Sunday, February 27th, 2011...7:48 pm
San Antonio Spurs 95, Memphis Grizzlies 88: Manu from heaven
AT&T CENTER — Last time the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies hooked up at the AT&T Center, Zach Randolph put up 24 points and 21 rebounds, Tony Parker scored 37 points and the Spurs won.
Sunday night was the same, except different. Randolph grabbed eight rebounds in the first quarter alone and looked on his way to match his numbers from that mid-December game. Manu Ginobili scored 35 points on 22 shots and the Spurs won 95-88. You see, the same, but different.
With Rudy Gay out for a while, Randolph is the center of the Grizzlies offense and the Spurs were well aware of that. Z-Bo faced two types of double-teams from the Spurs defense. There was the additional man that rotated over to guard Randolph when he caught the ball in the post, and there was the second defender who came to cover Randolph whenever a shot went up.
Very few players are privileged enough to get that kind of treatment from the Spurs defense, but Randolph is one of them. After his eight first quarter rebounds, Randolph “only” had nine more the rest of the night, finishing with 17 and 24 points. It took Z-Bo 25 shots to get those 24 points, though. I asked Coach Pop after the game if he was satisfied with the job the Spurs bigs did against Randolph on the boards.
“Well, coaches are never satisfied,” Coach Pop said.
Okay, I deserved that one.
“But as I said, McDyess did really good job defensively. I thought DeJuan and Matty did the best they could fronting him; they played him tough. He had to work for everything he got and that’s all you can do with a great player like Zach.”
San Antonio had a 20-point lead in the second quarter, but went on what can only be described as a dry spell of Sahara Desert-like proportions that lasted from mid-way through the second quarter to the beginning of the fourth quarter. That 20-point lead turned into a four-point deficit at the beginning of the final frame.
But three straight 3-pointers from Richard Jefferson and Matt Bonner (twice) got the offense going somewhat and the Spurs did that thing where they kept it close and out-executed Memphis down the stretch. Ginobili’s 11 free throws in the fourth quarter were a big reason why.
Execution down the stretch was a hallmark of previous Spurs title teams, but was sorely missed last season. With the transition from a dump-it-down-to-Tim clutch offense to a give-the-ball-to-Manu-at-the-top-of-the-key-and-someone-set-a-pick version, the Spurs have reestablished that execution that has enabled them to win so many close games. Though one could argue that it never should have come to that on Sunday night.
Though with the All-Star Break come and gone and the games getting more intense and physical, it’s nice to see the Spurs offense stand up to the pressure when it matters.
One more win to get 50 for the season, keeping the streak alive. Safe to say that’ll happen at some point before the end of the year.
51 Comments
February 27th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
tony parker scored 2 points not 37
February 27th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Is Parker ok?
February 27th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Horrible 3rd Quarter from our boys, good to see Manu recover in these past 2 games, hopefully we’ll see a more thorough victory in a couple days.
Does anyone have any news on TP? I hear it’s a contusion but has anyone heard more?
February 27th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Great execution down the stretch. Alot of big 3′s and plays by Manu. Would love to see Dice in the starting line up and getting 25 or so min/game. If it wasn’t for our TO’s and poor defensive rebounding this game would have been a blow out. But again we saw the advantages of size/athleticism in the paint and on the wings. The basically tried to beat us up and it almost worked.
February 27th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
I thought we did well in many areas, but man, sometimes our passing can be putrid. No one was immune from ghastly passes. Luckily we’re just good enough (or Memphis is just bad enough) that we could overcome so many bad passes. We only had 15 TOs, but it felt like 25.
Anyone else really enjoy the 3 blocks Timmy had in a row on Z-Bo, followed by another from Blair? Ha, 5 missed shots in 3 seconds will totally kill a player’s shooting percentage.
February 27th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Parker not playing due to injury had a lot to do with this game’s situation of not retaining the lead. Yet again…as mentioned…this team finds a way to win even if one of the big three are not producing for whatever reason. Neal not playing and Parker out for the majority of this game…that’s TWO key players out and they still managed the win.
Props to the team for pulling this one out. Hope Parker will be alright.
February 27th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
26-0 after ASG, YES WE CAN!!!Good to see Ginobili playing well consecutive games
February 27th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
How serious did Tony’s injury look???
February 27th, 2011 at 8:51 pm
@ Bankshot21
Not bad at all. He was driving and kinda knocked knees or just got his feet tangles with the defenders and fell funny. But he was able to get up and walk normally afterwards so he shouldn’t miss any games I would assume. Or 1-2 at the most.
