It started out so promising…

by

D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images

And then it wasn’t.

  • gus

    let Splitter alone, let him find himself. let him fall and rise and talk again in two years (but be ready for huge offensive contribution when these playoffs come…a lot of pick and rolls with manu in 2nd querters, and those things)

  • Dr. Who

    First in! Awesome! Tiago’s dunk you very much get’s his own thread. Since he didn’t seriously injure himself, it’s OK to laugh now. I’m sure his teammates are giving him some business for it. Can we have the second picture on him on the floor looking around in disbelief? Don’t worry it’s all outta love #22. We’re just glad you’re actually on the court!

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    @ Dr. Who

    If I could’ve found the picture of Tiago on the ground you can believe I would’ve posted it. It would’ve been a before and after series.

  • Dr. Who

    Dangit Gus…. you must have a quicker mouse than I do. Just good natured ribbing with Tiago. He’ll rise up no problem next game. Most of us here are very very happy to see him (talented actual 7 footer) finally on the court playing with some of the first unit. It’s a delayed laugh.

    “Are you OK?”

    “Yeah I’m fine”

    “Good… BLAHAHAHAHAH!”

  • Dr. Who

    That would have been pure awesomeness Andrew! As it stands, having his own Hthread is pretty good. Pop’s comments afterwards were pretty darn good too.

    Coach Gregg Popovich seemed a bit astonished that Splitter avoided injury, saying “His butt bone must be made of steel.”

    New nickname? Tiago “Buns of Steel” Splitter??? Naaaaw. Just stay healthy and keep playing 22!

  • Hobson13

    I’m glad he wasn’t hurt. I was watching the game with my mother (she’s a big Spurs fan also) and we both lost it when he busted his butt. That dunk was the icing on the cake as far as this game goes. Lets go get some wins against Toronto and NY this week.

  • GMT

    At least he made the attempt. It can be worse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uihaNhipoak

  • Matt in OC

    Loved this play. Best funny this season, easily eclipsing the Gary Neal tech free-throw phantom high 5.

    If you haven’t seen the latter, then it’s worth youtubing. If you haven’t seen the former, what the heck is wrong with you?

  • Bankshot21

    We’ve seen dunks followed up by falls. We’ve even seen jumpers made then the arrogant Laker back pedaling a la Jordan and busting his ass…but what Neal did I never saw. That was HILARIOUS to me. Lol. Show’s personality that non fans would suspect wasn’t there.

  • Sam - Australia
  • rob

    I’ll be more than happy (in front of all my friends and critics) to have an order of crow with a side of humility garnished with a sprig of hope if Tiago improves to the point by the end of the season where he registers in the plus side in games played while playing for the Spurs this year.

    That said…I hope Tiago serves me that meal personally and that he can laugh about this incident as he grows into a fine player in this league.

  • ChrisWAMBO

    Tiago had an amusing dunk but he still cool.

    Anyhow RJ 1.0 had problem with the Spurs system last year and RJ 1.0 has a number of NBA years, can’t imagine Tiago trying to learn Pop complex system so no wonder why he gets confused at times, its part of the learning process.

    Many wants to get another big and so forth to help Spurs, I say stick with what we have cause if we bring in another big or another point guard that person will just be used for 10 days or for practice cause there is no way that person can learn Pop system in so many week or months.

    Tiago is fine, I actually like the way he defended and distribute the ball. I like that Pop inserted him for some of Bonner time.

    GO SPURS GO

  • junierizzle

    I guess he is fine so its cool to laugh about it now. But at the time I was like WATCH OUT!!!! Didn’t look good when he was flexing his hand afterwards.

    I think he was more embarrassed than anything else.

    If you think about it, it’s actually kind of cool that he just got up after that. He’s been taking a beating all year and he just gets right back up.

    Keep it up TIAGO. If you score, cool. But this season they just need you to play solid D. And don’t screw anything up. Now, will they please hit TIAGO on the Pick and roll a few times……..

  • Nima K.

    Hah.

    U wanna see something else funny about Tiago? Check out the caption somebody put for this photo. LoL:

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timmy_splitter_joke1.JPG

  • r.l.manuel

    #22 Tiago(let the bodies hit the floor)Splitter

  • AS

    @Bankshot21

    “but what Neal did I never saw”

    Really?
    Check this one:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc11PUnFgkQ

    Funny:
    http://tinyurl.com/2d43xwv

    http://tinyurl.com/2wd5tfd

  • AS

    @ Bankshot21
    “but what Neal did I never saw”

    I did:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc11PUnFgkQ

  • AS
  • AS
  • as

    Sorry for the posts above, they didn´t show up so I posted it again..and again

  • mybloodissilverandblack

    I could have sworn there was a push from behind from that Nuggets’ Ely guy. Perhaps that was why there was a little more forward motion on Tiago’s jump.

    That should have been reviewed by the League office, and Ely should have been given a flagrant, assessed a fine, and had his In-N-Out burgers confiscated.

  • idahospur

    Thanks for the Gary Neal links. Not living in the SA area, and not affording any cable packages to watch the games, causes me to view most Spurs games on ESPN gamecast. Sadly they do not include awkward Gary Neal fake handshake after Tech shot in the play descriptions.

    GO SPURS GO!!!

  • Bankshot21

    @AS

    Not as funny as Neal’s. Neal was shooting a tech and no one was on the line. Bogut had a few players on the line and was kinda silly with it. Neal had a dead serious face. Lmao

  • Bruno

    Splitter has been so long without playing that he forgot how dunk… But i laugh

  • ribanez1

    Leave the man alone. He plays hard when he is in and doesn’t complaint when he sits. Come playoffs time he will be needed and he will be effective. Give him time !