Tuesday, February 1st, 2011...10:02 pm
Portland Trail Blazers 99, San Antonio Spurs 86: How no one fouled out of this game, I’ll never know
In the NBA, bad games are to be expected. You can’t play at the highest level every night. Eventually, you’re going to find one game where every person is struggling. But enough about the refs, the Spurs didn’t play very well either in a 99-86 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Personally, I’m against blaming refs for a loss. The attempt at a creative lede aside, the refs never decide a game. There are always so many other factors at play. But it has to be acknowledged that the officials in this game were not at their best.
The Spurs ended up committing 20 fouls in the game, one-and-a-half more fouls than they’re averaging on the season. The Blazers committed 17 fouls, more than three under the 20.4 they’re averaging this year.
But the way the Spurs defended was a huge factor in why they were whistled for so many fouls in Portland. It reminded me of the first half of the game against the Raptors a couple of weeks ago. The Spurs were sluggish in their rotations and just a split second late.
Not necessarily lazy — although there was some of that too — but they just weren’t sharp. In the NBA the difference between being sharp and not can be the difference between a foul and good defense.
Also a big problem for the Spurs was the free throw shooting. When the Spurs did draw fouls and go to the free throw line, well, they sucked. San Antonio shot just 15 free throws in the game and sunk only eight of them. LaMarcus Aldridge hit 8-9 free throws in the game for the Blazers and, oh by the way, finished with a career-high 40 points.
The Blazers as a team shot 51% from the field compared to the Spurs’ 53% from the free throw line. So yeah, the Spurs probably deserved to lose this game.
For San Antonio, no one stood out and had a top-notch game. It looked like DeJuan Blair might after he had a double-double in the first half. But Blair didn’t contribute much at all in the second half and finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The only notable game for the Spurs was Antonio McDyess’ because it was so bad. Dice finished with seven points and six rebounds in almost 28 minutes, which are better numbers than his season averages, but boy were those minutes bad.
Dice had the second worst +/- on the team at -10, and was in pole position for the worst until George Hill led the team on a negative tear and stole the bottom with a -15.
Dice also had four turnovers and three fouls. For a big man who handles the ball as little as Dice, four turnovers is inexcusable. For the cherry on top, Dice shot just 1-4 from the free throw line.
It’s not the start to the Rodeo Road Trip that the Spurs were looking for, obviously. Now with the Los Angeles Lakers looming on Thursday night, San Antonio faces the prospect of an 0-2 start to the annual trek around the continental NBA landscape.
96 Comments
February 1st, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Uh oh. But here’s hoping we beat the Lakers on Thursday. At Staples. Awesome that would be.
February 1st, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Not the fault of the refs, but boy were they bad. Happens to every team a couple of times per season and this was the first truly biased/awful officiated Spurs game of the season. The lack of consistency between touch fouls favoring Portland, while hacking was allowed of Spurs players was bad. It also took all rhythm from the game which usually hurts both team, except in this case the calls kept sending Portland to the FT line.
Oh well. The inability to make open shots was a bad luck night. It’s certainly a night where Bonner was missed. The defense in the 2nd half was mostly poor, but this game was still winnable by making a couple FTs and a couple missed layups. Better to head to LA focused on team defense since those shots will go in more often than not.
February 1st, 2011 at 10:36 pm
the blazers rotated 3 off the bench……so did we. with such a depleted team, shouldn’t we have tried rotating splitter and maybe even anderson slightly to wear down portland? maybe one of these guys could have given us effort that could spark some kind of contagious energy. pop tends to tighten up our rotation on the road. i am not particularly a fan of this. keep the rotation consistent. don’t rob tiago of the already sparing minutes he earns because we are in another gym. maybe he could have covered aldrige slightly better? ohh well. i’m not a coach. i was hoping l.a. would win so they aren’t reeling and desperate, but they kinda are anyway……
February 1st, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Can someone please remind we why did SA WASTE so much money on Splitter?
1 - SA was getting HAMMERED in the paint
2 - SA was getting killed on the pick and role
3 - Pop HAS to rest TD
4 - Blair got in early foul trouble in the 3rd.
5 - Bonner is injured
ALL 5 things should point to some extended burn for Tiago right……… WRONG - Pop goes RJ at the 4 again….. and Portland proceeds to beat us down like we owed them $$.
SO as of right now I’m officially starting the TRADE Tiago Splitter bandwagon. The guy is absolutely useless. If he is only worth garbage time minutes now, than he has no worth on THIS team. I’m sure SA can get something for him, even if its just cash or a Full MLE next year and still be under the cap. Hell is we can just ship him off there has to be SOMETHING in the D-League better than this guy.
I know a lot of people are gonna say I’m jumping to conclusions here and that he needs more time…
He is a 26 year old rookie bigman with ZERO NBA level skills that I have seen so far, other than drawing fouls. I say again, there HAS to be Something better in the D-League. Every game I watch a random Big put up season/career highs on us I just look at TS and ask myself. Could our FO really have been this far off on him, or do they have some really weird man crush on foreign players?
February 1st, 2011 at 11:29 pm
[...] HeraldSpurs begin road trip with loss to BlazersSportingNews.comUPI.com -SBR Forum -48 Minutes of Hellall 225 news [...]
February 1st, 2011 at 11:54 pm
can’t win ‘em all.
“The Blazers kept up the pressure but San Antonio kept the edge with 13 points off rebounds compared to Portland’s two. Rookie center DeJuan Blair had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the first half as the Spurs led 52-47 at the break.”
guess that goes for espn’s wrap-ups too.
February 2nd, 2011 at 12:49 am
It was a disappointing loss, alright. But I think it was understandable with all the distractions for Tim Duncan, who spent all day in Portland promoting his new shoe, “The Duncan”, for Florsheim:
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/tim-duncan-announces-shoe-deal-with-florsheim,18718/
I can’t wait to see the ad…
February 2nd, 2011 at 12:59 am
Alridge was unstoppable. Lots of bad calls. Meltdown in the 4th quarter. Pop not happy. Wish for a better game against Los Angeles Lakers. Go Spurs go
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:12 am
@TD = Best EVER - I feel your pain, man. I know you’ve been frustrated by the play of our bigs all year long and are worried about how they’ll hold up in the playoffs-which is certainly a legitimate concern. But if ever there was a time to trade Tiago, this isn’t it! I don’t think “Buy high and sell low” was Warren Buffet’s secret. Besides, to my eyes-and admittedly I’m just a long-term fan who mostly stayed on perimeter when I did play, back in the Pre-Cambrian Era-he doesn’t look like someone who has zero NBA-level skills. He looks like someone who’s a bit lost on court.
As you may guess from my handle, I live in the UK. I had already been doing my job professionally before I came over. And I was pretty bewildered for a few months. There are all sorts of things that everybody takes for granted that take you by complete surprise-even in England. I also used to live in Germany, so I can tell you that language makes it ten times worse. When you move to a new country with a foreign language and a different approach to the way you do your job, it can take quite a while to get used to it. Gary Neal and James Anderson adjusted very quickly, but they’re both Americans who spent years playing American-style ball and had all summer to work with the staff on the Spurs’ admittedly formidable system. Tiago got thrown into the deep end and is still just trying to stay afloat. By the end of the year, he just might be able to start swimming. But if not, it’s still foolish to abandon him.
