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Thug Life
I just watched the Spurs beat the Suns and I have no idea how they did it. None. The Spurs played poorly for almost the whole game. They turned it on for the final two minutes and escaped with a victory.
It’d be easy for me to complain about how the Spurs played and how ugly the game was – but the Spurs desperately needed this victory. This team was losing confidence fast and they were sliding down the standings. With Tony Parker out until sometime after the All-Star break, they need all the wins they can get. Right now any win is a great win.
Truthfully, the Suns played poorly. This was far from their best effort. It was like the Spurs lulled them to sleep by slowing the pace of the game. Usually the Suns play with a lot of energy – especially at home. That was just not the case tonight.
I was most impressed by how the Spurs kept chipping away. They didn’t lose their focus throughout the game, no matter what went wrong. Pop made a few changes as the game went along but the team kept their basic strategy. They kept chipping away at the rock until Phoenix cracked and the Spurs got the win.
-While Tim Duncan wasn’t playing great basketball, he showed a lot of heart and competed very well. The Suns were throwing all types of defensive looks at him and it rattled Duncan a bit early on. He finished the game with five turnovers but he eventually figured out what Phoenix was throwing at him and adjusted really well. Defensively, he was only average until the fourth quarter. In the fourth, he was a beast around the rim. For the game, Duncan finished with 16 points, 17 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks. It was just an all-around well fought game by #21.
-Manu Ginobili got the start at point guard and really struggled coming out of the gates. He couldn’t get the Spurs into their offense at all, and to compound the problem he couldn’t knock down shots of his own. Throughout the game, whenever Ginobili tried to play like he was a point guard, the outcome was almost always bad. Luckily, in the second half and particularly in the fourth quarter, Pop made an adjustment to move Ginobili off the ball and run the offense through Duncan. After being held scoreless in the first half, Ginobili scored 19 points in the second half. Most of his damage was done from the line where he went 12-for-12 on the night. He never really found his stroke from the field (3-for-14) and had six turnovers compared to only two assists, but overall Ginobili competed well and hit big free throws when the Spurs needed him to. It was far from a pretty game out of Ginobili but I’ll take the win.
-Bruce Bowen’s defense on Steve Nash was great. Bowen has really gotten good at guarding Nash. He forces Nash into tough shots and doesn’t give him much room to operate. While it’s true that Nash missed some shots he usually makes, I give Bowen a lot of credit for wearing him out. Bowen’s offense wasn’t great but he did just enough. He hit 3-of-7 shots from the field, including a big jumper late to give the Spurs a lead. Overall, it was a job well done by Bowen.
-Michael Finley had a rollercoaster game. At some points, he was playing really bad basketball. However, at the end, Finley came up huge. His three-pointer with a minute to go and the Spurs down four points was no doubt the biggest shot of the game for the Spurs. His activity on defense, which was horrible at the beginning of the game, also increased as the game went on. On the night, Finley had 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting and had the best plus/minus on the team at +11.
-When Fabricio Oberto was on the court, it was difficult for the Spurs to matchup to the Suns. That’s evident by Oberto’s team low plus/minus of -10 on the game. He actually didn’t play too horribly, it was just a matchup issue. On the night, Oberto totaled seven rebounds, two points and a steal in 19 minutes.
-Jacque Vaughn didn’t get the start but came in and played decently well. Usually, Vaughn is asked to take as few shots as possible. However, tonight the Suns were daring him to shoot the ball and Vaughn obliged by hoisting up 15 shot attempts. At one point in the game, Vaughn had more shot attempts than Duncan and Ginobili combined. Usually that’s a bad sign but with the Suns totally ignoring him, Vaughn had to shoot. He finished the game with a season-high 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting from the floor. He also got two assists and three steals in his 31 minutes of play. It’s going to be interesting to see who will be higher in the depth charts come playoff time – Vaughn or the newly acquired point guard Damon Stoudamire.
-Ime Udoka still has quite a bit to learn but his play tonight was impressive. When he was at the power forward position, the Udoka’s boxing out and rebounding was huge for the Spurs. In 30 minutes, Udoka had ten points and nine rebounds. He also had the team’s second best plus/minus of +10 on the night. Udoka made some mistake throughout and missed a couple open shots but his ability to play power forward was a huge asset.
