Sunday, April 18th, 2010...8:03 pm
San Antonio Spurs 94, Dallas Mavericks 100: Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili turn it over
The San Antonio Spurs hung tough with the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of their Western Conference Playoff series on Sunday night. Unfortunately for the Spurs, hanging tough isn’t enough for a team boasting four NBA Titles with Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich.
For everything the Spurs did right against the Mavs, they did something else wrong. Whether it was missing relatively easy shots near the rim or failing to secure a defensive rebound. And then there was that other thing. I’ll give you a hint, it’s in the title.
The Spurs only committed two more turnovers than the Mavs on the game (17-15), but the manner in which they came was destructive for the Spurs. There were several occasions when Tim Duncan, who led San Antonio with six turnovers, was in scoring position but bobbled a pass out of bounds.
Six turnovers is inexcusable. There is a correlation between the how often a player touches the ball and the numbers of times they turn the ball over. Just look at the leaders in turnovers for the regular season, it contains names like Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
But that relationship doesn’t necessarily apply to, or is quite as severe for, post players. (Except Dwight Howard. I don’t know what’s up there.) Big men dribble and pass less, and as a result there’s fewer opportunities for them to lose the ball to the other team.
But against the Mavericks in Game 1, Tim Duncan coughed it up six times for the San Antonio Spurs. Manu Ginobili lost the ball five times. His are a bit more explainable for the Spurs, but they also led to fast break baskets for the Mavs. When Ginobili lost the ball on the perimeter in Game 1, the Maverick guards were able to get to the opposite end before the Spurs were able to recover and set up their defense.
It’s easy points for the Mavs, while the Spurs don’t even get the opportunity to attempt a shot. These things tend to bite you in the ass in a six-point loss. And despite 27 points and eight boards for Duncan and 26 points and and six assists for Ginobili, their box score screams of missed opportunities.
For all the good the Spurs did in their Game 1 loss to the Mavs, and they did plenty good, the turnovers cancel that out. It’s one step forward, two steps back. And that’s not the ideal footwork for winning in the playoffs.
107 Comments
April 18th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Plenty of good analysis for this game. The one glaring oddity: 34FTA for Dallas. 14 for San Antonio. I’m not begging for more fouls to be called on Dallas, just that the phantom calls on SA stop. This was the primary difference in the game though the Spurs would help themselves greatly if they cut down on the unforced turnovers (17).
I look forward to Hill being more in synch for game two (zero points) and RJ not being in foul trouble (zero FGs). Think about it: Dirk, Kidd and Butler had great games. Dirk especially. Butler takes shots way from Terry who is more dangerous. Mavs won the turnover and FT battle. Yet won by six at home. We got this.
April 18th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Fuck thid , the game sucked.
April 18th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
This, lol. did anyone notice the free throw difference???
April 18th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
@SpurredOn
Very true on the FT disparity. The Spurs didn’t shoot their first FT until there was just 3:57 left in the first half.
April 18th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Right on. Huge difference in the free throw category.
This is a series we can definitely win. I’m feeling very positive considering the uncharacteristic mistakes we made. Even with the Mavs’ primary players getting their due, we only lost by six. This is going to be a close series if we cut down on the mistakes by a litte—but, it’ll be ours handily, if we play to our expectations (that is, our role players contributing like they normally have been the past month).
This isn’t the Cavs, Nuggets or Lakers. It’s the Mavs. These guys are our little brothers.
April 18th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I knew it was going to be a long night for the Spurs in the first five minuets of the game. The Spurs came out hot but the refs took the momentum away from the Spurs with cheap fouls. The turn overs really hurt but the foul disparity just added fuel to the fire. The Spurs can take this series in five, they just have to play with a chip on their shoulder when they play in Dallas. Go Spurs Go!
April 18th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Mavs fan here… honestly, from a mavs point of view, theres not much to worry about from the spurs. Call it basketball intuition or whatever, but when I get that feeling that a team is not going to be able to pull it out, it generally happens. Sorry spurs but it looks like its gunna be a pretty similar series to last year’s. But again, all im goin off of is a feelin, I guess we will see.
April 18th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Free throw discrepancy seems right. The Spurs were getting tough baskets while the Mavs got easy ones at the rim. Basically no one on the Spurs could guard Dirk. They probably missed a couple of times he was fouled. It would really help the Spurs defense if someone could guard him one on one. McDyess is the closest to being able to contest his shot but they caught him in the pick and roll to much. Everyone is too undersized to even contest Nowitzki.
Overall I still think the Spurs have a huge upside from this. They got basically nothing from Jefferson, made tons of turnovers, and had taken a lead before Popovich went back to the bench, and Nowitzki shot a ridiculous percent. The unit that gave them the lead in the third quarter best balances their offense and defense. They just need to cut down on their turnovers. The only negative is that it looks like Hill is still hobbling.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Jack
April 18th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
“Overall I still think the Spurs have a huge upside from this. They got basically nothing from Jefferson, made tons of turnovers, and had taken a lead before Popovich went back to the bench, and Nowitzki shot a ridiculous percent.”
I can see what you are saying. However, this is exactly what many of us were afraid of. Bogans, Bonner, and Mason give us a virtual 0 on the scoreboard and none of them can defend particularly well. The pattern I see with us vs. the Mavs this year is that we are always close, but never seem to get over the hump. Tonight the big 3 plus McDyess played pretty well. We simply had no one outside of these 4 do anything.
Another thing: I know Blair is just a dumb rookie, but he TORE their front line up just a few days ago. Why isn’t he getting more than 8 minutes of burn? Sure he can’t stop Dirk, but neither can McDyess, Bonner, Bogans, or anyone else. It would be Dirk’s worst nightmare to have to guard him on the offensive end. If Haywood or Dampier guards him, this leaves Dirk on Duncan, another favorable matchup. It just seems there’s too much to gain and not much to lose by playing Blair for a lot more than 8 minutes…
April 18th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
You spurs fans are idiots….they only won by six because the game was over in the last minute and we don’t care to defend you on those last possessions. Spurs will not and cannot win against the more talented team
April 18th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
No joke, it’s hard to win when its 5 on 8. Even with the turnover difference, Dallas shot 20 more free throws! The Spurs shot better from the floor, the refs just gave the mavs every opportunity to win.
Another thing to think about was the rebounding difference. Maybe Blair gets more of Bonner’s minutes because he can help out a lot more of the offensive glass and he finishes better at the rim.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
We didn’t help ourselves, but that game was bullshit. It’s not like Dirk and co. were getting all the call by driving hard all night to the basket and us having no choice but to stop the layups; most of those calls came from Dirk either barreling himself into the chest of a defender keeping his ground and somehow getting the call, or being defended tightly but untouched while shooting fadeaway 15 footers, and again somehow getting the calls. I wonder how much Salvatore had on the game.
The only reason our stat line reads with 12 FT’s is because of the stupid ticky tack ones we were given down the stretch with the game well in the hands of the Mavs. And even then, on more than one occasion, we would get a call only to have the whistle blown before crossing the half court line.
