Saturday, April 11th, 2009...7:21 am
Two Big Wins: Spurs and Toros
Indulge me for a minute. It was a good night.
The Spurs beat the Jazz, and I’ll get to that in a moment. That was encouraging.
But there was encouragement to be found in Austin, as well. Malik Hairston was with the team, and he scored 41 in a come from behind victory against the Vipers. 41 is big stuff. But Dwayne Jones saw big in the pot and raised the ante. He finished the game with 31 points and 28 rebounds. Bigger stuff. Jones tied the D-League single game rebound record. In an “oh, I can’t believe that just happened” moment, Malik Hairston stole a late game rebound from Jones, robbing his teammate of the new record. That must have been one long, silent bus ride to Rio Grande Valley after the game.
Quin Snyder placed a cherry on top by coaching the Toros to a franchise best mark of 31-18, and on the day when he was named Coach of the Year. Although the Toros clinched a playoff spot, Duane Rankin explains that a lot depends on their game tonight. The season closer is available on Futurecast at 8 pm EST.
Dwayne Jones is a former NBA player, having played a total of 60 games for Mike Brown’s Cavs. Between his time in Cleveland and Austin, he should be extremely comfortable in the Spurs’ system. And, obviously, he’s produced in it. I want to put this on your radar-Jones could step in immediately as a 5th big stop gap if the Spurs traded away some veterans this summer in exchange for a big ugly contract. (Hooray for big ugly contracts and the inexpensive players that make them possible.) In other words, Jones would make 1/3 of what Fabricio Oberto makes, and put up better rebound numbers. Think about it. And seeing Malik Hairston in a Toros uniform is a strong indicator that he’ll back on the roster in July.
So, you see, I didn’t want all that to pass without comment. But that’s all small potato-patato stuff, as you know. The Spurs beat the Jazz last night in convincing fashion. It wasn’t a blowout, but it was a solid game against a solid team. Given their recent play, I’ll take that from San Antonio.
"I told you, I'm fine. What suckers do we play first round? You know what, I don't care. Doesn't matter who we play. I'm Tim Duncan. All night. Every night. You feel me?"
The most important storyline coming out of the game centers around the knees of Tim Duncan. We have to thank the crew at the Express News for bringing us up to speed. Just prior to the game, Jeff McDonald let on that the Spurs had been playing a little possum: “…Tim Duncan banged knees with another player during the win at Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, which is part of the reason Duncan played so gingerly the next night against Portland.” Then after the game there were a flurry of reports that Duncan’s knees were coming around. He’s feeling better. He played the game without his homage to old man Ewing knee braces. With no back-to-backs in the playoffs, this is the best news imaginable. If Tim Duncan is healthy, this team will undoubtedly make a postseason surge.
During the telecast, Sean Elliott would not tire of saying that Drew Gooden deserves more touches. He’s right. He has more moves in the low post than any of us expected. All sorts of polish on the block. And Gooden’s pick and roll game would look better if Roger Mason Jr. had anything approaching a point guard’s court vision. (It’s not too late, Pop. Let George Hill play.) On several plays, Drew Gooden rolled to the hoop or drifted into open space to be ignored by the trigger happy Mace. It made me cringe. Despite my dig, Roger Mason Jr. played well. He can’t help it if he’s a shooting guard. Coach Popovich needs him to score, so I can live with his gunner’s mentality. Since the Manu Ginobili injury, Mason Jr. is settling back into a rhythm. It’s nice to have him back.
Tony Parker was his usual masterful self, but that’s hardly news at this point in the season. He deserves to finish 5th in the MVP voting. But the three storylines I’ve highlighted-a recovering Tim Duncan, an emerging Drew Gooden, and an in rhythm Roger Mason Jr.-are precisely the 3 things the Spurs need in order to right their uncharacteristic late slump ship. Other than Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, no two Spurs are more important to San Antonio’s postseason success than Gooden and Mason Jr. It was noteworthy that Popovich closed the game with Gooden on the floor with the other San Antonio starters. Nothing signals trust quite like being in Pop’s final five.
