Wednesday, April 21st, 2010...8:15 am
Spurs-Mavericks Game 2 Adjustments, Wayne Winston Style
How shall the San Antonio Spurs proceed against the Dallas Mavericks? What Game 2 adjustments should the Spurs and Mavericks coaches consider?
Wayne Winston emailed shortly after Game 1 to say that the answer forward-from an Adjusted Plus/Minus perspective-looks very similar to his initial Spurs-Mavericks rotation advice.
The two Spurs lineups which were most abused by the Mavericks both violated the if-they-are-smart-they-wont rules set by Winston prior to the series.
The first lineup was Keith Bogans, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, George Hill, and Antonio McDyess. This lineup was a -113.57. Additionally, this particular lineup, despite its inclusion of both Duncan and Ginobili, performed very poorly in the regular season. The numbers have long indicated it was an underachieving 5-man unit.
The second Winston no-no was the Spurs lineup of DeJuan Blair, Keith Bogans, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili, and Roger Mason Jr. During Sunday night’s Spurs-Mavericks tilt, this lineup underachieved to the tune of -124.63. Prior to the series, Winston warned that the Spurs should play Blair with Bonner, but without Duncan. Blair-Bonner combinations are good for the Spurs.
Winston continues to wonder why the Spurs play Keith Bogans, who, in his words, “killed the Spurs.”
San Antonio’s best lineup for the game was also highly successful during the regular season. The combination of Matt Bonner, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker was too much for the Mavericks. The Spurs ran up a +69.57 against the Mavericks when playing this lineup.
San Antonio’s second most productive unit was the similarly constructed Tim Duncan, Antonio McDyess, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili, and George Hill. That Spurs grouping was +34.95, and much like the other clearly positive lineup, also performed well in the regular season.
Yes, that’s right. Winston’s genius ink thinks the Spurs are better when playing their stars. Who woulda thunk? But of course not all the lineups which feature Duncan-Ginobili-Parker fared well. So, it’s not as simple as having your best players on the floor, although that usually helps.
As for the Mavericks, for whom Winston was a paid consultant forthe majority of the past decade, the road forward for is clear: play Brendan Haywood more. Winston’s exact words were that the Spurs could “bet Haywood will be in more.” For the Mavericks any combination that features Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, Shawn Marion, and Jason Kidd, regardless of the 5th wheel, beat up on the Spurs for +11 points.
Having said all this, Winston believes the Spurs should have beat the Mavericks in Game 1. And he thinks they should win the series, despite the Mavericks 9 wins in their last 11 contests against the San Antonio Spurs.
Winston will be providing APM-related commentary for 48MoH after each game of the series, in part to test his pre-series analysis against the actual games. For example, a few of the Spurs lineups Winston expected to outclass the Mavericks, based on their regular performance, underachieved in Game 1. Those sort of things force one to treat APM considerations alongside a host of other variables, and not as a standalone holy grail.
It’s not all wine and roses for Winston. He gladly admits that APM is not the final consideration. The Spurs committed costly turnovers in Game 1. Gregg Popovich thinks the Spurs’ overall effort was lacking against the Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki destroyed the Spurs. And so on.
It will be interesting to see which lineups the Spurs play this evening, and how San Antonio attempts to solve the other issues.
65 Comments
April 21st, 2010 at 8:47 am
I wonder which matchup is best for the Spurs - Haywood or Dampier against the Blair/Bonner combo?
Off the top of my head, I thought we had trouble keeping Haywood of the offensive boards when Blair was matched up against him. I would rather the Blair/Bonner combo face Dampier. Dampier seems to be less active on the offensive boards, and if he does grab a rebound near the rim, you can always foul him and make him earn it at the line.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:56 am
How about cutting out the unforced turnovers, stop leaving Kidd alone at the 3pt line and make a couple more of our wide open 3s? I’m thinking that would be more than enough even if Dirk shoots over 80% again.
April 21st, 2010 at 9:33 am
Winston really seemed like Nostradamus after watching Bogans in game 1.
It’s funny because the whole time Bogans was out there I was thinking “we are horrible against the Mavs when Bogans in… doesn’t Pop read 48MOH?”
To echo other opinions on here, the turnovers have to cut down and we need SOMETHING from George Hill and Richard Jefferson.
