Are You Kidding Me? (Orlando Game Recap)

[Editor's note:  This is the second in a series of recaps written by PtR members.  If you're interested in participating please sign up here.  I added the YouTube clip.]

Yes, I know I'm ranting!

San Antonio came into the game having probably played their best game of the year and Orlando was riding a 3 game losing streak and missing 4 of their players. So you ask how many points did the Spurs win by? Well guess what, they lost. What makes it worse is at one point during the game they were up by 18 points.

Tony played a great first half, and then went into scoring mode in the second half and never got the rest of the players involved.

Manu never seemed to show up; he didn't look comfortable out on the floor and scoring 7 points is not going to get it done; but since Finley and Barry were on fire I guess we didn't need that much scoring from him.

For any Spurs fan this game was a huge disgrace, I didn't care that much when they lost to Utah, because Utah is an upper echelon team and Okur was unconscious with his shooting. And the Phoenix game was a back to back and they played them well till the end. Now the Spurs should have never lost to this team, Orlando isn't playing well, and they sure has hell aren't an upper echelon team either; to collapse like that at the end of the game is unbelievable.

So can someone please tell why, when we were up by 1 point with a minute left in the game, our genius coach decided to substitute Bowen in for Barry (who mind you was 8-12 shooting), when on the very next play Bowen gets fouled and misses both free throws.  I know they got the rebound and Tony got to the foul line only making 1-2 free throws. But there was no logical reason to have Bruce out there on offense, defensive purposes maybe, but if Barry was out there he would made both of his free throws and the Spurs would have probably won the game! Great coaching once again. It reminds of the game against Houston, when we were down by 3 points with about 20 seconds left and Coach Platypus decided not to call a timeout.

So Coach Popsicle said either this road trip will break or make their season. Well since this is the most losses they have ever had on a rodeo trip and they still have 3 games left, this is turning out to be a horrific trip.

We all know Coach Pickle plays Manu only 27 minutes per game because he doesn't to wear him down before the playoffs. Maybe he might want to think about saving Bruce Bowen a little for the playoffs too. How can Coach Pom Pom justify playing a 35 year old 32 minutes per game? Now If Bowen doesn't wear down now, he will soon. Why not give about 5-10 minutes to a small forward named James White, but no we can't play him because he is a "rookie" even though he is 24 years old. But didn't Beno and Parker play as rookies? It's also always nice to see Eric Williams dress for the games, even though he has no chance of playing, and even nicer to call up White and keep him in street clothes.

So our genius coach doesn't believe in a trade; fine, but not dressing James White is absolutely idiotic! Are you telling me that if the kid plays maybe 5-10 minutes per game, it's really going to take away from Bruce or Finley's great production? What do they have to lose? Nothing! But no, Coach My Little Pony will keep playing the old farts, and keep making stupid excuses about this team not being disciplined. No, this team is disciplined, they are just old and can't play hard for 48 minutes without running out energy!

I also hate it when Coach Pariah keeps saying this is basically the same team as last year, which should have beaten Dallas except for Manu's stupid foul. No Coach Purple Balls this isn't the same team; this team is one year older, which means a lot in the NBA.

Last year's team used to win those close games that this year's team can't seem to pull out. And last year's team wouldn't be blowing huge leads against inferior teams. Examples: Sacramento, Philadelphia, Boston and tonight's game which they lost. The truth is age is catching up with the Spurs

The Spurs are good enough to win a title with this team and that is only because of our big 3. But they have to play their hearts out in the playoffs. San Antonio should have won the title last year, except Coach Pickle Nuts never adjusted to the Mavs. He played Van Fatso instead of Beno, which did two things: crushed Beno's confidence, and made Devin Harris look like an all-star.

Our big 3 have another 2 or even maybe 3 years left to compete for titles before age starts to wear down Tim and Manu. So you would think that Coach Poptart would do everything in his power to get the best players around them. But no; our coach decides to bring in more production by moving one of our best players from the starting lineup to the bench. Looks ingenious on paper, but if Manu is still playing the same minutes what the fuck does that really accomplish? I have lost all faith in Coach Popcorn's ability to lead this team to another title.

Another thing, maybe coach should be a little more patient with Beno, instead of yanking him or yelling at him. Beno is not Tony, and can't take yelling like Tony can, might want to try another approach with Beno. Damn it play the guy a couple of minutes a game to build his confidence, because once the playoffs start if Vaughn's our back we are in big trouble. If Beno or Vaughn aren't cutting it then make a trade for a backup point guard. Something needs to be done.

Here is a real short recap: Dwight Howard manhandled us, the entire game, and that dunk with .8 seconds left was unbelievable. It looked like he could have dunked on a 14 foot rim; there was nothing Timmeth could have done. He finished the game with 30. Jameer Nelson was unconscious scoring 16 points in a row, and tying the game on a very tough jumper with 5 seconds left; he ended up with 31 points. JJ Redick had his best game as a pro. It looks like we love to have rookies light us up every now and then.

Our 3 stars tonight

Timmeth. 24 points 16 rebounds and 8-10 from the free thrown line; played his usual MVP self.

Finley: had his best offense performance of the year shooting 7-10 from the floor and 3-5 from the 3.

Barry: 8-12 of shooting and 4-6 from the 3 point line finished with 21 points, he played a fantastic game.

Next game is against the Heat, now they have Shaq back so this isn't going to an easy game. Plus, they actually believe in improving their roster so they picked up Eddie Jones. What a concept!

One a side note: It'a also kind of discouraging watching other NBA teams and seeing how almost every NBA team has young players except us. I mean other than Parker, we have only 3 other players that are 25 years old or younger. White, Butler and Beno; and none of these guys are getting any minutes.