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No matter how you slice it, this was not a good game for TP. No hate, just the honest truth.
So it looks like I agree with most of the people posting on this thread. TP had a so-so game, but shot huge buckets in the 3rd Q and played good D in the 4th.
I've said numerous times I like TP and his game.
But somehow, I'm the hater.
Go figure.
No matter how you slice it, this was not a good game for TP. No hate, just the honest truth.
Tony was not good tonite.
His 8 points in about 2 minutes in the third were huge for our run...but, playing 2 good minutes in a game is not gonna cut it for a starting PG in this league. I've given Tony as much slack as anyone...but I'm running out of patience with the guy. I keep thinking he's "improving," but I'm not sure he is. He's been completely consistent...in his inconsistency.
If he doesn't play better and more consistent in the Finals...we will lose.
If he disapears in these next games as well, Pop's gonna have to make some hard decisions.
His dissapearence act is getting old... Heck, Amare has a better jumper than TP...
The only problem on TP is his lack of consistency with his jump shot. If it hits 40%, it would force defense to play closer to him and with his foot speed, he would have plenty open space after having beaten his opponent or forcing someone to leave another space for a pass to an open man.
I don't see that problem being fixed till this summer, hope start next season would see this change in his game applied. But don't judge someone only on his stats, if Spurs played a high tempo style, he would have 8 assits per game... (hope so).
Yo !
I am beginning to become really sick with all those threads about TP lack of this and lack of that...
He played this serie and what is the concret result at the end ? the mvp has no impact and was no way decisive...
Parker is already among THE THREE BEST POINT GUARD IN THE LEAGUE ON DEFENSE, and you are not happy ?
Happily he has still to improve, but he has shown every year major improvement in his game... and he's still so ING YOUNG !
Question is, is he ready or not to match Billups ( if Pistons pass) intensity in terms of mental presence ??? I do not know the answer... He has the talent for it, the maturity ?
But if he is matching Billups game, he'll be on the top of playoff's point guard... at 23 !
X
he'll go off in the first 2 games, then, they will start going underneath on the pic'n'roll, and that is where the problem starts....
I'd like Tony to watch some film of Nash. If he could learn to go in the lane and simply not pick up his dribble or back out, he could be awesome. How many times did Nash simply start in and when blocked by the bigs, slowly dribble around until an opening appeared for him to shoot or pass off to a big man under the basket. He just won't give up control of the ball until he absolutely has to.
Yea, he started off slow, but he saved us in the 3rd quarter. He's a frustrating kid, but he's stepping up now. Let's go Spurs!
He held Nash to 9-20 and under 20 pts, I call that a great game on its own.
Again folks this system is not made for the PG to have huge assists numbers, get use to it. He did have an off shooting night, but that will come with practice and time, heck Jordon didn't have a reliable jumper till later in his career.
xapatan2,
Don't get so worked up, people are always gonna critisizing asking- "What have you done for me lately?" I'me the biggest Tony fan but, I think he was a little overhyped at the end of the season. Overall he still has to work on his consistency over a series. He still gets outplayed at times by other point guards inferior to him. At the end of this series, Phoenix was leaving him so wide open, but give him credit, cuz he hit those 2 big threes in the third.
I will give the edge to Billups in a head to head matchup against Tony.
But you're right, he's only 23 and is only gonna get better.
I've given Tony slack for a few yrs now...I'm not seeing improvement. He's as inconsistent as he ever was...and the guy plays soft, especially if someone is playing him physical.
I watched him a lot last nite...and he was playing scared.
Afraid to shoot, and not doing much to help anyone else on the team. He dribbled to the top of the key and just passed it off, then just ran around avoiding any contact. Not setting any picks when he didn't have the ball, and not moving around trying to get himself open. He simply didn't want the ball, and he wasn't doing much to get others the ball in good shooting position...3 assists from your point, who isn't producing on the offensive end simply sucks.
Yes, I know...he had a 2 minute streak where he made a quick 8 points that was key to our 3rd quarter run. That was great.
But, 2 or 3 good minutes from a starting point guard on a championship team aint gonna do it. And it's not like this is a new thing for him.
If TP doesn't show he's capable of truely turning it up and showing he's a championship caliber PG in the FINALS...I'd get rid of him next year. He's is by far the weakest link on this team right now.
The FINALS will show what TP is made of. I'm rooting for him regardless of how down on him I sound. I don't wanna go PG shopping, and I like him and he fits into our chemistry great.
