Game Thoughts: Spurs @ Mavs - Nov. 15

[timvp]

-Tim Duncan was in preseason mode for the most part. I only saw complete effort out of him for a short span in the fourth quarter. Other than those couple minutes, he wasn’t giving it is all. And honestly, this isn’t the time to be killing yourself to get a November win. That said, if Duncan has five gears, it’d be nice for him to play at second gear instead of at first when facing other good teams.

-Manu Ginobili was the brightest spot for the Spurs. He had some turnovers early when everyone was turning it over and his defense wasn’t as good as it has been lately but you really can’t complain about his effort or production. 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals are numbers from Ginobili that should lead to a win from the Spurs. He just didn’t have enough help tonight.

-I’m not sure what was wrong with Tony Parker. Either he was tired, sick, injured or he just wasn’t there mentally. You have to give the Mavs some credit because they defended him well but there’s really no excuse for having a 1-for-11 game. If Parker brings his B game, the Spurs probably find a way to win. Parker did have eight assists to go with only one turnover, but this highlights how important his scoring is for this team. Parker can rack up the assists but his most valuable asset to this team is the easy points he provides. Without those easy points, the offense doesn’t have enough weapons to keep up on a night when the defense is poor.

-This was Bruce Bowen's first off night defensively. He got beat a couple times by Josh Howard and just wasn't as crisp as you'd like him to be on that end of the court. Bowen also battled foul trouble, which didn't help matters at all. Bowen had probably his first game of the season where he didn't make any impact at all.

-Fabricio Oberto was at least awake for this game. The Argentine Robert Horry realized it was a big game and brought his energy. However, it is becoming apparent that he’s not a player you can put on Dirk Nowitzki. He’s not mobile enough and just doesn’t have defensive instincts on the perimeter. He’ll give his all against Nowitzki but the Spurs need to find a better option.

-It might be time to put Michael Finley in the freezer and test out some other options. His offense is horrid right now and his defense is average, at very best. Finley throwing up a 0-for-6 outing was a deceptively big part of the Spurs falling into the hole that they did. You can’t play with an offensive and defensive liability on your team and beat a good opponent.

-In Francisco Elson’s first game with the Spurs that happened to be against the Mavs, he looked exactly like what the Spurs needed to play against Dallas. Since then, Elson hasn’t been able to recapture that magic. He was in the game for 17 mostly invisible minutes. He had a nice jumper . . . and that’s about it.

-Brent Barry earned more playing time tonight. If Finley is going to continue to shoot like trash, might as well elevate Barry to the starting lineup. Barry’s three-point shooting got the Spurs back into the game. He came out firing and played with a purpose. Nice way to shake off an injury.

-Matt Bonner was frustrating. He’d have some very good plays and then he’d have some horrible plays. His energy and outside shooting helped the Spurs cut into the lead, but then he’d do something that’d negate his positives. The Spurs need a more consistent effort from Bonner game to game and possession to possession, or else Robert Horry is going to make him obsolete again this year.

-I won’t lie and pretend I didn’t groan when I saw Jacque Vaughn enter the contest. I wasn’t sure about how smart it was to bring someone off the injured list and straight into a contest against the Mavs. But truthfully, Vaughn played pretty good. He was one of the few players that wasn’t responsible for this loss in the least.

-Ime Udoka is suffering from First-Season-On-The-Spurs Blues. He had three really good looks at the basket and missed all three shots. It was pretty interesting to note that Pop called a play out of a timeout for Udoka to post up. That was either a gutsy call by Pop or it illustrated exactly how much Pop didn’t care about losing the game . Seriously though, with the way the other players defended out there against the Mavs, the Spurs might have to bank on Udoka’s improvement as a way to better matchup against the Mavs later in the season.

-Pop was probably the happiest person in the building tonight. Pop loves early season losses and this loss, in Pop’s eyes, will give the Spurs something to build on. If the Spurs win this game, Pop has to figure out another way to get the attention of the team. With the loss, Pop can get on the team more and demand even more total team commitment to improving.

-Overall, not the way you want to play against the Dallas Mavericks but the season is still early. If the Spurs laid this type of egg in any month other than November, I might give it a second though. This early? The Mavs can have that game.

That said, the Mavs appear to be the matchup they’ve been for the Spurs the last couple years. I didn’t see any improvement at all in terms of finding ways to slow down Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry and Devin Harris. Those guys ran wild and the Spurs had no answer defensively at all.

