Wednesday, March 17th, 2010...9:00 pm
San Antonio Spurs 84, Orlando Magic 110
Although it has been over a year since the San Antonio Spurs faced the Orlando Magic, tonight’s game picked up right where the ’08-09 regular season series left off. After playing a competitive first quarter, the Spurs failed to challenge the Walt Disney Co. Magicians for the remainder of the game’s 36 minutes, and lost in Orlando 110-84.
For all intents and purposes, the game was lost during the first six minutes of the second quarter. Two back-to-back three pointers by Matt Bonner to close the half made it appear as if the Spurs could fight their way back into this one. But you were watching, you knew otherwise.
When considered on a macroscopic level, watching the Spurs play the Magic is a bit like staring into San Antonio’s past. The Magic are a stout defensive team with a dominant big man and a penchant for the long ball. (Obviously a closer examination reveals a multitude of nuance.) Their style is, broadly conceived, the same as the Spurs. Except, during the past two seasons, whenever the two teams have met, Orlando’s superior athleticism and execution have propelled them to victory by wide margins.
Although the Spurs did not exactly shoot the lights out this evening (Duncan, McDyess and Hill combined for 3-19 from the floor), this game was lost on the defensive end of the floor. Blame it on the back-to-back games, old age or overall ineptitude, but the Spurs did a remarkably poor job closing out on the Magic’s prolific perimeter shooters. Quick and acute close-outs have been a rare commodity this season, so the fact that I consider the Spurs mediocre perimeter defense to be remarkable says something.
The Spurs looked as if their legs had gone out from under them; dispassionately applied screens and casual off-the-ball movement by the Magic produced plenty of wide open outside shots and spacious driving lanes. At points the Spurs sagged into a state of defensive limbo, drifting into the mid-range and leaving plenty of space for Vince Carter to shoot from distance or for Matt Barnes to sneak through the back door. For the most part, Dwight Howard was a decoy (with 9 points and 7 rebounds, he had a comparatively quiet night). The Magic exploited any doubles the big man drew, and sank 10 of their 23 three point attempts.
Were it not for Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson, tonight’s outing would have been even worse. They combined for 38 of the Spurs 84 points, shooting an efficient 17 of 25 from the field collectively. Ginobili continues to distribute the ball with confidence and creativity, although he and the recipient’s of his passes seemed to be off by a split second tonight. Meanwhile, It’s becoming increasingly indisputable that Richard Jefferson is at his most comfortable when playing small forward.
I’ll be honest- I didn’t feel confident going into tonight’s game and I won’t feel confident when we play Orlando on April 2. Tonight’s blowout wasn’t about the Spurs struggles this season. It was about the perennial match-up problems Orlando poses for San Antonio.
71 Comments
March 17th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I threw in the towel for this game at the beginning of the season when I saw the schedule.
Just like the article says. Another back-to-back blow out.
It was just poor shooting. TD shot his worst shooting % in his career. It was just one of those nights.
The only good thing is that MAnu is in the zone and now RJ seems to “get it”.
As for GHILL??
YOu guys still want to trade TP???????????????
On another note, I think no team should double D HOWARD. He’s not that dominant yet. Especially when the Magic are a 3 point shooting team. They play outside-in.
The worst is when DHoward isn’t even looking for his shot. He is clearly looking to pass, and they still double.
The SPURS should just let him go one on one like they do with DIRK.
I know on the surface this loss looks really bad, but I’m chalking it up to an off night.
It’s the nature of the back-to-back.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Off-night when the Spurs were trying to capitalize on momentum and show that they can hang with the better teams in the league, as opposed to picking on the scrub teams for nine games?
I think the Spurs needed to have a good showing this game. It wasn’t a must win, but I really needed to see this team put up a good fight, and they failed miserably.
a) They made the mistake of saying “Howard isn’t going to beat us.” Howard doesn’t beat teams. He allows his shooters to beat teams. Spurs fell into that trap tonight and they should know better.
b) Even if we were aggressively defending Howard, he had no issues scoring when he made the decision to score. There were also multiple plays where the defense lost track of him. How do you lose track of a legit 7-footer with the athleticism that Mr. Robinson used to have???
c) If you double the big, you have to be able to rotate to the shooters. Big, huge, MISERABLE fail on this point tonight. Half-hearted run-outs. Defenders standing flat-footed instead of jumping to get a hand in the face. Absolute and utter failure to hedge the pick and roll.
Yeah, sure, ok. I’ll call it an off night. But its an off night by a team that deserves a seven or eight seed. A team that deserved to make a legit playoff run wouldn’t have an off-night like this.
March 17th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Lakers get blown out on back-to-backs too.
March 17th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Small sample size. Spurs wept Orlando two years ago. Last season the Spurs lost by double digits in Orlando when they again played their the second night of a back to back. The home loss to Orlando was far from a “wide margin”; 7 point spread that came down to the final minute even though the Magic shot 64% on 3s. It seems the bigger problem isn’t match ups, but the difficulty of playing in Orlando on night #2 of a b2b. Not having Parker made this an impossible win unless the Magic stunk.