-Francisco Elson, Matt Bonner and Robert Horry combined for six minutes of action as Pop went with a seven man rotation. Bonner came in first but quickly picked up three fouls in the first quarter. Elson was the next to enter the ball game but left after playing three minutes and doing nothing. Horry never saw the court. I thought it was a brilliant move by Pop not top play Horry in this game, especially when it was apparent that the Suns and their crowd were asleep. No need to wake up the city of Phoenix just so Horry could get a couple minutes of action.
-Pop coached an effective yet desperate game. Playing Duncan 43 minutes and Ginobili 41 minutes was a sure sign of desperation from Pop. He knew the Spurs needed this win and was willing to play his stars extended minutes to get the job done.
Pop started the game with a big lineup and while it didn’t turn out to be effective, I thought it was the right move. I liked how he adjusted the gameplan on the fly to help Ginobili. Ginobili was really struggling running the point, so Pop took the ball out of his hands and let Ginobili go back to his usual role of playing off the ball and made Duncan the quarterback. Overall, Pop didn’t panic and made sure that the Spurs just kept plugging away. Eventually it was enough to get a win.
Sloppy, ugly maybe even lucky win, but a win is a win at this point. The Spurs don’t play again until Tuesday when they face the Pacers. In this time off, hopefully the Spurs can rest up and figure out how to win a few more games on the second leg of the Rodeo Road Trip.
Thug Life
yeah we all love mike and jacque...but we will back to talking about them next week
Thanks for the thoughts timvp, I'm glad I stayed up.
It was ugly, it was hard to watch.
Getting the win was thrilling. They hung around, they ground it out, they never gave up.
Duncan's game represented tonight, and you summed it up perfectly.
#21 did it, and it was a welcome relief for those of us still believing.
best win of the year
Thanks Timvp! It pisses me off that we don't get to see a lot of Spurs games over here.It is always great to read those comments. Keep it going.
ugliest game/best win yet this season.
Finley's hard to hate on the offensive end, because he's a shooter, and his J is pure. It's his D that's spotty during games. This was a pretty good win for him to be involved in.
It's not the most enjoyable as a Spurs fan to see Vaughn play the role, where a more talented guard is needed...but he seems like a nice guy and puts in a good effort. He also has earned a lot of Pop's respect, with his grit, so can't fault him for taking those open jumpers.
At the end of the day, they've (Vaughn and Fin) already helped us win a ship' before, so it's hard to really 'hate' on them.
Anyway, Nice Recap TiMVP
I liked this win a lotbecause not one player had to make up for the others' deficiencies. They all played awful as team at the beginning, and then they all shined at the end each of them contributing. We needed this kind of win.
I'm just going to say that the more Ime Udoka plays, the more I like him. He's a good player and I am glad we signed him in the offseason. He's not a star and never will be, on either side of the ball...but he's definitely a nice role player. He's a good tough player and I hope he's in the rotation to stay.
I think Jacques Vaughn played a pretty good game as well all things considered.
All in all, I am happy Duncan was such a big part of things tonight and IMO, this was a classic grind it out Spurs victory....still good enough to beat the best teams in the NBA.
As for how the Spurs actually beat the Suns, lol, the Suns shot worse than the Spurs did.
nice recap timvp
is it safe to say bonner/horry/elson doesnt fit in our plans no more
time to trade there candyasses for a championship
just keep horry so he has some more records broken...
Four days off allowed for a little extra desperation without being foolish. I would be surprised to see Duncan or Ginobili get that many minutes in a regulation game even once more this season.
Ginobili played 40 minutes last game and Duncan has played 40+ minutes in 5 of the last 13 games. Pop has been coaching a tad desperate for a while now.
The need for Ginobili to play point guard the last two games has bumped up his minutes. Without looking, I don't think he hit the 40 minute mark before the Seattle game. The Damon Stoudamire signing should put an end to that. I doubt Pop likes playing TD the extended minutes, but the combination of getting nothing out of Francisco Elson, subpar performances as of late from Oberto/Bonner/Horry which leads to the small lineup- it falls on Duncan. Hopefully the trend will not continue.
I'm still enjoying this win, JV, TD had a good game ... Udoka and Manu, well ... nothing to say.