I hope you’re reading this Pop.
April 21st, 2010 at 9:58 am
One thing not mentioned, however, is rest for the stars. These guys can’t play 48 minutes a game. As much as it kills me to see Mason and Bogans out there at the end of the 3rd, we have to play somebody from the bench for some period of time.
I guess Hill was hurting. Where Hairston was, who knows (maybe Pop was afraid to trust a young guy like that in a game like that). Ian isn’t coming in, which he probably shouldn’t considering his 10 minutes of game time this year.
Bottom line, we have to depend on these guys to come through. If Mason, Bogans, and RJ stink it up again, then Game 2 might look pretty similar to Game 1.
And on a personal note: God I hate Mavericks fans. Listening to ESPN radio here in Dallas yesterday made me so angry. If anyone has EVER listened to Galloway then they know what I’m talking about. I hope we kick the crap out of them tonight. I need this.
April 21st, 2010 at 10:12 am
Go Spurs Go!!
April 21st, 2010 at 10:19 am
If the Spurs played like dogs, then Bogans is definitely the Great Dane of the bunch. That bum needs to be put down!
April 21st, 2010 at 10:29 am
I mentioned Haywood in an earlier post. He’s a better player than Dampier and Timmy has always played well against Dampier. Haywood had nearly a double double in less than 20 min. We don’t want to see more of Haywood. He has length and beef to match. Carlisle for whatever reason starting playing Dampier more at the last part of the season. Hopefully he keeps with that trend and limits Haywood’s minutes. He’s ingnored Haywood being better for a while now. Let’s hope he keeps ignoring it.
April 21st, 2010 at 11:26 am
Hill might be out tonight…if that’s the case then we need someone to fill in his 30 minutes
April 21st, 2010 at 11:32 am
Well I take that back, I guess his status has been upgraded to “go”
April 21st, 2010 at 11:42 am
I was trying to figure out what would be best, put together a super combo of Parker-Manu-RJ-Duncan-Dice and let the rest of the team try not to suck too bad, or split up the 1st unit and hope to achieve balance. Looks like this team is the way to go.
I don’t want to put Hill in unless we know he is ready. We can struggle through Dallas without him but he will be needed come later rounds. Bonner can cover half of Dice’s minutes and Blair can play for Duncan for 10 minutes or so, since Duncan will be in for 38. Unless we could manage a front line of Duncan-Bonner-Blair?
So this leaves our 1-2-3 rotation. Parker-Manu-RJ obviously, but Mason and Bogans are playing awful. Can Temple be put in? This is where we will be hurting until Hill can be in full form, and can cover the minutes of whoever is not in on the starting 3.
I just hope we can steal this one and head back to SA, hopefully putting the series at 3-1.
GO SPURS GO!
April 21st, 2010 at 12:14 pm
I guess Pop likes Bogans because he sees him as a Bowen-lite. So I looked up our performance with Bowen on the court vs. off on 82games.com. Over the last several regular seasons we generally did better with Bowen on the court then off, which says something considering he’s usually on the floor with the opponents best scorer.
However, in the playoffs, we have always outscored the other team by more with Bowen off the court. There may be a lot of reasons for this (like our bench being better for example), but it did make me think. Guys like Kobe, Dirk, etc can go off against anyone. So if a player’s on the floor as a defender, and doesn’t offer much production, what are you getting from them on a night when they guy their guarding goes off? Nothing really, and you tend to face a lot better players in the playoffs at a time when they are highly motivated. It makes me think that finding that defensive perimeter specialist who doesn’t do much else just isn’t worth it. At least most post defensive specialists get rebounds.
I guess what I’m saying is that maybe Bowen didn’t offer as much as we fans tend to think and Pop mistakenly associates our championships with Bowen’s performance more than he should, leading him to seek the same thing from Bogans and causing our current problems … or mabye I’m way off base.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I can’t imagine Mark Cuban is very pleased with Wayne Winston’s contributions here.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:29 pm
“San Antonio’s best lineup for the game was also highly successful during the regular season. The combination of Matt Bonner, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker was too much for the Mavericks. The Spurs ran up a +69.57 against the Mavericks when playing this lineup.”
I don’t want to argue with the numbers but is playing small ball the best way to attack the Mavs?
