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Yes, it does look so easy for the Spurs. Hopefully they will up the tempo as the season progresses.
The Spurs are making it look easy at this point of the season. Look at George Hill contribute to the team with 22 points!
Yes, it does look so easy for the Spurs. Hopefully they will up the tempo as the season progresses.
Last edited by janetcn12; 12-12-2010 at 08:41 PM. Reason: typo
Point differential for this week (last Sunday to today)
NO +25
GSW + 17
Atlanta +16
Port. +17
--------------
Differential +18.75
It's been just a week of blowouts. And that's good.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-they-used-to/Notes on a scorecard: The Spurs are playing defense like they used to
Tim Griffin
...The Spurs were playing defense almost like during their championship glory days, helping pave the way for a 95-78 victory over Portland.
Forget about all this new-fangled up-tempo running and scoring. The Spurs were making it tough for Portland to score on nearly every possession, although they needed a little early convincing to get there...
“Absolutely not. What did they score? Like 70-something points,” said Duncan. “That’s 70-something reasons for him to complain.”Tim knows Pop best.
I believe it's 3 games in 4 nights...5 days. but we get your point
Views from the Other Side:
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/in...nd_78_spu.html
San Antonio 95, Portland 78: Blazers get up-close look at a true contender
Published: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 3:00 PM Updated: Monday, December 13, 2010, 7:51 AM
SAN ANTONIO -- For the second time this season, the Trail Blazers on Sunday got a peek at what a championship-caliber team looks like, and just like their meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers last month, their encounter with San Antonio was revealing:
The Blazers are not close to even considering themselves a contender in the West.
San Antonio rolled to its NBA-best 20th win in methodical fashion, dispatching the wanna-be Blazers 95-78 at the AT&T Center behind sharp three-point shooting, a huge discrepancy in free-throw shooting and stellar defense.
"We are a ways away from the way that team is playing," Blazers coach Nate McMillan understated.
The Blazers got 17 points from Wesley Matthews and 11 points and 13 rebounds from Marcus Camby, and were within five points midway through the third period, but they never seriously threatened, ending a season-best four-game winning streak.
It wasn't as humiliating as the 121-96 loss to the Lakers in the season's eighth game, but it was every bit as sobering.
Of course, it didn't help that Blazers guard Brandon Roy tweaked his ailing left knee early in the first quarter, which he said greatly affected his confidence for the rest of the game.
Roy, who was coming off one of his best performances of the season on Friday, was reduced to a jump shooter Sunday, and it wasn't pretty. He went 4 for 16 from the field, and many of his misses weren't close. He finished with nine points and six assists in 31 minutes.
Roy did not play in the fourth quarter, and no starter played more than eight minutes in the fourth, as McMillan conceded defeat and saved his key players for tonight's game in Memphis, the Blazers' fourth game in five nights.
Roy was confident that he would play in Memphis, despite the first-quarter tweak and another third-quarter incident with his knee that was more dramatic and noticeable. His first tweak came when he was making a side-to-side juke move while using a screen to get open.
The second tweak came at the tail end of a drive against Richard Jefferson, when he planted, felt a twinge, and lost the ball as he went to the ground. He recovered the ball and continued to play, but he said the sharp pain played tricks with his mind.
"After that, it was hard going to my right," Roy said. "I was a little tentative with my left leg."
Roy said the first tweak robbed him of his "explosiveness" and his "lift."
"But you know, it's something that is going to happen," Roy said. "The good thing about it is, it's not really painful now. A couple of weeks ago, it would linger a little bit longer, whereas now, it just kind of bothers me a little bit. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow."
What lies ahead today, and beyond, for this team remains the big question. Considered at season's start among the Western Conference elite, the Blazers (12-12) appear to be drifting closer to the West's middle class, playing on a level more like Memphis, Golden State and Phoenix than the Spurs, Lakers or Dallas.
Owner Paul Allen indicated after last season that he is no longer content with making the playoffs, only to be bounced in the first round, and more and more, eyes are looking to see what first-year general manager Rich Cho will do.
Cho last week said he wants to see this group play some more games before deciding on a course of action.
In the meantime, the Blazers are left hoping. Hoping that Roy's knees hold up. Hoping LaMarcus Aldridge can improve even as he is playing heavy minutes. Hoping the bench provides even an ounce of support.
Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum, supposedly the anchors of the bench, have been absent on the first two games of this trip. Fernandez (1 for 9) and Batum (2 for 16) are a combined 3 for 25.
"It's a long season," Roy said. "We have time to improve. We still feel like we can compete with these teams, we just have to find ourselves. We haven't done that yet."
Notes: The Blazers established season-lows for a Spurs opponent in points and field-goal percentage (.379). ... The Spurs (20-3) are off to their best start in franchise history. ... The Blazers were within 57-52 with 6:38 left in the third, but San Antonio went on a 9-0 run. The closest the Blazers got from there was nine, 68-59, with 1:04 left in the third. ... Spurs reserve George Hill scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the first half.
-- Jason Quick
Bring on the Bucks!
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