San Antonio Spurs 113, Minnesota Timberwolves 109: The Spurs get an ‘A’ for persistence, not much else

Today is Thanksgiving, and boy do we have something to be thankful for! There was NO way we should have gotten that win. The shooting was the worst, by far, of the entire season. No groove at all, until very late in the game.

There are several huge positives though.

1. Nobody gave up or hit the panic button.
2. Bonner IS better this year, and from what I can tell, I think he hit the weights pretty hard in the off season.
3. Although Splitter was outplayed, he got some serious minutes last night against some up and coming bigs, and that’s good.
4. Neal played a key role by drawing that foul AND knocking down all 3 of the FT’s.
5. Manu was player-coaching all the way to the end.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget that Ime Udoka, yes Ime Udoka was on the floor in a Spurs Uniform. I thought I was hallucinating at first.

Ugly, ugly win, but a serious confidence booster in some strange ways.

Great game. Made my drive to Dallas from San Antonio go by in a blur, even with the 30 mile per hour traffic between Temple and Waco and then again between Waco and Waxahachie. I love the fact that we can win games in so many different ways. Popavich’s true testament to coaching has been evident throughout the season with Duncan’s new function. This was an extraordinary win.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

anyone feel like we got exposed last night? we are going to have a difficult time matching up with formidable frontcourts. millicic looked like an allstar. im suprised they didn’t go to him on the block in their last posession of regulation, which ended with luke getting rejected out of bounds……nice call, kurt. i thought splitter did a nice job defending the rim and he is most definately an offensive threat off the pick and roll. only problem is if you put him on the freethrow line, youve fixed that problem. our three pt shooting has bailed us out and it is due to slow down as jim projected, but we have 6 different guys that can get hot from three any given night. i just hope we dont jack them up, assuming they will save our ass.

I hope Darko is really good this year. Seriously, for Duncan’s sake.

I’ve always felt that it is better to shoot an outside jumper from beyond the 3-point line because of the “effective” shooting percentage. I see it like this. Last night we shot 10-of-32 from beyond the arc for 31.3 percent. Those 10 shots account for 30 points. If you scored 30 points from 32 2-point shots, or 15 makes from 32 shots, that would equate to a 46.875 shooting percentage. Now I’m not saying shoot threes as opposed to 10- 15-foot jumpers, as the shooting percentage generally increases the closer you are to the basket. But I’ve always hated guys or offensive sets that result in an 18- to 20-foot jumper. How much higher a percentage of 18- to 20-foot jumpers are made than 3-point shots? So using this logic, an offense that creates shots going to the basket (high percentage) or kicks out to 3-point shooters (high effective percentage) seems to be a sound strategy. To me, the strategy loses credibility when, if a team gets off to a poor start shooting threes (like last night at 2-19) then totally goes away from the. Last night we kept hoisting them up (within the structure of our base offense) and ended up hitting 8 of our last 13. Just something I’ve often thought about. Go Spurs Go!!

Yeah, it was the clanking that had the Spurs shooting their own toes. It happens. They just had to do some workaround, like what they did last night.

Then again, like what the guys at Project Spurs said in their last podcast, THEY SHOULDN’T LIVE AND DIE BY THE THREE.

Oh, and we can also attribute the poor shooting and the living and dying with three-pointers with LACK OF ENERGY. They looked flat. They should’ve drank more Gatorade or Red Bull or something before the game. And for insurance purposes, every pre-game thereafter.

Especially Blair. Where the heck did all his high-octane energy go?

was anyone else deeply worried when manu went down holding his stomach? He’s such a warrior for playing like the man through that pain.

The SPURS were exposed! They showed that on the road, the day before Thanksgiving, they were able to focus and comeback from a 21 point deficit and win the game in OT! We’re doomed!!!