April 21st, 2010 at 12:42 pm
@bduran
Very interesting take. Maybe it has something to do with bringing Manu off the bench for Bruce? You touched on our bench being better in years past. With Manu anchoring the bench, the Spurs’ bench was always one of the best in the league. And in the playoffs, Manu is also going to log more minutes as well. Interesting….
April 21st, 2010 at 12:42 pm
It’s hard to give much credibility to the man who convinced Avery Johnson to go small against Golden State.
Also, no mention of Hill’s ineffectiveness due to injury and how that skewed the results?
Without context, this is really just a silly exercise.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:46 pm
I say we play blair, I say Manu ends with 30 pts 12 assists and blair ends with 20 pts 20 rebounds.. while Tim sit the 4th q cuz we already win by 30
April 21st, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Hill is clearly injured because he went scoreless for the 1st time all year. Hill should be held out for the rest of the series. Temple should get Hill’s minutes. Temple reminds me of Antonio Daniels.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Hairston should get Bogans minutes. Hairston shut down Kevin Martin. Hairston shut down Kevin Durant. Hairston should get a shot at Butler, Kidd, and Marion.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Hill is not gonna play, neither Hairston… Blair is
April 21st, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Este - a 1,2,3 and two 4s is small ball?
The biggest thing to worry about in regards to these APM measures is small sample size. You could even make the argument that the 82-game season is still a small sample size. The standard deviation is going to be huge.
We could have and should have won game 1, but you cannot adjust for Dirk making every difficult shot he took. Bang on Bonner’s D all you want, when he didn’t get called for a foul, he made Dirk take tough shots.
Shooting 8-14 is considered a great night in the NBA, and probably the kind of night that we would accept from Dirk if we stuck to single-covering him. If Dirk goes 8-14 tonight, I say we probably win the game if everything else goes similarly to Sunday night.
Don’t jump off the boat because of one loss. The gameplan is good. Stick to it, shore up some rotations. . . And play Blair more and Bogans less.
(sorry, just can’t resist)
April 21st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
@bduran That is interesting… but I’m not sure Bowen’s impact is the sort of thing you can measure with +/-. I think there’s just too much to the game to simplify things like that. That’s why I don’t trust +/- or APM. Just like RBIs we’re going to find out eventually that it’s misleading. I think APM doesn’t take into account some of Bowen’s additions to the team, like wearing the opponents down throughout the game, etc.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:31 pm
“The second Winston no-no was the Spurs lineup of DeJuan Blair, Keith Bogans, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili, and Roger Mason Jr. During Sunday night’s Spurs-Mavericks tilt, this lineup underachieved to the tune of -124.63.”
Big surprise there! I wouldn’t even play RMJ at all. That right there would solve this line-up problem. How can you play a guy that’s average-to-below-average for a guard in ball-handling, passing, rebounding, and defense, and who has shot just 31% from the field, and 24% from three over the last 32 games, at 18 mpg., and about 6 shot attempts per game?! HOW?!
“Prior to the series, Winston warned that the Spurs should play Blair with Bonner, but without Duncan. Blair-Bonner combinations are good for the Spurs.”
A Blair-Bonner combination may be better, but I would not, and I REPEAT, I would NOT be afraid to play Duncan & Blair together. That is a mistake. TD may need to alter his game a bit to accommodate Blair, but he’s perfectly capable, and the team would benefit with this pairing in certain situations.
“Winston continues to wonder why the Spurs play Keith Bogans, who, in his words, “killed the Spurs.”
I have NO idea how playing BOGANS could be WORSE than playing MASON?! At least Bogans doesn’t take too many shot attempts away from other BETTER shooters, and also plays better “D”.
“As for the Mavericks, for whom Winston was a paid consultant for the majority of the past decade, the road forward for is clear: play Brendan Haywood more. Winston’s exact words were that the Spurs could “bet Haywood will be in more.”
This is so obvious, it isn’t funny. I have NO idea what Carlisle is doing not STARTING Haywood. He’s more mobile than Dampier, a better scorer down low, and a better shot-blocker. There’s no advantage to the Mavs having Haywood come off the bench. Either way, he should definitely get more minutes than Damp. And unfortunately, this will give us more problems, especially without more minutes for Blair & Ian.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:34 pm
@OneWing
I consider Bonner a small forward based on his style of play. He’s always out on the perimeter and his post defense and rebounding is surely lacking.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:38 pm
The argument about Blair and Duncan not being able to play together doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. How can you not benefit from having two excellent rebounders on the floor together. It would IMO lead to extra possessions and more shot attempts.
