He played great defense, the best of any Spurs. He also connected long 2's. He was one of the reasons why the Spurs rallied in the 4-th.
But the Spurs made some TO's, passes that ended in the stands or with fast break points. Also the Blair + 4 guards line-up was ridiculous. And the Spurs conceded uncontested dunks to Collison and Ibaka, they must prevent that rotating while doubling the player that drives. Another reason the Spurs conceded an early lead, was letting Cook take wide open 3's on several possessions.
And it doesn't make sense to keep Green in the rotation if he can't play defense nor hit a 3 to save his life. Thanks God, Bonner hasn't played much. The Bonner - Blair lineup was for just few possessions. Another player that must make something is Neal.
Last edited by dunkman; 06-05-2012 at 05:20 AM.
The only way Tony is going to play well is if he comes into game 6 and starts hitting those mid-range jumpers.
That's how he got so hot in game 2. But since he's pretty unreliable outside the paint, this can be bad news.
If those jumpers aren't going down, he's going to lack confidence, defense isn't going to respect him, and will clog the paint = turnovers etc.
Blame Pop also and give OKC to learn how to defend on Parker as many Euro teams use to it.
The option when Parker is double team in the hig pick and roll is to give the ball to Duncan or Diaw. Why change that and ask for more Ginobili? How Pop or fan could ask to Parker to be more effective although he (or they) doesn't have confident in his own system. It's not in asking to Parker to force the penetration that the Spurs have a chance to win. Parker is not the only one to blame. It's all team which have lost its focus, its team effort, its will to share the basketball, its confidence in teammates.
Pop started to doubt about Bonner, then Splitter, then Green and now Parker. Who call it adjustments? I call it doubt. You won 20 games and you start to doubt about your role players as never in the past? The problem was not Bonner, Splitter, Green or Parker. They've won with these guys, why they couldn't anymore? The problem was Ibaka goaltending, shots and defense in high p&r; the problem was Sefolosha. Was it impossible to adapt without doubt on you own elements?
The Spurs need to play as the always did. With confidence, spacing, ball movement. It's not a Parker's issue. But Pop needs to understand this was not his players faut. He's made bad adjustments. And the key is too involve more Diaw. That means less dribbling, less selfishness; that means more movements, more passing. The team started to messy when he first left the floor with two fools.
If Pop asks to Parker to be more aggressive with Ginobili and Diaw in the team, the Spurs can't win this series. Leave the ball in the first seconds to Diaw, play a high pace and Spurs have a chance. The Spurs start to struggle with the hack a splitter, hack a pace. If it becomes ugly, with a lot of calls, such as in the first quarter in this last game, the Spurs have no pace, no offense, no confidence.
so how much more confidence and ball movement do you need? we been doing this for the last 3 games and it has choked
"This ?" Ball movement is ? Seriously? Why are you a spur fan if you think ball movement "is "?... That's how they play and win, that's how they need to play again.
when did i say ball movement was ?
Spurs have not real guard or center position.
Here's how I see it. It's a case of "ho-hum" for at lest 2 or 3 of the Spurs. They "ain't" as hungry as the Thunder players are. Fischer was right. You can draw up all the plays you want, set different picks, and change defensive schemes. But when push comes to shove, you have got to WANT IT. Players who want it don't have as many turn-overs, miss assignments, or give it less than 100%. There is no better talent on their team as there is in ours.
Perhaps now that our backs are up against the wall we'll be hungrier for Wednesday's game. It appears Duncan will be.
Spot on. I am not going to say that Parker does not deserve criticism. This is his team and if it goes down, he gets the bulk of the blame. But the Spurs made this a game last night because of Tony's outstanding defense on Westbrook and the TOs that he forced. He, Manu and Jackson played so hard that I was not even upset when the game was over because if the Spurs are going to give it their all and lose to a better team, so be it.
The Thunder have made their entire defensive scheme to stop Parker. Not Manu, not Tim and especially not the best three point shooting team in the NBA this year. It would be nice to see someone else step up and help, sadly, with one day of rest, Manu will probably suffer a bit and so it will put even more on Tony's back. I hope he can carry the load.
I don't think Parker deserves the blame for the Spurs woes. OKC is focusing their defense on him and nobody on the Spurs outside of Ginobili is stepping up. Point guards are not too difficult to stop if you focus on them.
Parker is not playing smart. He continues to try to drive into a defense that is loaded in the paint against him.
The result is predictable: Turnovers, hard fouls that have to be taking their toll, difficult shot attempts that mostly miss, and most important of all--this isn't Spurs basketball that depends on execution as a team, not hero one-on-one stuff.