On a different note, this would’ve been a good night to rest TD. I’d now consider resting him vs GS on Friday. The games next week (Atlanta, OKC, LA) are way more important than the Warriors who we should beat even with TD on the bench.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Tim Duncan 6 for 25 in the past 2 games? Can Duncan score on Nene, Bynum, or Haywood in the playoffs? I doubt it. He needs help inside. Where will it come from?
Spurs best defense was the zone defense they played for like 3 possessions, Pop needs to incorporate it more come the playoffs. Spurs need to trap with the big on Howard pick and rolls at top of the key, stop letting Carter, Nelson, etc stroll down the lane with a head of steam for layups. Agree with statements that doubling a post man(Howard) with limited post moves every time down was pretty stupid.
Unless the Spurs get another big in the Robinson, Mohammed, Nestorovic, Willis, Perdue mode to help Duncan inside guard centers, block shots and rebound, Spurs likelihood of getting past the 1st round is slim to none.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:42 am
i didnt watch the first half, but from what I saw in the 2nd half and what I’m reading, except manu and rj, we were just flat tonight. i blame this on the absence of tp, even if he was flat if he were to play as well. what we r missing the most is not his play-making ability, or scoring ability, rather we miss what he does to manu. with parker baq manu goes to the bench, what manu does off the bench is much more valuable than what he does as a starter, especially on nights like this. manu gives us energy, hypes us up. If we are down he along with the rest of the bench bring us back closer, and builds some confidence and energy for our starters. now with him starting, he cant really give you that energy and confidence boost, because he is on the floor when the rest of the guys are playing flat anyway. hence, that is what we miss the most manu being manu off the bench and not as a starter.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:55 am
I love the optimism! However i can not join in the misguided thinking. Back to back games are part of the NBA. Stop making excuses for our team! We just are not an upper echelon team any more and most of you do not want to admit that fact. As far as us sweeping Orlando a couple of years ago, again stop living in the past. They have improved dramatically through maturation and adding more pieces while we have not done the same. I do agree that this game was not a must win but we had to at least make a game of it, and we did not do that. We looked slow, unathletic, and out manned against a good, younger, more athletic team. Hopefully we will not get whipped by the rest of our tough schedule, which by the way includes more back to back games, but I feel that we will struggle. I hope I am very wrong on this, but the season has shown us who we are and who we are not. Personally i think we need to look toward the future and start making appropriate decisions to secure that future. Bottom line there is not 1 team I feel that we would beat in the first round right now. Maybe I am wrong. Hopefully I am wrong!
March 18th, 2010 at 3:18 am
Rotations were funny to see…
what’s even more funny is we used to see exactly that on our opposing team..we would rotate the ball so well they wouldn’t see anything coming…
poor defense, lamentable offense (another 5:30 streak w/o scoring)…
I don’t see that team going anywhere…
Maybe Manu grow some wings and becomes the first gargoyle to ever play the NBA
March 18th, 2010 at 3:50 am
Go Spurs Go!!
March 18th, 2010 at 4:05 am
I knew this game was over when I turned on my TV halfway through the first qtr and I saw RMJ in the game.
Hill was invisible last night and why bring in Temple in the 3rd…where was Jackson, who is a better defender.
I know this game was a loss, but I believe as soon as the Magic got about a 14pt lead in the 3rd Pop took everyone out. Why does he throw in the towel so early. I dont want to hear about a back to back, because its been about a week since TD has played some real minutes and why was Manu sitting on the bench?
March 18th, 2010 at 5:12 am
The Spurs are a like glorified mid-major college basketball team from a small conference like the SWAC or Patriot League. They can easily beat the teams at their level or below, but once they play a big-time team, they get slaughtered, save for an occasional upset or two.
On a positive note, it’s good to see RJ finally earning his salary.
March 18th, 2010 at 5:14 am
I half expected this result although I would have liked to see a much more competitive game. It’s tough for them playing a b2b on the road against the Magic without TP. TP probably would have been good for at least 15 which would have made the game much more competitive. Duncan also would have had a better shooting night with TP able to break down the defense better than Hill. It would also help if we could count on RMJ to hit the outside shot with some consistency. Maybe than he would see more minutes. Duncan wouldn’t be having nights like this if we had shooters as consistent as Orlando.
The defense did stink tonight. I feel bad for TD in the middle without any help. You can’t let VC get to the middle that easy without any help for TD. Also VC was excited to be playing SA without squaring off against Bowen. That in itself probably gave him an extra bounce in his step.
This game really wasn’t that disheartening. It just confirms what everyone already knows about this team. I really believe the outcome would have been much more competitive had this not been the second night of a back to back and if we had TP out there.
March 18th, 2010 at 5:24 am
Yes back to backs are part of the NBA, but they’re not part of the playoffs and they are a bigger disadvantage for older teams. Also, last night we saw how much we miss Parker. We had all of one guard who could break down the defense with his dribble. I’m a big George Hill fan but he hasn’t shown any consistent ability to get into the paint. Honestly, there was no way we beat one of the best teams in the league, on the road, in a SEGABABA, without TP. That being said, it was disappointing to have only two guys show up.
