Tuesday, April 7th, 2009...1:31 pm
The Season Starts Tonight: Spurs-Thunder, 4-07-09
Those NBA fans who pronounced the Spurs dead yesterday were only trying to convince themselves. The Spurs aren’t going to roll over. Opposing teams will have to beat the Spurs. They’re not going beat themselves. You’ve heard this before. You know it’s true.
Thankfully for the Thunder, they seem to understand this principle. Durant and crew play with purpose against San Antonio-they know what is obvious to those of us who watch, that they’re a difficult match up for San Antonio. The Thunder have shown up the Spurs not once, but twice in recent weeks. It’s fitting that the post-Ginobili campaign would start with Oklahoma City. More demon exorcism for the buck that way.
But that’s all beside the point. There is only one thing to look for in tonight’s game: Defense.
Individual defense. Team defense. Defensive substitutions. Without Ginobili, the Spurs will not outscore their opponents. Tonight’s clarion call: ugly it up, slow it down, grind it out. 4 22s.
Specifically, will Coach Pop find minutes for George Hill, Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen?
Beyond this-and defense really is the central task for winning over the balance of the season-the Spurs must get solid production from Drew Gooden. His offensive contribution will keep the second team afloat. Tony Parker, meanwhile, will continue to carry the primary scoring burden as Tim Duncan is hobbled with injury. Roger Mason Jr. will re-assume the role of third scorer.
After all the Manu Ginobili injury discussion, what lies ahead is fairly simple. It’s not a matter of what to do, it’s merely a question of how well it can be done. I hope tonight’s game functions as a reset button for the Spurs. Leave behind the lineup experimentation. Return to the simple philosophy of defensive dominance. You have to play with the cards you’re dealt, and it’s time for the Spurs to call. We’re at that nerve-racking moment of waiting to see which cards turn up.
If you’d like listen to other team’s pregame huddle, check out Royce Young of the Daily Thunder. He seems nervous too.
8 Comments
April 7th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Defense it is! Pop seems to have the same idea going by the lineups tonight so far.
April 7th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
only midway through the 3rd, keeping up via gamecast and I can still tell that Drew Gooden needs to replace Bonner in the starting lineup
April 7th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Well it seems that the Jacque Vaughn problem was taken care of. But where was George Hill?
April 7th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Dylan,
Your questions are my questions. But other than Hill, Pop did return to defense. Notice the score. Less than 90 for OKC. Familiar theme, eh. I’m happy for that.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I know they’ve had their way with us this season, but I feel like a good performance like this against Hijack City should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m more excited about these upcoming games against Portland, Utah and New Orleans to see what we can do.
I think it’s in my blood as a Spurs fan to enjoy playing from behind, it feels right to me. John Hollinger said in his Per Diem that he doesn’t even think they will get out of the first round…We have them right where we want them.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I seem to recall Hollinger last season saying we wouldn’t get past Phoenix… then not past New Orleans. Numbers are nice but they don’t account for the reality that separates champions from hopefuls from frauds. I could also argue that the Spurs are the worst team to judge on numbers, seeing as how their coach views regular season games as a lower priority than a team trying to prove to itself and others that it it championship material.
Tonight was an excellent start. Not as great defensively as the last trip to OKC (78 pts allowed) but this time the offense showed up for a full game. I’m looking forward to seeing the resolve on a b2b night as the team tries to steady itself post Manu while focusing itself in the run up to the playoffs. A win over Portland would steady the ship and remind the rest of the West who wears the jewelry.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:38 am
Hollinger is often down on the Spurs, especially in the playoffs. Denver is always 2-3 spots above us in the standings but that doesn’t account for Coach Karl playing Marty-ball (if you catch my drift) in the playoffs, or guys like McGrady putting a disappearance act together every time (this year he actually started early).
The funny thing is that the same day the other headline on ESPN was “do not count the Spurs out”
April 8th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Correction: it was in Dime Mag.
Leave a Reply