I wish I could find something interesting and witty to write here, but I just can't. The Spurs have been underperforming, and now comes a home game against a team that would appear to be a cupcake. That's not neccessarily a good thing, and I've got a bad feeling about this.
 Indiana Pacers @ San Antonio Spurs Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX When: December 19, 2009, 7:30 PM Spurs time Watch: My35 (San Antonio); FSN(Indiana)
How They Stack Up
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Matchups
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 Pacers (9-15) |
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 Tony Parker Meh |
Point Guard The Tony of last year seems to have disappeared, and the new Tony seems slow, clumsy, and unsure of himself. Ford has been pretty good(and healthy), but Tony is still putting up better numbers, despite not looking like himself. Despite my UT bias, I have to go with Tony here. Advantage: Spurs |
 TJ Ford Knocking on Wood Constantly |
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 Keith Bogans DOOM |
Shooting Guard Bogans had a good game against the Dubs, and has a pretty easy positional matchup tonight. However, I'd be shocked if he doesn't end up guarding Ford. With Tony guarding him, Rush should have an easier go of it, but he's still a terrible shooter. Keith might even provide some occasional offense tonight. Advantage: Spurs |
 Brandon Rush Terrible Shooter |
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 Richard Jefferson Meh |
Small Forward RJ's been playing better of late, scoring at least 17 in 4 of the last 5 games. Dunleavy is a good shooter who doesn't do much of anything else. RJ should win this, but it's still a little too early to tell if he's really "getting it" yet. Until then, it's a tie. Advantage: Neither |
 Mike Dunleavy Not The Coach |
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 Tim Duncan 20/10 |
Power Forward In case you didn't know, Timmy always gets the white box. This season, he's as good as ever, and nobody's been able to stop him. Troy Murphy is a decent player, and probably underrated, but he's completely out of his league tonight. Advantage: Spurs |
 Troy Murphy 13/9 |
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 Antonio McDyess Meh |
Center Dice has been MIA lately, and he says he always starts the season slow. As long as we get the guy that played in Detroit last year by season's end, I'm OK with that. In the meantime, Hibbert is definitely outperforming him. Advantage: Pacers |
 Roy Hibbert Token Big Man |
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 DeJuan Blair BAM |
Bench & Role Players Dahntay was a good free agent pickup for the Pacers, and in addition to his defensive reputation, he's even scoring this year. However, we have DeJuan, Manu, George, Matt, and the rest of the best bench in the league. This is another box that might be permanently in our favor. Advantage: Spurs |
 Dahntay Jones Good Pickup |
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 Gregg Popovich Great Coach |
CoachO'Brien is a good coach, and he's been around the league for quite a while, so he must be doing something right. But he isn't Pop. Pop, by the way, is going for his 700th win tonight. Advantage: Spurs |
 Jim O'Brien Good Coach |
| images via yahoo.com | ||
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Other Factors
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Intangibles |
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With Granger out, it makes us really glad that Finley is the only injured Spurs at the moment. ::knocks on wood:: Advantage: Spurs |
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Mojo |
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The turnovers have to stop. Luckily, the Pacers seem to give it away even more than we do. That's not something to be proud of, Spurs. Advantage: Neither |
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Winner |
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| Let's see... a sub-.500 team missing their best player. If you know your Spurs history, you know that this is a recipe for disaster. And this team is actually due for an epic letdown.
Prediction: Pacers win.
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Keys To The Game
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Strength of ScheduleWe've had two days off since the win over Golden State, and will have another day off before facing the Clippers. The schedule doesn't give us any excuses for losing for a while. The Pacers are on a SEGABABA, after getting punked last night in Memphis. Last Time They MetThe last time we met the Pacers was on April 3 in Indiana, where we won in a shootout, 126-121. Let's hope there's not so much scoring this time. |
Some Other ReadingPacersIndy Cornrows - Our SBN sister blog for the Pacers. There's some well written stories over there, and there seems to be a pretty good level of participation as well. Spurs48 Minutes of Hell: Best damn TrueHoop affiliate out there. Always a must visit Spurs site. Tim V and Graydon seem to be less active there lately, but unlike us, I think they have lives. Twitter MusingsWhat's up tweetas! Back home in SA bout to do some more Christmas shopping wish me LUCK!!
Nothing else worth sharing (unless you count some more LOLs by Blair), but you can always find all the official Spurs Sports & Entertainment Twitter accounts here: http://twitter.com/spurs/official/members |
Where to Tune In
TVThis game will be aired on KRRT 35 in San Antonio, and on FoxSportsnet in Indiana. If you have cable or satellite, you'll have to look up your individual channel. And of course, there's always League Pass for the haves. For the have nots, read on. OnlineAs always, NBA League Pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Most Spurs games will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area. This game is no exception. Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate. In fact, nobody can stop you from googling "atdhe". You can also shoot an email to dmenendez@gmail.com for more assistance. NBA League Pass audio is still free this year, so check it out. RadioIf you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM). |
So there you have it: the Spurs will lose. Or, maybe I'm just trying to work the reverse jinx. Now you're confused, aren't you?
Also, I lost a bet to Lauri, so here is the lolcat I promised to put in the preview:
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