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Brent will save us tonight.
He likes the pressure and hostile crowds.
With the Spurs traveling to Utah, that means one thing -- expect Mehmet Okur to show up. When playing in Salt Lake City, the guy is a Spurs killer supreme.
On the other side of the coin, Fabricio Oberto had perhaps his two worst games of the season at Utah. In two games at what used to be the Delta Center, Oberto put up the following stats:
43 Minutes
0 Points
1 Rebound
0 Blocks
5 Fouls
While Oberto has been fabulous in the playoffs so far, Salt Lake hasn't been kind to him so far this year. One rebound in 43 minutes while the Spurs were being murdered on the boards was scary bad. Needless to say, he'll need to bring a much better effort in this game.
Okur, on the other hand, has been the Salt Lake City assassin. In his last game against the Spurs in Utah, Okur had 31 points and 11 rebounds while only shooting 14 shots. He had ten points in the final two minutes to turn a tie game into an easy Jazz victory. In the other game this season, Okur hit the last field goal to put the Jazz ahead for good.
In the 2004-05 championship season, Okur was Spurs kryptonite. He had the game winning tip in at the buzzer while scoring 23 points and pulling in 11 rebounds off the bench in the first game in Utah that season. In the other game at Salt Lake City, he had 26 points, 15 rebounds and another game winning tip in -- this time with two seconds left.
So basically, Okur has beaten the Spurs late in the fourth quarter in four out of the last five games played in Utah. I don't think anyone else in the NBA has had that much success against the Spurs in the Tim Duncan era. Players have hit game winning shots against the Spurs, but not in four out of five games.
In this playoff run, Okur has played decidedly better at home. Oberto has been horrible in Utah so far this season.
It's time to buck the trend. Oberto needs to keep showing the playoff chutzpah that has turned him into a vital piece of the Spurs puzzle. Don't let Okur have open shots, especially late. Brush aside the physical play and concentrate on the lone goal.
Victory.
Believe.
1.
Brent will save us tonight.
He likes the pressure and hostile crowds.
I think Finley is going to go off tonight
Be prepared for the Jazz to take the physicality of this series up a notch...
Everyone is having this respect on for Sloane...I hated that dude in the 90's....you will too if this team has learned to clog the paint like the old Jazz teams. And this team is too slow defensively to do anything else IMO...
We will definitely need shooting in this part of the series IMO.
I expect the guys who shoot better when their adrenaline is pumping to step up here, Horry and Barry(provided Pop lets them on the court)..
I'd be satisfied if Brent would bother to score tonight. It would be a step in the right direction for a road game.Brent will save us tonight.
He likes the pressure and hostile crowds.
I would imagine that one thing the Jazz have been working on is keeping track of Oberto and trying to ensure that he doesn't get behind the defense. He's something like 12-15 in this series from the floor. Giving the Spurs an extra 12-14 points per night by giving Oberto easy layups is a formula for getting beaten badly. I'd anticipate a correction by Sloan.
Still, Oberto can be valuable to the Spurs if he can find a way to either rebound himself or to facilitate rebounding for Duncan and others by boxing out well and being active. If the Spurs can stay close on the glass, they have a great chance to win. Oberto is vital to that effort, I think.
I don't think Oberto gets intimidated by big games or by hostile environments. But his production has to reflect that tonight.
It's there for the taking.
1.
Props to timvp for using the word "chutzpah".
Does Barry's blood only pump at home?
The Spurs are going to have to be money from the perimeter. And I'm a little worried because Utah purposely puts too much air in the basketballs up there. Plus, the crowd will be rowdy. And the Spurs usually start off slow and finish strong, so that will allow the crowd to get into it from the beginning. And we are 0-8 all-time in the playoffs at Utah. Not too much going for the Spurs. If we win, it will fell so good.
Does Barry's blood only pump at home?
No...Barry only gets on the court at home....on the road he gets 5 minute spurts, unless the Spurs are getting blown out by 20...
Cut a man's limited minutes in half....don't expect him to play better.
21 in the reg season...11 in the post. Barry has always responded similarly to reduced minutes...from day 1.
He doesn't get minutes because he still has yet to prove himself as a consistent road warrior. Pop's not going to waste his time with someone like that in a playoff game. Maybe during the regular season, but not during the playoffs.
