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I also think Spurs have a chance but Spurs won't be the favorite in a series against LA.
It should be something like 70/30 for the Lakers and maybe 60/40 with a good Splitter and Anderson.
There is no hope to take out of this performance. The lakers looked like the better team and a matchup for the Spurs. This was not a game the spurs could have won. The lakers starters outplayed the spurs starters all game.
I also think Spurs have a chance but Spurs won't be the favorite in a series against LA.
It should be something like 70/30 for the Lakers and maybe 60/40 with a good Splitter and Anderson.
Los Angeles Lakers 99, San Antonio Spurs 83: One half of basketball that spoke volumes
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of
AT&T CENTER — There was one sequence during the San Antonio Spurs’ 99-83 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, that gave a glimpse of what had been going on the entire afternoon.
George Hill had the ball at the top of the 3-point arc and dribbled off a pick. He planted off his right foot and attacked the basket. Several Lakers defenders clogged the lane to prevent Hill from getting to the basket, so Hill fired off a pass from his chest to a cutting Spur.
Keep reading →
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...else-watching/Lakers send message to Spurs (and anyone else watching)
Kurt Helin
Phil Jackson did not treat this like any other game.
He spent extra time in film preparation for this game, according to ESPN Los Angeles’ Dave Miller (a former Hornet assistant coach).
He sent Kobe Bryant back into the fourth quarter of a blowout, when Kobe usually has ice on his knees. With 3:11 left in the game and the Lakers up 20, he sent Pau Gasol back in from the bench.
Championship teams don’t normally try to send messages in the regular season. Phil Jackson is not usually the message-sending type. But the Lakers clearly felt they needed to and did with an absolute thumping of the San Antonio Spurs, 99-83 (and it wasn’t nearly that close) on national television. After slumps that had some questioning if they were really championship material.
The message — we’re still here and if you want that Larry O’Brien trophy you are going to have to rip it out of our cold, dead hands.
The veteran Spurs heard that message but you can bet were not intimidated. If they meet the Lakers in late May — in the Western Conference Finals — you can bet they will remember Kobe and Gasol in at the end of the game. The Spurs have their motivation, their pride, too.
The actual game itself was a thrashing from the opening tip. The Lakers clearly learned a lot from a similar beat down the Spurs gave the Heat a few nights before. The Lakers defense chased the Spurs off the three-point line all game long. The Spurs were 2-11 from three in the first half.
But the real key to that was Andrew Bynum — the Lakers center controlled the paint. Every time a Spur tried to get a shot off in the lane, he altered or blocked it. Then he got the rebound. That allowed the perimeter defenders to pressure guys at the arc. Pretty soon the Spurs were reduced to what they have reduced other offenses to for so many years — the contested midrange jumper. You don’t win games with that shot.
The Lakers meanwhile played their best game of the season. They ran the offense and it was fluid. They had just two first half turnovers.
The Lakers were up 21 in the first quarter and this was the preverbal boat race. Kobe Bryant had 26 (but needed 25 shots), Pau Gasol had 21 (on 12 shots). The Lakers length was dominant, their bench was solid, every decision they made seemed to be the right one.
The Lakers looked like champions. They looked like a team that has won seven in a row.
You can bet the Spurs will be ready next time. They are champions as well, they know what it takes. But the message has been sent — the Lakers are back and ready to defend their turf.
Post-Game Video:
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174057
Quotes:
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174058
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2011030624Lakers rout NBA-best Spurs for 7th straight win
By Paul J. Weber
Kobe Bryant agreed it might have been the Lakers’ best game so far.
It technically wasn’t the worst for the San Antonio Spurs, though it often looked that way.
The Lakers may not catch the NBA’s winningest team for the No. 1 seed in time for the playoffs, but they handed the Spurs a blunt reminder that the Western Conference is still theirs to surrender, beating San Antonio 99-83 in a blowout Sunday.
Bryant, who finished with 26 points, didn’t make much of it.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a message that we sent today,” he said.
It was the seventh straight victory for the Lakers, who are playing as well as any point this season. Coach Phil Jackson concedes that San Antonio’s 6 1/2 -game lead in the West may be too big to overcome with 18 games left. But the Lakers still made a few marks.
One is emphatically ending San Antonio’s franchise-record home winning streak at 22 games. Another is beating the Spurs for the first time in three tries, including last month’s stunning loss in Los Angeles when Antonio McDyess tipped in the game-winner at the buzzer.
Bryant, for his part, didn’t show any excitement in winning this round.
“Why should I be?” he said.
Instead, Bryant sought to keep the lopsided win in perspective.
“We know we’re capable of having games like this and San Antonio knows we’re capable of having games like this,” he said. “It just as easily could go the other way around.”
