Ludden: Spurs seek resurrection from twilight zone

[Agloco]

The Spurs won 54 games because Manu played 44 games and Tim Duncan was playing like a MVP before his injury !
So Tony wasn't alone, for at least 44 games the Spurs had 3 superstars !
I think the record for those 44 games was 32-12.
It means 72.7 % wins... on pace to 59 wins for the season.

Without Manu, the Spurs were 22-16.
It means 57.8 % wins... on pace to 47 wins for the season.

Add to that an injured Duncan, and the Spurs are... what we are seeing now.

And it's not pretty.

+1

But there's to much pressure being put on the big 3, period. They need consistent roleplayers. That simply does not exist on this current roster.

[MoSpur]

Mason guarding Barea was horrible. Bonner was playing decent defense on Dirk, but he was hot. Howard went off in the first quarter because Finley wasn't good enough on defense. This is why I thought Pop should have called a timeout early on to insert guys like Bowen, Udoka, and maybe Hill to guard Howard, Barea, and Dirk.

[ploto]

Nice to see an article from Ludden who is the only guy who really had the inside scoop at times.

As one team official said Thursday evening: “This is a weird time for us.”

More telling: The team official said that before watching the Spurs score their fewest points ever in a playoff game.

For all the talk about Duncan’s improvement the past two weeks, he still doesn’t look right.

The book on the Spurs’ point guard: Get him out of his rhythm early. If his first few jump shots don’t fall, he tends to lose some of his aggressiveness.

[ploto]

Now I remember my problem with Ludden...he always seemed to have a thing against Tony Parker. Even when Parker had amazing games, Ludden always managed to throw in a slice at him.

Being a bit too sensitive. Ludden has more insight into Tony's play than any other writer. What he wrote is simply true and not an insult.

[hater]

Pop is the

[timaios]

The book on the Spurs’ point guard: Get him out of his rhythm early. If his first few jump shots don’t fall, he tends to lose some of his aggressiveness.

Tony was aggressive in that game, but there was a lot of help defense on him. Blocks from Howard, Dampier...
And beyond that he was not playing well... as everyone in a Spurs uniform.

[phxspurfan]

Why are we having effort issues in the playoffs? I thought this was a veteran team.

[timvp]

Pretty good article. The part about sacrificing offense for defense is obviously true. Last year, Pop talked about how defense wasn't the problem ... it was the lack of offense. And now for this offensive team to go belly up against an average defensive team?

Not the greatest of signs.

[timvp]

And regarding Parker, he's literally not built like a player who can always dominate if he's not getting any help. He's not a Wade or LeBron whose athleticism makes him able to repeatedly beat multiple defenders, rise above, absorb contact and finish repeatedly. Parker actually needs spacing and last night with everyone sucking around him, there was no spacing.

But yeah, no player was leading the Spurs to victory last night. Put LeBron in Parker's place on this team and they still lose by 20.

[Death In June]

This guy, Ludden, doesn't follow a logical progression in his thinking and is full of inaccuracies. I don't know why he gets so much love here.

[Spursmania]

And regarding Parker, he's literally not built like a player who can always dominate if he's not getting any help. He's not a Wade or LeBron whose athleticism makes him able to repeatedly beat multiple defenders, rise above, absorb contact and finish repeatedly. Parker actually needs spacing and last night with everyone sucking around him, there was no spacing.

But yeah, no player was leading the Spurs to victory last night. Put LeBron in Parker's place on this team and they still lose by 20.

Some adjustments from Pop are definitely in order. Barea will start as well, so I hope Pop has answer for him.

[poop]

Pop should've have put in Bowen, Gooden, and Udoka in the game a lot sooner to try to slow down the Mavs. I give Carlise credit for inserting Barea into the starting lineup. Pop could have went with Hill early in the game to guard Barea. I don't get why he's so stubborn. Pop that is. Mason could not guard Barea for crap. He was getting past him anytime he wanted to seemed like.

The Spurs were off on offense so why not insert some defense to get stops. Like Ludden said, Pop has opted for more offense this season. Pop always said their offense fed off of their defense. That is not so this season. I know Bowen is older, but guys like Udoka and Hill can help I believe.

exactly.

other coaches see a problem, and make adjustments to fix it.

pop does not make adjustments, no matter how obviously they are needed.

any ing idiot would have been starting bowen months ago, and would have Hill on barea immediately. not pop though.