PtR Quick Cap: Spurs set off fireworks in 108-78 blasting of the Heat
by silverandblack_davis on Dec 31, 2009 10:22 PM CST
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Let's get the new year's sky spectacle rolling.
What a way to end 2009 and kick off the New Year, eh? The Spurs brought the fireworks tonight, blasted all of it in a huge second half salvo, and just like that, one more victory over an above-.500 team. Jump in and savor the sweet smell of the Spurs' largest win (by scoring margin) of the season.
I'll make this real quick since I got a New Year's reunion to go to, which I actually hate going to because it's just crappy. Anyway, I'll be thinking about the win and wearing a big smile on my face even if I have to see some of my not so spectacular relatives. Here's a song, by the way:
First Half Highlights
The first quarter was pretty much all-offense and minimal defense from both teams. Michael Beasley started out hot, going after DeJuan Blair in the first few possessions and scoring at will over Numbah 45 with an assortment of short jumpers and drives to the hoop. The Spurs countered with a proper dose of Tim Duncan's inside brilliance and Tony Parker's aggressiveness, which has been a very comforting sight in the last few games.
TP has been taking it to the hole a lot more, and he did it again in this game where I think he only shot 3 jumpers. The rest, he was on attack mode and making his layups and teardrops while dishing out 9 assists (he even assisted Manu on one basket, huzzah!).
In the second quarter, it turned into the BAM show starring none other than the magic man himself, Manu Ginobili. Marv Albert and Mike Fratello kept on raving about Manu starting to get his groove on, returning to his old self, and I couldn't agree more. He scored on a crazy layup attempt where he blew past his man, drew two defenders into the air, had to change his shot to his right hand, flipped it up and in. Just incredible stuff. Thank the NBA video guys for saving that highlight for us:
Defensively, we let Miami take a lot of jumpshots, but for the half, it was mostly from close range which they easily made. We did, however, a great job of contesting a lot of the Heat's attempts without fouling, allowing the usually referee-friendly Heat team just 4 free throws. On our end, we had 12 attempts at the half, showing just how aggressive the team was in challenging the Heat big men inside. Manu also wreaked havoc on defense, getting the usual deflections and stripping the ball off unsuspecting opponents. Rage, too, despite the sucky boxscore stats, played pretty ably on defense, even blocking a Beasley attempt and took on the chores of limitng the Beaze in the second half.
In his interview at the half, The Sickness talked about the team's strategy of blitzing Dwyane Wade whenever he touched the ball, which worked effectively in limiting The Flash to shooting mostly contested jumpers. Throughout the game, you'll notice D-Wade jumping to make his move and at the last minute, a Spur or two or three are meeting him at the rim, forcing him to pass out to a teammate who's quickly rotated to and picked up by another Spur. Heck, we even changed Wade's jumpshots and forced him to bail out in mid-shot. The team defense was great in helping out Keith Bogans, who also accounted for himself pretty well, capably bodying up one of the best shooting guards in the league.
Have some first half highlights:
Second Half Blast Off
The Spurs had one heck of a third quarter, and the Heat was pretty much FUBAR after that. On defense, there was a period where we forced four consecutive TOs out of the Heat, and had me thinking, "Wait, are we sure this isn't the Spurs that are turning the ball over instead?" It didn't help that Miami was bricking a lot of shots, led by Wade who went 1-5 on threes. Tim C. said in the preview Wade's bad at threes but still keeps on taking them, so good call there.
Also, bones mentioned in the game thread that we'll adjust to the open jumpers, and he was spot on, too. Hands were on the Heat players' faces every time they took a shot, and the free throw and foul call disparity wasn't much of a homecooking thing, really, but more of a defense thing. The Spurs forced a tired Heat team coming off a tough loss a night ago to long jumpers, and that was the ball game right there.
With eight minutes to go in the fourth, we got another chance to see extended playing time for the bench, where Haislip battled with fellow tattoo-ined player and maybe future coke-snorting buddy (okay, I kid, I kid) Michael Beasley, Malik Hairston executed a strange, head-first drive and barreled out of control, and Theo Ratliff almost maimed Mario Chalmers. But overall, they padded on to the lead with Georgy Stud Hill and Roger Mason, Jr. leading the way. Hill orchestrated the offense with a bunch of end-of-the-bench players really well, and Mase hit Js all over, even hitting something from waaay beyond the arc (28 feet according to alamobro).
What To Make Of This Win
But first, here's a nifty falling-down pass from Timmeh to DeJuan. You almost stomped on the Great Timmy, you dumb rook! Okay, just kidding, I'm just really happy. Seriously, I am!
