SI.com: Don’t be fooled by the Grizzlies’ near comeback against the Spurs in Game 2

[InRareForm]

Aside from the missed shots, there were lots of terrible fouls/and 1's that compounded the situation.

[TheGoldStandard]

All those foul calls were blatant too, its laughable.

[Spurs and Mavs fan]

If this series turns into high-scoring shootouts, the Spurs should have the upper hand.

[Kidd K]

This is the reason I disagree with Timvp's grading in another thread. In a couple games against Dubs, you don't feel the difference when Timmy was on/off the court. Last night, the whole vibe of the game changed when Timmy left the court. Against a Grizzlies team centered their offense on two big men, Timmy is the key to everything.

Yeah I completely agree. Tim Duncan is a massive defensive influence on the Grizzlies. I think maybe he had a little bit of trouble against the Warriors because they rarely went into the paint and took a lot of perimeter jumpers, so he didn't have a huge lot of opportunities to effect the game. But with Memphis, they go near Duncan repeatedly and it's allowing him to make a huge impact.

[skulls138]

Memphis probably missed more open shots. They had a serious lid on their basket.

[tuncaboylu]

There are too many true points in that article and Cry Havoc's comment.

But Memphis defense was purified by us in first 1.5 half game. Conley-Allen-Prince and Gasol are all good 1 on 1 defenders but they seem like ducks when we move the ball and drive and kick passes. Memphis basically couldn't stop us with their defenders. Now they're try to do it with their offensive guys.

(There is a point here, Pondexter is not a proven offensive player infact, his 3 years NBA career is not very impressive. The only advantage him over Prince is shooting better behind the arc.)

Now Kawhi and Green will have very important roles in this series. They were knocking down the good-looks and destroyed Memphis primary line-up. Now they're going to play with Pondexter instead of Prince and maybe Bayless instead of Allen. Now Leonard and especially Green should penetrate to the rim. They should prove that they're not one-dimensional spot up shooters and can punish the weak 1 on 1 defense over them. If Leonard and Green attacks to the rim and Pondexter and Bayless can not avoid them, Memphis will have a dilemma.

And forgot to say: I honestly don't believe that the offense of Memphis will boost when Bayless and/or Pondexter comes to line-up. They could score only 1 basket in the first 4.40 of OT by Tony Allen and the assist came from Tony Parker in that position(He was trying to keep the ball inbound). The only effect of it will be decreasing the pressure over Zach and Gasol but they couldn't overplayed their primary defenders Splitter and Duncan till now.

[Baseline]

Bayless played out of his mind in Game 2. I don't think he can do that again. Bayless essentially sucks, so I think we've seen his best. He's not half the player Jarrett Jack is, but went Jack on us in Game 2.

[Baseline]

Bayless will play more like Jarrod from Subway in Game 3

[Sean Cagney]

Bayless played out of his mind in Game 2. I don't think he can do that again. Bayless essentially sucks, so I think we've seen his best. He's not half the player Jarrett Jack is, but went Jack on us in Game 2.

LOL yeah man, he is not half Jack, Jack balled out all playoffs! Round one he was even better believe it or not! Round two he was very good! Jack is just a baller, lets hope he is not hal fo Jack in this series!

[pookenstein]

I would activate Baynes for the remaining games of this series and put either T-Mac, Mills or even Blair in a suit right next to Nando. If Duncan or Splitter get into foul trouble that would give us an alternative to Bonner.
Probably won't happen, but neither Marc nor Zach would be able to push Baynes around on D like they do with Bonner.

[mudyez]

As for the adjustment on the wings:

Pondexter might be a good option. And at this point he might be a better defender than Prince too.
Swapping Allen and Bayless is the interesting part as that leaves Memphis bench really weak on the offensive end. There is a reason guys like Manu, Neal and Bonner come from the bench (ok, with the later two it's obvious). You want some punch even when your stars are benched or get tired.
BTW.: Is Bayless even a catch and shoot guy or will he just take the ball out of Conleys hands?

[spurspokesman]

Three fouls in 29 seconds on Duncan was all it took.

That kind of backfired on the Grizzlies, though. Timmy was on the bench for quite a while in the second half, so he had fresh legs going into OT.

That turned out to be the difference in the end.

Agreed

[TampaDude]

Yep. Grizz' offense sucked all series so far except when refs put on their capes and called 3 fouls on Duncan in 30 seconds, then another a minute after he got back into the game, forcing him to sit most of the 2nd half.

Duncan has been our key defensive player by FAR all series. The Grizzlies have not figured him/the Spurs out yet except to flop repeatedly (which they have been doing) and hope the refs will bail them out and make Duncan sit.



Nah not really. It allowed them to get it to OT. . .getting a chance to win that game was a rousing success for them even though they lost. They were enroute to another blowout otherwise. Don't forget they also called Duncan's 5th foul somethin like 63 seconds after he entered the game in the 4th too, making him sit again.