I still think we need an xtra help before tradeline
I'm not to sure about all that...yeah Mke is a shooter and yes shooters get in slumps...but we all know Fin Dawg has not been a consistent shooter for us. As of late he has picked his jock up and started playing with more balls when needed. But once the line ups are back intact and we get into the playoffs I'm not sure he will be there for us. I like Mike I just wish he would be more aggressive when is shots not falling instead of continuing to fire his .45 thats only throwing out blanks. And then theres his defense.... And Jacque don't get me started on that little dude. Once again I love his heart and effort he uses it to make up for his skills but at some point you're going to need someone who people are going to want to and have defend. The reason I really posted that comment was because all you have to do sit and watch the "FANS" on this site and how quick they switch their take on these two players....just like now everyones calling for Horrys head and how lame hes playing. But in April when we are playing and theres a last second shot by Manu to win the game and its missed and tipped back out by Timmy to RoHo and he nails it everyone will love his ass again. People just act like he has never did for us. Give the dude a break...if he doesnt ever do for us he still hit one of the greatest shots in spurs history....right there with AJs corner jumper, and Sean's Memorial Day Jumper
I thought a huge adjustment in the game was when Pop went with the Manu/Finley/Bowen/Udoka/Tim lineup and instead of our offense being the Jacque Vaughn 20 foot shootout, Pop finally made the adjustment which had the players actually cutting when Tim was double-teamed. I have no idea why Pop had Jacque Vaughn on the same side of the court where Tim would recieve the ball for the majority of the game in the first place. I'm looking forward to the addition of Damon Stoudamire. He's going to add spacing with his 3 point shooting and teams won't be able to recover as fast in their rotations like they would when Vaughn is setting up for his 17-18 footer. In other words, team's won't be able to cheat and play free safety whenever Tim is getting the ball on the block and Vaughn is on the court.
Last edited by MaNu4Tres; 02-01-2008 at 08:13 AM.
The Spurs offense is what's looking mighty desperate lately. How they managed to score only 34 points at half time against arguably one of the worst defensive teams in the league remains a mystery.
And I don't know if it was neccesarily Bowen's defense, but Nash looked very un-Nash line. As if he was sick/hurt/or something. That definitely didn't help his cause.
Oh and Amare Stoudamire and D'Antoni are greatly overrated.
Nice win by the Spurs...fell asleep in the 3rd primarly bc the game was poorly played on both sides. what a shot to the suns mentally this must be, losing at home to the spurs without TP
I think I'd just had to add something that probably makes me sound like 1000 other posts that have taken place about this game:
THE SUNS FANS CONTINUE TO BE THE MOST WORTHLESS WHINY ES I'VE EVER SEEN.
It was no secret that every offensive foul we drew, foul me committed, or EVERY TIME WE TOOK A BREATH we got boo'd. Classless...what goes around comes around and they got embarassed. 'em
Worse than Mavs fans?I think I'd just had to add something that probably makes me sound like 1000 other posts that have taken place about this game:
THE SUNS FANS CONTINUE TO BE THE MOST WORTHLESS WHINY ES I'VE EVER SEEN.
It was no secret that every offensive foul we drew, foul me committed, or EVERY TIME WE TOOK A BREATH we got boo'd. Classless...what goes around comes around and they got embarassed. 'em
I don't understand it. A few nights ago, Bonner got hit with a 3 sec standing in the lane on Defense, and his BB IQ was severly questioned.
Last night Duncan has:
A. An offenseive goal tending costing Vaughn 2. Luckily he was also fouled.
B. A 3 second violation on Defense.
C. A technical foul. And was probably real close to a second one.
D. A foul on AS with about 8 seconds left that could have tied the game.
E. Missed multiple 2 pt layups
F. Committed a team high 5 turnovers.
And we get:
It was just an all-around well fought game by #21.
Thanks Timvp! Excellent analysis, as always.
I'm glad you pointed out the facts about Udoka. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. Udoka is already THE 2nd best rebounder on this team. His ability to anticipate ball flight, his tenacity around the bucket and his desire to "put a body on someone and box out", all help him to collect rebounds at a good pace for someone of his size. There's no doubt that rebounding is something he enjoys. Rebounding is a valuable commodity and something that this team sorely lacks.
Turned this game on after work, just after half time and despite being down, I was confident we'd win it. We managed to control the tempo and Phoenix had really shot itself in the foot by trading away Thomas, the doubles and triples is all they can do, and the whole team is built to deal with teams who are stupid enough to do this.
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