J.A. Adande has a column on ESPN.com about how the Lakers don’t really have the ability right now to make a trade that will improve their team. Frankly, the same is true of us. We might get lucky and be able to pick up a contract buy-out special, like Troy Murphy. But, basically, these are our guys. And, hey, even after losing on the road to Portland (a likely playoff team with arguably the biggest home-court advantage in the league), they’re 40-8! Just relax….
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:51 am
@TD I’m curious with RJ at the 4. Who was guarding Aldridge? Small ball doesn’t always work when you need a better defensive/rebounding lineup based on matchups. It worked well against Jazz last week and last year in first round of playoffs. It failed badly last year against Phoenix in second round. Bonner at the 4 is also a small ball lineup since he doesn’t provide that much defense/rebounding.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:59 am
Come on, TD=Best Ever, why would you spew some garbage like that about Splitter, who has not had even ONE season in our system?
RJ was the recipient of the same kind of poison last season and as Tim In Surrey stated, he is stateside, not having to adjust to a different country, American vs. Int’l hoops (much less the Spurs system, which is quite complicated) and all the while being fed minimal minutes.
Why don’t you calm the hell down and allow this guy to assimilate as RJ has had to do? Being a true fan means exhibiting patience during the peaks and the valleys.
Pop and RC know what they are doing and let me tell you, Splitter has serious talent as many have stated that he has MORE ability than even Luis Scola.
This is game one of the RRT, so my take is the sky is not falling - although San Antonio getting snow tomorrow sure as hell seems like it might be come Thursday….perfect timing since the Spurs will be taking on the Lakers!
February 2nd, 2011 at 6:07 am
@Bob-as i recall, the spurs were getting beat with the blazers’ quickness, so pop countered by going small with rj at the 4. our center (?) was then guarding aldridge, since the blazers were also going small much of the game. i believe it was mostly duncan or mcdyess. it didn’t work.
on another note, i noticed all of our gaurds collectively shot about 33% from the field this game. parker, neal and even ginobili had rough shooting nights.
February 2nd, 2011 at 6:53 am
@ Alix Babaie
“Come on, TD=Best Ever, why would you spew some garbage like that about Splitter, who has not had even ONE season in our system?”
Because Tiago is less than half of what we were promised or thought we were getting. If we had known that this was what we would be getting our FO would have left his butt in Spain. He was suppose to be the BEST BIG IN EUROPE. If so we should stay the hell away from Europe when it comes to finding bigs. He was suppose to be NBA READY from DAY 1, and give IMMEDIATE front court help. Getting somewhere close to 10 and 6 that Scola got his rookie year. But forget about the 6 rebounds, he can’t get 6 min of court time. Even while we are short handed and are desperate for a post defender like last night.
For those who say he needs time to get used to the NBA and America and that he is more talented than Scola. Well Scola didn’t need a year to get in the game, he played right away, and played all 82 games if I recall correctly.
Let me put it better this way:
Scola - rookie year: 10/6 and showed that he could rebound and shoot the mid range J well at the NBA level. You knew that if you gave him time, he would be a pretty good NBA player
Blair - rookie year: 6 boards a game in limited minutes. Showed that if you give him time on the court that he could probably be top 5 in rebounding.
Bonner - 3 point range from the 4 spot, floor spacer
Dice - great mid range J, damn good post defender(not so much last night, but that’s another story), and also a good rebounder of the ball.
I hope that you are noticing a trend here. Namely rebounding, something that ALL BIG’S should be able to do well. If not you had better be able to shoot it like Bonner. EVERY NBA team could use a good rebounding, floor spacing, and/or a mid-range shooting Big.
Tiago is neither of those above and hasn’t shown that he ever will be.
February 2nd, 2011 at 6:55 am
I think it is maliks fault. what is his -+ when he’s broadcasting.
We need some interior Defense i.e a shot blocker. There is no way we can compete with boston or LA because of our sizes. I would like to trade for big ben and t mac for splitter and a first round. Or something like that.
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:00 am
The thing that worries me about most Spurs fans (at least the ones here) is that we are okay with a 6-3 RRT. While that is a good record for 9 road games, most ppl expect us to win the 6 games against the sub 500 teams and lose to Port, LA and Chi. If we are a quality team like we think we are should we not go 6-3/7-2 with a couple of good road wins? Port is out of the door now…. we have to beat LA/Chi. Remember we will not be playing the sub 500s in the playoffs (we are not in the East).
Gasol and Nowitzki are licking their chops after the performance that Alrdige had against last night.
I am not over-reacting to one loss but we need quality road wins or we are not making it far in the playoffs.
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:01 am
I didn’t get a chance to watch the game last night but by the look of the ‘play by play’ from espn on the fourth quarter, I think its safe to say the refs hosed us. Portland has several possessions in a row that either were continued by offensive rebounds and/or shooting fouls. Either the spurs couldn’t get a rebound to save their lives in the 4th and were playing horrible D, or the refs were having a heavy influence. Can someone who watched the game confirm this?
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:29 am
TD=Best Ever
So…..you wanted Splitter to take on Aldridge on a career night in the paint? He might have lasted 4-5 possessions in my opinion.
Splitter ain’t that good yet man. Simple. Poppovich only plays players when they can contribute.
Last year the talk on here was “why isn’t Mahinmi playing” or “why did we trade Gooden or Mensa-Bosu.”
…..I know why, its because they aren’t/weren’t very good and Poppovich could see that clearer than you!
Just chill on the Splitter talk. He’ll play when he can get out there and actually make a defensive rotation.
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:34 am
No problem with any individual calls last night - just felt that teams were allowed to physical on one end, but a bunch of ticky tacks were called on the other.
That said, Portland defended their butts off last night. Spurs moved the ball poorly, which combined with the Portland D created very few easy looks. Take away the offensive put backs early and the offense would have looked REALLY ugly.
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:42 am
@Tim — First of all, love the name. But about the RRT, why? The fact is that most great teams still lose a good bit more on the road than at home. Our overall record before last night was 40-7, or about 5 of every 6. Project that over nine games and you’d expect either 8-1 or 7-2. But when you consider that our ROAD record was 15-5, or about 3 of every 4. Project that over 9 games and you’d expect either 6-3 or 7-2. But that’s not allowing for the fact that four of our losses were in back-to-back road games. So a record of 5-4 or 6-3 seems pretty reasonable to me. This road trip is front-loaded for quality, with Portland and LA at the beginning. In the entire history of the NBA no team, not even the ’96 Bulls, would’ve been favored on the road against a defending champion that’s winning 70% of its games. And few would’ve been favored against a team with a 25-22 record.
And, while it’s true that you do need to win on the road to win a championship, this team has already demonstrated that they can do that. You see, what worries ME about most Spurs fans (at least the ones here) is that they don’t realize that, even with last night’s loss, the Spurs have the best road record in the league.