So, suck it up Tony. Prove something to me and your critics. Fold one more time...and I'll be leading the dump him bandwagon.
Pressure? Yeah. Welcome to the NBA.
you must be on crack
the center is the weakest postion on the court
heck the spurs starter for the regualar season is seeing no time in playoffs
Without production from Tony...either assists or shooting...we will lose in the FINALS. We don't expect huge numbers from the Center position, and Nazr is doing everything and more than we expected from that position.
Our team is structured to expect and demand more from our PG position. If Nazr doesn't get high scoring numbers we still expect to win. If Tony doesn't get high numbers in either points or assists...we will lose.
On our team, with how we are structured to win games...right now, TONY is our weak link.
Mebbe we can structure it next year to not expect so much outta the Point, and focus on Nazr or someone else. Not sure how that makes Tony's case any better tho.
get a clue. Tony has been the strength. He totally controls the tempo and puts a ton of pressure on the opposing teams. That in itself is huge for the spurs, but not to mention Tony has come up huge at critical moments of games. His first three years he was plagued with disappearing in key games, now he fights through his inconsistency and still contributes in a very large way. BTW, he avg over 21 pts a game against the Suns and the SUns totally changed their defensive philosophy to stop TONY. Why does a team change their style to stop the other teams weakness. Boy you're dumb.On our team, with how we are structured to win games...right now, TONY is our weak link.
Tony had a good game, or a "good enough" game, however you want to look at it. His offense was probably affected by the amount of defensive effort that he put in.
I don't expect TP to have Nash-like assist numbers, but the low number of assists indicate that TP is not passing well when he penetrates and the lane closes up. All too often, he will stop in the middle of the lane and not be able to get rid of the ball right away.
I agree with much of what you say here but I think it's a little harsh to say TP is our "weakest link". I also thought Parker had turned the corner this year in terms of consistency but his up and down play in the playoffs has me disappointed. Again.
To be fair, he has improved his defense tremendously this year and that is helping him stay effective on the court when he isn't playing well but his major problem is still his lack of a consistent outside shot.
I know he worked on his shot this year and his mechanics actually looked better at the start of the season but somewhere along the line he's regressed back to his old "flick of the wrist" form. He almost has a weird side-spin on his shots if you look closely.
I realize he's still young but this is his fourth year in the league and I'm starting to get worried about him ever having a consistent jumper. This would be so key to his game it isn't even funny. If defenders were forced to honor his outside shot then he could use his speed to blow by them at will. He would be virtually unguardable and the Spurs as a team would be virtually unbeatable.
Even after all the roster changes the Spurs' success still seems very tightly linked to Parker's game. When he plays well, we almost always win but when he stinks it up, we tend to lose more often than not.
Yes, I agree...the SUNS did change their defensive style against TONY. They decided to leave him wide open cause he couldn't produce from the outside, and pack the lanes.
And TONY was scared to take those shots. When he did, he missed them, except for that 2 minute stretch in the 3rd quarter.
However, we still won. But it's more in spite of Tony's poor perfomance than because of any good one.
I want him to do well as much as anyone...this FINALS series will tell me a lot.
I share your concern, especially against Billups. I'm on the record as saying that Tony's matchup with Billups should prove the largest factor in determining the outcome of a series against Detroit. If he disappears for a couple of games then we'll most likely lose the finals. If that happens then Tony's deficiencies will really be front-and-center in everyone's minds.
Detroit will certainly pack the lane to take away Tony and Manu's penetration and force them to beat us from the outside. Manu can make them pay from three or almost always get fouled on a drive but can Tony?
Tony has already had to be rescued once from a disappearing act in the finals against Kidd after starting strong. He needs to prove this year that he can deliver for the entire series or there are going to be some tough questions to answer this summer.
Tony should really take advantage of having the Big Dog on the team. Steve Smith once helped him with his jumper and it seemed to make a difference. The Dog has one of the smoothest jumpshots in the league. Maybe TP could ask him for a few pointers during this time off.
First you say Tony is the weakest link, and then you say a Team like Phoenix adjust their entire defensive strategy to stop him. Pretty high praise for the weakest link. His jumpshot is his weakest area, no doubt, but the kid is so good that he still figured out a way to have a huge impact on the game with his JUMPER. GET A CLUE>
Tony is definitly a huge player. OK he doesn't yet have that level of consistency that everybody expects. But first he is young, how long he has been in this league doesn't change that fact. He has progressed in a lot of area (defense, distribution...) and even if he needs a better jump shot he is still a really good player. How many teams would be glad to have such an "inconstancy" player? I see plenty of them!
