Game Recap #59: Spurs Survive Grizzlies 95-88
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 1:30 AM CST
in Game Recaps
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PrintFresh off wins against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Jersey Nets, the Spurs welcomed the Memphis Grizzlies into their house. I thought about trying to make the title something catchy, but I'm finding myself lacking the appropriate words to describe this game. The Spurs won, in spite of their best efforts and a mountain load of injuries. It was a tough, gritty game that saw us lose Tony Parker to something called a contusion, as well as temporary boo-boo's to Tim Duncan, DeJuan Blair, and Manu Ginobili.
Even a referee tore ligaments in his knee. (Maybe he should consider getting them removed ;-)
If I said the Spurs came out like gangsters…well, that would be an understatement. We got a whole game’s worth of highlights in the first 4 minutes alone, at least one of which came complete with a very flattering analogy from Sean. "Look at Blair land like Shamu in the water!" I'm sure DeJuan will appreciate that. On to a bit of play by play, followed by the rest of the usual SFS-cap.
First Quarter:
I just want to say that the most beautiful thing in the world is Tim Duncan throwing outlet passes to DeJuan Blair. Nothing else is close.
Can I take that back? Watching Duncan block 3 Zach Randolph shots, then BlairNobili (when was the last time we said that?) combine to block ZBo’s 4th attempt on the same possession? It led to an open Manu 3 (an unfortunate miss) that had it gone in would have sent the arena into a frenzy. It would have been bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
For having such good rebounders as Randolph and Marc Gasol, we sure didn’t seem to be having much of a problem grabbing boards. I missed the last two minutes of the first quarter because of "technical difficulties". Fortunately, that didn't last long.
Second Quarter:
George Hill ran the pick and roll and when his defender went under the screen, Hill pulled up and nailed a 3. Who needs to find the roll guy when you can do that? Manu took a Randolph paw to the face and lay on the floor for nearly a minute, which is, of course, quite long for him. Sean warns us: "Do not hurt that man, it’ll wake him up, and he’s already awake." Seconds later, Antonio McDyess came up with a loose ball and got it to Manu who tossed an alley-oop for your typical boring old Spur James Anderson. Wait, he's young and athletic? Can't be - not on this boring team.
Hill nailed another pull-up 3 while running the pick and roll, then drove a few feet in and nailed a jumper. He’s in rhythm and he may not miss again.
OK. The Grizz started to get some offensive rebounds, but they weren’t able to convert most into second chance points, and most of the rebounds were coming off tips and such. I’m not worried about those, especially since we’ve held them to 2-15 shooting this quarter. At that point, they were shooting 22% for the game. That’s some good ol’ fashioned Spurs defense.
Sean and Bill started reminiscing about Joey Crawford technicals. Good times, which ended with an absolutely horrid finish to the half. The Spurs let a 20 point lead get trimmed to an 8 point lead. Should have been up 30. Bad offensive execution and intelligent cherry-picking by the Grizzlies gave them a LOT of easy transition baskets there at the end.
As far as analysis is concerned; the Spurs were clearly superior as a team, and pretty much superior at every position, at least so far. Memphis had out-rebounded S.A. by 5, and they had 13 offensive, but at least 4 of those offensive rebounds have been the fluky "the ball bounced off someone’s hands into Zach Randolph’s" type. And he’s got 13 rebounds, which is pretty much what we expected from him, right? He was also being held to 3-14 shooting.
Overall, we were killing them, minus the last 2-3 minutes of the half.
Third Quarter:
This is what Blair was thinking during the third: OMG WTF-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F. Lead is cut down to 4. We couldn’t get a stop. We couldn’t score. I don’t understand how this happened. Also, everyone is getting hurt, and I started sobbing uncontrollably.
Interesting sequence: loose ball, Gasol went on the floor to get it and Matt Bonner tied him up for what should have been a jump ball, but the refs (down to 2 due to injury), claim Randolph called a timeout. Bonner becomes visibly upset. Really, Matt, you think you’re going to win a jump ball? Maybe if you were Coach B, with his superior athleticism to rely on…but not you. Sorry. Getting them to waste a timeout in WHAT IS SOMEHOW A CLOSE GAME was probably better for us in the long run than losing a jump ball. Probably. Speaking of Bonner, we’re so horrible this quarter, Bonner nearly got a 3 stuck on the rim. Yikes.
