Pounding The Rock

Carmelo Anthony: "Defense Is Hard!"

2012-02-09T16:30:07Z

Orlando- Area reporters at the New York Knicks shootaround on Tuesday afternoon were treated to an impromptu and somewhat candid interview with star forward Carmelo Anthony who, while cajoling his teammates from the sidelines, admitted to reporters that "defense is really hard, dog."

Anthony, 27, has been considered among the league's top offensive threats throughout the entirety of his career, but his play on the other end of the floor has often left many wondering if his true potential can ever be fully realized. Seemingly aware that his detractors take the position that he's lazy, Anthony was assertive in his own defense. "Like, it's easily the hardest part of the game for me," the 8 year pro offered, before adding, "I mean, you don't even know what the other guy is going to do, and then he just does it, man. It's pretty live out there."

Drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 2003 as part of the class that also included Lebron James and Dwyayne Wade, Anthony was viewed by scouts to have the physical frame that would be complimented by his complete package of skills, yet first the Nuggets and now the Knicks have been left wanting on the defensive side of the stat sheet. "Scoring has always been easy for me, man." announced Anthony, who stands to miss 1-2 weeks with a groin injury he sustained in his recent game against the rival New Jersey Nets. "I think it goes back to when I was a kid in Baltimore, shooting hoops alone. I mean, I never had to play defense against myself, so maybe that's like, the root of the problem."

Anthony's self examination provided little clarity into his lengthy history as a defensive scourge, as it had been widely known since at least 2007 that working without the basketball was, for him, no less than a mild source of grief. Then, in a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs, Anthony became so frustrated with his own inabilities that he elected to punch Manu Ginobili in the face as he drove effortlessly and repeatedly to the left around Anthony. When asked about that incident, Anthony got a faraway look in his eye, and simply stated that he "had to get out of there, dude. For real." Former Spur Steve Novak stood within earshot of Anthony and offered some semblance of justification to Anthony's method for wrangling the wiry Argententian swingman. "I had to practice against that guy, man. It's like trying to catch jelly with a fishing net."

Despite the potentially admirable desperation of Anthony's attempts to play defense at any cost, there was still an absence of any real explanation as to why. As various members of the Knicks and Magic practiced on their respective ends of the court, Orlando guards Jason and Quentin Richardson (no relation) overheard and offered their opinions on the struggles of not only Anthony, but myriad players around the league. "Well, it's like this." Jason began, gesturing his hands in such a manner as to draw attention away from his lunacy. "When I was on Golden State, we had to play defense during games sometimes. One thing I found out though, is that if you don't play it, you get the ball back like, super fast, dude." he concluded, before turning to Quentin who added "Yeah, and nobody ever scored no buckets playing no D." Seemingly nonplussed at his own attempts to elaborate however, he quickly assured gathering reporters that he had never actually played defense himself, so it wasn't fair to talk, probably.

Small talk amongst members of the media did provide some insight to another school of thought however, that viewed Anthony in a slightly more cynical light. "Numbers just don't lie." asserted Bill Gruber, a local beat reporter and stat hobbyist who drew upon Anthony's notoriously low volume scoring outputs in order to assert comically, yet with a very serious poker face, that Anthony was indeed a top defender in the league. "Carmelo has been something like a basketball Sarlaac for the entirety of his career. Possessions may yield points over the course of a game, but the percentages just suggest that, more often than not, he gets the ball and the team's chances of victory are slowly digested over a thousand years. The algorithms are right there, man."

Carmelo did little to refute the statistical evidence against him though, when Gruber was able to catch the forward in a lull between questions, Anthony simply replied "Algorithms? Nah, man. I don't like jazz."

It was an answer explained nothing, and yet everything.

Ziller: In Appreciation of Tony Parker

2012-02-09T15:36:16Z

Ziller: In Appreciation of Tony Parker

One of SBN's top NBA writers has some kind words for le baguette.

