No, Really, What Do You Think?

Spurs: 43% FG, 17.6% 3PT.
Denver: 53.6% FG, 75% 3PT.

@SpursfanSteve- Spurs win in a 7 game series doesn’t good at all to me. So if Melo plays the Nuggets sweep the Spurs?

I think the constant trade chat has to be seen in perspective.

The spurs system is intense, and complex. It’s too late for some impact player to just toddle in and completely change the face of the franchise.

I think most pundits predicted at the start of the season that this was going to be a rocky, feast or famine affair for our spurs.

I’m happy to sit tight with the personell we have right now and put my trust in Pop to sort them out. With several key members of the rotation playing underwhelming basketball we have plenty of potential space left for improvement.

Bushka said it better then I have. I have been trying to say the same thing only not as well. I guess it doesn’t matter to some people though. They only hear what they want to hear. They only listen to that empty space between thier ears.

I gotta apologize to POP. All season Ive been criticizing him for his ever changing rotations. But you know what? THis game magnified the SPurs real problem. The lack of consistant shot making. Whatever POP does, the players still have to execute.
Like POP said, this is a game they should’ve won. NOt because Melo didn’t play, but because they got the shots they wanted. THey just didn’t go down. I’ve never seen a team miss so many wide open shots. ANd it wasn’t just this game. Its been llike this the whole season.
In the words of Jeff Van Gundy, its a miss or make league. The good teams just shoot better than the SPURS, plain and simple. IF THey do make a trade which they don’t need, IMO. It better be for a shooter. Mike Miller anyone??

I think the play that personifies the SPURS season so far was late in the fourth quarter.
SPurs were down by two, they have some momentum going, RMJ misses a wide open three that would’ve given them the lead, Billups comes back and he HITS a three and the Nuggs go up by five. If RMJ hits that three obviously its a completely different game.
Another dagger was in garbage time when Kenyon Martin hits a wide open three, just to rub it in.
Kenyon “I’ll crumble in Staples Center” Martin hits a three and the Spurs can’t.

Forget all the trade talk, rotation talk, Ian talk etc.
THe Spurs just have to put the ball in the hoop.

COme on baby!!!

We can’t forget that our two purest shooters (outside of RMJ) have missed a huge chunk of the season. Bonner and Finley were playing great for us before each got injured, and the Spurs are only now starting to work them back into the rotation. In a system predicated on having reliable snipers, it’s unfair to think that RMJ/MG can pick up the slack alone. Help is on the way…

Pop’s assessment is spot on as sometimes it is that simple. The defense wasn’t great but Denver has many weapons on offense so they’re going to get some open shots. The Spurs did well minus the occasional mistake in the 4th (which happens too often regardless of the quality of the opponent). If an opponent is going to make every open shot and 75% of their 3s, it’s impossible to win. When you miss your own open 3s against a good team it requires the other team to play poorly or you lose. Put these two together and it’s a compliment that the Spurs were down 2 (and shooting a wide open 3 for the lead) with 5 & and half minutes remaining, and again two minutes later.

That this was only one game skews everything to the negative. If you play the Nuggets in a series you want Martin to shoot. This is what LA did vs Denver in the WCF. Martin was left open and most games averaged one point per shot. Today he got 27 points off 21 shots. That, plus the 3-pt differential is ballgame. He’s the guy you leave so that Billups and Melo don’t beat you. In a one game sample size, Martin had a great game.

fellow fans

seen a couple game like this one through the year so far and it’s not good…

at the half it was something like 36% FG (?!)

how do you expect to beat a team having kenyon martin and friends shooting 3pts@75% ?

Ditto, Pop!!!!!

How about Okafor for Ginobli? Salaries are even, though Okafor has 5 years left. But he gives the Spurs what they need and at 27, can be part of a core with Hill and Blair.

Well, these are definitely not the Spurs of yesteryear that would suffocate on D and hit the wide open shot from the corner. We no longer have a Bruce Bowen or a Brent Barry, or a Nazi or Rasho to hold down the fort, or a savvy Robert Horry to bail us out with clutch shots in opposing arenas; no, we are now the pseudo-Spurs who miss shots and can’t guard the elite teams anymore. To make a title run we have to catch up to those elite teams unlike we ever had before. We are so far behind them that it is unbearable to watch, and we need players that can at the very least help us out like those aforementioned players that helped us with our title runs.