Duncan just tied himself up with Hakeem for 10th place on the all time block list, which is cool and all but they were losing now. By 7. This is almost a 30 point swing. The a quick television timeout was followed by:
COACH B TO THE RESCUE! CORNER 3 (and he got fouled IMO).
AND ANOTHER ONE!
Apparently during the timeout, Bonner and Coach B (who, according to my sources in the Spurs organization, are one and the same) switched jerseys without anyone noticing. Then Manu made two great plays: long shot clock buzzer beating 2, and then drawing an off-ball charge. Did I say two? Make it three: drive going left, easy finger roll. Well, it probably wasn't easy, but he made it look easy, at least. While the Spurs couldn’t get the lead back, momentum had definitely swung going into the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter:
RAGE AND COACH B ARE UNBEATABLE! YOU CANNOT STOP THEM IN QUARTER NUMBER FOUR! I AM VERY EXCITED RIGHT NOW!
OMG COACH B HIT ANOTHER THREE TAAAAALLMMMMMBBBBOOOUUUUTTTT!!!!!! SPURS UP BY ONE!
Parker has a contusion and won’t return, so Quinn is getting some serious burn. Not good. When in doubt, give the ball to Duncan, and he shall deliver. Same goes for Manu. They combined to once again give us the lead. The game was close, but finally the good guys, behind Tim and Manu, pulled away at the end.
Like It:
If I focus not on the fact that the Spurs were playing, and just looked at this as a basketball game between two random teams, this game was awesome. Lots of physicality, but both teams kept it clean and just played hard. I like games like that. I won't say "the refs let them play" because there were only two refs, and they could not see everything.
Love it:
Manu coming alive and getting to the line in the fourth quarter. He did a great job attacking the basket, and also assisted some of the biggest baskets in the game (3 pointers from Rage and Coach B). I'd like him to shoot better from 3, but he done good tonight.
Loathe it:
The Grizzlies rebounding. Playing against Zach Randolph. Mike Conley actually making jump shots. Itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie-slightly-nagging injur-eenies. If there is one thing that can derail the Spurs ability to get home court advantage throughout, it's half our team getting dinged up like a car in an Oklahoma hail-storm. We've got to stay healthy so Steve Novak and Chris Quinn don't have to carry us.
Also, i absolutely despise giving up 20 point leads. There was a 28 point swing. I'd be interested in knowing when the last time the score changed that much that fast in an NBA game. For some reason, I'm thinking it involved the Spurs, and that it's happened in the past couple seasons. Tonight gave a whole new meaning to RQC.
Analysis:
Our depth is our biggest strength, but when everyone is getting nicked up, we've got problems. Half our team, at some point tonight, needed to come off the floor due to an injury. Nobody can survive that, but hey, we did.
They only out rebounded us by one, but they did get seventeen offensive rebounds. That's insane. But it's also Zach Randolph- that is what he does. I know some of you are thinking "WE HAVE A REBOUNDING PROBLEM," but I disagree, even after tonight. People will say "We can't beat the elite teams giving up that many offensive rebounds!" And those people are right, we couldn't. But those elite teams don't get as many offensive rebounds. Only the Los Angeles Lakers are as good as Memphis, and in our super-dramatic last two-tenths of a second win against them, they actually had 12 offensive rebounds. In fact, if you compare those box scores, they look pretty similar. I'm not saying I'm happy with how many boards we're giving up, and if there is one area the Spurs need to improve in, it is crashing the glass. We've shown we can win against the best playing the way we play, though. If you're someone who says "the playoffs are different though", usually, you'd be right. But if you watched the LA game, and you watched this game, you know they had every ounce of intensity playoff games have.
So to those of you with wavering faith, those of you with doubts- I say believe. This is not the most talented team in the league. Not the most athletic, or the biggest, or the fastest. But this is the smartest team in the league, and, at least for right now, it is also still the best team in the league.
Did you know:
DeJuan Blair is tied for the league lead in steals per game with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard? Yeah, that's kind of cool.