March 18th, 2010 at 5:45 am
I know I am gonna catch hell for this…
Mahinmi last night moved alot like Hakeem did back in the day - super nimble. I really do think we should see 20+ minutes of this guy on back to backs. Let him have half of Timmy’s minutes.
I have noticed that Tim has really slipped on the defensive side. He cant seem to guard athletic bigs or score on any of the more dominant bigs. He even had trouble against Jermaine O’Neal…
Bonner did a pretty good job defending Bass i thought. I wonder why he didnt get more burn.
Ok, y’all can all freak out on me now.
March 18th, 2010 at 5:54 am
Another Note: McDyess has been USELESS
And I am normally a supporter of his.
March 18th, 2010 at 6:02 am
A couple points, which others have touched on:
1.) With the absence of TP, our offense lacks the requisite creativity. Outdide of Manu, the Spurs don’t have a guy they can give the ball to and say, “make a play.” As much as I like George Hill, he’s not that type of player. George probably ran the pick and roll close to 15 times last night, and I can only remember one time in which he split the screen or turned the corner and got into the teeth of the defense. Instead, the ball was passed around the perimeter until we took a low %, contested jumper (that was basically our offense in a nutshell last night - very few finishes at the basket). We really miss TP in this department, and it showed against a quality defense. Now, normally I would consider TD to be one of our creators, but……
2.) Dwight Howard overwhelmed TD last night (much of this is undoubtedly due to the 2nd game of a b2b). On offense, TD got pushed around. It wasn’t just that he missed shots, it was the type and difficulty of the shots TD was forced to take. There were two occasions in which TD took a 10ft jump hook - I know this isn’t the shot TD wants. On defense, even though Howard didn’t score the ball, the were several occasions in which Howard put TD on his back and pushed him under the rim, only to get fouled on the shot attempt. TD had no answer for Howard on either end.
3.) Our defense…..wow. At times we looked tired. At times we looked lost. And the rest of the time we looked old. Our closeouts were more than a step slow. The Magic got wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Again, the b2b hurt us, but I think we’re kidding ourselves if that’s all we chalk this showing up to.
March 18th, 2010 at 6:19 am
One more disappointed loss. Hope it’s very hard to digest as a true spurs fan that spurs is not a playoff contender. nobody wins a game without a team effort. One more worst record added to duncan era (1-10 FG) and 50 games streak is going to end. it is very frustrated to see play like that .No excuse for back to back games every team has back to back and i haven’t seen any aggressiveness in any player except manu. Why you give up when others lead by 15 in midway 3rd qtr? I don’t see that team going anywhere?????
March 18th, 2010 at 6:23 am
why do the Spurs wait until they are on national TV to get butt pumped???
March 18th, 2010 at 6:24 am
SAS -
If you will remember correctly, Pop did this against Houston as well. HOUSTON, that had no Yao, Ariza, or Landry. He has given up on games really early when it looks like a blowout. I understand wanting to get your guys some rest, but not the second half of a game… Damn.
Did anyone else like what the saw from Ian last night? I really believe the guy can play!
March 18th, 2010 at 6:31 am
As others have stated, I was flabbergasted by all the double teams on Howard. The Magic are the best three point shooting team in the league. That’s how they beat you, not with Howard scoring a ton of points. What the hell was Pop thinking?
March 18th, 2010 at 6:42 am
There was a very low % chance the Spurs would be able to win this game. I outlined this yesterday and the outcome was easy to anticipate.
1. Second game of a back to back on the road. George Hill played almost 40 minutes the night before and Tim Duncan was gassed and isn’t playing great anyway.
2. Championship contender in their own house. They shot 30+ free throws to our 14.
3. Short roster minus a very talented Tony Parker.
This loss could have been predicted when the schedule was made. Even with the Spurs best roster in the last 10 years they would have only had a small chance to win that game.
March 18th, 2010 at 6:42 am
once we went cold in the second quarter, that really sealed it for us. our 3pt closeouts improved, but about that time, vince carter was sweeping layups past duncan at will. the only way we could compete with the magic (in the regular season) is near perfect defense, a healthy tony parker, and another shot blocking presence, let’s say….ian mahinmi?
10 pts in 10 minutes for the frenchman. i thought ian’s offensive game came strictly from dunks and put-backs, but you can tell he is getting some tutoring from timmy and dice. he looks much more comfortable with his back to the basket and had some nice sweeping left hooks over gortat, who is a starting caliber center for most teams in the NBA. he also did a nice job altering shots without fouling. he may have been a little too foul conscious, but he did have some dice defense against brandon bass, who is another worthy big man.
the more i see ian and blair out there, the more i’m thinking “frontcourt of the future”. the two guys are young, no doubt friends, and their games complement eachother well. blair is the rebound/putback machine while ian is the back to basket/shot blocker/finisher. i garauntee vince carter would have thought twice about penetrating the lane after ian would have swatted one into the 5th row. ian is 2 strong legs away from being a very effective NBA player.
ian’s play is probably the only positive to take from this disneyland drubbing
March 18th, 2010 at 6:50 am
It’s time to start Garrett Temple and Cedric the entertainer Jackson. Let’s go Spurs!
