Reply With Quote
Hopefully all the trade rumors dont effect the Spurs focus on this game...
Referee Assignments
Wed. Jan 27
Atlanta @ San Antonio: Monty McCutchen; Curtis Blair; Derrick Collins
Hopefully all the trade rumors dont effect the Spurs focus on this game...
predict how many dunks does atlanta get?
im gonna say 4 first q, 5 second q, then 8-10 in the third when they start to blow it up, then prob another 6-8 in the 4th as they clear their bench
If a lose here it wouldn't be so bad if the Spurs bring playoff intensity because they pretty much have to come out balls out at this point (I think). They have to at least look like a team that is preventing themselves from a downward spiral with a bit of desperation to get rlling in the right direction. Now if they come out flat and uninterested about the win... I just don't know.
Another 3rd-qtr letdown = another loss = total meltdown @ ST
Atlanta Hawks (29-14) at San Antonio Spurs (25-18)
The San Antonio Spurs hope to avoid a season-high fourth straight loss when they resume a lengthy homestand tonight versus the Atlanta Hawks at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs have a decent shot at ending their slide since they have won six in a row against the Hawks and 11 straight at home in this series. San Antonio is also 14-1 in the last 15 meetings with Atlanta in the Alamo City.
San Antonio dropped to 0-3 on its residency after suffering a 98-93 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday. Tony Parker had 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Tim Duncan checked in with 15 points and five boards for the Spurs, who have lost five of six overall and fell to 17-9 as the host this season.
"This game was frustrating," Duncan said. "Any time you put yourself in a situation to win games and you can't get over the hump it's frustrating. It's going to happen sometime. We have a team that we can win games especially like the one tonight, but we just need find ways to get it done. Defensively we aren't as good as we want to be...we need to start (improving) there."
Manu Ginobili and Antonio McDyess both netted 14 points in defeat. San Antonio will also welcome Memphis and Denver to town on the homestand and sits four games behind Dallas for the top spot in the Southwest Division.
The Hawks will close out their tour through Texas on Wednesday and put the brakes on a 10-game slide in Houston with Monday's 102-95 triumph over the Rockets at the Toyota Center. Josh Smith scored 12 of his 22 points in the second quarter and also pulled down 10 rebounds, as Southeast Division-leading Atlanta recorded its first win in Houston since February 25, 1999.
Joe Johnson chipped in 20 points and Jamal Crawford added 17 for Atlanta, which has won three straight and six of their last seven games.
"That we lost here for the past 10 years was also in our minds," Smith said. "We wanted to really get the monkey off our backs and control the tempo of the game."
Atlanta is one game ahead of Orlando in the division standings and owns an 11-9 record away from Philips Arena this season. Hawks center Al Horford (thumb) is probable for tonight's game.
LOL @ the Spurs being favorites again..more $..
This is defenitely a major desperation game for the spurs. I think the players are starting to realize they have an absolute clown for a coach and the season is starting to slip away and if they want to win they are going to have to dig down deep and take matters into their own hands.
I expect to see them come out with alot of fire and passion, and more importantly finish the game strong.
i dont know if laugh or cry or go ape on my own self!!! Atlanta is playing good ball for very long now and on the other side, i dont think TIMMYs spurs louse 4 straight at home...i know duncan is going crazy about the spurs play I expect him to really turn it up tonight.
Hawks at Spurs, AKA Messin’ With Texas
by Michael Cunningham
San Antonio– It’s been interesting to see perceptions of the Hawks in Western Conference outposts Houston and San Antonio. Both teams were scuffling and coming off worrisome efforts and both considered the Hawks a threat to continue their slides.
Rockets coach Rick Adelman was matter-of-fact in talking up the Hawks like they are an elite team. He worried about their ability to score one-on-one and their open-court prowess. Then the Hawks used their one-on-one scoring ability and open-court prowess to beat his team. Afterward, Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler, a Rockets TV analyst, said of the Hawks: “They are a team that has it all, and they proved it tonight.”
Now the Hawks are in San Antonio, where Spurs guard Tony Parker tells the San Antonio Express-News (last item): “They’re good — long and athletic. A little bit like the Bulls.” Normally, that might be taken as a backhanded slap since the Bulls are eight games behind the Hawks in the East, but Chicago just beat the Spurs on Monday.
It was the third straight home loss for the Spurs, and that hadn’t happened since 1996-97 (wow). Though coach Gregg Popovich has never been one to put too much stock in the ebbs and flows of regular season, viewing it as a process to get ready for the playoffs, the Spurs sound desperate for a victory. Said Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr.: “This is all a process for the end of the year, and we understand that. At the same time, you know, we’re trying to win games.”
Are the Spurs really in trouble? Woody glanced up at those championship banners inside the AT&T Center and said he’s not buying it: “They are still one of the top teams in the West. Any time ‘Pop’ puts a team on the floor, they are going to compete. You don’t hang four banners in here without doing that.”
– The Hawks will see San Antonio’s first three-game losing streak since ‘96-’97 and raise them 11 straight losses at San Antonio. The Hawks last won here on Feb. 15, 1997. And they haven’t swept all three Texas teams on the road since 1990-91. The possibility of doing so tonight has Big Ray feelin’ good
“Will they pull it off, or will we be singing ‘Two out of three ain’t bad….’? Either way, if you don’t think this is yet another sign of a team that is significantly better than it was last year, then consider the fact that the Hawks didn’t win a single one of these three daunting road games last season. How’s that for perspective?”
– Never mind San Antonio’s struggles. The Hawks will have to be better tonight than they were at Houston Monday night. Hoopinion says (in that very interesting, statistical kind of way) that the Hawks beat the Rockets with just an OK effort:
“Despite the niggling worries, it speaks to this team’s ability that they can go on the road, face a perfectly average team, and win comfortably while playing about 12 minutes of really good basketball.”
– Woody sees winning tough road games as another stage of growth for his team. He said the one constant has to be defensive effort: “Some games on the road you shoot lights out. But you’ve got to have a defensive mentality to win on the road. All elite teams win on the road. Cleveland. The Lakers. Boston. Orlando. It’s not easy.”
– Two days later, and no one with the Hawks seems to know the real story behind Woody’s missing eyebrows. And the accusations and counter-accusations are flying, with everyone seeming to think the person pressing them for info really knows the truth and isn’t saying.
Woody’s still not talking: “To be honest, I don’t know what happened.” And he’s letting them grow back even if the Hawks keep winning.
“It’s growing now as we speak. What am I going to do? Just let it grow.”
After seeing two days’ growth, I’d guess Woody has a good three weeks before they really come back.
– There’s a cattle convention in town. Driving through downtown on the way to the AT & T Center for shootaround, I saw some cowboys with cattle on the sidewalk. I was trippin’ about this. Everyone else just kind of went about their business.
No point to that tidbit, really, just trying to wrap my head around it.
– Talk amongst yourselves, Hawks fans.
Gentleman, if the spurs lose this game prepare for ultimate SpursTalk meltdown to happen
not a good matchup for sa that being said spurs could find a way to sack up and get a w but it wont be easy v a very good atl team
With 6'10 Al Horford at Center and 6'9 JSmoove at Power Forward, the lure of Small Ball will be too great for Pop to resist.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions