Reply With Quote
Spurs got raped
The Spurs found themselves in another big game on Sunday afternoon. By Sunday night, the Spurs were trying to figure out what went wrong. After getting blown out for the third time this month, things do not look rosy in Spursland.
Give credit to the Lakers for playing a strong second half. With the teams tied at 53 at halftime, the Lakers came out in the third quarter and promptly started dominating the game. It appears that they will finish with the top seed in the Western Conference and they definitely looked the part on Sunday.
The Spurs are basically a mess right now. It doesn’t help that Manu Ginobili is out injured but the team should have shown more fight than it did on Sunday. They competed well in the first half but then came the predictable second half scoring drought. After getting outscored 53-32 in the second half, the Spurs looked as poor as they have all season.
The worst aspect is that both their offense and defense are struggling now. The Lakers shot 50% from the floor and were carving up the Spurs with ease. The Spurs shot 41.8% and struggled all afternoon to find open looks.
Is it time to give up on the season? Hardly. However, there should be concern. With the playoffs less than a week away, the Spurs are currently limping their way to the finish line. If you are a Spurs fan, the thing you have to hold on to is the team’s championship experience and playoff know-how. Other than that, it doesn’t look good right now.
-Tim Duncan is slumping at a bad time. He played another horrible game. Against the Lakers, he played about as poorly as Duncanly possible. Defensively he was invisible. Offensively he was missing everything. It was just an awful display of basketball. Worst of all, it didn’t even look like Duncan was competing out there. For the game, he had 16 points and 12 rebounds, while shooting 6-for-19 from the field. The Spurs desperately need the real Tim Duncan to resurface if they have any hope of turning this season around.
-Tony Parker played a really nice first half. In the second half, he was nowhere to be found. He simply disappeared off the face of the Staples Center court. With Ginobili out and Duncan struggling, Parker needed to carry the team. He did just that in the first half, as he had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists in the first two quarters. However, in the final two quarters, Parker managed only two points and two rebounds. That was far from the second half performance the Spurs needed out of their point guard. To be fair, Parker spent a lot of the second half watching from the bench. I’m starting to be a bit more concerned about the health of his ankle. In recent games, he seems to be fatiguing faster than usual. The result is not as much speed from him in the second half of games, which in turn makes the offense stale. Hopefully I’m wrong.
-Bruce Bowen defended Kobe Bryant decently well. Bryant only had 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the floor. Bowen didn’t help offensively, where he was 1-for-4 from the field. I thought his overall energy level was a bit lacking, which could be said for a lot of the Spurs.
-Michael Finley was a tiny bright spot for the Spurs. His shooting gave the Spurs a little bit of life. He was even able to create shots off the dribble when the Spurs offense had completely shut down. Finley finished with 11 points on 5-for-11 shooting from the field. Defensively and rebounding-wise, Finley didn’t help at all. No defense and one rebound in 33 minutes wasn’t exactly helpful.
-Fabricio Oberto started and played nine minutes. In that amount of time, he had three rebounds and a blocked shot. While he wasn’t horrible, it appeared to be another game where he was just going though the motions. If Oberto doesn’t give the team consistent effort in the playoffs, he won’t be starting much longer.
-Ime Udoka played 28 minutes off the bench and did a pretty good job. He finished with 14 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, while shooting 4-for-10 from the court. I would have liked more rebounds out of him but overall it was a solid effort. It definitely wasn’t his fault that the Spurs lost.
-Kurt Thomas played 20 minutes and I wasn’t too impressed with the result. Two rebounds was weak, especially considering the Spurs were dominated on the boards 51-36. Thomas needs to start being more of a physical, rebounding presence when he’s out on the court. He shows glimpses of what he can be but overall his scoring, rebounding and blocked shots are down compared to his time on Seattle. The Spurs need more out of Thomas.
-I thought both Jacque Vaughn and Damon Stoudamire played pretty well off the bench, all things considered. Vaughn had eight points, three assists and no turnovers on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor. Stoudamire had six points, four assists and two rebounds on 3-for-6 shooting. Vaughn struggled at times with pace but overall he played well enough for the Spurs to win. Stoudamire played his best game since his early days with the Spurs. Hopefully this two-headed backup point guard monster will play well in the playoffs.
