Initial Reaction: Spurs @ Grizzlies - Game 3

[Harry Callahan]

I taped the game (doubt I'll watch in order to maintain my sanity). Did Manu get his elbow hurt again last night?

[Shelly]

I am convinced that Eva put a curse on TP

[polandprzem]

I taped the game (doubt I'll watch in order to maintain my sanity). Did Manu get his elbow hurt again last night?

It looked like he did.

He will most def play but his elbow will be worse.

All in all it seems like a disastrous ending of a season.


Stupid season - so many hopes ...

[peacemaker885]

1) Parker needs to play better. His poor play is the main reason why Spurs are down 2-1. There nothign more to say about it.

2) Pop has no only be bad yesterday but he has been bad the whole year. He has been passive and has just look at Spurs great regular season record. This record was fools gold and was only great because Spurs were great against bad teams (35-2 against below .500 teams). Putting back McDyess i the starting lineup instead of Blair was also a bad idea. I don't even talk about Splitter...

3) Baring a miracle Spurs season is done. I still think Spurs can beat Memphis because they are a bad team but Spurs won't reach the WCF. If Spurs beat Memphis, a well resting Thunder team will crush a tired old Spurs team.

4) In the likely case of Spurs being crushed by Thunder or losing against Memphis, off-season will be headache for Spurs FO. Should Spurs do a desperate move just to get a slim chance at #5 or should they just let this team die? Does Pop still really wants to coach?

Agree in all aspects. Honestly, I don't think we are going to get past Memphis. Sad end to a great season, but that's that. I hope the FO and coaching staff does the fans and the players a solid over the summer. I really really love to go back to the half court, solid defense, boring to type that we used to be. We all deserve it.

[Spur-Addict]

Neal played with balls out there... I can't fault him for that, and it's night and day from RMJ... We need more Neals in this team, tbh

I agree 100% with this. He played as hard as RJ in his limited minutes.

Parker is the difference in this series. The team still goes as he does. I can't believe he has been so worthless these first three games.

Yes.

He has forced the issue because of frustration, and that has made it worse. Additionally, the shooters need him to play well to get better looks.


Now, i'd lobby to get TD more post up looks, but apparently that's just crazy talk. We turned the ball over three times in a row on one sequence when we should've went inside to Tim. First it was Tony, then Manu, and I forgot the third but the result is all that matters.

Tim is still the "release pressure valve" whether anyone else likes it or not. I'd rather see a banker, a short hook, an up and under as opposed to the trash Parker has been throwing up, and Manu trying to do too much with an injured arm at this point.

Plus, if Tim can draw some fouls on Randolph/Gasol, it serves us later on in the game. We could potentially get extra stretches without both of them on the court at the same time.

[EVAY]

The Spurs have just needed Parker to play at his normal level. Or at least even 90% of it.

Last night Parker got 16 points and 6 assists. His regular season average is 17 points and 7 assists, isn't it?

So isn't that pretty close to his average?

Now, most of his in-season points were in the paint. The fact that the points that he is able to get in this series are not in the paint just MIGHT have something to do with how Memphis has decided to defend him, and their ability to get to him to block shots and/or pack the paint to keep him out. Our bigs have been unable to protect ANY of our guards going into the paint, and none of our guards are consistently scoring in the paint.

Some observers might see that situation and conclude that the Spurs need to make some adjustments to enable their guards to penetrate more.

Some observers might see the ability to score close to the regular season average when your regular season methodology has been taken away from you by the defensive gameplan of the opposing team to be a good statement about the player who can find another way to score and assist even when his normal attempts are being stymied.

Manu's comment in an interview the other day was the most (only) intelligent one so far regarding Tony's difficulties scoring in the paint in this series. He said, with uncharacteristic sarcasm "You think they (Memphis) talk about that? Don't you think they work on that during practice?"

In other words, other teams know how important Tony is to our offense and are effectively disrupting it. Big time. The real question is why the Spurs haven't made some adjustments to help Tony out in these situations. Our bigs need to give a lot more blocking maneuvers to help the guard (whoever it is)
penetrate the lane. Instead, our bigs are positioning themselves almost at the elbows or on the baseline, waiting for a penetrating guard to pass the ball out them for a 10-15 foot jumper. The problem, dear friends, is that the penetrating guard is then left alone in a packed paint with two huge and athletic defenders who either block his shot attempt (resulting in a turnover often), or force the turnover outright by making it impossible for the guard to pass out of the lane,either.