So we finally beat a winning team, right? It's all good, and it's a welcome sight to see the offense becoming more and more in tune to the Spurs' way - better ball movement (the 19 TOs was pretty much padded in garbage time), spacing, and confounding inside-outside attack.
But still, this was a Miami team on a SEGABABA, and tired from a narrow loss to the Scrappy Doo Hornets. They were a little too timid out there, as evidenced by Wade looking tired and not being really creative in his drives like he normally does. Kudos to our perimeter guys, too, for making life hard for the superstar guard out there. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Bogans gets to keep his starting job after this one.
Pop also worked a lot of small ball in this game, even going with a Blair at center and RJ at power forward lineup at one point, with Manu, George and Mase flanking them. It works great for small teams like the Heat, and we were really able to push the tempo with it.
We also limited a not really that offensively talented Heat team to 78 points, and sent a nice message with the 30-point beatdown. The team assisted on 69% of its attempts, and also shot a very un-Spur-like 91% on free throws (20-22) despite making only four threes. Oh yeah, we also owned the boards, 43-28.
Overall, the team just really played a lot of good basketball for four quarters, and the result pretty much speaks for itself. Also, for those watching the game, we got treated to another Classic PopTM at the end of the third quarter, where Craig Sager got Sager'ed with this line: (thanks to the little O for the fairly accurate translation)
Sager: Okay Pop, that quarter you managed to keep the Heat to only score 13 points, seven turnovers, and only 5 field goals. What happened?
Pop: I think they were looking at your suit
Sager was wearing a really odd-looking all-black tuxedo, or was it a suit? I'll call it a suxedo, maybe. Really crazy man, that Craig. I wish I had a photo of him wearing it so I can share the laughter.
Your (Big) Three Stars
3 - Tony Parker
He's just really settling into a groove right now, starting to get a good grasp of his teammates' capabilities while knowing when to take his shots. 7-12 shooting for 15 points, but the 9 assists were the story right here, with only two turnovers.
2 - Manu Ginobili
It's been said many times over and beaten like a dead horse, but he's truly a joy to watch. The behind-the-back dribbles, stepback jumpers, daredevil drives and slick passes were again in full effect, even with only 24 minutes of playing time. A stat-stuffing 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals to cap off another awesome performance.
1 - Tim Duncan
I love the player who makes you go "Whoa" when looking at the boxscore after the final buzzer sounds. Timmy D always does that to me, and he's my hero for it. A "quiet" 23 points (seriously... how did he get that many points without us noticing?), 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals plus one excellent assist to Blair. The New Year goddess is hopefully smiling upon this team right now.
That's it, I'm off to the crappy family reunion. Happy New Year, everyone!
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Very good game by the spurs the team as a whole is starting to jel. Manu in the last 4 games is the Manu we all know and love. Defense still needs work but we are getting there. Come playoff time I think this team will be ready. It’s not to crazy to also say the spurs could get the leagues best record if the Lakers have a few more shaky games and the spurs go on a winning streak. There schedule they have may allow it. Either way I fell they need to still beat some winning teams to show the league they are really contenders still.
GO SPURS GO
SPURS 2010 NBA Champions (if team is healty LoL)
For those of you who didn’t see the game, check out the postgame interview with Timmeh above. Good times, good times.
Good Great win, but let’s see how we handle this weekend back-to-back, and the home game against the Mavs next week.
The Spurs - now playing like sh*t again!
This was a very easy win. The defense looked tough and the rebounding was very solid. Even the offense looked good.
I hope Pop don’t do anything to mess it up.
6-1 since the event that set everything straight with the Spurs.
Tired of the Bonner talk, but…
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Haislip hitting a 3 and getting a block. He looked pretty good in garbage time… something tells me the Spurs may have signed him with next year in mind(Bonner’s contract is expiring).
The Spurs - now playing like sh*t again!
I didn’t say his name. :)
Yeah Haislip looked ok but that block was luck. He got beat badly off the dribble and with hustle, he was able to recover to block it from behind without fouling. But his game looks ragged. But it was not as ragged as Hairston’s. Can somebody please tell me what Pop sees in Hairston. Cause all I see is a walking turnover. Was is me or did he look like he was just running around without a clue of where he should be. The next time they get garbage mins, they need to practice pick and roll. I know it was garbage time, but Haislip and Hairston should look like they can actually run a play.
