Sunday, March 6th, 2011...4:02 pm
Los Angeles Lakers 99, San Antonio Spurs 83: One half of basketball that spoke volumes
AT&T CENTER — There was one sequence during the San Antonio Spurs’ 99-83 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, that gave a glimpse of what had been going on the entire afternoon.
George Hill had the ball at the top of the 3-point arc and dribbled off a pick. He planted off his right foot and attacked the basket. Several Lakers defenders clogged the lane to prevent Hill from getting to the basket, so Hill fired off a pass from his chest to a cutting Spur.
I’ve seen that pass maybe a hundred times this season and not once did I see it get smothered in arms as thoroughly as it was on Sunday afternoon. The Spurs spent the majority of the day fighting out from under and endless blanket, looking for a breath of fresh air, but Los Angeles provided none.
The storyline in this one is the Laker’s length being too much for the Spurs to overcome. It’s too obvious an advantage for LA to be downplayed. When a pass was fired out to a 3-point shooter like Richard Jefferson, there was a Laker arm in his face, followed closely by a leg to run San Antonio off the line and force them into a long 2-pointer.
When Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili got into the lane, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol were there with wacky waving arm flailing inflatable tube man-like arms to bother any shot that went up. The Lakers were first to touch every rebound, corral every loose ball and meet every pass.
Los Angeles’ length allows them to have a foot in or near the lane to prevent driving lanes, and recover to 3-point shooters faster than most teams. The width of an NBA court doesn’t grow to account for the Lakers coming to town, instead it appears to shrink as the Spurs struggle to find high percentage shots.
“They just clogged it inside, they did a good job of challenging shots,” Tim Duncan said after the game. ”They give you a little space and challenge you at the end.”
The Spurs seemed to run into a buzz saw similar to the one used against the Miami Heat in the first quarter on Friday. San Antonio’s 34-13 deficit after one quarter on Sunday was frighteningly reminiscent to the 36-12 advantage the Spurs enjoyed against Miami.
The Lakers out-shot the Spurs 60% to 27.3% and dominated the boards 17-8. Frankly, it set the tone for the entire afternoon and put the Spurs in a all-but-unclimbable hole.
“First half, we couldn’t stop them,” Manu Ginobili said. “They were great and we couldn’t make one, so that was an easy win for them”
Sunday’s game shines a bright light on a glaring hole for the Spurs. The Lakers’ length is tough to beat. I don’t want to get all sky-is-falling on you, but the Spurs have trouble on the boards against some teams, and when those same teams can close out on San Antonio’s 3-point shooters? Well, it’s not good.
The Spurs face the prospect of a second round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, possibly boasting a starting frontcourt of Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, knees and elbows galore. Following that could be a Western Conference Finals series against the Lakers or Dallas Mavericks.
While the Mavs and Thunder might not show the same aptitude for chasing the Spurs 3-point shooters, it’s becoming readily apparent that the Spurs fatal flaw this season may be the game of inches.
125 Comments
March 6th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
It wasn’t pretty and you never want to loose like this but it was one game…As you can’t get too exited of a win (vs Miami), you can’t get too upset about 1 loss.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
““They just clogged it inside, they did a good job of challenging shots,” Tim Duncan said after the game. ”They give you a little space and challenge you at the end.””
Well said TD…….i have said all year long that we struggled in this category as well as we need to address our lack of D on the perimeter. I know that all team have flaws……But we have 1 too many to win it all if LA plays at their best. And any series vs Dallas/OKC could also go 6-7 games with us possibly loosing. ALL of these teams look PERFECT on paper. They all have Size/Defensive wing players/dynamic scorers. We are lacking the 1st 2 and are gonna have to find a way to “put a band-aid on a bullet wound” in order to succeed.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Yes The Lakers clogged the lane and ran at the shooters but The Spurs still had good looks. Its like Manu said they couldnt miss and Spurs couldnt make anything.
Ofcourse their size has been a concern all year but I think this was just one of those games. Lakers are good but they aint that good. Gasol hitting a three come on?
I think The Spurs were caught drinking their own koola-aid. They didnt come out with the same focus they came out with against Miami. And the Spurs werent playing bad D, Lakers just couldnt miss.
With all that length TP still got to the cup. I give The Lakers credit for challenging shooter but Spurs still shoulda made some freaking shots.
Only positive is Neal. He still hit some shots and wasnt fazed by The Lakers “pressure”
I think Splitter should have came out earlier. He could have helped out on the boards. Alot of those boards were hustle boards too, not just length. Spurs just didnt react.
Now with this blow out the “experts” no longer have to force any love towards the Spurs.
It also gives TD=BE more ammunition. haahahaha No offense man. Im a little delirious because I was not expecting this at all.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Stop the panic, it was a much more important game for LA. we beat them twice length and all. Go Spurs!
March 6th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
A game where the entire team and coaching staff did not prepare or have an answer to being able to remotely have a chance to win much less be competitive.
More questions than answers were posed with this game.
And if Pop (as he has already proclimated) thinks or somehow “GIVES IN” to the Lakers being the best team in the league…I really don’t know how he can get this team to be better than who he thinks is the best team in the league.
He definately didn’t get his team prepared enough or mentally ready to play this game.
One win or One loss doesn’t make a difference…but not being competitive enough to make it at least a close game IS a concern.
I’ll bide my hopes on the playoffs. The Spurs still have the best record. But NOW take coach Pop’s words of being FAR from the best team to heart.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
It’s not hard to see that out of our 3 toughest opponents in the West this year are built like an old school Spurs team. With size on the inside, A defensive stopper type, and a dynamic scoring options…….. And we have basically became the 2007 Dallas Mavs……. We are saying all the right things about focusing on D. But how can you really get better with the SAME BAD DEFENDERS…….
What can we do about it…….. Find a 6-10 post somewhere that can play some D/rebound…. and hopefully a wing as well. There has to be somebody in the D-league that was sent down to work on their Offense, and are pretty solid on D.
Also we have to get more out of RJ - he is averaging less than last year now - for all those RJ 2.0 theory people. And is only taking 5 or less shots in several games recently……..
I say put Novak in the starting lineup, he can shoot the 3(which is all RJ does now) and that allows RJ to be the number 1 option on our bench and hopefully allows him to increase that scoring average.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
I love Blair and against some teams he will be a matchup problem, but against the lakers he just can’t do it. I think Splitter (even though he’s been a ghost for the first 60+ games) would do a much better job against Gasol than Blair. I know Splitter is a zero on offense, but so is Blair. It’s time to play Splitter for better or for worse. We won’t win against the Lakers with a 6’6″ center.
The Lakers played out of their minds in the first half. Even Magic Johnson said as much. IMO, we aren’t this bad, but we aren’t as good as the Lakers unless we play better defense and play a bigger/longer lineup.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
As others, don’t want to read all “the sky is falling into one loss.” But, having said that, it should be clear the Blair is not our starting center against these guys. Against some teams, maybe. The Lakers, no way.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
I wouldn’t go as far as blowing up the starting roster after just this one game…but I would ask the starting roster if they think their roles on the team are important enough to not think they could lose their position (or being on this team after this year).
If all the starters could play with the same mind set and tenacity like Gary Neal…this team wouldn’t have games like this. Kinda shame that somebody who makes less than 1 mil per season outplays (consistently) some on the team who make far more.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
@fkk74: totally agree-it really felt like LA wanted this one more than San Antonio. Prob not enough of an excuse for 30 points though . . .
Assuming LA hasn’t grown since February, how come their length wasn’t a bigger factor earlier in the season? Be interested to know what everyone thinks.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
I hear you TD=BE,
But it isnt like Gasol and Bynum dominated the post. Yes they cleaned up the glass but tonight The Lakers just couldnt miss. They built the lead on jumpers not dominance in the paint. Manu made Kobe work and he still hit his shots. And on the Defensive end,like I said before, TP still got into the paint with relative ease.
My point is that The Lakers arent going to shoot like that for an entire series. And I wouldnt call what the Spurs played bad D. It wasnt good either but you know what I mean.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Substitute Splitter for Blair and the length debate doesn’t have the same merit.
This is not to say that Blair should be demoted or that Splitter has earned a starting position, but it definitely serves as a way to negate the main advantage the Lakers have over most of the league.
