Golden State Warriors 104, San Antonio Spurs 118

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I never know what to say after we play the Warriors. Golden State plays a game so tenuously tied to what I identify as “basketball,” that one of these days I fully expect Anthony Morrow to begin shooting at the wrong basket, because the defense is “out of position,” or for Corey Maggette to drive straight into the Spurs bench, confident he’ll draw contact.

That is not meant to be a knock: I love watching these LSD-driven track meets. My point is that I never feel that there are many lessons to be gleaned from games against the Warriors. Monta Ellis is on my fantasy team though. So this game really was a win-win for me.

  • lvmainman

    Another game to reinforce that the Spurs are made for the small ball of the Warriors, Suns, Knicks. The depth of Spurs guard and small forwards, find someone to get hot like Mason last night or Parker, Ginobili, Hill or Finley and the Spurs are in good shape.

    How to we fare against championship caliber teams? Teams with post up players? Teams with bigs that protect the rim from Parker drives? Teams that cleanup the defensive boards?

    We’ll find out Dec 3rd against Celtics, 5th against Nuggets, and 7th against Jazz. Can’t wait.

    Happy thanksgiving to all.

  • ThatBigGuy

    Ellis was 15-20 fg’s for 38 points at one point before cooling off in the last few mins. That’s crazy efficiency.

  • junier23kae

    I learned that that the SPURS D is getting better.

    They didn’t choke away the lead like the Mavs. I know the Warriors still put up 104 but that was because the Spurs got sloppy with the ball.
    They’re D did hold off the Warriors long enough to get a 10 point lead and some breathing room. Eventually it ballooned up to a 22 point lead.

    The thing Im worried about is rebounding. I want to see more BLAIR. I know Pop is doing his thing but I just don’t want to see BLAIR on the bench come playoff time just because he is a rookie, like he did with Geroge Hill.

  • Grego

    I think there are some decent lessons.

    1) The team defense is getting better, especially without Duncan in. This is good for the regular season. If you take Ellis’ fantastic performance out of the mix, Warriors shot 39% (24-61) from the field

    Blair looked a little bit better on his rotations. But, I still don’t trust his defense consistently if the game is tight.

    2) The 2nd unit is able to maintain a lead for a long duration of time. Pop pushed his luck when he tried to do it for the full 4th quarter. But hey, Duncan and Parker still got a lot of rest.

    3) Parker looks pretty good out there. In his 3 games back, he’s averaging:
    18.3ppg/7 apg/4.6 rpg

    His turnovers are a little high and his FG needs some work (outside of the GS game)

    4) Dare I say, Mason looks like he’s finding his comfort level off the bench. Not sure who was talking to him, but now he’s driving to the basket and dumping it to the obvious open guy. Or he’s making solid jump shots.

    In his last 4 games:
    12.6 ppg/3 rpg/3.5 apg/1 tpg/23 mpg
    56.5% fg (5.3 fgm/8.6 fga)
    41.7% 3pt (1.8 3fgm/3.6 3fga)

  • Grego

    Correct on Mason’s stats.
    His FG is actually 60% and 3pt 46.7%

    Since I made the mistake, I might as well make up for it.

    For all those doubters of Duncan. Since he’s come back from injury (last 6 games):

    33.4 mpg
    20.8 ppg
    60.4 fg% (8.2 fgm/14.8 fga)
    85 FT% (4.5 ftm/5.3 fta)
    10.7 rpg (3 off/game)
    4.8 apg
    1.7 to/game
    1.8 bpg

  • Syndication Man

    You can’t really comment about the Golden State Warriors until their 2 big men come back from their injuries. Really, Mikki Moore as your starting center? Give me a break.

  • Hollywood

    Mason wasn’t making shots to begin the season but I did think he improved his game over the off season and I think now that his shot is falling the results are more apparent.

    He seems to have worked on his handle and while he still doesn’t have good speed he is able to occassionally get to the rim, which is a new development. He has some off speed moves that work decently. Also his passing has improved. I still don’t think he should play PG but I’m happy with him as 3rd string PG. Also I think it’s clear he’s deserved a consistent role off the bench ahead of Finley.

  • rj

    theo ratliff was not active for the game. any reason? it was interesting to see marcus haislip out there. pop must really be trying to conserve theo’s energy. maybe ian foul-on-mimi will get some minutes. i would have liked to have seen him get up and down with the warriors last nite.

  • Grego

    @RJ

    I think Pop wants to see what the others can do now that the team appears to be gelling both on the offensive end and defensive end.

    For all the flak Pop has been getting about how he plays personnel, it does appear he is doing what people are asking in time.

    If the lineup with Malik and Marcus wouldn’t have given that much of the lead, they probably would have seen the full 4th quarter.

  • Irwin

    @Rj

    Its actually Yawn Mahinmi..lol. Marcus Haisleep did score 2 points on a dunk?

    Our Blair Bear should have at least 20mpg for him to get going on his lack of D. We need more rebounds now because most of our opponents did get some offensive reb and get some 2nd chance pts.

  • http://projectspurs.com Robby

    Sorry Guys completely off topic. Just wishing you guys a great Happy Thanksgiving! Keep up the good work here at 48MoH. This comes form me and the Project Spurs Family!

  • jking000

    Not to be a stickler, Irwin, but Haislips shot was a 17 foot open transition jumper. The only reason I remember is because it was an awkward looking shot that I thought had no chance but ended up being the bucket that helped clinch the covering of the spread ;) .

  • Will

    My guess is that Pop wants to see a strong defensive effort, and some evidence of understanding the D system by players before they can hope to break the rotation. Which would explain why Mahinmi is still on the bench, and Blair not getting that many minutes.

    Even though Pop never appears to be too concerned about the Spurs record, it’s probably not the best time to give a lot of minutes to unproven players. It looks like Pop is trying to build a strong foundation (rotation) and will be happy to incorporate some changes later on, slowly.

    If you look at the rotations Pop started with the exact same team that finished last year, incorporating the newcomers a bit, then went for strong changes (e.g. benching Bonner). Once this rotation is set and the new players (mostly McDyess and Jefferson) know their place then it will be time to give more minutes to the bench (Blair, Hairston) and finally check the end of the bench options (Mahinmi, Haislip).

    Another thought about Mahinmi – not playing him this year might be the best to get him to sign a really cheap contract over the summer, since other teams won’t have a lot of cash and he’s really going to be an unproven commodity to all the other teams in the league (except the Spurs who see him in practice).

  • http://www.nba.com fatsocalifornia

    Popovich

    Get Raja Bell great shooter/Defender even if to trade Jefferson