April 21st, 2010 at 1:50 pm
This game tonight is pretty much a must win for the Spurs. I don’t remember the percentage off the top of my head, but a team that goes up 2-0 wins the series a vast majority of the time. A loss tonight would mean we have to win 4 of the next 5 games against the Mavs. This game tonight really is simple. As many stated, we need to do 3 big things:
1. RJ, Blair, or Mason need to show up and help out the big 3. Mason is trash, but he’s also due for a breakout game.
2. Limit turnovers
3. Allow Dirk to get his, but drastically slow the rest of the Mavs.
Two other things:
1. Dirk may drop another 36 on us, but it’s virtually impossible for him to shoot any better or be more efficient. We weathered the Dirk storm so things can only go downhill for him(we only lost by 6 in the process). Play him straight up and just make him work for his shots.
2. I’ve read a lot of the arguments on both sides regarding the Free Throw disparity in game 1. However, I would almost bet a lot of money that we won’t see that in game 2. The refs (and league) have ears and won’t call the game the same way. This should help the Spurs. (You can bet Pop has told the team to take it to the cup and run into people. He’ll stay in the refs ears lobbying for the fouls.)
**This is a huge game tonight. We have been very close to beating these clowns a number of times this year, but just haven’t been able to get over the hump. I feel that if we can just get a breakthrough win tonight, all that sh!t the Mavs fans have talking turns into worry. Tonight could be the turning point.**
April 21st, 2010 at 1:55 pm
i would like to see blair matched up with haywood. haywood doesn’t have the type of offensive game that could exploit blair’s height disparity and blair would love the chance to throw himself around. i would not be surprised if ian got minutes tonight. he may be capable of getting haywood or dampier in foul trouble.
i bet we see some different looks all over tonight
April 21st, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Jim Henderson
April 21st, 2010 at 1:31 pm
“I would NOT be afraid to play Duncan & Blair together. That is a mistake. TD may need to alter his game a bit to accommodate Blair, but he’s perfectly capable, and the team would benefit with this pairing in certain situations”
Absolutely agree! Theoretically, I understand that Blair MIGHT clogg up the lane to Duncan, but the rewards might far outweigh the risks of playing them together. Duncan could play a more high post position especially with his patented 17 ft bank shot.
Here’s the bottom line: we need someone to help out the Big 3. RJ should be the one we go to, but he’s unrelieable at best. Blair causes matchup problems and makes people uncomfortable with his hustle, energy, and telekinetic ability to find the ball. We need a 4th gun. We need more than the plain vanilla big 3 (not that they aren’t great) to pull us through a team as talented as the Mavs.
April 21st, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Kevin,
I’m also not a big fan of +- for player evaluation, but I did think it was interesting that we never did better with him off than on (in the postseason).
Here’s the problem with having a defensive specialist like him. We call him a defensive specialist because plays good d, but doesn’t do much else. So what happens if you replace him with an average producer/average defender. Then Bowen has to reduce the player he’s guarding production (relative to being guard by an average defender) by more than the average player would outproduce him. This is really tough to do. Which is not to say that he didn’t ever do it, he was a really good defender. However, if Bowen did have some success doing this, it seems like it would be really hard to find anyone else who could do the same. So playing someone like Bogans who still produces poorly, but doesn’t provide stellar defense seems like a losing proposition.
April 21st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Hobson13
April 21st, 2010 at 2:02 pm
“Theoretically, I understand that Blair MIGHT clog up the lane to Duncan, but ……… Duncan could play a more high post position especially with his patented 17 ft bank shot. ”
Exactly!
“We need a 4th gun. We need more than the plain vanilla big 3 (not that they aren’t great) to pull us through a team as talented as the Mavs.”
Very true. However, let’s not forget, IF the Mavs play better (not Dirk), in addition to a 4th gun, we may ALSO need one of our big three step up and have even more of a DOMINATING performance than they had in game one. The fact is, “stars” are ultimately needed to step up BIG for their team to win big playoff games, and playoff series. And you’re right, this game is huge for the Spurs tonight.
bduran
April 21st, 2010 at 2:04 pm
“So playing someone like Bogans who still produces poorly, but doesn’t provide stellar defense seems like a losing proposition.”