Utah is a team that doesnt defend the 3 pointer or perimeter too well. They love to plug the paint but have had a lot of defensive breakdowns the first 2 games with guys out of position resulting in some very easy shots for SA.
They just do not match up well with San Antone. Okur is too weak defensively to guard Duncan and he gets worn down from having to guard a guy like Duncan or Yao and then can't bring it offensively. You can't switch Boozer to Duncan because he's undersized and supbar defensively.
Deron is terrific but can't stay with Parker off the dribble. Then Utah's wings like Giricek and Harpring and Fish are too slow to stay with Manu.
This series had sweep written all over it from the getgo. The league needs to fast foward to Spurs-Pistons because these conference finals are just mismatches (Detroit has played like complete crap and still up 2-0).
Its 05 all over again.
Justifying Barry's choking.
All Barry has to do when in there, is be agressive, and shoot when open.
Its been said countless to millions of times, that barry has a perpetual Green light when in the damn game.
Bring it tonight Fabi and Barry
The best playoff game of Barry's career came on the road...in the biggest playoff game of his career...
Pop just plays more conservative on the road...period.....and when Pop gets conservative...weak defenders don't get on the court.
Its 05 all over again.
Justifying Barry's choking.
All Barry has to do when in there, is be agressive, and shoot when open.
Its been said countless to millions of times, that barry has a perpetual Green light when in the damn game.
Bring it tonight Fabi and Barry
How can you choke when you don't get on the court in the 4th?
Not compatible.
Choking is what Michael Finley does when he's got the last shot of an elimination game...time and time and time again.
And BTW...Barry's minutes weren't cut this time because of his play...they were cut due to injury.
So one game makes up for everything else? One game defines a player? I remember that game, Game 1 of the 2005 WCF's against Phoenix. He did good that game. Name another game on the road of that magnitude when he performed well.
True about Pop. But in Barry's case, I think it has to do with his shooting too.
I swear...if Duncan was 0-2 and Pop pulled him after 5 minutes and he didn't get on the court again...
You guys would say, "Pop pulled Duncan because he was choking".
Coming in an getting 2 shots is not choking...that's not even getting warmed up.
Barry was averaging more minutes on the road than at home coming into this round. Even if you factor out garbage time.
Next.
How many other times has he been on the court in that situation to do that?
Barry was like 0-3 before that quarter...Barry doesn't get the quarter to do that...
Consequently, he goes out there trying to make every shot when he takes it, and he doesn't play his game.
It's not brain surgery...Pop did the same thing to Kerr...Kerr finally got used to it. He finally learned how to come in off the bench and shoot 1000...
That's hard to do...it took the greatest 3 shooter in history to do it.
Oh and Barry's biggest game of his career wasn't against a team the Spurs should have swept.
Produce in one of the following two games and shut up the critics. That's all I'm asking.
Try the '05 playoffs, when he was practically our 7th best player on the team, maybe even better than 7th. He still did not deliver with "big games". He had maybe 1 or 2 threes, and porous defense. He's not a good road player.
Finley has been one of the clutchest shooters in these damn playoffs.Choking is what Michael Finley does when he's got the last shot of an elimination game...time and time and time again
Look at the friggen games they've won, and see how many HUGE threes Finley has nailed.
your silly hatred of Finley has gotten to a point of stupidity.
Barry only gets two shots, cause hes too damn ing scared to take the ball to the hole and be agressive.
Nothing Pops doing.
Good points, timvp. I noticed that the Spurs made a concentrated effort to keep Okur from getting off...particularly at the arc. Pop called an immediate timeout in game 2 when Elson failed to get out and contest Okur on the left wing. Parker even barked at Francisco after the play, reacting as though he'd just broken a cardinal rule.
It appears the Spurs are fine with Boozer getting his points.
I also think the Spurs will have to make sure they provide better baseline help when D. Williams runs the left side screen/roll and pushes free to the hole. That play helped the Jazz get back into game 1.
\
Put him on the court to do it...is all I am asking.
Doesn't happen...and you know it...
Consequently he goes 0-2 in limited miniutes, you say he choked, and you back Pop's decision to not even let him on hte court to do the Phoenix thing again.
I think comparing the regular season games to the play now is a bit of a misnomer.
Oberto has probobly had 1 maybe 2 bad games these playoffs.
Also, Oberto is playing at a really high level.
Also he plays alot better with Ginobili on the floor, and in one of those games, Ginobili was out with a back injury.
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