All season I’ve been hoping that Pop has been holding this Ace up his sleeve…hopefully they are at least having future discussions about such a move.
I like the Spurs chances better if Bonner + Blair are contending with Odom and Artest vs. Blair and Duncan contending with Bynum and Gasol.
Our bench, perimeter players, and playmakers are equal if not better and they’ve been proven it all season long. I’d love to see Pop at least experiment with two true bigs to start the game.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
@ruth bader ginobili
I dont think the length bothered TP. He did get blocked but he still scored in the paint. I think TP chipped in enough. I think mentally the Spurs just werent prepared for The Lakers hot shooting. They never rattled but its hard to push the tempo and force the issue, like they did against Miami, when youre constantly taking the ball out of bounds. The Spurs werent able to out run the length.
The Lakers were always able to set up their D.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
These last two games are a prime example of that old saying.
You are not as good as your best win and you are not as bad as your worse loss.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
@ruth bader ginobili
“Assuming LA hasn’t grown since February, how come their length wasn’t a bigger factor earlier in the season? Be interested to know what everyone thinks.”
Kobe distributed & didn’t dominate the ball.
SA didn’t have outstanding offensive showings against the Laker D in either previous matchup, but the stagnant Kobe-centric offense for the Lakers left a low bar to clear.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
@Hobson13, Yes good point, It wouldnt hurt to put Splitter in at this point to get the consistent 20 minute games.
@TD, if Novak can knock them down without hesitation than I also say put him in instead of RJ. But in regards to RJ I really don’t know if its that he’s not going to the rim or he just hasnt had the opportunity to do it. But yeah if stevie can drain it why not.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
I would rather win the last two games in this regular season series than the first two……. but I think Mr. Robinson has it right. We will be ok, we just needed to show a greater focus in the start of the game, and played Splitter earlier on. I really think with LA especially it is insane not to have Splitter out there.
March 6th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
@ruth bader ginobili,
I’ll tell you what the difference was from the first game. They threw Splitter in there early in the game last time and threw the lakers off because they didn’t think Bynum would have such trouble with Splitter in just 5 min of play. They should have not only kept Splitter playing longer last time but they should have also put him in early say after 2 min. in this game. The completion of the game in my opinion would have changed early on.
I sat watching in dismay and confusion on why Splitter wasnt on Bynum or Gasol early on. Wow I really was confused as to what Pop is trying to sell. If its up tempo and disregard to interior defense than I’m not buying.
March 6th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
didn’t see the game, but i for one am glad we dropped this game, and got blown out the first quarter. if we’d swept this series, or taken 3 of 4 while not playing our starters for the last one, i think we could’ve become complacent towards them in the playoffs.
from the numbers, it doesn’t look like we were outrebounded that badly, or that our defense was atrocious. it just looks like we couldn’t buy a bucket. at all. i can live with that, as even with l.a.’s length, i can still see parker dominating fisher in the playoffs and getting into the paint at will.
i, like many, still wish pop had played splitter more, or sent him down to austin to get him up to speed, but we are where we are. i hope that buford and pop can take the analytics from this game and learn how not to repeat this loss in the playoffs.
March 6th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
What disgusted me about the talking heads was that, after one single game, they’re sitting there completely writing the Spurs off as contenders. That it’s a foregone conclusion that the Spurs will lose to the Lakers, period. And that’s despite the fact that even with the loss today, the Spurs still hold a 2-1 advantage over them for the season.
It’s rather clear that, much like any other source of media, most of its people don’t actually perform critical analysis, but instead work off of a template (i.e. the Lakers (or Celtics) are the best team in basketball), and then look for supporting evidence to back up their claims. It’s shoddy journalism, and it seems to permeate our entire culture.
Okay. Breathe. *exhales*
It’s one game. Coming off of a whomping of the Heat. I had a feeling it was coming. And it’s not like there weren’t open looks, it’s just that they were pretty much all missed.
Even the D’ wasn’t quite as bad as it looked, they were draining TONS of mid-range jumpers, which of course you want them to take.
Spurs will be fine. Not saying the Lakers aren’t an incredibly tough matchup, but reports of the Spurs’ death have been greatly exaggerated.
March 6th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
I think Bonner shouldn’t play much minute, and with Bonner’s minutes Splitter can show what he can do.
About Blair vs Splitter everybody forgot Blair always play with TD, TD not allow his man to rebound, so is easy to Blair grab rebounds.
Splitter, nobody knows why, never play with TD.
TD and Splitter playing together, they can grab a lot more rebouds than Blair+TD just because Splitter can keep off his man to rebound, Blair sometimes can’t(like today)
March 6th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
DALLAS LOST TO MEMPHIS!!
March 6th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
For all those saying that the Lakers were making everything and that we simply missed alot of good looks. you couldn’t have watched the game. It was more than us being cold and them being hot. They got a lot of wide open looks as well as easy put backs off rebounds. We couldn’t guard them 1 v 1, so when we brought help, they made us pay for it. So unless we get better at Defending, or LA just decides to miss a ton of wide open jumpers, we are not going to beat them in a 7 game series. Yes we can win a game or 2, but that’s about it. Just look at it position by position.
Parker > Fisher - but if LA can defend the rim like they did today they can negate that advantage a great deal.
Manu < Kobe - Artest is the best perimeter defender in the NBA when he wants to be - Manu is only scoring 10ppg Vs LA this year. He hounded Manu all night long and when Manu did get by him he had to get by Bynum/Gasol/Odom.
RJ < Artest - Don't look now but RJ scoring is really taking a nose dive. And his D isn't getting any better. Artest is too much for him in the post.
Blair Bynum - I know tonight we lost this battle - but TD has to outplay Bynum if we are going to have a chance in this series.
Key bench players…….
Dice/Bonner Brown - Shannon Brown can score, but Hill has the edge there. As long as he isn’t committing TO’s like he was tonight.
Neal Chemistry
March 6th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
One loss but disappointed that there was no game plan to combat length although we knew that length is their calling card. On defense, I hope we realize that George Hill is not a defender who can hold against Kobe or Dirk ( as Pop and TV analyst make us believe) as he was painted to be. As someone pointed out in yesterday’s discussion he helps out too much when it is not needed sometimes too far away from his primary assignment. He also gets abused by the elite PGs ( last year Phoenix series). So his defense is better than Parker’s only because of his length not his positioning or IQ as is made out to be. Not that he lost us the game but wanted to get this out in context.
This game defensive execution was poor but on offense we did not have a fall back plan so I would not blame it on execution alone there.
March 6th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Sorry my last post was cut off by mistake
Neal Chemistry - as long as the more talented team can get along reasonably well on the court. I think all would agree that off/on the court we have way more Chemistry. I just don’t see Artest and Kobe having dinner all that often.
March 6th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
@TD=BE: agree with you on Spurs not getting good looks (for the most part).
But I think the loss feels more like a hot-shooting night for the LA because the Lakers didn’t go off on 3-pointers (8-23) or get to the line a lot (7-10).
To my eyes, it looked like they were taking the shots the Spurs wanted them to take-except for those g-d offensive rebounds!
Hoping for a playoff rematch.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
On the upside….. no spur logged even 25 mins… thats good right? makes it all better right? RIGHT?
March 6th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
RJ NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING….ANYTHING.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
@SARGE
Word. I wouldn’t put much stock into what the talking heads have to say. They don’t want to see the SPURS anywhere near the FINALS. They’ve been waiting all season for the SPURS to come down to earth. Now after one bad loss they seemingly have been pretenders all year.
Even when The SPurs beat the Heat, it was all about what the HEAT NEED TO DO.
Now that the SPURS have a bad loss, its not about what THEY need to do to win, its about Thank GOd. Now they won’t make it.
@TD=BE
Once they had a comfortable lead, sure THE SPURS were no match. I’m talking about the first 6 mins when it was all jump shots. You give any Elite team a 15 to 20 point cushion, more than not they are going to hold onto the win.
I don’t think we even need to analyze this loss anymore. A 30 point blow out is a 30 point blow out. Even though they ended up losing by 16. It’s the kind of loss that you just forget about.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
The Lakers HAD to win. If they didn’t, their confidence going into the stretch and playoffs would likely be lacking. Now, they know that they can win on the road against great teams. Perhaps the Spurs were still a little too giddy with their win over Miami.