Much of the criticism of TP in this forum is, I believe, a failure to understand the defensive strategy employed by the Grizzlies, and a failure to appreciate how effectively they have done it with no response from the Spurs coaching staff.

It is not the guard's job to figure out how to change the offensive flow. He goes out there and executes what Pop wants done as well as he can with the defensive structure of the opposing coach, and until Pop wants it done another way that will continue.

And the guard in question will be ridden as the goat.

Brilliant. Really brilliant.

[ALVAREZ6]

I wonder if Pop will try to risk putting Splitt against Mem.
Even if he will bring him in the 1st half he will absolutely won't do it when the game is on the line at the end.

Pop in playoffs always want to have experience guys and well into the system guys on the floor.

On the other hand - the timeout situation. Where's the experience?

Well you see, had Pop given Splitter his due time on the court throughout the regular season, he would have much more experience than he currently has, and probably wouldn't be a bad option for this play off run. I guess Popovich analyzed the situation, acknowledged that in order to win it all they would probably have to pass through some combination of Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, Boston, or Chicago, and thought...yeah, 7 foot centers are useless. I'll go with the enormous vagina and the 6'7" center instead.

[ALVAREZ6]

Last night Parker got 16 points and 6 assists. His regular season average is 17 points and 7 assists, isn't it?

So isn't that pretty close to his average?

Now, most of his in-season points were in the paint. The fact that the points that he is able to get in this series are not in the paint just MIGHT have something to do with how Memphis has decided to defend him, and their ability to get to him to block shots and/or pack the paint to keep him out. Our bigs have been unable to protect ANY of our guards going into the paint, and none of our guards are consistently scoring in the paint.

Some observers might see that situation and conclude that the Spurs need to make some adjustments to enable their guards to penetrate more.

Some observers might see the ability to score close to the regular season average when your regular season methodology has been taken away from you by the defensive gameplan of the opposing team to be a good statement about the player who can find another way to score and assist even when his normal attempts are being stymied.

Manu's comment in an interview the other day was the most (only) intelligent one so far regarding Tony's difficulties scoring in the paint in this series. He said, with uncharacteristic sarcasm "You think they (Memphis) talk about that? Don't you think they work on that during practice?"

In other words, other teams know how important Tony is to our offense and are effectively disrupting it. Big time. The real question is why the Spurs haven't made some adjustments to help Tony out in these situations. Our bigs need to give a lot more blocking maneuvers to help the guard (whoever it is)
penetrate the lane. Instead, our bigs are positioning themselves almost at the elbows or on the baseline, waiting for a penetrating guard to pass the ball out them for a 10-15 foot jumper. The problem, dear friends, is that the penetrating guard is then left alone in a packed paint with two huge and athletic defenders who either block his shot attempt (resulting in a turnover often), or force the turnover outright by making it impossible for the guard to pass out of the lane,either.

Much of the criticism of TP in this forum is, I believe, a failure to understand the defensive strategy employed by the Grizzlies, and a failure to appreciate how effectively they have done it with no response from the Spurs coaching staff.

It is not the guard's job to figure out how to change the offensive flow. He goes out there and executes what Pop wants done as well as he can with the defensive structure of the opposing coach, and until Pop wants it done another way that will continue.

And the guard in question will be ridden as the goat.

Brilliant. Really brilliant.

Why don't you tell a more complete story?

How does 4/16 (game 1) and 5/14 and 6 turnovers compare to his averages?

[DPG21920]

Evay, did you really not watch the game(s)? While 16 & 6 may not be far below his season scoring and assist averages, his percentages have been awful and well below. His turnovers have been a major problem as well. His decision making and court vision has been atrocious and even basic things like dribbling the ball and controlling it are below NBA level this series.

[igruex]

Last night Parker got 16 points and 6 assists. His regular season average is 17 points and 7 assists, isn't it?

So isn't that pretty close to his average?

Parker had 16 points, his FG was 35%. He had 5 assists and more than 1 TO per Assist, most of them where dribbling.

Now go check again his regular season averages. Moreover he played a lot worse than his stats indicate. He played so far of his average that he watched the end of the 2nd and the 4th quarter from the bench.

