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Thanks for your game thought, timvp.
It will be interesting to see where Barry can fit in as Udoka has been playing a fine basketball right now.
Maybe Barry will find more time in the role of backing up Parker?
In what was basically a must-win affair in regards to both playoff seeding and team confidence, the Spurs got the job done. The Seattle Supersonics put up a good fight for the first quarter and a half but eventually the Spurs found their shooting touch and ran away with it. The 95-74 victory wasn’t especially impressive, however it was an important W.
Regarding the Sonics, Seattle has a lot to be excited about (ignoring that the team is headed to Oklahoma City, of course). Specifically, Kevin Durant has taken huge strides in the last few months. He began the season as a straight gunner who couldn’t find a shot he didn’t like. Now he has already refined his shot selection – something that a lot of players never accomplish. Over his last 20 games Durant is shooting nearly 50%, which is an amazing number for a 19-year-old perimeter player who is a first option on a bad team. Earlier in the season, I wasn’t entirely sold on him. Now I see no reason why Durant can’t be a megastar.
The Spurs, who were without Manu Ginobili, played decent enough offense and solid defense. The Spurs held the Sonics to 38.6% shooting from the floor, while hitting 46.1% of their own shots. After trailing 20-13 at the end of the first quarter, the offense came to life and the defense remained stingy.
Overall, it was nice to see the Spurs get an easy victory – even if it was against a horrible team. Letting the key players rest was almost as important as the victory itself.
-Tim Duncan had another bad game. He missed a torturous amount of easy shots around the basket. Defensively he wasn’t anything special. Duncan just seems to be in a funk at the moment. He’s making it worse by complaining constantly to the refs and becoming easily frustrated. Hopefully he can bounce back and escape this funk before the playoffs begin. On the night, Duncan had 12 points, six rebounds and four blocks, while shooting 4-for-12 from the floor.
-Tony Parker played pretty well. Considering Ginobili was out injured and Duncan was ineffective, Parker had to shoulder the load for much of the game. He responded well, finishing with 20 points, seven assists, two rebounds and two steals. Parker stayed in attack mode for a lot of the game and made more good decisions than bad decisions. However, Parker was far from flawless himself. He had five turnovers and his transition defense was a step slow for much of the game.
-Considering how well Durant has been playing lately, Bruce Bowen did a fine job on defense. He’s at a major size and athleticism disadvantage when going against Durant, but Bowen did about as good a job as possible. Durant still got 20 points, however it took him 19 shots to do so. Offensively, Bowen hit 2-of-3 shots from the field. He also pulled down six rebounds – with five coming in the first half.
-Michael Finley’s stroke continues to look smooth. He’s shooting confidently and even when he misses, Finley has good balance and good rhythm. Defensively, he did a good job working hard against rookie Jeff Green. Finley finished with 14 points and four rebounds, while hitting 6-of-14 shots from the floor. Thankfully, Finley seems to have found his shot with the playoffs about a week away.
-Apparently, Fabricio Oberto can play basketball even if Manu Ginobili isn’t on the court. Oberto had one of his better games of the last month, finishing with ten points and ten rebounds against the Sonics. He also mixed in three assists and shot 5-for-8 from the floor. Oberto’s energy was up and he was crashing the boards harder than we’ve seen in recent weeks. It was Oberto’s first double-double since the first week of February. Hopefully Oberto has flipped his playoffs switch a week early.
-If you squinted hard enough, you might have confused Ime Udoka for Ginobili. Udoka played Ginobili’s sixth man role very well. He supplied energy on both ends of the court and was instrumental in the Spurs turning the game around in the second quarter. For the game, Udoka had 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and a highlight-reel block. He hit 5-of-9 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 three-pointers. As the team prepares for the playoffs, there’s really no reason to think Udoka isn’t going to play a major role in the postseason. Whether he’s successful in that role could very well decide how far the Spurs advance in the playoffs.
-Kurt Thomas played a solid all-around game in his 22 minutes of action. He provided six points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. With Duncan struggling, Thomas picked up some of the interior slack. He seemed to have a little extra juice going up against his former team.
-Jacque Vaughn had one of his better games of the last few weeks. In 18 minutes, Vaughn had seven points, six assists and only one turnover. He hit 2-of-4 shots from the field and all three of his foul shots. It was good to see the Good Jacque Vaughn make an appearance.