I see the teams as basically even, and Dallas is right there. It’ll be all about injuries and peaking at the right time.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Good to have this kind of blowout actually. Hopefully this will focus the team on playing better team defense. Our offense is fine. Not too worried about our offense over the long haul. Our defense has not been championship level so far this year. Hopefully we can use the last 20 games to tighten up on the D and make a strong push into playoffs.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
I’ve seen cadavers play better than RJ. We couldn’t trade him for a Gatorade cup at this point…
March 6th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Dallas lost. Eases the blow for me. How about you guys?
March 6th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
@TD,
“Blair Bynum – I know tonight we lost this battle – but TD has to outplay Bynum if we are going to have a chance in this series.”
Theres no symbol between the two. Does that mean they are equal?
If you were to choose between the two to be on your team hypothetically which one would you choose?
I know I would choose Bynum.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
@ Bankshot21
Yes it does….. although if we don’t get our front line issues worked out…..mainly what is happening to RJ these past 3 weeks. I’m not sure it will even matter that much. He has to take more than 3 shots in 20 min. It’s like he is scared to do anything……. do you think he would have less pressure on him if he came off the bench??
March 6th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
@ Titletown99030507
My bad my typing sucks…
Blair Bynum - TD lost tonight, but has to play better if we want to beat this team
March 6th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Where the game really got away from us in my opinion was on the glass. In the first 6 min, Bynum had like 4 offensive rebounds. You can’t give a good team like the Lakers two possesions each time they get the ball, and then go down the court and be one and done all night.
Splitter played hard tonight. He did a good job in the limited time he was up against Gasol.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Some of you guys need a little perspective on life. You seem to mainly be glass half empty kind of guys. We held these guys to under 40 points in the 2nd half. They beat us by 16. We beat them by double digits the 1st game. When I see these guys play like this against Dallas and Miami this week then I’ll take them serious. Until then I’m not worried. Spurs lead the season series. And to say POP didn’t prepare the guys for this game is a frickin joke. Gregg Popovich doesn’t know how to prepare for the reigning champs? The foolishness I read on here astounds me @ times.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Ok either Im drunk and can’t see or type, or everything I type gets edited when I hit enter…… hmmmmm I think its time to say good night……..
March 6th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
@clearlybehind, Thats probably because Hill is not a true point guard really should be playing the two instead and Anderson when he gets back in sync a wing/sf instead. Our starters play great games then bad games thats probably because the 3 out of the 5 starters are showing their age. Nothing you can do about that. At their age it takes a lot more to get up to the task than it had for them before wether they want to admit it or not. Father time an unfortunate reality for sports participants but in real life just part of the cycle.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:51 pm
TD=BE
I think RJ would be ok in whatever role is asked. There are no plays really run for him. I haven’t even seen the signature lob in quite some time.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
At least Dallas lost tonight and nothing changed between us and them and LA is still 6.5 behind. Some comforting thought. Good nite folks.
March 6th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Did not see the game (did not record it either) but got together with BF=Knicks fan to watch them vs. Hawks: he said Spurs came out sleepwalking from opening tip -he turned the game off after 20pt lead.
@ junierizzle = March 6th 8:11pm
You went at Sarge re talking heads “…don’t want Spurs in finals… ” their opinon on Spurs win-Heat did bad===Spurs bad loss-why they can’t win title.
You went at TD=BE -”fall behind early- loss in the books (ignoring Magic 24 pt deficit last Thursday) AND “”I don’t think we even need to analyze this loss anymore.”"”
It was a Spurs HOME game after an OFF DAY following a 30-pt blowout -from the 1st qtr- against an elite (although struggling) team. The Sunday opponent is the 2-time defending champion who have come out of the allstar break winning 6 straight. This is March-not November or January-and you have a problem with anyone questioning why this happened-on the home court scoring only 13 & 15 pts in quarters?
Can dismiss somewhat previous 3 losses -76ers & Bulls on RRT; Grizz on a H&A with 2nd game w/o Parker; but to poo-poo blowout home loss? Come on fan-respect each other’s opinons in wins and losses alike-let’s be pragmatists—not pollyannas.
March 6th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Lakers fan here. Great win for LA today, but to me the Spurs still hold the advantages. A blowout like this between two elite teams rarely happen, let alone get repeated. The Spurs probably felt too comfortable after 2 straight wins against LA - this will not be the case anymore for the playoffs. A playoff match up between the two teams, with SA having the HC advantage, would be a toss-up that favors the Spurs. I don’t see LA beating the Spurs in 5-6, so it’d most likely go 7 - and a game 7 in SA just doesn’t feel good to me at all.
March 6th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
@ spursfanbayarea
“Good to have this kind of blowout actually. Hopefully this will focus the team to playing better team defense.”
I swear- someone posted a similar comment after the loss @ MEM on March 1st.
We need this to happen every week? Only 5 weeks/ 19 games left in the regular season.
The Spurs need to go 4-0 (yes- beat the Heat @ home next Monday (everyone is is doing it)) because the Mavs will go 5-1 going into the 4th & final IH-35 showdown this season.
Spurs stay #1 in WC-Mavs or Lakers eliminated the other in 2nd round.
March 6th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
I think one of the Spurs assistant coaches needs to take Splitter aside and tell him from now until the Western Conference finals, the only thing you will work on is playing defense against the Lakers big men and Nowitzki. Let the rest of the team worry about scoring and everything else, just let Splitter focus on that. Place him under secret watch during practice, not letting it leak to the media, let him have garbage minutes during blow-outs, and let him completely surprise everyone when we need him. Then allow him to give the Spurs the edge we need, then give him two days to learn how to stop KG and the Celtics.
March 6th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
size is the most significant advantage a team can have in bball. if you can dominate the boards and defend the rim, you can effectively control the pace and tempo of the game. and if you have good interior scorers, it allows you to impose your will offensively, forcing the opposition to either send a double team and leave shooters wide open or risk getting abused on the low block where the fg% is higher.
lakers have that advantage over san antonio, and every other team in the league for that matter. if any team is going to beat l.a. (health granted), they’re gunna have to shoot well, AND they’ll have to out-work them: close out on shooters like mad, get to all the loose balls, fight for every possible spare rebound… a la the celtics of ’08.
problem with that is — as much as everyone outside of lalaland hates to admit it — kobe is prolly the most devoted / hardest working dude in the game, and while not the most personable of cats, his energy does wear off on his team, and they’ve played some amazing D down the stretch and in the playoffs the last few years. l.a. has to be considered the clear favorite… but they are beatable if the shots fall, and if they get addicted to feeding kobe possession after possession and stop their offensive movement (which was top-notch today).
March 6th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
@Sarge:
Well, think of it this way. If the Spurs are so bad because they lost this game to LA, how much MORE pathetic are the Heat if they lose by 30 to the Spurs?
LOL…warms my heart.
…But then again, that means that the Cavs should blow everyone out.
Ultimately, I fully agree that it’s crappy “hit and run” journalism to get blown and tossed by wind of whatever happened in the latest game.
In all seriousness, by now anyone who calls him or herself an “expert” on the NBA should know that anyone good enough to make the league can shoot a basket. Sometimes shots fall, other times they don’t. To predict the playoff future based on ANY single game is ridiculous.
I mean, the Grizz beat both the Spurs AND the Mavs this week. So, I’m presuming they make it out of the first round automatically because of that? Whatever.
That’s why we actually play the games in the playoffs, gentlemen.
March 6th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Hey guys.
Lakers fan here (BOOOOOOOO) but I enjoy the blog and the high quality writing.
Just wanted to throw my opinion in on the game. I think a lot of people are overreacting to the Lakers advantages in the paint. In the first meeting (the Spurs blowout) Blair dominated the Lakers bigs. In the second meeting Blair didn’t play as well, but the game was won on a Spur getting to a crucial rebound and no Laker making a genuine effort.
So I don’t think people should place too much of this on Blair, just today was Andrew Bynum’s day. Take it from a Laker fan, he doesn’t come out with that kind of fire, intensity and aggression all that often. In future meetings Duncan will play better, Bynum will play more passive and things will appear to even out in the paint.