Tony can't play worse and he won't, but we don't need a bit more from him, we need the triple of what he's producing right now.

[rmt]

Last night Parker got 16 points and 6 assists. His regular season average is 17 points and 7 assists, isn't it?

So isn't that pretty close to his average?

Now, most of his in-season points were in the paint. The fact that the points that he is able to get in this series are not in the paint just MIGHT have something to do with how Memphis has decided to defend him, and their ability to get to him to block shots and/or pack the paint to keep him out. Our bigs have been unable to protect ANY of our guards going into the paint, and none of our guards are consistently scoring in the paint.

Some observers might see that situation and conclude that the Spurs need to make some adjustments to enable their guards to penetrate more.

Some observers might see the ability to score close to the regular season average when your regular season methodology has been taken away from you by the defensive gameplan of the opposing team to be a good statement about the player who can find another way to score and assist even when his normal attempts are being stymied.

Manu's comment in an interview the other day was the most (only) intelligent one so far regarding Tony's difficulties scoring in the paint in this series. He said, with uncharacteristic sarcasm "You think they (Memphis) talk about that? Don't you think they work on that during practice?"

In other words, other teams know how important Tony is to our offense and are effectively disrupting it. Big time. The real question is why the Spurs haven't made some adjustments to help Tony out in these situations. Our bigs need to give a lot more blocking maneuvers to help the guard (whoever it is)
penetrate the lane. Instead, our bigs are positioning themselves almost at the elbows or on the baseline, waiting for a penetrating guard to pass the ball out them for a 10-15 foot jumper. The problem, dear friends, is that the penetrating guard is then left alone in a packed paint with two huge and athletic defenders who either block his shot attempt (resulting in a turnover often), or force the turnover outright by making it impossible for the guard to pass out of the lane,either.

Much of the criticism of TP in this forum is, I believe, a failure to understand the defensive strategy employed by the Grizzlies, and a failure to appreciate how effectively they have done it with no response from the Spurs coaching staff.

It is not the guard's job to figure out how to change the offensive flow. He goes out there and executes what Pop wants done as well as he can with the defensive structure of the opposing coach, and until Pop wants it done another way that will continue.

And the guard in question will be ridden as the goat.

Brilliant. Really brilliant.

It's not just the points, but his efficiency. He's shooting 34.1%, that's down 17.8% from his regular season 51.9%. He's not finishing at the rim as he usually does - even on fast breaks when the defense isn't set. He's not hitting his jump shot as he normally does and if the shot isn't there, then don't take it. He's turning the ball over and there was one play where no one was pressuring him and he just slipped while dribbling the ball and almost turned it over. It's not just MEM's defense, he's being sloppy too.

[pgardn]

When you need a three, you don't try to get it on the fast break.

Wrong. Absolutely wrong.

Its one of the best times as momentum is moving towards the 3 point line. Much easier shot and usually easier to find an open man as the floor is spread.

The view is still obstructed.

[ALVAREZ6]

Wrong. Absolutely wrong.

Its one of the best times as momentum is moving towards the 3 point line. Much easier shot and usually easier to find an open man as the floor is spread.

The view is still obstructed.

You're absolutely wrong on this with the reasoning that the momentum helps the 3 point shot. It's tougher to go from running down the floor and stopping on a dime and shooting a 3 than it is otherwise. Only a small amount of players are able to do it consistently well, and really the only very obvious one to me is Chauncey Billups.

[itzsoweezee]

Popovich has got to play the starters more minutes. 35 minutes is not going to cut it.

[polandprzem]

okay b4 I go to sleep I want to say that I can see the light even when everything seems so black and Grizzlies so confident right now that they will demolish the spurs at home now.


The light is - too stupid Allen and his comments
The guy can lose it
Randolph looked like he won the series and might not be there for a battle / big if though
mayo seemed to be really unhappy that he had to go back on the bench after he made that key 3 pointer

Spurs will play for they lives hopefully and can break thi Memphis team, if they do Grizz might fall.

[Obstructed_View]

Wrong. Absolutely wrong.

Its one of the best times as momentum is moving towards the 3 point line. Much easier shot and usually easier to find an open man as the floor is spread.

The view is still obstructed.

There's just not a word created for your post. 'Fail' simply doesn't capture it.