February 27th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Is it true that Splitter has an injured ligament, and is out for the remainder of the season?
I counted 2 dunks from Manu. Superb. The man was on fire tonight.
May the gods of health stay with us.
February 27th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
@Nima
No. The telecast confused many people tonight by listing off injuries to spurs players, and then reporting on an injury to an official of tonights game. Subsequently after splitters update, Sean said the referee had torn ligaments during a collision with Tony Allen and was out for the season. Splitter is getting better and looked very close tonight during pre-game.
You can breathe again now. : )
February 27th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
What slump? Thats the Manu you’re going to see in the playoffs!
Typical game that the Spurs would have blown last year.
February 27th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
This was a wild one. Spurs went up by 20, couldn’t buy a shot for almost 2 quarters, which led to a Grizz 7pt lead. Then we found our offense and played well in the 4th. Overall, it wasn’t a great game, but the Spurs showed some heart and definitely executed very well in the last two minutes. The Spurs closed the game on an 11-5 run over the last 3 minutes. Hopefully Tony is ok and ready to go by Tuesday night. Good to see Manu put up Kobe-like numbers. He won this game tonight.
February 27th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Man i watched the west “preview” of Espn to the end of season, and the people made joke with TD, Dejuan Blair and put top 1- Lakers, 2- OKC, 3- Spurs. I just think “OMG, how this guys still has his job”, no respect Spurs, and talking a lot shit, and again we’ll prove them wrong
February 27th, 2011 at 10:12 pm
offense did come through in the clutch, but that box score shows a solid defensive effort. looks like the injury bug is hovering around us a bit. timmy turned his ankle, parker’s thigh contusion, neal’s concussion, blair’s splits? yikes. i don’t mind seeing us endure minor injuries, gives a chance to allow our reserves to step up. hopefully splitter returns and anderson can make solid use of his floortime with neal being out. we could use the extended depth to shoo the bug away.
February 27th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
@hobson - it was a team win as much as it was Manu’s magnificent game.
-The 3 straight 3 point shots (1x RJ, 2xBonner) jump started the team to pull away
-McDyess’ solid D in the 4th was a big reason they were able to slow down Memphis’ consistent scorer. He was killing Bonner/Blair in the post
—-
It’s funny because the previous team high for the season was by Parker against the Grizz earlier this season.
At least the Grizz bring out the best in the Spurs big numbered games
February 27th, 2011 at 11:53 pm
This game was weird as Duncan sat out a little while due to tweaking his ankle, Blair after stepping on the ball in a scramble and Parker going out. Heck, the ref, tommy nunez jr is out for the season with torn knee ligaments.
Left calf contusion for Parker so he should be back soon.
February 28th, 2011 at 2:00 am
@ThatBigGuy - Yes, it will certainly hurt your FG% but it will also boost your rebounding totals! That’s three offensive rebounds from Randolph that led to zero points, so perhaps we can worry a little less about his “dominance” on the boards.
To everyone worried about the offense, sure it was pretty raggedy but as others have pointed out, Tony was out for most of the game. (A lot of those turnovers, however, were earned by Memphis, especially Battier. He’s really going to help them off the bench.) But it was nice to see such a good defensive effort, especially against one of the best interior duos in the league. Isn’t that more important?
For those looking for a player to pick up late in the season, here’s an interesting possibility: Derrick Brown, who was just waived by the Bobcats. I have no idea why they released him and not Najera, unless it’s because of Silas’ love of hard-nosed old-school forwards (of which he was the archetype). But Brown is interesting. He’s a 6’8″ second-year player from Xavier. He’s fairly long for his height, so he plays more of a small four than a big three. He’s not yet a very good defender, but he’s athletic and tough. I’m not saying he’ll ever be a star, mind you, but he could become a solid rotation player in the future. (Note, this wouldn’t help so much this year. But it is a cheap way to pick up a player with some talent.)
February 28th, 2011 at 6:36 am
Great win last night! It is nice to see Manu in full-on attack mode, but seeing him (and almost everyone else) taking so many tough shots is going to give me a heart attack.
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the roster going forward. We lose Steve Novak soon, and it looks like we will not be signing him for the remainder. That leaves us with 12 once Tiago and Gary start playing again. Are we done making roster moves after that? Any place to sign any of these bought-out veterans that seem to be all the rage of late?
Tim in Surrey mentioned Derrick Brown, but could we even fit him on our roster.
