3rd game in 4; young athletic team. Ran out of gas. Next. If the Spurs DON'T lose THIS game - what, 70 win season?
I didn't like that Pop subbed out Ginobili after making the game tying bucket. I think it messed up the flow of the game and you could see it in Duncan's passing too in OT, and it may have clued GSW in on Ginobili's play more when he did check in....
Oh well
Parker disappearing act is the most worrying thing from this game
put bigger defender on him
pack the paint
disappear
Relax
He came down a little after destroying the clips
Yes, it did, tbh. Pop took Manu out and it all went to in short order.
Where was Captain Jack tonight, btw?
And Neal was awful, per par, tbh.
ONE GAME
Spurs did this really cool thing where they screen for the screener, so his man is completely out of position to react to the main PnR. We play a really avante garde style of basketball that is awesome to watch.
Pretty smart play for the Warriors when they screened so Duncan switched to Jack and Parker to Lee, swung the ball around and drove so that Duncan instinctively collapsed, and kicked back out to an open Jack. Recognized that we were switching on screens and used Duncan's instincts against him.
Good basketball last night
minus the refs who were complete dog
We all (PollyAnna Poppers and Realists alike) can agree that:
a. It's just a reg season game.
b. All coaches make errors.
That having been said, are we going to get more Popper Befuddlement 2008-12 come this 2013 playoffs?
Pop made this a harder game then it should have been. Oh well, Spurs were just not on it for this game.
And when they collapse the paint, of course Parker is going to struggle. Then the only way to un-collapse the paint is to hit outside shots and run the fast break, neither of which were clicking last night. I think it's encouraging to see a game where the other team is able to shut down Parker (and notably make him defer to Manu in the waning minutes) AND we are terrible from outside, and yet we still are able to stay in the game via defense. This is what we will need to do in the playoffs, because teams ARE going to shut down the paint and make us hit outside shots, but on a terrible shooting night we need to be able to fall back on the D.
Agreed man, this is how most teams have beaten the Spurs in the playoffs. (collapse the lane and close out fast on the 3 point shooters) The more authletic teams are killer at doing that when they ramp up the D for playoff mode, because they have the length to pack the middle but still have the speed, and quickness to close out on the shooters.
I just would feel allot more comfortable if Spurs had at least one more decent post up player to pound it in when things get ugly. Timmy is the only player with a post game like that.
"in the game via defense"
Warriors missed a ton of open jumpers, so either are defense sucked or the Warriors' offense played right to get their guys open.
42% GSW to 39% SAS, a crappy shooting game all around.
You're looking for positives, which is cool but we also have to look at the legit concerns and there are some to ponder. One of of which is Neal's recent slump and all around inconsistent play. We need him to get his shot back ASAP but then again, even when he does, we still have to worry about him being a chucker who takes the ball off Manu's hands too many times. The thing with TP struggling when he's Sefolosha'd or when the paint is packed is that he doesn't have a Plan B. Sure, deferring to TD and Manu is a great fallback but you have to take what the defense gives you. While TP was still taking jumpers, he still stubbornly tried to attack the paint when he didn't have a clear path. And even with our D being much better now than last year, we're still not a good rebounding team and 2nd chance opportunities loom huge in a close-knit playoff series. Teams with younger legs and more athleticism will try to exploit our deficiency in that area. Winning the 50/50 battles will be of the utmost importance and it will be a tough task.
Last edited by SpurPadre; 02-23-2013 at 12:57 PM.
1- we would have won this game if Blair/Bonner/Neal had been traded.
2- Kawhi scored 2 easy baskets in the post when they had Thompson on Parker, why not run more plays for him?
3- Spurs can't get stops playing small and micro ball forces TD to defend the PnR...
by the way what's up with Manu's bad FT shooting? He used to do them consistently well for the most part and lately this season he's been pretty bad (last night when it was clutch time he missed one of them and almost missed the second one too). Out of everyting in his game that's one part that I expect him to still do well.
Yep it's clear that Pop is heading back to his old stubborn ways instead of learning and adapting
It's also clear that the teams 2nd unit is struggling ... u can't have 3 guys (4 if you count manu) all getting random minutes at the pg position .. it's not going to work. Pop needs to make a decision one way or another. Seems to me that the Neal experiment at point guard is a fail. Manu and Patty play well together which makes it a no brainer imo. DeColo & Mills should get thhe minutes.
Klay did a good job on TP last night. I can attribute a lot of it to TP being gassed, but i had flashes of Sefolosha in the WCF. Parker has played unbelievable this season but I'm still not sold that he can perform at the same level when teams throw length with quickness at him.
Pop getting all star coach nod probably worst thing to happen... just blew up his head even furthur and reinforced that he must be right. Expect more of the same (lineups/rotations that make no sense)
- All that passing that people raved about against the Clippers disappeared in Oakland.
- No Jack. WTF? Could have used him. See my next point...
- Pop looked like he was trying to find a way to lose that game. There's a really soft schedule coming up, and he's probably quite unhappy with ESPN now calling the Spurs "the best team in the NBA" instead of "the best team in the NBA, record-wise". He's likely hoping the upcoming 8 game winning streak passes under the radar.
- Neal on Curry in the 4th quarter? Switching on pick and rolls with 2 minutes to go? See my previous point...
- Danny Green hit two layups off the dribble. That's got to be some kind of record. Do you think he's suddenly become someone we want handling the ball? Me, neither.
- Kawhi's ability to create his own shot is really starting to show. This is a guy people were concerned about just dribbling the ball last year. He's put in a lot of work. That said, he single-handedly let the Warriors and the crowd back into the game early on. That's as bad as letting a shooter get hot.
- I vastly preferred the Gary Neal who shot without a conscience to this current Gary Neal who passes up shots when open. If the Spurs are in "look for the best shot" mode, Gary's the recipient, not the provider. Shoot the ing ball, choochoo. If Pop doesn't want you to shoot when you're open, he'll put you on the bench.
When Splitter was in the game we were better defensively. Except for OT when we couldn't stop even the wizards. He has been more than solid 8 million is a good deal for a player like him
Teams aren't stupid. They know that the way to beat these Spurs is to stop Parker.
Pop isn't stupid either. He has to produce an option when Parker is stopped. Easier said than done because the offense is built around Tony and we sometimes get confused when he's having problems.
In the past, it was Manu and Tony and Duncan in the 4th quarter--but Manu was the key since he could control the game at the end with his FT ability. It was interesting to hear Manu comment after the Clipper game about how long it had been since he and Tony worked together on the floor.
parker was obviously going to struggle this game. the warriors had a good defensive game plan to stop him and it was a back to back. it was up to the others to step up but they didn't.
ginobili played just as poor as parker. he chucked bricks and still looks broken out there. even though the stat sheet only shows 2 turnovers, there are plenty of plays where he dribbles and trips or where he forces bad passes that all lead to broken plays and bad shots. giving him that much control of the offense is questionable but pop didn't have much choice with neal and duncan also getting poor shots. this just shows parker is still the head of the snake, cut him off and the rest of the team struggles to produce.
The problem is Pop doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes.
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