Tony Parker led the Spurs with 14 points. He was their only starter in double figures; Tim Duncan scored two points and Manu Ginobili scored six.
Two days after San Antonio humiliated LeBron James and Miami in a 30-point blowout, the Spurs took their own lumps. The NBA’s sixth-highest scoring team mustered just 37 points in the first half—matching a season low—and shot 36 percent from the floor.
And it could’ve been worse. The Lakers led by as many as 32 in third quarter before the Spurs threw in the towel and emptied their bench.
“They hit us in the mouth from the beginning and by the time we realized it, it was the ninth round and we were down on the scorecard,” Spurs guard Gary Neal said.
Pau Gasol scored 21 points and Andrew Bynum had 17 rebounds for the Lakers, who can match their longest win streak of the season with a victory at Atlanta on Tuesday.
It’s part of arguably the toughest stretch this season for the Lakers, who are still out to prove they’re the NBA’s best despite trailing the Spurs all season. The Lakers will also play at Miami and at Dallas before coming home to face Orlando on March 14.
By the time the Magic leave Los Angeles, the Lakers will have faced four of the NBA’s top seven teams in a span of eight days.
Jackson called it the best the Lakers have played all season against this caliber opponent.
“We need to be at our peak later on,” Gasol said. “Not right now.”
The last Spurs loss at the AT&T Center had been to Dallas on Nov. 26. But that 103-94 defeat wasn’t anything like this.
Bryant finished 12 for 25 and had seven rebounds. His only blemish was a technical foul in the second quarter after getting tangled up with Ginobili, leading to a brief exchange of stares and words.
Ron Artest rushed between the two and pulled Bryant away. It was Bryant’s 14th technical foul this season, though he stands at 12 after having two rescinded. The NBA issues a one-game suspension after 16 technical fouls.
The last time the Spurs and Lakers met was in Los Angeles on Feb. 3, when the Spurs won 89-88 on McDyess’ tip-in as time expired. Jackson had his video staff pull that clip before this one and remind his team of a game Jackson said they should’ve won.
It apparently worked.
Neal scored 15 points and George Hill added 14 for the Spurs.
“Nobody expects to be losing by more than 20 in the first quarter,” Ginobili said. “But the way the game presented itself, they were making every shot. We couldn’t make layups, 3s, free throws, anything.”
San Antonio’s most lopsided defeat this season was a 24-point loss at New Orleans on Jan. 22.
Derek Fisher scored eight points and remained in the starting lineup after being listed as probable going into the game because of a strained right elbow.
Notes: Bryant is 13 points shy of surpassing Moses Malone for sixth on the NBA’s career scoring list. … McDyess played in his 999th career game. The 15-year veteran can hit 1,000 if he plays Wednesday against Detroit. … The Lakers in town made for a rare courtside celebrity sighting in San Antonio: late-night host George Lopez.
Why is that turd George Lopez in SA? Just another front running laker creep.
The Spurs lack focus when they read their own press clippings, rarely play well in afternoon games, and almost always lose games where the other team can't miss a jumper. I'm not sure why everyone's hitting the panic button. The Spurs still own the season series. Lakerfan's been telling us all year that regular season games don't mean anything.
When I watched sportscenter this morning and seeing all the hype the spurs were getting you'd know they'd lose.
Plus the Lakers if they don't win this game they really would have a confidence issue iMO in the playoffs against the spurs going forward. Great fodder for pop to use going forward. He seemed to semi drop the soft card after the game anyways.
Larry Brown had a saying in the early 90s wig the spurs that I remember and still to this day agree with.
"if you get beat by the jumpshot, you tip your cap and walk away not down"
Except that doesn't apply today.
Yeah, it was a perfect storm. The Lakers came out really hustling like the game meant something, and the Spurs didn't. The second chance points, defensive hustle and incredible jump shooting combined with the Spurs' poor shooting. Eliminate any one factor and the Lakers still win that quarter by a dozen points.
Sorry for the formatting, didn't feel like messing with it.
One for the books: Spurs’ loss ranks among their worst in AT&T history...Here’s a look at the 11 worst home losses for the Spurs in the AT&T era.
-24 New Orleans 78-102 Jan. 26, 2008
-24 Sacramento 80-104 Dec. 8, 2002
-23 Denver 77-100 Apr. 18, 2007
-22 Dallas 91-113* May 9, 2006
-21 Dallas 72-93 April 16, 2003
-19 Houston 78-97 Jan. 22, 2006
-19 Portland 76-95 Nov. 9, 2002
-17 Dallas 81-98 Nov. 4, 2008
-17 Phoenix 79-96 April 9, 2008
* – Indicates playoff game.