And as for Gasol and Nowitzki… I think they’re probably focusing more on how they’re going to stop LaMarcus Aldridge than they are licking their chops at the prospect of facing the Spurs. Just as with Nowitzki, it doesn’t really matter whether you use a small 4 or a big 4 against Aldridge. He’ll either use his length to beat the former or his quickness to beat the latter. Pick your poison. That’s why a lot of people think HE should be an All-Star over Tim Duncan (although I disagree, of course!).
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:48 am
Pop didn’t go with RJ at the 4 until late in the 3rd quarter and the start of the 4th quarter. By then Portland had already stopped using Przybilla and Johnson and were going with Cunningham and Aldridge as their two bigs. The lineup with RJ at the 4 was only a -1. They went back to Duncan and Blair at the bigs, and Portland went on a 21-5 run about that time.
Blair was at a +10 through most of the 3rd quarter. Once Cunningham replace Przybilla, Blair was a -13 the remainder of the game. I’d say Pop was trying to go with the players he thought would win the game. If he knew from the start that they would lose by 13, he might have thought about not playing Duncan, Blair & McDyess so much and go with Tiago instead.
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:19 am
Relax everybody.. we are still 40/8 but probably 40/10 by Friday night(yeah..SAC is big and big gives us trouble). But still relax. We do need to give Splitter a year or so to adjust and then if he is not into it then he would have 1 year left on a mild contract we can trade him or just get rid of him. I do think we should try to trade him+ JA + 1st rounder to Denver(once melo is gone) for Nene & Fary Forbes(backup SF). If not possible we should try to get Dalembert or Troy Murphy after buyout if possible(I’d lean more towards Dalembert as a shot-blocking/altering big..who can score some)…. We should really go after this year and not waste our good fortunes. Drive for Five… Go Spurs Go.
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:22 am
@ Ersl
You either need glasses or were looking at the wrong play-by-play. 7:59 mark in 4th qtr until 2:54 left—Blazers: 12 possessions- aided by 5 offensive rebounds & 1 steal; 5 missed shots, 1 blocked shot; 6 made shots &ONLY 2 FTs= 12 points —92. Spurs: 7 possessions- 3 missed shots; THREE TOs (stolen ball, charge, travel)/ 1 made basket=2 pts—80. Game over. And BTW- all 3 TOs made by Spurs’ veterans. Nothing to due with refs (as a lot of Spurs fans blogged on ESPN Game Conversation blog. Portland fed off of Aldridge’s monster play (Miller was stout also) so the other teammates stepped up and took the game from the Spurs. Review that play-by-play again. Also-until Manu’s 2 FTs at the end, 4 of our starting five went 1/1 at the line-3 of them 0/0 (Blair, Manu, Tony).
All games can’t be won with an 8-12 point margin; but when the game goes down to the wire, I expect this veteran, offensive geared squad to keep pace with the opposition, all the while play hard D to get a stop. Until the 4th quarter collapse, Spurs had 12-13 shot advantage, double-digit offensive rebound & total rebound margin. No 3 pt flurry got Blazers back in it-FT descrepency the big equalizer, plus Spurs poor shooting and lack of assists (Portland only had 4 more (13-17), but they didn’t need them until the end-it helps when 3 players account for 80% of a team’s points.
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:34 am
@ Daniel T
‘If he knew from the start that they would lose by 13, he might have thought about not playing Duncan, Blair & McDyess so much and go with Tiago instead.”
4th quarter, 7:59 left-score is TIED, 78-78 -what are you talking about? Tim logged 30 min; because of foul trouble missed most of 2nd half and only was on the floor 26 min; and McDyess played 28 (horrible) min. To paraphase Herman Edwards- “Pop played them to win the game.”
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:36 am
@TD = Best EVER
Scola didn’t a year because he don’t need to learn a system, don’t had a injury in pre-season, he had TIME to play. But i agree with you, we need trade him, because on game with Duncan and Macdyess HORRIBLE in defense Pop don’t let he play, could not do worse than TD and Macdyess…Why not let Mr.Anderson play??TP and Hill was bad. I know they really have talent but we need trade Splitter and Anderson because Pop will NEVER trust them…Let Splitter/Anderson go to Phoenix play PnR with Nash and score 20 points/game to we get Grant Hill…
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:37 am
P.S. Excuse my typo—Blair played 26 minutes due to foul trouble. Oh, and about Tiago-coach did not put him until game was decided. TWO minutes-speaks volumes….
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:58 am
I think most fans were not under the assumption that it would take a league MVP to need a year to adjust from FIBA to NBA ball. And if this system continues to be that difficult for seasoned proffessionals to understand and adjust, then the timetable for acquiring the talent needs to be expeditied, i.e. drafting players one summer, but then waiting 3-5 seasons before actually getting them on the team.
So it seems like a Split(ter) group (couldn’t resist); the Pro-Tiagoes give him a pass because of his busy 2009-10/injuries/adjustments to new league and team system; the AnTiags are frustrated because we need solid production/contribution from him come mid-April.
Let’s chalk this up to a struggling, but resilent young squad trying to stay in contention, and coming off of 5 days of rest & practice before last’s night’s game-therefore were hungrier for the W. On to Thursday- get a win @ Staples in from of a national audience (and Charles Barkley).
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:14 am
@Tim in Surrey: I guess I wish we played like the Celtics, in the sense that we always play well (win/lose) against the good teams and are more likely to lose to the bottom dwellers.
While most ppl here seem happy to trade for the “answer” (you can fill in whatever you think is wrong) I just want a team that plays consistent defense. I don’t care what LA/boston/Miami is upto but I want to see good defense from our teams on a nightly basis and that is not happening right now!
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:16 am
As a high school basketball referee, I hate when losses get blamed on refs. I’m not saying refs are infallible because even I was screaming at them with 4 min left in the game, but let’s face the facts that the Spurs were not shooting well at all and that had nothing to do with the refs.
When you leave 7 easy points at the free throw line in a tight game it’s going to kill you. Or when Tony Parker is held to just 6 points on 3-11 shooting, you are not going to win games.
I also agree that Pop needs to start giving Tiago more minutes than junk time if he expects him to contribute to this team at all in the playoffs or even next year. You can’t expect a guy to contribute if he never gets on the court.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:19 am
Tim in Surrey-
I loved that article about Tim’s deal with Florsheim. You are aware that it’s satire, right? There must be a Spurs fan or Tim Duncan fan on their staff because they seem to do an article on him at least once a year. They had one where Tim would show off by shouting out the angle of the shot before it would go in. Another was when he apologised profusely for getting out of control for looking at a referee too long. Both hilarious articles.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:20 am
So, according to hoopdata.com, Spurs are the best team in the league for opponent’s free throws (24.1 free throw rate); Blazers are 22nd (31.9). For getting free throws, Spurs are 9th (31.3) and Blazers are 28th (27.2). Last night, Portland had a 32.0 free throw rate and SanAn had an 18.3.
In other words, a team that has been good at getting to the line and the best at not fouling played a team that has been bad at both those things-and the bad team absolutely dominated that category. Very odd.
But I don’t think more Tiago is going to help the Spurs foul less . . .
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:23 am
As I mentioned, I didn’t think the Spurs would be focused. They weren’t. All you have to look at is the FT percentage, barely over 50 percent. McDyess had a real stinker of a game. Mills blows by Hill who just stands there like a statue (Pop loved that play). But no big deal. 82 games is a grind.
