Game Thoughts: Spurs vs. Cavs Jan. 17

[41times]

The Cavs team sux. I still don't see how they made it to the Finals last year.
But bottom line Lebron is going to get most of the calls, just like the one at the end of the game. The game should not have been that close. The Spurs have got to get more out of their role players. The Big 3 was fine. It's the rest of the dudes that have to step up and contribute.

Of the 240 total minutes played, the Big 3 played 112 minutes and scored 74 points. The rest of the entire team played 128 minutes and scored 14 points! that's pitiful.

So now the Cavs have beaten both the Spurs and the Mavs on the road..........go figure.

[Harry Callahan]

I am getting tired of other teams taking liberties with our players - bludgening Duncan down low, hitting TP in the head on layups and no foul. Oberto getting head butted by queen james and no call (and the queen gets a charge against MG just a few moments before).

That was a disgraceful job by the officials and had a hand in the outcome of the game. I am not surprised those idiot refs had stuff thrown at them as they left the court - a pitiful job last night. I have not seen Duncan that mad very often. I'm tired of the abuse he is taking on a nightly basis with not enough fouls being called.

You'd think the Spurs had just come off of a 30 win season with the amount of BS calls they have been enduring lately.

I hope TP is not having a heel injury that becomes planter fascitis (sp) and dogs him the rest of the year. That is not something we need.

[SAGambler]

Tony says that left foot is still bothering him quite a bit. Will it ever heal with him playing? Maybe he should have sat out a few more games.

Not too worried about them yet. Basically the refs handed Cleveland the win. I normally don't blame losses on missed calls. But last night, so many of them were so blatant and right in front of an official. I can't believe they all watched James lower his head into Fabs stomach, knock him down, and not call an offensive foul. It was so bad, that the Spurs decided why take the risk, when they aren't going to get the call anyway.

I'm also getting rather disillusioned about some of the shots Duncan is taking lately. Certainly taking some non quality shots that have very little chance of falling.

I'm also tiring of Jacque Vaughn "holding serve". , he didn't even seem to have the normal hustle last night. Maybe now that Barry is back, he could serve as the backup point guard. I think some of the stagnation on offense comes when Vaughn first enters the game, and ball movement pretty much ceases.

At least we have Manu playing like Manu again.

I also have a su ion that once the AS coach is named, and it's not Pop, the Spurs will pick up the intensity. And please don't let the coaches select Tony to the game. He needs R & R for a few days.

[703 Spurz]

The bottomline is while the Spurs aren’t giving it their all to win these games, it’s not always smart to play with fire. You give away these types of games now and then later in the season you might wish you had taken care of business. It starts with Pop setting a real rotation and then the players revving up the engine. The Big Three played better tonight but the cohesiveness and total team play on both ends of the court is still lacking.

You really think the Spurs are just ing off for the of it?

[CavsSuperFan]

When Lebron lowered his head & trampled over Alberto…Was that aggressive play or possibly a foul?

Does anyone have the photo?

[SpurYank]

Still don't understand why all this criticism of a Spurs team that looks like this every year. All they end up doing is win championships. It can't be that Pop is "uninterested in coaching" and it can't be that the Spurs aren't giving it their best. I wonder if Celtics fans felt this way after the Wizards beat them twice, or when the Mavs lost to the Kings recently, or the Lakers last night in their loss to the Suns at home.

What I do believe is that there are hundreds of intervening variables, including heightened performances by opposing players, calls by refs that are very judgmental and could really go more than one way. For example, had it not been Lebron making that drive for the basket for the last two points scored, had it been say Manu, Barry, Tony, a charge could have been called when Oberto did that great job of acting. But it wasn't, had it been a charge and Manu scores, the Spurs win.

I wonder how this thread would look then?

We should wait until it's over before we start being critical. Eva Longoria is right. When professional athletes, in any sport, are in the middle of a game, only the game matters. Nothing else does. Tony's two missed shots go in over 80 percent of the time. Last night was in the 20 percent range.

Win or lose, I enjoy every game the Spurs play, as I did last night's.

[SenorSpur]

Another superb summary!

For those that didn't watch the TNT telecast, Charles Barkley brought up an interesting point regarding the Spurs, who he's been a card-carrying, bandwagon fan for several seasons. His point was this:

Winning those championships and playing so many playoff games deep into the summer each year is a good thing, but it comes with a price. Those factors combined with the active summers for Parker, Ginobili and others, who played for their international teams over recent years, will eventually wear down players over time. Especially for a team that is the perennial "oldest team in the league". He cited the Spurs annual "lack of energy" at this time of the year as evidence.

The Spurs and their FO have chosen to continue to "push the envelope". Rather than tweaking their roster, they elected to bank on the same roster that won the le last season. If they win the le again, the FO will be hailed as geniuses. If it fails, they will be reviled as idiots.

