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Your recaps always kick ass LJ.
Keep them coming!
Another game against a winning team, another loss for the Spurs. That makes the Spurs 0-7 in their last seven games against teams with a winning record. No matter the context, that’s a scary stat for San Antonio.
The Houston Rockets played just well enough to escape with an 83-81 victory in front of their home fans. In a typical Spurs versus Rockets slugfest, the Rockets got in the final blow and won the game. Yao Ming played well and came up with some big plays at the end to will the Rockets to victory.
For the Spurs, it was more of the same. Their offense was raged, with no one outside of the Big Three scoring more than six points for the second consecutive game. While the Spurs did play better defense this game, they negated their improvement by giving up 16 offensive rebounds – including a host of key ones in the fourth quarter.
It’s not time to sound the alarm but it’s getting close to make it or break it time. Everyone expects the Spurs to flip the switch sometime soon and start shooting up the standings.
But what if this is the year the Spurs can’t flip that switch? It’s probably best not to ponder that frightening notion.
-As has been the case since his return from injury, Tim Duncan played hard and was into the game mentally. He played pretty well but you have to give the Rockets credit as Yao and even Luis Scola defended him effectively. Duncan finished with 24 points, 17 rebounds and two blocked shots. His passing wasn’t as crisp as it was in the last couple games, as Duncan turned the ball over five times and had only one assist. Duncan didn’t have his A game but played well enough for the Spurs to win.
-Manu Ginobili had a favorable outing for the most part. His shot looks really good right now and he’s being aggressive offensively. Ginobili hit 4-of-7 three-pointers on his way to 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Offensively, Ginobili did about all he could. Defensively, I thought he could have boxed out better in a number of situations. Ginobili also had a bonehead foul on Yao at the end of the first half. 94 feet away from the Rockets’ basket and with less than a second to go in the half, Ginobili fouled Yao on a reach in foul – leading to two Yao free throws. As Ginobili matures as a player, he has to better understand time and situation and when it’s inappropriate to go for a steal or blocked shot. It turned out that those two points could have been useful at the end of the game.
-Tony Parker continued his extremely erratic play. His defense at the beginning of the game was poor. His offense was mostly poor throughout the game. The best thing you can take away from this game in regards to Parker is that he hit his jumpers. On shots outside of the paint, Parker finished 6-for-9 from the field. The problem is he went 1-for-6 in the paint and had only four assists to go along with his 16 points in 36 minutes of action. Once Parker finds his game, that could be the turning point for the Spurs this season. In the last six weeks, we’ve only seen glimpses of it.
-Bruce Bowen’s during the game was good. He was also active on the boards – especially early on. However, he scored just two points and continues to be in a major offensive funk. Bowen is due for a breakout offensive performance in one of the upcoming games.
-Michael Finley seems to be the player who has had his minutes slashed since the return of Brent Barry. In 19 minutes, Finley had two points on 1-for-5 shooting. While Finley needs to hit for a better percentage, his inconsistent minutes lately have obviously negatively influenced his game.
-Fabricio Oberto fought valiantly against Yao. He didn’t have much success but you can’t question his effort. A few times he let Yao beat him to punch but overall, Oberto’s defense was good enough. Offensively, Oberto was again quiet. The easy shots Oberto had gotten in the beginning of the season have seemingly disappeared.
-Ime Udoka played one of his better games as a Spur, even though nothing pops out on the statsheet. In 13 minutes, Udoka had four points on 2-for-2 shooting from the field. Where he really flourished was defensively, where he applied a lot of pressure. Overall, Udoka played with a calmness and confidence that I hadn’t seen before out of him as a Spur.
-Jacque Vaughn played 12 minutes and his only dent on the statsheet was a layup. Other than his 1-for-1 shooting, Vaughn didn’t do anything. Usually, that’d be a negative thing to say about a player. However, with Vaughn, it’s best when he just blends into the background.
