Game Previews

Game Preview #52: San Antonio Spurs @ Indiana Pacers

By CapHill Feb 17, 2010, 3:00am CST

Bare bones preview tonight after the jump.

San Antonio Spurs @ Indiana Pacers
Where: Conseco Fieldhouse - Indianopolis, IN
When: February 17, 2010; 6:00 PM Spurs time
Watch: FSNSW (SA), FSI (Indy)

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	9:00 PM
West Coast	4:00 PM
Philippines	8:00 AM
Central Europe	1:00 AM
Palestine/Egypt	2:00 AM
East Coast	7:00 PM
Snow Zone	5:00 PM
Perth, AUS	8:00 AM
Tokyo, JP	10:00 AM
Sydney, AUS	10:00 AM

Spurs (30-21)	Matchups	Pacers (18-34)
Tony Parker Frenchy	Point Guard Watson and T.J. Ford have been splitting time at the PG position, with Watson getting more minutes. I think we can all agree that Tony hasn't been totally healthy - hopefully, the week long break has helped the Wee Frenchman heal a little. Parker is still better than Watson and Ford combined. Also, Tony needs to dominate Fisher. Advantage: Spurs	Earl Watson PG

George Hill Ninja Bot	Shooting Guard Both of these guys were selected in the first round of the 2008 Draft - Rush 13th, George 26th. These two guys play similar minutes with some similar stats, but George has been pouring it on lately since being inserted into the starting lineup. Also, Hill is a better defender (but I'm basing that on what I remember of Rush at Kansas). The lean goes to Cubits. Advantage: Spurs	Brandon Rush SG

Richard Jefferson RJ	Small Forward Maybe the Nuggets game will be a turning point in the season for Jefferson. I'm not quite ready to totally give up on him. I'm not sure if Granger is a true franchise player or if he's the classic good stats player on a bad team, but at this point, he's still better than RJ. Advantage: Pacers	Danny Granger SF

Tim Duncan GOAT PUFF	Power Forward This isn't even close. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Filler. Pithy random insight and cute little nickname. IBID. Id est. Etc., etc., etc. Advantage: Spurs	Troy Murphy PF

Antonio McDyess SAM	Center Hibbert is a solid young center, with the massive size that used to go along with the "center" designation. He could rebound better though. Dice is coming along and seems to rounding into 2nd half of the season shape. Hibbert gets the lean. Advantage: Pacers	Roy Hibbert C

Manu Ginobili Bella's Great Love	Bench & Role Players When the player getting the most minutes off of your bench is Jones, I really don't need to explain why BAM gets the white box. Advantage: Spurs	Dahntay Jones Bench

Gregg Popovich Pop	Coach See the power forward position. Transfer words here. Advantage: Spurs	Jim O'Brien Coach
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
They are worse at home than the Spurs are on the road. Advantage: Spurs
Mojo
The Spurs should be riding high on the Thabeetdown of the Sophomores by Blair. Plus, the "old team" has had plenty of rest. Advantage: Spurs
Winner:
Let's continue the momentum from the Denver game.

Keys To The Game

Contest Shots - The Pacers don't shoot particularly well. The Spurs need to have sharp defensive rotations and make the Indiana shooters work hard for their shots.
Make Shots - The Spurs finally broke out of their 3-point slump. They need to continue the good ball movement and spacing on the offensive end and make the resultant open shots.

Strength of Schedule

Both teams have had a week of rest, due to the All-Star Game. The Spurs are coming off that amazine win against Denver, and play at Philly on Friday. The Pacers are coming off of a loss to the Bulls and head to New Orleans on Friday.

Last Time They Met

The last game between these two teams resulted in a nail-biting 100-99 win for the Spurs on December 19th in San Antonio. We had six players in double figures and had a 30-16 4th quarter to come from behind and pull out the victory.

Some Other Reading

Pacers

Indy Cornrows - The SBNation blog for Indiana.
Eight Points, Nine Seconds - The True Hoop blog for the Pacers.

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 SW in San Antonio and on FSI in Indianapolis. 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 poundingtherock@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).