He must pull up for his jumper more and make them. He only made one jumper last night.
He must trust his teammates more and try to find them for 3s. This may open the lane for his drives.
After carrying the team on his back all year, it will be a shame if he winds up the goat of the conference finals.
Parker looks completely lost. 8 years after the 2004 disaster, the defensive plan against the Spurs is still the same. Ugh.
Begin rant: And to think Fisher will be on the winning side again. To me, Fisher is the biggest weasel in the league - from his cheap play to his facade of classiness to his goal of wanting to be a politician. I'm glad the Spurs never signed the Mailman and I'm even more glad they didn't sign Derek Fisher.
Most of the Thunder seem like nice guys but I can't possibly cheer for them assuming they go to the Finals. Sure Durant and Westbrook are nice people but they made a deal with the devil, so to speak, in courting Fisher to be on their team. Fisher is like the moral equivalent of the Thunder owner - a weasel in a nice suit. No, I'd rather support the Heat in beating the Thunder. At least the Heat are upfront about who they are.
He just doesn't have it in him. This was a chance for him to expand his legacy and he came up way short. The Spurs need Tim to be all time great Tim. But it's too late in his career for that..
There are any number of contradictory statements in that post, Timvp.
The best player on any team is always going to get the most attention from the defense, and Parker has. When that happens, it is up to there rest of the team to steep up.
Parker started last night very aggressively, getting fouls on Perkins and Ibaka (as did Manu). His shot wasn't falling, which happens with "best layers" sometimes, so Tony did what best players would be expected to do. He started dishing the ball to team mates to try to get them shots.
What happened when he did that? With the exception of Manu, everybody else on the team froze, didn't shoot, turned the ball over, etc. etc.
The only way that Tony could get 30 and ten in the next game is if the entire offense spent the first quarter getting Tony open...they would have to set screen after screen and open up the lane for him. Then, after a couple of quarters of that when everyone on the Thunder was focusing solely on Parker, he could get the ball to Manu for spot up jumpers. It would have to be Manu because no one else has showed the willingness to take shots. It would have to be spot up jumpers because putting the ball on the floor and 'creating' your own shot is not going to give Tony assists. Manu tends to shoot from the dribble, Tim has been holding the ball, Neal can't make the shot, and Leonard and Jackson tend to put the ball on the floor. It is damn hard to get assists when that is happening.
Tony has gotten so much defensive attention that the rest of the team could score if the ball moved quickly once it leaves Tony's hands. Problem is that once it leaves his hands, the ball is stationary until the Thunder defense readjusts and covers everybody.
The offense has been almost good enough, and I think Parker outplayed Westbrook last night. I thought the dribbling Westbrook came close to losing the game for the Thunder.
Crisper, non-telegraphed, passes by Parker and Ginobili are in order. One less turnover and the end game strategy puts us right there.
I'm putting the blame on Neal and Green. If they could only make 25% of their shots ....
Defense is another issue.
It's a damn shame. He's earned a lot of respect this season, more than any of his past seasons in the league. But if we lose, this will be what people will remember.
the league is not gonna pass up a moment to have the OKC fans all hoopin' and hollerin' on national TV.
let me guess how this one turns out.
1. the spurs will be up by 10 maybe even 15 early.
2. then by some miracle (the refs) the spurs will lose by 10-15
3. there will be enough time left for brooks to empty the bench so the team can have a standng "O".
HAPPENS EVERY TIME.
The only good thing about Parker last night was his defense on Westbrook in the 2nd half. Why can't he play like that more often?
Can you really blame Parker for not giving the ball up? I really blame the Spurs role players more than anything. I don't know how many times I have seen guys give up an open shot to settle for even a tier shot.
He's not Westbrooke. His shots coming after a screen. If he doesn't have it, it's a force shot. Nobody wants this.
Parker can't handle not getting calls he's never been able to. In his defense their pounding the out of him looked like he lost a tooth last night. But he has to get over it.
Parker absolutely deserves the criticism, too, after that Game 2 performance where he looked god-like. This team does not win with Twin Tower defense and a sprinkling of Parker, like 03-05 and even 07 sometimes. It wins with Parker playing great, on both ends, night in and night out.
Anyone pulling the "Parker played great second half defense!!" card in response to this incredible stretch of 3 games where he has both looked scared and played like dog is impenetrably moronic.
Parker must step up, knock down jumpers, and aggressively get to the foul line. Simple as that.
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