Exactly, that’s why I’ve been a proponent of Hairston over Bogans since the all-star break (after the Rocket game).
April 21st, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hobson13
April 21st, 2010 at 1:50 pm
“3. Mason is trash, but he’s also due for a breakout game.”
By the way, I don’t agree with your position to play Mason, because he’s “due for a breakout game”. I don’t know if you saw a recent post I made (I think it was yesterday), but the odds (he’s had only THREE “break-out games” out of the last THIRTY-TWO!) of Mason having a “breakout game” at this point are too slim to justify his minutes on the floor, especially when acknowledging that he’s clearly an average to below average guard in all other aspects of his game. In other words, if he doesn’t shoot well, he hurts the team when compared to playing others on the team instead (e.g., Hairston, Temple, and even Bogans).
April 21st, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Jim Henderson
April 21st, 2010 at 2:51 pm
“By the way, I don’t agree with your position to play Mason, because he’s “due for a breakout game”.
You may not disagree with me as much as you think. I agree that Mason has been unreal bad the past 3 months, in fact I’ve said so numerous times. If I were Pop, I’d play Mason about 3 minutes and if he can’t hit his shot, I’d send him to the showers. Mason is worse than worthless if he can’t make his 3’s, but if he can provide a little outside hitting power, it might be worth having him. It’s a longshot, Jim, but 3 minutes shouldn’t kill us.
I don’t forsee Pop playing Hairston at all this series. Malik just doesn’t have enough game time experience, (which is Pop’s fault). I can’t see Pop trusting Malik in a game this big. I would, however, like to see a bit more of Temple, even though it would be risky to play him against a veteran playoff team. He could provide defensive length against Terry or Kidd.
Let’s get this thing done tonight, Spurs!!
April 21st, 2010 at 3:56 pm
we need to play bonner and RJ together more. they can shoot threes together and space it out
April 21st, 2010 at 4:05 pm
about to go on the court n warm up. i dont feel 2 good about this series. the mavs have 2 much talent. pray 4 us.
April 21st, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I think Bonners post defence is fine.
It’s his mid range defence which gets hammered.
If he just had to defend Dirk in the post he’d be apples, he can grind on people and play fundamentals because thats where he is skilled.
His D is worse when he can’t body his man up, if he has to give him space and get down low into stance with his arms out his lateral quickness gets shown up and he can’t recover if he gets off balance.
Its one of the reasons that Dirk is his nightmare cover. He operates out of the high post, that horrible in between land where theres no black or white and everything is shades of grey, foot speed and intuition.
I think everyone here is just about sold on the idea that Mase is a spent force. If only Pop could pick up on the vibe i’d be stoked.
April 21st, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Hobson13
April 21st, 2010 at 3:35 pm
“If I were Pop, I’d play Mason about 3 minutes and if he can’t hit his shot, I’d send him to the showers.”
Okay, that’s fair enough. THREE minutes!
“I can’t see Pop trusting Malik in a game this big. I would, however, like to see a bit more of Temple, even though it would be risky to play him against a veteran playoff team.”
We may be forced to take more risk. As I’ve said all along, the top teams are just too lengthy for the Spurs and their current, “safe” rotations. We’ll see. I hope the team tells me I’m jumping the gun tonight!
Bushka
April 21st, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Good points.
April 21st, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Play Mason? That poster was on his 9th tall boy. Mason and Bogans should be restricted to the hotel for the remainder of the series. Sneakers taken away and forced to turn over all Spurs uniforms and equipment immediately.
We have witnessed the below average play of these two Spurs all year long. We tried to hang with them. We gave them the benefit of the doubt. We cheered them on in hopes of them getting better…Didnt happen!
Seems that any coach’s philosophy would be to play a guy that can help you, but never play a guy that hurts you. Why not Pop?
Right now, for whatever reason, Mason and Bogans have not played good basketball. Why continue to punish the Big 3 and the fan base by trotting them onto the floor.
Clearly those minutes should be going to Temple and Hairston. Think of the production that would be gained by playing players that CAN do more than one thing well. Athletes with young legs and fire in thier bellies. What in the world does Pop think he is getting from Bogans and Mason? I just dont get it…
But, maybe this coach would rather lose, than play these young guys. Seems so.