March 18th, 2010 at 6:50 am
@ diehard spur. mcdyess has not been totally useless. his rebounding number have been pretty stellar.
and are you really suggesting giving ian half of timmy’s minutes. the guy looked good, but he isn’t worthy of that kind of burn. i would say give him spot minutes when it appears the team needs some energy or shot blocking, similar to the kind of minutes malik is getting. but make no mistake, roger mason jr looks terrible out there.
gortat congratulated him as the buzzer sounded. i can bet you he saw the potential out there as well.
March 18th, 2010 at 6:53 am
@ blofeld. your comment is even more ridiculous
March 18th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Yawn is a solid inch taller than Timmy, and Timmy is an inch+ taller than Dwight Howard. Just like DeJuan Blair is 6’5… why do they lie aout their listed heights?
March 18th, 2010 at 6:58 am
RJ - I was referring to half of Timmy’s minutes on back2backs… not the norm.
March 18th, 2010 at 7:15 am
That’s probably still too much playing time for Ian.
And no, Ian is not part of our future frontcourt. That was decided months ago when we chose not to pick up the option on an athletic 7-footer during the off-season before the “off-season of LeBron.”
Team have lots of money, and you can’t coach height. Ian will be on another NBA roster next season, and there is nothing we can do about it.
As for comments about TDs defense, yes, his one-on-one defense appears to have significantly dropped off, but team defense wise, he’s still the foundation of what we do on that side of the court.
March 18th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Ive been screaming it out for months. Let the kid play! Mahinmi is serviceable. He is long and athletic and capable of double-doubles on a regular basis.
Ive tried to continue to support this coach, but I have now lost my desire. He has been far less than impressive this year.
If we think back just a tad, we were all excited about the offseason moves made by the Spurs. We had put together a nice roster, with a mix of decent front and backcourt help.
This coach completely trashed that roster. When he did it, I saw posts galore justifying his maddness. Folks trying to come up with reasons for his horrible personnel decisions.
I could be off, but Pop resembles a control freak to me. One of those “My way or the Highway” kind of people. Well, he has hit a wall and peaked as a coach.
The first sign of a coach losing his grip is evidenced when the players stop buying into his system and his philosphies. Body language is suggestive of just that.
Most coaches that use the dictator type coaching style usually only last a few years before players begin to resist.
A good example of this is the NFL’s Bill Parcells. He openly admitted that when he took on a team as coach, he only had a 3 or 4 year window before players would begin to turn against him.
This coach is claerly having a bit of a negative effect on his players. They are playing tight and trying not to make mistakes. It leads to players being indecisive and overly cautious in games.
Malik Hairston for example. He is extremely tight when he is in the game. Its obvious that he is trying very hard not to make a mistake. It is hurting his game. Pop should just let this kid play, and support his efforts.
Same for Mahinmi. This coach led us to believe that Mahinmi’s basketball IQ was too low to even learn the system and that he just wasnt developed enough to contribute.
I knew that was a lie all year long. I watched him and Hairston play in D League and knew they were both more than capable.
Losing Ratliff and Haislip was ridiculous based on thier affordable contracts and ability. Bringing back Finley was a wasted roster spot. Bringing in Bogans, starting him, playing him 20 plus minutes, and deeming him the backbone of the ballclub led me to believe that Pop is sniffing glue.
Then there is Bonner. I would give you a list all of the power forwards that have come and gone in favor of keeping Bonner, but it would just bring me to tears.
In Bonners defense, he would have been more effective last night, but his shots were contested. He can only make open set shots.
But, he did try to remain agressive and again, played better defense.
This Orlando game was just more evidence. Coach knew that Orlando would be a matchup nightmare against this roster. Coach decides to put Duncan on Howard (mistake). He decides to double Howard (mistake) Hard to double against the best 3 point shooting team in the NBA.
He put Bogans on Vince Carter…Vince dunked on him immediately. I did find humor in that. I watched as Keith “The Glove” Bogans displayed his awsome defensive lock down ability…Coach HOF could not be serious with this guy.
Finally,
Zone defense…No need to elaborate any further! We need it like we need oxygen.
Finally, George Hill disappeared last night. Not dogging George. Everybody has bad games here and there. But, hopefully it put the trade TP crap to sleep…George is a good player, but he is no TP.
Also, Should we be concerned about Blair? His body language and recent struggles suggest an extremely frustrated player. Highly competitive players like Blair never respond well to limited minutes. I think Blair is pissed.
Unfortunately my fellow Spur fans….
We are truly in trouble!
March 18th, 2010 at 7:27 am
I won’t take too much from this game, I’m not even that disappointed, I feel we played “the way we wanted to play”. If we meet them in the finals, its going to be Tony and Many and Hill, attack Howard, he gets in foul trouble fast!!! Also, I’m sure we will not double team Howard in the postseason, foul the guy, he can’t shoot free throws!!! (Isn’t that what killed them in the last playoffs)
Pop, lets give superman some freethrow kryptonite!!! ala Hack-a-Howard. I’m also sure the Spurs would not defend the perimeter in the same way. Who am I kidding, they didn’t defend the perimeter.