Boston lost before they played the Lakers. Lakers lost before they played Boston. Human nature.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:26 am
@ Colin
“So…..you wanted Splitter to take on Aldridge on a career night in the paint?”
In a word. YESSSSSSSSSSS. That’s what we brought him here to do for Christ sakes. Over the summer we were told by the FO/scouts that he would help out on smaller, quicker bigs. So basically anybody that does use power(Shaq, Howard, Bynum, Bogut, etc) to get buckets in the paint. So that means bigs like Dirk, Odom, LA Gasol, West, Aldridge, etc.
“Splitter ain’t that good yet man. Simple. Poppovich only plays players when they can contribute.”
My point exactly, he can’t help us this year or anytime soon for that matter. He will probably be next year what DJB is this year. And that is up/down 8/6.5 is not very sexy at all.
@ DorieStreet
“Oh, and about Tiago–coach did not put him until game was decided. TWO minutes–speaks volumes….”
Finally someone gets it - if we ca get a feature pick for him we should take it. WE can sign a D-Leaguer that can possibly help us THIS Year and save money to try and get help in the off season. We will be close to the Full MLE under the Lux tax.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:27 am
@td=best ever
POP and RC warned all the fans about Tiago. They said he aint gonna come in and be Pau Gasol. As far as Im concerned Tiago is right where they thought he would be.
Remember George Hill’s rookie year? Played good but still didnt get a ton of minutes come playoff time.
You have to give Splitter at least a full year with the Spurs. We will all know what he is really made of this time next year.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:32 am
DorieStreet:
What are you talking about “what are you talking about”?
I basically said that not knowing beforehand that he was going to lose by 13 points, Pop was playing to win. Pop did not know, as Bruno put it, that Duncan and McDyess would be HORRIBLE at defense until after they were horrible, not beforehand. Pop was likely thinking when he put him into the game, that as TD=BE puts it, McDyess is a “damn good post defender”.
It is easy to second guess once the game is over. It seems to me that Pop was playing who he thought was best at the time not expecting them to give him bad results. If Pop knew beforehand what we all know now. he might have decided to let Tiago play while the game still appeared to be up for grabs, considering the results.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:42 am
It’s a little troubling when it seems that the Spurs consistently struggle guarding the best opposing 4′s of the league. And Gasol is up next, he might arguably be the best in the league.
But my question is, only 34 points in the second half. What the hell happened to the offense in the 2nd half?
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:53 am
The Blazers 99 points wasn’t much above the Spurs’ opponents’ average of 97, while the Spurs’ 86 was about 18 below their average.
It will help when Bonner gets back (Bynum’s bone bruise on his knee sounds like quite a similar injury). It might also help if Anderson gets minutes similar to the 14 or so he was averaging prior to his injury rather than the 2:31 he played. His shooting continues to look good.
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:00 am
@ Daniel T
You are the one second-guessing- whether Duncan or McDyess should have played less time because of the final deficit. You mentioned nothing about their subpar defensive effort-read your post again. Despite the team’s bad shooting and allowing Blazers to shoot 45-50% throughout the contest, the game was tied, 78-78 -still there for the Spurs to win it. At that time, Tiago Splitter had not been in the game at any time. Do you think if the Spurs had not collapsed offensively but matched the Blazers point for point, so that at 2:54 the scored would have been 92-92, that Tiago Splitter would have entered the game? The answer- no. Once the score reach 80-92, Pop threw in the towel-he put RJ in for Blair, then Anderson in for Duncan, followed by Splitter in for Manu.
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:02 am
@ TD=Best Ever, and well all the pessimists.
it seems like you want every player to be an all star every game and if they arent, trade them etc. just take a few steps away from the edge, please. the spurs right now need players like tiago and anderson to develop. the same way rj did over the summer. hard work, learning to play cerebral basketball. this wont come getting abused by an allstar like aldridge, and getting the feedback like yours to destroy his confidence. this comes in the practice gym getting abused by tim duncan and using that to get better. that way when its his turn, he is ready and can supply something useful. the spurs have a ridiculous record and have this advantage of development that few other teams, well none, have. look at the best teams out there…..is boston playing avery bradley, is orlando playing daniel orton (despite their big man depth problem!), is lal playing caracter and ebanks. these players are good prospects just like tiago, on teams that arent playing as well as us, and they dont see the floor at all! seriously, minutes=0. The spurs have the great luxury of letting tiago and anderson to an extent have their year 1 spurs struggles in the practice gym where they can learn something from it, enjoy that. it would destroy these kids confidence to have the criticism rj had last year….he was veteran and man enough to do something about it, luckily. most athletes would have turned tail. the team just cant have 13 allstars…..
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:07 am
@ Junierizzle
Yeah- and Duncan will be another year older.
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:28 am
Another great game by McDumb. He is an integral part of our team!
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:31 am
Junior;
Pop has been wrong about when to give players time ESPECIALLY Blair and Hill.
If you recall pop said hill wasnt ready for the nba then played a good role in playoff. Same thing with Tiago: GET ANTONIO out of the game. The loyalty to players who arent good (bonner) and who are 90000000 years old is crazy.
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:36 am
[...] about Portland Trail Blazers 99, San Antonio Spurs 86: How no one fouled out of this game, I’ll neve… [...]
February 2nd, 2011 at 10:37 am
@ soulidefy
TD=BEST EVER’s angst is with our inside game-why are you inserting a guard’s name (Bradley) in your reply? (BTW- Allen, Rondo, Robinson, West-why would he see the floor this season?) I saw Daniel Orton “play” in the SEC-he was a project in college-is still one now (out of the league by 2012). Caracter & Ebanks are good prospects, but for other teams (if Kupchak pulls off trade, one/both will be involved). When Splitter arrived this past summer, 80% of the fans expected that a player with his experience and accomplishments internationally, would be able to step in and contribute with a steady, solid game this season. So far, it hasn’t happened. But at 40-8, hopes are up for a good solid playoff run at a 5th title- and the ‘pessimists’ want Tiago to step up. (Me, personally-I am not concerned about Anderson-7-10 more games and he will be back.)
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:05 am
Dang… I expected to lose some games during the RRT but one right off the bat. Yuck… The Rockettes gave the Lakers all they could last night so hopefully we’ll do the same. I despise seeing these 4’s light it up against this team. Odom and Gasol… man we better be ready. It’s time to send a message to LA Spurs!!!
@Collin
Don’t forget Haislip! The boards lit up when he was released and peeps were adamant about how the FO made a huuuge mistake by not playing him and then releasing him. I even made a side bet with a poster so he’d stop ranting about him. And…. I think he’s flipping burgers now with Pops Bonsu at the local Burger Shack (Hasilip not the poster). The coaching staff usually is a good judge of who can contribute and who can’t. There have been rare exceptions – Finley and Bonner starting last year and Hill’s playoff benching but eventually order has been restored.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:21 am
@tradetp…not right now
I hope you’re not implying that McDyess is not good??? He had a bad game for sure (to say he struggled is an understatement) but he’s been playing good ball. Especially for someone who doesn’t usually start playing until late Feb/March. I really hope Tiago gets his game in gear but for where he’s at right now he’s not warranting extra minutes on the floor. He’s doesn’t do anything to make you say, this kid needs more minutes! I hope he turns a corner at some point. I’m guessing the coaching staff sees much more in practice than what we see in garbage time.