Anyways, I can imagine what Charles Barkley was going to say about the Spurs before Kenny cut him off. He was probably going to mention how much easier the Spurs offense looks when you have 2 people who can actually score on the block. And if RJ keeps working at it, we will have 3 people that can score in the post.
There was one play when Tim and Blair both ran to the same block to post up, then Blair saw TD getting position and cleared out so TD could go to work. But I loved the fact that Blair was ready and anxious to go to work on the block.
Blair was so so on defense, but he did get a hand up and contest shots. It was lovely the way the Spurs played team defense on Dwade. Whenever he looked like he had an advantage on the baseline or around the basket, they immediately sent help. No hesistation.
And the rotations looked great, especially GHill.
What can you say, we kicked butt.
RJ always takes the ball like he wants to post up. But he so far hasn’t shown any post moves, has he? He usually passes it out, or he drives into the paint and passes out, or he backs up drives and then step back shot. Haven’t seen him get ppl up in the air with fakes or get them off balance with footwork down there.
Maybe he has it and it will come slowly.
I noticed in this game, they didn’t set a lot of picks for RJ when he was trying to take his man off the dribble. They kind of just cleared out for him, and when Rage made a move, realized he couldn’t shake off his man, he just passes the ball out. I’d like for him to play some P&R with Timmy and Blair or even Dice a bit more like how they run it for TP and Manu.
by silverandblack_davis on Jan 1, 2010 8:03 AM CST up reply actions
Great game. Kudos to Bogans and the rest of the defense.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Jan 1, 2010 2:47 AM CST reply actions
good. i’m sick as a dog on my holiday, so i needed something to smile about.
free george hill!
by sleep research facility on Jan 1, 2010 6:01 AM CST reply actions
Udonis Haslem was -30 in 13:50 of playing time! That has to be some kind of record.
In other news, every Spur except RJ had at least one turnover. Crazy. Also, notice Blair’s 4-4 free throws? He did miss one FT, but realized it was short and moved in for the rebound before it hit the rim. The refs called him for a lane violation, so it didn’t count as an attempt and his perfect 4-4 night was preserved. The guy is truly a “stat machine”.
I am very pleased, to say the least, with the Spurs play as of late. There defense had been suspect the entire season, and they were hovering in the middle of the pack the whole season in terms of defensive efficiency. But now they are 7th in the league in points allowed — still not as stingy as last year’s 93 points allowed per game — but I do see a pattern with this year’s team. They were brought in not only to defend, but to score; last year’s Spurs could defend, but could they really score with the contenders? A first round exit proved they lacked any offensive threats. Now they are maximizing their offensive output while simultaneously imposing their defense, albeit at a sloth’s pace this year, but it is definitely getting there. I feel that as they play more games on the road, the team D will coalesce into something more championship-worthy. And like I said before, this team was brought here to score, and RJ is coming into his own right now, as well as Tony Parker. Yet it’s the health of Manu that will prove us to be a championship winner. Last year’s playoffs proved that.
Spurs give bench garbage time
Good win for the Spurs and Manu continues to return to his super self. That twisting hand changing left to right handed lay-up was a shot few could replicate in the NBA. I watched the bench enders closely while the first and second string sat with big smiles. The 3 that got my attention were Ratliff, Hairston and Haislip. Hairston looked completely out of sinc and Ratliff just looked what he is, old. Haislip interests me. Obviously he has a good perimeter shot, can and wants to penetrate, but is probably not playing more because his defensive skills still need some work. But he is quick with some hops. If the coaches work hard with him on his defensive footwork and he learnsthe system well, he could work his way onto the second string. By the way does anybody know what the story is about Ian Mahinmi? Are they still playing it cautiously because of his surgery or is he just in Pop’s doghouse. I think will need him instead of Ratliff at the end of the season. Plus if they don’t offer him a new contract before the Feb deadline he will be history before he has ever been given a chance to play. What’s up?
They declined Mahinmi’s extension for next year a while back. IMO, the Spurs gave up on him the moment they saw Blair and Haislip. Back in summer league, I wrote something very speculative, saying that it seemed like the Spurs were trying to show him off to other teams as trade bait… I’m starting to think I wasn’t crazy when I said that – they just don’t seem to want him on the team anymore.
The Spurs - now playing like sh*t again!
