San Antonio Spurs 112, Memphis Grizzlies 106: Eventually, the Spurs will lose a close game

I can’t circle the wagons and be doom and gloom after the series of close games. It does bother me that we have these mental erros in the 4th and almost lose these games, but it was 3 games in 4 nights. The Spurs were doing this a ton last year. They didn’t tighten up until the later part of the season. It’s good that they are finding ways to win these close games. And we can clean up the mental errors and sloppy play in the 4th before March. Those mental lapses last year cost us playoff seeding. This year the fast start has been about as good a gift as you could ask for.

On the matter of Udoka… I think a poster has already hit this, his d is shot and he’s a shadow of his former self that had a good season or two here. Yes the monster Gary Neal dunk was courtesy of horrific D by Udoka. Anderson will be brought back into the fold slowly but come playoff time we will really be able to use him for defense on the wings. That’s something that is a bit lacking right now.

Can you call and elephant in the room a dead horse??? The frontcourt, yes we need to address some of the issues here but it won’t be via trade. Any trade to bring in a 7 footer worth his salt would end up shaking up the roster. We’d have to give up a key player to land a legit shot blocker. And why would the team with the best record in the NBA make such a trade? It’s not the Spurs style for one. We’ve seen much worse Spurs teams stand pat and make no trade. Why would the Spurs brass pull the trigger on a trade while having the best record in the NBA. Sure the obvious reply is that we are not the best team in the NBA, just the one with the best record. True… but we still have a whole lotta season to go. Once more the front court discussion turns to our favorite subject (Post Jim Henderson) Tiago… BTW, during the Henderson glory years the favorite subject was DeJuan Blair and his ceiling but I digress… I had my previous 30 page post on Tiago and stick by those same points. If we don’t see Tiago being developed come February then I’ll start ranting. He did get his “junk” roughened up the other night so more reason to rest him. I’m not sure if Pop has figured out his role yet; time will tell. They see the kid in practice and Tiago is chomping at the bit to play, he isn’t nursing an injury not wanting to play. The kid wants to compete. That’s a good thing. I think we’ll get a nice measuring stick playing the Fakers and Celts. We already failed the first one playing the Mavs. Someone posted the stats of their bigs in our loss. However they left one out…. Haywood wasn’t playing. What I said about the Mavs at the beginning of the season was that their best move wasn’t getting Chandler (it was a close second). Their best move was dumping Dampier. Chandler when healthy has given Timmy fits. Dampier for his entire career has been Timmy’s b_tch. Addition by subtraction. Should be interesting to see how the rest of the games shake out with the Ponies. I really hate the Phoenix trade. And I wish we were playing them after their players got settled in. Phoenix just got longer and a pair of defensive bigs. That ain’t good… But the teams making trades are the ones that have OK records, but know they can’t compete with the best in their respective conferences. The Spurs aren’t there yet. And honestly the only glaring lack they have is in the frontcourt. In the playoffs you’ll get a healthy dose of TD and McDyess which will help but Blair and Tiago need to be big in the playoffs as well. I expect little to nothing from Bonner in the playoffs based on his past history. If he comes up with some big shots, then it’s just “Sandwich Hunter” gravy. Spurs brass should have a plan for playoffs and they see the big picture. Let’s not lose sight of that. I’d really like to see how we play against the new look Suns with all of their players (bigs especially) acclimated. It’s a shame we have to play them tonight.

Also the bigs that have killed us so far this year have killed everyone. I recall some people acting like Love was a joke. Um yeah… that dude is the real deal. Ok well Darko posting number on us was the anomaly. But Blake Griffin… if he was playing for any other franchise I’d label him as the future of the NBA. Haven’t ever been as impressed with a young big man since Duncan suited up. The Clipps were one of my sleeper teams, while their record is still sleeping; their play is certainly fun to watch. Their front court is no fluke. If the Spurs front court can become above average that should be enough to be serious contenders to unseat the Lakers because our backcourt is one of if not the best in the league. Speaking of those Lakers… do you think there is so much doom and gloom on their board based on their start?

BTW I was not a Shaq supporter. He made a statement he wanted a “farewell tour.” He’s always been a media hound and had a circus surround him. Boston was a better fit; they had role players at the 5 (Perkins/Big Baby). We have the GOAT at the 4/5 in TD. If Shaq has showed anything during the years it’s that he has a slightly high opinion of himself. At his age he’s still someone that Perkins or Big Baby still look up to. Timmy even though older, doesn’t exactly look up at Shaq. How would the Big Aristotle feel about coming off the bench to replace TD? Remember how Phoenix destroyed the Spurs with the PAR in last year’s playoffs? Shaq’s footwork was never the best, nor was his work ethic; he’s always been bigger than everyone else and freakishly gifted for his size. Obviously he’s not the same guy. You could easily see a team running the PAR to death on us with Shaq in the middle. Not to mention the new up tempo offense would have a straggler getting down the court. And then there is the chemistry issue… ON thing that has been consistent with the Spurs is that no one player has ever been bigger than the team. I’m not sure if that is totally within Shaq. We’ll see how things work out in Boston, but I really feel that was a much beter fit for him that here in SA. OK I got my flame suit on fire away at will =p At least if will get us off of posts about Tiago for a while!