I’m with you on the 90 year old thing if you’re talking about Finley last year. His allegiance to Finley was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen. When Finley left, the Spurs got better. It gave more minutes to Manu and Hairston and left the defensive liability (Finley) off the court which had an immediate impact in W’s.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:27 am
Doriestreet:
I’m not sure why you seem to not be able to comprehend what I have said. You seem to have missed the fact that I said “I’d say Pop was trying to go with the players he thought would win the game” and focus on “if he knew from the start that they would lose by 13″ as if I thought that he did have this foresight and failed to take advantage of it.
Perhaps someone else needs to explain for you that what I said was a rebuke of sorts of Monday Morning Quarterbacking, and that I thought that Pop’s moves made perfect sense to me.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 am
@Doriestreet
i was just illustrating that its a very normal thing for a first year player to develop in the practice gym, and this is especially the case with popovich and the spurs. a veteran team needs players to learn to play with the veterans, and play like veterans, not just thrown out there with expectations. name me some overseas players that came over and had these expectations tiago had on him right away. odds are they didnt live up to them because the NBA is a very different game. And if you name me Bargs Dirk or Manu…..cleary Tiago isnt and was never on the same level as those guys. Just chill out and let Tiago work hard! Let him learn how to be a player and person from the guys on the team.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 am
Gotta agree with TD=BEST EVER.
He gave 5 logical reasons why Splitter should have played. But, he didn’t. I don’t get it. Clearly, if Aldridge was destroying Duncan and McDyess(Espn highlights had Hill on him twice in the 4th qtr!), then Splitter couldn’t have done any worse! So, why not play him?
How is he going to improve without playing time? How is he going to adjust to NBA refs without playing time? How can he effectively learn the Spurs system without playing time? How can he mesh with his teammates without playing time? Why go from a 4 man big rotation to 3 and wear Duncan/McDyess out in the 1st game of a 9 game road trip, just because Bonner is hurt?
See if Tiago is any good and can help the team instead of wasting him on the bench.
That means Gasol will go for 30 points against the Spurs and Odom will have 20 on Thursday.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 am
Ben made a good point about the refs. i would add that what made them seem biased was their inconsistency. a few spurs defensive plays that looked like fouls didn’t get called, and several plays that looked okay got whistles from refs far away from the action. it also looked like the blazers’ agressive play was rewarded while the spurs’ agressive play weas whistled (or ignored). a bad night for the refs, it happens. combined with a bad shooting night for our spurs and great games by aldridge and miller…
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:34 am
@ soulidefy and well all the other Dallas MAVS fans
Stop making excuses for poor performances and players that can’t cut it. The Mavs should have a could have made big trades in the past but were not willing to give up fringe players and have steadily lost year after year since.
Your quote about Tiago basically sums up what even his strongest supporters think. That he needs
“hard work, learning to play cerebral basketball. this wont come getting abused by an allstar like aldridge, and getting the feedback like yours to destroy his confidence.”
Hard work and hustle, those are 2 things he should already have. And as far as my feedback destroying his confidence. I say screw his confidence, he is costing SA fans far more by not being who he should be. He may be costing us a chance at #5. Our BEST CHANCE EVER possibly. So if 3.5 million dollars and a chance to win a title your rookie year don’t motivate him to excel, the we got the wrong guy in silver and black.
This summer I and many others were begging for our FO to go out and get some quality front court depth. Shaq, Tyson Chandler, Anthony Tolliver just to name a few that were being floated out there are possible sign and trade chips. But most on this board said that we didn’t need them, that Tiago was finally coming to SA. Then you said he was too tired to play right away and needed rest. Then you said Pop is protecting him, and he will get more minutes later in the season. Now its wait until NEXT YEAR before we finally see the true Splitter. Just keep moving back those goal posts until you get it right. Right…. Wrong, this is our best chance now that we will have for a very long time. Tony/Manu both said that they would help there countries qualify for the Olympics, so they may not be healthy next year like they have been this year. So to that point what ever you do to make this year team better suited to win, I’m down with.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:59 am
I have taken a wait and see attitude toward Splitter… and I’m still waiting. I would like to give him more time, but I’m not opposed to trading him. Now is not the time. If we trade him now while he is showing nothing, we are not going to get something back for him. No team is going to trade us something for nothing. I would like us to keep him through training camp and the early part of next season and see what he does. If he still hasn’t panned out, showcase him for 3-4 games and try to get something back for him at next year’s trade deadline. He simply hasn’t shown enough this year to have any trade value. There is still hope that he can contribute for the Spurs. I hope he does.
February 2nd, 2011 at 12:19 pm
lol, im definately not a mavs fan. yall just expect rome to be built in a day and it wasnt. but it WAS built. the spurs have to use patience to build cause there is no tim duncan to be gifted to us to ensure continued success.
February 2nd, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Well….. Artest wants out of LA and they want to make a trade
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:12 pm
40-8 — the sky is falling!!!
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:13 pm
TD = Best Ever
You just kind of ruined your point when you mentioned we could have gotten Anthony Tolliver. You do remember he played for us before right? After we cut him because he sucked, he landed with Golden State (Surprising huh? I mean I totally thought a good team like LA or Boston would have picked him up. Or shoot, Orlando so they’d have a backup to Howard). After sucking for GS, he ended up in Minnesota where, yeah, he still sucks.
Also how dare the Spurs lie to us and raise up our hopes about Splitter, thinking he would be the catalyst to winning a fifth title! I mean the Spurs are 40-8 right now, wtf! That’s more than three times the amount of losses I thought they’d have for the whole season! Jeez! The Spurs are totally sucking this year, they should pay US FANS to watch them. If only Tiago was as good as we were told we would be 47-1 right now! We better trade Splitter! I mean, even though he sucks I’m sure some team would give us a really good player for him and the upcoming #30 draft pick right? Totally! About Duncan, if he doesn’t start picking up his stats he should be traded too! Sometimes you keep a franchise player too long and maybe it’s time for him to go!
Yeah, that’s about how some of the people on this blog sound. Tiago hasn’t contributed at all this year, and we are still 40-8. This team has well surpassed any expectations I had coming into the season and I’m damn glad to be a Spurs fan. I’m glad people on this blog don’t fall into the “winning cures everything” category, because this team does have some issues (just like every NBA team), but bitching about Tiago, trading Tiago, and most certainly freaking out about Tiago will not solve any of those issues.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Three things come to my mind:
1. I don’t think we can trade Tiago at this point, and get anything better in return. So talk of his trade at this point is kind of moot IMO.
2. Ive always said, a 40-8 record shouldn’t be reason to celebrate. We haven’t shown that we can consistently beat the Celts. We haven’t even played Miami, and I still wait to see us beat a fully healthy Mavs, or a fully motivated LA, or the new Orlando. All we’ve been doing so far this season is squeaking by mediocre teams, or teams who haven’t been lucky with their health. My point: we still have much to prove. Our loss to the Blazers wasn’t that big of a shocker.