Last Year vs. This Year
I think last year Pop went against his better instincts and tried to offset defensive liabilities with offensive output. Bonner and Finley played big minutes, giving us more offensive production but really hurting us on the defensive end. This might have been simply a function of the personnel that Pop had to work with. Look, I like Bonner and Finley as much as anyone … they are pros, good guys, hard workers. But they are significant liabilities on the defensive end. I don’t want to dump on them at all, but it is no coincidence that our “surge” has coincided with their injuries. Team defense is only as good as its weakest link. With our current starting line-up, particularly with RJ starting to pick it up and when TP decides to buckle down and play hard D, we are damn good on D. And with Blair starting to catch on to the system and showing significant improvement on defense game-to-game (and that’s related to playing time, which is related to Fin and Matty being out), our second unit has no drop-off on D. That’s a formula for success both in the near and long term future of the season.
Gutierrez…Its becoming a scorers league more so all the time with the way rules continually evolve…I have also hypothesized that maybe the FO realized this and is trying to evolve in order to keep pace. And the number 5 offensive efficiency ranking ( this early in the season ) can only mean that perhaps it wasnt such a bad idea.
As for the Spurs defense….a number 8 efficiency ranking isnt the end of the world , specially when you and I both know they can play better on that end of the floor.These numbers suggest that the Spurs are ALREADY a well balanced team. Imagine if they end up in the top 5 of both categories by the end of the season…The team is looking better than their record suggests…
...Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is forty five.
But they are significant liabilities on the defensive end. I don’t want to dump on them at all, but it is no coincidence that our "surge" has coincided with their injuries.
The coincidence part, I would reserve judgement until we play a few more good teams and also wait to see what happens when Bonner and Fin gets back. There are soo many variables. How long will it take for Bonner to readjust back into the flow of the team etc before we can draw reasonable conclusions and so on. But I do agree about the defense. As far as comparisons between Bonner’s defense vs Blair’s, its like the lesser of two evils. If we can win games authoritatively with less 3pt shooting and more ball movement, assists and mid-range shots, I would be ecstastic.
Can you imagine the final score if our garbage time 5 are Hill, Mason, Finley, Bonner, and Ratliff??? That is 3 starters from a 54 win team last year!!! Or if Bonner gets more minutes early, maybe Blair is there in garbage time in his place. Either way, just scary.
I don’t see all these variables you speak of. There is only one thing that has changed over the last 7 games and that is Bonner is not available for Pop to put in the games. When Bonner plays, EVERYONE on the opposing teams starts shooting lights out. They absolutely love it when Bonner is on the floor because he has NO defense. ZERO!
The Spurs should trade Bonner as soon as they can. We need another Big to help TD when we have to play against really big front lines. Theo is not bad, but I think we need another 7ftr just in case and we should use Bonner to make a trade. And we can throw Hairston in the trade for free.
We need to stock up on defensive big men and it doesn’t matter if they can score or not because we have a very talented offensive team at the 1-4 spots.
A few variables I can think of.
- We also lost Finley
- We have played more games and therefore are more experienced
- We had a somewhat embarrassing loss against a depleted Portland team that might have sparked a fire in the teams ass
- Manu is returning to form
- Tony is returning to form and being slightly more careful with the ball
- Every game played in the NBA is played against a different team
- Roger Mason has recovered his shooting stroke lately (I know this was the case even before Bonner went down)
- We played a Miami team in a SEGABABA for them and coming after a tough loss to NO. We haven’t played a winning team at full strength yet and showed what we did against Miami
"If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert"
- DBG
I get it. You are obsessed with Ginger. That is not healthy(though the real thing is I think).
When Matty went out, Manu and Rage were still playing like crap. We were the turnover machine. Tony was fighting his “summer loving” demons in his head on the court and I can’t remember what else. But those things are slowly changing and it doesn’t have all that much to do with Ginger.
Your argument mainly is about defense. Well, our team as whole has been bad till now. Not just Matty. Blair, Manu, Tony etc. Too many touch fouls from Hill. Too many mid-range jumpers which are really open looks becoz its covered too late. Too many rotation break downs by both Blair and Manu. These are factors which have shown improvement. You like to debate. That is nice. But grandiose blank statements of “no variables” tend to take away from your credibility and our readership perception of your contribution. Good luck.
The reason why I’m on Bonner is because he weakens the overall TEAM defense. Notice the emphasis on team. And he is unorthodox on offense, which means people have to adjust their offensive game when they play with him.
Take defense. On defense, he can’t defend one on one and he is a terrible help defender. So when he is on the floor surely you understand the other teams know this. They abuse him like a red headed step child. What I don’t understand is why Pop (who is truly a defensive minded coach) would play a guy so many minutes that can’t play defense. He is tearing at the very fabric that makes this little train go.
