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Thanks man.
A balanced win is better than a win by just the Big Three I guess. I pray Parker finds his rhythm back.
The Spurs snapped their two-game losing streak by beating the Denver Nuggets in the AT&T Center by a final score of 107-103. It wasn’t a classic Spurs victory because their defense wasn’t great but they came up with enough offensive production to sneak away with a victory.
No one player dominated offensively for the Spurs; instead, the Spurs used good teamwork and physical play to score. Against a desperate Nuggets team that is playing with their season literally on the line, nothing was easy for the Spurs on Monday night.
The Nuggets are immensely talented. They can go about nine players deep with guys who can really play. Their cohesiveness defensively is lacking but offensively, they have as many weapons as any team in the NBA. Like I said a couple days ago, I fully expect the Nuggets to make the playoffs. I don’t think they’ll lose many more regular season games between now and the end of the regular season.
The Spurs were playing their fourth game in five nights and at times it was obvious that they lacked energy. Luckily, everyone in the building knew this was a game the Spurs really needed to have with their wicked upcoming schedule.
Overall, it was an important victory. For the moment, the Spurs are back on top of the Western Conference standings. While that probably won’t remain that way at the end of the week, at least the Spurs have given themselves a fighting chance at the number one seed with 19 games left in the regular season.
-The Nuggets always give Duncan trouble because they are physical, long, athletic and can throw multiple defenders at him. Give Duncan credit because he competed all night long and helped will his team to victory. He finished with 23 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots, while shooting 7-for-15 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free throw line. His defense was adequate and he was being a lot smarter with the ball compared to recent games. Duncan wasn’t great but, like the Spurs, he was good enough tonight.
-Manu Ginobili did a fantastic job of adjusting to how teams have been guarding him recently. He has been scoring the ball so well that teams are now sending help to him and overloading the strong side when he has the ball. Last game against the Phoenix Suns, Ginobili tried to fight through that type of defense. Tonight, Ginobili drew the attention and then found the open man – over and over again. He handed out a career-high 14 assists, with ten of his assists coming in the first half alone. To go along with those assists, Ginobili had 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting from the field. Defensively, he wasn’t nearly as effective. Pop continually put him on the worst player on the court but Ginobili had close to no energy on that end of the court. He was mostly just using defense as a time to rest, which is somewhat understandable because he has played a lot of minutes recently. Ginobili, who was back in the starting lineup, left the game for a period of time in the fourth quarter with what looked like a hip injury. Hopefully he won’t have to miss any time because the Spurs desperately need him this week.
-Tony Parker is playing an odd brand of basketball right now. I would say he’s hurting but he shows bursts of speed and quickness that he didn’t show the last time his ankle was bothering him. Let’s hope that his offensive game is just in some sort of a funk. Parker finished with 16 points and four assists, while shooting 6-of-14 from the field. While his offense as a whole wasn’t up to par, he did save his best offense for the end of the game. The Spurs’ late game offensive execution came in large part due to Parker. Defensively, Parker started off relatively weak but by the end of the game, he was playing terrific defense on Allen Iverson. In the fourth quarter, Iverson hit only one shot. In fact, Parker held Iverson scoreless in the last six minutes of the game. When Parker is giving 100% effort defensively against Iverson, I don’t think anyone in the NBA guards Iverson as well as Parker can.
-Bruce Bowen led the team in minutes with 41 and most of that time on the court was spent guarding Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is a tough player for Bowen to guard but he did a respectable job against Anthony. In the first half, Anthony had the upper hand. In the second half, Bowen took control and held him to one basket. Offensively, Bowen hit half of his eight shot attempts, including both of his three-pointers. He also added two rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
-I was impressed with what Kurt Thomas did for the Spurs. He played the entire fourth quarter and hit perhaps the biggest basket of the night for the Spurs when he drained a jumper to put the Spurs up four points with one minute left. On the night, Thomas had 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor. In 24 minutes, Thomas only had two rebounds – which is probably an anomaly of a stat because his rebounding numbers have been outstanding all season. It’s interesting that Pop trusts him so much in the fourth quarter right now. I’m not sure if it’s because Pop thinks Thomas is the team’s best option or Pop is just trying to speed up Thomas' learning curve.
-Michael Finley didn’t get into the game until a couple minutes into the second quarter. He has struggled violently with his shot as of late but tonight he actually shot the ball well. He hit half of his six attempts to total eight points in 19 minutes. This was hopefully a step in the right direction offensively for Finley. Although defensively, I’m seeing some distressing signs. Finley, who was matched up primarily with JR Smith, let Smith drive around him with ease almost every time Smith touched the ball. Finley’s lateral quickness has been horrible in the last couple of weeks. I don’t know if he’s battling an injury or if age has caught up to him. Whatever the reason, Finley is a huge defensively liability right now.
-Matt Bonner gave the Spurs big minutes off the bench. Pop likely turned to Bonner because Bonner has more energy to burn than anyone on the team at this point. Bonner was far from flawless but he provided grit and points – two things the Spurs desperately needed tonight. In 15 minutes, Bonner had ten points, two rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot, while shooting 4-for-8 from the field. Bonner has actually responded rather well to being placed in Pop’s doghouse. He doesn’t show many signs of rust or resentment – he’s just out there just trying to help the team win.
