Pounding The Rock

Stat of the Game: -20.5: Also, Matt Bonner Makes My Head Hurt

2009-11-20T18:20:27Z

After last night's game, I was really not sure of what stat to use. I considered writing about how every time the Spurs were on the verge of making a run, they gave up a three point play or an offensive rebound. This game could really be summed up by the phrase, "momentum killing." It felt like I was punched in the stomach 36 times last night. Well, when I gave more thought to what exactly was momentum killing, Matt Bonner immediately came to mind. I re-watched the game and wrote a running diary that focuses on Matt Bonner. I also kept track of his negative and positive contributions to the game. That is where -20.5 comes from. What does this mean? Continue reading to find out.

A friendly note: Kids, don't try this at home. Re-watching a Spurs' loss is painful enough. Re-watching a Spurs' loss while observing every move that Bonner makes is damn near torture.

1st Quarter
4:41 Bonner checks into the game. I remember thinking, 'Why do we not play Blair more often?'
4:13 Bonner misses a wide open three. He will receive a -1 for that. I will be assigning values to every play he makes as we go along.
3:08 Bonner attempts to set a screen on the much smaller Wes Matthews and somehow gets manhandled. The officials make the call and Bonner goes to the line where he makes 1 of 2. He gets a +.5 for this play. While we are here, have you ever watched Bonner shoot? I mean, do not watch the ball, stay focused on his form. It is unbelievable. Who told him to shoot like that? When I was learning how to shoot, I watched Michael Jordan and tried to mimic his form. I feel that's what most people do. Find the best there is and try to be like Mike. Who the hell did Bonner copy? Bill Cartwright?
2:54 Kirilenko blows past Bonner forcing McDyess to come over and help. McDyess alters Andrei's shot but Milsap is left wide open under the basket for the offensive rebound. Bogans fouls Milsap for two free throws. Now, after Andrei blows by Bonner, Bonner is completely out of the play. It's like he disappears from the court. Get back in it, Bonner. Block someone out. Alter Milsap's shot. At the very least, Bonner should have been the one to foul Milsap. Bogans and Hill's foul trouble killed us. -1 for Bonner.
2:46 Bonner walks around aimlessly as McDyess is called for the Spurs first illegal screen of the night. -1 for Bonner because he seriously spends the majority of his time on the court wandering aimlessly. It's like he just woke up and is searching for his glasses. He is slow, somewhat clumsy and contributes nothing to society.
2:35 Kirilenko posts up Bonner on the block. There is a lot of contact but no call and the Spurs secure the rebound. +1
2:10 Bonner gets called for the Spurs' second illegal screen of the game. Alright, just 36 seconds earlier McDyess was called for the same violation. Now, if you follow basketball at all, you know that officials have a tendency to really focus on making one or two calls each night. Sometimes it's traveling, sometimes it's a blocking foul, and sometimes it's setting an illegal screen. The tip off occurred when they called an illegal screen on McDyess. They never make that call, but they made it clear early on that they were going to enforce it tonight. -3 for being incompetent, Bonner.
1:55 Finley and Bonner fight over a rebound. Bonner wins the battle. Way to go, Bonner. +.5
1:30 Bonner fakes a three, drives into the lane, and finds a wide open Finley for three. +1
:59 Bonner fakes a three, drives into the lane, and makes a horrible pass that gets picked off. Bogans commits the foul to stop the fast break. That's the second foul that Bonner caused Bogans to commit. Also, at the NBA level, you cannot make the same exact move two times in a row. The players and defenses are too gifted. How does he not know this? -2.
:03 Bonner gets the rebound and throws a JaMarcus Russell like duck over half court as time expires. +1 for getting the rebound, -.5 because, "You throw like a GIRL!" -- Sandlot