Hill needs to attack more at the basket…
Manu is balling man!!!
March 18th, 2010 at 7:28 am
OneWing - I am afraid that you might be underestimating Ian. I am by no means saying he is our savior, but the guy has game, athleticism, and height. This is practically his rookie year considering he was hurt all last year and recieved a total of 22 minutes in 6 games. In those 22 minutes he did have 21 points. I believe he can be a pretty efficient scorer if given consistent minutes. you cannot argue that he could do worse than McDyess. If he was playing alongside Timmy, he would be much more efficient, as he would not be required to have the ball.
Ian is also great at boxing out, something we have absolutely sucked at this year.
I am in no way advocating he should get 20+ minutes a game yet, but i do think he deserves more burn than what he gets.
March 18th, 2010 at 7:52 am
I believe that Blair, Mahinmi, and Hairston are going to be the future stars for the Spurs, but hopefully Pop will retire and a new coach can let them exploit their talents. Blair showed what he can do against the Thunder early in the year, but now he a shell of the player he was earlier.
March 18th, 2010 at 8:28 am
Die hard spur/ballhog: imagine where Ian might be had Pop given him some decent minutes from the start of the season? Pop kept saying that the first half of the season was experimentation … rotations, lineups, match-ups, chemistry,etc. Yet, Ian (nor Haislip or Hairston) were ever part of that. Sure, maybe they wouldn’t have panned out but at least we’d know that now. The story of our season is this: first half of the season everyone not named Tim Duncan was wildly inconsistent; second half, everyone not named Manu Ginobili is wildly inconsistent. The clock is ticking …. fast.
March 18th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Tim Duncan for this month and the two previous, has not shot over 50%. Which is a worry. His shot is wildly inconsistent.
Defense was a joke. I want fucking commitment and savvy.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:27 am
What “Tom in Bakersfield” said. If the SPurs were a sixty win team, last night would be one of the twenty-two losses. It happens on the road to title contenders. When you’re not healthy and on a b2b, it’s really not happening. Plus the Magic have been playing well.
Orlando is 3-1 vs the Lakers over the same span that they’re 3-0 vs the Spurs. Guess they’re pretty good. Of course that didn’t save them in the Finals, where there are no b2b games and often there are two days off. All panickers, calm down.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:40 am
spurs shouldve signed alonzo gee instead of temple. Gee’s been playing well the past couple of games for the wizards. As for ian, how the hell do you expect him to get past 20 mins a game when he gets into foul trouble by the 2nd min. I say release temple and sign dwayne jones so we’ll have more options on the c/pf positions. The guard positions are already swamped.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Seeing the Spurs are 8-2 in their L10, I’ll let it slide. Rest, reboot, and win the next one.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:58 am
I’ve accepted that this team probably won’t go real far in the playoffs. No reason to freak out about it. Let’s all enjoy the ride and hope some breaks go our way.
Also, Pop is awesome. Take whatever shots you want at him, but his resume speaks for itself.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:08 am
[...] 48 Minutes of Hell recaps the game here. [...]
March 18th, 2010 at 10:14 am
IAN looked decent. I just wonder how helpful he could have been if they just played him from the beginning of the season.
It’s too late to try and work him in now.
And in the words of Jeff Van Gundy(more or less)
“can we not put teams that are playing back-to-backs on national television. The team playing the back-to-back always comes out flat and gets blown out.”
March 18th, 2010 at 10:26 am
@ Kevin
Pop is awsome? Not even close…
He came here and made a decision to be defensive minded. Caught the league off guard and hung some banners.
He didnt win them…Superman like effort from key players won them.
Other than that, I credit him for helping to develope Parker.
Otherwise, especially of late, all I see is a hothead struggling to adjust to change.
Im not hating on you for your blind support of Popovich…..He was good for years…
How could I,
There are even fans out there that still support Bob Knight.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Blair,Hairston, and Mahinmi are future stars for the Spurs. But I agree with a previous blogger that they are playing scared because of P0p’s coaching.
Blair showed us what he can do against the Thunder earlier this year, but he is a shell of what he used to be.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Ballhog -
I have a hard time understanding this logic: correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re implying we shouldn’t give Pop much credit for winning 4 titles - that goes to the players. Yet, when we play poorly, the blame isn’t on the players, it’s on Pop. So, he doesn’t get credit when we win, yet receives all the blame when we lose? That’s a double standard.
Listen, I’d be the first to tell you Pop probabaly hasn’t been on his A game the whole year. But looking at our season from 10,000 feet, are our problem coaching related, or are they personel related? I think you’d have a hard time saying our disappointment stems from anything other than the fact we don’t have the players to compete for a title. Fact is, we are not good enough to compete for a championship with this group.
