Game Thoughts: Spurs vs. Bulls Dec. 26

[timvp]

With as poorly as the Chicago Bulls played tonight, this victory by the Spurs was basically hollow. It’s tough to take much away from kicking a team that is already down. With Pete Myers taking over for the night using Scott Skiles’ old rotation and philosophies, nothing changed for the Bulls.

For the Spurs, it was just nice to come out and burn off some of that holiday weight while collecting a win with Manu Ginobili sidelined with an injured finger. A couple of players had good outings but overall the most notable occurrence of the night was when Brent Barry went down injured. He checked into the game with rubber tubing on his calf and seemed to re-injure his calf early in his stint. It looked like the type of injury that will keep him out a couple of weeks – depending on whether anything worse is found on the MRI tomorrow. This is bad timing because the Spurs might have to force Ginobili back into action quicker than they’d like.

Regarding the Bulls, they need to bring in a coach from the outside. The current system simply isn’t working. A players’ coach that knows how to construct a good offense should be the target. I’ve heard that Paul Westphal could be in the running and that makes some sense.

-Tim Duncan had a quiet game. The Bulls were swarming him and had a number of bigman defenders to throw at him, so Duncan decided to play quarterback instead. For the game, Duncan finished with eight points, 11 rebounds and a team-high six assists. While he shot only 2-for-9 from the floor and had five turnovers, it’s pretty easy to chalk it up to boredom or a bad game. He seems healthy and his 11 rebounds in 27 minutes was good to see. Over his last four games, Duncan is averaging 15 rebounds per game. Coming into this stretch, Duncan hadn’t grabbed double-figure rebounds in three straight games all season long.

-Tony Parker was a monster tonight. Parker’s play in the second quarter basically won the game for the Spurs. In the other three quarters, the Spurs outscored the Bulls only 64-62. But in the third behind Parker, the Spurs outscored the Bulls 30-17. After entering the ballgame in the second period with the Spurs up five, Parker went on a run in which he scored or assisted on 17 straight points. After that run, the Spurs were up 18 points and they never looked back. Parker finished with 28 points, five assists and zero turnovers while shooting 12-for-19 in 33 minutes.

-Bruce Bowen didn’t distinguish himself that much this game. He did a decent job staying in front of Ben Gordon despite the six inch height differential. Offensively, Bowen chipped in 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. He also connected on 2-of-3 three-pointers to improve his percentage to a career-high 46.5%.

-Fabricio Oberto, like Bowen, didn’t do anything to stand out from the crowd against the Bulls. He had a couple of good defensive possessions and finished with four points and three rebounds in 22 minutes. Over the last couple games, Oberto is only 2-for-8 from the field. That’s surprising considering that Oberto’s field goal percentage was climbing all the way up to around 70% before those two games.

-Michael Finley played pretty well as he picked up some of the slack with Ginobili and Barry out injured. He finished with 15 points as he shot 7-for-15 from the field in 36 minutes of action against his hometown team. His shooting percentage would have been even better if he wasn’t forced to shoot a handful of shots with the clock winding down. An aspect of Finley’s game that is quietly improving is his passing. He had two assists this game and is averaging 3.3 assists over his last six games. Finley has never been known as a great passer, especially in the halfcourt setting, but he has shown some nice improvement in that regard since last season.

-Ime Udoka has started to calm down and has really played well in his last two outings. Against the Bulls, Udoka finished with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field and 2-for-2 shooting from beyond the arc. Perhaps the most impressive part of his night was his plus/minus of +25 in only 25 minutes played. The biggest difference in Udoka’s game overall is he has begun to figure out where to get his shot. With the players he has around him, Udoka now understands he never has to force a shot. Compared to how he played in preseason and earlier in the year, his decision making offensively has been greatly improved. He still has a ways to go before he becomes a regular part of the rotation but he seems to be on the right track.

-Matt Bonner, much like Udoka, let the game come to him and he responded with a very nice performance. Bonner had 12 points, nine rebounds and a plus/minus of +18 in 22 minutes. He hit 5-of-8 shots from the field and 2-of-4 shots from downtown. When Bonner is rebounding and hitting open shots, he becomes a valuable piece for the Spurs.

-It was good to see Francisco Elson healthy again and back in the lineup. He had only two points and three rebounds in 19 minutes but his injury didn’t seem to be bothering him. I’ll give Elson a free pass on his 1-for-5 performance from the field and his otherwise lackluster game due to the extended time away with an injury.

-Jacque Vaughn played his role well tonight. Although he didn’t score, he had five assists and no turnovers in 19 minutes. Vaughn also had some nice hustle plays and was active defensively. When Vaughn blends into the background and concentrates on defense and passing, he becomes a valuable backup point guard.

