's also troublesome to see Bonner and Duncan standing around the basket, and waiting for rebounds to drop in their hands. Instead they should be actively seeking out the opponent and putting a body on a body to seal them off and prevent them from getting offensive rebounds. This is inexcusable because this is all about hustle and desire. These guys are pros and fundamental techniques like that should be instinctive. It's especially troubling because the recent trend, at least in the playoffs, is usually the team that wins the rebounding battle, usually prevails.
Energy level: OKC, continuously frustrated the Spurs with their active hands, contesting every shot and overall good energy. Overall, OKC just seemed quicker, more active and with a higher level of energy than the home team - and they were on the second night of a B2B. While this was the Spurs first game since the All-star break. Had OKC executed better down the stretch, they probably would've come away victorious.
Turnovers: Spurs are still too often far too careless with the ball. Things like stepping out of bounds, ill-advised passes, traveling, etc. The Spurs need to drive down the number of turnovers, and value their possessions.
For those that keep dismissing the Spurs size disadvantage versus teams like Fakers and Celtics, consider this. If you roll out a smaller frontline, (premature handicap), then combine that with poor technique and effort, you can probably predict the outcome.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 02-24-2011 at 12:13 PM.
The level of physicality was definitely playoff caliber. Refs were letting a lot go last night. First half it looked like the Thunder were the only ones who were ready to play that style last night.
Basically it was one of those games that isn't going to change anyone's minds on whether or not they think the Spurs are a contender. They showed off all the reasons people discount them (reliance on outside shooting, lack of interior size esp. rebounding against athletic front courts, Manu old and busted) and why people think they can win it all (system creates open looks for good shooters, defense showed flashes of high quality play, great depth overcame a sucktacular Manu performance).
It was a home playoff game. The Spurs came off a big layoff and faced a must win game.
The luster was coming off the Spurs' fast start by the minute. The Spurs' sizable all-star contingent was at NBA-ground zero to see it first hand.
They don't mind no-respect from the media -- that's a given that prompts derision not concern. But this was no-respect from their peers (the best of their peers at that).
The Spurs needed to make a statement against a strong (two-all star) up and coming team to stop the bleeding.
And they did.
I'm still wondering how the Duncan and Durant got double-t's....those guys seem like some of the last stars in the league to get that call. Someone needs to make a GIF animation showing the two coaches laughing their ass of at that wtf call.
Lots of physicality in this game and a lot of it was inadvertent too. However I was very impressed by the Spurs efforts. It was great to see Dice get angry and give a little payback to OKC even if it was inadvertent (Westbrook's face met with Dice's follow through).
Guys Manu still dished 9 assists...
Dice is my MoFo!
Gosh, I wish he had more years left in his career.
If you touched the ball as much as Manu does you will ac ulate some stats.
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