-Ime Udoka was the first swingman off the bench for the Spurs. He responded with a poor effort, overall. He seemed too trigger happy and wasn’t connecting on nearly enough of his attempts. His defense was below average and he wasn’t being his normal physical self. Thankfully, Udoka played better in the second half and scored a few important points in the fourth quarter. With a good performance tonight, he could have really made a case for himself to move head and shoulders over Finley in the rotation. He came up short in that respect.
-Fabricio Oberto is playing better and better off the bench. While his minutes were once again slim, he finished with two points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal in eight minutes. I thought he actually played pretty well and could have deserved more minutes but with Pop going with Thomas more and more, Oberto is seeing his minutes limited.
-Damon Stoudamire and Jacque Vaughn split the backup minutes at point guard. Neither one of them played too well. Stoudamire had two points and two assists in five minutes, while Vaughn had one rebound in three minutes. At some point, Pop will either need to stick with Stoudamire or give the backup job back to Vaughn.
-Robert Horry and Brent Barry played the same amount of minutes tonight.
-Pop didn’t reach too far into his ol’ bag of tricks tonight. He gave extended minutes to his best players and leaned on them in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.
Since I was hard on Pop for his coaching last time against the Nuggets, I have to applaud him for his much better coaching job this game – especially defensively. Parker on Iverson and Bowen on Anthony is the right way to defend the Nuggets. Pop didn’t mess with the assignments and let both Parker and Bowen adjust and defend better as the game went on.
Pop should soon decide on the rotation. I don’t know if he’s waiting for Barry to return but this is late in the season to still be tinkering on a daily basis. Ginobili can make the needed adjustment but it’d be nice if he knew whether or not he’d be starting from game to game.
The bottomline is the Spurs needed this win and they got it. The Spurs travel to New Orleans to take on the Hornets on Wednesday. Anyone who saw what the Hornets did to the Spurs in the AT&T Center earlier in the season knows how hard that game will be to win. The Spurs will need to play much better than they’ve played recently.
Believe.
Thanks man.
A balanced win is better than a win by just the Big Three I guess. I pray Parker finds his rhythm back.
jr smith is an athletic freak. it's pretty silly to expect finley to be able to guard him. that one was on pop.
There was no one else for Finley to guard. When the Nuggets have AI, Carmelo and Smith out there, Finley has to guard one of those three.
His lateral quickness (or lack thereof) was even a problem last game against 85-year-old Grant Hill.
LOL-Robert Horry and Brent Barry played the same amount of minutes tonight.
Damn that Pop.
I thought I had figured out who Finley could guard on the Nuggets but then I remembered that George Karl is a coach now.
Additional sundry thoughts...
...Anthony Carter's pressure on Parker was good again tonight. Not that Carter can keep up with Tony all the time but Carter was physical and frequently picked up TP off the inbounds with full court pressure.
The Nuggets were extremely physical and aggressive, taking advantage of their strong, athletic bodies (and Jim Clark's let 'em play style). At times, J.R. Smith, Melo and Kenyon Martin had their way in the paint, and with a pound of at ude to go with it. The Nuggets emotional stability and basketball sense departed, especially late in the game. Where did Melo's head go? And when Bruce and TP doubled AI or switched the screen out on the floor leaving TP on the bigger Melo mid-post, where was the feed to take advantage of the mismatch? Maybe I just missed it. I guess if AI hits those shots, it wouldn't have mattered.
Bowen was good at both ends tonight.
The help D was late wayyyy too often tonight.
Kurt's late 17 foot jumper off the penetration and kick from Parker was a teaspoon of sugar for the hiccups (execution hiccups from the last two games).
I thought Parkers pass to Thomas for this shot was just as huge as the shot.
Tony buried his head and drove roadrunner style as usual and drew some Nuggets in close pursuit but instead of forcing the shot had the court vision to stop and pass 180 degrees behind himself to Thomas waiting beyond the FT line. Tony keeps adding to his game.
Anthony Carter is a buttsucking piece of trash. I can't believe how bad this dude sucked as a Spur compared to now.
The thing I liked most about this game was the Spurs stubborness. They had that little bit of extra that has defined them as champs tonight....where the game isn't really going their way, the other team is basically outplaying them and seems to have the momentum for most of the game, but they still manage to grit out a win....that's what makes them the Spurs...just because you outplay them doesn't mean you are going to beat them...
Other than that, I don't think we match up particularly well with the Nuggets unless Parker defense AI like he did tonight.
If Manu had played the same smart brand of basketball in PHX, the Spurs would likely have come out of that game with a win. This is not to say that he lost that game, because he didn't. The fact is that he just didn't play smart and didn't adjust to how the Suns were defending him.
Not really being fair on Manu there. The Suns are pretty much a different look with Shaq in there . Manu and the team as a whole are gonna need more game-time experience than usual to make that adjustment. Thats goes for the spurs coaching staff as well.
