I never understand when people describe “class” to talk about the talent of a player…so if they’re better, they’re classier??

..I agree that our supporting cast is garbage..but Pop seems to get the most out of them..these guys wouldn’t get any PT if they were on any other decent team..Finley pisses me off b/c he can’t play defense, and it’s worse when he just jacks up 3’s and misses consecutively. Oberto..don’t get me started…Horry needs to retire…I think Ime will be better next year when he gets more comfortable w/ the system…

is it me or do shooters start to suck when they join the Spurs..(ie Horry, Barry, Finley, Stoudemire)..these guys, when we played them, seemed like they were automatic..but when they come here, they’re streaky at best and horrible at worst…

..sorry bout this, but had to vent after getting our ass whooped by the damn Hornets!

i can’t remember when i’ve felt so pessimistic about our chances. the worst part is it seems we don’t really give a shit about being so bad. no fire, no fight.

if we don’t blow out the NOOCH twice in games 3/4 to re-balance the competitiveness and confidence gap, we’re done.

Give a little credit to Brent, he has been playing well when he gets playing time..

I’ll keep saying this until I become bald…start Barry instead of Finley..he can pass and he is our best 3 point shooter, and when they double Tim we can rotate him the ball for wide open 3’s all day long.

Or fucking attack the basket.. when they double Tim instead of waiting at the 3 point line? If we aren’t hitting our 3 pointers cut to the basket and get layups..it isn’t that difficult is it?

I guarantee we will these 2 games at home..I have absolutely no doubt we won’t win..I am a little afraid that we play like the Hawks in the Boston Garden and get blown out every time we are in New Olreans!

I have never worried about the Spurs not having home court advantage..this is the first time I’m actually worried that we can’t win in New Orleans.

Brent Barry can shoot a three!!!

He can stay… everyone else that combined for 4-for-22 has lost their 3 pt shooting privileges… BLOG and Tony included!

why didnt we think of this before? Lets get some axe up in these mugs real quick!

Ton Parker was lost on D and tentative on O. Ginobili should have been a lot more tentative on Offense. How many turnovers did he have 6? 7? Shit, I think he just had another one. Duncan was on his game tonight, but he made the right play most of the time by kicking out of the double-team, it’s just too bad that no one except for Brent Barry decided to play well in addition to TD.

That being said, I think we will win games 3 and 4 to even this series up. We may even split 5 and 6 and be stuck having to win a game 7, but I believe that the Spurs can and will beat this team.

I am sticking to what I said originally. Coming in this reminded me of an 06 Mavs team. At that time they still had Harris and M. Daniels. They were more athletic than us and lets face it, more hungry. This past off season Pop told everyone “enjoy this one more than previous ones” That’s because Pop isn’t dumb and he knows we’re done for. Our time has passed us by. Even if we get by the Hornets the Lakers are going to dominate us. I hate the Hornets so much, if they beat us I want the Lakers to destroy them. Why is everyone so calm? I can’t handle this right now.

I was actually more pissed off when the Spurs tanked after the all-star break, and then went on that mini-slump to tend the season. They had their chances to take a commanding lead in the West, but they had poor showings against just about every decent team they played.

But that doesn’t mean I am not pissed right now. We are watching some garbage basketball by our Spurs. WTF is wrong with Manu? Yes, I know he has a nagging injury, but he is playing like a rookie. He has made some very ill-timed turnovers and fouls lately. Mentally he just does not appear to be there. You half expect Parker to go through some lunacy facing his “buddy” Paul, but what is Manu’s excuse for losing his mind?

How disappointing to see Mo Pete go 5-5. This is a guy who typically takes bad shots. It is great that his confidence is sky high now.

I think Pop needs to restrict Horry and Vaughn to the garbage time lineup. The rotation should be shortened. Finley should be benched in favor of Barry or Manu. Thomas should play more minutes, and Oberto should only be used if he is in foul trouble. Udoka sould play whenever Wells is in the game. When Parker needs a rest, Barry or Manu can handle the rock.

It might be time to move Bowen to Peja. Chris Paul will get his points. Just try and stop everyone else and let Tony see if he can actually play a little defense for once.

I am sick and tired of the stupid boo-birds, and fucking Chris Paul that punk.

we have to move Bowen on Peja, and take him out of the game..Paul is going to score his points so no reason to waste Bowen on him. On West use all 3 defenders against him plain and simple.