Looking forward to 6 or 7 slugfests with you guys in May.
March 6th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
@doriestreet
When I said ”I don’t think we even need to analyze this loss anymore.” I wasn’t implying that I don’t care about everyones opinion. I was just saying that we shouldn’t dwell on it so hard. It’s one game. If this game truly embodies what the SPURS are about then they should just stop playing right now.
God forbid the SPURS players are dwelling as hard as we are, then the season is shot.
My other point was that in a 30 point blow out(even though they lost by 16) It doesn’t matter what should have been done or who should of played more. You still lost and you still got blown out.
March 6th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
On a lighter note, I think we finally have an answer to that age-old question………
Would you rather get blown out or lose a close game?
March 6th, 2011 at 10:38 pm
la has successfully neutralized 2 of our best players in 3 games this season. duncan is grossly innefective against gasol and bynum and artes and barnes have the defensive chops to bother ginobili. richard jefferson needs to be more agresesive. if he can knock down a midrange jumper and draw fouls on la’s bigs, we will have a better shot at opening up our offense. we cannot live by 3′s and la won’t let us get to the rim so easily. didn’t watch the game, were we limited in transitiion? i don’t know if our speed at the guard position can compensate for our lack of interior production. ps: splitter needs to play
March 6th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
[...] of telling us Varner wants us to trade Blair so that we can match the Lakers’ length. But, for him, it was all about length: The storyline in this one is the Laker’s length being too much for the [...]
March 6th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
I agree 100% with andy.
By the Spurs dropping this game puts them in a better mental state than a win. I guarantee that Pop will disect the game and find the areas of improvement.
The lesson to be learnt here was made visible by the bench in garbage time.
If you have defenders that have height and are closing out and clogging the lane then the offense has to move.
Take it to them! The bench pulled it closer by taking it to them and getting to the line. If Gasol and Bynum are obstacles then force them to play D and draw some fouls. Use their enthusiasm against them.
Definitely not a game to worry about… Go Spurs!
March 6th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Lakers had to play Kobe and Gasol for almost 70 combined minutes. One positive thing to take away from this game I guess. I would think that Lakers just couldn’t miss a shot in this game (whether that shot was contested or not) and that put the Spurs a bit off-rhythm for the entire game. Bad game, yes, but one cannot expect this to happen throughout the 7-game series during the playoffs.
On a side note, I still liked the way the Spurs bench played this game. At least they seem to have a very decent bench this season, unlike the last.
March 6th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
This did sound a bit too sky is falling. The LA length has always been there, including in the Spurs’ first two wins. They won the rebounding game in both. Today the Spurs couldn’t make an open or contested shot. Jumper or layup. As even JVG pointed out on TV, they weren’t displaying any energy or movement to get to the rebounds that had nothing to do with size but everything to do with effort.
Give credit to LA for making every shot early and making the game easy for themselves. Criticize the Spurs for playing at a 4 in a game where an 8 was expected, while the opponent brought a full 10. Our defense was average but the offense lost the game in that first half. All in all, a bad afternoon but one game. We may even lose one in such a fashion during the WCF. But we’ll win one the same way. Ultimately, I still see us reaching four wins before they do.
March 6th, 2011 at 11:25 pm
First of all..this is on the players not coach POP.. absolutely no effort from the players.
Andy: Don’t look at the overall numbers as the lakers bench relaxed so much phil jackson subed his starters back in the game late to teach them a lesson when spurs bench brought the score down to 18 or so late; so the Laker’s FG% & board numbers are worse than they really where in 1st half.
Sarge: The spurs lead 2-1 on a lucky tip by McDyess & 1 more in LA.. I think we should be 1-2 & we are in trouble with LA in the playoffs.
I have been advocating developing Splitter in the center position from day 1 of the season…or going after Nene/Dalembert(even if we give up Splitter/JA, McDyess’s expiring and 1st round draft pick). We need rebounding & more importantly shot blocking or shot detering at the rim to be able to beat DAL, SA or BOS.
I also think we need a longer perimeter lock-down one-on-one defender(cough-Battier-cough) in addition to G-hill for late-playoffs game situations instead of RJ..he just can’t get it done.
Still hope we can just be disciplined enough to overcome our length disadvantages this year.
Drive for 5… Go Spurs Go…
March 6th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
To Idahospur..
would be nice if it was that easy to get Splitter to stop those guys… but for him to be that man he has to get actual game playing time in real NBA games against these guys..
March 6th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
@hassan - that lucky tip-in win was nearly a lucky LA win due to the Spurs missing two easy game winners. But I’m betting had LA been lucky enough to escape with victory, you’d point to their 2-1 record against the Spurs as proof of being better. Well, Spurs are up 2-1, no luck needed. Guess they’re the better team.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:01 am
@hassan Why trade Splitter and more for Nene??
Are u nuts? In nacional brazilian team Nene is the second option behind Splitter…What we need is give playing time to Splitter or so he never will develop
March 7th, 2011 at 12:48 am
It was painfully obvious the length and size of the Lakers bigs, were a huge problem for the Spurs. So we decided to stand pat with no trades. The Spurs just don’t have the size to match up with bigger teams. Can we leave our fate to luck that we won’t have to face the bigger teams, No because we’ll have to face at least 2 big teams in the playoffs. It has been a strange year at best for all the good teams! Hopefully we can find a quality big man to add to our bench for when the need arises. The Spurs do need more height and beef in the front court but don’t forget, bigs tend to be slow also. We just need a couple of quality bigs to come off the bench for matchups, then we should be set for the playoffs!
March 7th, 2011 at 1:16 am
I know, wrong thread, but I think this is a post worth debating.
“Talent vs Chemistry…….. TALENT Owns……… (the lakers) are bigger, longer, stronger than we are.”
- TD
Don’t kid yourself, the lakers have chemistry. C’mon now, what about 2 time defending champs don’t you understand?
March 7th, 2011 at 2:19 am
I HATE THE LAKERS WITH PASSION. And I hate Laker supporters evan more, the way they carry on like arrogant weeds that pop up every where and you just can’t get rid if them.
I don’t care if the Spurs don’t win the championship as long as the Lakers lose is more important. The team with the silver spoon in the mouth. trade and buy all the best players spend millions in luxury tax.
The way the lakers carry on tho the crowd show boating. I’m not from the USA but I don’t understand why they have so many strap on supporters. It seems like the underdog in not important in the NBA, every one wants to see Celtics, Lakers, Heat, Knicks all the teams that spend millions on all the best players.
Come on NBA world support the underdogs and screw the Lakers.
March 7th, 2011 at 3:11 am
@ Bruno
“In nacional brazilian team Nene is the second option behind Splitter…”
This I did not know. Question…who is the better defender on that team…Splitter or Nene? If you say Splitter or stats prove Splitter to be the better defender…then yes…it is odd that Splitter doesn’t get more time.
What’s concerning is that McDyess, (the season long hope to securing the post sans Duncan in games) only played 10 minutes against the Lakers. Whether by committee or physical inability, this was not a good thing to see or have happen since other than McDyess there seems to not be another post player on the team that can play respectably around the rim.
Tiago must get more playing time, but when he does play he looks so cumbersome and out of sorts. His height would be a great advantage if only he could play more fluid and purposed.
The enigma known as Blair is trying his best. His heart may be that of a 6′ 10″ beast but physics just limit him too much to play well enough for what the Spurs need against teams with height.
Interviewed at half time the question was posed to Jackson that asked something to the effect what do you think is the reason for your team playing so well against the Spurs. He wasn’t smirk or boastful as Jackson can be sometimes. He just candidly answered…I think it’s our height… as if the Spurs had the same this would not be such a blowout of a game.
Since other members of the team won’t grow and trade deadline has come and passed…I sure hope Tiago will somehow live up to his billing come playoff time. Blair is proving too many times he can’t play consistent enough or “tall” enough to be a constant factor and McDyess can’t play long enough to be a difference maker over the long haul of a playoff series. As for Duncan…he may be in the same boat as McDyess. Lets hope these reduced minutes of play during the regular season makes the difference for Duncan come playoffs.