Let’s stop trying to pin all our blame on one person, there’s enough to go around. It’s not one person’s fault. From the FO on down to the players, we just haven’t gotten it done.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Ian mahinmi is fools gold a 7 foot athletic guy who runs the court and reminds us of david robinson. yet he is not a starter in this league. I have been able to watch Him live twice now and 80 percent of time he’s out their he’s been horrible. Having me call for Matt Bonner. Scoring on teams second units and in blowouts does not impress me.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Maybe our expectations were way too high coming into the year. Based on our talent compared to the other teams out there, our record probably reflects the team we are - a solid playoff team, but not talented enough to break into the uper echelon.
That’s not Pop’s fault - he doesn’t have the players. It’s not the players’ faults - we can’t ask them to overachieve the whole year, that’s not realistic. It’s not the front office’s fault - they swung for the fences and took on more salary than they ever have in order to try and squeak one more title out of the TD era.
I think we all need to down a dose of realism. Let’s not freak out b/c we lose to the Cavs or Magic - that’s what happens when you’re a borderline playoff team.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I still support Bob Knight. Wouldn’t call on him to win a championship, but if I had a kid and he could go play for Knight or Calipari, I’d want Knight coaching him.
March 18th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Say what you want about Bob Knight, the guy won ballgames…..
March 18th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
“Who are these people?
Based on the value that [Gregg Popovich] has brought to this franchise, the awesome professionalism that he has demonstrated year after year, and the heart, guts and determination that he has shown here in the Spur Nation,
If this team even hints to [GP] that they are unhappy with his [coaching]
He should LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!
For apparently, they have lost touch with basketball reality.” - BALLHOG
I don’t see how my confidence in Gregg Popovich calls for ridicule… or how it is any different than the feelings you expressed in the statement above (originally re: Parker). It’s true that Pop doesn’t put the ball in the basket. It’s true that everyone here is completely free to question decisions he’s made. This year, I think he’s struggled to meet lofty expectations with a team of injury-prone underachievers. Maybe you think differently. Maybe you’ll post every time we lose and let me know that you think differently. Maybe you’ll say that Phil Jackson was just lucky to land Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe. But I’m going to go ahead and declare that the guy who took advantage of the state of the league, the guy who used his multi-lingual skills to scout and connect to foreign players, and the guy with 4 rings is “awesome”.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Just bad night in Orlando for Spurs,but we don’t need to worry.Playoff is totaly different game and I do belive that nobody 1-4 whant play as in the first round.Just need healthy crew of players and we will give fight to everybody.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
@ onewing. resigning ian may be our best bet to improving our frontcourt. his contract didn’t get extended because he had absolutely no evidence to merit an extension. after a 15 pt 9 reb game against NJ and some decent production in the few minutes he has been given, im sure teh FO will think twice. our options are limited in free agency and ian could be a big, low cost improvement.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
What is all the complaining about?
The reason the spurs aren’t good is cos Duncan isn’t good anymore. And everyone forgets the point about these blogs.
They are to be commented and not for someone to make this as their own blog. Enjoy the reading the please.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I’m not that high on Pop myself, but bashing him and FO for the Spurs’ underachievement is just ridiculous. Like Tyler said, there are plenty of blames to go around. And no, playing younger guys and sitting all the old guys won’t probably help the issue either. Mahinmi sure has talent but he’s just that: unfulfilled talent. You can’t blame Pop for playing Duncan, Dice, Blair and Bonner ahead of Mahinmi. Blame it on the freak injuries that ultimately caused Mahinmi to miss opportunity to prove himself when the Spurs front-court was depleted last year.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Pop is not the problem.
Tim was rubbish. Which is rare.
But we couldn’t shoot and we defended like pants.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
The problem is the Spurs do not have any length at all from the 2 position to the 5.
Orlando have Howard, Lewis, Gortat and Bass all over 6ft 10′, Spurs have one (not including no minutes Mahinmi).
This goes for matchups against Lakers, Cavs, Mavs, Jazz, Blazers they all have players with length and high basketball IQ, Spurs can no way in hell matchup with these teams.
Basetball is a tall mans game and the Spurs do not have the players to compete agains these stacked teams.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
The Spurs in a lot of games this season have thrown the towel in and shown no heart. If every player showed heart like Ginobili does every game the season would be a different story.
March 18th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Leave me alone, everyone. Timmy is on the slide, TP has a bad wheel and now is out, and Manu is just coming around. Losing Bowen was a major blow to our defense-one that was exacerbated by and aging Duncan and bringing on RJ, who can’t guard a potted plant. If players could play the defense I coach, we would be fine, but they can’t play it as well anymore-that’s the plain and simple truth. Opposing teams torch us for big quarter when that rarely happen in previous years. Opposing teams shoot high percentages against us when we used to lead the league year in and year out.
The calls to start/play Hairston, Mahinmi, et al are silly. Hairston can barely keep from dribbling the ball off his own feet. Mahinmi closes his eyes before shooting. Even if I started both, they would foul out within the first quarter.
I think BALLHOG should coach the Spurs since he obviously knows good coaching when he sees it and has a profound knowledge of all the problems our team faces.
March 18th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
@kevin
I understand fully if you do not echo my opinion of the coach.