One tough game and we’re exposed? Our front line didn’t come to play. We couldn’t shoot to save our lives. etc….. Our true test is going to be how we respond. That is always the test. We’ve strung together a he’ll of a run vs. Some great teams. Were bound to rest on our laurels and slip up. Our offense is clicking for the most part. If we don’t adjust by midseason, then let’s talk about having a problem or being exposed.

should have clarified my exposition comment. what i meant is we appear to be lacking strong post protection. love and millicic had a field day against duncan’ dyess, and splitter and blair couldn’t stay on the floor. i like that we haven’t gone to tim as often, but we need some interior activity on both ends. i think splitter will come along and alleviate this issue. he couldn’t contest love and millicic, but he played solid around the basket and had some nice gambles for steals. i can’t beleive millicic is only 25…..

From the play by play account:
Duncan Jump Shot: Missed 10:00 Blair Rebound (Off:1 Def:0) 09:59 Blair Layup Shot: Missed Block: Beasley (1 BLK) 09:52 Blair Rebound (Off:2 Def:0) 09:51 Blair Turnover : Out of Bounds Lost Ball Turnover (1 TO)

So Blair’s first rebound he turned into having his shot blocked, and his second rebound (from recovering the block of his shot) he turned into a turnover. After 14 games, he has had 21 of his shots blocked out of 92 attempts in 287 minutes. He’s received credit for a rebound at least twice for picking up the ball after having his shot blocked. I’m pretty sure that there have been a few times where he has been credited for multiple rebounds on the play by rebounding his own miss.

Before giving credit to Blair for a “great rebounding rate”, it seems like adjustments should be made to determine if it was an effective rebound.

In his 287 minutes, Blair has 21 turnovers. The only player that averages more turnovers per minute is Manu, who handles the ball more often and has about 4 times the number of assists per minute compared to Blair.

Those who aspire to win championships will play ugly and still find a way to eek out a win. And that’s what the Spurs did.

Love and Michlic played very well against the Lakers recently, so the fact that they excelled against the Spurs was not surprising. But the mark of a good team is finding a way to win when it seems you shouldn’t.

An ugly win is just the same as an evenly played win in the box score.

There are two teams in the East with double digit wins. The West has 6. The NBA should change the playoffs so that the top 16 teams in the NBA make it into the playoffs as opposed to how its currently structured.

Phoebus
November 25th, 2010 at 6:43 pm

“at what point does it get noticed that the spurs have the best record in the league and yet not a single player in the top 20 scorers, nor a single player in the top 10 in any major stat category, save Bonner’s 3 %age?

weird much?”

Not really, because it’s a “team” game. Look at all the important “team” stats. We’re in the top 6 in most of them (offense, defense, TS%, rebounds, point differential, assists/turnover, etc.).

Daniel T
November 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm

“After 14 games, he (Blair) has had 21 of his shots blocked out of 92 attempts in 287 minutes.”

First of all, I need to know the source of your above comment. Second, “how many” of his shots that were blocked allowed him to get “how many” additional rebounds immediately following the block on the same possession? Probably not very many to have a material effect on his 92 rebounds, and his team leading TRB%.

“In his 287 minutes, Blair has 21 turnovers. The only player that averages more turnovers per minute is Manu, who handles the ball more often and has about 4 times the number of assists per minute compared to Blair.”

First of all, comparing Manu to Blair in assists to turnover is irrelevant. It’d be like comparing Manu to TD, Dice, Bonner, and Splitter in assists to turnover. In other words, no contest. Probably because Manu is a play making guard don’t you think? (although Bonner’s is at present lower in assts/TO through just 8 games - a distinct anomaly that won’t last - and of course Bonner better not turn the ball over much because he hardly gets any steals, and relatively few rebounds for a 4/5).

Second, while I’d like to see Blair’s turnover rate decrease, he also happens to have the highest STL% on the entire team, and has also forced numerous other turnovers via deflections. Nit-picking his TRB%, and cherry-picking stats like his TOV% is not an appropriate way to properly evaluate Blair’s value while on the floor.

