Sunday, November 28th, 2010...7:29 pm
San Antonio Spurs 109, New Orleans Hornets 95: Gregg Popovich adjusts at the half, the Spurs roll
The Hornets beat up on the Spurs during the first half of Sunday’s matinee. New Orleans took a 61-44 lead into the half, and they looked like they would win this game walking away. But Gregg Popovich started the 3rd quarter with a small lineup of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, George Hill, Richard Jefferson and Tim Duncan. The adjustment worked. San Antonio played small-ball for the remainder of the game and turned a 17 point halftime deficit into a convincing 14 point win.
Small-ball lineups are designed, at least in theory, to promote offense. Faster players, more possessions, dribble drives and shooters spread to the four corners of the earth all make small(er) lineups an ideal choice when the Spurs need to generate offense. All of that happened in this game , and none of it is particularly newsworthy. San Antonio, however, got something more interesting from their smalls against the Hornets. The Spurs’ smaller lineups were alive with energy and defensive hustle.
George Hill and Manu Ginobili sparked a strong second half from the Spurs by playing a style of swarming defense that lends itself to forced turnovers and transition baskets. The Spurs defensive energy seemed to spark an offensive rhythm, and San Antonio not only scored in transition, but found open looks from distance and, in general, shared the ball to find great halfcourt opportunities.
San Antonio’s forays into small-ball have seen mixed results this season. In Friday night’s loss to the Mavericks, the Spurs lost a small-ball battle in which they learned Gary Neal was not a good defensive option against Shawn Marion.
The Mavericks small lineups present match up problems for the Spurs. But tonight it was New Orleans who found their personnel mismatched against San Antonio’s smaller lineups. As with everything else, small-ball makes varying degrees of sense depending on whom the Spurs are playing. Small-ball is neither good nor bad in a vacuum. And relative to the whomever the Spurs are playing, it’s typically either very good or very bad. Tonight, the Spurs showed the very good side of their small-ball capabilities.
In the end, this was an impressive win for the Spurs. New Orleans is, by some measurements, the best defensive team in basketball. But the Spurs cut them up and now find themselves two games ahead of their division rival.
Golden State has next.
23 Comments
November 28th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
We should also mention the defense of Richard Jefferson here, who was playing the 4 in the second half and played fantastic defense on West. Really tough D playing out of position on a guy with a size advantage. Very Bowen-like.
November 28th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
No mention of the run Manu put together at the start of the 4th Qtr ??
Between the start of the 4th and the 8:38 mark, Manu either scored or assisted all of SA’s points, and had a rebound and a steal.
So in 3 1/2 minutes, he had 5 Pts, 4 Ast, 1 Reb, 1 Stl
The Spurs went from down 5 to up 6…
Oh me, oh my, oh Manu !
November 28th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Keep it up, Spurs. Bynum won’t be the same when he returns.
The human knees can only take so much cartilage damage.
November 28th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
As mentioned above, it should be noted that RJ’s performance was a big reason why small ball worked. This was one of his best games of the year. Probably in the top 3. If he plays this level defense the defense will reach those levels of teams past.
November 28th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
I didn’t comment after the Dallas loss, but IMO, we had it coming. The streak was bound to end and we really weren’t playing well. Sometimes you learn more from an ass beating than you do from squeaking by with a subpar win. With that said, this was a big bounce-back game for the Spurs. I didn’t watch the game, but it was apparent our defense in the first half was again very poor along with our shooting.
However, the second half was probably the best basketball we’ve played all year. The defense was sick and we began to knock down some shots. RJ re-emerged, Hill played well, and Manu and Tim were very efficient. A 14 pt win against a quality NO team is one of our best wins of the year so far. Several things of note.
* Spurs again came from behind. This team, unlike last year, is a second half ballclub. We seem to get better as the game goes on.
* We beat the Hornets on the glass 8 rebs. This is an improvement from the last 2 games.
* Our defense is HIGHLY erratic, but when it is good, it is really GOOD.
