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Good write up, Green has definitely fallen off
-Disappointing ending but it wasn't a bad loss. In fact, the Spurs played better than they did against the Lakers and probably the best they've played since the calendar turned to 2013. The in-game improvement was the highlight of the night. Specifically, after turning it over 12 times in the first half, the Spurs only had six turnovers in the second half and overtime. Against the best team in the league at forcing turnovers, that's quite an accomplishment. The shots didn't go down but the offense actually looked like the Spurs offense in the second half. It can still get cleaned up a bit more but this was a step in the right direction.
-The defense was pretty damn solid. The Grizzlies hit some tough shots but it was mostly really good D. Add in the fact that the Spurs rebounded on the defensive glass well against this brutish team and I'll take this. More often than not, when the Spurs hold the opponent to around one point per possession, they'll get a victory. It didn't happen tonight but the D was definitely good enough to get a win.
-Memphis is legit this year. I scoffed them last year, mostly because Zach Randolph was broken. Now, Randolph is back (not all the way back to his 2011 playoffs level, but much better than last year) and they are starting to figure out how to incorporate Rudy Gay into their offense. They are well coached and have a lot of above average players. I'm not sold that their offense is good enough to win a championship but their defense is no joke -- best D in the league in my eyes.
-I'm not yet pushing the panic button in regards to Tim Duncan's health. He hasn't been good in these last three games but it seems more decisions-based rather than he's hurting. Duncan is definitely lacking some explosion but I don't think it's anything serious. (small prayer)
-I'm just about tired of Gary Neal at backup point guard. It's just not working ... and it's not helping that his calf injury is still obviously bothering him. Patrick Mills did fine in the second half. Is it time to go full-time elsewhere? I'm 95% sold that it is time.
-Did Manu Ginobili run out of gas? It looks like he did. He didn't do much of anything in the fourth quarter or the overtime. That's the downfall of capping Ginobili's minutes. When he's needed for more minutes, it's more difficult for him to dig deep.
-I thought Tony Parker properly ran the show in the second half for the first time in a few games. He'd been in an orchestrational funk but he thankfully snapped out of it. The results weren't great but at least the Spurs got back to running plays again.
-Pop going to Danny Green for clutch three-pointers ... I can't say I love that strategy. You have Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal and others who are old pros at hitting huge shots. Green is green in that category, bad pun somewhat intended.
-This upcoming three-game homestand is really important. The Spurs NEED to take care of business to get back on track. The games aren't easy -- T'Wolves, Grizzlies and then Warriors -- but this is a key stretch for this team to show what they are made of. Are they a 60+ win team that will battle for a first seed or are they going to taper off and settle for a top four seed? We'll know more over the next week.
Good write up, Green has definitely fallen off
TBH this was what annoyed me the most. They weren't good shots, but still, wth manu, jackson, neal (not bonner.. that guy), it pissed me off so much so see him jack up those off balance ones... to be fair though, we were bricking hard in late 4th and OT no matter who shot the ball... we were in such an awful funk, we were lucky to have TP knock that down to get OT.
Good stuff. I had some random thoughts, was about to press submit, then realized the game had gone into OT. Luckily I pressed cancel, else my Parker criticisms would have looked just a tad premature.
Memphis. Does. Not. Scare. Me.
matt bonner possession next to the ring, no one next to him, holds the fkn ball for 3 secs dont know what to do.....FAIL
i dunno who has the slowest release when u compare JAX and BONNER, but jax has no problem pulling the dagger, while bonner continues to give up open shots....
Also I'm a little disappointed that a random thought thread doesn't include how much Tiago playing until he fouls out shifts the power balance between MEM/SA rivalry. When Splitter was out there, I thought he did a damn good job on ZBO. Loved Splitter's aggressiveness tonight. We beat Memphis in 2011 if Splitter plays until he fouls out every game.
Memphis is very good, they might not scare you but they scare most fans in a series. Spurs have problems with that team.
I think Pop is trying to give Danny Green some confidence; something he lacked in last year's WCF. The kid had 3 opportunities in the fourth + OT to make a decision with the ball. His first three point shot to tie the game in the fourth was too quick and forced, the second time Manu found him wide open and he just straight-up missed, the third he was given the ball with 8 or so seconds left at the top of the key and was too slow in his decision making almost resulting in a turnover (given he was guarded by the bigger Gay, but still). I think it's going to be important to try to give him opportunities like this in late game situations during the course of the season but at what point does Pop think to himself, "Okay, this might not be working. Maybe we should stick with Jack or Gary instead"? Ideally it would be nice to get Manu the big shot every time, and Tony has his fair share of the clutch gene, but maybe Danny just isn't the guy we should have in the game at that point especially when we have other options who have proven to be more effective.