-In Horry’s five minutes, he was in fully Robert-Horry-regular-season mode. The only place he really dented the boxscore was his 1-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line. Horry wasn’t needed tonight and Horry played like he knew that fact.

-Marcus Williams was in the game for exactly two minutes as he made his NBA debut. Surprised about Williams being on the team? Read this thread. Williams didn’t have time to do much. He got beat defensively but responded with a good blocked shot. Offensively, he shot an ugly 16-footer that barely drew iron. Hopefully he gets a few more games to show if he can do anything on the NBA level.

-I don’t have any real problem with how Pop managed this game. The Spurs came out slow but that’s to be expected on the day after Christmas and the Bulls entering the game with a new head coach. The one critique I have is that with Ginobili out, Pop has to figure out a way to limit the time that both Parker and Duncan are on the bench. The Spurs without any of the Big Three on the court can’t do much of anything offensively. A good team would run that lineup off the court. One problem I have with not only Pop but the rest of the training staff is they seem to be a step slow when it comes to sitting players with injuries. Parker played a few games on an ankle that was obviously not right. Ginobili should have been sat for the game against the Clippers because his finger had worsened to the point he was having trouble warming up. And now this game, Barry enters the game with an inner tube on his leg and promptly further injures his calf. This early in the season, the Spurs shouldn’t risk injury by playing hobbled players. It’s weird that I even have to bring this up because Pop and the training staff are usually overly cautious when it comes to injures. This season, it seems like they’ve allowed the players to decide whether or not they are playing.

[Cry Havoc]

This is the real dregs of the regular season, to me. The NBA is boring now until after the All-Star break. These middle games feel almost pointless.

Good thoughts, Timvp. I mean, even if we win by 40 tonight, it really doesn't mean much. The Bulls are just that bad. Sad to say that, as I'm sitting in Chicago.

Parker is absolutely nuts, though. That hesitation crossover in the open court was absolutely sickening. I wonder if ballijuana was paying attention to Parker's "complete lack of flash or ability to dish out a jaw dropping assist".

[marini martini]

Yea, we won!

[BeerIsGood!]

At one point early in the game I listened to the wind, and I could swear I heard Whottt cry.

[whottt]

At one point early in the game I listened to the wind, and I could swear I heard Whottt cry.

I've been wanting Udoka to get some PT. Not that I want Barry dropped from the rotation or wanted to see him get hurt, because I do think he's valuable in terms of getting our offense going when it's stalling.......but I have a strong feeling we're going to need Udoka to contribute to repeat. Him getting minutes is a positive for this team...and will count the most when it matters most, in the post season.

[urunobili]

Michael Finley has been playing great lately... he looks like rejuvenated or something... his jumper looks fresher as ever... i think he'll be key for the spurs further this season...

[BonnerDynasty]

-Bruce Bowen didn’t distinguish himself that much this game. He did a decent job staying in front of Ben Gordon despite the six inch height differential. Offensively, Bowen chipped in 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. He also connected on 2-of-3 three-pointers to improve his percentage to a career-high 46.5%.

I was really happy to see Bonner take his shots without any hesitation.

[SouthernFried]

Yeah, I've seen something in Finley as well. More energy, more concentrated on D. He doesn't seem to be getting beat all the time now. Actually see him doing some leadership things on the court too. Very nice. Love it when that pull-up jumper is going down.

Udoka is doing some nice things now as well...same thing for Bonner. Good time to get the bench some minutes. Good insight on how Udoka is starting to let the game come to him instead of forcing. Spurs are a great team to be on if you understand you don't have to force the action. Bonner understands that.

Even Elson didn't look absolutely horrible. He seems to be concentrating more on blocking out.

Lot more energy when the bench is on the court these days. I actually look forward to them playing more.

Of course...this was the Bulls.

[TampaDude]

This is the real dregs of the regular season, to me. The NBA is boring now until after the All-Star break. These middle games feel almost pointless.

Yeah, we're getting to that time of year where the Spurs just plod along and play .500 ball...they know the real season starts after the break...

At least we have the NFL playoffs to keep us interested for the next month or so...

[SAGambler]

I've been wanting Udoka to get some PT. Not that I want Barry dropped from the rotation or wanted to see him get hurt, because I do think he's valuable in terms of getting our offense going when it's stalling.......but I have a strong feeling we're going to need Udoka to contribute to repeat. Him getting minutes is a positive for this team...and will count the most when it matters most, in the post season.

The silver lining in the cloud of injuries. I just assumed that Ime would play as long as Manu was out, then he would be sitting again. But now that Brent is down also, I see Ime getting a lot of minutes in the next couple of weeks. He really seems to be gelling with the rest of the guys, and if we can depend on him to put up 10 and grab 5 or 6 boards a night, he is going to be valuable in the playoffs.

Also wish they would have called time around the 3 minute mark and got Williams in. Would have like to have had a chance to watch him for a bit.

