PtR Quick Cap: Spurs beat Wizards 97-86, but it was U-G-L-Y
by CapHill on Jan 2, 2010 10:01 PM CST
in Game Previews
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PrintThe Spurs finally put together a complete first quarter. Crisp passing, great offensive spacing, good defense. We outplayed the Wiz in every aspect of the game. Timmeh was automatic, shooting 5-5 from the left side with his patented bank shot/jumper. It was so beautiful. The Spurs ended the quarter up 30-24, and I thought we were in for an easy night. Then it turned U-G-L-Y, really ugly.
We didn't have to wait long for the RQC tonight - just the buzzer to start the 2nd quarter. The Spurs had collective short-term memory loss, forgetting the aggressive offense and tight defense that got us the lead in the 1st quarter. The Wizards drove aggressively to the basket, aiding by our matador interior defense. The Spurs missed 6 shots from less than 10 feet, and the Gun Toters had an 8-2 FTA advantage. I think the 2nd quarter can be summed up by the following: While Tony was being guarded by Earl Boykins, he never once drove to the basket. And on the defensive end, Bogans allowed Boykins to run him over. EARL BOYKINS! Dude is a spark plug off the bench, but he's only 5-5! The half ended in a 50-50 tie. Manu and Tony did not play well AT ALL in the first half. If it wasn't for Mace going 4-4 from the arc, it would have been much worse.
The 3rd quarter was more of the same, with a tug-of-war feel. The defense was slightly better, although we still allowed too many layups/short jumpers. Our offense was still pathetic, but RJ had a couple of nice jumpers and 2 FTMs. After several lead changes, the Wizards built up a 5-point lead. Fortunately, the Spurs were able to close the 3rd by pulling within 1-point, 70-71.
The 4th quarter continued the same back-and-forth flow, until with 5:43 left in the game, the Spurs remembered they are the Spurs. After a timeout by Washington, the Spurs came out and played. We shot (and made) 7 FTs to none for the Wiz. The Spurs defense of old appeared, forcing Washington to take bad shots. Our last 3 possessions were +1s, including an impossible 13-foot shot put jumper from Timmeh with Butler draped all over him. As Wayne said in the game thread:
Prototypical win. Tight, relatively close game the whole way. Turn up the defense and the fourth and win by 10.
Yes, it was the return of ugly Spurs basketball, as we know and love - not a repeat of the U-G-L-Y type in the 2nd quarter. This was a game I don't think we win at the beginning of the season. Only 3 guys really played well, so even though it wasn't pretty, I'll take it. The Spurs showed they can win when not playing well, which is historically a hallmark of this team.
However, Pop has to stop with the long stretches of small ball. It absolutely killed us tonight. When you play Timmeh and 4 guards, no matter how hard everyone plays, the rebounding and defense are going to suffer.
Stars of the Game
- Richard Jefferson - Although somewhat hampered by foul trouble, RJ was aggressive on both the offensive and defensive ends. He shot well and looks more comfortable with each passing game. He also lead the team with a +12.
- Tim Duncan - Another ho-hum night from the big guy. 23 points on 10-16 shooting, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block. The only problem was his 3-6 from the line, but I'm willing to let that slide.
- Roger Mason Jr. - Wow. Just amazine. His shooting was otstanding (7-10), his ball-handling and distribution were brillian, and he single-handedly kept us in the game in the 2nd quarter. He had his best game of the season against his old team in his hometown. You deserve every PtR kudo in the book, Mace. BRAVO!
Updated with Highlights
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Nice ’cap, Cap.
In other news, the Suns are getting murdered at home…. by the Grizz. Don’t look now, but the Grizz are about to be .500, with the NOOCH half a game behind them. Our division and conference are crazy, so it doesn’t matter how ugly the wins are, we’ll take them.
The Spurs - now playing like sh*t again!
Pop has to stop with the long stretches of small ball
Hells yeah. This crap is getting ridiculous. Why is he doing this? Isn’t it obvious that this line up is LOSING leads.
And why did it take us so long to start posting up Boykins? We let them off the hook. Lately, Pop is not coaching like a 4 time champ.
Where were the cutters? There was no motion to the offense tonite. I wanna see more P&R with Blair. Why is Pop not letting the Beast loose? This reminds me of how he used to treat Manu when he first started. He needs to start trusting Blair, and let him play.
thanks for this çap. i only checked in in the 3rd quarter, i missed the first half and the 4th q.. i’m glad we won.
by blackhawkconvoy on Jan 2, 2010 11:36 PM CST reply actions
I’m starting to think that Pop uses small ball to lose leads and get the games closer, to see how the team responds to adversity. I’m starting to think that because it never works., and there’s should be a reason to use it that often
If I recall correctly it worked for stretches of time against Miami to all of PTR’s dismay.
"If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert"
- DBG
Yeah. I wanted to scream at Pop when he used it against PHX, but it actually worked. It doesn’t work for long stretches, though. Sooner or later, the other team adjusts.
The Spurs - now playing like sh*t again!
I really think it’s forced on him in a way, it’s the lesser of two evils with Bonner and Finley injured. To most people’s eyes, Blair, Duncan, Dice, and Theo Ratliff (Mahimi, Haislip) are the only ‘bigs’ on the team. Since there are often games where the last 3 don’t play at all, there’s no way to keep 2 of the first 3 on the court at the same time.
