Archive for the ‘Blog Entries’ Category

Boxscore

Last night in San Antonio, the Spurs took care of home court advantage, beating the Suns with a decisive third quarter. For the second game in a row, Phoenix lost a double digit lead inside of the AT&T Center and felt stymied by the Spurs defense in the second half.

Here are some highlights and post game reaction.

After allowing a monstrous 61 points in the first half, the Spurs put the clamps on. 11 points in the third quarter, 24 in the fourth, and 5 of those 11 came from Shaq free throws. Add to the mix that after going for 25 in the first half, Amare Stoudemire starts the second half 1-9 from the floor and finishes with only 8 points in the second session.

The Spurs were led by the guard that began the night as the second fiddle to the 6th Man of the Year. Tony Parker lit up the Suns pathetic defense for 32 points, all of which seemed to come from that painted rectangle they have set up in the middle of the floor. No one, and I mean no one, wearing orange could stop either Tony or Manu last night. In fact, it was the same the game before.

Foul trouble didn’t much plague the Suns big men this game, though Nash, O’Neal and Stoudemire had huge games, the rest of the Suns team combined for only 21 points out of the 96. Not a recipe for success.

Big Shot Bob Robert Horry made his first basketball appearance in over a month last night, registering just a tad over 3 minutes of action. Nothing to exciting to write about here, just glad to see Bobby back in action, and here’s to hoping for more.

Manu Goes Off After taking two overtimes to reach 26 points in game one, Manu decided to eclipse that total in about a quarter less of action. Ginobili went nuts, as did his running mate Tony Parker, driving to the lane with ease, delivering a no-look tight-rope pass to a cutting (and then dunking) Tim Duncan, and even finding time to drop a few treys in there. Manu finishes with three three’s, but more importantly hits eight of his nine free throws.

You think the Suns might have trouble rebounding mentally from Game 1, how about us fans? Talk about a mental. I honestly don’t know if my brain, my heart, my central nervous system can handle a game like that again.

Terrible for three and a half quarters. Michael Finley comes alive for a game-tying, regulation-ending three pointer. Tim Duncan of all people hits a seemingly planned, wide-open three pointer to end and tie the first overtime. Tony Parker inexplicably fouling Steve Nash from beyond the arc, subsequently fouling out in the first OT. How about Steve Nash then missing one of those three FT’s. Or, Steve Nash’s fading, corner three to tie things up with under 15 ticks left. Manu’s running, fading, falling, twisting banked layup.

Phewwwwww.

That’s basically all I did after the game on Saturday. I exhaled, over and over again.

If You Are What You Say You Are Tim Duncan is and forever will be a superstar. Simply put, the man does everything when it counts. Have his regular season numbers been on the decline the last several years? Without question. But, Tim Duncan, like Derek Jeter and Tom Brady in their respective sports, elevates his game when it matters most. To put it into perspective, prior to his 40 point outburst, TD had only scored over 30 points five times this season. For his career, he’s averaging nearly three points and a rebound more per game in the playoffs than the regular season.

The three pointer, crazy as it was, sums it all up. Here’s a guy that’s gone 0-4 all season, has scored nearly all of his baskets in this game on back-to-the-basket post moves. With around 12 left, his team down by three, he calmly sets a screen at the top of the key, and, instead of rolling to the basket like most men his size are want to do, he pops back to the wing, behind the three. Shaq obviously doesn’t go out to get him, why would he? Duncan receives the kick pass from Ginobili, and sets himself up to hit the game tying three, as if he’s done it all year. Whatever needed to be done, he was there to do it.Sixth Man Manu Ginobili has gone even further to cement himself as a better player than Tony Parker. The foul on Steve Nash was enough to warrant a pink slip for Tony, but the fact remains that Manu again took it to the hole when it matter and won the game for them. In fairness, Parker was having similar success against the rag-tag D the Suns throw out there. And, congrats to Manu on winning the 6th Man of the Year Award. Leandro Barbosa and Jason Terrycame in distant a second and third. Ginobili becomes the first player since Ricky Pierce in 1987 to win the award and lead his team in scoring.