-Matt Bonner and DerMarr Johnson both mostly trash minutes. Neither did much, although it appears that Johnson did a lot of growing up while with the Austin Toros. He’s no longer the showboating gunner he used to be earlier in his career.
-I’m not even sure what to think about Pop right now. He has been preaching about how unimportant the end of the regular season is for the last couple weeks. He acts and coaches like these are your run of the mill regular season games and not the important games they appear to be on paper.
The Spurs don’t play with much intensity or heart these days. I think that starts with Pop. Hopefully his plan of keeping things safe and not going balls to the wall for homecourt advantage pays off in the long run. Right now it’s frustrating to watch. I definitely don’t think he’s throwing games on purpose but it’s also pretty obvious that he’s not coaching like these are important games.
Times are rough for the Spurs. I guess all we Spurs fans can hope is that the team stays as healthy as possible heading into the playoffs and that the team can then find its rhythm in the postseason. It’s not too far fetched to believe that Duncan can pull his head out of the Virgin Islands, Parker can pitch complete games and Ginobili can return to his earlier season form. If those three things happen, the Spurs will still have a shot at it all.
Tonight the Spurs face the Kings in what is unquestionably an important game in the Western Conference standings. If the Spurs lose this game, there’s a very real possibility that the Spurs will open the first round of the playoffs on the road. They need this one.
Believe.
Spurs got raped
I guess we will find out about the intensity fairly soon. The way the Spurs have played this year and as tough as the WC is, they will be hard pressed to win a road game. I am still holding on to the notion that they are pacing themselves but it is getting harder and harder to believe. As for the coaching, there are some line-ups he puts out there that the lady Vols could hold under 20.
Tim missing shots from 3-4 feet time after time reminds me of another bad stretch he had in the past. Absolutely unimaginable for any pro player, but really stupfying from the best PF in the game.
When TP is your only scorer, almost any team can make adjustments to stop him. I don't blame TP for the second half lack of production.
Lakers wanted it more for sure in the 3rd quarter.
Kurt Thomas was canned by two teams this year. Doesn't that tell us--and Pop--something about his current abilities? The Spurs obviously took him based on his past showings--a perception failure that is becoming a habit (ref. NVE, Stoudmire).
We are becoming the team that tells the league "Send us your washed-up, your walking wounded, the refuse of the end of your bench"
Udoka was the bright spot of yesterday. He was the only one who played with an energy throughout the game and like he wanted to win it.
Kurt Thomas is an enigma to me. I thought he'd be a lot more solid and consistent than he's been. I'm sure part of it is the inconsistent minutes he's been getting, but it seems he gets lost in the offense with the Spurs too. He's a great little mid-range shooter off pick and rolls, and Spurs don't utilize it enough.
I thought, "Maybe the game sucked so bad that it blew timvp's mind and he couldn't write game thoughts."
PS. Good recap as always Timvp. I do agree with your assessment. I still like our chances with a healthy Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili going into the playoffs. I don't like our chances though if the Spurs can't find a consistent shooter outside those 3 to step up. Finley, I'm looking at you....
the game went exactly how I expected it to go:
Great first half, spurs stop playing an get blown out in the 4th. Even when they are playing ty, they are still a great team (a la the first half). But they run out of steam and creativity towards the end of the 3rd, and they get dominated.
Kurt and Fabbs really need to get their butts in gear and realize that they really affect the outcome of the game. They need to take responsibility for the outcome as much as the Big3.
They seem to be just going through the motions, no intensity, no real effort, too ing timid.
Thanks for the thoughts.
I'm holding onto it and I put a lot of stock into it.
He will. He's never let us down in the Playoffs if he's healthy.
I do.
I KNEW Parker was gonna disappear in the second half.
And this isn't even so much a slight against Parker, as it is just a flashback from the 2004 series when TP would carve up the Lakers and then PJ would have his team clog the lane and then the next thing you know, you've got a hesitant jump shooting Parker.