Dallas averaged 22 FT’s a game for their opponents over the course of the season. We had 3 at half time, none in the first quarter, and none after halftime up until three minutes left in the 3rd quarter. You’re telling me we played less aggressive, or less skilled, than the mean of every team Dallas has played throughout the season this year? We attacked — and with some skill. It should’ve gone completely different. And while, again, we certainly could’ve played better, if the game had been called even close to fairly, we would’ve won this thing hands down.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
In the first game for all series, here are all of the FTs per team. In parentheses next to the number of FTs is the average number of FTs per game in the regular season. When you look at the set, it is obvious that somebody got screwed.
Bulls - 11 (23.9) 46% of normal
Cavs - 17 (26.6) 64% of normal
It was called as “playoff basketball”. Cavs got a few more than expected.
Bucs - 17 (20.4) ) 83% of normal
Hawks - 19 (23.3) ) 82% of normal
A little under regular season calls for both teams.
Heat 13 (23.5) ) 55% of normal
Celtics - 28 (25.5) ) 110% of normal
Miami got the short end of the calls in this one. Six intentional FTs at the end leaves the Celtics with 22 (86% of normal).
Utah - 32 (27.2) ) 117% of normal
Nuggets - 28 (30.6) ) 92% of normal
Near regular season calls.
Thunder - 24 (27) ) 89% of normal
Lakers - 22 (24.2) ) 91% of normal
Near regular season calls.
Bobcats - 28 (26.6) ) 105% of normal
Magic - 27 (26.5) ) 102% of normal
Near regular season calls
Spurs - 14 (24) ) 58% of normal
Mavs - 34 (22.8) ) 149% of normal
Worst called game of the batch.
Take out the 6 intentional FTs on Dampier, leaves the Mavs with 28 (123% of normal).
Take out the 4 FTs given to Spurs after the game was already decided, leaves the Spurs with 10 (42% of normal).
Portland - 31 (24.8) ) 125% of normal
Suns - 16 (25.8) ) 62% of normal
Ten intentional FTs at the end leaves the Blazers with 21 (85% of normal).
April 18th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
spurs fans make me laugh.
four championships and yall are blaming the refs. grow up. dallas is 9-2 against yall in the past 11 games. dallas is the better team.
mavs in 5
April 18th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
hey in case yall forgot, you lost.
just a heads up.
see you again on wednesday
April 18th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
@Jack - Dirk was guarded quite well. I challenge you to find a game where he was guarded any better. It’s not like he made layups and dunks. It was all contested jumpers and fadeaways, plus BS FTs. You force a great player to beat you with his best and Dirk did. No complaint there. Don’t blame our defenders for Dirk making shots that we’d be encouraged to see him take every game. He wasn’t even fouled which makes the defense better. That Salvatore and crew saw it differently makes one wonder what was really going on.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Great post, Todd.
Manu was lucky to have only 5 TOs. He made a couple passes which didn’t have a prayer but Dallas players batted them back out to a Spur. He had the ball slip out of his hands once but Duncan got it and passed to McDyess for a dunk. He also made an awful pass to Dejuan, who somehow corralled it but was thus out of position and had to throw it out to Mason with the shot clock winding down. The stat sheet shows a Mason missed FG but it was effectively a Manu TO.
Not sure what was going on — Manu and Tim both scored efficiently but handled the ball at a preseason level.
April 18th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
I thought quite a few articles mentioned that the less Bogans plays the better it is. So how come he played 16 minutes? Doesn’t Pop look at stats or does he know something that we don’t?
April 18th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Nice post, Hobson. Yeah, RJ is key. We’re going nowhere in this series if he doesn’t show up.
I was also disappointed with Pop’s rotations tonight though. For example, in my mind there’s no reason for playing Mason. He had plenty of opportunities to play himself out of his funk during the last TWO MONTHS of the regular season, and yet failed miserably. Plus, he’s also a liability in most other areas of the game. He should not be playing unless absolutely necessary. I think Hairston has an ankle sprain (not sure how serious), but if not him, Temple should have been in that game before Mason.
In addition, Blair needs to be in that game. I understand what Pop’s thinking, that in a game like this he’s going to be a defensive liability, but Blair could cause some issues for the Mavs on the offensive end, and since we were out-rebounded 13-8 on the offensive glass, he could have also helped out in that area. If Pop thought Blair was going to hurt us defensively, just put him on Dirk; no one was stopping him anyway.
Thus, our main problems were:
(1) RJ a no show
(2) RMJ played in the game
(3) Hill did not show
(4) Temple did not play
(5) Blair did not play enough
(6) Too many turnovers
(7) Poor rebounding
(8) Poor 3 point shooting
Clear these problems up, and we should have a good shot in game 2.
April 18th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
When did Caron Butler turn into Kobe Bryant. If you breathed on him he got a whistle.
They couldn’t even put our best defender MANU on him for fear of getting him into foul trouble.
RJ and the rest need to step it up. I didn’t know RJ and HILL would come up so empty.
It’s easy to say SPURS just need to take care of the ball. SPURS only lossed by 6 despite lack of bench support. The big 3 nearly stole one all by themselves. Yes, all those things are true, but this is the playoffs and they are down 0-1. You can’t give away games.
As for the officiating. I’m not saying the MAVS got special treatmen, but this is the playoffs. LET THEM PLAY.
BOnner just had his hands up and he “fouled Dirk” come on!!!
April 18th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Weird. The mavs were definitely being fouled and did a good job being aggressive and drawing contact (dampier/butler) or initiating contact on the body and finishing (nowitzki). Bonner is allowed to have his “hands up” but those hands can’t be hitting nowitzki’s arms or waist when he shoots.
Maybe if Jefferson was more aggressive, or Parker didn’t settle for so many j’s, the free throw discrepancy would have evened out. As it was, the game seemed pretty evenly called. Most of the fouls San Antonio committed (e.g. on Haywood, Damp, Butler, and most on Dirk) were indisputable. If SA wants to win the series, it’s more realistic to worry about everything else other than ref. bias.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Randall has just been fined with a 35 000$ penalty by Stu Jackson.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:03 am
And everyone who even THINK about any ref in this game 1 is being preventively hit by a 10k fine.
Oh, and I have a 40 000$ slap for trying to make fun of the NBA-where-do-not-talk-about-refs-happens.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Blair was basically owned by Haywood. You can’t really play him along side Duncan since he doesn’t have a jumpshot. McDyess needs more minutes. I expected Pop to raise his minutes when the playoffs started. He had 10 and 8 in only 23 minutes. They needed defense and rebounding and he was providing that. I think if Bonner’s not hitting his threes he’s not really helping you. I think when’s he’s in the game you need to run plays to get him open 3’s.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Buns, I lol’d. If I was a coach, player, or member of the media, I no doubt would be paying a 2 million dollar fine for that. And Todd (incredible post, btw) would be paying Mark Cuban’s net worth in fines for using too much logic, reasoning, and empirical evidence to talk bad about the officials.
Seriously, if Stern is really concerned about the integrity of the game, why do refs like Salvatore and Crawford continue to have jobs in his league!? Aside from the fact that they deliver results that are desirable for ratings and Stern’s own personal preferences.
