Reply With Quote
Poor Blazers...so many injuries. Good in this case though, hopefully Spurs will run over them
Portland (18-12) at San Antonio (15-10)
Game info: 8:30 pm EST Wed Dec 23, 2009
TV: CSNW, My35
By Brett Huston
The San Antonio Spurs appear to be turning the corner after winning six of their last seven, but it’s tough to find an impressive victory in the bench.
Beating the defensive-minded Portland Trail Blazers, even with their rash of injuries, would certainly count.
The Spurs look for a rare win over an above-.500 team Wednesday night when they host the Trail Blazers, who will be down another big body as they try to end a grueling four-game road trip with a third straight victory.
Many wondered what was wrong with San Antonio (15-10) after coach Gregg Popovich’s team struggled to a 10-9 start, but some of those concerns have been alleviated after it’s outscored its opponents by an average of 10.4 points in going 6-1 over the past two weeks.
Those six wins, however, have come against teams that are a combined 36 games below .500, including two against the Los Angeles Clippers. Six Spurs reached double figures in a 115-90 rout in Los Angeles on Dec. 13 and seven scored 10 or more in a 103-87 win Monday, led by Tony Parker’s 19.
Parker had been held to 13.3 points on 41.8 percent shooting in his previous six games.
“He looked fresher and more aggressive,” Popovich said. “For us, Tony has to be at the top of his game. It’s always been that way and always will be.”
Parker didn’t get much of a chance to help San Antonio when it visited Portland on Nov. 6. The 2007 Finals MVP left with a sprained ankle that kept him out for four of the Spurs’ next five games, and the Trail Blazers won 96-84 - their third straight and fourth in five games over San Antonio - behind 24 points from Brandon Roy.
The Blazers (18-12) haven’t been the only contender against whom the Spurs have struggled. San Antonio is 2-8 when facing teams above .500, including four straight losses.
Both teams will be without their starting center from the first meeting. Matt Bonner, San Antonio’s best 3-point threat, is expected to miss a month with a broken finger on his shooting hand, while Portland’s Greg Oden’s promising season is over due to his fractured left patella.
Portland has maintained its position as the West’s best defensive team without Oden (allowing 92.3 points per game), but suffered another blow in an otherwise encouraging 85-81 win Tuesday at Dallas, its third in four games over an above-.500 opponent. Joel Przybilla, one of the NBA’s leading rebounders per 48 minutes, ruptured his right patella tendon in the first quarter.
“I couldn’t believe that somebody else got hurt,” said LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Roy, who had a team-high 23 points - his 11th straight game with at least that many - and is averaging 26.5 in December, hurt his shoulder late in the fourth quarter but said he should be able to play Wednesday.
“We keep losing guys and it’s nerve-racking just to take the floor,” said coach Nate McMillan, who’s on crutches while recovering from a ruptured right Achilles’ tendon. “This was a great win for our group under the conditions.”
Sixteen-year veteran Juwan Howard will start Wednesday for the Blazers, who are left without a true center on the roster. Already missing Oden, Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum, Patrick Mills and Rudy Fernandez, Portland was granted a hardship exemption last week, allowing it to sign a 16th player.
With no Oden or Przybilla, Tim Duncan should have plenty of good looks at the basket. The two-time MVP has averaged 10.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 35.1 percent during the Spurs’ three-game slide against Portland.
*********************
Team Stat Leaders
Points
Brandon Roy Por 22.2
Tim Duncan SA 19.7
Rebounds
Greg Oden Por 8.5
Tim Duncan SA 10.5
Assists
Brandon Roy Por 5.1
Tony Parker SA 5.7
Poor Blazers...so many injuries. Good in this case though, hopefully Spurs will run over them
Losing all this depth, and they are still this good. Come on Spurs, win this one.
