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You continue to give Jacque Vaughn compliments when he ing sucks and the Hornets killed the Spurs when his ass was out there.
Vaughn sucks ass.
Just when you think the Spurs are turning it around, the team lays a giant egg in the middle of the AT&T Center. The New Orleans Hornets came to San Antonio and just routed the Spurs by a final score of 102-78. The difference in the game was the second half in which the Hornets outscored the Spurs 60-35.
The Hornets are for real. Byron Scott has that team playing great basketball. Chris Paul, David West and Tyson Chandler are all three very impressive young players. Paul is quickly becoming the best point guard in the NBA, while West and Chandler are two bigman with as much combined skill as any other duo in the league. Add to that threesome Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson and you have a very capable team.
What was amazing about this game for the Hornets is they basically just ran two plays continuously and it destroyed the Spurs’ defense. While I don’t think the Hornets would beat the Spurs in the playoffs if they only have two plays to go to, it sure worked on this night. Props to Scott for recognizing the Spurs’ weakness on defense and exploiting it over and over again. (Speaking of Byron Scott, why doesn’t he get more respect? He took a very average New Jersey Nets team to the Finals in back-to-back seasons and now he has a young team that has no home court advantage playing better than anyone else in the Western Conference.)
The Spurs basically just got beat down by a better team tonight. At this point in the season, the Hornets are better. You couldn’t watch that game and say differently.
With the three-game win streak broken and the nine-game Rodeo Road Trip looming, it’s put up or shut up time for the Spurs. Are they going to get back to playing solidly on both ends of the court or are they going to fall flat on their faces? If they don’t start playing better quickly, by the time they get back to San Antonio they are going to be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
-I wasn’t too impressed with what I saw out of Tim Duncan tonight. Part of the problem was he a lack of touches offensively. He was scoring well early and then just didn’t get the ball for long stretches during the middle of the game. However, more importantly his defense was atrocious. He picked up a foul 14 seconds into the game and then decided not to play defense the rest of the contest. David West had 32 points on 15-for-19 shooting from the field – with a lot of that coming against Duncan. His pick-and-roll defense was especially poor and he wasn’t protecting the rim that well. A combination of the early foul and not being involved offensively seemed to throw Duncan off his rhythm. For the game, Duncan finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes.
-Manu Ginobili had another tough shooting night. He hit only 4-of-12 shots from the floor on his way to 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and three turnovers. Ginobili’s main problem offensively was his jumper wasn’t falling. He hit only 1-of-7 shots outside of the paint. I thought he should have driven the ball to the basket more because he had good success virtually every time he went into the lane. It seemed like the Hornets got physical with him and then he stopped driving. Defensively, I thought his rotation were slow for the most part. He had a few stretches of impressive defensive play but he needs to bring that more consistently.
-Tony Parker still wasn’t his normal self but I actually thought he played pretty well considering how he’s been playing lately. This was his best game in a couple weeks – which tells you how off his game has been. Early in the season, this would have counted as an average to below average performance. However, I thought he looked livelier and quicker than he has in recent outings. He seemed to wear down as the game went on but while the game was close, Parker was playing good enough for the Spurs to win. In 31 minutes, Parker had 17 points, six assists and one turnover, while shooting 8-for-16 from the field.
-This was one of Bruce Bowen’s worst games of the season. In fact, it may have been his worst. Offensively, he was a nightmare as he was 0-for-5 from the field. Defensively, he didn’t have his usual energy. Stojakovic, a player Bowen usually dominates, scored 22 easy points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field. While it’s true that Bowen was involved in a lot of switching on the defensive end of the court, he wasn’t doing much of anything on whoever he was guarding.
-Michael Finley reverting to his Maverick days and was a one-dimensional gunner tonight. Usually he does something else other than shoot, be it rebound, defend or make a few good passes, but tonight he was content on just getting up his shots. In 21 minutes, Finley hit 2-of-6 shots from the field while grabbing one rebound and dishing out one assist. Overall, this was a very poor performance from Finley.
-Ime Udoka was one of the few impressive Spurs tonight. He missed a few shots that could have really helped the team make a push but overall you can’t complain with his effort. In 24 minutes, Udoka totaled 13 points and seven rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting from the field. With Brent Barry out with an injured calf muscle, Udoka is going to get extended time for the next month. The Spurs need him to knock down shots in Barry’s absence.
-Jacque Vaughn gave good effort tonight. He was one of the few Spurs who wasn’t getting bullied by the Hornets. I liked his toughness and he was playing to win this game. In 17 minutes, Vaughn didn’t score but had three assists and three rebounds.
-Robert Horry was again active and moving well. His execution is way off and he’s not really helping the team much right now, however he looks a lot better than he did a couple weeks ago. He no longer looks like he has two feet in the grave anymore. Pathetically enough, his 1-for-5 shooting from the field tonight actually raised his field goal percentage.
-Jeremy Richardson, Matt Bonner and Francisco Elson all played trash minutes after the Spurs were getting blown out. Bonner and Elson didn’t do anything of note but Richardson had a couple nice moments. His jumper looks smooth and he just acts like he’s a natural born scorer. With Barry sidelined, the Spurs could opt to sign Richardson for the rest of the year. If they don’t, it’ll likely be to give a 10-day contract to a player who is more able to help right away.