I just want someone to ask him that. I just want a reporter to say to him: “David, if your main concern is preserving the integrity of the game and the officials that oversee the game, why do men like Joey Crawford — a convicted felon with obvious and irrefutable integrity issues — as well as Bennett Salvatore and Steve Javie — two men notorious for questionable, sketchy, and downright BAD calls on some of the NBA’s biggest stages — continue to find employment in your league? Joey Crawford, for example, was already OUT of the league, and you let him back in!”
I don’t mean to get too into conspiracy territory, but it absolutely would not surprise me if Joey had some serious dirt on Stern that would ruin him. I dunno. I’m just so sick of the league and postseason becoming such a gamble that I’m nervous to see who’s calling the game more than who is in the opposing teams’ starting lineup.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:27 am
Well I don’t know (and think) of a real conspiracy, even sometime there are some strange blows or no-blows (Dallas had their share in the 2006 Finals). What I do know is that in some proportions, players and coaches should be able to mention a call in a game without being hammered. The refs are pros, they should be accountable for their performances. It’s an old debate (and maybe off topic here): when a player has a bad game, you can be as hard as you want on him; when a referee pile bad calls on bad calls, you can’t even mention that in the postgame.
What Phil Jackson said on Durant was his thoughts (and his mind game), and I don’t see why that was worth 35000$.
With that said, I’m sure the Spurs are focused on the next game, and nothing else. They let fans discuss a hypothetical ref bias, and that’s always the smart move if you’re a pro baller.
Please someone explain that to Rasheed Wallace.
April 19th, 2010 at 3:39 am
Absolutely no match up for Dirk.
Please wake me when the Matt Boner experiment is over. 3 yrs of facing up with dirk and no improvement. Pop is working like hell to fit this guy into the league. If the Spurs cut him, no other NBA team would pick him up. He would be headed to Russia to play ball.
Dirk and the ref’s treat Boner like a punk!
April 19th, 2010 at 3:49 am
@Buns,
Yes, I have always found it odd how no one challenges Stern in these fines he levies for speak up on the refs.
Surprised no one has taken it up in a court of law - it is a denial of basic free speech. In most cases nothing there is nothing inflamatory being said.
The NBA has it rules and regs, but those rules and regs are not the governing laws of the land.
Stern has set the NBA up as a law unto itself and this is not correct. Maybe it would not be such a big issues, except that the amounts of money that he fines players and coaches it quite punitive.
In the NFL, players have begun to seek the remedies through the courts and in many instances, the courts have found in the players favor in terms of overturning suspensions and fines.
April 19th, 2010 at 4:04 am
I agree. A lot.
If you transpose this system into a country, that’s called dictatorship. Now I know the NBA is not a country, and I’m talking here only about the freedom players and coach don’t have to tell their opinion about refs (or basically anything not drawn from CareBears world).
Stern has done a terrific job with the NBA, but the picture can’t be flawless (too much control, draft lottery system, on top of my mind).
April 19th, 2010 at 5:08 am
Hill was awful and Mason should just be taken off and put to rest in a field like a lame horse. He’s worthless and has been worthless all season. For a guy who was brought on as a shooter he sure has problems putting the ball in that round thingy. HIs defense is nonexistant. Bonner only has value if he’s on fire with three’s, otherwise, he’s a liability out there. Jefferson continues to be a disappointment. Manu doing his usual job of turnovers and Tim having butter fingers under the hole. I’m surprised they didn’t get beat by 20+ and that just might be the bright spot. That they played that bad and didn’t get clownstomped. It was over at around the 8 minute mark in the 4th when pop put in that crazy rotation and *poof* a relatively close game, got away. Pop just doesn’t have the skills to coach a less than stellar our of their prime big three and no Bowen type defensive player. This spurs team needs a van gundy type coach, who can work with less and get the most out of ‘em. Pop isn’t used to, or wired for a team like this.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:22 am
“The NBA is not a country” — you think?
All businesses protect their image. If a prominent sales exec at Toyota told the press “our cars are deathtraps because we have lousy engineers” instead of taking his complaint through proper internal channels would he escape with a measly $35k fine? He’d be fired on the spot. Free speech has got nothing to do with it.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:44 am
I guess I’ll be the lone dissenter in the group.
We didn’t shoot many free throws, not because the refs screwed us, but because we weren’t aggressive enough. I can only remember a handful of finishes at the rim off the top of my head. For the entire night we settled for jumpers. That’s not going to get you to the line very often. The Mav’s in contrast, we the aggressor the entire night. They got the matchup they wanted and went straight at us.
The Mavs shot the ball well. Give ‘em credit. I thought we played Dirk fairly well, he just hit some incredibly tough shots. Kudos to him. Caron Butler shot some really tough long, 2pt jumpers - exactly what we wanted - and hit them. Those are the shots we want them to take.
All in all, I’m not too down. Every break/loose ball seemed to go the Mav’s way. That’ll change. Dirk and Butler most likely won’t shoot the ball any better than they did last night, RJ will play better, George should be healthier, we’ll be more aggressive getting to the rim and the line, we’ll take better care of the ball etc. We’ll play better in game 2.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:59 am
Good News/Bad News for the Spurs
http://www.operaforthemasses.com/2010/04/spurs-vs-mavs-game-one-good-newsbad.html
April 19th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Phil Jackson is not sales exec of the NBA. NBA does protect its image, but gaging coaches and players is not the solution.
They should be allowed to talk about the game. Every part of it.
The unrelated thing is: game 2 will be a turn, good or bad.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:09 am
I pretty much agree with Tyler.
Except for the turnovers, the big three were all good offensively, which is encouraging. But our offense needs guys besides them. McDyess’ midrange was great in the first half. From then on, our offense was all Timmy, Manu and Tony. That just won’t be enough. I think we absolutely cannot win unless RJ scores in double figures reasonably efficiently; we’ll often want 15-25 from him, to compensate when one of the big three scores less. He’s probably my biggest concern going forward. And if we need at least one of Hill, Bonner, and Blair to get us some points.
I didn’t see anything especially bad about our defense except for our inability to secure defensive rebounds. I think Timmy is the primary culprit here. 8 isn’t enough from him, and a lot of the offensive boards I saw were collected by Dampier or Haywood, who Timmy was defending. We rely on Timmy for rebounds, especially if Blair isn’t getting minutes.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:19 am
Barkley said it best: “Bonner is a limo guy.” Which means the other team sends a limo for the guy to make sure he makes it to the game. Can’t we try Mahimi on Dirk? If he’s going to get called for a foul anyway, we might a well put a taller/more athletic guy on him…maybe we can limit Dirk to only 3 “and 1’s” next game.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:39 am
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April 19th, 2010 at 6:42 am
How is Richard Jefferson getting a pass on this board?
He was pretty much worthless! 4 points in 32 minutes!? For a guy making $14 million. Again, he was supposed to put us over the top, but last night he showed that he will do nothing to help the Spurs.
I guess its beating a dead horse with complaining about Jefferson, but I would look to his complete lack of production before I complained about the refs or anyone else.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:48 am
The free-throw disparity might have had something to do with Dampier shooting 12 FTs. Even ignoring the 6 FTs that resulted from the Hack-a-Damp, he’s still 3 over his season average. If you put Damp back at his season average of 3, the Mavs shoot only 25 FTs.
