Gm 4 - Spurs need to respond aggressively, intelligently to hard/dirty play.

[Mark in Austin]

I'm tired of Ginobili, Parker, and Duncan getting mugged on the court, and nobody stepping up to defend them.

You can send a message that like that won't play without being dirty; and there comes a point where it actually improves team chemistry and makes a team more tighly knit when teammates stick up for each other.

Nazr Mohammed, Tony Massenberg, (gasp) Rasho, Devin, Horry need to respond to this bull . Only Glenn Robinson has made an effort so far, and while he didn't go about it the right way, I have to at least give him credit for not meekly accepting what the Sonics were dishing out.

This isn't about dirty play for the sake of dirty play. Or about purposely trying to injure other players. IT IS ABOUT responding to physical play. The book on the Spurs is that the only way you can beat them is by roughing them up. It shakes their rhythem, their confidence. They start missing free throws. They become hesitant offensively; their motion offense slows down. You can't have that rep in the playoffs. To paraphrase David Robinson, you can't let the other team do that with impuinity.

The Sonics need to get the message delivered to them that if you try to beat up the Spurs players excessively, you are going to pay a heavy price yourself. If the Sonics continue their hard, borderline flagrant fouls in game four, I want to see Horry leveling Danny Fortson or Reggie Evans or giving them a well timed shot to the gut or nuts. I want to see Nazr giving Jerome James a hard foul on a pick and roll as he goes to the basket. Knock him on his ass and get him so pissed of he loses control and takes himself out of the game mentally. (Seriously, is there anybody who doesn't think Jerome could be easily goaded into getting himself ejected? He has to be the weakest player mentally left in the playoffs. Van Horn doesn't count because he's still injured.) If they try to decapitate Duncan again, I want to see Robinson leveling Allen with a hard pick. (You go after our star excessively, your star gets an owie too.)

The Spurs need to respond. They have to do it in an intelligent, disciplined way, but they need to do it. The price of ignoring it is too high. Not only for this series, but for the rest of the playoffs and for the health of Manu and Parker.

For this team to win a championship, responding to bullying tactics and intelligent, disciplined play can not be mutually exclusive.

[picnroll]

I'd like the Spurs to respond with some hard fouls not so much to send a message to the Sonics as to send a message to the refs.

Seems like there are two different thresholds for fouls, Sonics hard fouls because they're throwing so many and Spurs touch fouls because they aren't commiting hard fouls. SPurs defenders like Bowen, Parker, Manu, Barry are getting called for riding guys like Allen a little as they drive. Meanwhile it takes a hammering on a drive or in the paint for the refs to blow the whistle on Seattle.

If the Spurs commit some hard fouls and give the refs the impression the game might get out of control clamp down to get things under control and start calling Seattle's physical play.

This is the one place it would be nice to have Malik.

[Mark in Austin]

Good point, picnroll. And no matter his other weaknessess and strengths as a player, I have no doubt at all that Malik would indeed step up.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

Malik was all heart, he would have have gone after Melo in round 1 and probably got suspended, but doubtlessly he would step up in this series in response to the thugs.

I swear, first we play the denver Thugglets, then we play the Seattle SuperSinners. ( I looked on dictionary. com for a synonym of thug that begins with S, no luck)

Why can't any of the teams this year play us straight up without getting dirty?

[Mark in Austin]

I swear, first we play the denver Thugglets, then we play the Seattle SuperSinners. ( I looked on dictionary. com for a synonym of thug that begins with S, no luck)

Why can't any of the teams this year play us straight up without getting dirty?

Because they want to win, and they know that when they are playing the Spurs, this is the only way the have a shot. If the Sours would respond once in a while, and mix in some composure in the fourth quarter of physical games like game 3, it would not be as common.

Remember the Bill Simmons column on how the Nuggets could beat the Spurs? I'll adapt it for Seattle:

A blueprint for beating San Antonio:

A. You need to get physical with them ... and Seattle has the most physical frontcourt in the West. Guys like Fortson and Evans will absolutely knock Mr. Eva Longoria (aka Tony Parker) down the first time he comes cruising down the lane (like the Lakers did last year). Same goes for Manu Ginobili. Does anybody think foul machines like Fortson, Evans and Jerome James will allow him to get in the lane or to the rim without forcing him to pay a heavy price? Also, Duncan has always been one of the classiest players around -- what happens to him when Collison is throwing elbows around, or Fortson's pigtails whip around and catch him in the eye? You need to do this stuff against the Spurs; I'm not sure they like rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty, especially with Malik Rose gone. Who's sticking up for TD when Fortson clotheslines him into the basket support?

B. You need to keep throwing big guys at Duncan ... and the Sonics have four head-knockers to throw(Fortson, Reggie Evans, Jerome James and Nick Colison). I see him making the Sad Duncan Face a lot, the one where he stands next to Popovich and looks like a son who just let down his dad in Little League.

C. You need a small forward who can post up the smaller Spurs guys (Ginobili, Bowen, etc.) and take advantage of them ... and the Sonics probably have the closest thing to a mismatch right now in the 6'10" Rashard Lewis. On paper, anyway.

D. You need a great coach. Not a good coach -- a GREAT coach. And this year, by elevating his team to heights nobody expected prior to the season, Nate McMillan has elevated himself to this level. He'll know exactly how to get histeam to maximize their abilities - he has all season - push the pace, give the ball to Allen and see what he can do against Bowen, knock bodies to the ground, bang the bejeezus out of Duncan (who's been banged up all season).

So why aren't I picking the Sonics? I still don't trust them yet -- the right team can get them into one of those six or ten game funks like they had right before the playoffs, and I don't like the way they react when Allens shot isn't falling. If you're The Guy for a good team, you need to figure out ways to help them when you're not scoring. When Allen isn't scoring, the rest of the team looks lost, and starts to tighen up and clank shots too. Not a good quality.

[TheIf Of jUStiCE]

No doubt. I've been begging for Massenburg to hard foul another team since half way through the season. Haven't seen it but like once.

[Dingle Barry]

i want T-Rex back

[rr2418]

I think the Spurs need to get more physical, but not lose control of what got them there in the first place. I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't stray away too much from your makeup of the team. The Spurs are a physical team, but trying to get "more physical" might get them away from their gameplan. I think if the Spurs get their free throws, we wouldn't be talking about this. The Spurs should continue to try to get in the Sonics head and with some well timed baskets, the Sonics would be wondering what else could they do to beat the Spurs.

[wildbill2u]

There's a difference between a hard foul and going for the head like the sonics are doing--and the refs should get this under control.

If the Spurs respond, we'll probably only get more fouls on our stars. The Sonics can afford to lose Fortson, Evans, James, etc. while we cant lose Horry, TD etc. It won't be a fair trade.

[GoSpurs21]

funny I dont remember Malik stepping up to defend Tony when he was getting knocked around against the lakers. I dont see that Malik would be doing it against seattle.

If the Spurs are going to foul hard on the sonics the person that needs to be targeted is ray allen, ray allen and ray allen.

[td4mvp21]

They don't need to respond with dirty play. They need to respond by winning. They can win without playing dirty.

[GrandeDavid]

Mark, great post! I think its terrific that the Spurs are quiet about the opposition in the media and generally take the high road. But you are right, on the floor they need to bang back. In another thread I inquired why Massenburg is not our enforcer this playoffs. Forget Rasho, you know that'll never happen. But Horry and Robinson are savvy veterans who can strike back. Tim also needs to continue to step up his aggressiveness.