Regarding Jefferson….kinda hard to be counted on as a scorer when shot attempts (either by plan or lack of self infusion) remain at 5 or less a game. If the plan is for Jefferson to be a stand by during offensive sets….maybe bringing him in off the bench would be better. It seems Anderson can play that role just fine with the starters and is proving to be as good a defender if not better than Jefferson.
March 7th, 2011 at 4:03 am
The difference is, and always has been Andrew Bynum. Go look at Duncan’s stats against him the past few years, it is not pretty at all. He usually requires the ball for him to be active on defense. If he plays this active on defense and rebounding while only getting 2 shots, the Lakers, unfortunately, are going to win the West.
March 7th, 2011 at 4:14 am
@Bankshot21
“And to say POP didn’t prepare the guys for this game is a frickin joke. Gregg Popovich doesn’t know how to prepare for the reigning champs?”
If I may clarify my statement… “He definately didn’t get his team prepared enough or mentally ready to play this game.”
It wasn’t meant to mean Pop can’t…it was more of a perplexing thought that Pop didn’t. True… players play the game and the Lakers were just too much for the Spurs in this game. But if the truth is what Pop has said all along that the Lakers are the better team…it would have seemed the team could have been “better prepared” to play this game.
I’m not discounting Pop’s ability or resume. I’m sure he’ll get the right frame of mind engrained to the players. It was just odd that there wasn’t some sort of ability by the coaching staff in this game to get better production from the players and it seemed these guys weren’t ready or motivated to play from the get go. Again…not all Pop’s fault and I didn’t mean to make it sound it as if it was.
March 7th, 2011 at 4:30 am
Spurs needed this loss.
I know we’ve beat them earlier in the season, but come playoffs, I don’t think we can compete with the length of LA or Mavs unless Pop get’s Splitter more involved. I’d don’t get his strategy.
The game will slow down in the playoffs, so the Spurs will struggle against teams with two seven footers waiting for Parker and Ginobili. We need to use our 7 footer next to Tim, not a 6’5″ Blair. Come on Pop give Splitter more playing time … not junk minutes!
March 7th, 2011 at 4:45 am
What’s up with all the Lakers fans at the Spurs arena!? Did they travel? Are there that many Lakers fans in SA? If so, since when? Shocking.
March 7th, 2011 at 4:49 am
A question was asked up thread about why LA’s length bothered the Spurs so much more this game than the previous two meetings. It’s simply because Andrew Bynum’s knee is the healthiest it’s been since January 2009, when Kobe crashed into him and he tore his MCL. It was not a huge tear so Drew didn’t have surgery, and he returned for the final four games of the regular season and gave the team about 15 minutes per game throughout the playoffs. That’s 15 minutes that Pau didn’t have to guard the opposing team’s center, so it was a decent contribution.
However, Drew played the entire next season with a small tear in his meniscus that went undiagnosed. It happened on the Kobe collision. Drew aggravated the meniscus tear in Game 6 of the 2010 1st round against OKC, and played the entire postseason with the injury, getting his knee drained three times.
When he had his surgery in July, the doctor decided not to remove the torn cartilage. Instead, he reshaped it and spread it around the knee joint evenly, which meant a longer recovery time but a more stable knee over the long term. The week off for the all-star break let him rest and strengthen the knee further, and he has been a monster in the paint since the break, and on both ends of the floor. He’s 7-1 barefoot and has a 7-6 wingspan, and his explosion off the ground has started to return the past two weeks. Not sure if he’ll ever regain his 33″ standing vertical leap, but he is a real load to shoot over. Even on the rare occasion when he doesn’t contest a shot in the lane, it’s pretty obvious that the shooter is still frequently intimidated.
March 7th, 2011 at 5:47 am
Let’s stop our hand-wringing, gentlemen, and accept the fact that the Spurs went south after they soared against the Heat two days ago. There could a morale lesson here as well. Remember TD getting caught on video saying “Game over” not once but thrice on video? Even yours truly was surprised by that from the usually emotionally reserved Big Fundamental. It seemed a wee bit prideful on TD’s part. Of course the Spurs ought to be proud of their throttling of the Heat, but this for us was something else.
Reminds me of the old Greek word hubris: overweening pride that often leads to one’s downfall.
Note, too, that the Lakers - Kobe and Artest in particular - also displayed that to the sellout crowd at the AT & T Center, rubbing salt on the proverbial wounds.
Of course, we bet that San Antonio won’t take the humiliation in front of their hometown fans seating down, which will be added motivation when they meet for the last time in season in Game No. 81.
They won’t cry like the Heatles but you betcha these guys are stewing for the embarrassing beating they absorbed from their Western Conference nemesis. A motivational and psychological springboard for the succeeding matches ahead.
No doubt this match will be Lesson 101 on how not to play Los Angeles. There will be lessons learned here, and who is not to say that Pop won’t whip up this video down the stretch when they do get play the Lakers in the playoffs.
Immediate goal?: Secure top seed and worry about the reigning titlists later. ‘Nuff said.
March 7th, 2011 at 6:19 am
If you watched the game you would have seen that LA was shooting lights out in the 1st half. 3′s and long 2′s all fell. The Spurs, on the other hand, were missing wide open shots. It happens. The Lakers didn’t get any longer after the last 2 games the Spurs won against them (including a thrashing in SA). It’s 1 game. Apoorly played game I admit, but 1 game. Pop, of course, threw in the towel midway trough the 3rd qrtr to hammer that point home.
March 7th, 2011 at 6:21 am
And BTW…..it’s LOSE not LOOSE!! Lose is the opposite of WIN. Loose is the opposite of TIGHT! C’mon people, this is grammar school English here.
March 7th, 2011 at 6:30 am
@ bong P.
“Immediate goal?: Secure top seed and…”
And how is the top seed secured?—by winning games. The team to the immediate north was a last-second basket away from getting a 9th straight victory-and closing the gap to 4 1/2 games. Even without their starting center, I expect them to only lose to our last opponent; that has them going 5-1. Spurs need to keep pace & go 4-0 and then having most of the next week to rest/practice so we can extend the division/conference lead back to 6 1/2 gameswhen they host said neighbor a week from Friday. That way, our neighbor is fighting our last opponent for HCA in 2nd round (2 vs 3) because the Spurs have kept both “two arm lengths” away: 6 1/2 games with 13/14 games left to play.
No need to lose every other game or go 2 wins/1 loss down the stretch to make an “exciting finish.”
March 7th, 2011 at 6:51 am
@ Ed and others saying its just one game
You can keep on telling yourself that it was all our offense and their offense. They were WIDE OPEN for most of those shots. Gasol made several open jumpers, which if left open he can do again. Artest/Fisher were not pulling up for contested shots, they were open as well. Kobe is Kobe - so what ever he scores, he CAN do again.
Just look at their top 9 rotational players. And then look at our top 9 as it is right now. They have more advantages/mismatches. We have nobody that can stop Artest at all when he wants to post up. Blair can’t check Gasol. Manu can try to check Kobe, but there’s no way of telling who will win that Battle. 1st game we did - this last game Kobe did. Then just look at Bynum physical Stats people…..
Bynum - 23, 7-1, 285
Duncan - 34. 6-11, 255
That’s not lack of effort or motivation. That’s a WIDE LOAD that keep TD’s hands full all night long. He can’t help out and contest shots as usual, because leaving Bynum is a really bad idea.
@Matt in OC
“Don’t kid yourself, the lakers have chemistry. C’mon now, what about 2 time defending champs don’t you understand?”
Go back and read the entire debate…….. The point I’m making is that SA has a TON of Chemistry and we are lacking on Talent Vs some elite teams in the West. You could say that we have the most Chemistry of any team in the NBA today.
LA on the other hand, spent most of the season threatening to trade half the roster, or trading verbal jabs back in forth in the media…… Something SA never has done. From Phil calling out Bynum, Gasol, Artest, Kobe. To the players calling out each other. But those chemistry rifts don’t affect them on the court, because of TALENT.
They simply have more than we do and that’s the reason they won tonight. If they play at there best as we do as well. they take us out in 6 or 7 games, but either way they take us out.
March 7th, 2011 at 7:19 am
Also back to our Offense.