February 28th, 2011 at 6:55 am
David R:
The minimum roster size is 13; so once Novak’s current contract has expired they have a brief period of time to decide if they will sign Novak through the end of the season, sign a free agent who may have been waived, or sign someone from the D-league. It might be dependent on how injuries go in the meantime. I’d think a candidate would be Marcus Cousin, one of the final training camp cuts that is leading the Toros in scoring and rebounding. Signing him for the 13th roster spot would prevent him from going to another team, but he can continue with the Toros on an assignment if all the Spurs are healthy.
February 28th, 2011 at 7:04 am
As far as “bought-out veterans” go; my guess would be they’d look at the Spurs roster and see they’d have a tough time getting minutes, then take a look at the Heat and figure they might get some big minutes playing alongside the 3 friends. If they play a wing position, they might also see opportunities with the Celtics and the Bulls.
February 28th, 2011 at 7:13 am
ESPN news or someone like that reported on the net that Splitter was in uniform in shoot around before the Memphis game and then was told his diagnosis was updated to torn ligaments and was out for the remainder of the season. I talked to him at the Northside Ford meet and greet and he said his hamstring was fine and should be back on the the court within the week.
Can someone tell me what the hell is going on with Splitter?
February 28th, 2011 at 7:20 am
grego
February 27th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
@hobson – it was a team win as much as it was Manu’s magnificent game.
_____________________
You have a point, but you could make this statement about any game. Manu was the man of the hour. When someone scores or assists on over 50% of your team’s scoring, he was probably the single biggest reason you won.
David R.
February 28th, 2011 at 6:36 am
“I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the roster going forward.”
I agree with Daniel T. It really does depend on what the team’s injury situation looks like after getting beat up by the Grizz for two straight games (I hope Tuesdays game isn’t as rough). Also, does anyone have any definitive word on Splitter? His “minor” injury has forced him out for almost 3 weeks. At this point, I just don’t see him being even a small part of our playoff roster.
If Splitter can’t play, then we have only 4 bigs on this team. I still say we should take a look at Troy Murphy. He was just cut loose by the Warriors and is being strongly considered by the Heat and Celtics. If that’s the case then at least he won’t join a WC contender, but he can bring more to the table than picking up someone like Novak or Marcus Cousin…
February 28th, 2011 at 7:50 am
I, like everyone else commenting on this thread, am concerned about having Splitter ready for the playoffs.
The team did take some hard knocks but they came back strong thanks to Manu and the never say die attitude that has defined this season’s S&B!
What I would love to see is if the 48MOH posse can write something on what the possible trade scenarios that the Spurs passed on (if they can find that information for us). It would be a good thread to debate upon as long as everyone can play nice.
There were some serious name calling and slamming exchanges on here last week that really have no place in this forum.
February 28th, 2011 at 7:56 am
That damn Ginobili shooting under 50%. When will he ever help the team again?
February 28th, 2011 at 8:11 am
Go Spurs Go!!
February 28th, 2011 at 9:12 am
We need G Hill to step up big time in Memphis tomorrow night. No Neal, no Parker means we are now thin at the guard spot.
Mavs are closing in fast, home court advantage is slipping away.
February 28th, 2011 at 10:19 am
@TitleTown Splitter was on the court before the team warmups going through pick-and-roll drills with non-players. Looked pretty good to me, so I would guess he’s on his way back.
February 28th, 2011 at 10:23 am
@Hobson13, If Splitter is healthy and can play soon and in the playoffs you would have to welcome that regardless of how’s he’s coming along. He’s good enough in terms of a body to throw at opposing bigs just to clog up the paint and slow somebody down. That will be his purpose on this team as it stands now when they need it. And they will need it. Don’t need another 6’8″ or 6’10″ body just for the sake of signing someone. They have Bonner and Blair already for that. Splitter is not here to score Many points. He’s here to get rebounds and to get in front of people like the Gasols (both of them), Perkins, chandler, and of the like. You saw what happened last nite in the paint. Timmy and Dyes can’t play that much and especially in the 4th quarter when Bonner and Blair look helplessly on. They can’t go like that in sequential 7 game series. They will need a big body to help out. That’s Memphis wait till they face the better teams with better bigs. Ouch. For those that still don’t feel Splitter has anything to offer at this point if he’s on the playoff roster are going wish he was on the court if he can’t go because of injury. Some people just don’t appreciate what he brings to the table. I just hope for his sake not mine he can get the chance to show the doubters in the playoffs what his purpose really is. Time will tell.
