Points to ponder from 2/9 @ Indy

[Cry Havoc]

The Historical







- Not this night. Not this game. Popovich would not be denied his 1,000th NBA win again. Congrats, to arguably the greatest coach in the history of the League.


The Good

- The Spurs clawed back in old-school Spurs style after one of the worst quarters of the season, erasing a 14 point lead from the 3rd quarter and being down 9 with 5:35 to play in the game.

- The Pacers had 87 points with 7:11 to go in the 4th. They would score 6 total points the rest of the way. According to the Pacers announcers, it was due to the Spurs ins uting a "bump" defense.

- Marco Belinelli deserved far more than 6 touches this game. He was the only Spur who looked warm from 3, and at times the only guy on the court who seemed to be taking consistently good shots. He's been a quiet surprise since returning from injury so far, and seems to be fighting on defense as well.

- Timothy Duncan. 8 straight points at one point, and perhaps the most important defensive play of the game when he absolutely schooled Hibbert in the post for a block. By the way, he had 5 of those.

- Tony Parker didn't have the best game, just 19 points on 17 shots, but he didn't force the issue in the 4th and dished out 6 assists with only 2 TOs. I'll take it.

- Baynes' number's don't jump off the page, but dude brought in the fourth including a severe dunk in traffic that Tiago probably will be looking at under his covers after lights out tonight.

- Kawhi had his usual impact on D tonight, but he was quiet overall. We definitely need more from him ESPECIALLY with the struggles of our shooters over the past 3-4 games. You want a max deal, Kawhi? Now's a good time to earn it.


The Bad

- Where has our other baguetted Frenchman wandered off to? Diaw seems completely lost on the court at times. He's getting lost in defensive switches and his shot isn't falling. He had a nice drive to the hoop, but elected to pass out of a 2nd one with time running down in the 4th quarter even though he had an open lane. At this point I'd have him tested for RHS (Robert Horry Syndrome).

- Patty Mills is still bringing energy, but doesn't look the same. Perhaps his shooting has led to a lack of confidence. We need a lot more from our x-factor given the struggles of the starting unit.

- Tiago Splitter. Please take a hiatus to find your manhood and come back like you actually give a when you catch the ball.

- Popovich. Far be it of me to criticize the man who just got 1000... but Cojo, Beli, and Baynes deserved more PT tonight. Maybe not at the same time , but still, they were far and away the most energetic, impact players I saw from the Spurs outside of Duncan, who needs to keep his minutes low. Also... an iso-post up for Baynes in crunch time is not my idea of offense.

The Ugly

- That 3rd quarter. .

- Danny Green's shooting. He made some nice defensive plays in the 4th, but dude cannot hit space from the Hubble Telescope right now.

- Matt Bonner. Please stay off the court. Unless there's a soda spill. You can mop it up with the uppers of your New Balances you ruptured. I'm not a Bonner hater, either, because dude always puts out effort, but he just doesn't have it anymore.

-----

Overall, props to our guys for fighting through a 6-24 performance from 3 and getting a hard-fought W. I don't care who it's against, we're the champs and getting everyone's best shot this year. The 4th quarter was beautiful to watch.

[TXstbobcat]

Great 4th quarter comeback!!!!

[dabom]

ctrl+f kawhi zero.

[Cry Havoc]

ctrl+f kawhi zero.

My bad, I had him in there but moved it down the page and then it got deleted. Hang on.

[barbacoataco]

Nice take. I thought they did well to win tonight given the shooting slump.

[spurs10]

Thanks!

[ElNono]

Solid writeup. I think Pop should've gone with Cojo at point and Patty playing the small SG... but regardless, Patty had good looks, didn't seem to me like he rushed any shots, he just didn't make them.

Boris is just a mystery... he's obviously not as bad (or fat) as Bobcats Boris, but he's far from the smart player that gave us 20+ points in Game 6 at OKC... or the Finals Boris. Basically, the computer crashed, we didn't have Boris 2.0 to re-install, and we're stuck with Boris XP until some point in the future...

Defense was again fairly good for stretches, especially at the end, and it was comforting to watch TD be effective. I thought he had one of the better games since the new year.

The offense still needs a lot of work. This will have to be the onus after the ASW... we're not winning anything struggling to generate points.

[dabom]

My bad, I had him in there but moved it down the page and then it got deleted. Hang on.

You could add he stopped the head of the snake at the end and even set marco really ing good with his ability to draw the double team in which a player had to catch him but a quick pump was all that was needed since the pacer dude was running too fast to stop.

[FkLA]

Not even trolling, did you seriously write that Enrique didn't force the issue in the 4th?

Parker Jump Shot: Missed	02:04
Parker Layup Shot: Missed Block: Miles (2 BLK)	01:43
Parker Layup Shot: Missed	01:12

Nice little write-up otherwise.

[Legacy]

The Good

- The Spurs clawed back in old-school Spurs style after one of the worst quarters of the season, erasing a 14 point lead from the 3rd quarter and being down 9 with 5:35 to play in the game.