The way things are going now, We’ll probably survive to the Western Finals, but won’t last to face the Eastern champs.
I hope I’m wrong though.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:26 pm
@ Daniel T
I read all the comments about the game last night, and I see very, very little in the way of fans questioning Pop’s MO last night. The five players who started the first 47 games started the 48th. I assume the rotations were similar to what has been taking place all season. An inspired Blazer team + inept offense/bad defense by the Spurs-resulted in a tie game in the last quarter. Equal chance to win; the Blazers executed, the Spurs didn’t. Nothing to do with coaching, fatigue, or officials.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:39 pm
@duaneofly
I can’t put it any simpler… You are wrong. OK just kidding! Glad someone has some sense here. Yes you get the customary +1.
This board is super critical especially after a loss. The Tiago talk is very much like the Haislip/Mahimi talk last year. “Why won’t they play him, he sucks, he doesn’t suck Pop is messing him up by leaving him on the bench, Pop is screwing up the team, coaches see them every day in practice…” What’s nice is unlike last year, the team is at the top of the West. Pop warned all of us before Tiago put a jersey on not to expect much. He said he wouldn’t be an offensive force, he said he needed to add considerable size to play in the NBA. But we (I am guilty of it) thought he would be NBA ready. He wasn’t and isn’t a force to be reckoned with. Might be later, but not yet. I think it’s too early to talk trade etc. Especially since we’ve seen an establish NBA all star come into SA and simply s-u-c-k. I’ve said it a few times already… if we didn’t’ have Tiago to talk about it would be a loooong season. If Tiago pans out during this season and Anderson gets healthy, it’s like trading for two new pieces; another shooter and a serviceable 7 footer to spell TD and McDyess.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:44 pm
@ soulidefy
“…it is a very normal thing for a first year player to develop in the practice gym…”
You make it sound like Splitter is a ‘diaper dandy’ straight out of high school, or a ‘one & done’ jumping from the NCAA. Read his bio @ NBA.com. He has been at this a long time. No one compared him to Manu, Dirk, Bargnani-or Yao, for that matter-but images of Darko as a Piston are starting to form in my mind…LOL
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:14 pm
the spurs system isnt just something you learn and acclimate to on the fly. esp year 1. he is a “diaper dandy” to the US, to the NBA, and to the spurs. sure he has basketball experience unlike most rookies. but verrry different basketball experience. an nba all star and 10 year veteran couldnt do it (rj) right away. all yall are doing is beating him down like detroit did darko and that doesnt help anybody, whether he will eventually get it or not.
good point with darko though. good comparison. he is now a solid starting center, albeit on a bad team. maybe even a bit above average, maybe. but it took time and practice, and even the right situation. maybe its a homer thing to say, but i think pop will get him to learn the system and game much faster than larry brown did in detroit, and thats when we get our payday.
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:21 pm
@ Dr. Who
I’m enjoying this season—40 wins, in all kinds of ways-dbl digit come from behinds, tip-to-buzzer nailbiters, wire to wire leads, closely contested games becoming blowouts with hammer down defense and/or offensive explosions, going toe to toe with the league’s “elite/glamour” teams, being a fan of a team that others dispise, but whose squads have done nothing recently. As for Tiago-until he gets into the regular rotation, we don’t need to mention him anymore (unless he comes in a game and contributes). The circumstances on how he got here, and his resume’, rendered anything Pop said about Splitter’s game to white noise. But until the ‘Splash’ happens, I relegate him to that “good ol’ boy pine club”- just as it was with Haislip/Mahimi; even Sean Marks…
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@duaneofly
Yes I remember Tolliver briefly. But he has NBA level talent. His number are similar to Bonner’s this season and he make 1 million less……
“Also how dare the Spurs lie to us and raise up our hopes about Splitter, thinking he would be the catalyst to winning a fifth title!”
I never expected him to be great, but I was hoping for Anderson Verajao cousin or something. Someone who can guard young, quick 4′s in our league. Some one that can rebound and eat minutes up that will allow us time to rest TD, DICE. All the while keeping Bonner from having to play those 4′s for extended periods. I mean seriously did anybody expect Bonner to be a better defender than Splitter last summer. I didn’t.
“…because this team does have some issues (just like every NBA team), but bitching about Tiago, trading Tiago, and most certainly freaking out about Tiago will not solve any of those issues.”
OK the please due tell us what our problems are and explain what we should be doing to solve them. It’s real easy to say that won’t work - TS isn’t working either and it’s hard to see how we can get worse than TS right now. There are bigs available to us that we can get for a 1st rounder and TS or something similar. I for one think we should look into it.
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I’m now missing Bonner:( But seriously, I think he is the x factor for this team and its showing by our low scoring.
I wasn’t able to watch the game last night, but saw the box score. The starters and bench players all had -’s.
February 2nd, 2011 at 2:40 pm
@ soulidefy
” ..he is now a solid starting center…maybe a bit above average…but it took time and practice..”-yes; but I think Detroit was expecting a ‘little more’ with the 2nd overall pick (2003- James-1, Anthony-3, Bosh-4, Wade-5)/ but Chauncey Billups was 3rd in ’97 to Celtics (you know who was 1st) but he bounced through 4 teams in 5 years before getting to the ‘right situation’-then became Mr. Big Shot…
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:09 pm
@Dorie Street
“But until the ‘Splash’ happens, I relegate him to that “good ol’ boy pine club”- just as it was with Haislip/Mahimi; even Sean Marks…”
I’d love to argue with you here but I can’t. At this point he is what he is. But seriuosly, delete all of the Tiago comments on this board and there ain’t much left. Can’t even read the Bonner hater rants because he’s injured. Unless you want to strat a thread where we bash Bonner for beign injured
I see it like this, in the “good ol’ days” we had the best D in the league and would clamp down teams. Even if our shots weren’t falling you felt confident come the 4th, we’d execute and get stops. We were the most boring team in the league and everyone hated us. We loved it. Now, we’re an eltie scoring team and only somewhere between top 10 top 5 defensive team. Without that lockdown defense we don’t feel as secure as we have in years past. Reason for concern??? Yep.
But… if you talked last year at the All Star break (remember how horrible that time was, possible Trade Manu and trade Parker talks) and said, “Hey guys I know we’re not playing well right now but next year with no major personnel changes the Spurs will have the best record going into the All-Star break, they will have the #1 offense in the league, Tiago and our 1st round draft pick won’t even have real tangible impacts it’s all the same guys we have now doing it.” Would anyone have beleived you? Nope… We are spoiled since we are Spurs fans. I seriously felt like a Detroit fan last year, watching the ship sink knowing the best years were behind and all we had to look forward to is a playoff appearance and and early round exit. Kudos to the Spurs for really turning this around. It’s not the way we like it (with solid lock down D) but it’s way better than I thought it would be.