We have to get more from RJ / TD
That means that Pop has to start calling a ply for them early in ball games that we may need them late. It took TD 7 min to hoist up his 1st shot yesterday and it was a 15ft miss. RJ got a shot early, waited like 6 min on his next 2 shots, and never got off another shot after 1:30 to go in the 1st qt.
That’s not gonna cut it against the better teams. LA is not the Minn. or some other team that chokes off leads. They actually can take away SA’s strengths or limit them some in most cases. Pop has to monitor the games more closely to make sure RJ/TD aren’t just token offensive players. I have no idea what we gain by maximizing Parker/Manu and crippling TD/RJ. There has to be away to to balance out these 2 things, because unless Manu/TO are scoring like 40-45p/g we simply don’t have the firepower.
March 7th, 2011 at 7:26 am
i know for a fact that after the beatdown of the heat, most of you same naysayers today are panicking. the bottom line is, this was ONE game where Kobe and the the boys were completely focused and we just weren’t there mentally. It meant MORE to the Lakers and you could see it in their body language and in our body language. I do think that if these teams played in a series, it would go seven and there would not be any blowouts either way. Blair should not start against them, Splitter should be in next to Timmy to help on the boards and blair should come in with the second unit. we will be fine, we only have 12 losses with less than 20 games to go…no one would’ve expected that, so our goal is to secure the number one seed and do what we have done all year and win.
March 7th, 2011 at 7:29 am
@ Jay
Good post man. I agree that the “length” of the Lakers is overrated at this point. This is the NBA, all of these guys are tall and lanky. Even “little Steve Nash” is 6’3″! The argument that Splitter should start against Gasol is utter basketball idiocy. Gasol will kill him and we’ll bring Blair in at the 9 min mark in the first quarter.
The key is not to let Gasol touch the ball in places like the elbow and the block where he loves to operate and fight like hell to block him off when the shot goes up. Gasol will score no matter who is guarding him, the key is to make it as hard as possible.
Sunday’s game was about effort. The Lakers had it and the Spurs didn’t. Like Jay said, how often does Bynum come out like that and Tim Duncan make 1 fg? There have been plenty of Spurs/Laker match ups where Bynum was an absolute non-factor. These types of games will even themselves out in a 7 game series because.
However, I will say that the trend of Manu and Duncan having their worst games against the Lakers doesn’t bode well at this point.
March 7th, 2011 at 7:44 am
i find that sometimes when pounding rocks i slip up and smack my toe. after the pain subsides i get back to work and keep pounding.
at this point of the season i ‘d rather have anyone on the roster on the court instead of rj. its like playing 4 on 5 when hes on the court. stick him at the end of the bench and admit you made a mistake.he still looks lost out there.
March 7th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Yikes…length will be a problem in seven game series. Maybe Charles Barkley knows what he is talking about?
March 7th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Bynum was quoted as saying the “Spur starters definitely quit.” I already had thought the Lakers had done the Spurs a favor (complacency should never be a factor again) but this is manna from quote heaven. The spurs will remember.
Now the negative. It isn’t that Blair just can’t defend against the lakers, he’s horrible defensively against everyone. Pop sees him as another Chris Webber. Huh?
March 7th, 2011 at 8:26 am
@Colin shut up, a cup of gatorade can do better than Blair, Gasol made all shots because he was wide open, against somebody with height he can’t do that, we saw in 4th and don’t talk “they don’t care, the game was over”, because Phil wanted win by 30…
March 7th, 2011 at 8:40 am
@Bruna
Shut up? Really? C’mon man. You can do better than that. If you weren’t sitting in front of a computer I know you wouldn’t be saying that to me.
I’ve committed 15,000 hrs of my life to playing, watching, and coaching basketball. Basing a line up change on what you saw in the 4th quarter of a 30 pt blow out only shows that you don’t know what you are talking about. I actually offered some advice and you offered a cup of gatorade and you obviously didn’t watch the offensive rebounds and easy catches in the post Gasol had either. Splitter needs another 2 yrs before he can hold a candle to Gasol defensively. And, I agree Blair is too small.
If you read any of my previous posts, I would put Mcdyess on Gasol for more time. Not Blair.
…….and Gasol wasn’t the only one making “all his shots” because he was wide open. Get real.
March 7th, 2011 at 8:40 am
It’s strange to me how pessimism reigns supreme here. The Spurs play their worst half of the season against the Lakers and everyone acts as if the sky is falling, but when they destroyed the Miami Heat two days earlier everyone said “it’s just one game”. Well, they are both just one game. The Spurs beat LA twice already (and, no, the second game was not luck, it was almost a case of San Antonio choking away a victory) and still lead them by 6.5 with 19 to play. What the heck are these Bynum comparisons!? Look at Bynum’s numbers for the season! Are you kidding comparing him to Duncan? One hot half against the Spurs, while all the Spurs were playing terrible does not suddenly make Bynum a better player. C’mon. Last I checked Duncan is still 6’11″, 255, with reach, and is one of the top per minute rebounders and shot-blockers in the entire league. YOU guys need to stop drinking the panic kool-aid. The Spurs should still EASILY finish with the top seed, which gets them homecourt throughout (hopefully LA fans won’t flood San Antonio next time around) and the Lakers and Mavs will have tougher first-round series and then have to beat each other up in the second-round. After those long series the benches will be a factor, just as Phoenix’s bench ate us up a year ago after the Mavs series. The Lakers length was not so bad when they lost to us twice, and Bynum and Gasol played both games.
I am concered with Jefferson stagnating again, but the Spurs simply need better execution. Sometimes teams just play awful at the same time as their opponent is hitting a bunch of garbage low-percentage shots. It happens. That’s why they play 82 games and 7-games series. The Lakers have been shaky all season and because of that they’ll lose homecourt and have an absolutely brutal run through the playoffs. I’m quite happy with that (when you consider that pretty much everybody except me predicted the Lakers to run away with the West in th pre-season). I mean, the Spurs have lost a total of three games at home, people. Three!
March 7th, 2011 at 8:42 am
@jwalt
“Pop sees him as another Chris Webber. Huh?”
Chris Webber couldn’t defend either.
March 7th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Andrew et. al.
I’m curious if you might be able to shed a little light on a background scene during ABC’s afternoon NBA telecast. At half time of the Bulls/Heat game ABC broke away to San Antonio to preview the game. The on air trio was seated on the court with a back drop of Tiaggo Splitter running through a set of on court drills with what appeared to be various trainers and assistant coaches? What was going on there? And is this a normal pre-game ritual?
I found it interesting as I wondered if this type of attention has been paid to Tiaggo throughout the season or if this is a new phase of his development?
Regarding yesterday’s game, as my teenage daughter replies to my chore requests…meh. Humility has a way of building charachter.
March 7th, 2011 at 8:56 am
@Big J
“Tiaggo Splitter running through a set of on court drills with what appeared to be various trainers and assistant coaches? What was going on there? And is this a normal pre-game ritual?”
This is the NBA.
Its is a very typical routine for most players 2-3 hrs out from the game. I’m sure Poppovich et al have their mandatory specific drill sets for each player in game/practice preparation. Every team is different of how they dictate as such.
For example, Ray Allen shows up to the arena at least 3 hrs early in specific preparation EVERY game for his routine.
March 7th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Who are all you people? Where did all you Johnny-come-latelys come from? And how the hell did so many Lakers fans get into the AT&T center last night? How do you get around San Antonio wearing purple and gold without getting your car turned over?
So it’s become fashionable again to beat the Lakers-have-too-much-length drum and sound the Spurs-need-big-men-or-else-the-season’s-over siren. What else is new? It’s like you who are new to this board have watched only one game all year and then an hour of ESPN for your analysis.
To all you fickle, jump-on-the-band-wagon fans new to this party, George Hill has one thing to say to you:
“ ‘When you lose like this, it’s not as bad as it seems,’ Neal said. ‘Just like when we won the Miami game, it wasn’t as good as it seems.’ ”
March 7th, 2011 at 9:17 am
Is it time to gamble on someone like Eddie Curry? Maybe Pop should experiment with a Duncan, Splitter, Jefferson front-court for the remainder of the regular season.