Since Dice is limited to 25 or so minutes, and Blair is limited by foul trouble/the wrath of Pop, you’re going to be going with RJ at the 4 and an extra guard at some point. Once you’ve admitted that, you go ahead and plan for it.
that seems like a logical reason. So is playing RJ at the 4 better than giving more minutes to Blair? I guess Pop is sorta experimenting with RJ at the 4 to seeing how much better that line-up can can get since we haven’t really found a solid big that can contribute for the post-season to guard the mobile shooting 4’s. Pop will think that Blair will not be ready for the post-season so he won’t be played. Haislip is still a year away of just cracking the rotation. And the Mahinmi project was considered a failed investment that no one talks of, about six months ago.
But why doesn’t Pop play Theo around 8-10 minutes a game instead of playing small ball with Blair as the center? RJ talks a bit about playing so much more of the 4 this season than any other in his career in an audio link in this spurs.com recap of the wizards game. This has led me to question whether Pop is just using RJ at the four to get the most bang for his buck while saving his older bigs for the post-season, or if this is a lineup that he’s developing for use in the post-season. Oh, there’s also always the chance that he’s just using this line-up as extra weights that to have on now, and which hopefully we’ll take out during the post-season, similar to what Rock Lee did when he went up against Gaara (one of the best fights btw) in this video somewhere around the 2:00 minute mark.
When the tooth fairy's own tooth falls out, it is taken during the night by Princess Peanut.
Just finish watching the game again on NBA league pass, and Blair wasn’t in foul trouble when Pop decided to stop playing him. He went to the bench to get his hand fixed up and he didn’t come back in the game. So it wasn’t due to foul trouble and the cut on his hand seem to be minor.
Pop, for whatever reason, decided to stick with small ball. And this is not a winning strategy. This small ball, jump shooting idea is a disaster, and we have been fortunate to get away with it this long. Just because we won the game doesn’t mean keep trying it. We happen to win this game because the Wizards are not a good team. But this won’t cut it against a decent team.
Blair should be on the floor as much as possible. Unless he is in foul trouble there is no reason to keep pulling him out of the game. Whenever he is on the floor usually good things happen for the Spurs.
I saw on at least 2 occasions where Blair flashed in the middle and RJ missed him. RJ needs to pass the ball to Blair and cut thru. Also RJ needs to recognize when he drives the lane, they invented something called a pass that he can use to give the ball to Blair and Dice when they are open in the paint because their man is helping. I think the only person that actually trusts Blair is Manu because it looks like everyone else is freezing him out.
As much as i agree that Blair should be getting the ball more, he does have one of the higher turnover rates on the team. And really, for the entire season, its been the high number of turnovers that have killed us. Our D could be better and we still sometimes have those stretches where we cant buy a bucket, but we average around 16-17 turnovers a game I think, which is around 14th in the league. The best way to keep getting wins is to get that number down.
Also, 2 weeks ago everyone was saying RJ needed to stop being so passive and just attack the hoop more. I dont think we’re going to be able to have it both ways this season, and I’m happy with the way he’s been playing recently. I’d definitely rather see him be aggressive and attack than look to defer to everyone else.
by SpursfanSteve on Jan 3, 2010 2:36 PM CST up reply actions
Agreed. My problem with the small ball lineup wasn’t that RJ was playing the 4 – it’s that he wasn’t. The small ball lineup most of the 2nd quarter was Timmeh, Manu, Tony, Mace and Bogans. That’s waaaaay to small. Plus, Pop played it most of the 2nd quarter. In small bursts, small ball might be effective, but not for those extended lengths of time.
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way. - Jane Austen
yeah. another lineup i’ve been intrigued with is Blair at the 5 and RJ at the 4. They give up a lot of size, but from what i’ve seen its been rather effective. I think usually they play that with Manu, Hill, and Mason, but i cant remember who the 5th guy is.
by SpursfanSteve on Jan 3, 2010 4:14 PM CST up reply actions
I agree RJ should attack the hoop and I like the way RJ is playing on the perimeter but he needs to read the scouting report on himself for when he is driving to the basket. People are not going to let him finish at the hoop they are trying to take charges against him, so RJ should dish the ball when the lane closes, otherwise its going to be a turnover.
So I agree, he should stay aggressive but he has to realize that there is always someone ready to take a charge and they do allow passing in this league.
I think RJ should be doing for us the same thing Lebron does when he takes those hard cuts to the basket. We should look to score like that about 2 or 3 times a game. We didn’t see that kinda motion at all against the Wizards.
And although he could cut back on some of the charges, I’m being picky now, but where I would also like to see him improve, is on his close out defense. For his size he should be altering way more shots.
Great reCap, Nancy. Guess I should be thankful I missed out on that fugly 2nd quarter.
by silverandblack_davis on Jan 3, 2010 4:01 AM CST reply actions
I’ll take the ugly win. It wasn’t nearly as ugly as the ones over the warriors and pacers last month.
nice recap caphill. While it was an ugly win, it somewhat nicely to finally win a game that was ugly enough for us to like. In both post-game audio interviews, RJ and coach Brown, with his lack of GOMLness explains that we were just trying to grind it out and win ugly, which makes us feel much better despite not playing to well. He also talks about why Parker wasn’t going to the hole as much as shooting jumpers, but doesn’t explain anything about Boykins guarding him.
When the tooth fairy's own tooth falls out, it is taken during the night by Princess Peanut.
Thanks for the recap, Cap. Another game I miss… now I have to choose between this one and the Toronto disaster, and watch it tonight. I’m back for good. :)
Bone breaking? -340
Dunkin' Cheerleaders
Am I the only person wondering why they changed their name to the Wizards, when in light of recent events, ‘The Bullets’ would be ever so much more appropriate?
by kSAtriya (spur of the moment) on Jan 6, 2010 10:12 AM CST reply actions
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