I understand the loyalty shown to this coach by his fan base.
I was riding that same train for years.
But, I dont see adjustments being made, players being put in position to succeed, Evaluating and utilizing each players strengths, etc…Coaching issues…
But, I try to look at things realistically. Pop basically wasted a season. He wasted this season as if the age of the Big 3 was not an issue….
A 20 year veteran coach doesnt allow his team to still be in pre-season mode at the end of the season. Still looking for an identity? Rotations, Subs, or even a simple Zone defense, completely absent?
Maybe its me, but I just feel that there is no viable excuse to spend an entire seson juggling rotations. Should have been a set rotation well before the all star break.
Furthermore, The personnel issues are horrifying. Why would this coach and FO put players on the roster that they know cannot play? Why continue to sign players, pay them, and not play them.
But,
Can no longer claim that he is developing them. Mahinmi has been here for 22 years already. How long does it take to develope a player? Is it a year? 2 years? What?
If it does take that amount of time, does that mean that Mcdyess, Jefferson, and even the rookie Blair are just smarter than the average bear? Hoops Brainiacs?
Why is signing marginal to substandard talent the norm? Is he afraid that a Letrell Sprewell type player might revolt and smack his chin?
Is it because better players have the wrong attitude?
Is it because all of them have unmanageable character issues?
Are they required to have so many volunteer hours with the Boys and Girls club?
Are American collegiate ballers frowned upon, (Other than Hill and Blair)?
Its not personal. I have never met Popovich and he has never kicked my tire.
But
Cant hold the players accountable if you wont let them play. Too controlling…Now, if he were to sit his @#$% down and let these guys just go out and compete within the confines of his system, without over coaching, then we could hold them accountable.
Until then, Pop is the Huckleberry!
March 18th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Ups and downs, highs and lows, its all part of the game. There was alot to take in from this game. First is the Spurs do not match up with the elite teams. Second our bench does not match up with the elite teams. Third I was impressed by RJ’s play these past few games. He played hard and agressive against the Magic. I hope this continues the rest of the season. Last but not least Manu needs to be resigned. He is the one person who is keeping this team together. I was not expecting much of a blowout but that is what happens when the Spurs are outmatched with younger and more athletic guys on the court.
March 18th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Damn fellas……more of the same ole’ shit…….that Poppovich sure is a horrible coach (my sarcasm). The horse has been beat to death.
The Spurs just aren’t as good this year and it wouldn’t matter if Poppovich, George Karl, Phil Jackson, or Kiki Vandeweghe (from the Nets) were coaching.
….and this sure as hell applies to the blasphemy that implies playing Hairston and Mahinmi more would fix our problems, because they can’t!
March 18th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Yeah it kills me.
Certain sections of the fanbase are spoilt beyond belief from all the titles and playoff series the past 12 or 14 years.
The implication is always that if we’re not winning it has to be SOMEBODIES fault.
There is SOMEONE not doing their job or playing up to the level they should be at.
In breaking news, apparently theres 30 teams in the league.
No one team wins every year.
Get used to it.
We’re not the best this year. The front office tried but we cannot put it together every night to the level that some teams can.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:14 am
Most of us were happy at the start of the season. Jefferson, McDyess, Blair, Hill, and the three stars on their feet. By that time, many thought the Spurs were legitimate contenders.
But TP’s body pull up the white flag, Ginobili needed half the season to bring back Manu, Duncan started strong only to fade little by little, Jefferson suddenly seemed lost on the court, and Pop tried some experiment — pobably thinking that he HAD to try some new strategies cause last years were just playoffs years with no title (and the Spurs targets titles, not playoffs).
And with all that, you have a (more or less) 50w regular season team.
It could be better, we’re ok on that. It could be worse, lets not forget that too.
Bushka is right: some of us are spoiled fans. Some are just so willing for the Spurs to win that they don’t allow them to fail.
Giving an opinion on a board is not a simple thing. Often one seems to oversimplify, resulting in a feeling that all the problems are because of one thing. That’s not all on Pop. Nor all on TP, or Manu, TD or Jefferson. The path for a franchise to success or failure is obviously more complex and I’m sure we all agree on that.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:52 am
I would like to see Hairston starting with Hill at guard positions, and Manu coming off the bench. Also, Mahinmi should get minutes from McDyees. Pop needs to solidify rotations already or it’s gonna be to late. Players need to know their roles and get comfortable within. Rotations are upide down and that hurt us the most. Hill, Hairston, RJ, Duncan and Mahinmi should start. Right there you got perimeter defence,lateral quicknes,transition defense,rebounding, and fastbreak.
Simplify your sistem and let Manu go and get you where you wanna go.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:57 am
i’m not going to lie. there has been times that i thought hairston and mahinmi could change everything, but that is certainly fools gold.
here is my case for mahinmi:
A- he knows the spurs system and defensive rotations. there would be less of an adjustment period.
