Preseason: Oklahoma City Thunder 111, San Antonio Spurs 102

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AT&T Center–Tim Duncan and fast are two terms generally not associated with each other much these days, so when he received a pass in transition from Tony Parker perhaps the term fast break was not the most apt description.

If the San Antonio Spurs 102-111 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder is any precursor of things to come, however, it is a word most Spurs fans and journalists will have to dust off and reintroduce into their vernacular.

Heading into the game, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had vowed to get the Spurs running more often in search of a few easy baskets. It’s a common theme for many teams every preseason, but apparently Popovich plans on making it stick (via the Express-News):

“We talk about it every year,” Popovich said. “This year, I’m demanding it.”

Tonight the Spurs delivered, offering their best Phoenix Suns impression with 29 fast break points, 22 of which came in the first half. Whether off rebounds, off turnovers, or even made baskets (a little too often off made baskets), the San Antonio Spurs pushed the ball down the court before the Thunder could set their defense.

Now if the Spurs could just reintroduce some of their own defense (Oklahoma shot 47.6% from the floor), the team could really get off to a running start.

“Our defense wasn’t what we wanted, and now matter how much [Coach Pop} talks about pushing the pace, he’s still going to focus on defense as the number one thing,” Richard Jefferson said. “Sometimes when you push the pace, you get more possessions in the game, and that will lead to more scoring, but defensively we did not do a very good job tonight.”

Granted, Tim Duncan will see more court action during regular season games, and one assumes that Tiago Splitter will only bolster the defense. But if the Spurs truly are committed to running they are showing that they have the personnel to do it.

George Hill and Richard Jefferson on the wings are as good as most finishers in the league, while Manu Ginobili is an unpredictable highlight waiting to happen in transition. More importantly, Tony Parker appears to be a blur and one-man fast break once again, placing defenders on their heels and drawing fouls in transition.

Now, that’s not to say everything is perfect with the team’s tempo. While at times brilliant, the Spurs new emphasis on pushing the pace also borders on reckless and sloppy at times. It will be a difficult juggling act, but one that promises to move the Spurs away from the predictable, formulaic approach they have taken the past few years.

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  • rj

    how does a team balance transition offense and half court, pick and roll, stingy defense? hopefully we can find a way. any worries out there that tiago won’t have a the impact most of us predicted because of his lack of preseason reps? pop is ome of those coaches that won’t play a guy unless he knows a system no matter the talent level. maybe im paranoid. the guy is still athletic, young , and intelligent. that should account for some production

  • ThatBigGuy

    I went to the game tonight. I don’t have much of an opinion on our transition being kicked up a notch because I was really focusing on individual performances. I noticed these things in particular (keep in mind that these opinions are from a 1 game sample):

    1: Tony is BACK. He blew past Westbrook repeatedly. His teardrop was on. If he stays healthy, he’ll get 20 ppg, easy.
    2: Jefferson was aggressive all night. By my count, he only took 2 jumpers. He also was 6-7 from the free throw line. He really looked much more comfortable.
    3: Gary Neal’s boxscore kinda sucks, but I swear he looked much better when he played. He seemed confident with no hesitations and didn’t seem to screw up at all. I’m thinking the FO might have quite the find in this guy.
    4: DeJuan took 2 jump shots and airballed them both. However, he more than held his own against Ibaka and Mullens, both much bigger than Blair. Also, Manu and Blair seem to be developing a Stockton/Malone’esque connection. That particular connection will be worth 6-8 points a night. On a separate note, Blair seems to get a hand on every rebound. He is a bloody rebound magnet. If he was 7 foot, he’d set records.
    5: He’s still Manu Ginobili.
    6: Anytime Simmons was in while Durant was in, Simmons was guarding Durant. Perhaps I’m looking too far into it, but if there was such an effort to keep a 6’6″ training camp guy on a 6’9″ future MVP, then there must be a little more to this Simmons guy than meets the eye. The coaching staff must have seen enough ability so far to give Simmons a trial by fire tonight. I think he’ll be on the regular season roster.
    7: Durant is going to win MVP this year.
    8: Jeff Green completely beasted anyone we put on him that was smaller than he. We can all agree that Durant and Westbrook will be better than nearly everyone at their respective positions, but Green’s season will determine how far the Thunder go in the playoffs.
    9: Why did Durant play 40 minutes in a meaningless preseason game after playing a million minutes in the World Cup and why did only 9 OKC playes get in the game? That I don’t know, mate.
    10: Hill was 8-10 from the free throw line. I also got a sweet picture of him on the fast break where he went up to dunk it, but got hammered.

    I really liked what I saw from every Spur. I am very heartened about this season. It seems like we can compete at a high level at every position. If everyone stays healthy, we are going to be a very, very dangerous team this season.

  • grego

    ^Because OKC is playing back-to-back nights, Brooks decided to play them all in one night. All the main guys will sit in the 2nd game.

  • http://www.poundingtherock.com jrw

    Nice to meet you last night, Jesse. Good recap.

    See you around.

  • ribanez1

    If the Spurs are to improve on last year’s performance both Tiago and RJ must have an impact.

  • quincyscott

    Teams like the D’Antoni Suns and Nelson’s Warriors have given the fast break a bad name. They might score 120 points, but give up 125. But the best running, fast break offenses are the ones that feed off of turnovers and missed shots, in other words, solid defense. These two concepts are certainly not mutually exclusive. It’s much easier to run when you aren’t pulling the ball out of the net and having to inbound it. The great Lakers teams of the 80s, for example, which are remembered for Show Time, were fine defensive teams, as Pat Riley teams usually are.

    The Spurs have the personnel to run: Parker, Blair, Jefferson, Hill, Ginobilli. And getting more early offense this year could really help take the load off of Duncan.

  • quincyscott

    @ ThatBigGuy

    I was not at the game, but I had the same thoughts on the minutes played by especially Durant, but also the entire starting five of the Thunder. And most of their bench did not even enter the game. I’m thinking, what the heck are these preseason games for if not to give some minutes to bench players? I don’t get it.

  • quincyscott

    @grego

    Just saw your post. That does at least make some sense.

  • rob

    grego
    October 18th, 2010 at 11:56 pm

    “^Because OKC is playing back-to-back nights, Brooks decided to play them all in one night. All the main guys will sit in the 2nd game.”

    Spot on.

    http://www.nba.com/games/20101019/OKCDEN/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0011000093

  • ThatBigGuy

    @ Grego

    Nice call. It’s not the way I would have split the minutes on a back-to-back, but I guess Brooks knows what he’s doing. He’s the coach after all.

  • Ed

    Feeling positive about Parker finally being all the way back. Last yr. he was a shadow, spyrts of brilliance but no sustaining performance.