[Harry Callahan]

I guess Ime and Williams will have to blend in for the short term. I like Udoka's contribution.

I'm bummed because I thought last night's game would be on WGN, but it wasn't on up here in Mavies land. At least the Jazz made me happy with a win last night over the "wanna bes and nut punchers".

I can't believe Chicago has regressed so badly. I really like the Bull's talent.

[spurschick]

Manu gets brownie points for his entertainment value on the bench. Even in street clothes, that guy is all over the place. Sticking his fingers in people's ears, pulling their hair, joking with Pop to let him in the game for a few minutes, interrupting Chapu's interview with Bill Schoenig before the game... what a pest!

[MoSpur]

The game was kind of boring because of the opponent. However, it was good to see Ime play more minutes again. I like the fact that he goes after rebounds. He didn't finish with a lot of rebounds, but there were times in the game where you saw he went after the ball.

Bruce Bowen dancing/grinding on that guy on the Spurs bench was gross and hilarious.

[Sweetey]

I was really happy to see Bonner take his shots without any hesitation.

I LOVE my Bonner Baby. I see him becoming a tremendous asset to our 2008 Championship ! He's playing with much less intimidation than he was earlier this season.

[CubanMustGo]

Udoka played a very smart game last night, both offensively and defensively. Glad to see him make the most of his extended PT. And Finley looked/played like he was about five years younger for some reason.

[bigfundamental21]

Thanks for the thoughts, Timvp. I too thought that the coaching staff and trainers should have sat Barry out this game. Given the opponent and the fact that we did pick up Williams, Barry should have sat and could have avoided the reaggravation of the calf injury. Hopefully, the MRI reveals that it is not that serious and we don't lose him for more than a week or two.

I agree with most here about the silver lining to the injuries. It is always good to have bench guys that don't get much PT to get in there and learn on the fly. It definiely can't hurt to let these guys like Ime, Bonner, Williams, or even Washington to get some real action and play in real game situations. That will just make our bench that much stronger come playoffs and these guys will gain confidence playing with the starters.

Duncan did seem bored this game, but Shoening said before the game that the Bulls like to pack it in on defense and that perimeter play would be key. As a result, Duncan didn't hit double figures in points, but made up for it in assists and rebounds. And we shot 47% from 3 as a team.

We did start the game slow, but that was expected after the long layoff between games and the holiday. Glad to see that we turned it on in the 2nd quarter and ended the game early.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Ime is definitely on the right track to becoming a regular for the Spurs. He's gonna keep improving and his play will make Pop slip him in for some of Finley and Barry's minutes. Maybe even Vaughn's minutes.

[SenorSpur]

Udoka played a very smart game last night, both offensively and defensively. Glad to see him make the most of his extended PT. And Finley looked/played like he was about five years younger for some reason.

I have a keen interest in the development of Udoka and have been keeping a sharp eye on him. I really like this kid and I've been very impressed at his play the past couple of games.

With the unfortunate injury to Barry, along with Manu already sidelined, it appears as though he will get even more crucial PT.

I hope he will continue his stellar play off the bench, whereas he will earn the trust and confidence of Pop. He's going to be a significant role player for the Spurs going into next year.

[Spurs Brazil]

Udoka played well in the last 2 games.

We'll need him now with Brent and Manu out

[MoSpur]

[MoSpur]

That was hilarious. Sean Elliott stated he wasn't going to be able to eat after seeing that.

[Cherry]

Manu gets brownie points for his entertainment value on the bench. Even in street clothes, that guy is all over the place. Sticking his fingers in people's ears, pulling their hair, joking with Pop to let him in the game for a few minutes, interrupting Chapu's interview with Bill Schoenig before the game... what a pest!

Any video of Manu?

Here, Bruce dancing toward the end of the segment

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Good observation about the coaching/training staff and injuries, Timvp. Interesting considering how Pop manages minutes and is always slow to bring guys back from injury. I wonder if the players just insist on going and Pop gives his veterans some leeway in deciding if they're fit to play. I remember being able to fake healthiness pretty well even when things weren't quite right.

[whottt]

Good observation about the coaching/training staff and injuries, Timvp. Interesting considering how Pop manages minutes and is always slow to bring guys back from injury. I wonder if the players just insist on going and Pop gives his veterans some leeway in deciding if they're fit to play. I remember being able to fake healthiness pretty well even when things weren't quite right.

To get on the court with Pop they either have to be lying about how they feel and faking it pretty convincingly...or else they aren't that hurt at the time he lets them on the court.


That's one of Pop's best traits as a coach...he said in DRob's final years he didn't even bother to ask Drob about if Drob could play, because Drob would lie and say he could, even if he couldn't...so he'd just watch him in practice.


Barry probably wasn't that hurt when the decision was made to let him on the court...it got worse on the court.