Round 1, Game 1: Halftime Thoughts

[timvp]

-Duncan has been pretty damn good. Strong on D. Decisive on O. Looks spry. Keep it up

-Parker is obviously not 100% ... but he looks a little bit better than he did late in the regular season. He's trying his azz off to compensate, so gotta respect that.

-Ginobili looks okay. His starts and stops are iffy but once he gets going, his speed/athleticism looks fine.

-Predictably, Leonard's halfcourt offense is being limited by World Peace. But give the kid credit for eliminating his mistakes, going hard on D and rebounding with ferocity.

-Only 10 minutes in the first half for Green? Kinda surprising since he hit his first shot.

-Splitter ... ugh ... he had a couple good defensive plays but it's undeniable that he was also soft for a majority of those first two quarters.

-I agree with Bonner over Blair. Bonner's baby hooks in the lane are automatic (automattic?) right now. If you can't shoot threes in the playoffs, at least keep doing that.

-Neal .... iffy D, iffy shot selection, iffy everything. Keep it simple. The pick-and-roll and motion sets are working.

-I agree with Joseph at backup point guard. And I really liked how he played in the first half. He was tough, physical and unafraid.

-Pop's Hack-a-Howard at the end of the first half made no sense. Other than that I love his decisions so far.

[TrainOfThought5]

-Duncan has been pretty damn good. Strong on D. Decisive on O. Looks spry. Keep it up

-Parker is obviously not 100% ... but he looks a little bit better than he did late in the regular season. He's trying his azz off to compensate, so gotta respect that.

-Ginobili looks okay. His starts and stops are iffy but once he gets going, his speed/athleticism looks fine.

-Predictably, Leonard's halfcourt offense is being limited by World Peace. But give the kid credit for eliminating his mistakes, going hard on D and rebounding with ferocity.

-Only 10 minutes in the first half for Green? Kinda surprising since he hit his first shot.

-Splitter ... ugh ... he had a couple good defensive plays but it's undeniable that he was also soft for a majority of those first two quarters.

-I agree with Bonner over Blair. Bonner's baby hooks in the lane are automatic (automattic?) right now. If you can't shoot threes in the playoffs, at least keep doing that.

-Neal .... iffy D, iffy shot selection, iffy everything. Keep it simple. The pick-and-roll and motion sets are working.

-I agree with Joseph at backup point guard. And I really liked how he played in the first half. He was tough, physical and unafraid.

-Pop's Hack-a-Howard at the end of the first half made no sense. Other than that I love his decisions so far.

immeasurably important, especially with Parkers struggles.

[McGusto55]

Wheres Tmac?

[objective]

Hack-a-Dwight was absolutely stupid and bad, losing coaching.

That team had 35 points in the half, they couldn't score. Giving them the opportunity for free points is idiocy.

I also thought Manu looked bad and was moving poorly.

[pookenstein]

Halftime thoughts? Somebdy is on fire. Nice!Agree with the hack-a-Dwight to end the half. Would have been a nice two for one situation.

[DarrinS]

I agree that hacking Howard just before half made no sense.

[SpurYank]

You do realize, timvp, that you are never going to get the game you expect from our Spurs, and more realistically, since this is team sport, from the team as a whole. Probably the major reason is that there is an opposing team trying desperately to make sure you have something to write about and then there are those three refs who will interpret what we do and use their human-fault-driven actions every step of the way.

There simply are too many variables that influence this game.

Nonethess, your postings are entertaining.

[T Park]

Corey Joseph, how he is not getting more press from this game is shocking. He was fantastic. His defense was excellent, he made tough mid range jump shots. If he comes out and plays well again, I'd slide about 5 or 8 more minutes his way. The kid has come a long way. Pop even when out of his way to mention how good his defense was last night.

[dylankerouac]

Was at the game and really happy when CJ came out instead of DeColo. I'm still surprised that CJ plays more calm and collected than DeColo who has probably played in arenas with fans throwing his team objects.