It's hard not to "force" a wide open shot. I, as well as the rest of the fan base would have been upset if guys who shoot in the 40% range were passing up wide open looks.
Considering the Hornets had no real inside presence on defense, it baffles me that they could not find a way to take advantage of it with penetration. If the Hornets sagged everyone inside, at least spot up Mason out there for the open looks. Udoka, Bonner and Finley just cannot be counted on when the game is in the balance to hit those shots. What is Bonner's 3pt FG% in the 4th quarter? Anyone know?
Bonner at ing Jim's
We shhot threes like the ing orlando magic
way too many!
Blame Pop for this. He has convinced this squad that the 3-ball is their most effective weapon or winning. Sounds like he's borrowed a page out of his mentor, Nellie's, playbook.
I understand he wants to spread the court and open it up for Duncan, yet the problem is Duncan is currently NOT the first option. TP is. In his current state, Duncan can no longer command double teams. Opposing teams can now play him straight up and sit on the shooters beyond the arc.
Now that this situation has evolved, the roster hasn't evolved with it. Pop has a bunch a 3-ball chuckers and very few slashers.
Are ya nuts? The 3-point shot is a tremendously effective weapon. The Spurs are the #1 or #2 team in the league at 3-point efficiency. It is not a matter of pride or soul, it's a matter of winning ballgames.
Last night's game was a statistical blip, that's all. Everybody had a bad shooting night all together. It happens.
If the Spurs hit their 3s, they win almost every time. That's the way it is. That's who they are.
I'm not so sure. I think the spurs tried to get a shooting team around Duncan. Just think back to when we had Brent Barry, or what Mike Fin has been doing for the spurs.
Is this a bad thing?
keep shooting the three.. we're second in the league in percentage for a reason, the guys just had an off night, that doesn't mean quit shooting the trey ball.
29 attempts is too much!
i don't mind spurs shooting open threes, which they get a lot of. parker's drive and kicks plus duncan's pass out of the double team nets a lot of three point shots. it's the spurs' job to hit those open 3's. i saw udoka and bonner bricking a lot of open three point attempts. need to put in players that can make open threes under pressure like bowen and mason.
I think we can say that the situation has devolved, as in we don't have as many options as we used to...That's a long way around the barn to say we probably aren't a championship team anymore. It seems most people agree that the Spurs best prospects for ring #5 is "anything can happen." Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
It's a shame because while our defense has deteriorated, it might be adequate, but sometimes we forget that you have to score baskets in order to win games it seems...
The 3 ball is not the problem, the shooter's that can't knock down open ones are. The Spurs win les when they have guys that can hit open threes...and they usually fail to win them when they don't.
There's no excuse for not hitting open threes when your job it to hit them...it's simply choking.
Lost our soul? Well our soul as it pertains to winning championships has always included guys like Mario Elie, Steve Kerr, Jaren Jackson...Stephen Jackson, Brent Barry, Robert Horry etc.
We won les because those guys either hit their open threes, or were good enough to where they weren't left open to take them, thus freeing up Duncan to dominate...and thinning out the paint for guard penetration.
Our soul? If you left Stephen Jackson open from 3, he was going to hit it, and it's the difference between that team winning a le, and the team with Hedo not.
If our shooters are left open and not hitting their threes...there will be no guard penetration, because the reason the 3 shooters are open is because their men are clogging the paint to harass Duncan, or keep Parker and Manu out of it, instead.
When Parker or Manu drive into crowded paint...it usually ends up in a TO.
The shooters need to hit their open threes...that is our soul as it pertains to winning championships...always has been.
Last edited by whottt; 03-30-2009 at 03:01 AM.
Over the past 3 years the Spurs have shot a lot more 3s than earlier in the Duncan era. The past 3 years its been about 19.5 3s attempted per game where prior to that it was much lower - around 15.
I generally agree with you and when you have a big man who has an excellent post game you need to have shooters to open the middle for him. See Shaq and Hakeem for more proof. The Spurs are never going to have an offense like the Celtics or Lakers because of their core personal.
In any event, I think the return of Manu gives someone else who can reliably penetrate but its not going to matter if the opposition clogs the lane and dares RMJ and Bonner to beat them.
I saw some potential.
When Bonner went out with foul trouble early and Drew Gooden relieved him.
Manu fed a sick pass to him in the post he wasn't ready for and he fumbled the ball.
A few posessions later, Manu did the same thing, but this time Gooden was ready for it and scored.
Too bad D-West was making Gooden his .
The Spurs turning into a jump shooting team is to America finally going completely socialist.
The end of greatness.
It really sucks to watch how much Duncan has digressed.
expect more bruce pt and more manu drives come playoff time.
the role players need to do their job and hit the open shots.
udoka, mason, bonner, finley: 3-18 ain't gonna cut it.
on any given night,
you need at least ONE of those players to man up and hit their shots.
Bonner should never be getting any shot of importance.
Personally and based upon previous evidence, I don't have any faith in Bonner to hit open threes against superior teams. In practically every games versus the Fakers, they've geared their offense to shutting down Parker's penetrations and have practically dared Bonner to shoot. He's come up virtually empty.
True, but actually Manu is part of the problem in that he's taking more 3's now than at any other time in his career. That leaves Tony as the only true penetrating slasher.
eventually they will fall....the spurs did miss alot of open 3's but yeah spurs should drive to the hoop more.....
The issue is Duncan and Manu falling off because of age/injuries combined with the reputation of the 3point shooters.
With guys in the past, teams were afraid to leave them and as a result Tim (and later on Manu) had more room to operate. It was truly pick your poison.
With the Spurs of this year - no one is afraid of their shooters. So instead of sticking to them and allowing the Spurs 3 to work inside, they are clogging and just running out to the shooters.
If these same guys were with Tim and Manu in their prime it wouldn't be a problem. If SA had shooters the league feared right now, it wouldn't be a problem. But the combo likely dooms the Spurs in the playoffs.
Ahh look what I found here...another negative post by 2Cleva, because his team is so "unstoppable" right?
The Spurs are who they are. They are not a defensive-oriented team with an all-time elite post player as the focal point of the offense, and elite penetrating wings as the secondary options. That's what they used to be when they won championships.
Now they are a team built around a score-first point guard. When he is on, he can light it up inside or outside, and requires defensive attention that makes penetrate-and-kick really effective, and the perimeter shooters can really light it up. When he's not on, the team has to slow the pace way down, and hope a few lucky shots go down. Their all-time elite post player is so hampered by injury that he is merely above average right now, a 15 and 8 guy not requiring that much defensive attention. The other elite penetrating wing is so hampered by injury and age that he is often just another perimeter shooter.
Unless the coach is also a magic wizard who can heal injuries and reverse aging with spells and incantations, I don't really know what he is supposed to do about it. The Big Three is now the Big One and the Medium Two, and for the first time since his rookie season, Duncan is not the team's focal point on the floor. As marvelous as Parker has been this year, I think his emergence has as much to do with Duncan's decline as with Parker's improvement, and Duncan's decline means the team is doomed to being second-round playoff fodder at best.
So they are what they are.
Sounds like the Spurs need a Witch Doctor or Shaman.
it's a spurs rope-a-dope. relax and wait til it counts...i want them to finish 4th and play LA in the 2nd round...
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