Next Game Keys Forget all this nonsense about whether or not the Suns can come back mentally from a crushing game one loss. That’s all baloney from the media. These guys are good, damn good and to be fair, only a few mental mistakes and “lucky” shots cost them the game. That said, the Suns won’t become a good defensive team over the course of a few off days. They have one good on ball defender and that’s Raja Bell. If he’s sticking Manu, that means Tony should be able to get to the cup nearly every single time. The true key is to get the two big stiffs in foul trouble early. Neither can really play defense on Tim Duncan, but it is tough to have them both out there wreaking havoc on either side. If things go the way they likely should, they’ll get themselves in trouble.

File This In The I Hate The Suns Folder Says Shaq on some of the foul calls he received, “That [flopping] is some bull. Then you all write like these [expletive] guys can play. Give me a [expletive] break.” He went further, “I ain’t changing nothing. I’ve got 700 days left [on his contract], and I ain’t changing a [expletive] thing. … I got four [rings] doing it my way, and I’m going to continue doing it my way.” Well, to you, we here at SASpurscast say, good luck with that. Truth is, he’s probably partly right, but partly wrong. Does Fab flop? You bet. Thomas does a bit too. That said, the Diesel has been getting away with this nonsense for near a decade. Unfortunately for the Big Cactus, he just isn’t as good as he used to be, and he isn’t getting the same calls he used to get. Sort of like when Greg Maddux stopped getting three or four baseballs on each side of the plate. Too bad.

This just in:  Ramon Sessions is here to stay.  Or, at least he should be.

Last night, the former member of the Nevada Wolf Pack and former D-Leaguer set a Bucks record for single-game assists, with 24.  In nearly an entire game of action, Sessions crammed in 20 points, 24 dimes and managed to pull down 8 boards in his spare time.  Yet, despite all this, there doesn’t seem to be a guarantee for Sessions as a starter for the Bucks next year. 

That’s not to say Mo Williams shouldn’t get a chance to fight for his spot back.  No, Mo’s been good, damn good.  Over the last two years, Williams has averaged over 17 points per game, but isn’t what you’d call a prototypical point guard.  Sessions, on the other hand, is just that, on a team already filled with guys that are going to need to get theirs (Michael Redd, Bobby Simmons, Desmond Mason, Charlie V and Andrew Bogut).  In 6 starts this season, he’s put up 10 or more assists 5 times, and at the pace he’s on, he’d finish with more than 50 more assists than Williams if he played the same amount of games. 

Of course, it’s not all number related.  I watched Sessions play last night against the Bulls (which, by the way was one of the strangest games I’ve seen, more on that in a moment), and he was quite impressive.  He can really hop (threw a two hander down on Ty Thomas at one point), he can shoot from various points on the floor, and he obviously likes to get up and down the floor and look for teammates.  Sounds like a point guard to me.

Here’s some proof of how big time Ramon Sessions can be…

By the way, that Bulls game…wow.  81-71, at half!  I’ve honestly never seen a shooting display like that before.  Luol Deng and Ben Gordon were just not missing, and they were taking long jumpers.  It wasn’t just a layup line or dunk contest, these guys were bombing.  Then again, think about how the Bucks must feel.  They shoot over 50 percent, score more than 130 points and lose by 16. 

*Don’t blink, you are seeing Brent Barry, good ol’ number 17 back in the lineup.  Though, not a great start though for the Spur-Sonic-Spur.  First shot, way off from 3.  Next play, called for a block guarding the now engulfed in flames John Salmons.  Then, he proceeds to miss two more three’s, one of which didn’t even bother hitting the backboard.

 *Another dominating start to the game (almost as it was in the Lakers game) where the Spurs aren’t playing great defense but good enough, but, more importantly, the offense seems like its finally clicking.  Spurs score 36 points in the 1st, to lead by 10 after one, but, like their 3rd quarter bomb out on Sunday, the Spurs are getting thumped thus far, down now by 2, the by-product of a John Salmons-led 20-8 Sac-town run.

This is why Brent Barry needs to get his act together and start playing some ball again.

1st Quarter

*No Ginobili today.  Reports are that he could’ve played, but Pop is holding him out.  Can’t say I disagree, the Spurs can beat a team without Manu, though, it would actually require Tim Duncan to be a dominant offensive player, something he’s patently avoided for a while.