Does not matter how ugly game was because most teams lose this game,but nba champions contenders win these.Watch out lakers,this spurs team is for real and we can beat lakers in 7 game series.All i want is 7 game series with L.A. and there no .4 seconds this time 36 yr old fisher. It supporting cast that win this series. Key series will be parker vs fisher and resurgance jefferson which make spurs big 4 . Plus ther abudant 3 point shooters on this team.

Jim,

No way would any player besides Manu be a better spark off the bench than Blair. His strong attributes are gear towards what we call hustle stats. Steals, weak side blocks, O&D boards. He had a role on the team that he was very good at. He has a new role on the team that he’s not good at. It’s an easier concept than you make it out to be. I don’t care that he’s a 21 year old developing in his second year. That seems to be your main point when mentioning his struggles. That’s all the more of a reason to put his young ass back to the second unit. He’s a starter getting the minutes of a 9 man in the rotation as of late. Maybe Dallas is just what the doctor ordered for his game. He did go off on them last year. But with TD guarding either Dirk or Chandler…who is Blair going to check? McDyess may get the nod for tonight. We know how well he played him in the post season. Everyone wants success out of DB and we are unhappy with the role he is in now. Its counter productive to his growth. It isn’t a bash DB witch hunt. When he helped us win that game early in the 3rd quarter I gave him praise for his play. You even acknowledged the shout out I gave him. Those plays he provided in those 1st few minutes of the 3rd is what I’d like to see him do against every teams 2nd unit.

By the way, expect to see a dose of all our “bigs” tonight against the Mavericks.

“Generally speaking, Splitter’s continued development (which I fully endorse) should come more at the expense of McDyess and Bonner, not at the expense of Blair.”

In theory, I agree. In practicallity, Bonner and McDyess are playing much better than Blair. The answer is simple, Blair has to play better or go to the bench. This idea is the same for every other team in the NBA. Produce or don’t play.

“The last two games he did not get much of a chance with about 7 mpg.”

He had horrendous foul trouble and he was turning the ball over at an ungodly rate. A combined 16 minutes with 4 fouls and 3 TO’s.

“Thus, not including the last two games, 6 out of Blair’s next eleven games (more than half) after game one were clearly better than game one’s performance (better than games 2-4 as well).”

This was somewhat difficult to follow, but your point is that he is playing somewhat better. Let’s spin this a different way. If you add in the two games where he couldn’t sniff the court, you have Blair only playing better in 6 of the last 13 games. This is no upward trend. This is erratic playing further proving that Blair appears as lost now as he was in game 1.

“If you loom at Millsap, it wasn’t until year three that he started to “break-out”

I agree. Blair’s slow start plus the fact that he’s never been asked to be an offensive focal point lead me to believe we are in for at least a 3 year development plan for Blair. If this is the case, why force him to play minutes this year when he is not producing, but other “bigs” are playing well?

“No, see my response to doggy above.”

Assuming you are correct on diagnosing our rebounding, I suppose your answer is to play Blair more. Yes, he can help us on the rebounding side, but he hasn’t helped us in scoring or in defense. The Spurs have rebuilt a roster that excludes one way players and until Blair begins to put some good games together, that’s what he is at this point in the season.

“Anybody that understands player development in 21 one year old, 2nd round draft pick “bigs” is going to realize that there are usually going to be many up and downs to their game for quite some time.”

I understand this and if Blair was our only concern then by all means, let’s play Blair 45 mpg. However, we have other bigs who are playing better (McDyess and Bonner) and another 7-footer who has the potential to have a much bigger short term impact than Blair. It’s possible that Blair may not be any better this year than last and besides, our playoff hopes will not rely on Blair this year. IMO, much more is at stake with the development of Splitter than with Blair.

