Spurs @ Pistons preview: Waiting for a sunny day to believe

by Tim C. on Feb 21, 2010 2:13 AM CST in Game Previews

The teams that faced each other in the 2005 NBA Finals square off again today, relics of a bygone era in which both teams could play defense at a level that other opponents were never able to match. That series was probably my proudest moment as a fan - that year's San Antonio team faced down defeat and pushed back with a ferocity that has been missing for a couple years now, going on to win game 7 after being down in the 4th quarter, and being outscored in the series. Nowadays, it's hard to believe these guys have the trust in each other (or the stones) to pull off a performance like that.

A couple weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting a few PtR members in person. One thing I said to them still stands firm: I don't expect anything out of this team anymore. Every once in a while, they give us all reason to hope... then follow it up by draining all that hope away shortly thereafter. It makes me crazy.

A lot of folks would qualify as "sunny day believers" this season, myself included. There aren't many sunny days lately for Spurs fans, but I still have hope. All the gloom and darkness of the trade deadline and Friday's loss seems to have soured everyone's mood around the Spursonet, and it's not just PtR. Through it all, the Spurs keep plugging away, even though they've undoubtedly got an idea what fans are saying about them.

Tonight marks the end of the Rodeo Road Trip, the time when the league starts to take notice because the Spurs are playing so well - this year, not so much yet. I still don't expect anything out of them, but I hope that they can get their shit together and make a good run. What else can I do? But even during the fiercest of storms, you can sit back and watch the show from somewhere safe... and know that the sun will return again.

San Antonio Spurs @ Detroit Pistons
Where: The Palace at Auburn Hills - Detroit, MI
When: February 21, 2010; 5:00 PM Spurs time
Watch: Fox Sports Net (SA & Detroit)

How They Stack Up


19-10	Home	12-14
11-11	Road	6-20
100.9	Offense	99.1
96.2	Defense	104.1
47.4	FG%	43.7
37.1	3-pt%	33.1
73.8	FT%	77.6
42.3	Rebounds	42.2
13.2	TOs	14.9
5-5	Last 10	4-6
Won 1	Streak	Lost 2
2nd, Southwest	Position	5th,Central


Country/Time Zone	Game Time
Argentina	8:00 PM
West Coast	3:00 PM
Philippines	7:00 AM
Central Europe	Midnight
Palestine/Egypt	1:00 AM
East Coast	6:00 PM
Land Before Time	4:00 PM
Perth, AUS	7:00 AM
Tokyo, JP	9:00 AM
Sydney, AUS	9:00 AM

Spurs (30-21)	Matchups	Pistons (19-35)
Tony Parker Planting Fascists	Point Guard Neither one of these guys should be considered a true point guard, but they sure as hell know how to provide some offense. Stuckey's putting up slightly better numbers, and isn't hobbled by injury. In fact, we can't be sure that Tony is even going to play in this game. But if he does, he's easily more efficient than Stuckey, who requires longer minutes and more shots to put up those numbers. Also, Tony needs to dominate Fisher. Advantage: Spurs	Rodney Stuckey Makes me think of road food

George Hill Ninja Bot	Shooting Guard In a historical context, the white box may seem misplaced for this matchup. Let me assure you, it was intentional. The younger, more selfish version of Hamilton that got essentially run out of Washington by his airness seems to have returned this season. The guy takes 17 shots per game, and only makes them at a 40% clip. George is going to have to watch himself to stay out of foul trouble, though - Hamilton gets to the line more often this year than he has in the past. Advantage: Spurs	Richard Hamilton The Original Moses Look

Richard Jefferson Sir Richard the Weak	Small Forward Richard has been coming off the bench the last two games, and the verdict is still out on that decision. By the time he enters the game, the team is already at a disadvantage. I don't know if he'll reclaim his starting spot tonight, but he's sure to earn more minutes than Keith Bogans, who shouldn't be playing this position to begin with. The guy we thought would be RJ's backup before the season - Michael Finley - has earned two straight DNP-CD's this week, so don't expect Pop to start putting any more size at the position. The good news? Tay definitely hasn't been himself this season, while dealing with back issues. But he's still good enough on D to get the nod here. Advantage: Pistons	Tayshaun Prince That "Prince" doesn't come before "Peanut"

Tim Duncan The Man	Power Forward No explanation needed. Count me as a Jerebko fan, though - I was hoping he would fall to us in the draft, but I'll take what we ended up with. Advantage: Spurs	Jonas Jerebko Swedish... but not a Swedish Brick