March 7th, 2011 at 9:17 am
@ BigJ
The Spurs have a very structured, organized pre-game shootaround. Guys come out to the court at the same time before the game, in the same order. The run through some very specific drills to their positions and get a good workout in before the game starts. A lot of NBA teams don’t do routines like this, at least when they’re on the road. I know when the Heat were in town on Friday they mainly just shot jump shots from different spots on the perimeter, nothing special and nothing close to game speed for many of them.
March 7th, 2011 at 9:21 am
*Oops. By George Hill, I meant Gary Neal, of course.
March 7th, 2011 at 9:27 am
I was at the game yesterday afternoon (as I always am selling our autographed Iceman figures by the main fan shop) and it was disgusting to see that many people in OUR HOUSE wearing the purple and gold!
With regard to the home court article that was written the other day, when you have 35% of your stadium in Laker’s gear, how the hell can Spurs fans let that many of those losers buy seats to the game!
Gotta represent and make some noise from this point until the last game of the NBA Finals! That Heat game was electric and the fandomonium was off the hook!
For some reason, the fan emotion and energy was not up to par with what was shown on Friday.
As far as this game is concerned, it seemed to me that most every bounce, long rebound, second chance basket, leche three, ref whistle and any other stat you can think of, tilted LA’s way.
The guys all seemed out of sorts, panicky when they shot, missed easy attempts at the basket, wide open 3s and could not throw the ball in the ocean while sitting in a yacht!
While the Lakers do have an obvious size edge on the Spurs, you can’t say that was the main reason the Spurs lost. Our guys did not share the ball (only 14 assists), had double digit turnovers and shot @ 36%!
I also think that they spent so much emotional energy to make a statement against the Heat that they did not provide the same effort and play with the “appropriate fear” against LA because, frankly, they probably felt like they had beaten them twice and could have let the mindset that they had a win sewn up…….very big mistake.
This game with the way that they lost, will fester in their heads until the game in LA next month and then when the playoffs start, should SA face LA, they will hopefully not forget the lesson this game provided and I hope that they draw some ire from some of the following quotes:
Andrew “Fat Ass, Jelly Knees” Bynum:
“Their starters quit” - if that does not fire you up as a Spur’s starter, nothing will.
T.J. “I’m a hack but get paid to be a writer” Simers:
The Spurs could counter only with Tim Duncan — who appears ready to make the transition to church league basketball — and a short, fat guy in DeJuan Blair, whose head stands as tall as Bynum’s belly button.
The Spurs looked so vulnerable. Now they have to be hoping the Lakers meet the Mavericks in the playoffs and Dallas prevails.
San Antonio had a 2-0 edge in games played previously against the Lakers, but that was at a time when our guys were pacing themselves.
The whole article is right here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-simers-20110307,0,3006709.column
I tell you what, I sure as shit would have this on the bulletin board come April and playoff time!
March 7th, 2011 at 9:57 am
man, that article just outright pissed me off. Who the heck to these writers think they are? I agree, we better bring it against the stupid Lakers in the playoffs. If we are far ahead by the 81st game, let them take it, don’t even play our starters, and we better play some suffocating defense and embarrass these Lakers the way they did to us. Kobe Bryant likes to be all showing off but he was crying like a little girl a few years ago wanting out of LA, because he couldn’t win crap. Of course it took a League Intervention to send Pao there, the greaseball. I rather see Miami Heat win rather than these loser Lakers.
March 7th, 2011 at 10:02 am
@ TheRealKman
+ 10
I agree its time for shake up……. Splitter/Novak in and Blair/RJ need to come off the bench where they can find their shot again.
As far as Curry, if he wants to come here I would make that call as well. He isn’t a Spurs type of player though
March 7th, 2011 at 10:06 am
TD=BE
Novak?
Can we say panic? It’s one game man!
….and Eddy Curry?
Why not see if Shawn Kemp or Derrick Coleman can still play if we’re going there!
March 7th, 2011 at 10:36 am
@ Colin
Novak?
“Can we say panic? It’s one game man!”
He is the only SF we have on the roster beside RJ. And RJ needs to play more with the 2nd team. He doesn’t get enough shots with the 1st team. Look at his scoring average. it started off really good and has been dropping ever since even though he is still shooting the 3 at a very good % this year. With TP/MANU looking to score so much he has really taken a back seat and maybe putting him on the bench and allowing him more shots will get him back to scoring 15p/g
RJ’s stats over this season.
Nov - 14.7ppg, 3p 43.3%, FGA 9.7
Dec - 12.0ppg, 3p 43.7%, FGA 9.7
Jan - 9.6ppg, 3p 36.5%, FGA 7.7
Feb - 9.4ppg, 3p 52.4%, FGA 6.5
Mar - 6.5ppg, 3p 57.1%, FGA 4.3 - thru 4 games
TTL - 11.4ppg. 3p 43.7%, FGA 8.2
This is his worst scoring output since his rookie year!
So as you and other cheerleaders can see…. It’s not just one game…… It’s a steady trend that’s been getting worse all year long!
RJ can be what Manu used to be with the 2nd unit. And with him, Hill, Neal - we can have an extreme run and gun 2nd unit.
If our starting 3 is going to give us 8ppg on mainly 3 pointers and little to no defense. That should be Novak and RJ needs to regain his Nov. form.
March 7th, 2011 at 10:47 am
TD=BE
Cheerleader I am not. Who are you? You need to put the stat sheet down. Obviously, his %’s haven’t affected the W/L column. Of course he needs to play better! I wouldn’t dispute that.
However, teaching RJ a lesson at the expense of throwing a D-leaguer in the starting 5 on a championship-contending roster………nevermind.
Better yet, throw Novak in the starting unit and prove my point.
March 7th, 2011 at 11:18 am
@Rob,” Tiago must get more playing time, but when he does play he looks so cumbersome and out of sorts. His height would be a great advantage if only he could play more fluid and purposed.”
That’s a result of having played only 6 - 20 minute games for grand total of 60 plus games and add some DNPs, a few 45 second games, maybe a 3 minute game in trash time and this is what you get. Blame Pop for that. I just don’t understand that old man. Splitter pretty much in 5 minutes of the last laker game and be it early in the game not trash time was able to make a statement against Bynum and held him to nothing, gets to see action in the 2nd laker game after it was pretty much over in the 2nd half. He needs to play with the starters early in the game period or its just a waste of talent. For these type of match ups Pop needs to swallow his pride and go with Splitter at center and Timmy at PF as starters. Hell add Stevie Novak at rj’s position while they’re at it at least he’s more energetic and scrappy and might get you some rebounds let alone drain the 3.
March 7th, 2011 at 11:28 am
@bongP, That was taken out of context by that dork VGundy who hates the Spurs because of the ship we took from him when he coached the knicks. That guy still has a problem with us. Timmy was talking to Blair about weather Bonner is a better 3 point shooter than Neal. and when Bonner hit his 4th 3 pointer Timmy was refering to Blair “game over” as in Bonner being the better shooter.
“Whatever Discount”
March 7th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Novak is no flake like many of you think. From what I see from this guy he ain’t afraid to mix it up in the paint or go after some rebounds. And he surely ain’t afraid or hesitant in taking his shot let alone drain the 3. You got to remember he’s signed for the rest of the season but he’s still auditioning for his future. I think he wants to be a permanent fixture here. Those kind of scenarios tend to bring the best out of you, look at Tony and Manu before re-signing. Put him at the 3.
March 7th, 2011 at 11:42 am
@Titletown99030507d
+1000000
I read that also, people need to know CONTEXT before they go talking trash in the open ie. VGundy
March 7th, 2011 at 11:45 am
@TD, When they meet up again how about putting Blair on Artest, Splitter on Bynum, Timmy on Gasol,
Manu on Kobe, and Parker on Fisher? What are your thoughts? Anybody?
March 7th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Titletown99030507d
March 7th, 2011 at 11:18 am
“For these type of match ups Pop needs to swallow his pride and go with Splitter at center and Timmy at PF as starters. Hell add Stevie Novak at rj’s position..”
