Wednesday, January 27th, 2010...10:20 pm
Atlanta Hawks 90, San Antonio Spurs 105
Tony Parker left the game in the third quarter after rolling his Plantar Fasciitis-stricken left ankle during a layup. Tim Duncan corralled 27 rebounds, breaking a career single game record. The Spurs beat a +.500 team, a frustratingly elusive achievement this season.
In other words, what would normally be a workmanlike affair against a team that has not won in San Antonio in thirteen years turned into a rather memorable game.
Although it’s tempting to think of tonight’s win as a line in the sand, I am hesitant. We should be beating good-but-not-great teams like Atlanta at home on a regular basis and, so far this season, we have been unable to. It’s a seemingly routine game that turned out to be anything but and, in all honesty, I need the night to reflect further on it. For the time being, talk amongst yourselves.
29 Comments
January 27th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
I’ll gladly take the win. I’ll leave it at that.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I’d say it was more like yet another speck gone from the rapidly diminishing sands of time, than a line drawn in the sand… still though, good to see Timmy Beasting again.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I’ve wanted Pop to give Tony 10+ days off to rest his foot. I hope this ankle injury is not severe but also look forward to Tony getting to rest his legs/foot for multiple days. His explosion is not there and his jumpers end up forced thus he often over-dribbles which bogs down the offense. This forced time off would be best for him and the team.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Well said……..I have been a Spurs fan since 1986 and have followed every “good” and “not so good” Spurs ballclub since that time. Especially since 1999, you could notch a game like this as a victory just by looking at the schedule. Not this season. With this yr’s team, I don’t see the sense of urgency on defense which is usually the calling card of Poppovich’s teams. This season also seems to show the Spurs getting more careless with their turnovers and lapsing defensively more often. Things are getting interesting with the injury to Tony Parker. I think he can be counted out for a minimum of 2-3 wks depending on the severity of this injury (maybe longer). Time will tell how this goes. Needless to say, guys like Jefferson, McDyess, and Blair will need to be counted on to score. Is it just me, or does it seem like Richard Jefferson isn’t living up to his billing? I think its time his production needs to start matching his paycheck. If not in points, rebs, and assists, at least in effort and intensity to the point where he can be looked at as a difference maker. JMHO.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:03 am
The parker injury is kinda a blessing in a way. He is finally going to have to rest is foot and this will help the spurs in a few months when they have to be full throttle and jockeying for playoff position.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Considering our recent defensive form, this was a big win. The Hawks aren’t only a +500 team but one of the most improved squads in the league; man-handling them like that makes me smile! As for Parker? Well I see a silver lining, more minutes for the vastly under-rated Hill and some much needed rest for TP’s bum left foot.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:28 am
I had to check after I read the post, and yeah atlanta was 4th in the NBA so Id call that pretty great. Now their 5th still pretty great.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:20 am
Kinda hard to believe, but I thought Mace was outstanding defensively, especially in the 2nd.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:29 am
With Chicago’s win @ OKC, they are .500. Charlotte is also .500 right now.
Records against teams:
= or > .500: 10-18
< .500: 16-0
We have 26 games (9 at home) against teams at or over .500 and only 12 (5 at home) against teams under .500 left.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Finally a win, and this one feels really good!!! Even if I was quite nervous when the lead was down to 8 after leading by 26. In fact I thought: “Oh no , don’t you guys go up by so many points! You know what’s gonna happen!”
Holding Mike Bibby to 0 (!!!) points and Horford to 4 points, shooting a combined 2/17 from the field is a pretty impressive. One could sense that the Spurs really wanted to win this one. I wonder why we had to wait so long for this reaction.
I hope Tony’s ankle is not too badly damaged.
It’s annoying it had to come to this to see TP get some rest. Maybe this isn’t so bad after all (if his injury isn’t too bad).
This way George Hill (who played great, again) will start a few games at PG with (hopefully) RMJ at SG. He deserves some more playing time and did a good job last year.
Matt Bonner shouldn’t be playing as long as he isn’t really healthy, he hasn’t hit a 3 since he returned. And that’s all he’s there for! I was really upset to see him throwing bricks all the time.
Dyess seems a lot more comfortable these last 2 games, great thing to see! He seems to be prepared for Manu’s passes more often now; I think he should stay a starter, it seems to help his game. Blair should come into the game together with Manu. Timmy was a monster yesterday, hitting all of his 11 FT’s and setting a new career high 27 rebounds. That’s just crazy!
Also, it was great to see the Spurs taking care of the ball and only commiting 8 TO, grabbing 60 rebs and dishing out 29 assists. This game really felt good after so many frustrating losses!
Go Spurs!!!
January 28th, 2010 at 7:12 am
A good win. I thought our effort was better than ATL the whole game. First half was great - we contested every shot on defense (ATL helped us out by settling for jumpers), TD and McDyess ran the floor hard, RJ was aggressive and didn’t settle for jumpers, Blair was his usual, active self.
I expect TP to be out 2 weeks. Not only does this mean more minutes for Hill (never a bad thing) and Mason (playing well right now), but I hope Pop turns to RJ for more aggressiveness i.e. getting to the rim. We’re going to need his scoring and ability to get to the line.
All in all, a good win against a quality team. Let’s hope this carries over to Friday’s game.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:20 am
On Bonner - every one of his shots looked good. I’m sure that once his hand is fully healed, he’ll be back to his normal self.
