At least the ones that were posting last night.  You cry babies!  This is pre-season; give Pop and his boys some credit for knowing what they were doing at the end of the 4th quarter last night.  We must have been ‘watching’ two different games last night, because I was very happy with what I ‘saw’ last night.  While YOU, ran to the exits, calling, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”.

Sorry about the rant.  I love the PtR site and the diverse, world-wide support of the Spurs.  The insight and knowledge of the folks who post here is great (present company excepted, I am just opinionated).  The only thing about PtR I don’t like, is when we are behind/losing, people seem to give up.  Now that I have that off my chest, here is what I ‘saw’ and wondered about last night.

It was a very close, well matched contest for the first quarter and a half.  Durant being ‘off’ helped.  I don’t know if our smothering defense was the answer, or if he just was off at the beginning of the game.   Except of Manu’s half ending spurt, we were only up by 4.  It sounded like there were highlights both on offense and defense for both clubs. 

We came out flat, and stayed consistent.  Thunder went on an 11 – 0 run.  It took them half the quarter to score those points; they were not playing a lot better than were we.  Still it was a close game until the 4:00 minute mark in the fourth quarter. 

With only an audio version of the game (curse Stern and no TV coverage), I had no idea how our defense looked.  It must have been decent in Pop’s mind, he didn’t call timeouts to ‘rip the Boys a new one’.  The best I could tell, our lineup in the second half mostly consisted of 2 starters and 3 bench players, against the starting 5 of OKC.  Other than the dismal start of the third quarter, we kept the game within a few points either way.  Late in the fourth quarter, with the (pre-season) game on the line, Pop decided to see how his second/third string responded to the pressure.  He found that the Thunder starters were better than his bench.  Lesson learned. 

I thought we played well.  I think Pop saw players in situations he wanted.  I believe the Spurs are ready for the regular season.  Unlike last year, I don’t think they will stumble out of the gate.  The players are more familiar with each other and the system. 

I am ready for the 2010 season !!