*Parker’s had two poor shooting nights in a row, but at least he had 9 assists, 6rebs, and 2 stls. Surely he’ll get his shooting stroke back soon.
*Our bench came back to life with 36 points vs. 23 for the Hornets bench
*Looking at the schedule, our next 3 games appear to be highly winnable. Perhaps we can run our record to 17-2 before playing the NO, Atl, and Portland.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Hobson 13
“but it was apparent our defense in the first half was again very poor along with our shooting.”
While our defense wasn’t the greatest in the first half, in the Spurs defense, the Hornets were hitting a bunch of contested jump shots for the majority of those points. Not only did our defense pick up in the second half, but they started to finally miss some jump shots you would have expected them to miss.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Great win.
The team looks great. Even the loss against the MAvs. Spurs had 18 TOs, TP had a bad shooting night, and Dirk shot 12-14 and they still had a chance to win that one with about 4 minutes left.
They need to stay focused because they SHOULD win the next two.
November 28th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
wohooooo.. We finally avenged our loss against these Hornets.. and LA just lost to the Pacers!!
Hibbert looks like a legit big man.. If he can play consistently at the level he’s currently playing, I think he is the East’s second best center behind Dwight. And I think he is definitely way more skilled than the athletic Howard.
Anyway, I hope we continue to pull away in the West standings. It would be nice to have a good cushion before the All-star break so that we can ease up a little bit because right now, I’m a little worried about Manu averaging a career high in minutes (a little over 33 per game).
November 28th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Some miscellaneous comments:
- a game of two halfs - our 2nd half was better than their 1st half - our first half was not as bad as their 2nd half.
- i’m not a particular fan of small ball, but it can work on some occasions — against some match-ups - tonight’s 2nd half was one of those times - good call by Pop.
- glad to see that at least one of Blair/Splitter got more minutes than Bonner tonight.
- heck of a job by our guards to assure that the team out-rebounded the Hornets tonight (19 of our 42 rebounds).
- way to get a grip on turnovers after a shaky start — just 5 turnovers over the last 3 quarters.
- our killer bee defense stung the Hornet’s into submission in the 2nd half - just 34 2nd half points.
- nice comeback win on the road in the Hornet’s nest! 7-0 this year outside the confines of AT&T!
- nice game by Manu, TD, RJ, & Hill at both ends.
Lakers upset by Pacers tonight! Our lead in the West up to two games in the loss column — keep it up this week - any of these next three teams (GSW, LAC, MIN) can beat us if we don’t watch it. Back-to-back on the road coming up next.
November 28th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
We beat the Jazz a few games ago and we stole their comeback powers. Nice.
No way our team last year would have won the Minny game nor this game. We stumbled (sorta, but not really) against the Mavs, but hey, no one’s perfect, right?
November 28th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
The Hornets did not have as talented bigs as Dallas, so small ball was effective. As I do enjoy winning, especially against the upper tier of the league, I think we need to establish a good line-up involving Duncan/Splitter on the court together, and possibly a 3rd big at the same time if necessary. It’s good to have many different modes of attack as we will need them depending on who we face in the playoffs (yes, thinking ahead instead of worrying about the present but this team is in the business of making the playoffs and hopefully contending for a championship).
GO SPURS GO!!!
November 29th, 2010 at 1:11 am
During the first quarter with all the turnovers, I felt sick. It reminded me of the Dallas game. But as the game went along, we cleaned that up and we tightened the D and came up on top. Yay!!!! I watched the game hours after it happened because I had to help my brothers replace part of our roof so it was a nice way to end a hard day of labor. =)
It looked like TP had another terrible game, but when I looked at the stats, he had 9 assists and 6 rebounds, so he was still contributing quietly. The Hornets commentators were saying they were trying to close the lanes from Parker, so I’m not sure if that’s what caused the bad game, but he seemed very reluctant to drive for the most part. I’m sure he’s just going through a normal slump. He’ll return to normal in no time! =)
Also, the commentators were saying TD limped off court after the first quarter and that really worried me, but seeing how he finished the game, I’m sure it was nothing to worry about, right?