They barely had to play against Duncan in the 2nd half at all until the final 8 minutes (including OT) where Duncan had to be very careful when defending otherwise he was gone. The only good quarter they had offensively all series was the 3rd when the refs completely took over for them.

I don't see that we disagree here. The refs clearly were a factor in the second half. We were 5 on 8 for sure. Because Timmy had to sit, he was fresh for OT, and put up 6 huge points. That was all we needed.

The Grizzlies couldn't even beat us when we were at our worst. Spurs in 5. If we win Game 3, we will sweep.

[Keepin' it real]

Bayless will play more like Jarrod from Subway in Game 3

He went to Jarrod!

[Embedded]

In the NBA you are what you are. Memphis is in the WCF because they are a grit and grind defensive team. So starting Pondexter and Bayless seems to me to be an act of desperation, they are trying to be something that they are not, and it might throw their whole rotation out of whack. This is an adjustment, in my opinion, that might cost them game 3 at home, which would be catastrophic for Memphis and Lionel Hollins' job. It will be an adjustment for us, yes, but also for Memphis, and I think it might get into Tony Allen's head (the one that he grabbed in pain when it almost hit the floor). I think at this point they should stick to their original rotation to try to grind this first game out at home before trying such a radical move.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

What I don't understand is why people think that starting Pondexter and Bayless won't have serious ramifications to the Grizzlies defense. I mean, Allen and Prince are by FAR their best defenders out on the wings, and their 2nd and 3rd best defenders, respectively. Which means that now they are fielding a team consisting of 1 excellent defender (Gasol), one decent/good defender (Conley) two unproven guys who don't appear to play any defense and aren't used to starting rotations or offenses, and ZBo, who has been an absolute traffic cone in this series for Parker.

I think Spurs fans everywhere should be ecstatic. We're only two games into the series, and already Hollins has completely changed his team chemistry, the one that won 55+ games in the regular season. He's trying to play OUR game. So far we've been better on both ends of the ball and destroying his vaunted defense, now he's sacrificing most of his defensive prowess in favor of offense? That's the best news of the Conference Finals yet. Now instead of bursting off the bench with fresh legs, their gunners are going to be starting the game running headlong into our best defensive 5. Parker has been more than fine against Conley, and Green and Kawhi will be draped all over Pondexter and Bayless.

Not to mention the fact that neither of the latter are used to getting burn with starter minutes.



Think about it: We're going into the Grindhouse against the best defensive team in the league and they have already abandoned their hyper-defensive team to score more points. I could NOT think of a better scenario heading into game 3, and I sincerely hope that Pondexter, Conley, and Bayless get it in their heads that they want to turn this game into a track meet against our transition defense and laser passing. If they seriously think it's a good idea, we could be up 25 at half.

Good stuff here. I believe they've realized they need to score 100 pts to win a game and I agree with you.

[Embedded]

We let them almost come back in Game 2 because Mr. Duncan had to sit with foul trouble, and, let's face it, we were gassed and complacent. Removing Tony Allen from the starting lineup is a startling error in my opinion because when you talk Grit and Grind, he's the poster boy (well, if you forget that little "I've fractured my skull and I can't get up" bit of current internet fame, of course). They are tinkering with their iden y instead of trying to make adjustments and execute with what got them there. We may take Saturday's game in Memphis if they make such a drastic move. If Bayless and Pondexter aren't making a barrage of outside shots they might fall into a hole.

[Kidd K]

I don't see that we disagree here. The refs clearly were a factor in the second half. We were 5 on 8 for sure. Because Timmy had to sit, he was fresh for OT, and put up 6 huge points. That was all we needed.

The Grizzlies couldn't even beat us when we were at our worst. Spurs in 5. If we win Game 3, we will sweep.

Oh yeah dude, I wasn't thinking we disagreed, I was just on a mini-crusade that night blasting the refs for their ty officiating in a few threads. :P I've agreed with most of your posts I've read the past couple weeks bro.

Spurs in 5 was my pick before the series started. I've been keeping up with what the Grizzlies did this year, and I knew they would severely struggle to keep up with us scoring. Our D is about as good as theirs and our O is WAY better. Grizz will only win one game imo if refs don't take over again. Grizz don't suck so I will give them some respect. But Spurs are just built to beat them. People just didn't realize it. . .and probably won't until after the series.

[buttsR4rebounding]

Everyone likes to talk about how good the Grizzlies' defense is, but the Spurs were barely behind them in the defensive rankings. The Spurs have an elite defense too, and it has shown against the Grizzlies' middling offense.

Also, the Warriors controlled all but 4 minutes of the first two games last round, and see where it got them. I want to see the Spurs go for the damn jugular in game 3.

Plus the Spurs were involved in a higher number of blowout games when you had "garbage time" defense being played. Judging by the 1st 2 games I would submit that if the Spurs were as offensively challenged as the Grizz and forced to focus more on defense that the Spurs D is superior to the Grizz.