We need a versatile big man and a defensive stopper because teams aren’t taking us seriously anymore and use their advantages against us. If we don’t make any changes we are more than likely going to get swept in the first round by the Nuggets or Jazz, and even worse, the Mavs or Lakers. The pickups we got this offseason aren’t fit for our program and right now is the time to get rid of Bogans, Bonner, and possibly Mason. The time to act is now, or else I’ll be shutting off my television set come the third week of April.

there were many great moments in this game: RJ looked like he is finding himself (finally!), McDyess getting more and more confident, Blair is a phenomenon (and needs more consistent playing time, let him foul out as long as he is bringing energy and hustle, and some put-backs), GHill emerging as a real talent, Manu is working hard and can only be contained by himself, Bonner is working hard and gets better with each game, Tim is as consistent as the sun coming up in the east…

and some bad omens: the 12+ run at the end of the first half, the lack of rebounding (where’s Blair?), the inability to stop the pick-and-roll, living and dying by the 3-pt shot instead of penetration to the hoop…

As a measuring stick, losing to the nuggets without Melo, at home, is obviously not where the team needs to be to compete for a championship… They only have about a month to get it together… if the Spurs are not consistently beating teams like a short-handed Denver by the end of February, there is no chance for #5 in June.

And stop with all the trade talk. It ain’t gonna happen. We just need everyone healthy and a consistent 1st team / 2nd team line-up.

Hate to say it…but Pop is right about one thing. We can’t make it without Ginobili playing well. It seems now, more than ever, as MG plays, so go the Spurs. And while his determination, defense and hustle isn’t questioned, his shot and offensive efficiency are suspiciously missing.

Look at the last number of losses, and you’ll see MG shooting very poor in each of them. When he shoots well, or even decent, we tend to win. I hope he gets his game back on track soon, or I fear, the Spurs aren’t going to make it.

Which brings up the bigger question..MG has been *THE ISSUE* in the lack of the last two years playoff success. So what to do? Does the Spurs organization keep hanging the post season success hopes on Manu being healthy and playing well?

Looking at this glass half full, the fact that we shot so poorly but were only down two was an encouraging sign. Our defense created a lot turnovers. Ball movement, as always, looked good. 4 out of 5 of Mason’s 3s were wide open. I’ll take those odds any day. Pop is right - they just have to step up and make a shot.

My thoughts on the game Spurs should have won:

1. The Spurs lost the game when they gave up the 12 pt run at the end of the half to J.R. Smith, giving him way to much confidence for the rest of the game. In years past 2 straight baskets and Pop switches Bowen to the streaky shooter, shuts him down for the rest of the half and kills the shooters confidence for the rest of the game. Pop must not have any confidence in Bogans b/c it was obvious we needed someone bigger to guard Billups. When we doubled he just kicked it out for wide open jumpers.

2. Manu seems to be making every shot more difficult, like if he gets a bonus pt for degree of difficulty. I haven’t seem him take as many off balance, falling away, or drifting off to one side jumpers in previous seasons as I have this year. Overall he is playing well, just not efficient when we need a good shot.

3. We need to trade for a pure shooter with ice water veins…we haven’t had that since Kerr. It is obvious the only way we are going to win games is by outscoring teams. If we can’t come together on this rodeo roadtrip we should think about skipping the playoffs for the draft.

@ Laker Fan.

YOu are a Laker Fan, that move would kill the Spurs.

The propensity to panic needs to be put on hold.

Things are not so grim, some key points.

Pop knows more than you, more than me, more than all of us combined. Have a little faith.

The players are proven, they have the potential to do great things they have just yet to gel.

If the system is ingrained and locked in when that potential is reached we are a team to be reckoned with.

Theres still a lot of basketball to be played yet. Plenty of room to grow.

score of the game overall was low, if you exclude garbage time they kept em under a century, right?

so I think that’s what he means.

The thing he was very specific about up front - “Four Horrible Shots” at the end of the second needs investigating.

Who took those four shots? I missed the game. Also, your notes on tis are vague - I note a couple of TOs but not 4 missed shots, can u clarify.
pls.
thanks.
worried about our guys.
mtk