On the other side of the ball, who was actually attacking for the Spurs? Parker didn’t have the ball enough to even try to penetrate, Manu was shooting jumpers, and RJ wasn’t doing anything. You could argue that Timmy deserved a few more calls, but other than that, I don’t know where you come up with the Spurs being robbed of any calls. I don’t remember Bogans, Bonner, or Mason going hard to the hole.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:50 am
To everyone saying the spurs weren’t aggressive enough to get the foul calls, take a look at the points in the paint. The Spurs had well over the amount that the Mavs had, I think it was 15-20 more. If that’s not being aggressive, I don’t know what is.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:51 am
ok guys, can we quit playing the ref card here? we didn’t lose this game because of non-calls, bad calls, etc. its a moot, scapegaot argument.
we lost because of turnovers, poor production from our role players, and rebounding. credit the mavericks, their team is overflowing with offensive talent and frontcourt presence that we ultimately may not be able to overcome.
george hill did not exactly assert himself in this game in the early going which is more than likely due to his injury. i think it was a good desicion to sit george so we limit his minutes and hope for some improvement considering the long layoff before game 2. i agree with the earlier post that roger mason has no business being on the floor in the playoffs. he never regain his shooting touch and he was an utter liability when he was matched up with caron. garret temple/ malik hairston (barring improvement) should get minutes over mason. since we won’t get much offensive production from any of these guys, temple or hairston will match up better defensively on butler. but this may come down to pop’s paranoia of playing young players in the playoffs but we may have no choice…
no answer for dirk nowitzki, but i don’t think one exists for him in the entire nba. mahinmi’s length may give us a better shot at contending dirk’s shot, but he lacks the discipline and experience to get minutes in this series. but once again, desperation may come knocking.
i can only hope that rj, dejuan, and g-hill will play more or better in game to and dice will maintain his hot perimeter shooting, but even if such things improve, i still can’t see us winning the series.
gotta keep the faith. go spurs go!
April 19th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Turnovers killed the Spurs last night. Plain and simple. Now if only Pop would come to his senses and start Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Hill and McDyess they would be a force to be reckoned with. Keep Jefferson, Mason and Bonner on the bench. Bring Bogans, Blair, Temple, Mahinmi and Hairston off the bench. But: I STILL BELIEVE!!!!! 2010 THE YEAR OF THE SPURS!!!!! GO SPURS GO!!!!!
April 19th, 2010 at 6:55 am
You have to be kidding me with the whinning about the fouls calls. There were no “phantom” fouls last night. The Mavs took the ball to the rim and got the calls.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Stop complaining about a free throw discrepency if Pop is going to Hack-a-Damp. Its the bed he made.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:30 am
@ Jordan -
That’s a misleading stat; you have to go a little deeper. That differential comes from TD, who scored the vast majority of his 26 points in the paint last night, not because we were attacking the rim.
When you attack the rim, you force the ref to make a call. We didn’t do that last night and as a result, we didn’t get to the stripe.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:42 am
The turnover battle was fairly even for both sides, 17 for the spurs, 15 for the Mavs. The free throw discrepancy was glaring and bordering on criminal, but we can’t help it if the refs give Dirk the Durant calls. What we can help is Jefferson only having 4 points and Hill not even scoring. If those guys had even shown up, we’d have won.
We lost by only 6 points while losing the turnover battle and shotting half as many free throws. The Mavs are worried, no doubt about it.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:16 am
I am not as worried about those turnovers as I normally would be, for two reasons, one each for Tim and Manu:
Tim: Tim’s TO’s were almost all really tough passes that I thought reflected the fact that the big three hasn’t had enough time to re-establish that mind-meld passing, especially with Tony. That will come as the series progresses, and I think Damp got his one strip of the post-season.
Manu: With this, we saw the downside of playing a division opponent. A solid chunk of those turnovers were the Manu-Blair connection that we’ve been watching all season. Unfortunately, the Mavs have been watching it all season, too, and blitzed it every time Manu took the step to toss Blair the ball. If Manu can realize that and adjust, it shouldn’t be a problem, though that bodes poorly for Blair.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Obviously, Pop does not read 48MOH or Wayne Winston’s work. Because if he did, he would know that Bogans is a detriment when we play the Mavs.
I had a tough time stomaching Mason and Bogans playing together and could not remember those two being an effective duo during the regular season, maybe there’s some statistical info. to back that up.
We need George Hill to play well.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:27 am
As far as adjustments for game 2 -
- I expect Tony to be in the starting lineup. The TP/Kidd matchup is one we can exploit offensively.
- TD needs to play w/ a sense of urgency, similar to what we saw against Orlando and LA recently. He needs to force the Mavs to double him. If he allows them to play one on one, advantage Mavs. With a double team comes better looks and more driving lanes. TD needs to force Dampier and Haywood to commit more than 5 total fouls between them.
- Play Butler the same exact way. If he wants to hoist long, contested jumpers, then great, but that’s not going to beat us.
- Continue to mix up the looks we throw at Dirk w/o giving up too much to the other guys. Chances are he won’t shoot as well as he did in game 1. If he does continue to go 12/14 from the field, then you tip your cap and make early summer plans.
- Attack the rim. Force the referee to make a call. We struggled to get anything easy in game 1. We need those easy points to win. Screen & roll with Manu/TP and Damp/Haywood’s man should help.
- Get RJ involved early. We need all the offense we can get, especially if Hill doesn’t play.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Ref’s didn’t cost us the game. They did hinder our ability to play our game and defend the Mavs. That being said the Mavs won because the Spurs played sloppy and Dirk was on fire. Things can get better for the Spurs, but they can also get worse if they don’t buckle up and play right.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:46 am
SPURS need to hit their 3pt. I know Bonner cannot guard Dirk, but he’s supposed to be a offensive weapon but keeps on firing bricks. If that does not change, there will be no open lanes for Parker and Manu and now way will the Spurs win. Even yesterday, Tony and Manu had a lot of trouble driving to the basket.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:56 am
I’m not blaming the loss on the refs. THey didn’t turn it over.
Just call it the same way on both sides. Butler gets breathed on, foul. MANU goes through the paint and nearly breaks his back, no call.
The SPURS started good. Then they started breathing on BUTLER. They were in the penalty early. Also in the penalty early in the 3rd.
Spurs couldn’t play tough D because they had to walk on eggshells.
MAVS could play tough D because they didn’t have to walk on eggshells.
But yeah, if RJ gives us nothing then we are toast. And what the hell happened to HILL? 16 ppg just sitting on the bench. Combined with RJ, that was about 30 points that didn’t show up. We need at least one of those dudes to show up.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:56 am
@Tyler - the stats would say you’re wrong. The Spurs had more points in the paint (50-34) than Dallas. That doesn’t sound like settling for jumpers to me. Most all of Dirk, Butler and Kidd’s points were from outside the paint yet the first two got to the line. Explanation?
I also don’t think people are begging for more whistles on Dallas. They want the phantom fouls that were called on the Spurs to end. That standing too close was considered a foul would mean that all our points in the paint should’ve resulted in more ticky-tack calls on Dallas. I don’t want that; I want the one-sided BS to stop. It’s wrong.
