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These last two games were definitely a ploy to get D'Antoni to coach the West at the ASG.
Overall, I was actually really happy with the way the Spurs performed in this game. In fact, I’m happier about this game than a lot of the wins the Spurs had this season. The Spurs were minus Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, got a horrible performance from Manu Ginobili and still stayed in it the whole way. You can’t be upset about that.
I also liked how the Spurs didn’t back down. The Lakers decided to get physical and the Spurs were willing to up their level of physicality. There was no backing down from the Spurs tonight. That’s great to see when you're out on the road and the other team has much more talent than you.
The Lakers can’t really take many positives out of this game. Their bench saved them. Without quality efforts from players like Vladimir Radmanovic and Ronny Turiaf, the Spurs could have easily won this game. For the first time in a long time the Lakers actually have a quality bench, which allows Phil Jackson to better use some of the coaching tricks he’s picked up throughout the years.
-Manu Ginobili was simply horrible or terrible or whatever other synonym you can think of that means really, really bad. It seemed as if every time he caught the ball, he thought he had to be the hero. And while sometimes he can be that hero, it wasn’t happening tonight when he had no energy, no explosion in his legs and a team focused to stop him. I would blame it on fatigue but a lot of it was just uncharacteristically dumb plays. For the game, Ginobili finished with 14 points on 5-for-17 shooting and seven turnovers. With Duncan sitting, Ginobili obviously missed having at least Tony Parker on his side because even if Parker isn’t playing well, he absorbs a lot of the defensive pressure from the opponents. Without Parker, Ginobili became the focal point and the Lakers were able to eat him up. It’s no mistake that Ginobili finished with a team worst plus/minus of -12, which was double as bad as anyone else on the team.
-If Bruce Bowen got to play against the Lakers every game, he might be in the league leaders in scoring. Earlier this year, Bowen had 23 against the Lakers. In this game, he went for 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field. More impressively, he guarded Kobe Bryant amazingly well, especially considering Bowen literally had no shotblocker behind him at any point. For all those league pundits that say Bowen is only a good defender because he has Duncan behind him, this is a classic example of why that’s untrue.
-Fabricio Oberto had yet another good game. In a shade over 37 minutes, Oberto scored nine points and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds. He also chipped in with three assists, one steal and one block. I also thought his defense on Andrew Bynum was rather solid and he was protecting the rim better than usual. Oberto gave it absolutely everything he had, which is all you can ask.
-Jacque Vaughn started and showed why he’s a bench player. He hit only 1-of-7 shots from the field and didn’t handle the defensive pressure very well. I loved his energy and toughness, but there’s more to basketball than energy and toughness. Overall though, Vaughn didn’t lose the game. He played his role well enough for the Spurs to win.
-Coming off the best game of his life, Matt Bonner came crashing back down to earth. In 16 minutes, Bonner went scoreless and only grabbed three rebounds. The Lakers did a good job of closing out on him, but Bonner was hesitating much more than he usually does. Bonner could have really made a case to for himself to earn consistent playing time when Duncan returns if he would have played well. Instead, Bonner laid an egg.
-Brent Barry got some rare minutes at point guard and performed rather nicely. He finished with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists while hitting 6-of-11 shots from the field. His defense suffered at points but he proved to be a capable option when it comes to running the show. Pop is never going to let him play extended minutes at point guard due to his defensive deficiencies, but for a few minutes here and there Barry can handle it. If nothing else, this game was valuable since it let Barry test the waters at point guard for the first time in a long time.
-Robert Horry is still out of shape but I thought he played very well, all things considered. He finished with six points, four rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and two steals. That’s a vintage Horry line from his heyday. Since Horry has returned to the Spurs, I’ve been very impressed by his focus. He usually loafs through the regular season, but he’s playing with a purpose.
-Michael Finley is another Spur who went down swinging. He had 11 points, three rebounds and four assists and played physically on the defensive end of the court. He shot poorly (4-for-13) but he was at least taking good shots for the most part. He did a good job on Lamar Odom when Odom was giving the Spurs trouble. On the night, Finley led the Spurs in plus/minus at +6.