State of the Spurs: Making Sense of the Winning

2012-02-09T12:30:09Z

This is the fifth installment of the State of the Spurs series, and this is going to be the most difficult one to write. It's very easy to analyze what's going on with teams when they are losing, but it's much more difficult to point out what exactly is going right once they start winning- especially to be able to do so without sounding like an absolute homer.

The truth, though, is that we have reason to dance, and if you don't dance, well, you're no friend of mine.

They dance when they want to, they leave the world behind...
via spursworld.files.wordpress.com

I think it's fairly obvious to most everyone following the team closely that the Spurs have raised their level of play over the past two weeks. If I had to pick a particular game where we turned a corner, it would likely be the infamous game in Dallas where the Mavericks nearly got bench-slapped. The defense had started to improve a couple games prior, but was inconsistent.

Now, the defensive improvement seems like it is here to stay. We just held Philadelphia, another team that ranks in the top 10 in offensive efficiency to under 100 points. We did the same to Oklahoma City. Even by advanced metrics, their offensive efficiency was significantly worse playing against us than it usually is. Specifically, I continue to be impressed with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, and also need to note that Matt Bonner (and to a lesser extent, DeJuan Blair) have taken a break from being absolute sieves defensively and are coming dangerously close to holding their own. Their defensive ceiling will always be lower than that of Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter, but Bonner continues to be almost always in the right spot and Blair has scaled back on his reaching and been in position to take 5 charges over the past two games (only two of the calls went in his favor, however).

Offensively, everyone is finally showing up (Green's recent 10-47 slump notwithstanding). From a statistical perspective, it's the same story as our defense. Philadelphia and OKC are both top 10 defenses (when did the 76ers get this good?!?) and we made their defenses look average at best. If one of our shooters isn't hitting (recently, it's been you, Richard Jefferson) the other ones are. RJ has a cold night? Gary Neal and Bonner step up and knock'em down to keep the floor spread for Tony Parker. Tony has been playing out of his mind, and I've enjoyed watching him dance around screens, crossing people over, and stepping back to hit jumpers in defenders' faces. Every time he does it, this song starts playing in my head:

Not only does Tony's near-MVP-level play give us reason to dance...Manu Ginobili is supposed to return Saturday against the New Jersey Nets. This is nearly perfect timing. The Nets are the first of three ganes that figure to be rather easy games to get Manu back in game shape before the Rodeo Road Trip hits its tougher stretch and we head to Utah, Portland, and Denver. And if that doesn't make you dance, well, you just might get left behind.

Next week: I'm going to be taking a look at the efficiency of our various 5 man units. We should have big enough sample sizes by then to make for adequate analysis.

Poll

Why do you dance?

Tony Parker continues to destroy defenses, Spurs get a 100-90 win at Philadelphia

2012-02-09T05:53:55Z

The Spurs managed to go 2 for 2 to start the Rodeo Road Trip with a win over a very good 76ers team. After a close first half, the Spurs pulled away by double digits in the third and resisted the home team's late surge to close the game. Tony Parker continued to remind everyone that he is one of the best guards in the league with 37 points and 8 assists. Tim Duncan and Gary Neal assisted TP in the winning effort by scoring 16 and 18 points respectively. Lou Williams led the Sixers with 22 off the bench. The Spurs improved their record to 18-9, climbing to the second spot in the Western Conference.

Before going any further, let's get this out of the way: Tony Parker is a fantastic, amazing basketball player. One of the best in the league. If you've ever spoken ill of him, repent now before it's too late. The Spurs have won their last 6 games and there is no way they could have gotten to this point without Parker going Nova against the Thunder and the Sixers. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the quarter by quarter analysis.