Observations 26 games into the regular season:

1. Pop’s best coaching performance

2. We are winning games we would normally lose (even during other 55+ win seasons) – that is a huge plus

3. If we are able to scrape out home court advantage in the West – look out!

4. We are deeper offensively than we have ever been before

5. The opportunity to win a 5th championship will hinge on Splitter’s development or the ability to trade for a great full court big (e.g. Anderson Verijao, Brook Lopez, Tyson Chandler, etc.)

6. The Spurs will never get the media attention they deserve

jwalt–

I agree with you, but it’s something I never mention, and try not to think about.

Re: Shaq, my comment was that he makes the C’s better, and I would prefer it if he weren’t there. I do think he is a better fit there than anywhere else. He wasn’t my first choice in SA. Tyson Chandler was. Tyrus Thomas was my second. Guys I would have made sacrifices to have on the roster this year. I’d have happily taken Turiaf. Short of all that, and deeper in the summer, I wouldn’t have given up anything for Shaq, but would have made an offer.

Re: “mega-trade.” Washington doesn’t get any better, and remains irrelevant. But somehow save money long-term in acquiring Rashard Lewis. Funny that the only way of getting rid of Arenas, was to trade the two worst contracts in the L for eachother. Probably means Yi isn’t part of their future (so what), and probably niether is Josh Howard.

Orlando… not sure they improved. Defense? They had to dump Lewis, and had a trade commodity in Gortat. Pietrus wasn’t working for them. Turk is likely an upgrade over Pietrus and Lewis. Richardson is no worse than Carter. And they now have 3 guards who can score, but there’s still only one ball. Good for them that they are going with Bass more. I’m reallly surpirsed that they are in a worse financial place now. Don’t respect Otis Smith as a GM, but I don’t think they are worse this year.

Suns… I think they are the quiet winners of this trade. Suns fans who are upset are ignorant. Carter for Rich is fine. Pietrus is part of a logjam once again, but has a chance to earn minutes. Gortat is a score for them. I thought Orlando could send Lewis, Pietrus, and Gortat for Nash, Turk, and maybe either Hill or J-Rich… and pave the way to acquire Carmelo, which would have been scary. So I’m impressed that PHX scored Gortat and dumped Turk without having to take Lewis or lose Nash… and they got a draft pick to boot? Why? They won the trade outright w/o the pick. They did good for themselves, considering the situation they were in.

@td4life

Suns… I think they are the quiet winners of this trade. Suns fans who are upset are ignorant.

Yep… if anything Pietrus, and Gortat without giving up something other than Nash or Hill is a steal. Turk didn’t fit their system at all and Pietrus has shown he can be a nasty defender which will help in the West with the length. Orlando didn’t do so badly since Carter wasn’t all he was cracked up to be and Hedo thrived in Orlando’s system. Big question for Orlando is if Turk will be the same Turk he’s been everywhere else or if he’ll be the solid Turk he was in Orlando. What makes this a win for Orlando is that it was rumored that Howard wanted Turk back and more firepower. He’s a FA so if they keep him happy he’ll resign. that may be the biggest win if it does indeed keep him happy.

@ td4life

You just made my Point – those guys all have one thing in common – VOLUME SHOOTERS and/or Jump Shooters…………. Tim is neither……… Look back thru history – No traditional big man has ever been the go to guy late….. they all have low FT% and can be doubled to easy………. That’s why Dirk and Pierce get the ball at the High Post – where you can’t double as easy………..

So yes I agree he needs to be more aggressive – but will never be CLUTCH in the Jordan/Kobe sense of the word

TD=BestEver

all Tim had to do was fearlessly take that easy shot saturday night, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Hopefully, it eats at him and he takes those shots, wants the ball, and the shot, come playoff time.

td4life — I subtlely disagree, though certainly not the part of Manu being at least the co-MVP of 2005.

But I think one of the ‘hard’ decisions the coaching staff made over the summer is that offensively it was not going to be Duncan’s team anymore. He has struggled more and more being a low post scorer, and I think Pop came to the conclusion that Duncan’s touches had to be lowered.

I have always said and still believe, Duncan has been overrated offensively and underrated defensively. He affects more shots and is in the right place more often than any other post player in the league. But he’s gone from excellent to very good to so-so as a post scorer.

And his leadership and intelligence is off the charts. But the ball is in Manu’s hands, like you said, for a reason. A very good reason. However anyone wants to define it, he is the very essence of clutch, and has been since 2005. And Manu’s intangibles are off the charts as well.

@ jwalt

No I don’t have the 2005 DVD or any DVD’s for that matter……….. I’m a Bluray only guy…………..

But I remember watching Game 7 and I remember the felling I walked away with…… I remember what the commentators said and what the post game analysis was………….

Not saying that Manu didn’t have his highlights but EVERYONE gave that game to Timmy and the 2nd half…………. yes Timmy scored more in the 3rd but few big men score a ton in the 4th down the stretch – See my comments to TD4Life earlier- but all in all that game belong to Timmy

http://www.nba.com/games/20050623/DETSAS/recap.html

Just read what NBA.COM had to say about that Game 7