And damn please stop having Parker guard Peterson, Peterson is garbage but since he is 5 inches taller than Tony he can catch and shoot over him, and he can post him up too!

No more Finley, give all his minutes to Barry..and have Barry guard Peterson.

We have to start shooting our 3 point shots better because the Hornets are going to give us those shots all series.

And maybe the Spurs can cut to the basket as soon as they double Tim, you know get a layup or two!

RANT: I woke up with one word on my lips: “RoHo.” RoHo has got to go. He’s terrible. It’s like watching an old man in a pickup game out there.

I hope the Spurs have been coasting and letting the proverbial “rabbit” get out in front of them. I hope they have that kind of focus, energy, and strategy still in store. “Let’s let these guys win and couple and then watch them implode.” Really, are we that good? Is any NBA team that good (confident?) so as to allow an opponent to win two uncontested games in a row and then bounce back convincingly?

Let’s start with Gino, the heart and soul of the Spurs as far as I’m concerned. His play in this series has been downright atrocious. The three dribbling turnovers in the second half were absolute bonehead plays that gave them easy buckets and momentum. In classic Ginobili fashion he then tries to immediately make up for it with an errant pass to Oberto (which ALMOST NEVER WORKS!!!!) or take an uncontested three. Note to Gino: they know you’re injured and they’ll let you shoot a three with no legs under you all day, buddy. Pass the rock (but not to Oberto slashing to the low post). Or take the rock on one leg and throw your body at someone to get to the line.

Our front line’s athleticism and, in turn, age are being challenged by West and Chandler. We have no answer for CP3. Fine. But several times Duncan just sat there as CP3 took a floater over him. No attempt at a block, stepping up, anything. Is Duncan tired too? Thomas has got to continue start and play aggressive on Chandler and keep him away from the rim at all times. ALSO, the plan of positing Chandler up and taking him to the rim does get him in foul trouble. This strategy worked. Keep that. (Yay! Something positive.) ALSO, why did Tim not abuse Ely on the low post? The answer I’ve heard is he’s double teamed?? Then Tim should make a quicker move/pass and get the ball under the basket!!! I’m no POP but cutting to the rim (back cuts, front cuts, screens, screen-n-rolls) are essential against these guys. In the second half, I just saw us running a lot of half-court sets and settling for a 20 foot jumper. Disappointing and low percentage shots.

Bowen has got to take out Peja. Sad to say but Manu cannot guard Peja anymore and is allowing him 23.5 a game. Wow. How the mighty Gino has fallen. We should have probably sat Gino for Game 1 if it meant he might have been even a little healthier down the road. We’re not going anywhere with a gimpy Manu who cannot even defend Peja. I can already see us in LA and its not pretty.

Stick Barry on MoPete AND START BARRY. I won’t count on MoPete going 5/5 on the road.

I’m so pissed at the Spurs right now for showing a general lack of heart and killer instinct. This is not the team I have been watching in the Phoenix series and is certainly more of the SpurRS . The “oh well, we’ll get ‘em next time” kills me. Someone get pissed! Someone take it to the rack WITH AUTHORITY. The Big 3 have been somewhere between sucking and inconsistent (on my handy at-home scale) and our role players have disappeared. I heard someone say on the broadcast last night that it looks like we’re hung over from the Phoenix series. Eh, maybe? I would just say the lanes are suddenly clogged, the shots are not falling, and we do look a little drained (especially Parker and Gino). Do we have have enough to take two games from these guys at home? I hope so. But then again, I’m a pessimist when it comes to the Spurs.

I will now stop thinking about the game...but thanks for letting me vent.  I love me some PtR.  Its awesome to have a forum to talk strategy and just about anything else.  Thanks for making this happen, Stampler, Powell, and, uh, everybody else.

game 3 is a must win. if the spurs drop this game, its over. the problem i have is they play well in the first half of these games. they compete and keep it close. the 2nd half they let little bastard cousin chris paul go to town all over our faces. west is doing what he wants and new orleans is making us look like a bunch of old men… which we are. but we are still capable of taking this damn series in san antonio, tie it up and go back to NO then win that game and make every person in that god awful building throw up all over their vomit colored yellow shit shirts. ok, seriously, we need to put this bullshit 2nd half play back in the closet and quit fucking around… are the spurs trying to just make this an interesting series? are they thinking championship dvd? are they wanting this to be the time they “almost” let the trophy get away? i am just hoping all this will be a laughing matter of the past while we all clink beers about how we thought the spurs were losing their back to back. fuck!