This is what really made me happy about tonight's game. As we all know, 4th quarters this whole season have been nothing but nailbiters and chokejobs. I never used to worry about the other team having a double-digit lead against us in the 4th (even with only 3-5 minutes left in the game) because The Spurs usually "spurred" their way back into the game and would triumph almost everytime. This is what they were known for. I really, really missed 4th quarters like these, and hope that there will be more in the future.

[moisaenz]

Solid writeup. I think Pop should've gone with Cojo at point and Patty playing the small SG... but regardless, Patty had good looks, didn't seem to me like he rushed any shots, he just didn't make them.

Boris is just a mystery... he's obviously not as bad (or fat) as Bobcats Boris, but he's far from the smart player that gave us 20+ points in Game 6 at OKC... or the Finals Boris. Basically, the computer crashed, we didn't have Boris 2.0 to re-install, and we're stuck with Boris XP until some point in the future...

Defense was again fairly good for stretches, especially at the end, and it was comforting to watch TD be effective. I thought he had one of the better games since the new year.

The offense still needs a lot of work. This will have to be the onus after the ASW... we're not winning anything struggling to generate points.

I would say we have Boris Vista.

[TheGreatYacht]

Great read But I disagree on the Splitter part, thought he played solid tonight IMO

[Robz4000]

Completely disagree about Splitter. He's been pretty good since Pop sat him against Orlando. Agree with the rest of your analysis tho, good write up .

[ElNono]

Tiago is hard to gauge. Defensively, I thought he was solid, just as good as last night. Offensively, he's just frustrating finishing around the rim, but he did have some nice baskets in the 1st half....

[dabom]

Tiago is hard to gauge. Defensively, I thought he was solid, just as good as last night. Offensively, he's just frustrating finishing around the rim, but he did have some nice baskets in the 1st half....

Tiago must have girl hands and calves. Cant jump or grip a basketball.

[Robz4000]

Tiago is hard to gauge. Defensively, I thought he was solid, just as good as last night. Offensively, he's just frustrating finishing around the rim, but he did have some nice baskets in the 1st half....

We're just gonna have to cme to terms with Splitter being soft with his shot, which is fine seeing as he's a pretty nifty finisher. He needs to go hard for boards and keep the ball moving when he isn't under the basket, which he's been doing.

[apalisoc_9]

Parker forced the issue in the fourth...

[Legacy]

Yeah... many posters were commenting the other day about how happy we were that Tiago is back! He's been looking really good the last couple of games, imo.

[ElNono]

how about Pop putting the ball in Kawhi's hands in crunchtime??? Just showing off to Bird he got the short end of the stick in the trade?

[Cry Havoc]

You could add he stopped the head of the snake at the end and even set marco really ing good with his ability to draw the double team in which a player had to catch him but a quick pump was all that was needed since the pacer dude was running too fast to stop.

You could make your own write-up about the only player on the team that you like, too. But alas, we all know how that would go.

Great read But I disagree on the Splitter part, thought he played solid tonight IMO

Every time he throws a fadeaway baby hook in crunch time I ing cringe.

Completely disagree about Splitter. He's been pretty good since Pop sat him against Orlando. Agree with the rest of your analysis tho, good write up .

Well, I didn't put him in the "ugly" section. But if 8 and 4 and serviceable defense is all he's good for, we're in bad shape.

Not even trolling, did you seriously write that Enrique didn't force the issue in the 4th?


Nice little write-up otherwise.

I don't understand. Layups are not forced shots, Tony got hacked on one and the officials weren't blowing the whistles for either team. Is Tony not supposed to shoot at all on a night when we're 6-24 from 3? The ONLY guy hitting from beyond 10 feet tonight was Beli, so I don't see the issue you have with Parker shooting since everyone was taking contested jumpers.

Thanks anyway.

[Seventyniner]

Parker forced the issue in the fourth...

Chicken and egg again: is the team struggling because Parker is forcing it or the other way around?

[Cry Havoc]

Another thing I liked is on the last possession, Kawhi drove and forced the defense to come to him rather than taking an outside shot, then threw a beautiful dish to Marco for the game winner. If we see that from Kawhi more often, I'll feel better about the times he's content to shoot jumpers.

[Arc]

kawhi still isn't there yet. he's attacking, posting up, etc. but he still struggles to score off those situations. he does a great job finding the open man. but sometimes you gotta will your way to the basket and score, especially on nights when the team can't hit air.

[Cry Havoc]

kawhi still isn't there yet. he's attacking, posting up, etc. but he still struggles to score off those situations. he does a great job finding the open man. but sometimes you gotta will your way to the basket and score, especially on nights when the team can't hit air.

I know he threw one down last game, but I haven't seen many emphatic dunks from him this season. Would be nice to get our guys energized and if nothing else to give the defense another thing to worry about.

[TDfan2007]

I know he threw one down last game, but I haven't seen many emphatic dunks from him this season. Would be nice to get our guys energized and if nothing else to give the defense another thing to worry about.

Kawhi isn't really an explosive leaper, so those are rare for him anyway, but he's got great body control and ability to finish with contact. I'd like to see him be more aggressive on those drives too. With the way Tony's been ineffective attacking the basket this season we need Kawhi to step up and take some of that role.