-Pop coached a horrible game tonight. How can you get beat by a team that is running the same two plays continuously? He didn’t make any adjustment defensively until it was too late. The team’s defense was horrible but the coaching of the defense might have been worse.
This blowout loss is a tough one to swallow because it looked like the Spurs had started to turn it around. Now it’s basically back to square one. Can the Spurs right the ship as they head into the Rodeo Road Trip? I think they are capable of having a good road trip but I can’t say I’m overly confident at this point. The defense is crappy and the offense has no rhythm. History tells me to have blind faith in The Process but a game like tonight shakes that faith.
Thinking back to last year when the Spurs looked dead in the water, their pick-and-roll defense and offensive halfcourt execution looked to be their two biggest weaknesses. Tonight it was more of the same. Last year the Spurs were able to gel and go on to win the championship. Can they do that again this year? We’ll start to figure that out pretty quickly as the Spurs embark on their nine-game Rodeo Road Trip where they will either sink or swim.
Hopefully they pack their floaties.
Last edited by timvp; 01-27-2008 at 02:08 AM.
You continue to give Jacque Vaughn compliments when he ing sucks and the Hornets killed the Spurs when his ass was out there.
Vaughn sucks ass.
I thought it was Udoka that sucked ass?
Ok, I must admit that sentence just scared me a bit.History tells me to have blind faith in The Process but a game like tonight shakes that faith.
This road trip could be the worst for the Spurs in the past 6 years
Happy Day For Amused!!!
This is timvp's best work to date, imo. The Spurs are in a lot of trouble. It's not good to lose a game like this before leaving on a long road trip.
+1
+2
Rodeo road trip = bunker mentality = refocus = gaining momentum
Rodeo Road Trip = 4-4 Last Year
Rodeo Road Trip = 3-6 This Year (at best)
Thank you.
It's not the win/loss record that I'm concerned with on this trip. It's how they come out of it. The focus, the energy, Pop having some settled rotation, the mentality that they are a team, on a mission. It's worked in the past, I have every confidence that it will work again.
If you think the Spurs were turning any kind of corners coming into this game...I have to ask have YOU been watching any Spurs games lately?
The only guy that's been turning any corners is Udoka.
They were horrible against the Heat, who were beat up, are arguably the worst team in the NBA, and were mired in a huge losing streak.
That may have been the least impressive Spurs win I've ever seen.
Where was this take after the Heat game? It's easy to criticize after the next game.
Do you have a link to a post you made after the Heat game? Thanks in advance.
P.S.
I didn't see too many Spurs fans doing cartwheels after the Heat game.
I was in the game chat...Do you have a link to a post you made after the Heat game? Thanks in advance.
P.S.
I didn't see too many Spurs fans doing cartwheels after the Heat game.
turning the corner - timvp
Look...we all know...judging the Spurs by what they do in Dec and Jan is judging them too early.
My point is that there are certain things about the Spurs play that have really deteriorated....beyond simple motivation, rust etc.
And that this team has moved too far away from Tim Duncan...
Parker and Manu are not equals to Tim Duncan...it's time we re-establish that simple truth.
More Duncan...less Parker and Manu. Why? Because we'll be better...
It's kinda like...remember when Kobe became the equal of Shaq in terms of handling the bal, controlling the offense, shotsl?
Best thing that ever happened to us......
For a whole day?
Wow!
I knew there have been struggles of late w/ the Spurs....I just didn't know how bad it was.
I was going over your schedule and just realized you all are 11-11 in your last 22 games.That's crazy.
The next closest such streak I could find in the last several years was the beginning of the 03-04 season when you all started out 9-10. At that point they went on a 13 game winning streak.
They better get their crap together pretty soon. Hopefully there's another long win streak around the corner.
I second this emphatically. The offense should run through Tim. Period. He should touch the ball on no less than 2 out of every 3 possessions. The ball should go to him, then let him decide if he wants to go for two or kick it out.
This reminds me of how the Lakers lost that Finals series to the Pistons. They decided that Kobe should shoot more than Shaq, even though Shaq was shooting a higher percentage. Makes a lotta sense, right? Not.
The Spurs will not win another Championship if they don't remember Tim is the horse they ride.
The thing is our defense is a bigger problem. Who the heck is going to play defense if Tim is using all his energy up on the offensive end?
Also, does anyone even remotely agree with me about starting Udoka?
I agree that we should try starting Udoka for a while. Let Finley or Bowen come off the bench.
You guys are a lot more knowledgable than I about the game, and btw, I always look forward to the Game Thoughts (thanks, Timvp) but it looks like one reason that the Spurs win it in odd number years is because they play with a sense of en lement in even years. Hopefully the Trip will fire the desire.
I don't like at all what Pop has done with Horry lately.
Horry clang everything during games and practices and was in a bad shape. At this stage, I don't think getting some playing time helps him more than practice and conditioning.
Pop should have given Horry's playing time to Bonner. It would have allowed Spurs to loss less games and Bonner would have gained experience in Spurs system.
Right now, Pop is doing the same mistake than with NVE in 06. He is sticking with a Horry and not working at a alternate solution. It's even worse than with NVE because Bonner looks like a better alternate solution than Udrih.
It's like Pop is trying to force Horry into some sort of competence, but I can't remember how many times during the game I thought, "why can't we at least try Bonner?"
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