First quarter

The Spurs rode on to Philadelphia for the second game of the RRT after a close win over the Memphis Grizzlies knowing that this game was going to be a battle. The Sixers are one of the best defensive teams of the league and have the kind of long, athletic players that always give the Spurs trouble. The first quarter gave us exactly what we though we were going to get, with both teams struggling to score in their half-court sets. The Spurs were daring the Sixers to beat them from mid and long range by sagging off shooters but without the quickness to recover and contest those shots. Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday took advantage of the Spurs lax D and scored 7 and 8 points respectively. The Spurs’ starting lineup minus Parker was having trouble getting in any kind of offensive rhythm. Duncan was being aggressive against the rookie Nikola Vucevic but could not finish on a couple of plays, going 2 of 7 from the floor. Thankfully, Gary Neal came to the rescue. The Nail went 3-3 from outside and finished the quarter with 12 points that allowed the good guys to hang on and finish the period up 2.

Second quarter

The Spurs managed to get their first big lead in the 2nd, as Neal played point guard with a frontcourt of Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner. It seems like someone finally told our guards that Tiago can finish off the pick and roll, because they were looking for him when he rolled hard to the basket. Sparkles scored 6 points in little over 6 minutes of play in the quarter showing off his post moves in the process. With the Spurs up 8 and Splitter and Neal playing great ball, Pop decided to bring back Tony and Tim, which resulted on a 10-0 run by the Sixers. The Spurs defense managed to recover and after some ugly basketball, the half ended 48-45 Spurs. Both teams shot badly from the floor (Spurs .391 and Sixers .360), but the Sixers had the edge on three point shooting percentage, going 3-6 to the Spurs 3-9.

Third quarter

The Spurs extended their lead early in the 3^rd and would never trail again. The Sixers' initially air-tight defense started to show some cracks early in the quarter especially in the heart of the paint, with only Vucevic and the undersized Brand to contest shots. Neal and Blair got some early baskets and the D managed to shut down the paint after a couple Iguodala layups. The Tiago Splitter-Matt Bonner frontcourt continued doing well, with each player scoring 3 points in the final minutes. But the difference-maker, as has been the case often in this season, was Tony Parker. La Croissant penetrated and drew fouls that enraged the Philadelphia crowd and frustrated the Sixers players. Parker finished with 11 third quarter points and helped open the gap that would end up getting the Spurs the victory.

Fourth quarter

In the 4th, the Spurs used the pick and roll effectively to get their max lead of 11. Parker was able to find Splitter rolling to the basket on two consecutive occasions for 4 of Tiago’s 6 points in the quarter. After a mini run by the Sixers while Parker rested, Gary Neal hit a three to stop the bleeding, and Pop sent Duncan and Parker back in with 5:40 to go and the lead back to 8. From then on the Spurs used the Tim and Tony two man game to milk the clock while still getting quality looks. The Sixers got as close as 5 but the Spurs managed to control the action and got away with their 5th road win.

It was a close game throughout, with both benches playing a big role, but in the end the team with the best player on the floor won. Tony is in a class of his own right now and he could not have picked a better game to emphasize it. "Just one of those games everything was working for me. My shot was feeling good and everything was going," Tony said. That’s as accurate a description as I'm able to find for it.

Random thoughts:

Really, Richard Jefferson? I write 1,300 words basically asking people to go easy on you and this is how you repay me. Really? I say that your shooting makes you a valuable player for this team and you go 0-3 from 3. Not cool, RJ. Not cool at all. (But it's ok. I forgive you because you got that rebound in traffic.)
I know I mention this in almost every recap I get, but there are few things that infuriate me more that watching DeJuan Blair fail to box out. He just watches the ball while his opponent gets position and then jumps expecting to get the rebound. The Sixers got 3 straight offensive boards in the 3rd because DeJuan never bothered to put a body on his man. He is officially the worst big in the Spurs’ rotation now that Bonner is hitting his shots.
Speaking of Bonner, he only hit one 3 but he got 9 boards to go with some not-that-awful defense. Thaddeus Young burned him a couple of times, but I think this was a good game for Matty overall.
Splitter scored 15 points in 17 minutes. He played less than Blair who went 3-7 for 6 points. I don’t understand Pop sometimes.
Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard had abysmal shooting nights. Green went 0-5 and Leonard 1-4. They were still better than RJ.
The ball movement seems to be much better when the subs are in, even with no real PG. With no star that needs constant feeding and with the space that the threat of Bonner behind the 3-point line creates, the offense flows seamlessly through every player on the floor.
The Sixers are a great team. They are going to be a really tough out in the East but they are still a player (or a year) away from serious contention. Their young players are great but they still lack that top 10 player every contender needs. I could see them beating either the Bulls or the Heat but not both.