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:19 pm
I’d be in no hurry to trade Tiago but would consider it for the right players. I’d suggested a trade in the “trade machine” post a little while ago, have made some adjustments to it. It still involves Carmelo going to the Knicks, but now helps Charlotte to reduce their payroll to begin rebuilding again while picking up some young talent from the Spurs. The main part regarding the Spurs has Tiago, Hill, Neal and their 1st round pick now going to Charlotte. The Spurs get Kwame Brown from Charlotte, Ty Lawson from Denver, and Wilson Chandler and Anthony Randolph. I think this is a rather balanced trade that would make the Knicks better and compensates Denver well for losing Carmelo. Charlotte blows apart their current team (which wasn’t going far) but winds up with some young talent, expiring contracts, a smaller payroll and an additional draft pick. The Spurs give up some young talent for even younger yet more veteran talent that would help them with their weaknesses.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6axfhl3
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I don’t always agree with TD=BE but he’s straight on point
“please due tell us what our problems are and explain what we should be doing to solve them. It’s real easy to say that won’t work”
We all can tell our main problem is defense (can’t be scoring). Lock down wing defender and big man in the middle. TD lacks that quickness in his game now to stop these 4′s that light us up like the 4th of July. It’s always these big quick mobile guys and they have career games against the Spurs. So how do we fix it? Um… well that’s the hard part seeing as I don’t see us making a trade. Well I guess that’s why they pay Pop the big bucks! My guess it they’ll try and fix it with better team D execution and we’re going to rely on our increaed scoring over years past. Will it be enough???? Dunno but that’s what makes this season cRazY and exciting.
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:57 pm
These are the times Splitter should be getting lots of burn even if it means loosing 1 or 2 games. They lost and still no Splitter in the meat and potatoes of the game. Pop quoted as saying in his mail bag ” He has been behind the power curve the entire year but he continues to work and we’re trying hard to find him minutes and hopefully he’ll be more of a significant factor by the time playoffs come”. Playoffs? You expect this poor guy to contribute like you want in the playoffs? Try playing him now! Uh can anyone tell me how you get in front of the curve by not playing? Really, investing all this time on Blair is a no no. They have a big man who can contribute right now if he’s given starter rotation min. You just experienced what a tired and old looking Timmy and Dyess look like last nite. I thought you were managing min. on those two guys. They seem tired to me. I would hate to see Splitter on the bench come playoffs only to be sitting there and watching his Spurs team mates having a hard time in the paint while depending on their high powered offense to save them. Reeealllly Pop! Try really really hard to find him some min. I can tell you where you can find him min. When the game starts, and don’t get him off the court until he drops. Then you might see him in front of the curve after 10 games or so. Oh my God! You have got to be kidding me Pop! Playoffs? Splitter? Poor guy you’ve done him wrong. Trial by fire Pop.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Blair in my opinion is not a starter. Stop messing around with the rotation its time to pay the piper!
Either get Splitter in there using Blair’s min or trade for someone who will. I’ve had enough of this its so frustrating to see so many people fooling themselves into thinking Blair is going to take you to the promised land. His position is vital in the late rounds of the playoffs and finals and I just don’t see him getting it done against those other teams when it really matters. He’s always on the bench in the crucial time of the game. I always see Timmy and Dyess in there at that point of the games. He can’t shoot to save his life and he can’t defend the big guys. But he can dunk when he’s by himself under the rim. And he can get rebounds. So there comes a time when you have make a decision and ask yourself is it really a good trade off having Blair on the court most of the game? You make the call.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:11 pm
@ Dr. Who
Thank you for that last paragraph (3:09pm post). What a difference a year makes- 12 grinding, grueling, twisting, turning, down & out, then up and away,blast out of the cannon, months of professional basketball . One ‘expert’ who predicted the Spurs would turn it around is ESPN’s Marc Stein. Read the weekly power ranking comments he has compiled for the Spurs since last September’s training camp. It is one man’s opinion, but it is as objective and accurate a read about this great season so far. I think it is something all Spurs fans should read, if you were not aware of it before.
http://espn.go.com/nba/team/rank
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:23 pm
P.S. I’m sorry that URL didn’t work. Just go to ESPN’s NBA page; click up subheading RANKINGS; then to Marc Stein’s Weekly NBA Power Rankings; then select San Antonio out of the TEAM box.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:24 pm
@TDBestever, actually seems like Pop has a man crush on Blair. Haven’t you noticed? He starts every game!
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:37 pm
@mikrobass3, yeah, the quickness that is Lamarcus Aldridge blowing past Timmy and Dyess. Oh yeah they’re bigs too.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:43 pm
OK here are a list of Bigs, that are “On the trading Block.” In no particular order
Troy Murphy
Ronny Turiaf
Anthony Randolph
Brandan Wright
Robin Lopez
Jason Thompson
Carl Landry
Omri Casspi - SF but 6-9 and 22
DJ MBenga - not very good - but has been around long enough to give you 10-15 good minutes
There are others out there, but these are some of the cheapest and some would look awesome in an SA jersey. TS + 2nd rounder should land us one of these players.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:43 pm
@mjs2377, Big Ben and T Mac get real then we would have to manage minutes of 4 players.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I remember Charles Barkley being asked who, during his playing days, guarded him best and gave him the hardest time scoring. He mentioned some no-name who’s been long forgotten. He said he never quite understood why, but the guy just flat out kicked his ass and he dreaded playing against him.
There’s a good chance we might face the Blazers in the playoffs. It was clear last night that all of our bigs, TD, McD, Blair were getting their asses kicked by Aldridge. No one can know if Tiago would have any more luck than the others did. But given that the others sucked, and that we might face them in the playoffs, and that it is impossible to know how one player will fair against another until they actually get on the court (the Barkley story), then why the hell not try Tiago on him? That was disappointing.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@Colin, you have the wrong attitude. Thinking like this is like sweeping the problems under the carpet. You might think everything is ok but it’s still dirty. Address the big situation now! Because Timmy and Dyess aren’t getting younger. As a mater of fact Timmy looked tired out there and poor Dyess he was playing his heart out but there just wasn’t enough out there. You need good youth out there and what better time to develop it now since you’ve got a cushion to play with. What Pop is getting greedy now with the record? He does’nt want sacrifice a few games say 10 games to develop that big boy sitting on the bench. I would do it now they still have the stretch to pile up wins.
February 2nd, 2011 at 4:55 pm
@agutierrez, I concur.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:01 pm
@DanielT, well maybe he should’nt have cuz Timmy looked tired and Dyess could’nt do anything. How bout this? Let Splitter and Blair play together when Timmy and Dyess look like they need a night off.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:06 pm
@Doriestreet, and what is Herman Edwards doing now?
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:10 pm
splitter has been rebounding the ball better, and is overall game has improved. passing, free throw shooting, and drawing contact are his most valuable assests on the offensive end. defensively, his hands have been more active and he was probably the only guy who could have stayed infront of aldrige, but he probably would have picked up some fouls. i am not a fan of the three big rotation. splitter has proven not to be a liability and we have been able to maintain leads with him in the gamee. pop will need to dip into the bench this road trip.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Does anybody here believe that if Splitter got every single min. that Blair has had for the last 40+ games he would actually be better than Blair all around? If not trade him. If yes, then everybody shut up and let him play.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:18 pm
@rj, Well said.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:28 pm
@ruth bader ginobili, They were getting beat by that ugly stick in the paint by that big slasher. At one time I thought Timmy was gonna shake his hand on the way to the rim. Oh my!