-Matt Bonner got 19 minutes and did a fine job. He pulled down ten rebounds and played solid defense. His shooting was off (2-for-6) but he took good shots. While it’s unlikely that he’ll have a role in the playoffs, he’s relatively trustworthy – considering he’s the team’s fifth bigman.
-Damon Stoudamire played 14 minutes and was 1-for-6 from the field. While that shooting looks bad, I thought he played decently enough. He actually was helpful in pushing the tempo and getting the offensive rolling. As a veteran third point guard, he appears to be serviceable at this point.
-DerMarr Johnson was signed by the Spurs for the rest of the season and had a six minute cameo against the Sonics. He’s a good choice for this team as an emergency swingman. Think of him as a poor man’s Stephen Jackson and you’ll know what to expect if the Spurs ever call his number.
-Brent Barry and Robert Horry continue to miss action. The good news is that hope isn’t lost for either player. In fact, Barry and/or Horry could see playing time in the next couple games.
-Pop coached a good game. He didn’t make too many panic moves when the team fell into a hole early and the offense appeared DOA. He kept it simple and the Spurs eventually found their way.
Nobody played more than 29 minutes, which was very nice to see. It’ll be interesting to view what Pop has in store for the last three games of the regular season. Will he play it safe and keep the minutes down or will he go for wins? I guess we’ll find out.
One strategic change Pop made that I like was keeping Parker at point guard when he paired him with Stoudamire or Vaughn. The last few times he went with this alignment, he switched Parker over to shooting guard – with disastrous results. Parker is best at point guard and Stoudamire and Vaughn are best when they have the ball as infrequently as possible.
The bottomline is the Spurs won a game they had to win. With three games left in the regular season, nothing is decided in the Western Conference standings. The Spurs could conceivably finish anywhere from the first seed to the sixth seed. To ensure the best possible seed, it will be important for the Spurs to go to Los Angeles and beat the Lakers on Sunday afternoon. With homecourt advantage on the line, I’m hoping the Spurs come out trying to win – and are successful.
Believe.
Thanks for your game thought, timvp.
It will be interesting to see where Barry can fit in as Udoka has been playing a fine basketball right now.
Maybe Barry will find more time in the role of backing up Parker?
I think it was a smart decision of Pop to put Tony and Might mouse together in the 2nd Q. It made the offence work well.
Makes me feel a bit bad beating the Sonics like this with PJ there and they are such a young team. I thought Earl Watson was real good on their end. Now lets get ready fur Sunday :-)
Good news. The offense went back to Spurs home.
And my 8,000th post.
Agree 100% about what Timvp said about Duncan's play of late. He's playing very uninspired basketball right now. He looks flat-out lazy out there. I hope he snaps out of it before the playoffs start.
Finley needs to look for his own shot more when the team goes into their offensive drought. He's feeling it right now.
Udoka's game is coming along nicely. I think he's going to be important in the playoffs.
Looks like the Spurs will either end up playing the Suns or Rockets first round. How sweet would it be to send D'Antoni's little girls packing -- AGAIN?
"Apparently, Fabricio Oberto can play basketball even if Manu Ginobili isn’t on the court"
Tim's recent struggles are frustrating and they couldn't be at a worse time. I trust in him though and fully expect a fired up Duncan when the playoffs start. Although, if he shows up on Sunday, that would be perfect timing. The Spurs need the win Sunday.
Fab had a terrific game and I agree that he is rounding into playoff form. We will need him to be more active and aggressive on defense in the playoffs so hopefully, this was a taste of things to come from him. The fact that he performed without Manu on the court made it that much sweeter.
Udoka has steadily gotten better throughout the year. I agree that his production will be important for the playoffs. We will definitely need his defense, but any offense we can get will be a plus.
It was good to see DerMarr on the bench tonight. If he makes the playoff roster, any contribution he will make will be a bonus. He may have a lot to prove and this could work to our advantage. But, if Barry and Horry are healthy for the playoffs, he will be left off the roster.
Speaking of Barry and Horry, I truly hope these guys can get some PT before the playoffs start. It will be important to find out if they are game ready. We will need both of them for our playoff run and I hope that the Spurs staff are just being extra cautious to ensure that they do not reaggravate an injury.