-Darius Washington stepped off the plane and played decently enough. He almost had a highlight reel dunk over a couple Lakers where he showed athleticism I didn’t know he had. He’s still early in his development but he continues to be relatively impressive.
-Ime Udoka came in and had a few possessions against Bryant. Bowen got in foul trouble early and Pop went with Udoka for his defense. Although Bryant scored a couple baskets on him, Udoka’s defense was fine. Obviously, he’s not going to play Bowen level defense but he’s proving himself to be the second best one-on-one perimeter defender on the team already.
-Francisco Elson came off the bench, blew some defensive assignments and found himself back on the bench. He actually had a nice move on the low block but bad defense and no rebounds in six minutes gets you some added pine time.
-On one hand, I want to give Pop props for getting the players ready to play and giving this good effort. However, I disagreed with a lot of his decisions. First of all, without Duncan and Parker in the lineup, I think you have to get the most offense as possible in the starting lineup. Going with Vaughn to start with was just asking for the offense to become stagnant. I would have rather seen Pop go with Barry, Ginobili or even Washington at point guard to start the game. And as tough of a decision as it would have been, I would have liked to have seen Pop keep Ginobili on the bench when the Spurs were rolling without him and Ginobili was so obviously out of rhythm. A lot of times during the game, the Spurs were best without Ginobili on the court. Keeping Ginobili on the bench while letting him get an extended rest for a late push made more sense to me than playing him 35 minutes. Overall though, I was more than pleased with the effort and it’s games like these that a team needs to build. You don’t improve much when you blowout a bad team by 30 points. However, you can improve when you are basically without your three best players in a hostile environment with your backs against the wall. Nice showing and should help down the line when the Spurs again face adversity.
These last two games were definitely a ploy to get D'Antoni to coach the West at the ASG.
The near slam he had on the Lakers made me jump out of my seat. Pop looked really supportive towards DW, most I've ever seen him towards anybody. I still think he should have started, we needed points tonight, not defense and JV went for 1-100. D-Wash could have and had more to offer.-Darius Washington stepped off the plane and played decently enough. He almost had a highlight reel dunk over a couple Lakers where he showed athleticism I didn’t know he had. He’s still early in his development but he continues to be relatively impressive.
He makes one or two of those dunks every Toro game. Skies for boards too.Darius Washington stepped off the plane and played decently enough. He almost had a highlight reel dunk over a couple Lakers where he showed athleticism I didn’t know he had.
Dump, how many D-League games do you attend? Is taht a side job or something?
I have season tickets to the Toros and occasionally watch their road games if the scheduling is right.
Pop likes backup points who actually care.
Man I really liked what I saw from D Wash. That fearlessness is a really good thing to see in a young pg.
I thought Jacque Vaughn was annoying the whole game and D Wash should have started in his place. He's an offensive liability and isn't doing a good job at keeping the ball moving.Jacque Vaughn started and showed why he’s a bench player. He hit only 1-of-7 shots from the field and didn’t handle the defensive pressure very well. I loved his energy and toughness, but there’s more to basketball than energy and toughness.
Manu probably suffers from being his own worst enemy. He sometimes look like he's battling within himself, to either be an energy guy, a facilitator, or offensive quarterback. He's been like a malfunctioning robot these last two games...but oh well. I don't think he was tired, and last week, he was a lot more focused and calm, knew when to pass, knew when to attack, and the three guys draped all over him didn't affect him. He shouldn't be fatigued though at the beginning of the game. He could never be a franchise player. He's got too many issuesManu Ginobili was simply horrible or terrible or whatever other synonym you can think of that means really, really bad. It seemed as if every time he caught the ball, he thought he had to be the hero. And while sometimes he can be that hero, it wasn’t happening tonight when he had no energy, no explosion in his legs and a team focused to stop him. I would blame it on fatigue but a lot of it was just uncharacteristically dumb plays.
Barry was awesome leading the team as the point guard. He created for his teammates. I wish he was 4 years younger.If nothing else, this game was valuable since it let Barry test the waters at point guard for the first time in a long time.
Wash was picking up his man at full court!!! I saw intensity from Wash tonight on the defensive and offensive end. Plus, he couldn't have played any worse than Vaughn. The rook looks like one hungry mofo and he gots the talent.