That Greg Oden looks older than Antonio McDyess? This is completely irrelevant, but they showed him on TV while I was writing the recap and felt it worth mentioning. Too soon to guess that SAM has more games left in him than Oden? Maybe? No?
P.S. We need Tony back and healthy. The exact numbers aren't up yet, but to me it was obvious that he is the motor that stirs the Spurs drink, to quote the Chuckled One. Our offense died when he left. Hopefully the Wee Frenchman returns healthily on Tuesday.
3 Stars:
I almost forgot to do this section.
Third Star: Manu Ginobili. I know, I know, you all think he deserves the first star. And that's an acceptable argument. But for 3 quarters, he really didn't play all that well. In the fourth, that definitely changed, but IMHO four quarters of excellent play>one quarter of near-perfect play.
Second Star: Matt Bonner/Richard Jefferson. Now I know all of you are thinking WTF. Neither of the two of these gentlemen alone would have been up this high, BUT they played average all game and then really turned it on at the start of the fourth. Plus, anytime Sean Elliott describes this dynamic duo as "Arsenic and Cyanide", and tells the other team to pick their poison, they have to win something, right?
First Star: Tim Duncan. 5 Blocks, 1 Steal, and baskets when we needed them most. He also was a perfect 6-6 from the line. Without his presence in the paint, we don't pull this one out. He's a big reason why the Grizzlies only shot 37.5% even with all those offensive rebounds.
Next up: A rematch in the battle of the boards against the Memphis Grizzlies. See you all on Tuesday.
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I really like how this Grizzlies team is made. Lots of talent. If not for Heisley, they would’ve eclipsed OKC as my 2nd most favorite team (OKC ain’t an underdog no more). They just need some excellent coaching, a good trade for OJ Mayo, and a good replacement for Z-Bo (no way can they afford him next year). Marc Gasol seems to have taken a step back from last year though, was hoping for big things from him.
What sucks for them is Mayo was gone, if they were just quicker. They pulled a Spurs (Barry/Jr Smith)
Their front office is a little shady. Their still heavily favored trade with Lakers got them Marc (which worked out), but still basically gave Lakers a championship (could have got more) Overpaying Gay and Conley Jr. I can see with Gay as they might lose him, but Conley probably wouldn’t get that much. They drafted Thabeet. At least they got rid of him for Battier.
That said, I like most of what they have since the Hubie days.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Thabeet was a classic “trap” draft pick. Someone who was able to put up big numbers because of the rule differences in college that will never make it in the NBA. If you watch him play, you can see the potential (and that he’s 7’3), but you can also see that he’s slow both in reaction time and foot speed. In college, he got a lot of blocks because he could just stand in the lane as long as he wanted.
While that was a horrible pick, I think the Grizzlies knew they were taking a big risk and that it just didn’t work out. That’s one of the differences in the quality of our front offices- ours are better at calculating risk/reward and then making the right decision.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 7:55 AM CST up reply actions
George Hill ran the pick and roll and when his defender went under the screen, Hill pulled up and nailed a 3. Who needs to find the roll guy when you can do that?
The problem, is if the defense decides to pressure him, he’s still not that good with the roll guy. It looks like he’s improved, but he’s still got a good ways to go to setup the offense (for other guys). Part of the reason why the offense grinded a halt.
Seconds later, Antonio McDyess came up with a loose ball and got it to Manu who tossed an alley-oop for your typical boring old Spur James Anderson. Wait, he’s young and athletic? Can’t be – not on this boring team.
I think this needs to be emphasized more because Dice went after it. He actually went. He was all over the floor and absolutely was the reason why this play happened. I mean this from the old man on campus. It was impressive. Very playoff like.
Second Star: Matt Bonner/Richard Jefferson. Now I know all of you are thinking WTF. Neither of the two of these gentlemen alone would have been up this high, BUT they played average all game and then really turned it on at the start of the fourth
RJ also had that big rebound in the final minute of the game to help ensure the lead stayed on the Spurs side.
Third Star: Manu Ginobili. I know, I know, you all think he deserves the first star. And that’s an acceptable argument. But for 3 quarters, he really didn’t play all that well. In the fourth, that definitely changed, but IMHO four quarters of excellent play>one quarter of near-perfect play.