Was Pop concealing some of his cards? Most likely but I don’t know who is going to guard Nowitzki when it matters. Oberto and Elson aren’t agile enough. Bowen isn’t strong enough. Finley? God no. Maybe Udoka but that’s putting a lot of pressure on the team’s current 11th man to develop.

You gotta hand it to the Mavs because they matchup extremely well against the Spurs. Harris can stay in front of Parker like no one else in the league. Ginobili roams a bit defensively and the Mavs can counter with some deadly outside shooters. Duncan’s one weakness defensively is quickness and the Mavs have Dirk to exploit that weakness.

Is it time to get worried? Absolutely not. However, the Spurs should at least begin strategizing a plan of attack against Dallas. You can’t just bank on them to choke every year for the rest of eternity.

Or at least not before they play the Spurs in the playoffs.

[Holt's Cat]

Is it time to get worried? Absolutely not. However, the Spurs should at least begin strategizing a plan of attack against Dallas. You can’t just bank on them to choke every year for the rest of eternity.

Or at least not before they play the Spurs in the playoffs.

Never say never.

AJ preps his crew too much for the regular season. Not surprising, because AJ's always been the compe or. Plus he almost has to because I perceive that Cuban is probably the worst owner in the league at needling his coaching staff after every game.

The season is 100+ games long if you seek a le. Maybe AJ will figure that out sooner or later.

[ludda]

Nice analysis. I agree with all of it. Too bad I wasted my time watching our pathetic effort.

[Deimosfobos]

-I’m not sure what was wrong with Tony Parker. Either he was tired, sick, injured or he just wasn’t there mentally. You have to give the Mavs some credit because they defended him well but there’s really no excuse for having a 1-for-11 game. If Parker brings his B game, the Spurs probably find a way to win. Parker did have eight assists to go with only one turnover, but this highlights how important his scoring is for this team. Parker can rack up the assists but his most valuable asset to this team is the easy points he provides. Without those easy points, the offense doesn’t have enough weapons to keep up on a night when the defense is poor.

I don't think we need Parker to always score big in order to win games. We just need him to play smarter, like Manu usually does.
By smarter i mean, if your shoots are not falling, then stop shooting, and help the team with anything else but points, assists, steals, hustle, defence, what ever is needed.
Instead of going 1-11, stop shooting at 1-6 and give the other 5 to someone with hot hands, like barry.

[florige]

That Harris comment does raise some eyebrows...

[Holt's Cat]

I think the Spurs came out lethargic and didn't take the ball inside enough to start the game.

[Kori Ellis]

I don't think we need Parker to always score big in order to win games. We just need him to play smarter, like Manu usually does.
By smarter i mean, if your shoots are not falling, then stop shooting, and help the team with anything else but points, assists, steals, hustle, defence, what ever is needed.
Instead of going 1-11, stop shooting at 1-6 and give the other 5 to someone with hot hands, like barry.

The Spurs always want Parker to keep penetrating, shooting and trying to score. That's their game plan. When Parker was 1-6, Pop would have gone wild if he didn't keep trying to score.

[Leetonidas]

I don't think we need Parker to always score big in order to win games. We just need him to play smarter, like Manu usually does.
By smarter i mean, if your shoots are not falling, then stop shooting, and help the team with anything else but points, assists, steals, hustle, defence, what ever is needed.
Instead of going 1-11, stop shooting at 1-6 and give the other 5 to someone with hot hands, like barry.

No, he did stop shooting at one point and was overly passive. He started attacking more towards the end but by then it was too late.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

I wish the Spurs would take it to the rim more when their shots aren't falling. Settling for jumpers killed us.

[timvp]

I don't think we need Parker to always score big in order to win games. We just need him to play smarter, like Manu usually does.
By smarter i mean, if your shoots are not falling, then stop shooting, and help the team with anything else but points, assists, steals, hustle, defence, what ever is needed.
Instead of going 1-11, stop shooting at 1-6 and give the other 5 to someone with hot hands, like barry.

Link to a boxscore where Manu just stopped shooting because he was cold?

And really, I thought Parker didn't shoot enough. He let the fact that he started off cold affect the rest of his game. He should have shot his way out of his slump. He missed two early jumpers and never shot another confident shot.

[E20]

Horry might give Dirk some trouble. Horry is strong/agile even at the age of 107 to stay with Dirk. How did Bowen do playing against Dirk in the '06 PO's?

