Comments on: San Antonio Spurs 84, Portland Trailblazers 96

By: pastrypride

pastrypride — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:02:27 +0000

A lot of people are ragging on Bonner, but I thought Duncan was the weak link in that game. He couldn’t handle Oden defensively. I remember one possession where Oden either caught a pass or an offensive rebound maybe three feet from the net and Timmy stood there while Oden hesitated, then laid it in. And whereas Oden was filling up the lane making it hard for our wings to penetrate, Duncan didn’t make an impact on help D. And 2 boards in the first half, was it? 8 for the game? It didn’t only look like a lack of ups; it also looked like a lack of aggressiveness and drive.

Tony also looked pretty bad for the brief time that he was in the game.

Manu was meh.

I was very impressed with Jefferson. I thought he was by far our best player that game. Not only because he was the only one making shots; he also showed some will and heart, going hard for rebounds when we were getting KILLED on the glass. Hill and McDyess looked good too.

I’m not panicking yet. For one thing, Timmy was averaging almost 14 boards/game coming into this game. Also, the summer is a long time to be away from basket-ball. Hopefully he’s rusty and once he gets back into the swing of things, he’ll be effective. But with our lack of height, I don’t know if effective will cut it. We need him to be dominant to win because the rest of our frontcourt is so weak. Unless Timmy can take over games, I don’t see any way our frontcourt can hang with LA (when healthy), Orlando, Boston, or even Portland (who overwhelmingly won the frontcourt battle the other night). Teams need a strong frontcourt to be effective in the NBA and while I think we’ve improved at other positions this last offseason, we haven’t solved this basic problem. I think we’re still more similar to last season than I’d hoped.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:56:04 +0000

On a lighter note, I really appreciate the graphical information presented in these last two recaps. Keep up the good work. Hopefully these tools can be used soon to show why the Spurs got a WIN.

By: duhoh

duhoh — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:42:00 +0000

i love what pop said about the Utah:
“we played poorly, but we’re only down by 10″.

we’ll figure it out.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:15:01 +0000

I was at the game, and from my experience of seeing the Spurs in person over the years, I’ve never seen Pop so pissed at his players. I’ve also never seen Duncan so ineffective and old. I know many people feel he has several years left in terms of a championship window, but after Friday I’m thinking he may not even have this year, and that our deepest hole is at the power forward/center position. He has zero lift and was schooled by Oden (and Boozer during the Jazz game) at both ends. How he’s going to defend the likes of Gasol in a LA match up is beyond me at this point.

My biggest fear, however, is our coaching. Bonner and Finley are incredibly terrible defenders and put added pressure on our interior defenders, who at this point in their careers have diminishing effectiveness, yet continue to receive significant minutes. Additionally, playing small ball puts pressure on Duncan to defend a shot and rebound the ball, which might be managable if our perimeter defense was keeping guys out of the paint, which it hasn’t thus far. I seriously question Pop’s decisions to play Bonner and Finley and small ball, none of which compliment our team’s best players or goals. If we can’t stop penetration, this season is over, and so far we haven’t. At all.

By: zainn

zainn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:41:32 +0000

bogans is still a defensive experiment to find in place of bruce bowen. I tthink udoka was actually quite more productive than bogans will ever be. (lets hope I’ve am proved wrong). And udoka shot the three much better than bogans has this season. But its too early to make player judgements. And by the way, pop needs bonner or mahinmis contract to expire next season in order to bring in tiago splitter/nando. The game against toronto will be very interesting as they are a team that is also struggling to win games early in the season. Hmmmm….

By: SpursfanSteve

SpursfanSteve — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:46:14 +0000

I’d rather see Mason out there than Bogans, GMT. His D has been better in his limited minutes, plus he’s quicker and better on offense.

Bogans got straight up BURNT by Roy several times. i do not think he is quick enough to handle the quick guards in the league. He doesnt contribute on offense, too slow for perimeter D, remind me again why we have him?

By: GMT

GMT — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:20:05 +0000

I really want to see a line-up of Ginobili, Bogans, Hairston, Blair, & Duncan out there tomorrow. I hope Parker being out for a while will allow this to happen.

Go Spurs Go!

By: rj

rj — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:24:52 +0000

p.s. mahinmi knows the system better than dice or blair! play him and hairston!!!!!!!!

By: rj

rj — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:07:21 +0000

i have to hand it to the spurs. despite looking totally outclassed by the blazers athleticism at every position, we still had a chance to win the game.

i hear ratliff won’t see any significant minutes because we are saving his 36 yr old legs for the playoffs. is this is the case then PLAY MAHINMI OR HAISLIP! these guys are hungry and have something to prove. i think pop is going to be forced to give them minutes. he can no longer stand by the logic of the lack of athleticism is “not an excuse” for losing. this stubborn viewpoint must change and in response to an earlier comment to acquire nesterovic, he was replaced by muhammed in 05 and would and to this problem.

like it or not, pop has to play these youngns’ and find some answers to this ever-present problem

By: Hollywood

Hollywood — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:48:53 +0000

That looks like a different Marcus Williams. 6′3″ and from Connecticut?

By: zainn

zainn — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:02:47 +0000

http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/roster/
marcus williams is now on the memphis grizzlies for iverson’s crap absence. good luck to him

By: tp_09

tp_09 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:47:34 +0000

well caleb’s right but we can’t be too complacent at all. that’s all i care.i think we started 0-3 or 0-8?until that ot game in Minnesota.

By: tp_09

tp_09 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:41:30 +0000

bonner just played aldridge good last night,but he won’t be consistent so put haislip on and hairston,and let hill be our pg since tony’s out.let manu play the pg role and malik if if hill’s resting.plus bonner doesn’t contribute at all.what kind of coach pop is?!he should play dice as pf or c(starting)and let td be the c.we cant do anything,its the only way we get better,dice played well last night,subtle ways of saying: “hey pop if you played me 30 mins and didn’t let matt start and get rid of his 12 mins to theo and let blair play for like 24mins?we should be winning by then!”come on pop.don’t wait for january with a 2-22 record to say.”hey i need to start the better defensive and offensive guys,say dice?and get rid of matt!”
come on im not loosing faith on this team.its just i wish i was pop and im your spurs head coach,to end this dumbness.and win!use your guys!you got talent,don’t waste it!

By: BB

BB — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:09:50 +0000

It’s almost funny because when the Celtics picked up Garnett and Ray Allen, very few people expected them to be that strong immediately even though their talent was recognized. I wonder if that first dominant season has influenced perceptions of how quickly new stars should contribute to a contender.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:56:07 +0000

I panicked last season when the spurs struggled early in the season… but they won the division title nonetheless, even without Manu for the good chunk of the season and with TD’s ailing knees.
Now when they are starting the season 2-3 (and possibly a worse record to come), it hardly surprises me. Only seven players spent at least a year with the team (I’ve excluded Hairston and Mahinmi who were barely with the team last season) that is (in)famous for having one of the most complex systems in the league. Spurs fans should just kick back and relax, enjoy the team developing into a legitimate contender throughout the season. It’ll take time, but I’m sure they’ll get there eventually.