-Matt Bonner’s game will be remembered for the missed shot in the lane he had at the buzzer to try to send the game into overtime. While the play wasn’t drawn up for Bonner, he got off a good shot that he’s made numerous times this season. Bonner’s other nine minutes and 49 seconds of playing time was mostly a success. He hit 2-of-3 three-pointers and was active defensively.
-Francisco Elson was the first bigman off the bench for the Spurs. He contributed two turnovers, three missed shots and a foul in his six minutes of play. Oh and don’t forget how he got an offensive rebound for the Rockets late in the game by knocking it away from Duncan and Oberto. Behind Yao, Elson might have been the second best Rocket on the court tonight.
-Robert Horry took another half step in the right direction tonight. He didn’t make a shot but he grabbed three rebounds and handed out two assists in six minutes of action. The next step is to improve his 18.4% shooting from the floor.
-In Brent Barry’s second game back, he played only five minutes and hit his only shot from the field. He wasn’t a very good match for Houston’s physical guards, leading to his 43 minutes on the bench.
-Pop once again used a seldom seen 12-man rotation. If the Coyote would have made the short jet ride over to Houston, I’m sure Pop would have figured out a way to get him out on the court.
This was almost a carbon copy game to the Cavaliers game. Pop goes with a preseason rotation against a quality opponent who is trying hard to win. The result is the role players outside of the Big Three mostly struggle and the Spurs are left with the Big Three shouldering almost the entire scoring load.
Right now, the Spurs aren’t playing well, their coaching is toying with the rotations and their fans are waiting for the switch to be flipped. Until then, San Antonio is in a holding pattern.
The bottomline is the Spurs continue to lose winnable games. I guess we won’t know until the end of the season whether this is just a bump on a championship ride or an early warning sign that there were problems all along.
Your recaps always kick ass LJ.
Keep them coming!
Francisco Elson was the first bigman off the bench for the Spurs. He contributed two turnovers, three missed shots and a foul in his six minutes of play. Oh and don’t forget how he got an offensive rebound for the Rockets late in the game by knocking it away from Duncan and Oberto. Behind Yao, Elson might have been the second best Rocket on the court tonight.
Agree about Oberto and others.
Personally if Udoka would've played the first half, and more of the 4th quarter, I think the Spurs win the game.
I wouldn't be 100% opposed to calling up Ian and seeing what hes got.
Could he be much worse than Elson?
The rockets won because they wanted it more than the spurs.
Not looking good for the Spurs right now.
I'm really hoping they call up Mahimni at some point this season, I'd like to see he can contribute moreso than Bonner and Elson
not looking good.
AHHHHHHH
not looking good.
AHHHHHHH
Why do fans laugh off these losses like they don't mean anything?
Yes the Spurs will probably peak around February or March, but do you guys realize how hard it would be if the Spurs had to beat Phoenix/Dallas/Boston or Detroit all without home court advantage?
Championships have turned Spurs Fan into the iest of all fans in existence outside of Yankee Fan.
I could be wrong, but I don't think Pop is real big on Elson.
So Mahinmi must really be worse if they haven't given him a shot yet.
Dallas/Phoenix WCF. Timvp great recap. You know deep down inside the era is over. I know it and Spurs fans will soon know it. This flipping the switch isnt going to work anymore. It will catch up to the Spurs. at this rate, the Mavs might get the honor of dethroning the Spurs yet again. I was hoping for a WCF matchup but oh well.
Pop needs to look at Mahinmi. He has the highest PER in limited minutes on the entire Spurs team. That means something. Funny thing is, Landry had the highest PER on the Rockets before being turned loose 3 games ago. He has performed above all expectations.
Spurs fans are ting their pants right now...
Yes he is and it will come next Wednesday against the Lakers.
The spurs ing suck
Spurs giving their fans little room for optimism right now.
That's been said before.
Spurs losing is not normal so anything what is not normal is being noticed and critisized. Everybody wants to win.