In the end, I haven’t given up on Dejuan. In fact, something could click and he could still have an amazing year. I still stick with my original prescription of giving Blair until game 25 (almost 1/3 of the season) to turn around his troubles. After this, it’s time to turn Splitter loose.

To Daniel T,
You have to either give Blair credit or not. You say he was blocked 21 times (I agree that he gets blocked too much, but I’d prefer mistakes of aggression than mistakes being passive) but then got his own board 5 times. If that’s the case, then nearly a quarter of the times he is blocked he gets the ball back anyway (which means it isn’t really as negative, is it?) Blair will adjust to avoiding blocks and turnovers. He’s a second-year player. Jim Henderson has one point that I can’t find any argument against; Pop is starting Blair, and occasionally giving Splitter DNP-CDs. Far be it from me to question arguably the best coach in the game….
Also, the Spurs came back and WON the game. They played a poor team (NOT a terrible team like people have been saying) on the ROAD. After their awful first quarter, they won every quarter and the overtime period. I’m not gonna freak out on a 13-1 team who just won on the road because of one horrible quarter.

Hobson13
November 26th, 2010 at 12:36 pm

“Yes, he can help us on the rebounding side, but he hasn’t helped us in scoring or in defense.”

In six out of his last eight games for which he’s gotten 16 minutes or more of playing time Blair has averaged 9.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals. I know steals, and deflections forcing turnovers is not everything as far as defense is concerned, but to just dismiss it as essentially meaningless is absurd. And as I’ve stated numerous times, Blair is 3rd on the entire team in steals, by far the best for any big man on the team, and only behind our all-star back court tandem of Manu & TP. Of course he needs to work on his fouls & turnovers! Obviously that dampens the exceptional quality of his steals. But he’s not going to learn how to do that on the bench.

“However, we have other bigs who are playing better (McDyess and Bonner)….”

In contrast, Bonner has averaged 8.8 points per game in his 8 games this season, with just 3.8 rpg., and .3 spg. And McDyess in his 13 games this year is averaging 6.3 ppg., 6.2 rpg., and .2 spg. Granted Bonner has done a much better job taking care of the ball (he doesn’t do much with it but shoot it from 25 ft, and is often fed on a silver platter with wide-open looks), and his efficiency in scoring has been much better. But the fact is he’s getting half the rebounds of Blair, and 1/6 his steals, which are very important in feeding our transition game. McDyess plays better position defense than Blair, and his scoring has been more efficient, but again he’s not the rebounder that Blair is, and he gets a lousy 1/8 the steals that Blair gets.

“If this is the case, why force him to play minutes this year when he is not producing, but other “bigs” are playing well?”

It sounds like you value scoring efficiency, outside shooting, and less turnovers more than you value rebounds & steals. Since we have shooters/scorers galore in our top four, and only one aging good rebounder, I don’t know why people don’t understand that Blair is a good fit with this starting unit. That starting unit needs rebounding and a guy in the front court that forces turnovers next to Duncan. It does not need another scorer with a polished offensive game, or one that is not good at creating turnovers.

Obviously there are still plenty of things for Blair to work on to make that starting unit even better. He needs to get is fouling more under control; he needs to play more consistent position “D”; he needs to work on his “D” out on the perimeter; and he needs to take care of the ball better. He’s not going to improve in these areas nearly as fast coming off the bench against 2nd tier players.

“IMO, much more is at stake with the development of Splitter than with Blair.”

Perhaps, but if so we’d be wise to give him more of Bonner & McDyess’ minutes, not Blair’s. But again, this will vary based on match-ups.

“I still stick with my original prescription of giving Blair until game 25 (almost 1/3 of the season) to turn around his troubles.”

We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.

“After this, it’s time to turn Splitter loose.”

As I’ve said, I’m all for that. But there’s no reason that Splitter can’t take Bonner & McDyess’ minutes instead of Blair’s, for the most part. People on here have way out of line expectations for Blair, and have therefore significantly undervalued the his contribution this year already, despite his clear growing pains.