moognish

I’m gonna start my own website, here are some domain names I’ve come up with:

firepop.com
firechipenglland.com
banishmichaelfinleytothebenchforever.com
manuhadmoreturnoversthanabakery.com
givebarrymoreminutes.com
wtfishorrydoingoutonthecourt.com
jacquevauhgnisnospeedyclaxton.com

I mean, come on, seriously, don’t we have a “shooting coach”? WTF is he teaching? How to take jello shots? I knew TP’s Game 3 v. Phoenix was a fluke. They couldn’t make a jump shot to save their lives. Finely is old and slow and needs to be benched! Start Manu, give Bones more minutes. The Spurs looked liked Dorothy’s sidekicks on the court, no heart, no brain and no courage. PATHETIC!

I think NO has overtaken the Spurs and the new kings of the flop, especially VD3.

If it’s any consolation, know that Phoenix Suns fans are enjoying this immensely. How did you put it…oh, yes…

We fucking dominated those fucknuts, didn’t we?

Karma’s a bitch, eh?

i agree.. time to rough up little ass cousin

first off:

Brent Barry does not suck (to a previous post above). He is the only person on the team that looks like they give two shits about this series.

And with all the male loving this blog does for manu, where are the posts about how shitty he’s been playing. I don’t care if he’s injured, play like a man. Have some pride. Stop turning the ball over. Old Manu was hurt during the ‘05 Finals, and he tore it up game 6 and 7. He needs to be punched in the face, then maybe he’ll play harder.

My ideal starting five:
Tim
Kurt
Bowen
Barry
TP

These are the only other people that should come off the bench:
Manu
JV (fuck you, he’s been playing decent recently)
Fab (only when paired with Manu)
Ime (never with Bowen on the floor)

I’m not worried yet. We played like shit and were in it for most of the game, except one quarter. Everyone here just needs to relax. We’re in no position to panic yet.

i have to just say anytime you are down 0-2 in a seven game series, its time to worry. especially when both wins were blowouts. like i said, our 2nd half game is worthless. if we drop this next game, start packing up your lawn chair and parade cooler… i want to have the passion to think we could be the only team to get out of the 3 game hole but… no. we do not have the team to do that. its the nba, anything can happen right? now think of that as a new orleans fan. time to get scrappy.

fucking fuck,
moognish

whatever happens, happens. Either the Spurs make adjustments or they will lose. Pop will put Bowen on Peja because he knows that Bowen can shut his ass down.

My biggest concern is Manu’s injury…we aren’t going to win anything without him being around 85 to 100%. I’ve only seen him attack the basket maybe 3 times in 2 games. I wish we had a better medical staff!!!

But I still have faith and always will!

I don’t even know what to say. I don’t even recognize this team. How many three’s do you have to miss to know your shots aren’t falling. Cut to the Goddamn basket!!!! How in the hell does Peja Stojakovic get 10 open looks? How is it that I realized it would be critical to take him out of the game before Pop did? Bowen should have been on him from the start of the series. Bowen can’t guard Paul anyway, but he can slow Peja. I know Goddamn well we aren’t the only ones that can see that. What the hell is Pop doing? This isn’t the regular season anymore, stop f*cking playing Horry!!!!! Shit, this is vexing!! I can’t stop typing !!!! More Bones, less Fin. Hopefully the home venue will change things, but it isn’t going to be a cure-all. Also since when, did this team give up open layups. Hit somebody!!!! Game 3 can’t get here soon enough.

You guys lost 2 on the road to a great team. The sky is not falling. Plus, even if you do lose you have 4 trophies to console yourselves with. I’d give a finger to be in your position right now.

That’s great that the Spurs have won 4 chips. What does that have to do with this series? Obviously in the the grand scheme of things it’s just basketball and there are far more important things happening. Yet, the last 2 games the Spurs have played have been like watching 2 horrible movies. That’s how I see it. Awful coaching and awful shooting/defense have been akin to awful writing and awful acting. Don’t get me wrong I love this team and am in awe of what they have accomplished, but that doesn’t matter to me at the moment.

we will forever be able to use the 4 chips argument in bar rooms, but its not gonna fly very well at the moment. that’s for sure.