I thought he was showing his pretty balanced game throughout. If you include his 3 pointers, then you definitely can cite him for playing poor. He takes too many 3pt shots out of the flow of the offense that knocks him out of rhythm.
Without his presence in the paint, we don’t pull this one out. He’s a big reason why the Grizzlies only shot 37.5% even with all those offensive rebounds.
McDyess deserves a lot of credit here, in the 4th quarter. He was absolutely all over Randolph. ZBo was killing Bonner and Blair in the post. Once Pop went to McDyess, it allowed Duncan to worry about playing clean up while Dice made Zbo’s life super difficult.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Dice Angry in theaters everywhere!
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Dice Angry in theaters everywhere!
Drums! … transgo! … anybody out there?
I think we may have a winner here.
Pounding the Rock
I cannot wait for the sixth fifth. - LasEspuelas
He smells playoffs. He’s caught a case of Horry.
- Thank you SF Giants for an incredible 2010 season and painting the City orange & black!
- I vow to never again mention "playoffs" and "49ers" together until we have a "quarterback."
- You gotta bring ass to get ass.
The Spurs withstood a 27-point margin change and still were able to win. The Spurs jumped to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter before Memphis charged back to claim a seven-point advantage late in the third quarter. That 35-8 swing is the largest in a Spurs game this season.
This is all i could find on mysa about the huge turnaround. Unfortunately, nothing about the last time the Spurs had a drop off that drastic.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
I now know why there are three referees instead of two. Though I hate games where there are whistles every third possession, this was an example of uncalled fouls uglying up the game in the 2nd half.
Past two seasons (six games) Tony has had three games where he either didn’t play against Memphis or left during the game with an injury, another where he didn’t start because he was returning from injury, and one full game with four total points. Weird how those things happen.
Not sure what to make with Tony and Neal being injured for us, Gay for them. I am quite pleased with the help defense in the paint. I know the rebound stat favored Memphis but many were blocked shots coming back to them, plus some lucky plays (Manu and Bonner fighting for the same rebound only to lose it to the Grizz). The rest is all Randolph and he does that to everyone.
Happiest of all to see Manu having easy assisted open shots. Though he missed them early, those uncontested looks got him in rhythm and helped the later 3-pointers go in. As Bill and Sean commented on the broadcast, he wasn’t missing short and the shots were straight on. This is much preferable to the forced and step-back jump shots.
- Thank you SF Giants for an incredible 2010 season and painting the City orange & black!
- I vow to never again mention "playoffs" and "49ers" together until we have a "quarterback."
- You gotta bring ass to get ass.
Another weird thing, is the Spurs have had 2 of their season highs in points against the Grizz. Parker in the first game and now Manu.
Blocked shots don’t count as offensive rebounds though. It killed off Zach’s shooting percentage, that’s for sure. What led to a lot of clanks is when Duncan altered a shot, but Blair or Bonner couldn’t keep ZBo (or another player) away from getting the secondary rebound. This is where Dyess showed his strong game, grabbing a team high 9 rebounds and playing solid D (when he guarded Randolph and someone else got the rebound).
Manu still falls into the habit of the step-back shots, even after he got into some rhythm. I think this is why he’s been stuck in the slump. 3-pt shots are important and good ones can be high percentage shots, but some of those step backs are just so poor, that they become even lower percentage than those midrange 2s and they usually have a long bounce off the rim which leads to potential fast breaks.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Blocked shots don’t count as offensive rebounds though.
I’m fairly certain that when a shot is blocked and the shooting player catches it, it counts as a rebound. The game play-by-play recorded Randolph catching each block as an offensive rebound. If it goes out of bounds, I think it counts as a team rebound.
Another weird thing, is the Spurs have had 2 of their season highs in points against the Grizz. Parker in the first game and now Manu.
Excellent observation. Grizz have an advantage in the paint and Spurs have an advantage with guard play. Nice to know our main guys can go off on them.
- Thank you SF Giants for an incredible 2010 season and painting the City orange & black!
- I vow to never again mention "playoffs" and "49ers" together until we have a "quarterback."
- You gotta bring ass to get ass.