Sunday's game is a MUST WIN. If we lose to the Lakers, we could risk falling to 5th or 6th in the standings in one day. This game is not only a big test but it has huge implications for the standings. We may be playing without Manu again and it will be important for Tim and Tony to play well. We will also need production from Finley, Udoka, and Oberto, and Bowen will have to play solid defense on Kobe. I know the Spurs can win this game and this is a game that could add some needed momentum to our Playoff push.
BELIEVE.
I think Udoka and Finley are going to be the Spurs X-Factors in the playoffs. We all know what the Big 3 are going to do and we all know Bowen is going to do his job on defense. It's amazing how much easier the game looks on both ends of the floor when Finley is hitting his shots with confidence and Udoka is playing the way he is expected to. The problem with putting too much trust in these two is that they are very streaky players. I can easily see them going through a tough stretch again right in the middle of an important series.
Good to hear about Barry and Horry coming back. I'm confused about Horry's injury though. I thought I read in the Express news the day after Horry injured himself that the doctors cleared him to play, but Horry decided to take it easy and not risk it. It didn't seem like a major injury that warranted him missing this much playing time. Did he reinjure or something?
Who would Spurs fans rather face in the first round; Mavericks or Suns? Because it looks like it's going to be one of those two....
Well Suns are only a game and a half back, but yeah its looking like if the Spurs finish 3, its Suns, 2 its Mavericks.
God this teams ed
I'd rather face the Mavericks. Parker and Ginobli can attack the rim at will since Terry and Kidd cannot stay in front of them. Dampier is the last line of defense though Dirk has gotten better at weak side help. I'm not saying we'd stomp the Mavericks but the Suns have really given the Spurs fits. I'd have no confidence playing against the Suns in the first round.
I'd take mavs for round one.
Dirk still not 100% and Stack also is out and won't be 100% for the playoffs.
The wors possible opponent in 1st round is Utah, so the spurs need to avoid the 5th place.
The best would be 1st place - not faceing NO, LA, Pho in the 2nd round.
But well you can take every opponent in the second - doesn't matter much at this stage. Esp. when the seedings are far from being set
this game was against the Sonics so no need to get excited
let's see what we do tomorrow, with the #2 seed at stake, I hope the Spurs have a chance, even without Manu
Just apparently, if he can or not, that hasn't been proved yet."Apparently, Fabricio Oberto can play basketball even if Manu Ginobili isn’t on the court"
Duncan's ing is getting out of hand. It's not surprising he's in a funk-he lets the refs get to him now and that s up his game. He needs to realize not every shot he puts up is an automatic trip to the line (where he often splits or misses both anyway!). I'm sick of these mental blocks he puts on himself, they aren't necessary and he's one of the greatest players of all time. Just play your game.
Vaughn came in and got the offense running. As amazing as that sounds, its the truth. He started pushing the tempo and getting the Spurs down much quicker than Parker did to start the game. Thats when it started opening up.
Good Job Jacque.
In some ways, it might be advantageous to fall to #5, particularly if in doing so, they maintain a better record than the Jazz. If other things stay the same, being the #5 with HCA in Round 1, you get Utah, the winner of NO/DEN (probably), and then only one of LA/PNX/DAL/HOU.
I don't think there's an easy way through at all. I'm not even sure that being #5 is particularly preferable. But it might have some advantages . . . .
I just wish there was a way to play the Rockets.
Key X-Factors for these playoffs, assuming the big 3 + Bowen play as well as expected, are Oberto, Finley, Thomas, and Udoka. There won't be any more 25 minute nights for the big 3 like against Utah and even Phoenix these last times. The rotation will be shortened with the stars logging a lot of time, so it will be up to the two bigs outside of Duncan to produce results, and for the wings outside of Manu to hit shots and play solid on both ends of the court. I think Oberto will really step up like last year, but Udoka and Thomas I'm not so sure about.
Duncan is the one player I trust on the team more than any other to step it up in the playoffs, but it would be nice to see him stop whining.
Udoka I understand, but Kurt Thomas?but Udoka and Thomas I'm not so sure about.
It would be nice if the other 98% in the league did as well.but it would be nice to see him stop whining.
It would be preferable if they continued whining, and therefore had their games distracted.
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