Small Ball?

Yes, you read right. The Spurs, your father’s San Antonio Spurs, went small to beat the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. The Spurs that pride themselves on defense. The Spurs that hammer you down low until your ears bleed. Those Spurs.

Facing a Magic team that came in averaging just over 100 points per contest, Gregg Popovich and the Spurs apparently knew that they were going to have to play a variation of the ’small ball’ that they’ve avoided for so long.

At the end of the game, en route to a 128-110 victory, Duncan was surrounded by 4 shooters. Brent Barry may have been the best one, despite Tony Parker’s new season high 32 points. Barry, fresh after not having played against Atlanta, hit 5 of his 6 threes. Ginobili was on his game as well, he dropped 27 points. Surprisingly, the Magic shot better than the Spurs (56% to 52%). But, more importantly, the Spurs outrebounded the Howard-led Magic 40-37, and only turned the ball over three times. That’s a franchise low, in case you’re curious. Not to mention, the first TO came at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Though, despite the victory over one of the best teams in Eastern Conference, there are, of course, things to be concerned with. 110 points is just unacceptable. If this team wants to play that way for a few games, I’m sure it will work. You can run teams out of the gym during the regular season. But, as the Phoenix Suns stubborn persistance has proven, you can’t do it in the post-season if your ultimate goal is winning a championship.

I was encouraged with how the Spurs rebounded the ball, especially on the offensive glass, and with Elson/Oberto/Bonner playing a total of about 17 minutes.

After a quick T-day break, the Spurs welcome the Grizzlies on Friday. Should be another high scoring affair there as well. Marc Iavaroni’s high octane offense in the Memphis is 7th in the league in points per game ( 104.6). So, for one more game, air it out.