Also, this bringing Parker off the bench idea is a bad one. Parker creates nasty mismatch issues for the Mavs and he knows how to play this team. Plus, have we forgotten? This is Tony. The guy that has been bailing our tails out for the past several years.
As for our 7 foot developement player, Big Ian….It is literally a damn shame to witness such a waste of talent. Kid works hard, wants to be successful, has great size, good feet, and seems extremely coachable.
Yet, after toiling around Pop and the Toros for 3 years, (YES, THREE WHOLE YEARS)he doesnt seem to have had any grooming at all. Nobody worked with this kid on his back to the basket game? His defense? His court awareness? Or is he just considered brain dead and untrainable?
Been saying it all year….Play this kid in spurts. Give him the green light to post up and attack the basket against Haywood and Dampier. Who cares if he fouls…Neither one of them shoots free throws worth a damn, and we would be in the penalty early with or without him. Why? Bonner on Dirk! No ref is going to give Bonner any calls and Dirk knows it. This matchup is a ptitful move on Pops part. Just wont work…Mavs laughing at that move.
Cant wait to see the game 2 adjustments made by this coach. Literally cannot wait!
April 21st, 2010 at 5:11 pm
When Mason can hit 3’s, let him play. For now, he is just causing problems and needs to pack his house to move to a different town, once trades are allowed again.
We can steal this one, making a 1-1 series for the next two in SA. Big games from everyone are needed.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:10 pm
So glad Duncan got 2nd foul early so we can play blair
April 21st, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Mason has had his three minutes already, NO shots. GET HIM THE _ _ _ K OUT OF THERE!
April 21st, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Too late. RMJ just played lousy “D”, and fouled Terry for TWO FREE THROWS!
April 21st, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I’m not sure what Carlisle is doing with the Barea experiment. Kidd was hurting us, Barea has been almost a non factor.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Nevermind - Kidd’s back.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:48 pm
This is what I dont get, if Jefferson would be in attack mode in every game, how can anyone stop us ?! Manu Hill Jefferson attack mode… wanna replacement ? kick in Tony Blair
April 21st, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Well, Jefferson doesn’t have a great handle - note that a lot of his points are coming as the defense is scrambling. Next year with Parker/Manu getting to the hole, Jefferson will probably get a fair number of points driving against a scrambling defense. Jefferson can’t be the primary initiator of the offense though.
Jefferson has shown to be a pretty good playoff performer in the past. In game 1 it seemed more to me like the early foul trouble caused him problems than anything else.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Jim Henderson
April 21st, 2010 at 6:30 pm
“Mason has had his three minutes already, NO shots. GET HIM THE _ _ _ K OUT OF THERE!”
Take it easy, Jim. I’m on the phone to Pop now. What the hell happened to Richard Jefferson? If he had played like this all season, we would have won 65 games! This is what we envisioned him being. Don’t know where this has been for 83 games.
April 21st, 2010 at 7:04 pm
anyone notice how bogans hasn’t played a single minute - a possible correlation with the current score?
April 21st, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Hobson13
April 21st, 2010 at 6:56 pm
“Take it easy, Jim. I’m on the phone to Pop now.”
I had to laugh at that one!
April 21st, 2010 at 7:59 pm
@bduran You might be right. But other fans really seemed to hate Bruce. That’s gotta be worth something, right?
April 21st, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Manu is my personal jesus.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:11 pm
There we go boys…THERE WE GO! Great game
Spurs.
On to game three!
GO SPURS GO!
April 21st, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Great game. Was awesome to see all of the adjustments from game one……………………………………….now, where the haters at? Mavs trollers?
April 21st, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Ballhog
“As for our 7 foot developement player, Big Ian….It is literally a damn shame to witness such a waste of talent. Kid works hard, wants to be successful, has great size, good feet, and seems extremely coachable.”
What are you talking about? How do you know how he works, or how coachable he is? Not to mention that i’m astounded at your good feet comment, I watched the summer league feeds, and have seen him on limited occassions with the spurs and he does not have the polish that you intimate he possess.