*I’ve had a man crush on Lamar Odom for what seems like forever.  He’s long, he can dribble, he can rebound, he can even shoot some times.  The issue has always been whether or not he has the desire, but he seems re-energized with a more share-oriented Kobe and a top-seeded Lakers team.

*Tony Parker has done more than I’ve expected.  Take that last Spurs possession–misses the layup, gets his own rebound, immdiately goes back up again, and scores.  First quarter stats: 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 dimes on 4 of 8 shooting.  Pretty good.

2nd Quarter

*How on Earth do the Spurs expect to score with the lineup they’ve started this quarter with?  Damon Stoudamire and Jacque Vaughn in the backcourt, together?!  They’ve got to hope the Lakers don’t do a lot of scoring, because the Spurs just can’t keep up with much at this point.

*Oh, that’s right, that’s why I’m watching this game, and not coaching in the NBA.  I knew there was a reason.  First 4 minutes of the quarter with the Spurs +4 for the Quarter, before Duncan comes back in, Damon hits a 3, Vaughn with a jumper and two assists.  Nice job gentleman.

*Duncan does not look good thus far.  I don’t care that he’s got 9 points, of the four shots he’s made, I believe 3 have been dunks.  His long jumpshot looks off, and his drive to the basket looks stale (he got just stuffed by Pau on one runner).

*Going into a timeout with under 3 minutes left, the Spurs are playing just like they always have this year.  At times (usually the start of the game) with a ton of energy and Tony Parker is the leader of that charge.  At other times, no energy and indescribable lethargy (lazy passes off inbounds, off full court presses, etc.).  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, they areclearly good enough to beat these other teams, so long as they just give a full 48 minutes.  If not, it’ll be over by the start of the 4th.

*There isn’t a man wearing white that hasn’t been absolutely embarassed by Tony Parker.  Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher.  He’s undressed them all.  Tied at half, TP to thank for that (18 points).

halftime

3rd Quarter

*Derek Fisher is an assassin who haunts my dreams. Period.

*Duncan’s trying to go to work on Pau Gasol, but it seems to me as if either Duncan isn’t quick enough (very possible) or Gasol is too long (not as much).  Fact is, TD just can’t make a shot, and the looks he’s getting aren’t bad.  Lakers are playing zone, or at least were, and the SPurs are struggling with it.

*You know you want to see that Spike Lee joint about Kobe.  Just admit it.

*Looking for that “when did this happen” moment?  Probably the Kobe goaltend that didn’t get called and then the Vlad Rad saunter through the lane for a dunk.  That’s my pick.

*Proof of insanity:  Udoka misses three with under 5 seconds left, Gasol gets board, throws a 3/4 court pass that lands directly into the palms of Kobe Bryant, who proceeds to nail a 3.

 * Great quarter for the Spurs:  outscored 26 to 14, missed 14 of the 17 shots the took.  No explanation.

4th Quarter

*I have nothing positive left to say.  Duncan can’t make any shots, anywhere.  Kobe and Derek Fisher don’t miss.  Part of me worries that maybe Duncan just doesn’t have that much left, that he’s just not that good.  The other part of me says, OK, no Manu today, this team usually turns it on the playoffs and Barry and Horry should be back soon, so maybe its all good.  Time will certainly tell, but it might be from the road locker room.

Though Wednesday’s game against Utah could prove to be more meaningful, as of right now, an L.A. showdown with Kobe and the Lakers takes the cake as this season’s most important game–for now.

 First of all, if you’re a religous person (actually, even if you’re not), keep the Sacramento Kings in your prayers.  How on earth the Hornets lost to the Kings, with so little wiggle room at the top of the conference, is truly beyond me.  Fortunately for the Hornets, they, like the Spurs have one easy game and one tough game left on their schedule (LAC, @Dallas).  Still, that loss, for the time being, drops them into a virtual tie with the Lakers for first.  And right behind them?  The Spurs at .5 game back, and the Rockets are right there as well.  To say this game is crucial for the Spurs is an understatement of the greatest magnitude.

If they win…Spurs move into 1st place, for the moment.  The Rockets (with whom the Spurs have tied the season series 2-2) play at Denver, surely not an enviable task against a Nuggets team thats clawing for its life for that last playoff spot.