As for the spurs.
last year they were playing even worse at that time of the year, and I had great concern. Spurs won the le. Right now I'm not so much concern and maybe it is not that good.
Last year Kori said that the spurs won't win unless they will make a trade.
What about the rotation?
How should it look like at this stage?
TP
Fin
Bruce
TD
Oberto
-------
Barry
Udoka
Gino
-----
Elson
Voughn
Bonner
Horry
Extreamly hard to do it. Still probably we have to put Jaque into the 8-man rotation. What does that mean?
That meand there will be no chance for Udoka or/and Barry (depends if the spurs want to keep the small ball for longer stretches)
Another great summary.
The points about this so-called "switch flipping" are dead on and exactly the point I've been hammering on for a few weeks now. What if there is no juice left when the Spurs attempt to "flip that switch?"
This team is seriously lacking consistent offensive production, rebounding and energy at both ends. Pop wants to conserve minutes and health for the playoffs. However, the physical toll of carrying this team night in and night out looks as though it's already wearing on the Big Three. To the point that it's starting to appear as though it wasn't such a wise idea for the FO to have "stood pat" with this current roster. Just because a team wins the le doesn't mean they should sit still and not improve the roster. Look at 2007 Miami Heat as an example as to how a veteran championship team responds to the challenge of repeating. Even the 2008 Pistons, with a veteran roster, decided they too needed to make investments into developing their young bench contributors for this season, after their ECF flameout.
It's very frustrating to see other teams getting significant contribution, energy and production from rookies, 2nd and 3rd-year players, while the Spurs elect to exile their young players away. The coaching staff's at ude of low tolerance for the mistakes of young players is invalid when you've got a roster of veterans making the same stupid-ass mistakes or committing the cardinal sin of not giving maximum effort. Everyone says the Spurs are in a different position because they're playing for championships and cannot afford to give young players the minutes. I say bull ! Especially when its the veteran players who are not giving the consistent production needed to win ballgames. Aren't they supposed to know better? Aren't they supposed to talented enough and professional enough to know better?
The Spurs are being outplayed and outhustled at both ends of the court in seemingly every game - just like last season. Every game seems is a constant struggle - even the wins. It's my contention that a couple of young, hungry, active players are just the tonic needed to strengthen a team's bench and help get a team through these "dog day" periods of the season. We certainly saw this last night against Houston and from other teams of recent note (Detroit, Memphis)
Personally, I've seen enough to suspect that this crew may not be capable of "flipping the switch" this season. This team needs a jump start contribution from a source that may not be on this roster. For those that want to see more Ian and less Frankie/Oberto right now, I'm with that. Call him up. Furthermore, go out and acquire another player to help shore up some of these deficiencies. I'd rather the Spurs don't take the risk of waiting until after the trade deadline to find out they waited too long to tweak the roster.
The FO needs to rid this themselves of this notion that a roster of 14 veterans and no youth is the only way to a championship. Remember this franchise has never repeated for whatever reason. It's time the Spurs make some roster decisions to allow them to start chasing their own championship aspirations - just as every other team is doing against them.
I still believe that it is way better to have problems now, and then try to reach high level after the ASG. We have many old players, and it is not expected from them to play whole season on high level performance. BELIEVE that Pop will set pieces for playoffs.
I don't know why Elson still play.
He sucks since game 1 this season
I guess it's an omen of a trade You've got to give him time and let him play...
anyway, who knows ...
why Barry didn't play more minutes on this game?
I think Pop should seriously consider inserting Udoka in the starting lineup in place of Finley. Finley getting inconsistent minutes as a starter is making him an inconsistent player. Not to mention, he's not exactly a 3 point threat as of late. That combined with Bowen's lack of offense leaves Parker and Duncan to shoulder the entire offense for the STARTERS. That's a huge task against above .500 team starters. I think Udoka would benefit from extended playing time along Duncan and Parker and he's a good 3 point shooter as well.
I agree that Udoka should be experimented with in the starting lineup.
He's coming along nicely so far.
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