No, you are right. I was thinking something else, but they do award rebs off blocked shots. Seems weird how someone should be rewarded for a blocked shot as an offensive rebound though.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
He got the ball back…would it be weird if he got the ball back if it hit the backboard or rim? if you tie them up so the ball isnt shot its a jump ball and if you knock it losse before the shot its a steal but for every “shot” there has to be a rebound. whats really weird is team rebs where a shot goes up and off thew other team but they never had possession (so its not a turnover) for years growing up i never knew what that was.
Well the NBA, now has the BA for the times you get blocked. So there’s a statistical tracker of how many of your shots were made.
I guess you can make the argument that even if you padded stats that way you’d lose in terms of FGA, but it seems weird how a negative can become a positive (ie. Randolph’s rebounding is inflated).
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
I find it fascinating that some players still think that if they get physical and start beating up on Gino, it will actually intimidate him. Tony Allen and Sam Young are pricks. Manu and the Spurs got the last laugh … they usually do.
Tony Allen and Sam Young are pricks.
I disagree. I think they are good, young players trying to keep up with one of the best in the game. They didn’t do anything dirty- just played hard, physical basketball.
Manu does the same, he’s just better at it.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 7:49 AM CST up reply actions
Oh please, all you had to do was watch Allen and Young’s reactions to Manu. Especially after Allen ran over Manu and got no call. He went back to the other end jawing at Manu and when Manu went in for a layup Allen smacked him across the face and was strutting after both plays. Young was sent in to replace him and Allen talked to him on the sideline and told him what to do and continued jumping up and down yelling at Gino. I know tough play when I see it. This was way beyond that. It was Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse stuff, pure and simple. If you didn’t see it, you’re not watching the same game.
Tony Allen is the kind of prick you want on your team though. Like a James Posey type.
I do agree though that he was trying to punk Manu. Just recklessly swinging whenever Manu went for the shot. In fact, it seems like all the Grizzlies did that and it’s a wonder we only had 1 player get injured with the amount of physicality that they threw at us.
"If the NBA season is a marathon, Gregg Popovich is a full-blooded Kenyan."
-Timothy Varner 48MoH
by Jordan Leithart on Feb 28, 2011 11:13 AM CST up reply actions
To me, it was typical playoff style basketball. Most everyone has at least one player on their team that induces that kind of physicality in big games. We had Horry, and Bruce, and Kevin Willis. Same thing to me.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 11:16 AM CST up reply actions
its not a matter of just intimidation…it isn’t all mental, physical play can wear you out and a no layups rule makes you earn it at the line. Im not saying this effects Manu or most of the great players but there is value to playing physical beyond intimidation.
nothing about this game seemed bad just hard play and not giving up anything easy
They only out rebounded us by one, but they did get seventeen offensive rebounds. That’s insane. But it’s also Zach Randolph- that is what he does. I know some of you are thinking “WE HAVE A REBOUNDING PROBLEM,” but I disagree, even after tonight. People will say “We can’t beat the elite teams giving up that many offensive rebounds!” And those people are right, we couldn’t. But those elite teams don’t get as many offensive rebounds. Only the Los Angeles Lakers are as good as Memphis, and in our super-dramatic last two-tenths of a second win against them, they actually had 12 offensive rebounds. In fact, if you compare those box scores, they look pretty similar. I’m not saying I’m happy with how many boards we’re giving up, and if there is one area the Spurs need to improve in, it is crashing the glass. We’ve shown we can win against the best playing the way we play, though. If you’re someone who says “the playoffs are different though”, usually, you’d be right. But if you watched the LA game, and you watched this game, you know they had every ounce of intensity playoff games have.
I am not one who is saying we cant win reb like this. i am saying its a problem and a weakness. and if your saying cause we were able to barely beat LA on a last sec tip in and win by one and the game could have definitely gone either way but we won, there for its not a problem…you are crazy :P
Again im not saying we cant win i’m just saying it worries me and i really dont think the LA win some how means its not
In the LA game, we also had stretches where we didn’t execute offensively. What I’m saying is that even rebounding like this, so long as we do everything else up to our standards, we’re going to win. We’re actually a top 10 defensive rebounding team, and there are only a few teams that can crash the offensive glass against us. If you factor in the blocked shots going back to Memphis, in actuality they didn’t outrebound us at all and barely had a number of offensive boards worth mentioning.
