Spurs 101
Nuggets 94

Spurs 96
Nuggets 85

Man I would hate to be a thugget tonight.  Actually, I would hate being a thugget or thugget fan ANY night, but tonight is especially going to be bad for them.

*Finley is not going to destroy us tonight.
*Parker is going to be above average (>6 turnovers).
*Mt. Udoka will erupt with a FF or TF tonight.
*Lord Manu's line- 34/9/7

Playoff bound SPURS- 104
Playoff hopeful thuggets- 89

Nuggets 92
Spurs 95

Let the trash talking begin. Spurs are in trouble tonight!

Go Nuggets!

Why does Manu always flop?

Manu had 7 assists in the 1st quarter. He's erotic tonight.

Manu is going to scorch Coach Hairlip and the thuggets tonight.  I stand by that.

Also fyi, I want to personally apologize to each of you watching online, since I live in Colorado.  Scott Hastings IS a douche, and I'm sorry you're having to deal with him.  Imagine living here.

The Red Rocket needs to take the rest of Horry's minutes this season.

Too bad you guys aren't in Denver, we got a good crew going here at the ESPN Zone

Too many TO's right now. Is Tony allergic to the Nuggets or something? He has played like crap every time he has played them this season.

Manu hasn't scored a point yet, Tony only has 4. One of them has to get it going to get a W tonight.

Cissey, Tony isn't Magic Johnson or anything, but horrible is a bit strong. He just needs to make better decisions with the rock. I mean he is a 7 year vet, but he makes the same type of TO's over and over again.

A loss would be devastating tonight. A loss coupled with a Rockets win, would give the Rockets 1st place in the division and 2nd in the West.

The trey is only good when it hits, and the Spurs can't buy one right now

So the Nuggets can throw elbows and not get a foul called against them, and the Spurs barely brush someone and it's an automatic foul? Some home court advantage.

'Me-lo! 'Me-lo!

About time the defense picked up!!!

Dear Spurs fans,

Quit yer bitchin' about the foul calls.  The refs are sucking in both directions.

Dear Nuggets,

You'd get more calls if you didn't act like a bunch of dickholes.

MATT BONNER AINT SCURRED.

Tamales?

Manu's lunch?

what a flop, I really hate Manu.

Ime sucks - foul on Iverson on one end and then a blocked layup on the other.  Get him off the f'n floor.  Ime ruins my buzz, man.

Rockets and Mavs are each KILLING their opponents tonight.  Spurs better get it together NOW dammit !

It's about damn time we get a decent call.

The Rockets are killing everybody right about now. That will be 19 straight.

I warned you guys about these announcers.  There's a special place in hell already reserved for Scott Hastings.  He's even got an afternoon radio show in Denver.  Is it any wonder why there's not one sports team worth following or seemingly one educated fan in the entire state of Colorado?  

Melo hits the ground as though hit with a Howitzer.

Denver Announcers referencing flopping- " ....dead silence... "

Manu should start at point guard the rest of the season.

Manu please be okay....."fingers crossed"

Thank God, Manu's back...

OK -- DEFENSE !

YESSSS !  Kurt baby !

2 or 3 more stops and a couple of hoops will do it.

Great PG play from Parker there.

Duncan has beasted tonight. 18 rebounds.

Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord. Amen.

Bring on the Hornets. The playoffs are here already!!!

My neighbor from Boston came over today and invited me to go with him to our Celtics game on St. Patrick's Day.  He has two tickets and his daughter can't go with him.  He's kinda creepy but I think I'm gonna go anyway.  Should be awesome.  (If y'all don't see me post after that game, please notify the authorities - heehee.)  Especially if we beat them.

Getting a #1 seed isn't the most important goal at this point, but it's critical to get a top #3 seed.

My problem with this whole "everybody bring their A game" mentality, even though its true, is that at this point the Spurs collectively don't know what form (i.e. roster) their A game comes in. Is Manu a starter or a super-sub? Is Mighty Mouse the second string point or Vaughn? How many minutes do we give Horry? What is the proper Udoka/Bowen/Finely/Barry balance at the 3? Christ, tonight we played Bonner for 15 minutes! We aren't gonna do that come playoff time. A W is a W, and that's great, and its great to see us close out a game after the disappointing show that we gave during the last 3 minutes of the game in PHX, but I am gonna be anxious until I know exactly what manifestation we are gonna to assume come may.

To reiterate my first and maybe subsequently lost point, the "everybody needs to bring their A game" is true. In order to answer all the questions I posed we need to know who is ready to repeat and who isn't. I'm ready to repeat but I'm 5'9" and have bad court vision and an inconsistent jumper so I can't help us. Bones is right, this is the way its gonna be from now on.

Duncan: Whatever the argument is about Timmeh being a center and not a power forward should be put to rest now. He is having monster trouble with double teams. He needs a true center to take the pressure of him, provide an easy target to pass out of the double teams to (high-low type pass), establish a twin towers shot blocking look locking down both baselines and needs to establish himself in the low post. Needs to be much more decisive. He is posting way to far out and allowing the double team to come  hard at him. Tim should never be jacking around above the free throw line. Suffering with small ball.