Where are you getting this info……
April 21st, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Manu is MY personal jesus…
I don’t care what the boxscore says Hill made the difference in this game
April 21st, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Wow!! Great win for spurs keep it up my boys .we are going to beat the F***ing MAVs. Today Spurs Haters especially Cuban saw what is timmy and spurs. GO Spurs GO!!!
April 21st, 2010 at 8:27 pm
The role players had to step up… the Big 3 will get theirs. RJ did it in the first half. Hill stepped up.
God doesn’t Tim look good!?! Even during our impressive run at the end of the season (that we were lucky Pop didn’t completely derail) Tim never lookcd this good! He is a different player in the playoffs.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Go Spurs!!! I decided tonight that we’re gonna win a championship this year. Mark my words.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:32 pm
@Gary
Him and Mcdyess. I love the effort today. Wonderful win! Gotta keep the momentum going though. Also, I think Pop listened to Winston. Bogans never played.
To all the Pop haters, I love what this guy does during the regular season. With limiting the big 3’s minutes down, those guys are saved for the playoffs. The Spurs probably could’ve averaged 59-60 wins a season if they played TD Kobe minutes, but they would have gotten fewer championships.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Ian works hard, has a great attitude, and is always the first guy in the gym and last to leave. He watches more film than anyone, and has the best basketball IQ I’ve ever seen. But the thing nobody mentions is how strong this kid is. I once saw him hoist a ‘79 Cadillac right over his head with little to no effort.
The funniest thing is how dominant this kid is in practice. He regularly whoops the starters all by himself. How this coach and the rest of the world has managed to miss this talent while I clearly see it… I’ll never know!!
April 21st, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I just loved that 3 that manu stuck at the end of the game, it was the dagger after Timmy had them on their knees.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Jordan i’ve been preaching that in opposition all season.
Pop couldn’t care if you don’t like his haircut during the first 82 games he just wants a healthy big 3 and parts for the end of April.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@Bushka
Something that everyone has to be reminded of. Thanks!
April 21st, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Even though the Spurs played better with fewer turnovers, the Referees had an impact on the game.
They called 4 fouls on the Mavs in the 1st 3 minutes, including 2 on Nowitzki that sent him to the bench. As a result the Mavs were more passive defensively and Nowitzki was passive offensively, kind of affected him like Jefferson did last game.
And by getting Duncan with 2 early fouls, Duncan had the stamina to play the entire 2nd half.
And there were no ticky-tack fouls on the Spurs this game that put the Mavs in the penalty.
Glad to win when Parker couldn’t make but 1 jump shot all game. Glad Bogans got a DNP-CD. Still prefer Temple over Mason to start the 2nd qtr. Hopefully next game Blair will make his layups.
Great win.
April 21st, 2010 at 9:41 pm
wow great game spurs fans!! i agree with the guy above, but i have to say i dont really give a crap seeing how the refs stuck it to us in game one, these refs were super soft to the mavs compared to spurs in game 1. i thought hills defense was huge!!! we really didnt see much of kidd at all except that three. im known as a parker basher, but i will admit parker showed great interest in defending kidd and barea so i was wrong about tp’s drive, but i will say he hasnt played like this (driven)..well probably in a year. jefferson needs to be consistent, but i think he will be alot better from now on & will not resort to his game 1 performance, hes a very cerebral player and i think he has egained confidence, against this team. the big fundamental was epic and it was beautiful seeing timmy do what he does best carry san antonio during crucial periods. i think we will take the series, ginobili hasnt even really gone off so im expecting a great game to come, hopefully he can take a load off timmy 1 or 2 of these games. im a lil dissapointed in hill’s offense as well as blairs i was hoping for blair to be amazing his first playoff appearance, i guess just spurs fanatic thinking ahhaa but overall the spurs just made my week!!! im glad to see the big three wrecking elite teams while proving analyzers wrong same ol story GO SPURS GO!!!!! WHERE THE PONY FANS????!!!!LMAO LOSERS
April 21st, 2010 at 10:55 pm
What a day , a dog day night and its a pity cause we could have as well won G1!!
Hill was a fantastic defender,that combination of Hill-Manu-TP , Dice-TD working together and Bonner RJ contributing was just fantastic to see a beauty ,that´s why we like you POP.
And the LessMAVS and the Cuban know!!
We are Spurs
We won four of them
We play defence
WE are a championship caliber team!!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL
April 22nd, 2010 at 8:43 am
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