While I think fatigue plays a factor, I also think many teams simply take a few quarters to adjust to TP and then pack the lanes which makes it tough for not only TP, but TD as well.
And if you factor in that the Spurs lately have been looking like the worst jump shooting team in NBA history....well.....these offensive droughts make perfect sense.
We just have no one (outside of streaky Finley) who can space the floor for us. Udoka is a pleasant surprise, but has no arc on his 3-ball, and Bowen is managing to miss more wide open corner 3's than making them.
Pop has reduced Bonner to a heap of trash. I honestly think I can hit more 3's in an NBA game than he can. He's quickly turning into Antoine Walker.....but at least Walker would rack some boards and assists now and again. As stated in other threads, Pop shouldn't have buried Bonner SO deep in the doghouse, and maybe Bonner's confidence wouldn't be so destroyed. Bonner used to be an incredible hustle guy, tapping out loose rebounds much like Oberto used to, but now neither are playing with any heart.
Having said all this, I'm still not truly scared of the Lakers. I think if the Spurs can bring the defensive intensity they can definitely win a best of 7 against LAL with or without HCA.
It all depends on health and the Spurs ability to disrupt the Lakers offense.
I really have no idea what we'll see in the post season.
This has been the strangest end to a season that I've seen. When the Spurs destroyed the Rockets, back what seemed like a month ago already, and went on their little winning streak I thought the team had turned the corner. Now they seem to have regressed again.
It's been a weird ending to a season for a team that is usually crushing folks this time of year.
It's also odd to think the Spurs will now see the Suns in the first round. Last season, people were mad that it was a semi-conference series and not a finals series.
I have come to expect NO OFFENSE from the Spurs in the third and fourth quarters. I still believe though.
I heavily downplayed the Shaq trade, but the Suns are probably the last team I want to see in the playoffs.
Their extra motivation to knock us off is gonna be similar to that of the Spurs against the Lakers back in '03.
As a matter of fact, this year's Spurs team reminds me of 2003 Lakers.
Spurs will win tonight - it's a pattern; Only the important games are coached as if they aren't.
Great recap ...
But you guys i credit you for keeping the faith ..but you are silly to discount the Lakers. We can beat you guys in a series ...and the Lakers would be foolish to do the same.Spurs are STILL the champs.
I've stated my befuddlement about Pop's indifference to his team's poor play in a variety of places around the forum. It's either very troubling (does he think they're not worth worrying about?) or very reassuring (does he know that things could go better, but doesn't really care and is just trying to get through this?).
The ball-stopping on offense is usually a Pop Scream-athon regular, but it doesn't happen these days. The poor interior defense is even more of a guaranteed Pop Special Timeout, but even that (and bad transition D) aren't drawing timeouts.
It's beyond bizarre to me.
The Spurs have had no trouble playing good-to-great, highly-compe ive halves. But they look like a team that had a grueling morning workout after halftime of those games.
Seems like the best we can hope for is for us to get even luckier than last year. Whatever happens next year, I hope we can put an end to the "let's play uninspired basketball until the playoffs" mentality.
Any news on who is going to be available tonight? Manu? Brent? Robert? Anyone? Bueller?
why did the spurs go to duncan 4 straight times to start the second half?
It's been said here that Barry will play, though Spurs.com says he won't.
Manu and Horry will not.
http://www.nba.com/spurs/gameday/080414.html
Injury/Inactive Report
Robert Horry (left knee contusion) and Brent Barry are out
Manu Ginobili (mild strain, left adductor) will not play
I'm really confused about the Spurs these days. I haven't seen them play inspired BB for 48 minutes this season. Just when I thought it was coming together here comes another derailment. Are these the same players that won it all last year? You could have fooled me. Lack of intensity, missed rotations and frankly they seem out of sync lately. Maybe there is something going on that we don't know about. Totally puzzled.
Spurs are tanking to matchup against Rockets (4-5) and let Jazz & Suns kill each other (3-6)
And we played weak second half, again. Like against Utah, Suns.
What's happening in the second half? We can't be aggressive, effective. Nothing. Why?
Even so, agree with timvp, BELIEVE!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