The Miami Heat are suffering the painful consequences of Pat Riley's inaction now. The Pistons learned their lesson this past spring when they couldn't muster up the effort needed to beat Cleveland in the NBA playoffs. Joe Dumars is now very committed toward developing a very formidable bench that includes a couple of young, hungry players behind his veteran starting five.

My point has been, at some point the Spurs will try and "flip the switch" to "dial up" their effort during the season and there will be nothing there. We'll find out after the Rodeo road trip.

[da_suns_fan]

The west is tough....the good news is that the big three are ALL underachieving this year and have the same records as teams like the Trailblazer, Lakers and Hornets who have over-achieved.

Parker has got to make his free throws. Theres no excuse. In fact, his 73% shooting from the line this season is pretty bad for a guard.

[CavsSuperFan]

The Suns are in the "Big Three"...

[da_suns_fan]

The Suns are in the "Big Three"...

I see....so who should replace the Suns in the "Big three" then?

[ploto]

Regarding the Cavs, I thought they played pretty well. Mike Brown coached a really good game and put his team in a position to pull off a victory... He stayed big even when Pop went with a small lineup, which allowed his team to get a number of key rebounds.

I was so pleased to see a coach stay big when the opponent went small-- for once in today's NBA.

[wildbill2u]

The rotations by Pop caused a problem IMO> Two of the Big Three would look up and find they were on the court with three guys they weren't used to, playing out of position (Barry at PF?).

For the most part, Pop just left them alone without any instructions to see if they could figure it out for themselves--and they went to one on one basketball. I couldn't believe how many TOs we had. Not Spurs basketball. The shooting percentages were predictable under those cir stances.

Defense was a little lackadaisical until the fourth when Tim and some players and the coach got a little more serious.

The team is a long way from where they were at the beginning of the season. Whether its boredom or Pop's tinkering, they aren't playing nearly as well.

It's stupid to lose home court advantage by losing so many midseason games. The West is too good and we're not THAT good.

[SpursDynasty]

There isn't a "Big Three" in the West. It's the Spurs as the best, and then everyone else.

[wildbill2u]

When Lebron lowered his head & trampled over Alberto…Was that aggressive play or possibly a foul?

Does anyone have the photo?

I think it was just before running into Oberto that James stiff-armed whoever was guarding him, pushing him down and out of the play, and then went around the Cav setting the pick and into Oberto.

One of the announcers said James had played high-school football and that play looked exactly like a running back bulling into the line.

I don't like to about calls because they usually even out, but I thought there were some obviously flagrant fouls that the refs missed last night.

[ShoogarBear]

I think you are forgetting one very important GAME 7 in the 2005 NBA Finals...I'd say having HCA came in very handy that game to push the Spurs to their 3rd le. So I disagree with you that HCA isn't important.

whottt only remembers games involving his beloved Mavs.

[whottt]

I think you are forgetting one very important GAME 7 in the 2005 NBA Finals...I'd say having HCA came in very handy that game to push the Spurs to their 3rd le. So I disagree with you that HCA isn't important.

Good call on the finals 1P1...I forgot about that one.

Still...the finals format is different than every other series with the 2-3-2 sequence, and while I agree that having HCA against the Pistons was huge and probably the reason we won that series...


1. We aren't likely to have HCA in the finals this season anyway.

2. This team is much more seasoned and experienced than the 05 team.


I still don't think HCA means what it used to for the Spurs...I think now the only way a team beats them is if they are good enough to beat them, and where the games are actually played is of little or no consequence. Not as the defending champions after winning 2 of the last 3 les...3 out of the last 5 if you go back to 03.

I just don't think HCA matters that much to a team with that kind of experience and seasoning.


Call me silly but I literally don't care where the Spurs are seeded this season, and looking at some players that might be available in mid and late rounds of the draft...won't bother me at all if they go in to the post season with a low seed. I'll be more interested in who they'll be able to draft...

[ShoogarBear]

When Lebron lowered his head & trampled over Alberto…Was that aggressive play or possibly a foul?

Does anyone have the photo?

I think it was unquestionably a foul, and a Star Call for LeBron.

HOWEVER, I will say this. The problem with floppers (and Oberto is definitely one) is sometimes they're shuffling their feet trying to execute the flop than just getting to and holding good position. I haven't seen but one replay, but I recall it looked like Fab may have been up on his toes when LeBron hit him.

[duncan228]

I think it was unquestionably a foul, and a Star Call for LeBron.

Just out of curiousity, if it had been Duncan LeBron ran into instead of Oberto would the "Star Call" have gone to Duncan or LeBron?