Antonio McDyess SAM	Center Both of these guys can still be effective, but they definitely aren't the players they used to be. Advantage: Father Time	Ben Wallace No more 'fro

Manu Ginobili Re-sign plz? kthx	Bench & Role Players Remember when Gordon was rookie of the year and 6th man of the year? Me neither. BAM will destroy all who oppose them. Manu kicked ass in the last game, and I get the feeling BLAAAAIIIRRR is going to rip off some limbs tonight. Advantage: Spurs	Ben Gordon Bench

Gregg Popovich sucks	Coach If only Pop would get off his Kuester(see what I did there?) and actually learn how to coach, maybe he wouldn't deserve to be fired. Also, not a great debut season for Kuester. Maybe we should hire him to replace Pop. Advantage: Spurs	John Kuester also sucks
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
They are worse at home than the Spurs are on the road. Advantage: Spurs
Mojo
The Spurs choked in Philly. Choking isn't good mojo. Advantage: Pistons
Winner:
Because I want to see the sun again, figuratively speaking.

And yes, the "swedish brick" is my car.

Keys To The Game

Challenge Everything - The Pistons are a pretty bad shooting team. But these are still NBA players - the Spurs need to make sure they don't get anything easy. Beat them to their spots, get a hand in their face, play the passing lanes - basically, give 'em hell on defense like the Spurs are supposed to.
Make Shots - The Spurs are shooting even worse than Detroit since the All-Star break. That needs to end today.

Strength of Schedule

Both teams have had a day off after tough losses on Friday night. Detroit gets another day off tomorrow before playing in Sacramento on Tuesday night, while our Spurs have two days off before facing the Thunder [ugh] at home.

Last Time They Met

The last game between these two teams was on January 6th in San Antonio. It was a nailbiter for three quarters, but the Spurs finally pulled away for a 112-92 victory in the fourth.

Some Other Reading

Pistons

Detroit Bad Boys - Excellent name for the SBN Pistons blog, where you can find plenty of great content from folks who love their team. Seems pretty busy, too, so don't be surprised if we have some visitors today.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell: The best TrueHoop team blog is now even better. A must read.
Project Spurs: Check out their regular podcasts. I think they love Manu as much as we do, if that's possible.

Where to Tune In

TV

This game will be aired on Fox Sports Net affiliates in both San Antonio and Detroit. 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.

Online

As 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.

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 our crack moderating team at poundingtherockmail@yahoo.com for more assistance.

NBA League Pass audio is still free this year, so check it out.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM).

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Comments

So far this season, we were pretty good against bad teams. And Detroit is now a bad team. So I hope to see a win.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 2:42 AM CST reply actions

Philly is a bad team too. That’ll show us.

Fire Pop from the Spurs! Fire Bonner from basketball! Fire your mother from child-rearing!

by Tim C. on Feb 21, 2010 3:01 AM CST up reply actions

Philly is better than Detroit and they historically play the Spurs well. I heard they won 8 out of last 10 on their floor against us. This record must include some of our championship years. Of course, the game was pretty frustrating nevertheless, especially in the 4th, with all turnovers and bad shooting. But we should win against Detroit. If I were Pop I would sit Tony and/or start Ian with Tim.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 3:13 AM CST up reply actions

Your preview pretty much sums up perfectly exactly how I feel. Thanks.

No expectations. But still hope.

Not a bad outlook to have on life in general either, I suppose.

by M3D1T8R on Feb 21, 2010 4:13 AM CST reply actions

The sun is coming, and I say it’s gonna be alright.

We aren't who we thought we were.

by SinCitySpur on Feb 21, 2010 5:10 AM CST reply actions

You may be a sunny day believer, but unfortunately the streak is “Lost 1.”

by 4Him on Feb 21, 2010 7:04 AM CST reply actions

Iow, it’s a mistake in the Spurs’ column of “How They Stack Up.”

by 4Him on Feb 21, 2010 1:52 PM CST up reply actions

i bought my lottery ticket today – I hope the Spurs did the same :)

"Mr. Gilmore deserves to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame damnit. Highest field goal percentage EVER"

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html

by Joe deLarios on Feb 21, 2010 7:57 AM CST reply actions

I hope we’ll not be a lottery-bound team.

If you liked it then you should have put a 5th ring on it. Oh oh oh.

by TDzilla! on Feb 21, 2010 8:36 AM CST up reply actions

The optimist in me says, “Hmmm… possibly another draft gem and target for PtR’s creepy level of love.”