While our margin for error is small, as long as our defense is playing this well and our offense is executing the “rebounding problem” we have fits in our margin for error. That’s just my opinion.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 8:17 AM CST up reply actions
I agree with what you’re saying. We’re a top ten rebounding team but a few teams (Lakers, Grizzlies) are better than us as they are better than everyone else. Memphis has even defeated the Lakers twice this season, something that only San Antonio has yet done. Fortunately we have advanges over both those teams (guard speed, athleticism and depth) and have exposed both teams with this. They have just as much if not more to worry about when playing the Spurs.
I’d add to sf above that the tip in win is not the only game the Spurs have played against the Lakers. There was also the double digit butt whipping prior to that. In the tip in win, Blair had early foul trouble which certainly hurt our rebounding, whereas in the first win he played big minutes and did quite well.
- Thank you SF Giants for an incredible 2010 season and painting the City orange & black!
- I vow to never again mention "playoffs" and "49ers" together until we have a "quarterback."
- You gotta bring ass to get ass.
Third Star: Manu Ginobili. I know, I know, you all think he deserves the first star. And that’s an acceptable argument. But for 3 quarters, he really didn’t play all that well. In the fourth, that definitely changed, but IMHO four quarters of excellent play>one quarter of near-perfect play.
Second Star: Matt Bonner/Richard Jefferson. Now I know all of you are thinking WTF. Neither of the two of these gentlemen alone would have been up this high, BUT they played average all game and then really turned it on at the start of the fourth. Plus, anytime Sean Elliott describes this dynamic duo as “Arsenic and Cyanide”, and tells the other team to pick their poison, they have to win something, right?
Also this cracked me up…your logic for not putting manu higher you revers for the next star :P i kinda agree it just sounded funny reading it
I figured that would get a few laughs :)
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 8:12 AM CST up reply actions
Nice ‘cap SFS. I think part of the rebounding comes from the new faster paced offense. If your guards aren’t helping with the rebounding you will give up more offensive boards. I’m not overly concerned with this, but it is going to happen.
A nice win, but let’s hope Tony is ok. Also, Neal needs to get back ASAP.
Tony’s day to day with calf contusion
Timmeh’s day to day with ankle sprain.
Hope Tiago and Neal are getting better and Anderson gets more wind
by i luv this site on Feb 28, 2011 9:50 AM CST reply actions
3 Stars:
Third Star: Manu Ginobili. I know, I know, you all think he deserves the first star. And that’s an acceptable argument. But for 3 quarters, he really didn’t play all that well. In the fourth, that definitely changed, but IMHO four quarters of excellent play>one quarter of near-perfect play.
Second Star: Matt Bonner/Richard Jefferson. Now I know all of you are thinking WTF. Neither of the two of these gentlemen alone would have been up this high, BUT they played average all game and then really turned it on at the start of the fourth. Plus, anytime Sean Elliott describes this dynamic duo as “Arsenic and Cyanide”, and tells the other team to pick their poison, they have to win something, right?
Well, It’s funny that you say “four quarters of excellent play>one quarter of near-perfect play”, and put jefferson/bonner ahead of Manu, when Jefferson did nothing in the first half.. and only have a couple of buckets at the start of the 4qtr… I can’t blame on Bonner, because he was on fire on the 3ptr.. but cmon, all of those 3ptrs come from Manu assists.. Tony get injured, and he had to play PG and SG at the same time and I think he do a preety good job.
Ok, you may note my Argentinian flag.. but IMO I think he deserves at least the 2nd star..
For those of you who don’t always look at the FanPosts, please use the hashtag #SpursCallBSonBS when jabbing Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33) on Twitter as the Spurs pass 51 wins. Word up!
by DrumsInTheDeep on Feb 28, 2011 11:05 AM CST reply actions
It was Alonzo
"If the NBA season is a marathon, Gregg Popovich is a full-blooded Kenyan."