-16 Miami 83-99 Nov. 7, 2008
-16 L.A. Lakers 83-99 March 6, 2011
Tim Griffin
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...n-att-history/
Of course not. Never does
Sell the playoff tickets btw The Spurstalk experts are back telling us that the team is .
Now that is rich coming from youOf course not. Never does
Sell the playoff tickets btw The Spurstalk experts are back telling us that the team is .
If you think it was the Spurs getting beat by jumpers and you just tip your hat, you are a damn fool. And a homer.
LOL what game were you watching Eric?
There has been games where your saying can apply, that we've lost because the other team shot lights out, but this is not one of them.
The Spurs got dominated in multiple areas of the game. The Lakers didn't win simply because they had a hot shooting night. They rebounded the ball well when the game was on the line and up for grabs, and their defense shut us down.
I mean really, that statement of yours is almost re ed if you actually watched the game.
The game was up for grabs? What game was I watching?
crofl at this being a game after the 1st quarter. Lakers came out and couldn't miss if you deflated the ball and put a lid on the rim. Plus the ball would either land in their immediate area or Bynum would tip it around until he got possession. Not to mention that the Lakers played decent defense. If the Spurs make shots early on, this game is winnable but they were doomed once that lead went 13+.
Well the game was up for grabs in the first quarter and the Spurs got dominated on the boards during that stretch. At the end of the game the rebounding numbers looked better, but when it counted the Spurs lost on the boards badly. There was one rebound where Bynum had 4 or 5 Spurs around him and he still grabbed the board.
That is why I said when it was up for grabs because someone might look at the box score and think the rebounding was fairly close, but it wasn't really until the game was over, which was in the first quarter and I guess even a little bit of the second quarter.
They didn't show up and they got their asses handed to them by a good team that needed a statement win. Shame on the Spurs, but it doesn't make this game any more devastating than the loss to Memphis. I'm embarrassed for the Spurs, but I can't really see how anything other than temporary bragging rights was on the line here. The Lakers can win this and the next game and still lose the season series.
The Spurs could have gotten rebounds and they'd have still been down by 15 at the end of the first. The Lakers got four or five offensive boards in the quarter and got like six points from it. At one point they got three or four in a row and got one basket from it, so it looked really bad but wasn't putting up a ton of points.
Again, it was a factor in how bad the blowout was, but no, the game was never up for grabs. The Lakers hustled more, played better defense, couldn't miss from outside, and the Spurs couldn't seem to dribble the ball up the floor for much of the quarter. This was going to be a pretty epic ass whipping no matter what.
Did I say that rebounding was the sole reason for the loss? I was replying to EricB who said we only lost because the other team had a hot shooting night. What point are you trying to make to me here? The Spurs lost the game in a number or areas. I already said that.
And don't tell me the game wasn't up for grabs in the first quarter. The Spurs have the best record in the NBA and the Lakers are the defending champs. If the game wasn't up for grabs in the first quarter then you're saying the Spurs lost before they even stepped on the court and they never should have showed up.
What difference is it if it's a tie game with 3 or 4 minutes to go into the 4th Vs 3 or 4 minutes into the first? There is a point where the game was up for grabs and the other team takes the game. This point was early in the Spurs game because they got destroyed badly and put in a huge hole.
It was a tie game after a few minutes into the first and then that is the stretch where the Lakers dominated with their rebouding, defense and shooting, so that was the point where it was up for grabs and the Spurs lost the game during that stretch.
No kidding! Thank goodness for the Ponies losing...
If you reverse the order of the quarters in this game and the Lakers spank the Spurs in the 4th quarter instead of the 1st I would have a worse feeling about this beating.
It's simple, the Spurs needed Parker on fire to win the game. That didn't materialize. Tony's ability to push the pace and finish at the rim has driven this team all year. I haven't looked at the numbers yet but it didn't look like he out played Fish at all. Who among us would say that if Tony doesn't out play Fisher the Spurs will win this one? Along with Parker, Blair and Duncan were also trying to finish shots with trick manuevers. What the is that all about. I don't care if they are trees, you have to go at them and take your licks!
Assuming the Spurs were well enough rested, then some of the team didn't take this game seriously enough. Oh well, it's only one game. As long as they win three or four games to every loss, home court advantage should still be secured. I think it's vital for the Spurs to be able to rest the starters the last two games.
Back to my first sentence, if I had to make the choice, I would rather the team show up like bone heads in the first quarter than get out executed in the fourth. At least this way they weren't extended to their physical max, and again, just one in the loss column. Go Spurs Go.
The Spurs showed up? What game was I watching?
Lesson learned this weekend: don't let your team get down by 20-24 points in the first quarter.
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