I agree. It’s really time for some changes to the starting lineup and I don’t want to hear any sh*t about how it will ruin team chemstry as if everyone will forget how to play basketball if we started Tiago instead of Blair. I think Blair can be a nightmare for certain teams, but the Lakers just have too much length. Would it help if Blair had fronted or played more physically with Gasol? Probably, but it won’t add 6 inches to his height. Pau can still get the ball and his shot because he is too tall and long for Dejuan. I see no reason to keep a set-in-stone starting lineup throughout the entire regular season and playoffs. I could see Blair giving the Thunder all sorts of problems so start him for those teams, but have him come off the bench against Dallas and LA.
It’s time to experiment and make the final adjustments before we start playing for keeps in April and May. Besides, the next few games should be relatively easy wins and should afford us the opportunity to really take some inventory.
I’m not pointing out specific players in Sunday’s game because every Spur got their ass beat against LA. No one played well. We still have a great team and IMO, have many untapped talents in Splitter, Anderson, and maybe even Novak. Let’s see what they can do for us because we already have extensive knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of Blair and RJ.
March 7th, 2011 at 11:49 am
@TD, the match ups stated above are all even with the exception of Parker on Fisher giving the nod to Parker. Tony would be the difference and would be the one to get us through that series.
March 7th, 2011 at 11:50 am
P.S. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Splitter but it looked like he hit the weight room. He seemed to look bigger/heavier/stronger to me. Did anyone else notice that or was that just my imagination?
March 7th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Wow. Just opened up 48MoH for the first time since last night’s game….
The only thing we can all agree on is that everyone (TD, TP Manu, the whole gang) has to play better. It’s that simple. We did it the first two meetings. We didn’t yesterday by a long shot.
But the idea that we need to change the starting lineup because of one bad loss? That would be a panic move, at least from where I sit.
And inserting Novak into the lineup?!? Novak might be a better shooter than RJ (RJ’s “only” shooting 44% from behind the arc this year), but RJ is superior in every other category, especially on the defensive end. No doubt RJ needs to play better, but Novak in the starting lineup isn’t the answer.
Seems the few Laker fans that have posted so far are a little more even keel than the Spurs fans. Weird…..
March 7th, 2011 at 11:56 am
@Hobson13, Well said. Iv’e been asking for this after the 25th game of the season and now people want Splitter to put out. People have to remember having the luxury to play significant minutes every single game of the season does something for your game. Oh well we still have 19 games to tweak that lineup. Hope old man Pop remembers Splitter’s on the team.
March 7th, 2011 at 11:58 am
You just now figured out that the Spurs are undersized?
Maybe you can figure this out while you’re at it. They haven’t shrunk as the season has progressed and they’ve managed to have the best record.
Even the lakers are capable of a good game, and that’s what this was; one game. The Spurs held the lakers to 34 points in the second half, they just could never recover from the first quarter’s lack of offense.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I hate when people start throwing records around this late in the season like its going to hit the court and play for you. People teams have adjusted since game 10 and where are we? We came out running and firing but really we haven’t improved to say we can take care of teams this late in the season that were are going to see in the playoffs in the not too distant future. If we are that good we should not be winning big then loosing big, then winning big, then loosing big….you get my drift. Adjustments have to be made not citing records. I want my team to dominate and let the others know it too.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Is Novak the new Mahinmi?
March 7th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
@Colin, Don’t think so. He will score more than M before its all said and done.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Guys why are you overreacting after one loss. The lakers needed this game more than we needed it we beat them 3 straight going back to last season. They needed to prove to themselves they could actually beat us. And I heard phil j treated this like a playoff game and watched a ton of film. And about their size uh it wasnt much of a factor when we beat them the first 2 times did they grow all of a sudden
March 7th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Tiago doesn’t “need to start”. He just needs more time on the court. Starting, ala Manu until 2011, is just a name. Give Splitter more meaningful minutes, especially against teams that have serious length advantages.
And wtf happened to Blair? I didn’t see one high PNR with Blair and Manu yesterday. LA knows the Spurs play when either Manu or Tony curl to the top of the key, they try to beat them to the spot. It must have happened ten times yesterday, at least. Pop, bring Blair up to set a high screen for Christ’s sake.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I’m with Bry:
We beat the Heat by 30 points and all you debbie downers are saying, “its only one game.” We lose by 16 and then the Spurs won’t be able to beat the lakers in the playoffs…
As POP would say: You don’t get to high on a win and to low on a loss… On to the next one.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Also on a side note:
I guess home court wont matter… what was up with all the Lakers fans in the ATT center? I don’t mind if you’re an LA/Cali transplant but I personally know a few San Antonio born and raised Lakers fans… Blah…
March 7th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
@ Titletown99030507d
“I hate when people start throwing records around this late in the season like its going to hit the court and play for you.”
Thank god someone else is getting fed up with that. Instead of making any valid points people say the same 2 things……. Look at our record, and its just one game……. Well not it’s not and myself and others have been here to point out most of our bad loses and wins…….
Also @ Titletown99030507d
Blair, Splitter, Duncan lineup would be beastly in the paint and on the boards, but we would have little to no shooting what-so-ever…… No floor spacing to operate in.
And like I said before - Novak is simply someone we can plug in to the 3 spot and give us what RJ is giving now……. 6-8 points per game……. Then RJ would be free to be our 6th man and gunner off the Bench. People have to realize that our Offense is great to our 4 guards, and our pure shooters(Bonner, Novak, Dice) not so good for everyone else.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Thoughts on sticking Blair on Artest? And why not at least try our rookie JA on the Mamba. He is the Only person on our roster that can physically match up with Kobe.
March 7th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
All Spur fans, stop kidding yourselves. It was more than just one game. Losing is one thing. Being overwhelmed is another.
Yes, I still think we can beat the Lakers in the playoffs. No, I don’t think we would be the favorites. I’m rooting that we don’t have to play the Lakers. Go Mavs.
March 7th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I don’t know if somebody saw, but when they dominated the game playing with Gasol, Odom and Bynum on the floor!!And us with Duncan, Bonner, Neal. That was time to put Novak(Anderson), Duncan, Macdyess(Splitter) together
March 7th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
They played some minutes with 3 centers/power fowards together, and that kill Spurs
March 7th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I just checked back in here and everyone needs to relax.
I guess with this ONE GAME(Td+BE) the SPURS were exposed. They actually suck!! This one game makes the entire season meaningless right?
They were supposed to lose to the MAVS last year right? Because they were bigger right?? They didn’t lose to the SUNS because of size, they lost because they just didn’t have enough scoring.
So if Miami or Dallas beat the Lakers in the next week that means, well I guess it means whatever you want it to mean.
I can’t argue that The Lakers have a size advantage but you guys are talking like the SPURs have no chance at all.
The fact of the matter is that The SPURS didn’t play with any fire. They came out like they were going to do what they did against MIAMI. Add the fact that THe LAKERS shot extremely well(They looked like the KNICKS in MSG in that game against the SPURS) and it’s no wonder they got blown out.
Do you guys really believe that was the SPURS’ best effort???????????? Did MANU have the same fire and energy he had against the Mavs in the Playoffs last year???
Until they lose while playing at their hardest then I still love their chances.
It’s the regular season remember? It doesn’t matter.
March 7th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
OMFG people: Eddie Curry as the Spurs’ savior? Blair playing at SF? Novak replacing RJ at the starting SF position and giving the Spurs same production? Dice a “pure shooter”? Man… what are you guys smoking anyway?
March 7th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Ganja Mahn! That’s what they be smoking, Yah Mahn!
March 7th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
TD Best — RJ can lead the second unit like Manu used to? Wrong on all counts. RJ is not a creator for other people, Manu is. And Manu still leads the 2nd unit. It’s why he comes out halfway thru the first and 3rd quarters, to get his rest and then come back in to lead Bonner, Neal, etc., while Parker and Duncan are on the bench.
March 7th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
The Spurs should trade TD and Manu for Monta Ellis and TP for Dwight Howard. They should then trade Neal and Bonner for Ray Allen and then trade Blair and Hill for Perkins and we’d be set.
March 7th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
All will be well. Scrapes and bruises happen in life. The smart people learn from their episodes and become the wiser to what they should and should not do.
I’m betting (not that I’m a betting man) the players and coaches learned from this incident and become even better from it instead of discouraged by it.
Go Spurs Go!!!
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