Game 31 Preview: Blazers vs. Spurs
by Dave
Blazersedge
OK...so girls in movies where guys wear hockey masks have a better survival rate than the average Blazer player. And if this were a video game every one of us would have cursed the heavens and hit the power button by now. But this isn't your 360 hoops hit, it's the NBA. And that means injured heads, shoulders, knees, and toes notwithstanding there's a game tonight. It matters to both teams, each of which is still in playoff position. So shove yesterday's pain aside and let us get down to business.
The Spurs have charted a precarious course to their 15-10 record. Their November 11th win against the Mavericks stands as their only victory against a high-level (or even good-level) team so far this season. On the other hand they've feasted against teams considered decent or worse. The difference between the two performances boils down to defense. Great teams brush off San Antonio's defense and the Spurs have trouble mounting enough offense to keep up. Teams that suc b to their defensive wiles cause them no trouble.
If there's a single sign that the Spurs have boarded the escalator down from league elite status it is their defense. Don't get me wrong...they're still good. They're 12th in the league in defensive efficiency, 15th in opponent shooting percentage, and 6th in defensive rebounding percentage. But that's a far cry from the years when they hung "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" signs in the opponent's locker room tunnel. They have the desire and the know-how, just not the roster. Gone are the days when Tim Duncan alone would rule the paint, allowing any random defenders to look good outside. The slower version of Duncan does what he can to keep up but when you're looking at the Matt Bonners and Michael Finleys of the world (and when all of your other big men are ancient) the help just isn't there. They allow opponents to score in the paint. You can fast break on them. It's a different world.
The offense, on the other hand, remains strong. Duncan is the leading scorer but Parker spearheads the attack as usual. Manu Ginobili can't hit anything but a three-pointer this year, which is somewhat inhibiting. Richard Jefferson is doing OK but hasn't made the impact they hoped on either end of the floor. Consistency has been a major issue for him. The Spurs rely on the three and have multiple supporting players who can shoot it. They generate free throws but have a hard time hitting them. Those extra points give them the margin they need when opponents move faster, take better care of the ball, and get up more shots. All of that said, if you can take away any leg of the Spurs' attack you have a good chance of toppling them. They don't have offensive juggernauts stashed away. What you see is what you get: efficient, practiced, and coming pretty close to maxing out their potential.
The truly dangerous part of the evening is that, unlike Dallas, San Antonio will be fully expecting the Blazers lineup that shows up tonight. No middle, maybe no leading scorer, paper-thin bench. They're going to be looking to exploit us. The only way out of that is to play through it and play harder.
Keys to the Game
1. The Blazers have to find some way to keep up on the boards in this game. Both teams like to control the pace and the action. Rebounds are the key to success.
2. As we said about last night's game, the defensive rebounding prowess of this team will likely take away one of the planks of Portland's attack: the offensive rebound. The best way to counter that is to not need offensive rebounds, which means making your shots.
3. I don't see Portland winning if they can't hit their threes.
4. Tony Parker is a PAIN for the Blazers. You have to make him defend to have a chance. If he can just relax, run, and shoot he'll bury our defensively-challenged guards. Whoever he defends can't just hang in the corner waiting for the ball tonight.
5. Whoever plays off-guard, whether it's Brandon or Bayless, is going to have to score to make this work. Jerryd, if this is your night make it your night. If Roy's not playing the light is green from the opening tip. Get ‘em.
Big game
If we win the game we will bocome the 4th seed ,otherwise, we will be kicked out of the top 8 in west
Karma is still biting them in the ass for Dariusgate.
Everyone is still very close record-wise in the West. We are only 1.5 games back from the Suns who are sitting a #4.
Phoenix will still be 4th as they have more wins than us. Even if they lose, they will still have a sightly better winning percentage. We can't be worse than 8th because the 9th team is below .500.
lot of things wrong with this blog, thankfully people will continue to not watch the Spurs carefully until it's too late....for them
Referee Assignments
Wed. Dec 23
Portland @ San Antonio: Ed Malloy; Courtney Kirkland; Gary Zielinski
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
