Posts tagged ‘Spurs’

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.

 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.