If they lose…and the Rockets win…Spurs slip from 3rd to 5th (Utah, by virtue of the ridiculous division winners rule, is locked into the 4-spot).  Even worse, they are then 1.5 behind LA, and a full game behind N.O. with only two to play.  And, as if having a 5 seed didn’t sound horrific enough on its own, they’d only be a game ahead of the Suns. 

 It can’t be stressed enough, this game, without question, is monumental.  Unfortunately, it appears as if the Spurs are going to have to climb that mountain without their leading scorer, Manu Ginobili.  Ginobili was rested on Friday against the Sonics due to a slight tear in his left abductor, whatever that means.  Regardless, Popovich has repeatedly said that he won’t put Manu back into the lineup until he truly thinks he’s ready.  And, in other news from the infermary, Brent Barry and Robert Horry still do not have a timetable for return. 

 One way or the other, you’re going to have to tell the Masters to move over this afternoon.  There’s no green jacket at stake in the Spurs game, but there certainly is a lot to be played for.

The Miami Heat aren’t just pathetic.  They’re hysterical.

“We’re working on a pick, I guess.  We’ll see what we can get for it.”  That’s Ricky Davis, Mr. No-I-In-Team.  That’s after the Heat’s most recent loss, a relatively close affair, 96-91 to the Memphis Grizzlies. 

Listen, some team each year has to bite the big one.  Some team has to have the worst record, some team has to be the laughing stock of the NBA.  But, for a team that started the season with Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, and finishes with Shawn Marion, this is just ridiculous.

The Heat are the worst team in the NBA record wise (14-65), the worst scoring team (91.5 ppg), the worst rebounding team (37.7), and they make the fewest FGs per game (34.3).  Numbers don’t always tell the true story, but here, they’re screaming a clear message:  THIS TEAM STINKS!

Let’s take a look, if you will, at the clowns the Heat run out on a daily basis.

Ricky Davis-Chris Quinn-Mark Blount-Kasib Powell (who?)-Stephon Lasme-Daquan Cook-Earl Barron-Joel Anthony-Blake Ahearn (who, part 2?)-Jason Williams.

Besides Davis, Williams, and Cook, the uniting factor between all of the Heat players beyond the fact that they don’t belong in the NBA is that none of them were drafted in the 1st Round.  In fact, only Blount and Lasme were even drafted at all.

What the Heat are doing, and granted, injuries have forced their hands, is purely laughable.  The team they run out, night in, night out, can’t win games in the NBA, the NBDL, and would struggle to do so in college.  Why?  These guys weren’t even good in the NCAA.  Lasme was a good A-10 player, Chris Quinn could shoot 3’s.  If you didn’t know any better, you might think the Heat were in a lockout year. 

 The Michael Beasley/Derrick Rose contest has been going on for quite some time now, but at least the Heat can know for certain that they’ll have at least a 25% chance of getting that top pick.  A chance they should be familiar with, it’s just slightly better than their winning percentage.

 Spurs Drop Tough One At Home

Boxscore 

For some reason, some how, this team can’t score any more.  That’s been the real issue for parts of the entire season, and, unfortunately with only a handful of games remaining, the lid on the rim has returned.

 As I wrote earlier, the Spurs hadn’t scored over 80 in a game in two contests.  After reaching 95+ seven out of their last eight games, the dubious streak continued again tonight.  They could only muster up 79 points, and barely even got there.  The numbers, in this particular instance, don’t lie.  While the Spurs are by no means an offensive juggernaut, they do average over 95 points per contest for the whole season.  Don’t forget that they also attempt near 20 treys a game.  Tonight, against a largely porous (though, admittedly improved) defense, they could only find nine threes, and made only two. 

 While you can look at some of the lesser players’ production, the Spurs have always and will always live and die by the production of their Big 3.  Duncan, Parker and Ginobili combined for a paltry 21 for 50 from the floor, good for just 42% from the floor.  Not terrible, but not good enough to beat an obviously talented team in Phoenix.