@TR - if a defender has his hands straight up he’s allowed to hold his space. If Dirk shoots into him that’s not a foul. Even worse, there was zero contact by either player on a few occassions yet a foul was called. Any explanation for that?
Lastly, I think Dyce had limited minutes due to early foul trouble. Pop wanted to make sure he was available in the 4th. He likely also wanted to mix up the looks Dirks was seeing. Bogans playing is part of that and is not what lost the game.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Another thing, Butler didn’t really play all that well. He took 19 shots for his 22. I don’t think that’s very efficient. If Dallas had lost, I am sure ppl would have pointed to that as something that needs to change.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:29 am
The caption for that picture above should read: “Tim Duncan’s reaction to finding out Keith Bogans has just checked into the game.”
April 19th, 2010 at 9:30 am
tyler- It was obvious we cant exploit Kidd with Parker.
Its the same thing that you guys cant seem to understand about bonner. If we score 4 and give up 6 we still lose.
It comes down to individual matchups and who wins the one on one. We have hungry guys on the bench waiting and producing TEMPLE BLAIR… POSSIBLY IAN..
Then we have pussies. TP, Bonner, Mason, McDyess (Worthless after the 1st but played better than I expected).
Our coach is an idiot and cannot be defended. Doing so makes you all look more ignorant than before.
Lets hear all the talk about Pop and Parker winning rings in the past. The Mavs dont give a shit.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Ya’ll are full of CRAP. The foul calls that hurt us the most were when we supposedly fouled Dirk. Was he attacking the rim on those shots? No, they were phantom calls because he flings his body/arms around with every shot and it looks like he got hammered even when the closest defender was 6 feet away. Watch the game again and especially watch ALL of Dirks shots.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Lots of complaining about the refs here. While I wasn’t a fan of some of the calls, the previous poster got it right that aside from a few Manu drives, the Spurs were not aggressive to the hole. Lots of jumpers. Points in the paint primarily came from Duncan’s points in the paint and put backs, not from aggressive strong finishes to the hoop. As much as I hate Colonel Sanders, Philip got it right for his series and complaining about the ref’s treatment of Durant. So he got fined… still the ref’s were cognoscente that they were being watched. Wouldn’t hurt if Pop did the same. We might get a few additional calls (especially if we drive to the hoop).
So we know that turnovers killed us. The scary thing is we had solid games from all of the big 3. We may not get that next game. We said Manu had to step up to win this series, he did. TP played his game and TD always plays solid against Dampier. Problem is that no one else did… Jefferson has got to bring his new game. His new game being rebounds and some transition buckets like what we saw at the end of the season. This game was what the Mavs were supposed to do, protect their home court. Spurs still can steal a game at their home court before coming back to the AT&T Center. So a first game loss isn’t a huge panic, however there are areas for concern.
The obvious concerns are turnovers and lack of aggressive attacks at the basket. Concerns about the role players not stepping up. Also Pop has got to figure out a way to get Blair on the court and still have some length in there. Not sure if that means playing him with Dyess or Duncan (he doesn’t pay too well with Duncan). Heywood abused him, but Blair did have his moments. Playing him with at PF with some other length sheds the duties of guarding a heavy 7 footer and poses nice matchup problems on the other end. There was a previous article touting how well Blair plays with Bonner. The problem with this series is that the Mavs have a legitimate 7 foot starting center that comes off the bench. The stats probably don’t’ account for something like that. This isn’t Channing Frye or Dan Gadzuric they are throwing out there. Haywood IMHO is a better player than Dampier. They have a NBA caliber starting 7 foot center and we have a stretch 4 who isn’t known for playing defense and a talented but undersized rookie. Advantage Mavs… unless we switch things up a bit.
George Hill is either dinged up still or it’s a different story for him coming into the playoffs with expectations. I like his game and think he’s a great player but he laid an egg just like Bonner and Mase did last playoffs. Let’s hope he bounces back and gets past the playoff expectation jitters. I’m not sure how dinged up Hairston is, but we could have used a defensive minded player that can score (unlike Bogans). We couldn’t get stops down the stretch and that hurt.
Please stop with the Bonner talk that he’s not an NBA player and if he wasn’t on the Spurs he’d be out of the league and in Europe somewhere. Dude shoots 40+% from 3 in the regular season on a consistent basis. You do that and you can stay on this side of the pond, especially if you have length. He’s not a defender though and never has been. It isn’t Bonner’s fault that Pop trots him out to play an All Star PURE scorer (hands down best scorer on their team) 1 on 1. I would be beyond surprised if I EVER read a comment, “Man, I really liked Bonner’s defense against Nowitzki last night. He did a great job of shutting him down 1 on 1.” The only time I’d read that is if Dork is still playing at age 50 and we draft some new kid with the last name Bonner. It isn’t Bonner’s fault, he is what he is. Nothing more and nothing less.
I seen many comments about the defense on Dork being a factor. There was one claiming we actually played good D against him???? How can you allow a player to shoot over 85% and claim we played good D? I understand sometimes players get in a zone, but let’s be realistic here. We played a TON of man vs. Dork this game. Perhaps that was the game plan all along. Last year we threw all kinds of looks at him and aside from Game 6, Dork didn’t’ score much (only 1 game over 30). It was Howard and company that killed us. Maybe the mindset was to keep their role players down and let Dork go off? Well Butler did his best Howard imitation and Kidd/Haywood did their thing. The next game we should have a bunch of different looks that are thrown out there and less 1 on 1 match ups.
This game serves as awake up call for two camps of posters. The 1 camp that says we need to trade TP. Wake up guys… Hill hasn’t’ shown that he’s ready yet. Let’s not forget either last year TP threw up a 43 against the Mavs and without Manu we still lost. We still need TP. Hopefully Hill can break out of his funk (I believe he will) and prove to be a valuable asset in this series. The other camp that deserves a wakeup call and a good swat on the head, are the foolish posters that claimed the Spurs didn’t need any more length in the offseason and that they matched up well against the Mavs/Lakers… Wake up guys…. Do you not realize D@ick is 7 foot along with Dampier and Heywood. Not to mention Marion is a very long 6’ 7” and can guard PFs? Their length and our lack of length is hurting us. Every announcer has said that this season about the Spurs. Once again it was said last night. If we had another legit 7 footer he could play with TD/Blair and take the pressure off Blair guarding guys that are 7’moving him more to PF where he belongs. If it wasn’t a priority for the offseason, it should be apparent now. What is actually kinda nice about the length situation is that Haywood is a better player than Damps. For whatever reason Carlisle has been giving Dampier more minutes. Timmy has always fared well against him and that should continue to be the case. Less minutes for Haywood is a good thing in my mind, he had 10pts and 8 boards in less than 20 minutes.
Going fwd… No more turnovers, we need to be aggressive to the hole, we need multiple defensive looks at Dork, Hill/RJ need to show up, we need continued solid play from Dyess (lost in all this is that he had a VERY solid game in only a shade over 20 min.), we need to figure out a way to get Blair involved, we need to be able to hit timely 3’s (this is you Red Rocket) and last but not least if we’re doubling Dork we need to make d@mn sure we keep Terry/Butler and company in check. We need to steal a game in Dallas.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:46 am
I think I get the record for longest post ever
sorry guys!