When times come for him to carry the team, he tries to do it and a lot of time succeed to. It's true that he is reluctant to take some open shots, but would you prefer him to take them and lost them.
And if the rest of the team has a good production, they force the opponent defense to pay attention to everybody and create more opportunity to penetrate. When Horry & Barry has good production, it permits to Tony to have more freedom so don't point tony performance without taking into account performance from our 3 point shooters.
I would love Tony to get a more consistent jump shot, but don't complain to much, compare with other point guard, which one with the same salary and room would you like to have in exchange for him? please give names...
Tony stats
Nash after four years (age: 26 after 4 years)REBOUNDS PER GAME
YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
01-02 SAS 77 72 29.4 .419 .323 .675 .40 2.10 2.60 4.3 1.16 .09 1.96 2.20 9.2
02-03 SAS 82 82 33.8 .464 .337 .755 .40 2.20 2.60 5.3 .87 .05 2.41 2.10 15.5
03-04 SAS 75 75 34.4 .447 .312 .702 .60 2.60 3.20 5.5 .81 .09 2.39 2.00 14.7
04-05 SAS 80 80 34.2 .482 .276 .650 .60 3.10 3.70 6.1 1.23 .05 2.69 2.10 16.6
Career 314 309 33.0 .458 .315 .697 .50 2.50 3.00 5.3 1.02 .00 2.37 2.10 14.0
Playoff 60 60 35.5 .430 .306 .697 .50 2.30 2.80 4.5 .98 .10 2.48 2.20 16.5
kidd (age: 25 after 4 years)YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
96-97 PHO 65 2 10.5 .423 .418 .824 .20 .70 1.00 2.1 .31 .00 .97 1.40 3.3
97-98 PHO 76 9 21.9 .459 .415 .860 .40 1.70 2.10 3.4 .83 .05 1.29 1.90 9.1
98-99 DAL 40 40 31.7 .363 .374 .826 .80 2.10 2.90 5.5 .93 .05 2.08 2.50 7.9
99-00 DAL 56 27 27.4 .477 .403 .882 .60 1.60 2.20 4.9 .66 .05 1.82 2.20 8.6
it's clear TP can't improve Nash and kidd have proved they are the best of the league after 4 yearsREBOUNDS PER GAME
YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
94-95 DAL 79 79 33.8 .385 .272 .698 1.90 3.50 5.40 7.7 1.91 .30 3.16 1.80 11.7
95-96 DAL 81 81 37.5 .381 .336 .692 2.50 4.30 6.80 9.7 2.16 .32 4.05 1.90 16.6
96-97 DAL 22 22 36.0 .369 .323 .667 1.40 2.70 4.10 9.1 2.05 .36 3.00 1.90 9.9
96-97 PHO 33 23 35.5 .423 .400 .688 1.00 3.80 4.80 9.0 2.39 .36 2.30 2.20 11.6
96-97 -- 55 45 35.7 .403 .370 .679 1.20 3.40 4.50 9.0 2.25 .36 2.58 2.10 10.9
97-98 PHO 82 82 38.0 .416 .313 .799 1.30 4.90 6.20 9.1 1.98 .32 3.18 1.70 11.6
it's irony of course
exactly. Plus, for someone who has such a terrible jumpshot he sure figured a way to make the Suns pay for leaving him open. I bet they wish they would of had a least a hand in his face.
Liked these parts of you observations I saw the same things you did last night.
While not the weakest link on this team Tony Parker has got to be one of the most frustrating players to watch when game time starts. Shooting jump shots that aren't hitting until the first half and bad decisions and turnovers by him in the 4th nearly cost us the game. I don't understand how a guy who has so much potential can make so many boneheaded plays.
But he's still young.
Lame excuse. This guy has more playoff experience than probably half of the league, he's gone through these pressure situations already, he should have in' icewater flowing in his veins but what do we get? Fetal Position Parker, scared to run the team, scared to have the ball in his hands, scared to be on the floor.
Disappointing.
Don't get me wrong despite what I said I want him to do well for the team because it's the team I've rooted for for many years. He plays great when he plays with confidence you can see it when he's out there on the floor, but as soon as there is some doubt about his ability to preform or his confidence waivers in any way everything seems to go right out the window.
I hope Tony has a uva series in the finals this year, I hope he proves me and all the naysayers wrong, , I'd love it I'll even lead the public apologies, because this year Speedy Claxton isn't here to save his ass again.
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