Our team (Especially Parker) was very exhausted most of 4th quarter, especially in final 7 minutes of the regulation.
We're making motion offense and spending too much energy for running from screens, cuts and checks. Also in defense we're always bringing help to Zach, battling inside and outside. This is very wearing series.
That's the logical explanation of our good-look shots didn't fall in last quarter. If we've lost this game, it would be very heart-breaking. But thanks to Duncan and terrible Memphis offense, we could cover it in OT.
A win is a win and it's good to be up 2-0. Memphis found an adjustment by playing more Pondexter and Bayless, less Tayshaun. Now it's our turn now.
Memphis played just about as hard as they could, and they greatly benefited from the refs giving them so many freethrows, yet they still lost the game. Do you really think the Spurs will have another 9 point quarter? And will the Grizzlies get 20 FTA to the Spurs 2 again? I highly doubt it. And I think the Spurs will be even more motivated to keep their foot on the gas and not give Memphis any hope.
i don't think so.
if it wasn't for mike conley not quitting on his team (my hat off to him), bad officiating, spurs almost overdosing on neal-bonner combo, memphis would have been blown out of the water.
-I thought Bonner played decent D, didn't give anything easily. Except until the 4th when ZBo made a 3point play (I believe it preceeded Manu's flagrant)
-That said, I wonder why Pop gave him more mintues than Diaw.
-There was a ton of tacky fouls called on the spurs that gave the grizzlies some momentum in the 3rd/4th that kind of cooled off the spurs.
-Putting in CoJo for TD during OT was a good decision, but still some sort of gamble.
-Sucked that TP didn't get 20 assists.
-Tiago held the paint well, considering he played a lot of minutes without TD
Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Spurs and they still won. Bad calls, bad decisions, bad coaching, bad shooting, and they still won. Now we get three days to recover, while Memphis gets three days to wonder what might have been.
spurs almost lost this game by not rebounding in the 3rd, and scoring 9... nine!! points in the 4th
the spurs gotta rebound the ball and execute but scoring against the grizz is not gonna be easy
I agree. Pop overreacted to the bad offense by playing Bonner too long. He should have gone back to the defense just like our defense jumpstarted the offense in the first half.
At best, it's back to where it was before the series began: Memphis rolling, the Spurs looking vulnerable and timvp claiming the Grizzlies should be the favorites. Memphis has all the pressure to win the next game; they have four Game 7s now.
Positives
- Spurs players won't feel complacent going into game 3
- Pop always throws out some inexplicable rotations in every series. Hopefully this game was it, and he won't go with lineups when the game is still in the balance
- Proved we could win ugly when the offense goes cold, should help them later in this series or the next
No, a OT loss is a much worse loss than a blowout loss imo
Disagree... It think we can get one at the grindhouse... we shat the bed in the 4th, but we're not going to have many 9pts quarters in too many games...
This game only made our team more focus going forward.
Memphis found their out the obvious that they need to play Pondexter and Bayless more. That was obviously not the reason they held us to 9pts in the 4th though because they are worse defenders. Plus they still only had 17pts in the 4th before gino turned over and they got their 4pt play.
Yeah, I was OK with Bonner's minutes up until the fourth when he quit hitting threes and started fouling. He can definitely play 2nd & 3rd quarters, especially since he's been hitting threes, but Pop needs to remember that he has Splitter and Diaw on the bench. Other than the 4th quarter, he's been all that we can really ask for this series.
"momentum" is so overrated in professional sports.
NBA players are a bunch of 12 years old children with goosebumps. They are professional athletes paid millions of dollars and, for the most part, have played thousands of basketball games over 1 or 2 decades.
Fact is Spurs are up 2-0 and have 3 days off before game 3. That's just an awesome situation.
memphis also have yet to convince the spurs to guard them from deep. they threw enough bricks to recreate the great wall of china tonight (and the spurs added a few more bricks themselves late in regulation.). until that happens, spurs will continue to pack the paint and double team randolph.
This. Pop played Bonner too damn much. I know Timmy was in foul trouble but he could've used Diaw and Splitter instead of playing Bonner so damn much. Pop also went away from using Duncan and Splitter together toward the end. He used Duncan/Bonner or Splitter/Bonner. Enough!Matt Bonner came in the game in the third quarter with the Spurs up 18. He was not pulled from the game until the closing seconds of regulation after Memphis had tied it.
Pop's stupidity sent this game to overtime.
I'd take a 2-0 lead over a "momentum"
18 point lead cut to 13 in the 4th. Duncan comes into the game for Splitter. Bonner still on the floor. Lead cut to 8. Splitter comes in for ... Duncan. Bonner still on the floor. Game tied, Splitter comes in for Bonner. Going away from your starters to close out the game is ing re ed.
Not at all, they are down 2-0, having a game handled to them.
Plus, neither Parker nor Ginobili shoot particulary well in the second game.
Plus, they know and we know that they still cannot handle our team when we shorten the rotation to our 8 best players. They just outscored us in 24 minutes with Neal-Bonner lineup.
Agreed. And Bonner is to never be trusted in the 4th quarter of a playoff game. We've known this for years. Splitter has played such good defense on Randolph too, I'm not sure why Pop wouldn't recognize that. His tendency to overplay Bonner will always baffle me.
not sure about this momentum shift. They got good when duncan went out in the 3rd, Duncan stays in and they don't get that confidence... BTW, I've never seen a foul committed by the a players uniform. Tim's shorts fouled the palm of conelys hand?
Based on your posts you don'T
Alternative view: Pop doesn't have to worry about the Appropriate Fear speech.
Becuase Duncan got his 5th foul.
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