i may be the only one to say this, but i dont mind getting a few mintues of roho here and there – he is SO not the problem. here’s where i will agree with everyone else. bowen on peja. the thing about bowen on paul is not just that paul can get by him, its also that tony then has to get a size mismatch with mo pete and peja gets either a gambler like manu, or an old guy that he can easily escape like fin or barry. planning it up that way really tosses the whole scehme out of whack.

but that’s just one side of the ball – the NOOCH are completely out working SA on the other end as well. they are playing hard on D, getting loose balls and rebounding well. they get open looks leading to made shots or scambling defenders/offensive boards while we get contested shots and no rebounds. not a formula that will produce many wins.

think for a minute about the spurs formula. keep exectuing, keep pounding the rock, keep playing smart and work hard. how many games have you seen the spurs win simply because the other team lost its composure, or got away from their game plan? many, many times. if the spurs formula strays ever so slighly, the whole cart can go over quick. we dont have the young hard streetballers that everyone loves to overcome mistakes in the formula (this is the only part of the old/slow crap that i will buy).

we gotta do what we do best – and no, i dont have answers for why that didnt happen in game 2. but give the NOOCH some due here, when a talented team like that plays that well, they are hard to beat. we beat them earlier in the year by being physical – where has that kind of play been? time to reacquaint ourselves with it – and fast.

shut the fuck up truth squad, floppy isn’t bald… we are angered sailors over frustrating losses you dick. by the way… didn’t you vote for the hornets to win? why don’t you go find a wasp blog to add your half penny cent comments on. we need game 3. NEED.

i apologize. that was my frustration coming out with you truth squid. you are alright for a new orleans fan, but i still don’t like you that much.

moognish

Well, there’s nothing I can say that I didn’t during the game. I’m going to wait here for the next games and trust my guys not to let me down when it counts the most.

But for the record, I bathe regularly. Thankewverymuch.

Truth, we don’t EVER make fun of Manu Ginobili here.

As I have been saying all season, the Spurs age and lack of size is killing them. Just as I predicted, the chickens are coming home to roost. Matt had a great post earlier this season about how Pop surounds himself with old players who never talk back to the coach and he has no intention of bringing in any youth.

The younger generation NBA players have sick athletisism. If you can’t leap over a building and have the wing span of a condor, you will get hammered on the boards and blown by on defense. Pop doesn’t give a shit. He has his championships. The way he coached the regular season was horrific. Not calling time outs, high fiving and hugging opposing coaches after the Spurs got walloped, not prepairing his team, throwing out strange rotations. Nice. Oh and I like how he monitored Timmehs minutes during the regular season costing us several games. So, he saved Timmeh for this? The worst playoff series of his career?

Pop is on thin ice. The Spurs ownership is on thin ice. The old veteran team look is just to make sure no youngsters ruffles Pops feathers in the locker room. The small ball gimick is a backhanded way of cutting salary. Look at the line up of the dynasty teams. You win with size. Size cost money. You don’t see line ups with Muggsy Bogues and Spudd Webbs. You can’t win with a freak show. Sign some young talent. We didn’t learn our lesson from 99 and here we are again. Unreal.

It’s funny how the Suns fans are gloating. WTF are you guys gloating over? Your team’s season is over. Suppose the Spurs lose this series. I am not going to be rooting one way or the other for the Hornets. I will take no solace either way.

CC, you hit on some great points, but I don’t give up hope just yet. These dudes have to get more physical with the Hornets. When game 3 starts, the 1st time Chris Paul drives to the hole, someone needs knock the hell out of him. Nothing flagrant, but let him know what time it is. Cutting back on the stupid turnovers wouldn’t hurt anything either. The Spurs obviously need to get younger, but I’ll think about that after the season ends. These dudes have a championship to defend.

agreed. the spurs have played decent the first half of both games. its time for them to pull an entire game together and show chris paul there is still something to fear in this series. i am all for getting more physical. i would like to see horry hip check annoying little brother chris paul into the nose bleeds. put a little scare in his ass… as a matter of fact, take away all of their lawn chairs and slap the lemonade out of their hands. you are in san antonio now you little dick wads.

moognish

Take a look at this list and ask yourself this question. When the Spurs are on their game, can they bounce back just like these other teams did? You damn right we can.

who votes thetruthsquid never posts here again….? he is another cliche bitter fare weather fan who is using the whole “spurs are a dirty team” thing. four championships pretty much could but never shuts people like you up. truthsquid has totally jumped onto the hornet train. i bet there is a brand new (still with tag just in case he wants to return it) chris paul jersey hung up in his closet. are you a mavs fan gone hornets fan and have nothing better to do? go make some honey.