Now on offense. Bonner can’t play in the post. He is a shooter and nothing good comes from a jump shooting offense. All you are going to do is eventually get cold and the other team will come back even if you do manage to get a lead early. Plus too many missed jump shots lead to fast break pts and if he can’t play defense in the first place this is a double whammi. So the main reason we were turning the ball over so much is because we are trying to play unorthodox basketball. We were not keeping it short and simple. ATTACK the basket. When Bonner is on the floor we don’t attack, we tend to over pass.
Without Bonner we play better transition defense and we manage to score more transition points because we actually stop people. Also without Bonner we get offensive rebounds and we stop other teams from getting so many offensive rebounds.
The only thing Bonner brings is 3pt shooting. But we don’t need a 3pt shooting Big. So why play a guy who only does one thing? And that one thing you don’t need because you have others that can and should be shooting if for no other reason but to get into a good rhythm to set up dribble drive penetration(ie Manu). Plus everything that we really need from 6’10" Bonner he can’t do all that well in the first place.
As for the other Spurs playing better. That is easier to do when you play with better players. Bonner is not better than Blair or Dice and NEVER will be. So if you are playing more mins with better players you play better. If you put better defenders on the floor you score more off your defense.
Manu is getting his touch back because he is now playing with players that can actually play. And he is letting the game come to him instead of having to make plays when the defenses are focused on stopping him ONLY because there are not other players to worry about.
Those assists that Manu made were to Blair and Dice. Not Bonner. Understand, first of all Bonner would never be able to finish like Blair, because he would have been spotting up for a 3ptr. He would not be rolling to the rim like Dice because he can’t finish like Dice he would be popping for a jumper. Now which play do you think is harder to defend. Pick and pop all the way to the 3pt line (40% shot) where the Bonner is NEVER going to drive or pick and roll to the goal with a very good chance of finishing with a dunk or layup (60% shot)? And which will lead to more turnovers P&P with Bonner or P&R Blair or Dice?
So yeah, in my mind, it all came down to playing Bonner starter’s mins over Blair and Dice. Give them more mins, let them get used to playing with the Studs and you will get a better product. No variables. Just one variable. Bonner.
GingerAssassin, nah not really I like Bonner, how could I not he is an SEC guy, his game just doesn’t fit the Spurs style of play.
But you know what I don’t understand about this Bonner stuff.
In the past Pop has had a real good feel for his teams, and Bonner would make a good trade for some other team out there who needs a 6’10 shooter and with the team we have, there is really no way I can see us being a dominate team with him playing anything other than garbage mins.
We should be able to shop his skill set for a decent big and we haven’t.
I am sure he would love more playing time which he is unlikely to get as a Spur. So why not trade him while the trading is good?
I remember when Malik Rose was no longer rebounding and playing good defense. We didn’t hesistate to trade him and go get a decent big man in Nazr. What is Pop waiting for? He is going to be a FA anyway and then what?
Who would you trade Bonner for? And honestly, we don’t know whether Matt is happy with his situation in SA. He seems to be having fun, at least, and the small market seems to fit his personality.
Bone breaking? -340
Dunkin' Cheerleaders
Damn GhosT. I will give you that you have patience repeating everything in each thread.
Anyways, I believe we are debating the correlation between the absence of Bonner and the surge in our team play and wins. In your mind, it seems to be crystal clear how it all connects.
I guess we will just agree to disagree that for some of us these connections are a lot more subtle and not that easy to isolate and eliminate.
Rookie mistake by Blair. If you watch the end of that Duncan pass from the floor to Blair, you will see Blair go to pick him up and Duncan is like “get your ass down court and play D!!!”. The Heat called a timeout with our two bigs on our side of the court which was pretty stupid even with how the game was going.
Heh. Yeah, I read the same thing. Goes to show how much Duncan really cares about the game.
Bone breaking? -340
Dunkin' Cheerleaders
Poor Ginger
The way teams react when Ginger comes in reminds me of when I played little league and the opponent’s coach would put in his son to play right field. We’d ALL start hitting the ball to right field. A homer every time. Their eyes just light up. Poor guy. He can’t help it. He’s got white-boyitis.
Sounds like a great game, Davis – I really appreciate the recap. I’m trying to watch it, but this cybercafe’s wifi is crappy and it won’t load properly. Hopefully someone recorded it, but I doubt it. And by the time I get back home it won’t be in the archive either.
I’m going to miss tonight’s game, and probably tomorrow’s, too, so good luck with those. We need more wins.
Bone breaking? -340
Dunkin' Cheerleaders
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