Although Dirk only scored 17 points, he had lots of help. Mavs won't shoot this high percentage everytime they play the Spurs and the Spurs won't play ty ass defense and Tony won't go 1-11 everytime when they play the Mavs. Bruce won't puss out on D and Tim won't play passive every time they play the Mavs.

I'm just gonna say that this is the most horrible I've seen the Spurs as a whole play during this season.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Link to a boxscore where Manu just stopped shooting because he was cold?

And really, I thought Parker didn't shoot enough. He let the fact that he started off cold affect the rest of his game. He should have shot his way out of his slump. He missed two early jumpers and never shot another confident shot.

if anything, this is the sort of scenario where more shooting less layups is a good thing. Harris completely eliminated Tony's speed advantage.

[timvp]

if anything, this is the sort of scenario where more shooting less layups is a good thing. Harris completely eliminated Tony's speed advantage.

Eh, not really. Parker got up five shots early he usually makes. He missed two open jumpers, missed a shot in the lane and got blocked twice. Harris defends him well but Parker took himself out of this game.

[Holt's Cat]

if anything, this is the sort of scenario where more shooting less layups is a good thing. Harris completely eliminated Tony's speed advantage.

Pop might've brought Manu in a little earlier with the starters not doing so hot at attacking the rim.

[florige]

Horry might give Dirk some trouble. Horry is strong/agile even at the age of 107 to stay with Dirk. How did Bowen do playing against Dirk in the '06 PO's?

Although Dirk only scored 17 points, he had lots of help. Mavs won't shoot this high percentage everytime they play the Spurs and the Spurs won't play ty ass defense and Tony won't go 1-11 everytime when they play the Mavs. Bruce won't puss out on D and Tim won't play passive every time they play the Mavs.

I'm just gonna say that this is the most horrible I've seen the Spurs as a whole play during this season.

I thought the same thing during that series in 06. For some reason those jerks ALWAYS seem to light it up against us. ALWAYS!! Why I don;t know...

[E20]

The 1st half was also a ing nightmare. So many times we turned the ball over doing the same thing over and over again. Bad passes, bad triple threat stance, bad dribbling/decisions. Not gonna happen again.

[loveforthegame]

Is it time to get worried? Absolutely not. However, the Spurs should at least begin strategizing a plan of attack against Dallas. You can’t just bank on them to choke every year for the rest of eternity.

Great analysis as usual.

This is my concern too. No need to hit panic buttons but I don't feel the Spurs have made any adjustments to counter Dallas. They still make the same msitakes.

[Deimosfobos]

Link to a boxscore where Manu just stopped shooting because he was cold?

And really, I thought Parker didn't shoot enough. He let the fact that he started off cold affect the rest of his game. He should have shot his way out of his slump. He missed two early jumpers and never shot another confident shot.

Im not great looking for old info, and i'm a bit tired, but i do remenber manu taking less than 10 shoots many times when he wasn't fealing "hot". If im not wrong, after his 48pts against the suns a while back, i think he only took like 6 shoot since he said he didn't felt good. I may be wrong... but there are examples.

Many here say he should keep doing it since spurs depend on him atacking in one way or another... i just don't agree. That's all.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Eh, not really. Parker got up five shots early he usually makes. He missed two open jumpers, missed a shot in the lane and got blocked twice. Harris defends him well but Parker took himself out of this game.

I guess we'll find out on Dec 5. I thought Harris did as good a job on Tony as I've seen anyone do in a long time. Let's face it, Tony is dangerous because he is lightning quick, well so is Harris here. Tony's shooting is decent, but his killer drives are his niche. Ofcourse, everyone knows this, I'm just saying

[Findog]

Was Pop concealing some of his cards? Most likely but I don’t know who is going to guard Nowitzki when it matters

These teams have met so much over the past and are so familiar with each other, what is really being held back? The Mavs probably wanted it more tonight and shot the out of the ball.

[whottt]

Parker played like he was hung over or didn't get enough sleep last night.

His body language, everything about him...that was not the same Tony Parker who's showed up in most games this season.



If he was sick...he needs to not go out to eat in Dallas anymore or something...I remember he got sick a few years ago in Dallas too.



Was nice to finally see Pop give Barry important minutes in a game against the Mavs for the first time in 3 years...he really screws up the d the Mavs try and run.

I forgot about the bad blood between Barry and Stackhouse from 3 years ago...I was instantly reminded of it once I saw Barry being asked to guard him.