Vaughn has made some really nice J's the last couple games. Also he's driven to the basket and gotten the foul when the offense was stagnant. He's also got aggressive D.
I prefer to watch Washington because he is young, seems to have a pretty solid build, is the underdog noob battling for a spot, is more exciting to watch, and pushes the ball very well.
Yeah I like DW...I hope he's a Spur for a long time...you can see what he's going to be one day...and that's a beast.
RE: Ime Udoka
Ime Udoka is never going to be the perimeter defender Bruce Bowen is...I realized that for certain tonight...he's a lot more like Artest than he is like Bruce...
But he's a way better post defender than Bruce, way better interior defender...anyone that tries to post this dude up is going to get freaking owned...strong dude....I've watched him make Kobe and Baron Davis look like little kids on the school ground when they tried inside stuff on him and he was in position to defend it...
This guy is going to help against LeBron and long SF's more than we realized when he finally gets the chance to show it IMO.
But he doesn't have Bruce's feet, lateral movement, or moving backwards...so we can forget about him ever completely replacing Bruce.
I don't see us sticking him on many PG's either.
But I will say this...he's the guy that needs to be our PF in our small ball line up IMO...not Finley, at least defensively.
another happy loss ...
I watched the Kobe/bowen match up and to be honest, Bowen did not impress me. Most of Kobe's shots were shots he generally takes and makes. He just missed a lot of looks. Kobe got by him to the hole quite a few times to.
I remember back in the day when Bowen used to force Kobe to take unbalanced Jumpers. Not the case anymore.
Kobe isn't going to miss those shots in a series.
Keep judging everything by 1 game...that's the best way to do it
Well at least Manu got a very small taste of what LeBron and Kobe have had to go through over the last few years, except at least Manu has consistent three point shooters. I'm not knocking Manu because he is one of my top 5 favorite players to watch in the NBA. But, if it's only a microscopic glimpse of how amazing talents like LeBron and Kobe are in terms of night in and night out having to be the #1 and #2 and #3 guy on the team at the same time, it's somewhat impressive how much success each has had without much help. On the other hand, it shows how great the Spurs team was built in terms of matching and complimentary pieces.
Damn near everyone on the Spurs can shoot lights out from 3pt land. That more than anything makes them the elite team that they are. Especially this season, they are using that weapon more and more to get back into games or put them out of reach.
As do I. The problem is I don't think Pop overly likes or trusts him. He's gone away from Washington in the second half a number of times. That's what he used to do with Beno when he was mad at Beno.
Pop plays players he likes. Since the regular season has started, Pop has altered his lineup to find ways not to play Washington.
It's probably because Washington is young and still learning the system but as of right now, I can tell he doesn't have Pop's full confidence. Some young players (like Parker, Rose, SJax, Speedy) Pop has played them through all their struggles and always showed confidence in them. Other young players (Beno, AD, Devin) Pop has had a short hook with and found ways not to play them. Right now, Washington appears to be in that second category.
Hopefully he becomes a Pop favorite sooner than later or else he won't last.
Kobe torched bowen all last season. Bowen used to force kobe to take bad shots. That isn't the case anymore. That's all i'm saying.Keep judging everything by 1 game...that's the best way to do it
During this game, Kobe was 7-for-20 when Bowen was in the game. He was 3-for-4 when Bowen was out of the game.
But yeah, Bowen has no effect on Kobe anymore
During this game, Kobe was 7-for-20 when Bowen was in the game. He was 3-for-4 when Bowen was out of the game.
But yeah, Bowen has no effect on Kobe anymore
Yes, it's always interesting how fans of the opposing team come in here and say the exact same thing:
" Bowen didn't exactly beat [insert opposing team's superstar name here]--he usually makes those shots. He's not going to miss them every night."
I think there's a reason that [x] is missing those shots, and his name is Bowen.
Manus grade
A+++
Nice little westcoast retreat for the guys.
Hopefully it did TD and TP some wonders.
yeah... its getting to be like a generic post. how many times was kobe able to drive when bowen was guarding him again?
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