Three Stars

Tim Duncan: 16 points on 6-16 shooting, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks.

I could have gone with Tiago here, but Timmy played a pretty complete game and has been giving the team some vintage performances on the last few games. Tony is simply killing it right now, but the old man is being a great sidekick. He didn’t look quite as spry as he looked in the previous couple of games, but still managed to be the best big on the floor.

Gary Neal: 16 points on 6-9 shooting (3-4 from deep), 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

Gary is getting better at this point guard thing. He found Splitter on a couple of pick and rolls and was able to read the stingy Sixer defense on his drives to the basket. His great 3-point shooting, while expected, was a welcome sight considering pretty much everyone else was awful from outside.

Tony Parker. 37 points on 12-24 shooting, 11-11 from the free throw line and 8 assists.

Against the two toughest teams the Spurs have faced in their 6-game winning streak, Parker has scored 42 and 37 points with a combined 17 assists. Not much else to say.

Up next, the Nets on Saturday. Will it be the end of LWM? Tune in to find out!

Box score and Highlights

Liberty Ballers.

QuickCap #26 - San Antonio Spurs @ Philadelphia 76'ers

2012-02-09T02:18:49Z

SPURS WIN!

Link to previous GameThreads: (1) (2)

	1	2	3	4	Total
San Antonio Spurs	26	22	27	25	100
Philadelphia 76ers	24	21	22	23	90

Roll Call: DrumsInTheDeep, The Calvinator, spursfan87, Josh Guyer (completely deck), grego21, play_splitter, Ayatollah, Edg5, In the 666, SpursCupcake, Tim C., p2cat, MikeyKosa, quincyscott, Bakkie009, Jordan Leithart, SpursColoredGlasses, Sh!fty, bj1der, SleepCrack, Argentinian Mamba, Marky G, FaM0us Skins, SanAntonioGiant, TrooperJoe73, anirontag, Lauri, CapHill, TX2NC, day_late_friend, LatinD, juanlefuego, hurts2bgood, silverandblack_davis, Manu-20, Iullaby, Spurlady, bones, crsosa, rank
Total Users: 40
Total Posts: 1000
Total Threads: 2

Name	# of Posts
spursfan87	82
bj1der	76
anirontag	72
SpursCupcake	61
Bakkie009	56
Ayatollah	54
day_late_friend	50
juanlefuego	46
In the 666	46
LatinD	42
TrooperJoe73	37
silverandblack_davis	37
SanAntonioGiant	28
Iullaby	27
Lauri	26
Josh Guyer (completely deck)	26
TX2NC	24
DrumsInTheDeep	22
hurts2bgood	22
Sh!fty	18
Spurlady	18
bones	16
SleepCrack	16
Tim C.	16
play_splitter	15
Marky G	13
The Calvinator	11
grego21	10
FaM0us Skins	7
MikeyKosa	6
CapHill	5
Manu-20	4
Edg5	3
rank	2
crsosa	1
p2cat	1
Argentinian Mamba	1
SpursColoredGlasses	1
Jordan Leithart	1
quincyscott	1

Tiago Splitter And Kawhi Leonard To Represent Spurs On Rising Stars Roster

2012-02-08T23:26:58Z

The San Antonio Spurs will have two players suiting up for the 2012 NBA Rising Stars Challenge at the Orlando All-Star event. Tiago Splitter and Kawhi Leonard got the nod with the rookie joining nine other first-year players and Splitter joining fellow second-year players like Blake Griffin and John Wall.

This year's Rising Stars event will follow a different format than the previous Rookie vs. Sophomore game. To make the event more fan friendly, TNT personalities Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley will act as "general managers" and "draft" sides in playground fashion.