Barry should be the designated Stack defendee for the rest of the season...he doesn't like Stack, and Stack doesn't like him...that matchup works in our favor.


ing Bonner sucked ass...I'm with Sequ on the Bonner sucks wagon. I've seen enough of what he's got now...he doesn't have the ability to impact a big game in a meaningful way...kick this er to the curb, I don't give a if he's a nice guy or makes a great hustle play once every 5 games. He does not have it...I don't want him in the game when it matters...ever. And don't insult Malik Rose by saying he's Malik with a 3 shot either...


Replace Robert Horry my ing ass.




And save Finley a seat on that bus.....


Finley lacks the ability to make any other player better....if his shot is falling he can outscore his man in spurts or carry the Spurs offensively for a brief period...and that's all he's got.




Bottom line...to beat the Mavs...


We have to stop Stackhouse and Terry, don't even worry about stopping Dirk...those guys are the keys.

We aren't going to stop Dirk if Dirk doesn't want to be stopped...but we can make sure we don't leave those ers open 15 times a game...and make them play D.

[MagnusKrauss]

A loss like this is clearly a huge investment for the post season. Wins for the Mavs like this expose their capabilities.

Post-game, we'd probably see them reviewing game footage to see just where AJ focuses.

Sure, the team had an off night. But if Pop really wanted the win he'd have played every play in his book tonight. But clearly that wasn't the case.

instead of focusing on what went wrong, why not focus on where Dallas is weak? They'll be charged, playing with confidence, bringing their A game to show that the Spurs aren't the be-all and end-all. surely Pop can find just where their weaknesses lie. Give them every chance to show their capabilities and we'll see their limits.

even if we only win 1 against them in the regular season doesn't mean that they'll be facing the same team later in the playoffs. Our main concern in the regular season is not to win the division le, but to find ways to beat everybody else in the playoffs while clinching a spot. Doesn't matter what spot just as long as we get in. And with careful planning, why not pick a nice spot facing teams we can clearly eliminate with less than maximum effort?

and while we're playing other teams (aside from Dallas, Houston, Boston, Detroit, etc..) in the regular season, we can tweak our lineups and get our new guys acquianted with the system.

now that's CIA planning.

[loveforthegame]

I don't really care who guards Dirk anymore. All I ask is that we don't double team him and leave guys like Howard, Terry, and Stackhouse wide open for 3's. I'd rather see Dirk torch us for 50 then have him score 15-20 and have others kill us as well.

[timvp]

Parker played like he was hung over or didn't get enough sleep last night.

Something was definitely up. One of the commentators talked about a knee and his lack of explosion could be due to that knee tendinitis that flairs up every now and then for him.

Was nice to finally see Pop give Barry important minutes in a game against the Mavs for the first time in 3 years...he really screws up the d the Mavs try and run.

Three years? WTF? You need to buy a new calender because May of 2006 was not three years ago

Barry was arguably the worst player for the Spurs in that series and that was a mere year and a half ago.

Barry should be the designated Stack defendee

I've never seen the word "Barry" and "defender" in the same sentence. Well, to be truthful, I still haven't.

If by defendee you mean that you want Stackhouse to guard Barry, I may actually see your point there.

ing Bonner sucked ass...I'm with Sequ on the Bonner sucks wagon. I've seen enough of what he's got now...he doesn't have the ability to impact a big game in a meaningful way...kick this er to the curb, I don't give a if he's a nice guy or makes a great hustle play once every 5 games. He does not have it...I don't want him in the game when it matters...ever. And don't insult Malik Rose by saying he's Malik with a 3 shot either...

Replace Robert Horry my ing ass.

And save Finley a seat on that bus.....

Finley lacks the ability to make any other player better....if his shot is falling he can outscore his man in spurts or carry the Spurs offensively for a brief period...and that's all he's got.

whottt hating on Bonner and Finley. I'm shocked.

Bottom line...to beat the Mavs...


We have to stop Stackhouse and Terry, don't even worry about stopping Dirk...We aren't going to stop Dirk if Dirk doesn't want to be stopped...

Did you watch the Warriors series? You beat the Mavs by bodying up Dirk and turning him into a woman. The problem is the Spurs don't have the player who can body up on Dirk, therefore it leaves other players open.

[E20]

I love it how ALWAYS when Whottt posts, moments later Timvp quotes Whottts sentence by sentence and counter arugues Whottt and then Whottt comes back quoting Timvp's sentences and counter aruges. Then repeat this 50 times and the thread blows up to 50 pages.