April 19th, 2010 at 9:47 am
This game is easy to analyze:
Third quarter: Spurs up 1. Pop puts in Mason. Then he goes to his small-ball strategy that NEVER worked this year. Mavs go on 21-8 run. Spurs down 12 when Mason leaves the game and the Spurs play with two “bigs” again.
I love Pop. I still think he can coach. But this loss is on him. Simple as that.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:49 am
@TradeTP, you talk about score 4 give up 6 then you suggest BLAIR? He scored 4 and gave up more than 6. He made Brendan Haywood look like Wilt.
And this “going to the rim” stuff is nonsense. The Spurs guards took more shots in the paint than Mavs’. Manu went to the rim repeatedly and had a total of one FT until a throwaway call with the game already decided.
And was Dirk “going to the rim”? He was getting touch calls on fadeaways, for crying out loud.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:53 am
I’m not saying that the refs cost us that game. Dallas’ length really caught us off guard (so many tipped passes). I found it odd that Tim and Manu just didn’t seem ready to play. Everyone seemed to bobble the pass if they didn’t lose it at all.
I do remember several occasions where a Spur would foray into the lane (Tim Duncan). A lot of contact but no foul call. I understand it’s playoff basketball, I just want consistency. A primarily mid-range shooter getting 12+ FTA is ridiculous. Though Dirk was on fire. That stupid turn-around bank comes to mind.
Parker needs to stop dribbling so much. I like how he’s probing, but the reason we performed so well with him out was because the ball movement didn’t just stop when George got the ball.
The Spurs FG% is misleading as well. I was actually surprised it was so high because most of their shots were shots they want. A lot of their shots just barely missed. Cut down on TOs and offensive rebounds and we blow this game wide open, even with the free throw disparity.
I’m looking forward to Wednesday.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Sorry @Eric, but you don’t get to make up your own facts. The Spurs were down 6 (67-61) at 3:46 in Q3 when Mason started playing and down 8 (83-75) at 8:18 in Q4 when he left the game.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:07 am
“Barkley said it best: “Bonner is a limo guy.” Which means the other team sends a limo for the guy to make sure he makes it to the game.”
couldn’t agree more - less minutes please
- spurs will lock down game 2
April 19th, 2010 at 10:20 am
@SpurredOn
I’ll repeat it again. Points in the paint is not a good measure of aggressivness. Duncan scored 26, most of which came in the paint. Just because the differential looks nice, doesn’t mean we got to the rim.
It’s simple. Dirk draws fouls. Mavs get into bonus. That leads to FT attempts for everyone. There’s your FT disparity.
The Mavs were the aggressor last night, and the aggressor usually gets the calls. Dirk single handedly got the Mav’s into the bonus in nearly every quarter. If we can defend him w/o fouling, we can help stop a parade to the line.
Besides, one of the main tenets of Spurs’ defense is not fouling. We didn’t adhere to that last night.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Looking at the shot charts on espn.com, Manu had 6 shots in the paint, while TP only had 4. Of course this doesn’t count the shots they were fouled on, but I don’t seem to remember many. That right there tells you why we didn’t get to the line and into the bonus.
If we only get 10 shots in the paint between our two best perimeter players, we’re not going to win this series.
For us to win, we need to get around 20 shots in the paint (including those we are fouled on) to have a chance to win. That will do wonders for our FT attempts and our outside shooting when we draw help defenders.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:39 am
For all the people complaining about fouling did Pop even bring that up as a reason for losing the game?
April 19th, 2010 at 10:40 am
@whoever mentioned Garret Temple
I’m unsure if he is allowed to play in the playoffs. Wasn’t he signed after March 1?
April 19th, 2010 at 10:42 am
[...] Andrew A. McNeil of 48 Minutes of Hell diagnosed the Spurs’ turnover problems as the key to th…, despite the misleadingly small turnover margin. Tags: Caron Butler, Dirk Nowitzki, Holger Geschwindner, Jason Terry, Mark Cuban, Mark Kao, Peter Holt [...]
April 19th, 2010 at 10:42 am
@TradeTP
If we put TP in the pick and roll with Dampier/Haywood’s man, that’s a scenario we can exploit offensively.
I think you’re over-simplifying the TP/Kidd matchup though. Our defense has to rotate like crazy after we double Dirk. If Kidd hits an open jumper, that’s not necessarily TP’s fault. So saying something like, “TP scored 10, but Kidd scored 14,” as ammunition against TP isn’t quite fair.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Hey Spurs lost the first game in the first round every year they won the title.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Best news of the day:
goes to johnny!
April 19th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Another silver lining:
I’m too lazy to do the leg work on this, but that had to be the most efficient game Dirck Nowitzki has played in the playoffs in his entire wienerschnitzel loving life.
If Dirck is going to play that well every game for the rest of the series then we might as well get the bait out for our hooks.
But I don’t think he will.
Game 2
Spurs 96
Mavs 92
April 19th, 2010 at 11:15 am
BTW
I know it’s spelled “Dirk” but I like “Dirck” better because it’s close to “Dick”, which is what I say when a 7 foot man flops his euro-perm after being breathed on by a defender.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:21 am
@doggydog - I appreciate your looking that up. People blaming Mason, who played 9 minutes and took two shots, are throwing darts at a huge board.
One game people. Even good strategy may fail, fortunately it’s one game in a seven game series. Stick with the plan, cut down on the unforced turnovers and having some better officiating. That alone wins the game with room to spare, even with Dirk having a career shooting percentage night.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:26 am
@doggydogworld
Bogans goes in when Spurs were down 64-61
Mason goes in when Spurs were down 66-61
They leave when we were down 83-74
That was the game…we couldn’t come back after that. Before they went in we were within striking distance. Then Pop went small and put these idiots in and we lost.
Point is: Small ball doesn’t work. Mason and Bogans should NOT be playing at all.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Also, I got the stat from watching the game. The 21-8 happened right around the time Bogans and Mason went in… then the Spurs kind of fought back a little bit that’s why the numbers don’t quite add up. But it happened. And that was the game right there
April 19th, 2010 at 11:47 am
It will be interesting to see what the rotation is on Wed. If they roll again with Bonner and Bogans taking turns getting abused by Dirk 1 0n 1 again than I think we will already know the outcome of this series.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@ Tyler,
I just watched the one hour version of the replay on NBATV. The fouls called on the Spurs while the Mavericks drove to the basket took place 15 ft from the basket.
Kidd trips over Duncan(replay shows no contact), foul. Butler drives baseline and gets the shot blocked, foul. Butler dribbles into the middle of Ginobili’s chest as Ginobili cuts off the baseline, foul on Ginobili. Nowitski takes one dribble by Bonner, foul. Nowitski takes 2 dribbles past McDyess and fades away, foul.
The referees had a significant impact on the game just like the Spurs turnovers. To suggest otherwise is being naive. 25% of the Mavericks pts came via the FT line.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
That much points in the paint and that less FT ? LOL can’t wait to see us crush em in game 2
April 19th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
One can make a good argument that the Spurs got the short end of the stick when it came to calls last night. So what, you can’t control what the refs are going to call. You have to play through that and eliminate turnovers and make shots.