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:34 pm
@ TItletown99030507
“Does anybody here believe that if Splitter got every single min. that Blair has had for the last 40+ games he would actually be better than Blair all around?”
I really don’t know, the major problem is you don;t earn playing time by playing poorly in the game. You earn it by beating DJB in practice daily in your drills etc. So my guess is that he isn’t doing something that POP wants him too in practice, because if he was he would be getting more minutes.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:40 pm
For those of you wanting to trade Tiago because he simply isn’t working for you. All those crazy trade scenarios just make me laugh especially when half of you saying this say that Pop and the FO are geniuses. Right your genius FO waited 3 years and 3 mil to just piss us off.
February 2nd, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Looking at the depth chart I’d say it goes something like this:
Starting five: TP, Manu, RJ, Blair, Duncan
6: Hill
7: Bonner
8: Neal
9: McDyess
10. Splitter
11. Quinn
12. Owens
Then when James Anderson comes back, he’ll take the 8th spot and bump everyone else down a notch, making Splitter the 11th man.
Funny how our eleventh man is taking the brunt of the blame for our team’s whopping eight losses.
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:46 pm
@ duaneofly
“Funny how our eleventh man is taking the brunt of the blame for our team’s whopping eight losses.”
Not when you have an OLD front line ahead of him that you need to be able to rest. Add that plus Bonner getting the 2nd most minutes as a big in our lineups and people start to see red flags.
Also as many here have pointed out its not like the guys playing in front of him are just burning it up, all of our Bigs have issues and when seeing how we are getting abused in the post this season, he should be able to at least eat some minutes to keep guys out of foul trouble and fresh. But he can’t get unglued from the pine, so there in lies the rub.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Is ridiculous Aldridge kick ass of TD/Macdyess and Splitter don’t have minutes to play, he would never do worse than TD/Macdyess because if he stopped TWO shots of Aldridge would be better!!!If Pop don’t trust Tiago for this, is better trade him and see he doing 20 points/game on other team( Like Scola, Barbosa, Turkoglu, Dragic).
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Splitting hairs (pardon the pun) over Splitter, and then some. Some armchair San Antonio Spurs pundits can never be satisfied, second-guessing the Pop and his coaching staff over the Brazilian. Once this man finds his “sweet spot” - and I believe it will be soon despite what the naysayers say - we will all realize this guy’s value to the Silver and Black
February 3rd, 2011 at 1:17 am
I’m with you Manolo; although I do believe that we are all armchair pundits, but I’m going to take it a little further and say that Tiago will be starting by the end of the season and Blair will be the beast off the bench.
February 3rd, 2011 at 2:27 am
I was upset at the loss, but it’s only one game and we still have the best record, so no panicking here. I’ll walk away from the ledge now. =)
I know we definitely need to work on D, but I think last night’s game was sort of an outlier. I’ve been trying to wipe the game out of my memory bank, so forgive me if my memory is sort of faded. I didn’t see good ball movement. I felt like we settled a lot for outside shots instead of trying to penetrate a huge chunk of the game. I guess it also doesn’t help that our guys weren’t making their outside shots when there was some penetration for kickouts. I’m definitely not a fan of small ball, especially seeing how it killed us for that long span (or maybe it just felt long). I know small ball works sometimes, but it was killing us last night. I know we went to small ball because they went small, but we really needed a rebounder out there. Portland was getting all the 50/50 balls and that hurt.
I would’ve liked to see Tiago in the game to just mix things up a bit and see if it can help spark something, but in POP we trust. It’s only one game. The man needs to run his experiments to see what works. Like someone said, Portland might be a playoff matchup. I’d like to think Pop didn’t want to show all his tricks. =) But, I also felt like Pop was going with his usual rotation. Our boys just didn’t pick up the necessary defensive intensity needed. It also didn’t help some of them were having off nights in shooting. BTW, why was Hill guarding LA? that was a weird sight. i know Hill can guard several positions, but LA is huge!!!!
The start of the game made me worried since we went something like 1-5 in the opening possession. I liked all the offensive rebounds. It made me believe the guys were hustling. I figured the shooting will pick up like in other games, but the boys were kind of sloppy with the ball and playing uninspired defense. I didn’t see the good help defense that we’ve been seeing most games. I didn’t see us denying the depleted Blazers like we usually do in the second half. They basically got what they wanted offensively and defensively. Got to give the Blazers a lot of credit. They worked their behinds off and really wanted the game more then the Spurs. Here’s hoping Spurs were focused on LA and forgot they actually have to put effort to beat Portland.
I wish I could be at the game, especially because it’s in LA, to cheer for our guys, but I’ve got class. For anyone who is going to the game, scream loud and proud, “Go Spurs Go!” Beat LA!!! =)
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:23 am
[...] the Spurs in a Lakers win—both of which are within the realm of possibilities—I will say this: there are other players to be more feared by Spurs fans (though not many), and many of the criticisms of Bryant have been both justified and well [...]
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:38 am
@TD, Dude how can you make an assessment of ones ability with trash time min. (2 min. avg. every other 5 games) and 4 games of 20 min. out of 40 + games? That’s what pop has given the poor guy. And besides like so many have said practice during the season is not like practice in training camp and preseason. You just don’t have enough full bore practice to evaluate someone in the regular season as Pop has stated before. What better time than to let him loose on continuous basis in the regular season. Besides Bonner is not better than Tiago in the paint and he’s gotten starter rotation min. And Blair who throws up bricks and can’t save his life to make a simple put back under the rim gets the majority of his points on dunks when he’s alone under the rim all the while getting abused on the other end in the paint by the opposing big. It’s obvious and you see it in many games that Blair is sitting a lot in the crucial part of the game. Why? Because Pop knows Blair can’t give him what he needs when the game is on the line especially when they are playing larger bigs only to resort to McDyess and Bonner after Tim. It just doesnt make sense to keep making Blair the focus of that position let alone starting him. Don’t get me wrong Blair’s a hustler and can bring down a few rebounds but that’s it. There’s comes a breaking point when you have to make a change and that change is here. Even if it means sacrificing 5 or so games or what ever it takes to get Splitter in the groove and gelled with this group its all worth it. Dont you think? And if he doesnt, then trade him like you probably want. But do it now. But in my opinion he ain’t going nowhere because everybody keeps saying how much of a genius Pop and the FO is in getting this guy especially waiting 3 years and 3 $mil later.
Bottom line TD the guy just has to play big min continuously no butts about it to get a real evaluation. Bunch of crap that he hasn’t proven himself. What about those 4 - 20 min games he’s played out of 40+? He sure has proven to me that he can play. 3 of those 4 games he had good games to prove his point. But yet the DNP’s continued. Oh well but Pop’s the genius. Arm chair or no arm chair its obvious he needs to make a change at that position.
February 3rd, 2011 at 11:43 am
Any reason why the Manu fake didn’t make the ESPN Top Ten plays? It was way too dirty to be left out.
February 3rd, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Ugly 2nd half. No rebounding from mid-3rd qrtr on. 1 shot and done and that 1 shot was rarely dropping. With that said the Spurs often fail to show up for the game right before a BIG game, only to play great on the big stage. Here’s hopin’.
Leave a Reply