TNT's Kenny Smith will serve as the honorary Commissioner and Ernie Johnson will host the live Rising Stars Challenge Draft on Thursday, Feb. 16, on NBA TV at 7 p.m. ET. The game itself will be televised live nationally on TNT at 9 p.m. ET.

For more on the stats that earned Irving and Thompson their first trip to an NBA All-Star event, see the press release on the Spurs web site. The full Rising Stars roster is available after the jump.

MarShon Brooks New Jersey G-F 6-5 200 Providence/USA R

DeMarcus Cousins Sacramento C 6-11 270 Kentucky/USA 1

Landry Fields New York G 6-7 210 Stanford/USA 1

Paul George Indiana G-F 6-8 215 Fresno State/USA 1

Blake Griffin L.A. Clippers F 6-10 251 Oklahoma/USA 1

Gordon Hayward Utah F 6-8 210 Butler/USA 1

Kyrie Irving Cleveland G 6-3 191 Duke/USA R

Brandon Knight Detroit G 6-3 189 Kentucky/USA R

Kawhi Leonard San Antonio G-F 6-7 225 San Diego State/USA R

Greg Monroe Detroit C 6-11 250 Georgetown/USA 1

Markieff Morris Phoenix F 6-10 245 Kansas/USA R

Ricky Rubio Minnesota G 6-4 180 FC Barcelona/Spain R

Tiago Splitter San Antonio F-C 6-11 240 Saski Baskonia/Brazil 1

Tristan Thompson Cleveland F 6-9 227 Texas/USA R

Evan Turner Philadelphia G-F 6-7 205 Ohio State/USA 1

John Wall Washington G 6-4 195 Kentucky/USA 1

Kemba Walker Charlotte G 6-1 172 Connecticut/USA R

Derrick Williams Minnesota F 6-8 241 Arizona /USA R

RT @JMcDonald_SAEN: Here in Philly, Pop calls Manu Ginobili "likely" for Saturday's game in New...

2012-02-08T22:45:28Z

RT @JMcDonald_SAEN: Here in Philly, Pop calls Manu Ginobili "likely" for Saturday's game in New Jersey.

Twitter

Expectation vs. Reality: In defense of Richard Jefferson

2012-02-08T19:16:11Z

When the Spurs received Richard Jefferson from the Milwaukee Bucks for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas, the trade was billed as one of the more lopsided of the post Gasol-to-the-Lakers era. Spurs fans rejoiced and fans of other teams cursed their front offices for not pulling off similar trades.

Needless to say, the trade was not the resounding success we thought it was going to be. The Jefferson the Spurs got the first year was nowhere near the offensive force most expected; he struggled with his shot and seemed passive and lost, while Pop couldn't really find a way to integrate him into the flow of the team.

After that disastrous first season, he opted out and was resigned for less money and more years in a move to avoid the luxury tax. While he seemed much more comfortable his second year wearing the Silver and Black (which prompted the coining of a new nickname RJ2.0) he still hadn't turned the Big 3 into the "Big 4" like the more optimistic of us were hoping for. Instead, he was just a role player. A good role player to be sure, but not the kind of high usage offensive weapon he had been in his first 8 years in the league. After a good regular season where he rebounded well and shot the ball at a career-high level from 3-point land, the postseason arrived and he, along with the rest of the team, struggled to make an impact in the playoffs. Which brings us to this season and to the point of this article:

Richard Jefferson is getting a lot of flack for his play this season and I'm here to tell you that he doesn't deserve it.

All stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference. Glossary: eFG%: a stat that takes into account that a 3-point filed goal is worth more than a 2- point filed goal. TRB%: Percentage of available rebounds a player gets. Usage: percentage of possesions a players uses when on the floor.

First I need to say that when it comes to playing the BLAME RJ game, I've been as guilty of this as anyone else. But recently, I started reevaluating my position as this year's discussions raged (ahem) in the comment section. The most common criticism directed at Jefferson, and one that I've personally harped on, is regarding his passiveness on offense. But before I tackle the biggie, I want to deal with the secondary gripes regarding his rebounding and defense.