November 29th, 2010 at 1:33 am
Loving the diversity of this team. They can win in more than one fashion, and can make a ferocious run in a short amount of time. Turnovers are the only thing holding the team back at various times.
November 29th, 2010 at 3:32 am
Just a beautiful win. So many great things to take from this game.
This team looks so confident on the road. Not surprising that the Big 4 are, but the young guys are doing a fine job as well. Spurs beat the last remaining unbeaten home squad. It was a division rival. It was a huge comeback and it evened the season series. They don’t get much more impressive in November.
Richard played a tremendous game. He played his best ball at the 4 against a notorious Spurs killer (West).
Manu was simply Manu. If he isn’t an all star this year he might just make up for it, by being the MVP. He is playing lights out.
Georgie and Timmy were the quiet killers. Timmy did what he’s done for a long time, he was the rock. He drew fouls, he made a couple pretty post moves and he kept the Hornets honest, defensively. George got to the rack and played stellar D against Paul.
The scary part? The Spurs can play better.
Lovin it!
Go Spurs Go
November 29th, 2010 at 4:21 am
Go Spurs Go!!
November 29th, 2010 at 4:22 am
1 and 1 against two top teams (division rivals) in the league. I’ll take it.
Brilliant plan by Pop. Even Monty Williams was quoted as simply being out coached in this game.
The Dallas game was more about the Spurs beating themselves than the Mavericks beating the Spurs. Unforced T/O’s and a cold shooting night will lose you most games even against subpar talented teams.
Beating the Hornets after that performance against Dallas just shows how tough the Spurs really are. Last year they probably drop both these games.
And small ball worked in this instance. But it’s not always going to work against other teams.
That said…this team …as in the Dallas game…still needs some sort of major improvement in it’s front court (via improvement by it’s exsisting players in Blair or Splitter) in order to seriously contend against teams where small ball won’t win you the game. Or…some how via trade get that kind of post player from another team if Blair or Splitter can’t seem to develop into a dependable option in those types of situations.
Great second half come back. Great game.
Go Spurs Go!!
November 29th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Blair seems to be going backwards on his development as a player.
Go Spurs Go!!
November 29th, 2010 at 6:23 am
The most important move that Pop made was putting Hill on CP3 in the second half. Hill completely neutralized Paul and that is the key to beating NO. Tony was being killed by Paul and that’s how West went off in the 1st half, although props go to RJ for his second half defense against him as well. Pop pulled Bonner after about a minute when NO went straight at him with West as soon as he was inserted in the game. Timmy looked like he got pissed at some point and showed some real passion and energy and looked like he can still bring it when he needs to. Manu, of course, was his awe-inspiring self. He began the turn around in this game just like in the Minnie game with a three to start the second half. It probably helped that he didn’t have his nose stuffed with cotton.
November 29th, 2010 at 7:11 am
[...] the arc, but aside from four rebounds and two assists, Blair’s performance was forgetful. In last night’s game against the Hornets, Popovich sent Blair to the bench after six minutes of play and he remained there until the final [...]
November 29th, 2010 at 7:14 am
The Spurs just provided a great win against a very solid home team. I think I am more impressed with the unbeaten road record over almost every other factoid! The Spurs are playing so well as a team. They don’t get too high or too low, they focus and buckle down when their backs are to the wall. The game against the Mavs was one that they did not deserve to be in but were still in the mix at the end. When all of the fellas start settling in and Anderson gets back, this team could be quite scary.
November 29th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Not that they are not scary already, just ask the teams that lost those 14 games to them so far.
November 29th, 2010 at 7:15 am
[...] yesterday’s Spurs victory over the Hornets, Tiago Splitter’s minutes (excluding garbage time) came during a 9:19 stretch that bridged [...]
November 29th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Am I the only one to continually notice when Manu is playing point and Parker is on the bench the Spurs always seem to…..yadda, yadda, yadda……and we end up winning? But not just winning, playing a truly exciting game of basketball. Manu is a treasure! Talk about “work ethics”!!!!!
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