Ugh! Grizzlies Torch Spurs Defense
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Apr 9, 2010 10:46 PM CDT
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PrintI'm not sure which was worse. The 37 point second quarter or the 28 point third quarter.
What I can tell you is that for as good as the Spurs were playing last week, they are playing that poorly right now. I hope it is just a tired team trying to get healthy. Unfortunately, the Nuggets await tomorrow.
Let's just get right to our 3 stars:
3. Garrett Temple: 8 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers. He knocked down a couple 3's and generally played within himself. His team-best +10 underscores his good defensive effort. Also the fact that he played a lot of minutes with Tim.
2. Tony Parker: He's getting his legs back. He had a stretch in the first quarter where he was his old unstoppable self. 13 points, 8 assists, 2 turnovers. His team-worst -17 was not good.
1. Manu Ginobili: He didn't have his 3-point shot, just 1-6, but he had everything else. 26 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, 2 turnovers. And 11-11 from the line.
That's all I've got and that's all this game deserves. The Grizzlies' big three -- Mayo, Gay, and Randolph -- were all very good with 20, 21, and 28, but it was Mike Conley who I thought was huge in this game. He scored in the tough situations when his team needed him and the offense had broken down.
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In Parker’s defense on the +/-, he played the most minutes with the 2nd unit, especially when Pop rested Manu and Duncan most of the 2nd quarter (well all for TD). Can you blame TD for having a bad +/- when he has to play with RMJ?
Spurs definitely miss Hill if not for any reason than RMJ getting DNPs. Heck, Temple gives them a 3rd ball handler now. Mason’s usefulness becomes even smaller.
Just saying.
I’m in total agreement about Tony’s +/- being representative of who he was playing with.
We specialize in misinformation around here. Facts and stats just get in the way.
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Apr 9, 2010 11:00 PM CDT up reply actions
When Manu played his most minutes with the 2nd unit, our bench was the best in the NBA. At that time, it was our starters who were losing games.
Next season doesn't exist. Only today exists. So say we all.
And they were not winning even though they were the top bench in the league. The Spurs began to turn it around recently. Now if they stay healthy and Hill comes back soon, the can be a big player in the playoffs.
by grego21 on Apr 9, 2010 11:41 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
And they were not winning even though they were the top bench in the league.
Yes, because their starters were not good enough. The starters had no Manu. No the bench has no Manu. And we are back to losing again.
Next season doesn't exist. Only today exists. So say we all.
Duncan was playing his best ball at that time and he’s a starter. The problem was Tony’s lower body injuries, Pop trying to discover who to start next to Timmy (Bonner, Dyce and Blair all saw action) plus new pieces trying to learn the defensives system. The team D has gotten progressively better all season due to time. I think even Finley started some games. You can’t judge what you see now vs the team in December.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
the bench didn’t have Manu when we beat Cleveland, LA, Boston, and Orlando either just saying
Evey- "Are you a crazy person?"
V- "I'm quite sure they'll say so."
V for Vendetta, blowing your mind away since 2005.
the only difference now is that we don’t have Hill but parker is back. Hint: HILL IS BETTER THAN PARKER FOR THIS TEAM
Evey- "Are you a crazy person?"
V- "I'm quite sure they'll say so."
V for Vendetta, blowing your mind away since 2005.
The Houston Rockets won more than twenty games in a row mostly without T-Mac and Yao Ming. Hint : they are better without them (especially Yao). A full season without them (especially Yao) later they don’t make the playoffs. Typical fair weather fans.
So the same reasoning lead to your conclusion. I won’t point to the size of the sample on which it is based. Heart is more important than smarts when it comes to sport, isn’t it ?
Good example. It’s like Yao was expendable until he helped them beat a solid Portland team that had h/c. Had he ben around this season they would be in the race for the final seed.
As for T-Mac, well, I do think they and everyone else is better without him. Of course he never won anything. Tony has.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
Not trying to single anyone out, but RJ was not trying to guard his man. What I mean by that is, he was not trying to stop his man at-all.
I wonder if it was one of pops ploys where he lets one guy go off ( Like we do to Kobe ). But still , RJ didnt put any effort into it, particularly in the first half. I Didnt see the entire second half.
Crappy teams fear us !
I’m wondering if RJ is a bit tired. I know the team is and he’s been racking up the minutes.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
Plus he’s had that pad thing on one of his legs. Some muscle must be bother him & could be effecting his game.
"I like the fact that he’s a man." – Hubie Brown on Blair
by Manu ex Machina on Apr 10, 2010 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions
The 7 to 8 seeds may hinge on if the Lakers actually want to win Sundays game against Portland. Otherwise, its looking like the 8 seed for us. I think OKC is out of reach.