The pessimist in me says, “and with the 14th pick in the NBA draft, the San Antonio Spurs select some foreign player nobody has heard of and will be traded or stuck working in Europe longer than Roman Polanski.”

"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 Feb 21, 2010 9:01 AM CST up reply actions

nice Polanski reference

The intanglibles are with us tonite…its just those dang tangibles lke making shots and playing defense - bones

by J.R. Wilco on Feb 21, 2010 10:37 PM CST up reply actions

Choking isn’t good mojo.

"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 Feb 21, 2010 8:54 AM CST reply actions

Stop making fun of him, he has a family to feed.

"He was just a young skinny guy who looked like a winner. We didn’t know he was going to be as good as he is."
—Popovich on Manu Ginobli

by spursfan87 on Feb 21, 2010 10:35 AM CST up reply actions

Plus the demand for gremlin impersonators has fallen off dramatically. Everyone wants vampires now.

I have flying monkeys at my disposal, and I'm not afraid to use them.

by Lauri on Feb 21, 2010 1:02 PM CST up reply actions

brillian

The intanglibles are with us tonite…its just those dang tangibles lke making shots and playing defense - bones

by J.R. Wilco on Feb 21, 2010 10:37 PM CST up reply actions

Alrighty folks. We can do this. Let’s get the Sunday win.

by Ed (dfjmed) on Feb 21, 2010 8:55 AM CST reply actions

Put me on the “sunny day believer” bandwagon. I just can’t totally give up on the team.

And nice pic of the Stuckey’s. I haven’t been to one in a while, but remember them fondly from my childhood.

by CapHill on Feb 21, 2010 10:32 AM CST reply actions

I don’t consider going lottery giving up – it’s just a lesser of two evils

"Mr. Gilmore deserves to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame damnit. Highest field goal percentage EVER"

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html

by Joe deLarios on Feb 21, 2010 11:48 AM CST up reply actions

Spurs vs Pistons

This is a game that we should definitely win, but….. I’d suggest Spur fans watch Timmie as he moves up and down the court to see how his knee is holding up. The last two games I felt really sorry for him. It looks as if he is having the same trouble pushing off the bad knee that he had last year. The drive just isn’t there. This effects his shots a lot because he has little to no lift and ends up shooting line drives that have very little chance of going in. It also slows down his defense quite a bit. I watched him just stand and watch opponents drive to the basket and stuff shots that in days gone by he would have quickly moved to and jumped and blocked. Not anymore. McDyess doesn’t have Duncan’s defensive knowledge and he’s slowing down quite a bit too. Blair is at a distinct size disadvantage when opponents three to six inches taller than he take it to the rim. Bonner never has nor ever will be a rim defender. Who does that leave now that ol’ man Ratliff is gone. Hmmm, Mahinmi maybe??? Pop is going to have to play this youngster or stick with small ball which means that San Antonio will be in the mix for a higher than usual draft pick. It’s pretty bad when that is what you have to look forward to. Today it should be a win, but look at the upcoming schedule. A bit scary when coupled with the problems the Spurs are having now.

by jimjule on Feb 21, 2010 11:30 AM CST reply actions

I agree. I understand that some of us are still psychologically coming to terms with the Spurs downward tilt, but can we drop the Ian as savior routine already? He’s unable play 2 minutes without either fouling on defense of traveling on offense. Two years ago this hope held water, but I think it’s safe to say by now that he was a blown draft pick. It is sad that this has become the last refuge for Spurs fans.

by Neuwaldegg on Feb 21, 2010 12:55 PM CST up reply actions

Well, in spite of all his deficiencies, Ian is almost 7 feet tall and right now he can help our team on the court more than Theo, Haislip, Scola and David Robinson combined. Which still might be not enough, but we are clinging to the straw at this point.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 1:30 PM CST up reply actions

He’s unable play 2 minutes without either fouling on defense of traveling on offense.

When did this happen? Given our front court woes, he should be given a chance to prove that this isn’t true. If you’re referring to summer league, I remember when one G. Hill didn’t have such a hot s.l. in the summer of ’08. Turns out that he should have been playing a lot more last year and in the early part of the Mavs series, which he proved when he finally got the chance.

by 4Him on Feb 21, 2010 1:47 PM CST up reply actions

When did this happen?

I was referring to this game. http://www.nba.com/games/20100211/SASDEN/gameinfo.html#nbaGIboxscore

As you can see, he played 3 minutes, with 3 TOs and 1 PF. To be fair, he did have a good game earlier in the season against the Nets.

