Game #29 Recap: The Sky is Falling!

8 Spurs players were in double figures. I think this is the first time we lost with the scoring distributed by that much. There was a glaring difference between our fast-break points, 30-2.

Our series is tied 1-1. We won’t be facing Orlando again, unless both of us reach the Finals.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

::deep breath::

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

its all over, i’m giving up, goodbye you useless team!

I think, Bonner and Parker both had better games than Blair tonight. Bonner had the highest shooting % of the team (4-6 vs. 4-11 for Blair) and got more rebounds in the same playing time. Parker was the highest scorer.

“curse, pop! You went to the CIA for me, is not it "

I tried…=/

Happy Birthday LD!

Thanks JGCD. I agree fatigue made it worse, but I would argue that the lack of defense has been there for a little while now.

So you mean one should take notes for a recap? Interesting. Nice work without em. I’m not horribly upset about this loss. All the things going against us as far as timing, schedule, ect. and heading into Christmas. The team will have a mini break and get back to things after Christmas. Pop speaks truth though.

Well, this is the worst the Spurs have looked all season. And that is the best the Magic have played probably all season, and certainly it’s the best game they’ve played since the trade.

You could say the game was lost in the second and third quarters. And I know it’s the second night of the back-to-back, and a road trip after a tough home victory. And they looked tired, man. I was busy with my family and really wasn’t able to focus on the game, but every time I looked someone was clanging a makeable shot, missing badly. And not just 3s, either—layups, too. Really ugly.

But then I look at the stats, and we shot like 42%, which is bad but not really horrible. Orlando… 59% for the game? 52% from 3? What the hell? Our bad shooting gave them a lot of opportunities, but 60% from the field is absurd. Truly.

And Quinn played. And we scored 100 points. So let’s just retire all that crap as of now.

Part of me thinks we should just dismiss this game as a crazy outlier and move on. But another part of me is concerned about the defensive ineptitude. The thing is, we don’t have a perimeter stopper, and we don’t have a dominant post defender. We all know this. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have sharp rotations, stay in front of our man, contest shots, etc. As good as our offense is, we don’t have to have a great defense; but we need to at least have a good one.

OK, I’m going to bed.

The spurs had a game like this the last season … I guess

After watching the thrilling Denver game, I saw this losing coming, though certainly not a 100% sure thing. Orlando has huge pressure and hunger to win as a new unit.

This was the kind of game where the only way the Spurs could have won, would have been by attacking the basket and taking 30+ free throws. Trying to playing normal fast style Spurs ball actually hurt them. So many of Orlando’s fast break points came off of 3 point misses or rushed shots early in the shot-clock. Duncan had the right idea of attacking Howard and the paint. But RJ, Manu, Blair and others were not as agressive as they should have been. I know they have Howard, but you can’t let him automatically take away the effectiveness of guys who can penetrate the paint. Of course, 2nd game on a back to back – that’s natural because guys are tired.

Agreed—-Smart move by Pop to keep the starters on the bench in the 4th. Better to not risk an injury and decide to just use this as a way to press his starters to play smarter basketball.

One thing I realized: If Tiago is going to be a major contributor in the playoffs, he’s going to need a lot more minutes. His offensive game looked very raw tonight. He’s got to develop to being more comfortable and aggressive in the paint. That only comes with game experience. I don’t think practice will be enough. But I hope I"m wrong. I’m sure Pop probably thinks it won’t happen until another year of training camp, especially since he was hurt for most of this year’s.

Yeah I agree with others. This terrible scheduling of a game is actually a good time for the Spurs to take a loss. They just won 10 straight games including a couple they probably should have lost. And they have a tough little road stretch coming up vs. playoff teams including the champs- L.A. Now is a good time for them to refocus, make some adjustments and enjoy the gift of having Christmas off.

I like eggnog.

“Well that sucked.”

there’s always tomorrow boys & girls… and there’s always the next game (and the playoffs, which this game wasn’t part of)..
; )
Merry Christmas/Holidays to all whom it applies!

I wonder if me sleeping through most of it was a factor…. yes, it must’ve been.