The Spurs have won their fair share of playoff series over the last 13 yrs. and if you checked out the comments on the opposing teams blogs or newspapers sites when the Spurs were beating the Suns and Mavs etc. the fans were always complaining about the calls. Ginbobili flops, Duncan whines etc.
I for one always appreciated the fact that Pop never took the Phil Jackson route and blamed the officials. You got to overcome adversity to win a championship, you have to execute well enough that a disparity in calls won’t matter.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Interesting that Buck Harvey called out Pop for saying his players played “like dogs.”
April 19th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
“We didn’t shoot many free throws, not because the refs screwed us, but because we weren’t aggressive enough.”
No question about it, Tyler. This is playoff basketball, not a spin at the park. If we take the ball hard enough, and often enough to the hoop, we’re either going to score, get the shot blocked, or get fouled. Granted, the calls didn’t go our way in this game (see Todd’s post on this thread, Todd April 18th, 2010 at 9:43 pm ), but in the final analysis, complaining about the officiating is simply an excuse for why things didn’t go our way. Our team can do nothing about the calls we get from officials (and they tend to even out anyway), so why spend any time obsessing about it. There’s no reason that we couldn’t have played better and won that game, despite the calls, unless Dallas was simply the better team last night.
Dr. Who
April 19th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Excellent post, Dr. Who. Great read, and not too long for me! Besides, I’m sure I have you beat on numerous occasions!
Finally, to reiterate from a previous comment I made on this thread:
Our main problems from game one were:
(1) RJ was a no show (4 pts., 4 shots, 32 mins.)
(2) RMJ was allowed to play, at all (9:17)
(3) Hill did not show up (0 points, 17 mins.)
(4) Temple did not play, at all (for Mason)
(5) Blair did not play enough (7:56)
(6) Too many turnovers (17)
(7) Poor rebounding (particularly, on off. glass)
(8) Inadequate 3 point shooting (too few 3’s - Bonner, Hill, Temple - 2 attempts in 37 mins.)
Clear these problems up, and we should have a good shot in game 2. Let the officiating take care of itself.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
@lvmainman -
I’m not saying I agreed with the calls that were made. But Dirk was 11th in FTA/game (7.2) and 8th in FTA in the regular season. Him drawing fouls isn’t out of the ordinary, even on the perimeter. That’s part of his reputation. That’s what he does; that’s one of the reasons he’s a superstar. Whether or not you agree with the refs on all their calls, him getting 12 free throw attempts isn’t crazy.
We can blame the refs all we want, but once you see how close the refs are calling the game, you have to adjust. We didn’t. And the refs kept blowing the whistle.
Also, outside of Dirk’s 12 and Dampier’s 12 FTA (we sent him to the line on at least 8 of those), the Mavs only shot 10 other free throws. Therein lies the key - don’t foul Dirk.
I’m not saying the refs didn’t impact the game. They impact every game, whether they call every foul or let the teams play. What I have a problem is using the refs as a crutch, which from some of the comments appears to be the case.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
@Este
You’re exactly right. If the roles had been reversed, we’d be celebrating and Mavs’ fans would be the ones complaining about the refs. Over time, the calls even out. No sense in getting too worked up over one game.
Control what you can control and we should be fine.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
One remedy for the FT disparity might be to ditch the Hack-a-Damp strategy and play straight up basketball. Every time I think of the Spurs I picture a wide-eyed, bewildered Tim Duncan with his hands up and that “who me?” expression, or Manu flopping to the floor like he’s just been shot. The Spurs are the Divas of the NBA and everyone knows it - please don’t further that stereotype by whining about free throws.
April 19th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
@Eric, you are counting wrong. When Mason checked in Dirk was at the FT line (where else?). His FT was from play that happened while Mason was on the bench, therefore does not count against Mason. When play resumed the score was 67-61. That’s the way the +/- stats work, and it’s the only way that makes sense.
Similarly, Mason left with 8:18 remaining and Duncan at the line to shoot a FT from a play which happened while Mason was in the game. The score when play resumed without Mason was 83-75, as I correctly stated.
Mason was -2 during his 2nd half stint. The Spurs were not +1 when he came in and -12 when he left, as you claimed.
April 19th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I STLL BELIEVE!!!!! 2010 THE YEAR OF THE SPURS!!!!! GO SPURS GO!!!!!
April 19th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
@Jordan, Temple was not on another teams’ roster on or after March 1, thus is eligible to play. Alonzo Gee appeared on the Wizards’ roster after March 1 and is thus not eligible.
April 19th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
[...] about San Antonio Spurs 94, Dallas Mavericks 100: Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili turn it over [...]
April 19th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
@Tyler: if the refs were calling the game close why didn’t the Spurs receive the same whistles on their many forays into the paint? Duncan is less deserving of a foul call than Haywood? Manu less than Butler? Come on man. You lost this debate. Yes, the Spurs played far from perfect. But they still played well enough to win a road playoff game with competent officiating. The refs are not the only blame nor are they within the Spurs’ control. But if you don’t think the refs were unequal in their interpretation on what constitutes a foul and that those decisions did not have a tremendous impact on the game then I don’t think you’re being honest.
April 19th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
SpurredOn
April 19th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Just giving Tyler a hand. Tyler did state the following, in quotes:
“I’m not saying I agreed with the calls that were made.”
“I’m not saying the refs didn’t impact the game. They impact every game, whether they call every foul or let the teams play. What I have a problem is using the refs as a crutch, which from some of the comments appears to be the case.”
These quotes clearly indicate that Tyler is quite aware of the seemingly unequal treatment by the refs in this game. He’s just suggesting that the calls have a way of evening out in the end (e.g., game two calls could end up being meaningfully in our favor), and besides, focusing on the officiating has a way of making it more unlikely that the team focuses properly on the factors that are in fact most important for us to win this series: learn from our own mistakes, and make the appropriate adjustments as quickly as possible, and improve our play as much as we can.
Granted, it’s a tough loss, with questionable officiating in some respects, but we must keep the focus on what the team can do to improve, regardless of the officiating. We don’t have control over the calls. And in theory, we could always blame “something” outside of the team for many of our losses, but is that really going to help us win more? I don’t think so, as I’m sure you’d agree.
April 19th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
@SpurredOn
Hate to sound like a broken record, but again, we didn’t get a call b/c we didn’t attack the rack; we didn’t force the issue. Had we done so, we would have shot more free throws. It’s a simple concept. If we are aggressive, and we still get no calls, then we might have a bone to pick - but that wasn’t the case last night.
Dallas got to the line b/c of Dirk. He drew fouls like normal, whether we like the calls or not.
Gee, speak of the devil….look at the next 48MoH posting. Looks like I’m not the only one who thinks the FT disparity was something other than the referee’s doing.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
@ Doggy
Actually there were a couple of times when he fronted the post. 1 Guess to who was on weakside.
+/- Champ Matt Bonner coming through again with no D!
