Grades: Spurs @ Lakers - Apr. 17

[T Park]

Gary Neal's most impressive game of the year IMO.

[z0sa]

We seem to be concentrating on Splitter, Duncan, and Pop (why he hates Splitter and other such drivel) rather than the meat of the matter:

Tony Parker hitting his J's punctuated by impaling finishes at the bucket completely opening up the floor is what won the game. There are not many teams that will beat us with this sort of game from Tony and the new surrounding blood we now have.

We made the big slow Lakers move. They did not take well to it.

Exactly. That's what the Spurs were lacking in the first matchup @ATT. No one dared challenge the bigs at the basket, and so they never really wore out. This time around, Parker and Manu and Neal were forcing the bigs out to the perimeter as well as crossing over and going straight to the rim and scoring or kicking out, forcing those big bodies into movement. By the third quarter you could see the defeat on Bynum and Pau's faces as again and again they were put in the torture chamber by multiple players BESIDES Tim Duncan thanks to the excellent ball movement and willingness by everyone to attack, attack, attack (or shoot, in Manu's case).

[timvp]

Stephen Jackson

There was A LOT of hard-core wrestling going on, in and around the paint. Stephen Jackson did the thing the Spurs need from him the most, which is to be a tough sonofa . He didn't give an inch, and he didn't lose his cool. He just out-scratched, and out-clawed whoever he was on.

Gary Neal
Late in the first quarter, Bynum and Ebanks went on a tear of Alley-Oops, dunks, and layups. Then to start the second quarter, Barnes nailed a 3 to give the Lakers a 31-29 lead. I'll admit I was thinking, "Oh, , here they come." Then Neal scored bam-bam-bam, and the Spurs were back up 35-31. With some guys, it's not just how many points they score, but when and how they score them. Horry used to be like that. Neal has done it too often for it to be a fluke.

The night before, Golden State had gotten the lead down to "just" 16 in the third quarter. That might not seem close, but the Spurs offense was flatlined, and if the lead dwindled much more, Pop would have been forced to put one or more of the Big 3 back in the game. That's when Neal nailed a 3-pointer, drove and kicked to Green for a 3, drove and kicked to Bonner for a 3, and then made a jumper of his own. Suddenly the lead was 27, and the Big 3 were safe taking the remainder of the night off, and resting up for the Lakers. Unsung hero.

Great takes. One of the best posts of the year, tbh

[maverick1948]

We can throw in an A1 Thick and Hearty Burger combo with onion rings and a diet coke.

I'll take that but have to have a REAL coke. LOL

[Spurs da champs]

Tiago's overrated but Tim's defense on bynum was great.