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Not worried about Timmy at all though, as I see a majority of this board is freaking out over. He's just tired, and played against one of the top NBA defenses tonight who had some quality bigs to throw at him. Can't say I expected him to go off tonight. His defense was enough to be satisfied with in my opinion. He needs some rest, that's all.
Also, Kawhi Leonard 6 shots in 38 minutes? I'm not happy at all about his integration into the offense. Pop needs to realize he's falling into the Richard Jefferson role and you don't want to limit his potential like that. He needs the ball in his hands more often in 1-on-1 situations. Wasn't that the point of working on it all summer and in the summer league?
enjoy his presence while u still can, i believe his gone once his contract is up.....
This ain't 2011, holmes. If Pop is going to use Splitter like he did tonight against MEM, we will be fine. Many shots the Spurs missed were open. I realize MEM been trending downward, but so have we, so I cancel those factors out. There wasn't one single moment tonight (until the last 20 sec of regulation) that I thought MEM was hopelessly superior to us like I did in 2011. I would love to play MEM in the playoffs.
We had opportunities to win in OT, but missed more shots than Memphis. Good exciting game on the road with playoff bound team.
I'd rather play Memphis in a series than OKC or the Clippers, but playing the best defensive team in a series would suck too.
I'd rather play Memphis than the Thunder, and that's it. If the Grizz get home court against us, we would be the underdogs in that series.
wtf does pop continue to play the hands many minutes when its shown they cant get going
while other players on the bench are waiting for their turn who could turn things up...
danny green played too many minutes
neal was bench for rest of the 2nd half + ot
bonner a dunce just making up an extra body on the court
while jax played lesser minutes then those 3 stooges even when he contribute, whether its defensive matchups and being slow, he still held his own
I think you're right.
I'm starting to think that with the guards Pop needs to start just start going with the hot hand on a game to game basis. Manu and KL are the only wings that I think should get a longer leash. The others are too hit and miss.
Yup, that's pretty much what I saw.
I thought Pop's rotations were pretty odd at times during this game, and specifically in OT I would've gone with Jax rather than Diaw who was so passive he was barely on the court. Jax can fight with Z-Bo down low, then drag ghim out to the perimeter and nail big shots in his face on O. I'm surprised Pop didn't try this, especially since Jax had just hit a big 3.
Don't have any to talk about Parker tonight eh?
And Leonard has looked completely lost on offense, just plain bad. I realize he has more of a garbage/utility man game but I used to see him driving and expect results. Now he is almost interchangeable with Green when he's driving to the rack
He was in the game thread, even after the game-tying 3.
Don't feed the trolls.
Agreed. It's a real concern. His offensive game isn't developing at all, in fact it has regressed from last year.
Obviously, this team still has a long ways to go if they're going to go anywhere, my main reflection on this game though was that I was THOROUGHLY impressed with Tiago's D tonight. He could have rebounded better (though at least him and Timmy outrebounded the bruiser brothers), but I really liked the toughness he displayed all night. If this game is another sign of him coming into his own as a starter, that's the positive I'll take from an otherwise somewhere disappointing loss.
I don't think I'm making this up, wasn't there a quote from Pop a few weeks before training camp, or maybe it was after summer league, where he said his expectation was that Kawhi would be taking a larger role on offense this year? What happened with that? It seems like we might have been seeing a little of that at the beginning of the season, but Kawhi's injury seemed to derail that whole thing, and for some reason Pop has decided not to focus on Kawhi's offensive development in game time. I'm gonna assume that some of the blame is on lack of practice time during the season, which would make sense, especially considering our butt schedule thus far. Hopefully that will all change as things even out.
Regardless though I'm getting tired of seeing Kawhi getting only a handful of shots a game. This kid is too good for Pop to take the long view approach to coaching up his game.
sloppy play in 4qaurters and turnovers costs the spurs the game, he has much as much to it then other clowns who decided not to turn up....
team with 10 turnovers in the first half is always asking to be scored on at will on the other end...
I know we should be pulling for okc to lose, but watching the lakers crash and burn makes me feel better about tonight's loss.
We could probably coast to 57 wins no problem but I just want to stay healthy. Want to see Tim peak right before the playoffs and us to stay healthy. That's way more important than one extra home game in the playoffs. It'll probably take some luck to beat okc anyway. Let's just keep that hope alive instead of worrying and pushing too hard for the top seed at expense of fatigue and injuries to our vets
showed he had posts game in college, comes to the spurs force to play spotup shooter
this is his offense
only shoots when his free open,
force to bailout some kent on a last second attempt with over penetration and ty outlet pass
him stealing the ball going coast to coast...
his being held back on the spurs, hope he leaves in the future for greener pastures
tbh, I didn't expect a win in this game, but by looking at the fact that they fought out of a first half deficit and to overtime, I felt that it was not a tough loss to swallow. I am optimistic enough to wait for the RRT to get rid of any road woes that are present.
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