February 28th, 2011 at 10:24 am
@Kevin, Thanks for the update. What a relief.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:28 am
@ Titletown99030507
Unfortunately for him he is ALWAYS hurt. This isn’t the 1st or 2nd time. Its like his 3rd. At this point he has been out longer than he has been available it seems. So relying on him to be healthy come playoff time is a huge risk. So it that sense, another 6-10 body will do nicely. As long as that 6-10 body can rebound.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Well, now it looks like the Spurs truly are out of the Murphy lottery. Who else is available that could help once Novak is done?
February 28th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Tony had problem with right tight last game and sitting on the bench last night was holding right leg. Now, why do they say it is left calf contusion? I hope I am wrong but something is fishy here.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:57 am
Troy Murphy. Anyone?
February 28th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
@manufan
Reports are that as part of Murphy’s buy-out he agreed not to sign with a Western Conference team.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2011/02/27/breaking-news-warriors-buy-out-troy-murphy-and-why-its-a-wise-move/
February 28th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@ Mike - There a few options outside of Murphy that we could use.
Center - Dan Gadzuric
PF - Leon Powe - If he is healthy - all reports say so
SF - Sasha Pavlovic
And let me add that Boston has been linked to all of these players in the last few weeks. Also they want Mike Bibby too….. how many players can a team have again?
February 28th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Also let me add that SF - Rasul Butler was bought out I believe. He was someone that our FO was interested in signing last summer.
February 28th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
@TD=BE
I think Powe would be decent as well, at least for a 13th roster spot. Also, from what I’ve read it seems that Butler is going to sign with Chicago. And I’ve heard the NBA granted Boston a roster exception, they are now allowed to have 30 players rostered.
February 28th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
About Marcus Cousin: What was the word on him coming outta college?
TD=BE: I could deal with any of those guys. Pavlovic was pretty solid for the Mavs, and might enjoy dishing some back at ‘em after they let him go.
Powe and Butler intrigue me most after SP.
Gadzuric = body.
February 28th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Somebody saw any video on youtube with the Ginobili’s highlights ??
February 28th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
TP is out 2-4 weeks. The injury bug was bound to catch up to us. Tough games ahead. Kind of good we don’t have to show our entire hand and rotational players and Manu will be forced to step it up. Some may call it a blessing in disguise.
February 28th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Looks like we’re going to be without parker for 2-4 weeks with a strained left soleus. Thats definitely going to hurt. Also if we’re looking at a backup SF Id rather look into Corey Brewer who might get bought out and Rasul Butler.
February 28th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
[...] I like this tidbit from 48 Minutes of Hell on how the Spurs defended Zach Randolph in their win over Memphis on Sunday: Z-Bo faced two types [...]
February 28th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
ARGH! Well, looks like NEO will be thrown into the fire! Let’s hope he tempers well!
February 28th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
[...] about San Antonio Spurs 95, Memphis Grizzlies 88: Manu from heaven [...]
February 28th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
I’m not sure why the FO is not looking into Marcus Cousins. Unless there is an off the court issue that I can’t find. He definitely has a good jumper and range on him. Looks athletic. Probably has something to do with cap space and/or POP doesn’t want too many Projects on the bench at one time.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Our bigs remain fine. We don’t win the game last night without Bonner. We also don’t win without McDyess’s defense on Randolph in the last 5 minutes. Duncan goes without saying. Only Blair remains an enigma wrapped in a riddle.
This team just keeps on winning. And we’re worried because the second best team in the West is “only” 6 games behind us? Relax, 49-10 doesn’t lie. Enjoy the ride.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Cousins was brought into training camp. Didn’t cut the mustard. Has potential amd skills that he’s honing in Austin. His reps as a top player for the Toro’s will bring him further along than the 13th man on an 11 man (AT BEST) rotation.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
@TD, If Splitter is healthy he’ll be on the court. By the way anybody when is Richards expected in Torso uni? Chew on that for awhile.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Make that a Toros uni. Damn blasted spell checker decide for you price of crappy.
March 1st, 2011 at 4:37 am
@ Bankshot21
Good point about Cousins continuing play with the Toros. I would like to inject that if the Spurs roster stands at only 13 by the time playoffs role around (I think) Cousins could be called up to the team. At which time it wouldn’t matter if he was 14th on an 11 man rotation but assurance to having a player (granted young and a rookie) that would have some sort of “corporate knowledge” in case injury to one of our bigs happens to happen during the playoffs.
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