Crappy teams fear us !
I still think that this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Time will tell.
Alfajores cause mojo! - janieannie
… I still would prefer to play Dallas. Bynum has stated he will be back for the first game of the playoffs. Granted he will be rusty, but that will be another big body we won’t have an answer for, and another obstacle Parker and Manu will have to deal with en route to the hoop.
Still though, I guess the most important thing is for Parker to continue getting his legs, and Hill to come back.
Crappy teams fear us !
Granted he will be rusty
Would rather play a rusty Bynum in the first round, than a rejuvenated Bynum come 2nd round or conference finals.
Evey- "Are you a crazy person?"
V- "I'm quite sure they'll say so."
V for Vendetta, blowing your mind away since 2005.
OKC still has to play POrtland so one of them will get a loss. And we win the tiebreaker with OKC unlike Portland. The problem is I don’t see us beating Denver for the same reason we couldn’t beat Memphis or Phoenix: this team is out of gas. Playing yet another road game without a day off will only make it worse.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
We’ll find out soon enough. The Spurs didn’t kill themselves against the Grizz. So if Pop opens the bench early and can find something that works, it is very possible. Lakers without Kobe just beat them. Without Kmart, they are vulnerable.
Lakers had three days off and Denver was playing a SEGABABA. I also think the Nuggets relaxed when they got up double digits, as they do being a head case kinds team. That may happen against us too if Pop sits Manu or Timmy but unlike LA, we won’t be rested. Fourth game in five nights. Why does any team have to play that? The fourth game is always going to be a sloppy product.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
random question: where is the Pop image generator?
"Rock and Roll angels bring that HardRock Hallelujah"
http://memegenerator.net/Pop-Wisdom/
But I think it’s down right now.
Just cause we're crippled, don't mean we gotta take the crumbs.
by silverandblack_davis on Apr 10, 2010 9:55 AM CDT up reply actions
This team is gassed. On March 16 they started a stretch of 16 games in 26 days, including the upcoming in Denver. Putting aside quality of opponent (11 of 16 are playoff teams) and location (10 of 16 on the road), this is one helluva stretch at any point in the season for a team of any age but it’s worse to come at the end of an 82 game schedule. Add in that one of their three best players missed the first twelve and their fourth best player the final four & a half and it’s no shock to me that they’re crawling to end, physically & mentally.
They lost to Memphis because they were slow to box out and rebound, slow to loose balls, slow on a few defensive rotations and again missed FTs (8). Yes, Memphis helped by hitting a higher than normal percentage of their shots from the 2nd quarter through the 4th much as they missed a higher percent than normal two days earlier at Dallas. But a Spurs team that spent the 4th Q unable to get a number of defensive rebounds (despite Gasol being out) and only able to score 17 points is just plain tired. It may get much worse at Denver.
I don’t know what Pop should do. I’m the big advocator for resting older guys in this stretch. I wanted Timmy to sit @NJ and @PHX. I still think he should sit vs MIN. I think Pop should consider resting Manu @DEN and should definitely sit Dyce for one if not two of these final games.
When this team opens the playoffs next Saturday it’ll be the first time they’ve had two days off since March 15. If Sunday, it’s three off days since March 4. No other team has had to endure that. They’re crawling to the finish line but with a little rest they’ll jump out of the gate at the next race.
You gotta bring ass to get ass.
They wouldn’t have lost it if you were still in town. I blame you.
We specialize in misinformation around here. Facts and stats just get in the way.
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Apr 10, 2010 4:13 PM CDT up reply actions
Memphis had 27 points in the first 16 minutes for an 81 point per game pace. The Spurs did give up five offensive rebounds, which sounds bad, but Memphis missed 21 shots so the rebound rate of 76.2% is actually respectable.
During the next 12 minutes Memphis scored at a 176 ppg pace. The Spurs got only 3 stops on 24 possessions: Zach Randolph sailed a pass out of bounds, Ian took a charge and the refs (mistakenly?) gave us the ball after a Mike Conley miss was knocked out of bounds. During the entire 12 minutes no Spur grabbed a single Memphis miss. Of course they only missed six. Not that they were insanely hot, they’re just don’t miss that many layups.
There was a couple nother bad spells later, but this stretch was the back-breaker.
How about getting within two points in the last two minutes of the game and giving up a 7-0 run? That’s a worse back breaker to me.
But this team’s a completely different animal when Duncan plays, so I’m not really taking this loss to heart. I’m glad Pop rested him and think it can only help us in the post-season, no matter who we play.
Alfajores cause mojo! - janieannie
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