 The Spurs did get what they wanted:  both Shaq and Amare in foul trouble (both Phoenix big men had their fourth fouls by the end of the 3rd).  That said, Shaq didn’t miss much of anything in the paint (suddenly, the jump hook that made him look ancient returned), and Timmy clearly looked like he was wearing down at the end of the game.  The same baby hooks that Shaq was getting on Duncan, Tim was getting on Shaq.  Trouble was, they just couldn’t drop for TD.

 So, what exactly is the problem?  Well, I think being the oldest team in the league isn’t helping.  If you’re optimisitic, you’d have to believe that the Spurs are just waiting to fully turn it on, though, even then, you’d have to be concerned with why they aren’t playing “hard” now, when so much is on the line as far as seeding goes.  Ginobili seems to go in out of spurts, so maybe this is just a down spell.  Better to peak now than later?  Who knows.  The one thing I’ve been saying over and over for a while now though, they need guys like Brent Barry and Robert Horry to be able to come off the bench and not only produce, but at the very least, give a blow to the likes of Michael Finley and the big guys on team.

What’s Next?

The Spurs get a game off, they head to Seattle for a Friday snoozefest with the Sonics.  The Hornets won tonight, so that just makes the possiblity of snatching that one spot all the more improbable. 

The Spurs play host to the Suns tonight, in a battle between two teams that have already clinched the Western Conference playoffs.  Still, there is much to play for.  San Antonio comes in 1 game back of the leading New Orleans Hornets; the Suns sit in 6th with only 2.5 games separating them and Chris Paul. 

 Last time the two teams met, a month ago, the Spurs fell 94-87 in Phoenix.   Though, the game was much closer than it appeared, as free throws and garbage baskets put the final touches on a 7 point loss.  The result of some poor luck (Kurt Thomas not hitting wide open jumpshots, Tim Duncan missing layups–6-19 FG–) and some poor calls (come on, we all know that Duncan got clobbered and Shaq and Amare curiously didn’t get a foul call whistled on them as soon as they each got 5), the Spurs couldn’t quite close the deal.  Add all of that to how awfully the Spurs shot in that game.  They never were able to get going against a Suns team that allows over 100 points per on over 45% shooting.  For the game, the Spurs shot under 40%.  The game, even statisitcally, wasn’t pretty.

The solution, far as I see it, is fairly simple:  Get Kurt Thomas involved.  Having both Amare and Shaq allows the Suns to put bigs on and around Duncan at all times.  That being said, neither of the Suns big guys are comfortably defensively on the perimeter, where Kurt Thomas has made a living knocking down jumpers off pick-and-rolls for over the last decade.  It isn’t an accident that his best game (11 points and 7 boards in 29 minutes) came against Phoenix.  Amare likely will be on Timmy, and Shaq will not (and more importantly, cannot) pop out to contest a 15-20 footer from Kurt Thomas.

Elsewhere, the formula seems to be the same.  Allow Parker and Ginobili to dictate the pace offensively, run things through Duncan, and try not to get caught up in scoring in the 100s.  Sounds pretty easy, no?

 Playoff Picture

Games Left: 3H, 2A.  Road Games back-t0-back against LAL and Sac.

Truth is, after this game, the Spurs still aren’t out of the woods.  A tough date in L.A. with Kobe awaits, as does a rendezvous with Utah to finish off the season.  The most important thing for the Spurs–don’t take the garbage games (Seattle and Sacramento) too lightly.  Losses to those teams could wind up meaning the difference between having home court advantage or not.

What to Watch For

80+? The Spurs haven’t scored in the 80s in two games, one of which was an embarrassing 64 point effort (tied for the lowest in franchise history) against Utah.  If they want to win tonight, I’d imagine they’d have to do better than that.

More Manu  After a blistering February, Manu Ginobili has considerably cooled over the last month plus.  March saw him score 19 ppg, while the first 3 games of April have seen the average dip to just over 11.  Maybe it’s been fatigue, maybe just shots aren’t falling.  Whatever the case, this team needs him to get going if they’re going to win later on. 

Barry Time?  When will we see Brent Barry out of street clothes and in a Spurs uniform?  If the Spurs really want to get away with cheating, they’re going to have to actually play the player they reacquired.  My suspicion is that his calf injury is more serious than they’re letting on.  He does need some run though.  Unlike Robert Horry, some people can’t just be dusted off for the playoffs.