Anyway, I’m glad I missed it. Saved me a lot of grief. Tomorrow’s another day.

I hate Charles. If the Spurs finished the season 70-12 and the mavs were like 50-32 he still would say the Mavs are the best team in texas.

and unfortunately the Mavs have earned that reputation, until they win a championship it will finally go away.

Nice last minute recap, Josh. Thanks for backing the PtR collective from the ledge. And I think Pop would like the austere surroundings of his picture.

So glad I missed this game. Third straight year the league sent the Spurs into Orlando on a SEGABABA. The prior results? Losses by 12 & 26 points. Add this 22 point doozy to the list. I knew this would be a “scheduled loss” as each team has a handful over the 82 stretch. C’est la vie.

What’s best is that they didn’t just loose by got embarrassed, and by a team that quite frankly doesn’t mean much on the rivalry scale. We already beat them and did so in SA last season so it’s not like they’re on some great run vs our guys. Pop can use this to make his points about defense, focus, defense, execution, defense, ball movement, and for sure: team defense. I bet he even played zone for the final few minutes (which I did tune in to see) just so the Magic could jack up a few more 3s and make the statistics that much more lopsided.

Under every player and coaches Christmas tree tomorrow? A wrapped box score of this game from Pop. It’s not the end of the world, just our latest double digit win streak. But nothing could be a better road map for how not to play as the season continues, especially with the scheduled opponents for the next two weeks. This win streak, and all the hidden bad habits contained in it, came to an end at the perfect time. We may look back at the ASB and see that this was the game that did change everything… for the better.

I should have lowered my expectations for the game because it had to be the worst Spurs game I have seen this season. Nevertheless I stuck with the game even after the third quarter because I had the dim hope that this was the 2011 Spurs, not 2010 and certainly not 2009.

Yet upon reflection, this game seemed doomed to begin with, defeatist though this may sound. Barkley’s declaration certainly didn’t help. The Magic had lost four games STRAIGHT before last night, which is good enough for FIFTH in the East; they had also completely reshaped their team. The Spurs meanwhile were riding a ten game winning streak and were coming off a gritty back-to-back. In other words, the Magic had the desire to win this game more than the Spurs did-and it showed.

The Spurs played next to no defense and the ball movement was abysmal. There were hardly any fast break opportunities. From the very beginning of the game, I was surprised to see Parker slowly dribbling the ball up the court with the rest of the team jogging slightly ahead rather than the fast-breaks I have become accustomed to. Last night’s team reminded me of the ghosts of Spurs’ teams past. The effort was not just there and I have to assume it was due to fatigue. The team looked completely out of gas and I honestly can’t blame them. I WANTED to see effort, I WANTED Howard frustrated by fouls, and I WANTED Arenas to be a complete failure, but alas none of that happened. It was a tough game to watch especially when I am able to see so few of them.

I DID get to see Splitter play and though he made quite a few mistakes, he seemed to put forth some effort, as did Neal. I look at the box score and was surprised to see 11 for the Brazilian and 16 for the Nail. I confess that I am rather impressed by Neal. I had no idea he was going to be such an asset for the team. At the very best I thought he might be on par with-alas his name is taboo and I cannot utter his name-a previous team member whose name rhymes with ‘hasten’ and starts with an M. Little did I know that the Nail would be head and shoulders above the other guy.

For those who adhere to the ‘lying-in-the-weeds’ philosophy, you will undoubtedly feel a little better now. Any media members who had a slight appreciation of the Spurs will probably dismiss them now after seeing the Magic dominate the team so thoroughly. In fact, it’s entirely possible that our record might take a few blows in the coming months as the opposition becomes a bit tougher. We might lose some of the glamor we have enjoyed thus far (WHAT? I used glamor to describe the Spurs!? Heresy! Banished are ye from this Black and Silver Realm!).

I am not saying anything for certain though. I don’t know what to expect yet. It was a tough loss but these things happen. It is a lesson to learn from, nothing more, as the Spurs strengthen, condition, and train themselves towards the Ultimate Goal.

I’m just glad we don’t have to face jason richardson anymore. That guy is a matchup nightmare for us the last couple years and was a main reason the Magic got it going early