truth is Melo, Boykins and Najera had our way with our defense. made us look dumb on some plays. Glad Martin looked like a dog that barks and don't bite though
Melo is good enough to get his. The key is keeping him from getting a 30+ point night. Boykins is good enough to get space against the Spurs' D and hit that inbetween jumper. Najera? Well he's a garbage man. There's room for improvement, but overall I didn't see too much to be worried about, considering that it's the first game of the season.
Finley was great tonight and does seem to be what the doctor ordered. This guy has a silky smooth jumpshot and actually likes to be a spot up shooter.
What's the deal with people complaining about Manu though? He's obviously still affected by his injury but didn't want to miss opening night. This was obvious when he couldn't get enough lift for that alley-oop in the the first half. A hobbled Manu was still enough to give us crunch time points in the fourth and put Lenard to shame when it counted.
We should be thankful we have so many quality options now but this talk about Manu coming off the bench already is ridiculous.
Couldn't agree with you more. Also, it's stupid to complain about Bruce because he had an off night. Soon these idiots will want Bruce come of the bench or be traded.
pls remember bowen just had a death in his family so his mind might have not been there. im sure he is ashamed of his play and will improve and give me a hurt manu that will give me 10 points and ill take it.
^^^ agree with both of you. Manu and Bowen will be fine.
Considering that Melo has about 30 pounds on our guys, you kind of expect him to be a bull in the post. As was mentioned before, neither of our guys was able to keep him out of the low post and most 3s don't have Melo's size.
Finley had a great night but we'll see how he holds up over the next few games before we begin serious conversations regarding moving one of our current starters to the bench or thinking of redistributing the crunch time minutes.
Either way, it's nice to have the luxury of knowing one or two of your swings can have an off night and we still have additional firepower to bring in.
The Spurs can handle the Nuggets as is, but given the new IR rules, it would be interesting if, say, the Spurs could pull a GRobinson off the bench when they face teams with big 3s...
In the locker room, you could tell that Finley is pumped, hungry and extremely happy to be here. He was really emotional about the Spurs getting their rings and now wanting one. He said something like .. it's like when you are a kid and someone on your block gets something that you don't have.
He was amazing in the 4th, he looks in terrific shape, and he is grasping the defensive concept pretty quickly too.
I was more excited about NVE signing here than Finley. But Finley looked great (though it's only one game).
I said Finley is a class guy, and a total team player, when they signed him.
Tonight only proved that.
Michael Finley took a bad shot here and there, but with a great shooter like him, you gotta live with it.
Finley if he can stay healthy, wich is a big if, will win the 6th man award easily.
I was one of the doubters...
Needless to say, Finley was HUGE. I'll be honest, I was totally against this signing and said so repeatedly in this forum. OK. I'm sold. I can see now that the injection of his instant offense, off the bench, is going to propel the Spurs to even higher heights this season. From a defensive standpoint, he's even a bit better that I realized.
I loved the late game lineup of Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Horry and Finley. It's going to be hard for other teams to match up against all those weapons in the 4th quarter.
Other than a few quick baskets early, Melo scored most of his points with Bowen on the bench.
He made two baskets early and Pop got pissed, and then Manu made another turnover and he got a breakaway basket. All that was with Bowen in the game, but the stretch where he went off in the second half, Bowen was on the bench.
Bowen got off to a bad start, but I wouldn't say that two baskets means he was having his way with him.
I love the luxury of the depth of this team though.
Last edited by Kori Ellis; 11-02-2005 at 04:26 AM.
He came through big when they needed him to and that's why I was thrilled when he didn't sign with the Heat.
Could have made the difference between a Confernce Finals and Finals appearance for the Pistons.
Finley won't be this good every night. But the beauty of it is between Ginobili, Barry, and Finley there should be plenty of points coming from this scoring wing group every game.
As long as Denver's power frontcourt consists of Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby, I'm not too worried about Denver.
One other thing I noticed about the game - if Oberto can figure out the Spurs system, he's going to be a damn good big man for them. I'm really excited to see how the team evolves over the season. On paper, they have the talent to be considered one of the all-time great teams in NBA history:
Dominant big man that makes teammates better. (Duncan)
Two all-NBA defensive team members (Duncan, Bowen)
Two of the clutchest mother ers ever to put on basketball jerseys (Horry, Van Exel)
Rediculously deep, veteran bench (Barry, Finley, Horry, Van Exel)
Clear positional advantages against almost every team in the league:
-PF - Duncan's overall game; PG - Parker's speed; Wing - Bowen's perimeter defense
Ability as a team to play the game on a championship level at any speed.
Of course, that's all just on paper, the Spurs still have to go out and have the discipline to make it happen. But goddamn, I've never been as excited about a Spurs team as I am this year. To quote Ghost Writer, Good Times.
Great game for Finley though I thought it was supposed to be van Exel to hit big 4th quarter shots.
Finley was awesome last night on offense however, he was playing melo way too close, melo was just going by him with no hesitation, and nobody stepped up to stop melo from getting the easy baskets. I really hate kmart im so glad finley hit him in the damn nuts
If Melo is not careful, he's going to have that "Charles Barkley syndrome" (fat)early in his career. He's going to have to battle his weight to keep in shape. He's young right now, and has plenty of spring in his step so you don't notice the weight in his butt and hips; but, it will be a problem as he ages and will slow him down. Remember how quick Malik was after he lost the 30 lbs during the summer of 2003?
Being the Denver star and one of the studs of the league, Isn't Carmelo SUPPOSED to play well and get a lot of points?
As long as we win, I don't care if each team's star gets his points. Amare and Nash got theirs--ho hum, Spurs win.
Precisely. That's what I used to say when everyone got all bothered about Shaq and Kobe scoring 35 points apiece. , let them. If you keep everyone else on that team from scoring, 70 points is not gonna beat you!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