Now our attention turns to the Spurs winning out. 3 consecutive victories would seal home court advantage for at least the first round. The Spurs best opportunity to secure home court advantage is to sweep their final 3 games, including the season finale with New Orleans. The New Orleans game is crucial in tie break scenarios. In order to finish in front of Portland, the Spurs will need them to lose at least one game while not dropping one themselves.
8 Comments
April 11th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Winning out doesn’t guarantee home court. Spurs need at least one loss by Rockets or Blazers. If all three win out the Spurs finish 5th.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
This is great news about Duncan. I still hope that he will still not play in both sets of the upcoming b2b. My pick would be for him to play vs Sacramento and rest at Golden St. as the Warriors are going with a seven man rotation that leaves them exhausted and Monday’s game will be their third in four days. Plus Turiaf guards TD well. This would give Timmy two off days, one home game, then 2-3 off days before playoff game one (which may also be at home). That would be two games over a possible nine day stretch with zero travel.
Timothy, I have one question for you. Are you sure that the Spurs seal home court by winning the final three? I read that if both Spurs and Rockets win out the division goes to Houston on the fourth tie-breaker (record vs conference playoff teams) since they would be tied for the first three (head to head, division record, conf. record). In that scenario we will also be tied with Portland (if they win out) and be the 5 seed based on losing the season series 1-3. If this is accurate, we can only earn home court in the 1st round by winning the division (requires Houston to lose a game) or finishing ahead of Portland.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
This Utah game was a must win-clutch of the Spurs to grind it out. And don’t look now, but maybe the silver lining is we avoided a physical series in SLC. While I’m not convinced Duncan is 100% healthy, it was amusing to read an ESPN writer refer to the Spurs as the team, “Everyone now wants to play in the first round.” Such naivite by opponents, even though it probably doesn’t exist, would play right into the Spurs hands.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Guys,
You’re right; I’m wrong. I’ll correct the post.
This from Jeff McDonald:
Let’s investigate the scenario that we here at Courtside, in our infinite wisdom, project to be the most likely. Let’s say Portland runs the table, the Spurs go 2-1 and Houston splits its final two games.
That leaves Portland at 54-28. The Blazers would earn the third seed, based on record, even though Denver wins the Northwest Division (remember, since 2006, division winners are guaranteed only a top 4 slot).
The Spurs and Rockets would finish tied at 53-29, at which point things could get interesting. The two teams split their four head-to-head meetings this season. The next tiebreaker (divisional record) might go to the Spurs, depending on who their one loss came against.
If it’s anybody but New Orleans, the Spurs would have the superior divisional mark, giving them the tiebreaker and the No. 4 seed. If the Spurs’ one loss does come to the Hornets, the teams finish tied against the division, and we move on to the next tiebreaker: conference record.
Which, of course, does no good. Both teams would be tied against the conference, as well.
Next tiebreaker: record against conference playoff opponents. This is where it falls apart for the Spurs. In the scenario outlined above (Spurs lose to New Orleans, Houston splits its final two games), the Spurs would end with a 10-15 mark against Western Conference playoff opponents.
The Rockets would be 15-13. In that case, Houston gets the fourth seed via tiebreaker, and the Spurs, as the fifth seed, open up the postseason on the road … at Houston.
Of course, that’s just one permutation. It should be a fun five days. Stay tuned.
******
If I’m reading that correctly it means that if the Spurs finish tied with Houston, they must have beat New Orleans to secure home court. And a zillion other scenarios.
April 11th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
If they all finish at 54, Spurs get the tie break over the Rockets, methinks. I just updated my post, though. Correction added.
SpurredOn and Gary, I appreciate the careful eye.
Tim
April 12th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Parker should be 5th in the MVP vote? Then which of these 5 would he kick out: LeBron, Wade, Chris Paul, Kobe, or Dwight Howard? And is he more valuable than Brandon Roy? Parker is having a great season, and maybe another year that would justify placing in the MVP voting. Not this time.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
1. James
2. Howard
3. Wade
4. Bryant
5. Parker
6. Paul
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
[...] Energy, Idaho Stampede and finally the Austin Toros. He played 20 games with the Toros, including one notable performance in which he nearly dropped a [...]
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