B- his past seasons with the franchise deserve a pass considering he has spent time in austin and an entire season in the training room. his best ball is yet to come
C- we are extremely limited in our free agent contention and athletic bigs are hard to come by. he is the only player on our frontcourt who can contest shots. he is also developing a nice offensive game. his rebounding numbers will drastically improve if he can put on more muscle mass on his legs so he won’t get pushed out from under the basket. he already boxes out extremely well. the fouls will be under control the more court time he sees.
i honestly can’t say for certain that he will return, but our best bet nxt year for a title is the development of guys like hairston, mahinmi, blair, into rotation players and the continuing excellence of hill to help relieve the burden of our aging big three and even then, that still won’t be enough.
rebuilding with malik, george, tony, dejuan, and ian is a decent place to start. oh, and WE AREN’T GETTING TIAGO SPLITTER!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Splitter - probably won’t sign on with the NBA looking at a lockout.
Ian - Someone will offer him more money than we are realistically able to. Think full mid-level exception. We aren’t going to be able to push our own mid-level entirely into Ian. Especially while we are praying that it might be enough to lure Splitter.
I think this year has turned into the year that everyone has been expecting the Spurs to have for the last few years - the end of the window of the Tim Duncan era. But the team is still just good enough to keep fighting for 50-win seasons for a while longer, and that will keep the seats sold.
2-3 more 50-win seasons after this one and then Duncan and Pop will retire at the same time. Then the decline will complete itself, we’ll drop down to the lottery for a bit and hope to strike gold again.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:25 am
RJ-
I am with you on Ian’s development - This has to be considered his rookie year. His turnovers are the only thing he has has against him. I believe those would come waaaaay down, if given more time to work on the court. I think that 15+ minutes would do wonders for his game, and for the money, I dont think you can beat his production/knowledge of the system.
As far is Splitter is concerned, I believe we will have to choose between Manu and Tiago. If we pay one, the other wont be here. It is my understanding that we could have them on the full MLE. Not both - one or the other.
As far as salary cap goes, we have $19,579,797.00 in expirings this year including Manu.
Who we should keep/get:
Manu - $7,000,000.00 - 2 year contract
Mahinmi - $1,500,000.00 - 3 year contract
Splitter - $5,000,000.00 - 3 year contract
Throw in a Million dollar shooter or two…
Now, If it was only my money…!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:33 am
@ onewing
you really think someone will offer him more money than we can? i would think he is flying under the radar and someone over at PTR (pounding the rock) suggested that we aren’t playing Ian because we don’t want to increase his free agent value. but then again, it is a scout’s job to find these diamond-in-the-rough players. hopefully everyone will be so comsummed with the big names this summer that someone will overlook and him and we get him on the cheap.
i wish there was some sort of espn database that could indicate a player’s impending average market value. that would be interesting.
March 19th, 2010 at 11:46 am
If some GM is duped into giving Ian the full midlevel, then God bless him, because that is not a contract that’s going to look good when the salary cap comes down a few million dollars.
If the staff really does like Ian, we would have picked up his option earlier this year and continued his development with a chance(s) to break into the rotation. As it stands though, we did neither, which tells me, he’s not coming back for much more than he’s making this year.
As for keeping him under the radar, he was an all-star in the D-League - every team knows who he is.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
@OneWing:
One minor thought about Splitter — I’ve heard that argument that he’ll be less likely to come over this summer because of the possibility of the lock-out and because he’s being pursued hard by some Euro clubs, and that line of thought makes a lot of sense.
That said, however, there may be a real incentive for Euro guys like Splitter (and Rubio if he could buy out of his current deal, for that matter) to come over this summer rather than wait if you look at it this way. Many NBA writers speculating about the likely out-come of the next CBA seem to think the guys that might be hurt the most are the mid-level to not-quite-max guys (how many teams hosed their cap space this decade not because they had 3 max guys but because they had 5 or 6 decent players each making $6 - $9 million?). If you’re a European guy from that talent category that dreams of coming to the NBA, wouldn’t it be better to sign on now under the old CBA than wait until the new one is settled, when you might be looking at half the yearly paycheck with fewer guaranteed years on your deal?
Throwing out some hypothetical numbers, under the old CBA, Splitter might get a 4-year deal starting at $5 million/year, which comes to $20 - $25 million. Under the new CBA, what if that deal became 3 years for starting at $3 or $4 million? The new deal would be about $12 - $15 million. It seems like you’d come away with more money under the new deal even if a whole season were lost due to lock-out. Just a thought.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Incidentally, does anyone know what the FIBA rules are for players’ ability to sign abroad in a different league during a lock-out? Could NBA guys sign 1-year deals in Europe contingent that the deal is void at the end of the lock-out, or is that expressly forbidden?
March 19th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
FIBA honors NBA contracts and vice versa. Therefore, even in the event of a lockout, anyone under contract in the NBA can’t sign a deal with a FIBA team.
March 19th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Tyler
March 19th, 2010 at 11:46 am
I concur on Mahinmi. We will not be paying him much to resign (if we do at all), and it’s doubtful other teams will either. I would be surprised if he was still not considered something of a project by the great majority of teams in the league, and therefore an inconsistent, low-minute man outside the main rotation.
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