One of Manu's greatest assets is that he's a quick learner at adopting and adjusting his game. Thats become more evident this season than before.
BTW thanks again for the recap Timvp.
Spurs played well enough to get the victory. However, let this game serve as an indictment as to how old and unathletic this team is. This is not to say they will not have success in the playoffs - quite the contrary. In fact, I very much believe they can and will repeat. However, as valuable commodities as veteran experience and knowledge are, those only can take you so far. There is always something to be said for matching up with the athleticism of your opponent at various junctures during a game. Footspeed, lateral quickness, and jumping ability are skill sets of some of the league's better players. The absence of a such skill set was very glaring for the Spurs against the Nuggets, whose wealth of offensive talent basically shredded any type of defense the Spurs threw at them - especially J.R. Smith. Wow!
I fully realize this was the 4th game in 5 nights and this team was tired. Another signnificant disadvantage being the perennial "oldest team in the league". Bottom line is the Spurs have to get younger at a couple of spots next season.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 03-11-2008 at 03:45 AM.
Regarding JR Smith, if that trade would have happened and he was traded to the Spurs, he would either be a near All-Star or out of the NBA by now. It would have depended on whether he bought into the system or not. But there's no denying that the kid is immensely talented and an athletic freak. The only thing that holds him back is he's amazingly immature and pretty dumb.
Good point, I also think that's why Manu's so good coming off the bench immediately because he's already reading the game from the bench, where a player who's not as smart, or attentive wouldn't take advantage of it.
I'm really glad Bonner isn't sore about being in the doghouse in the past few weeks, (especially during the Boston Toronto games.)
Can't take it for granted, that he didn't start complaining about it, like Nazr did, so it's a pretty good sign about him.
Thanks TIMVP, as usual liked the TD, Manu, Bruce production, so so the TP's play, but I'd like to point out how easy looks KT playing with us, this man made impact from the begining, using his body, making shots, I am glad to see that.
Bonner, Udoka, make some good stuff here and there.
Mike, MIke, Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkke, ... where are you baby?
Tim's help D against the Nuggets during both recent games has been less than we normally expect from him - JR Smith beat his man (often Finley), then TD, 4 or 5 times today. That needs to tighten up.
Gritty win, although I thought we got the officiating breaks, especially in the late 3rd Q, and were fortunate to triumph.
It was really nice to see the hustle team play so hard and move the ball so well in spurts, although the starters only really showed what they can do late in the 4th.
Ime needs to stop trying to turn himself into a standstill jumpshooter and show some flair on O or PASS THE BALL!
since Manu is with the Spurs all Argentina say Tony never give the ball to Manu
Tonight like the last 2 ou 3 games Manu don't give the ball to Tony
When the spurs was awfull in the third Tony bring the ball in nuggets ground give the ball to Manu and never see the ball like Fabricio or Bruce who was on the ground
It's only Manu to Tim or Tim to Manu and the shooter forced the shoot but never give the ball to the others
Manu is an exceptionnal player but he kill the spurs passing game. all I see is Manu take the ball all the night
since Manu is with the Spurs all Argentina say Tony never give the ball to Manu
Tonight like the last 2 ou 3 games Manu don't give the ball to Tony
When the spurs was awfull in the third Tony bring the ball in nuggets ground give the ball to Manu and never see the ball like Fabricio or Bruce who was on the ground
It's only Manu to Tim or Tim to Manu and the shooter forced the shoot but never give the ball to the others
Manu is an exceptionnal player but he kill the spurs passing game. all I see is Manu take the ball all the night
Thanks Tim...good job.
That drive, then kickout to Kurt Thomas is gonna be there more and more. I like it.
It's looked to me that Tim has been hurting a little almost the whole season. Everything he does is just a half step slower, and it really shows up when people drive to the basket, he's been late all season. Something's just not there, mebbe a year older aint helping...but, methinks there's some nagging stuff bothering him. I've thought that for several months now, even seen him limping every now and then.
He's not playing the best we've seen TD play...yet, he still gets 23 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists. That really is sorta unbelievable...How spoiled are we? "C'mon Timmy...step it up!"
Tony ain't 100% either.
This is gonna be a tuff stretch.
But, yeah...I believe
Im pumped about JR. Has has been solid over the last month or so and it is showing in GK's confidence in him. JR's minutes are increasing and he is playing alot in the 4th instead of Carter.
Tonight he was good but his 3 pt shot wasnt falling as much as usual. The guy has stepped up every area of his game and i cant wait to see it continue into the playoffs once the Nuggets roll past the Warriors this month
The Nuggets play with a spastic amount of energy. They play us like Golden State plays Dallas.
If a good head coach could make this team more disciplined and composed, they have enough talent to go DEEP into the playoffs.
Well said, I totally agree. They are 1st round kryptonite for us, and I hope we get someone else...
Tony looked better than in the previous two games. I still can't figure out if he is 100%, or as close to it as he can be, or if his confidence is still lacking. But it was a good win, not a pretty win but a win nonetheless.
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