-Timothy Varner 48MoH
by Jordan Leithart on Feb 28, 2011 11:59 AM CST up reply actions
Nope, it was Hakeem. They talked a lot about Alonzo, though, because Tim’s blocks are not like his at all. Most of Alonzo’s were the “high flying swat-it out of bounds” type, while Tim rarely leaves his feet to block a shot and normally tips it to himself or someone else on the team if possible.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 11:59 AM CST up reply actions
Naw it was Alonzo mourning who he tied last night for 10th all time and couldn’t be Hakeem because he is the all time leader in blocks.
Weird. I could have sworn they said Hakeem.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 12:43 PM CST up reply actions
Hakeem owns the stat. Duncan will never catch him.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
Yeah I should have remembered that. Dude was crazy.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 3:02 PM CST up reply actions
Great recap, Steve, but seriously… Manu 3rd? Ridenkulous.
Did you count the points he scored? What does that guy need to do to be 1st? Bonner, RJ and Timmy were perfect for 4 quarters?
Tim was. Bonner and RJ combined were.
Look at how inefficient Manu was until he hit all those free throws in the fourth quarter. He was shooting horrible. He finished respectable, but before the grand finale….eh.
Seriously though, I love Manu. If he could hit 3’s like Bonner, he’d be perfect. :)
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 6:49 PM CST up reply actions
He was shooting horrible from 3. RJ didn’t do much for most of the game, so I can’t understand how he even made it to the equation. And how fair is it to compare a player’s production to that of two players?
I look at Timmy’s line and I don’t understand what he did to be the best player, either. Four of those blocks came in one play, and as amazing as that play was, they don’t make a whole game. 8 boards in 32 mins is okay, but nothing to write home about. And even without Zach’s 4 offensive rebounds, they still grabbed more than twice what we did (in 15 more chances, granted).
Now, I’m not saying that Timmy wasn’t important, but when a perimeter player shoulders the responsibility for the game, his percentages go down, and Manu did about everything. Bonner, on the other hand, only had to shoot open threes (beautifully) and play some respectable defense. It’s not comparable.
And the 4th quarter is part of the game. The most important, some would say. Where was Bonner in the first half? Or RJ in the first 3 quarters?
Manu’s perfect already. :)
It’s not fair to compare him to two players, especially the two he set up to succeed. I’ll admit that.
I have high expectations for Manu, because unlike a lot of people here I not only love him but think he’s the best, right after Tim. Tim was efficient, anchored the defense, and made all his free throws. Do you realize how improbable that was?
Honestly, the only reason RJ got mentioned at all was because of the Sean comment. I thought that was awesome and was worthy of a star- so it either went to Sean or the two he commented on. I figured combining the two’s efforts was better than giving it to a commentator. Plus, Bonner went something like 5-6 or 5-7. That’s worthy of a star. I merged the two. Completely unfair to Manu. Totally agree.
Also, he had 4 turnovers. Any night he has 4 turnovers he will not get the first star from me, unless he shoots near perfectly from all areas on the court, has more than 10 assists, or a 2:1 steal:turnover ratio. 4 is my arbitrary cutoff for greatness. It makes no sense, but for some reason I can handle three. It is the number of my counting. 4 I will not accept, and 5 is right out.
It's in the dictionary under D-E-F-E-N-S-E...I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be wrong, I may be may be may be wrong, but I doubt it.
by SpursfanSteve on Feb 28, 2011 11:44 PM CST up reply actions
To help you out a little, but Bonner/RJ trio was important, even if they weren’t full game important.
Without the jump start, the Spurs were sinking into not scoring for ages. Heck, they had 6 points through nearly 3/4 of the quarter.
Manu’s 1st half was awesome, but the momentum was lost once Parker didn’t return. They jump started it.
To me, your argument/stance is fine. And I am arguing against my stance right below this post as well. :)
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
I just realized we’re arguing at length about the placement of a player among the PTR stars. It’s either sad, or pretty cool. :)
Let me emphasize that I loved the recap. The rest is trivial.
As much as I’d like to disagree with LatinD just to mess with him, I can’t really disagree with his (not always right) logic. :P
I definitely agree with you about him not being perfect, but he has a stellar game even with the missed 3-pt shots.
They say every time Pop smiles, an angel is told to stop being so fu--ing lazy and play some defense. -Hipuks 2/3/11
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