Jefferson's rebounding has taken a dip this season (6.7 TRB% this season, down from a 7.1 TRB% in 2011) but that's easily explained by Kawhi Leonard's elite rebounding numbers (12 TRB%). There's a limited amount of boards out there and other players are getting a large share of them; more importantly the Spurs still are a good defensive rebounding team and that's really all that matters. RJ was never a particularly good offensive rebounder to begin with but when you are parked behind the 3-point line on most plays, and have to sprint back on D to cover for a penetrating guard, it gets harder to get boards.

Similarly, defense was never RJ's calling card but it's clear that he tries. He is really inconsistent on that side, mixing good possessions with late close outs and missed rotations, but then again the Spurs knew that he was far from a Bruce Bowen clone. It's true that his defensive rating (105) is the worst of all the starters, but it's actually quite close to Tony Parker's (104).

In those areas, Jefferson seems to be who we thought he was when the Spurs traded for him. There was not a marked improvement but he didn't entirely disappoint either. The surprise for most of us fans was the way his offense transformed in his second season. So now that the other stuff is out of the way, let's get to that.

Unlike his other teams, the Spurs don't really call plays for Jefferson consistently. No ISOs, no post-ups, not even a 1-3 pick and roll in order to create a mismatch and let him exploit it in the post; he sometimes comes off a screen for a jumper or an alley oop but that's it. His usage percentage in the last two season has seen an almost 10% decline from his Milwaukee years. There's really no way for RJ to be more aggressive on offense other than going rogue and breaking up a play and taking over, which I guess he could do as long as he doesn't mind Pop yanking him so fast that there would be a Jefferson-shaped dust cloud on the court. If there's one thing Pop abide, it's when players are not doing what they are supposed to. He benches them and yells at them until he is red in the face. If Jefferson wasn't doing precisely what the offense calls for, he wouldn't be playing 30 minutes per game; which is the second most of any Spur, behind only Tony Parker.

Via Bleacher Report

Since coming to the Spurs RJ has been asked to do two basic things on offense: 1 - park his butt in the corner, wait there for the kick-out and take the open shot, or 2 - go to the corner, throw an entry pass to the post and cut to the basket. And guess what? He has done just that -- and he's handled his first responsibility as well as anyone in the league.

Offensively, Pop relies on Jefferson to do one thing and one thing only: space the floor. If you are wondering if he is at least any good at that, the answer is a resounding yes. His 3pt% of .443 is good for 19th in the league and his eFG% of .555 good for 14th in the league. The guy has been the Spurs' most reliable shooter this season by far.

So why is a player that does exactly what he is asked to (and does it well) being called out by the fans? Because his name is Richard Jefferson and he's making over 9 million dollars this season.

We, and I'm including myself here, simply can't seem to forget about the All-Star we were supposed to get and instead we focus on the good role player we have. That's really the issue here: will we accept that the Richard Jefferson we have is nothing more than a good role player? We are letting our high expectation for him and his high salary stop us from appreciating what he actually provides. By comparing our Richard Jefferson with the Nets or Bucks versions, we are ignoring a fundamental fact: RJ transformed his game to fit the Spurs' style at Pop's request. He is no longer a machine gun; he is a sniper rifle.

Now if you get past the fact that his salary is the 4^th highest in the team and disregard the the way the "old" RJ used to play, it becomes clear that the player I spent the last few paragraphs describing could be considered a solid starter; an elite shooter that is neutral at worst as a defender and rebounds reasonably well for his position. Some people have compared this version of RJ to Michael Finley and I don't think they are far off. Where the mistake lies is in thinking that's a bad thing. The Spurs won a championship with Mike Finley as their starting 3 and I don't think it's wrong for Pop to want to replicate what the Zombie brought to the table. We just have to remember that it's not RJ's fault that the front office overpaid for him.