Just to get back to fan favorite Robert Horry. Pop won’t stop playing his lame ass intill Kurt Thomas or Fab start actually producing a little more. I’m surprised no one has called out that Thomas patented 15 ft jumper is so not money. That shit is about as bad as Oberto’s. Unless one of them actually puts something up Pop is gonna keep playing Horry because apparently he’s smarter even if his body does nothing that his mind wants it too.

Thomas shot 4-6 last night, had 7 boards, 1 rebound, 1 steal and played good defense on West (all in under 20 minutes). He definitely has shown that he is way better than Horry. I don’t know why Pop does not see that. Fouls permitting the Spurs cannot afford to play him less than 35 minutes. If Pop does not see it now then he truly is stubborn and blind.

But I really meant to say 1 assist…long day.

I have to take issue with Chris Paul flopping everytime Bowen brushes up against him, even in dead ball situations. That’s just a new level of flopping. Yes, the Spurs flop too, and yes even Spurs fans can comment on other teams flopping.

While I do think the Spurs could use a couple more athletes on the team, I don’t see that as the main problem in this series (or at least Pop’s poor drafts and trades). Look at the Hornets athletes who are beating us.

First and foremost they have Chris Paul. He is a singular talent. No way could Pop have replaced Tony with anyone better and more athletic. Now it would be nice to have a better backup for Tony, but really would any backup pointguard in the league be able to slow Paul down?

Second you have David West. He is another rare talent, but the Spurs showed in game two that he can be slowed and forced into tough shots. He will destroy Horry and Fabio when they are on him one on one, but Kurt Thomas defends him pretty well. Again, I just don’t see who Pop could have picked up who would be helping us here. Athletic, defensive-minded big men who don’t erase their contributions with poor play on the offensive end are very hard to come by.

Third, you have Tyson Chandler. He isn’t a big time scorer, but he can leap for some alley-oops and putbacks, and he is pretty good at protecting the paint from driving guards. There is obviously no way that Pop would replace Duncan. So maybe if we had some athletic FC, we could have him play Tyson, and put Duncan on West. OK, I still don’t see where we would have picked up this athletic post player with our late draft picks.

After that, I see no discernible athletic advantage for the Hornets. Manu, when healthy, is ten times more athletic than Mo Pete or Bonzi Wells. Stojakovic is not athletic, he is just wide open. I would love for Generic Pointguard to play and shoot more for the bees. The same goes for the athletic Julian Wright.

This series is not over and I don’t think the Spurs have run out of gas. Pop has been extremely sparing with his minutes this year to protect against that possibility. We have just suffered from some failed strategy, and some poor shooting and gametime decision making.

The idea to put Bowen on Paul has been a complete failure. I was all for it at first, after seeing how much he torched the Spurs in the regular season. However, Paul is not Nash and Bowen is too slow to have an affect on Paul. This has been a huge error that will hopefully be corrected by the next game. Bowen needs to bother Stojakovic. That guy is a tested playoff veteran, and he is knocking down his shots. Thus, Finley or Barry can guard Mo Pete and prevent him from reliving his Michigan State days. Finally, Parker needs to guard his counterpart. He will use a lot of energy, and he won’t really slow him much, but he won’t have a cross matchup, and Paul will get his regardless.

As for the poor shooting, hopefully that will remedied just by continuing to shoot and by playing more Barry. The Hornets are giving up a ton of wide open shots outside of the paint. The Spurs just need to knock them down. With Finley it seems that we spend each half trying to get him to warm up until he finally hits shots (that’s why I want Barry instead). Parker is just streaky. Some games he is money with his jumper and in some games he draws iron. Manu is battling through his injury so it might be in his best interest to drive and draw the foul, unless it truly seems that his three pointer is back. Also, about half of the time Duncan should just make his move on Tyson before the double team comes.

This series can easily turn around on Thursday. If the Spurs had hit some more wide open shots in game two. They would have been up by double digits at the half, and would have been in a much better position to weather the Hornets 3rd quarter run. Time for the Spurs to take a W and recapture big Mo.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Francisco Elson would have been a better matchup for Tyson Chandler and David West than anyone currently on the team. I never thought losing him would come back to haunt us.

Indeed. Frakie couldn’t dunk, jump or even walk without taking the ball down first, where people kept taking it right out of his hands. What a character.