Parker: Not near as aggresive as he needs to be. Still takes very inappropriate jump shots. Seems they are always at the worst time possible. Needs to attack at every opportunity in the open court. Today's young players are big strong guys that can take the ball to the hole (JR Smith, Carmelo, Labron, Durant, etc...). However, they don't have good fundamentals or smarts and they can not defend well in the open court. Made some horrible passes, but got the final one to Thomas for the money shot. Look at the frenchman's dribble. When he is pounding the ball up and down there is almost an electricity going threw him and he is going to be penetrating and pushing it in the open court, but when he is just dribbling around lathargically, it is a signal that he is not going to be aggresive.

Manu: His shooting was frightningly bad. When he is bad, he is way bad. World B. Free bad. Made great passes, but made some horrible passes that led to slam dunk break aways. Unforgivable. Needs to run within the offense. His wild isolation plays bog down the offense and scatter the whole offensive game plan. He does his best work off the ball, not isolating. Just pass the ball around Manu, cut, rub off screens and do your thing.

Pop: His not calling time outs is baffeling. The Phil Jackson approach only works if you have Mike Jordan on your team, otherwise, call a fucking time out when the other team appears to get on a run or your team is letting guys go straight to the rim with the matador defense. Maybe he is attempting to confuse his fellow coaches by just sitting stone faced on the bench now, then in the playoffs, he will suddenly start making his players pay for thier mistakes and take appropriate time outs. Or he could be just drunk. Small ball sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls. It violates every tenant of good basketball. Protecting the rim, the paint, pushing opposing offenses out, discouraging players from driving the lane, protecting defensive rebounds, getting the other teams big men in foul troulble, tiring the other big men out and wreaking havoc with offensive rebounds. The Timmeh Thomas combo is shakey at best, but better than Tim and 4 gaurds.

Overall, the turnovers have been horrific. Do the Spurs even practice plays any more? Who is the floor general? Does anyone know when and where to pass the ball into Timmeh? Udoka sure doesn't. Tony starts dribbling around on the opposite side of the court? WTF? Manu with his wild ass drives often at innapropriate times.

Finally, keep the hook ready for Finley and watch his minutes. He is a spot up jumper and that is it.

If we lose straight up, that I can handle, but the careless turnovers, lack of hustle, missing layups, not protecting the rim, that I can not forgive. We just scrapped by against a team with a star player with a broken finger and another star player leaving the court every quarter to have his head examined for concussions. Not a good sign. We need to step it up, concentrate more and be more disciplined.

Greetings one and all from Brisbane.
All I can do is read the play-by-plays and bite my nails. I reckon a title run will depend on the role players stepping up consistently, and Michael Finley reverting to his former self.

Go Spurs Go...please?

Good grief, I am missing something, I thought the Spurs won tonight. Every game isn't going to be a mosaic. Obviously there are mistakes being made every game, but no team is ever going to play a perfect game and no coach is going to coach a perfect game. Personally, I am more focused on the rotation right now. I can't say this enough. Robert Horry has to be shut down for the rest of the season, and that includes the playoffs. He hasn't made a meaningful contribution all season. Bonner provided a spark tonight and that should boost his confidence. Pop screwed up with Nick Van Exel 2 seasons ago, and I am afraid he is going to make the same mistake with Horry. For all the big shots he has made in his career, he has never been anything more than a marginal role player, especially the last 5-6 seasons. Seriously though my fellow Spur fans, enjoy the rest of the season because it's going to be a fun ride and there is going to be plenty of good basketball to take in over the next 3 months.

Okay, since everyone else seems to be peeing in the victory punch today, I'm going to try and be a bit more positive. First, Denver played about as well as they can play (Smith, 9-13, Carter, 4-7, KM, 7-15) and they didn't even give up (check out what they did against the Jazz the night after they beat us, they didn't even show up). I know it's a cliche at this point, but teams really do push it hard when they play us. Second, I think the starting line-up of TP, TD, Manu, KT, and BB is pretty fucking strong. We started and finished the game pretty damn well with that line-up. Yes, our bench is still inconsistent, but there is some punch there when we need it (not counting Horry nor, at least until he proves different, Midge). Yes, even Fin with his horrid defense, occasionally gets hot and lights it up. But then, Ime has been inconsistent too. And poor old Fab ... he works his ass off but god, every fucking call goes against him. I think if he farts on someone he gets the foul call. Shit. Anyway, long story short, I think our starting five is as good as anyone (with Manu starting). And even when Pop starts Fin, I think TP (when he plays to potential, which is still in fits and starts), TD, BB (he's even hitting some shots now, and not just from the corner) and KT can keep us in any game until Manu comes off the bench, and we know he'll be there at the close. A key component is KT. He lit it up against the Suns until we stopped running the P&R with him. He's got a damn good shot from 15' to 17' and most bigs won't come out to guard him. Once we learn how to consistently integrate that piece into our overall offense, I think we'll be hard to stop, or at least I hope so.  

So hilarious...

Why are there sites like 'firegeorgekarl.com?'  Why do so many consider him an overrated classless clown who will never win in the postseason?

From the SA E-N this morning:
George Karl, after last nights game- "We were fighting against a lot of calls, and we needed calls all night long," he said afterward. "I told the team during halftime that we aren't the team that gets calls in this building."

Can you hear the violin?
When's the last time you heard Pop bitch about the calls after a game?  Yeah, it'll happen once a year, but this guy does this EVERY TWO DAYS!!!

Just thought it was funny