[ancestron]

The refs were letting Cleveland get away with murder last night. At one point I saw Larry Hughes with this kid-in-a-candy-store look on his face like he could not believe they were getting away with so many fouls.
Don't usually gripe about the refs, it tends to even out, all that, but the officiating for this game was particularly atrocious for the home team.
Parker has a black eye and Oberto has a bruise on his chest shaped like the top of LeBron's head, both off non-called fouls.

[DazedAndConfused]

The moral of the story is never expect the refs to bail you out in crunch time. Play hard and play physical and don't worry about calls not going your way. This is what the Spurs did to the Suns last year in the playoffs and the Spurs walked away with a ring while the Suns went home empty-handed.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

Very shortly I'm gonna say I agree this game was supposed to be won and it may hurt the spurs later on. I don't buy into the january/february struggle desease. You better start playing the game the right way or the spurs won't even get to 60 wins. I don't know how smart is to end up being 5th or 6th seed.

[remingtonbo2001]

Our record of recent comes down to two things.

1. Pop's experimentations- Whether it be with the rotation, or coaching style (letting the players work it out). This is part of the reason why we struggle through the All-Star break. When Pop is tweaking, there isn't much consistancy in terms of rotation. During this time,Pop and the players are trying to reanalyze their roles on this team. When you add new pieces, even someone such as Udoka, it causes everyone to re-valuta their contribution and role to the team. I many view it as adding another piece without others changing to that addition.

And the most glaring issue is our injuries thus far. It makes it much easier for Pop to set the rotation when everyone is healthy. I personally would sit Parker for indefinite amount of time until he is fully recovered. Im not a physical trainer, so I can't say what needs to be done, but hopefully the Spurs Staff will make the right decision.

[SpursDynasty]

Our only real losses this season have been to Dallas the first game and then the Detroit game....The rest were pretty much bull games where you know the other team shouldn't have won. Whether it was missed calls, lucky shots, lucky bounces, or an off night for the Spurs, the fluke losses have piled up....no big deal though.

Because the Spurs are the only team that knows how to get things done in the playoffs.

[temujin]

Excellent job.
When I can't see a game, I refer to this guy for a fair review.
Having read reviews of games I watched, I trust him.

In general, unlike past years, the situation smacks of blatant "ubris".

The FO made some obvious mistakes.

-3 years/10 Millions for Oberto: good player when the other 4 on the floor are great and playing great; totally irrelevant otherwise.

-Pass on Scola, leaving Duncan the only Spurs with a post game (OK they won 07 with that). Anybody that watched 5' of ANY Argentina game will tellyou that you give 3/years/10 Ml to Scola and send Oberto to Houston.

-No attempt to keep Spanoulis, not even a look at him (the guy can score more in a quarter than Vaughn in a season, including warmups).

-Getting rid of Udrih for Washington, only to get rid of the latter. Now Udrih is having a fine season, even showing some balls in the clutch (maybe he WAS a Spur, in the end).

These two points would go unnoticed with a healthy Parker. But that's ubris, Parker is apparently not 100%.

-An unSrpurs-like ballet of no names, apparently brought in so that they could eventually tell their nephews they actually took a shower in the same locker room with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

Add to the recipe the fact that the compe ion if tighter this year, the favourable calendar is misleading.
This suggests that if the Spurs continue to play .500 ball, and lose more than they win on the road, they might even be out of playoffs picture.

My feeling is that they can relax less and better wake up before the road trip.

And now, the bright spot.

Manu Ginobili is back.
With this guy, anything is still possible.

So much for my thoughts.

[SenorSpur]

Our record of recent comes down to two things.

1. Pop's experimentations- Whether it be with the rotation, or coaching style (letting the players work it out). This is part of the reason why we struggle through the All-Star break. When Pop is tweaking, there isn't much consistancy in terms of rotation. During this time,Pop and the players are trying to reanalyze their roles on this team. When you add new pieces, even someone such as Udoka, it causes everyone to re-valuta their contribution and role to the team. I many view it as adding another piece without others changing to that addition.

And the most glaring issue is our injuries thus far. It makes it much easier for Pop to set the rotation when everyone is healthy. I personally would sit Parker for indefinite amount of time until he is fully recovered. Im not a physical trainer, so I can't say what needs to be done, but hopefully the Spurs Staff will make the right decision.

Spurs seem to lack that annual mid-season energy boost. Call me crazy, but perhaps Pop should have took the Joe Dumars approach. The Pistons have built a very strong bench behind their veteran group of starters. They are force feeding them minutes and developing them on the fly. Their starters are getting rest, while the newbies are gaining valuable, in-game experience.

The Spurs ARE the oldest team in the league and it's shows up during these "dog days" of the season. Maybe they should have brought Ian, D-Wash and Marcus into the fold sooner and taken the same approach.