I think Bonner getting hurt was an underrated factor in the Spurs’ struggles thus far. Not only was he playing the best basketball of his life, he makes the offense run much smoother with his ability to spread the floor. We were just starting to hit our stride as a team when he went down. I think his injury forced some of our guys into roles they weren’t comfortable or familiar with. Hopefully with his return, the Spurs can kickstart their postseason run.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:35 am
I agree Matt’s shots looked good but all were just a little off. As long as he doesn’t lose confidence I think he’ll be fine when the glove comes off.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I think you may be selling Atlanta a little short, coming into this game they were on track to win 56 games and Sagarin’s Predictor had them the 4th best team in the league (based on point differential and strength of schedule). This morning Hollinger’s rankings still have them fourth (I believe his ranking are similar to Predictor, but he weights the last 25% of games more heavily). This is a big win for us, especially given our last few games.
I’m on board with those saying this injury to Parker could be good for Parker and therefore the Spurs. He needs rest or something. For those interested in Production metrics, his WP48 (wins produced per 48 minutes) is down to .038 from .166 last year (.1 is average). I’m sure PER tells a similar story. I’m a big George Hill fan but he’s not there yet, we need Parker back playing close to form.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:46 am
A win is a win is a win. Time to rest Parker, get focused on the road trip, and get a good seed in the playoffs.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:50 am
man everyone’s field goal percentages were really bad, like 5-20 duncan, etc, if this was any other team like boston or the lakers i’m sure we would have lost this game due to our crappy field goal shooting…
January 28th, 2010 at 7:53 am
I don’t want to overstate the value of 1 win, but I am very happy about this one. Obviously, we needed a win, but we also needed to show that we could hold on and beat a good team. We have been so close so many times this year, but we have not been able to get over the top and win games against good teams. I won’t say that one win shows that we’ve turned the corner, but hopefully it is a good start to build on.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:56 am
Interesting watching the Spurs do what I proposed at the start of the year. Play 10 players for at least 1 quarter (12 minutes) each in every game.
Love the way the Spurs came out attacking and running the floor as if they were doing wind sprints! McDyess especially was hustling up and down the floor, but Tony Parker kept missing him for easy layups. Even Duncan ran the fast break with a beautiful assist to Blair for a layup.
This needs to be an every game type effort and hustle and mentality. Hopefully Pop will realize that playing 10 players for at least a qtr each in every game is the way to go.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Glad to get the win. In past seasons, we (fans) would analyze a loss and try not to read to much into it as it was not the norm (an exception to the rule if you will). This year, wins against +.500 teams is so rare that I don’t think we should read too much into it. The Hawks were on a road for the third night, they missed shots they normally hit (partially due to defense?), and since the Magic have been slumping the Hawks were just not amped for the game. Thus, much like the win against the Lakers (KB injured, etc.), it was nice to win, but there are still a lot of problems with the team.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Did anyone notice when RJ was “running the offense” he seemed to knock a couple shots down and get some other guys involved.
I like the idea of Pop letting RJ run a team and see how he produces. He seemed more comfertable in that role rather than standing around watching TP and waiting for an opportunity to shoot.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:14 am
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Trade_up_Popovich_gets_what_he_wanted.html
Buck Harvey always makes me feel better.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Is there any reason why TD’s field goal percentage has plummeted in the past few games?
January 28th, 2010 at 8:48 am
nice to see us get a solid win. even better that we could be so dominant in the interior against a beefed up frontcourt like the hawks.
tough to see tony go down, but he does need the rest. he may give a break to that plantar faci…foot pain, but he may be battling a weak ankle for the rest of the season. hopefully that injury will give him the rest he desperately needs.
why are roger’s minutes so inconsistent? even though he may not be shooting lights out every game (and he might if he played consistently), but his play is always solid on the defensive end. puzzles me.
hhaha. it was pretty entertaining to see ian shooting tp’s free throws. poor guy…
January 28th, 2010 at 9:02 am
For those knocking Bonner… he was shooting from all over the court prior to the game and didn’t miss a single shot. His hand isn’t affecting his shot. Like everyone else, it seems to be mental. I also noticed that he hestitated everytime he got the ball, and passed up quite a few open shots. He needs to get back to just shooting and not worrying about it.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:47 am
For those mentioning TD’s/everyone elses FG%- TD was 5-20, but most of those missed shots were putbacks/tip-ins that rolled right back to him. Thats also where many of is career-high 27 rebounds came from. Same with Blair’s misses.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:56 am
To add to what SpursfanSteve wrote, 21 points on 20 shots isn’t great, but it isn’t as bad as saying Duncan shot 25% from the field. He got to the line 11 times so you know he was drawing contact on a good amount of those 20 shots. Drawing contact while tipping the ball (multiple times in some cases) makes it difficult to finish so Duncan was forced to get his points at the line, which he did, going 11 of 11.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:36 am
See What happens when THE RED ROCKTET is in there. Yeah he didn’t make a shot but man can he spread the floor. Besides, he missed a crap load of games so you can’t expect him to shoo lights out.
He’ll be there when it counts. Crap! It counts right now!!!!!!!
BOnner will come around, don’t worry.
GO RED ROCKET!!!!!!!
January 28th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
With the way Bonner was playing before his injury he has earned a fair shot to get back into the rotation before the playoffs hit. And a fair shot is more than 2-3 games of poor shooting.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I like the win. Makes me feel hopeful again. TD’s shooting percentage is an anomaly just like Kobe throws up 3-26′s on occasion. It happens. Glad to see he’s still setting career highs so late into his career.
One thing: the Hawks are a young and athletic team, and we kept them to 90 points. That’s a wonderful step in the right direction.
I’m glad they won because I would not have had the energy to scream at both them and Obama in one night…
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