I don’t think the Hill analogy works in your favor, as even Pop gave him ample playing time last season. (Suggesting that Pop’s not completely oblivious to talent). I just don’t see any reason to be optimistic Mahinmi will last past this season in the NBA.

by Neuwaldegg on Feb 21, 2010 3:48 PM CST up reply actions

Wow, a whole three minutes? I think that the Nets game was a much better indication of what he’s capable of…

Re. Hill, he got a lot of burn early while TP was injured, but then did an awful lot of sitting. Come spring, remember the Pop quotation: "This playoff probably isn’t for him."

by 4Him on Feb 21, 2010 4:22 PM CST up reply actions

I know it is not really Spurs related but the Cle@ORL game is pretty good on ABC. 75-74 Cle. Let’s Go Magic! Kick the Shaq out of ’em.

The Lakers "Too big, too strong, too long, too good."

by olf on Feb 21, 2010 2:02 PM CST reply actions

Shaq just kicked the shit out of that ‘best shooter in the world’ guy.(Can’t remember his name)

by LionZion on Feb 21, 2010 2:14 PM CST up reply actions

Didn’t seem like his smartest foul.
Magic up 3 with 3:00 to play

The Lakers "Too big, too strong, too long, too good."

by olf on Feb 21, 2010 2:26 PM CST up reply actions

Its weird. I see Vince doing stuff, but lebron is not active on the O end. Eh

by LionZion on Feb 21, 2010 2:30 PM CST up reply actions

yeah weird. Lebron’s passing not shooting.

The Lakers "Too big, too strong, too long, too good."

by olf on Feb 21, 2010 2:33 PM CST up reply actions

And then he shot a long 3. With all the time on the clock, I don’t know. good or bad. He can make those usually. And now the magic makes one. Lol.

by LionZion on Feb 21, 2010 2:35 PM CST up reply actions

Lewis for 3. Game over.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 2:35 PM CST up reply actions

Good game. Those two teams out of the east look good. :P

The cakewalk I thought the Lakers were gonna get doesn’t look that way anymore. Hehe.

by LionZion on Feb 21, 2010 2:39 PM CST up reply actions

I don’t spend much time worrying about the eastern teams. The good thing is that you only have to beat one of them. And whoever comes out of there probably has to make it through two of CLE, ORL, BOS or ATL – not easy.

Besides we got enough to worry about in the west long before we even get to that point.

The Lakers "Too big, too strong, too long, too good."

by olf on Feb 21, 2010 2:47 PM CST up reply actions

I know. I am just yanking yer gold chain.

by LionZion on Feb 21, 2010 2:48 PM CST up reply actions

The good thing is that you only have to beat one of them.

The good thing is that we are not going to see any of them in the playoffs. Whoever comes out of the east will be somebody else’s problem.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 3:01 PM CST up reply actions

I wish someone kicked the shit out of Shaq, but it would be hard to clean the court afterwards.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 2:33 PM CST up reply actions

Well it’s nice to see the Cavs eat it. Can’t decide who to root for in the next game. I got chores to do so I’ll have to watch it later.

The Lakers "Too big, too strong, too long, too good."

by olf on Feb 21, 2010 2:39 PM CST reply actions

Tony Parker out today.

Nice preview, Tim. Thanks.

Bone breaking? -340
Dunkin' Cheerleaders

by LatinD on Feb 21, 2010 4:00 PM CST reply actions

Our starting 5, according to Tim Varner:
George Hill
Roger Mason
Keith Bogans
Richard Jefferson
Tim Duncan

Small ball >_>

by Manu ex Machina on Feb 21, 2010 4:15 PM CST reply actions

Wow, Bogans is starting – you know your team sucks when Keith Bogans is starting for you

"Mr. Gilmore deserves to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame damnit. Highest field goal percentage EVER"

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html

by Joe deLarios on Feb 21, 2010 4:21 PM CST up reply actions

Wow this as small as you can get.

GO SPURS GO
SPURS 2010 NBA Champions (if team is healty LoL)

by Manu-20 on Feb 21, 2010 4:26 PM CST up reply actions

Good news – RJ doesn’t start at 4.
Bad news – now Pop starts him at 5.
You know that your team REALLY suck when RJ is your starting center.

by Kondor on Feb 21, 2010 6:29 PM CST up reply actions

What are the odds that the Spurs go down by 10 points in the first quarter with that line up? My negatism is running very high after the Philly game.
Any chance that Malik will get called up?

by Spurlady on Feb 21, 2010 4:28 PM CST reply actions