April 19th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
@Tyler - we disagree on this which is fine. I think the Spurs were at least as aggressive as the Mavs if not more so but for both of us this is subjective. IMO if it’s all about aggression, the Spurs got jobbed. If it’s about shooting in the paint, Spurs got jobbed. If it’s about calling it close, same level of contact was created by both teams so Spurs got jobbed. If it’s about stars getting respect, Spurs definitely got jobbed since Manu & Duncan combined for less FTs than Dirk. No matter how it’s explained the refs were unequal and it helped alter the outcome.
Now, just because I know it and say it doesn’t mean I want the team harping on it. They’ve got their own issues to correct and actually have control over those. Generally speaking I agree that things even out, but usually in the course of a game. A missed call here, a tacky call there. It all evens out. Things didn’t in game 1. I don’t want makeup calls in game 2 because it’s still poor officiating and it’s a new game. We could play so horribly that the makeup calls don’t help. I want the guys earning a salary to be consistent and get most of the calls correct today, not hope their colleagues fix it tomorrow.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
We can complain about the refs because we CAN see the unnecessary calls. It doesn’t mean it’s a foul if the shooter leans back and fall by himself. Better pay attention on how Nowitzki does it. He fades away, leans back and stretch his leg, and boom! Automatic foul. He does his all the time. He’s one of the obvious floppers. Barea is the no.1! Just a soft touch and he falls. They tolerate the gesture, so they keep doing it, and succeeds. I just want the refs to call fouls FAIRLY, not FREELY… Don’t like the star treatment I’m seeing on the playoff games; not just this series.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Did anyone else miss Theo Ratliff last night? He looked good playing for Charlotte against Orlando.
People are putting down the Spurs’ “lack of length”, missing other bigs that the Spurs have let leave.
I know that he didn’t get much playing time during the regular season (note - Michael Finley), but I thought they were saving him for the playoffs.
I was dismayed when he left, and wondered if this would come back to bite them in the playoffs.
April 20th, 2010 at 6:07 am
@SpurredOn -
We’ll agree to disagree. Our debating why or why we didn’t get calls is probably a minor point in the big scheme of things anyway. I just happen to take the position that if we lose, it’s no one’s fault but ours. I shy away from blaming others because ultimately, like Jim touched on, you risk losing focus. Luckily for us, we don’t have an organization that blames others or makes excuses - they leave that to the fans.
But sometimes the calls just don’t go your way. That’s basketball. Yet, if we want to win a championship, we have to find a way to win those games.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
only by 6?
April 18th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
You spurs fans are idiots….they only won by six because the game was over in the last minute and we don’t care to defend you on those last possessions. Spurs will not and cannot win against the more talented team
____________________
BWAAHAHAHAH!!
ROFL!!! Dallas is the red-head stepchild of Texas. How sad is it that the face of the franchise isn’t any of their “superstars” but their owner that dances with stars…. Pathetic.
April 20th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
@grayden
@jesse
This is my 4th post in 5 hours and not one has been posted.
You can email me to tell me why I am not allowed to post.
thanks
April 20th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
@Tyler, I’m with SpurredOn.
I don’t understand what our “focus” has to do with anything. I for one am glad to hear Pop and our players take the high road and not bitch about the refs the same way Phil and Doc do ad nauseum. But we’re the fans, and it’s our right to call out the referees when they do miserable at their job. If a doctor leaves a scalpel underneath somebody’s rib cage, guess what? He gets sued. The officials had a job to do, and Salvatore — notorious for making one questionable call after another, often times in the most pivotal moments of games — and his crew completely screwed this up. The result was that we got shafted, badly. So, again, since WE don’t have a game to play tomorrow, I’m not too concerned with maintaining focus and bringing it up when we get screwed because the officials are doing a terrible job that reeks of incompetence.
There will always be things we could do better. The “perfect game” doesn’t exist. But all things being equal, we probably could’ve overcome them for a big win in Dallas the other night. Unfortunately, things were so far from equal that there was really nothing we could have done to won, turnovers or not. If we were getting called on things that probably could have been overlooked, that would be one thing. But when we’re getting whistled play after play when there’s zero contact and zero fouls committed, then how can you possibly learn to correct it? I watched us play just as aggressively Dallas was, and it made zero difference in how the game was called. Add on top of that the fact that our foul trouble limited our confidence and ability to defend Dirk, and it makes sense that he shot the percentage that he did. Like SpurredOn says, to think anything else is ignorant, and it protects Sterns pocket of officials that can get away with whatever they want.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:52 am
We simply didn’t play well enough to win, calls or not.
April 21st, 2010 at 3:22 am
And it is directly because of the players in the game and the COACHING strategy. Just like all year.
Henderson: You agree with I think Tyler who talked about aggressive play. Yet you applaud Pop and his playing Bonner, Mason, McDyess, Bogans, Jefferson, all of whom do not or are not allowed to take it to the rim.
As a fan, like all here, I am well aware that we need to be aggressive on both sides of the ball. And I know who will give us the aggressive play. Unfortunately you do too, yet you claim POP doesnt. Hes not a good coach.
April 21st, 2010 at 4:37 am
[...] the San Antonio Spurs, defending Dirk Nowitzki in Game 1 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal Series was damn-near a lost cause. The Dallas Mavericks forward torched the Spurs for 36 points on 12-14 [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 9:05 am
@Randall -
So we couldn’t have won game 1 no matter what because of the refs? Not even if we turned the ball over only 7 times instead of 17? If we turn the ball over 10 less times, you can add 10-12 points to our total and take away a few from the Mavs. We might have gotten shafted in game 1, but that doesn’t excuse us turning the ball over. And that certainly doesn’t excuse RJ’s performance (I’ll give Hill a pass due to his ankle).
And no, we didn’t play as aggressively as Dallas. Pop even said the same. Even more, as the road team, we have to be MORE aggressive. If that’s what it takes to get a whistle, then that’s what you have to do. Find a way to win. That’s what championship caliber teams do. We didn’t do that, and that’s no one’s fault but ours.
April 21st, 2010 at 10:52 am
TradeTp
April 21st, 2010 at 3:22 am
“Yet you applaud Pop and his playing Bonner, Mason, McDyess, Bogans, Jefferson, all of whom do not or are not allowed to take it to the rim. ”
These players are not ALLOWED to take the ball to the rim? You are joking me, right? I can guarantee you Pop does nothing to discourage these players (by threatening to bench them, verbal abuse, intimidation, by whatever means!) from taking the ball to the rim, where appropriate. Unfortunately, most of these players are not very adept at driving the ball and finishing off the dribble, or in the case of RJ, are simply a head case this year.
And I don’t “applaud Pop” for playing Mason & Bogans. Not long back, I made several pleas for Pop to give Hairston a shot at Bogans role, and just recently, I in no uncertain terms questioned Pop for his insistence in giving Mason ANY playing time (look at my comments over the past few days).
That said, while Pop does not, in my humble opinion ALWAYS coach well (e.g., game one against Mavs), he is without question an excellent coach.
Tyler
April 21st, 2010 at 9:05 am
Right on!
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:14 am
[...] you that the San Antonio Spurs did a much better job guarding Dirk Nowitzki than in his blitzkrieg Game 1 victory over the Spurs. And yes, while there were some rotation changes, defensive adjustments and a concentrated effort to [...]
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