2nd Quarter 20-19, Jazz lead.
11:30 As Boozer hits another one of his funky fade-aways, Milsap beats Bonner like the red headed step child he is. -1 because Bonner was manhandled the entire night. He gets treated like a little brother out there.
10:59 Bonner fakes a three, drives into the lane, realizes he has absolutely no where to go with the ball, and flips it up and over the backboard. That's right, he shot the ball over the entire backboard. -3 for sucking at life in general.
10:38 Bonner is on the weak side as Brewer drives baseline for an uncontested layup. Thanks for the help, big guy. -1
10:10 Mason shoots a deep three that misses and the long rebound bounces right to Bonner. Bonner tips the ball back to Mason for a new possession. After watching Bonner closely, it became evident that he never fights for offensive rebounding position. Whenever he gets an offensive rebound, it's because the ball took an unlikely bounce and went right to him. He is the Bizzaro Blair. +1
9:21 Bonner drives baseline for a reverse layup. +1
9:03 When I watched this in person, I was very confused as to how Bonner managed to put himself in such a bad situation. Well, it turns out Boozer caught the ball at the top of the key and Bonner thought he was going to shoot. As Bonner attempted to block Milsap out, Milsap cut across the paint and Boozer passed him the ball. Bonner was facing the wrong direction under the basket as Milsap received the pass. Bonner managed to foul Milsap preventing the easy layup. -2 for not following one of the main rules of defense. "Always keep an eye on your man and the ball." Bonner managed to lose track of both.
8:55 Finley misses a long three from the corner and the long rebound falls into Bonner's lap. +1 At halftime, the Jazz lead 44-40.

3rd Quarter
Bonner gets benched for the entire third. Not coincidentally, this is the only quarter that the Spurs win as they tie the game at 60 to begin the fourth.

4th Quarter
12:00 Okay, this is only somewhat Bonner related. I realize that the Spurs are experiencing foul trouble with Bogans and Hill, but we really needed to make a push to begin the fourth. We had been trailing the entire game. It was important for the Spurs to come out aggressively. Pop's lineup to begin the fourth was about as bad as it gets. Mason, Hairston, Finley, Bonner, and McDyess. Shockingly, our first possession ended with an air ball and a 24 second shot clock violation. I mean, what is the purpose of this lineup? Can they defend well? No. Can they score in bunches? No. Can they completely destroy the Spurs' momentum? Yes, and they did.
11:15 Kirilenko receives a pass at the free throw line extended, crosses Bonner over, and makes the layup as Bonner catches up just in time to commit the foul and send him to the line. Vintage Matt Bonner. -3 because this was a huge momentum killer. The crowd was begging for a defensive stop and this play completely took the air out of the building.
10:18 Pop finally subs in RJ for Bonner. The crowd was restless as the Spurs were down 66-63. Also, this lineup sucks. We just went small for no reason. Now our lineup consists of 'Showing Signs of Life' Mason, 'Mistake Prone" Hairston, '0%' Finley, 'Too short to be a 4' RJ, and 'Likes to Hide' McDyess. Again, what is the purpose of this lineup? When a team goes small, they generally do it to upgrade their offense at the expense of their defense. But this lineup is not good offensively. Maybe if Mason and Finley were red hot it could work, but Finley shot 0% from the field and Mason was cooling off at this point.
8:31 The Spurs have completely lost the momentum and Pop finally decides to put in a competent lineup. We are down by 5. Now, 5 points may not seem like a big deal, but it is. The Spurs were trailing the entire game. They battled back to tie it at the end of three, but now that group re-enters the game to find themselves once again in a hole. It's simply draining to be losing. And as the second game of a back to back, playing from behind becomes that much more tiring. We should have began the fourth with our best lineup, built a lead, and then rested players as needed. I just hate the substitution patterns. The team is in a funk and so are the coaches. It's a tug of war match and we are always either losing or tied. That's not how you win basketball games.
3:20 McDyess gives up a three point play to Boozer so Pop replaces him with Bonner. As you can imagine, I was furiously screaming at this point.
2:53 It looked as if Deron Williams pushed off as he began his drive, but no call. Williams gets into the paint and Bonner arrives just in time to give up the three point play. Vintage Bonner. -4. Oh, and great call on replacing McDyess with Bonner, Pop. That fixed everything. Pop calls a timeout and puts McDyess back in for Bonner.
:45 For reasons that could only be illogical, Pop decides we need more Bonner. We are down by 5. I told my friend, "We are still in it. All we need is a quick score, one stop, and another score to tie it." Well, Bonner delivered one last punch to the nuts. He set his second illegal screen, thereby eliminating any chance that the Spurs had of coming back. -5.

Horrible. Why did I do that to myself? I guess I wanted evidence to support my hate for Bonner. Well, adding up all of my points, we come to -20.5. Bonner is like that friend you have who always is a negative. You have friends that contribute to the group, you have friends that do not contribute one way or the other so no harm done, and then, inevitably, there is that one dude who somehow always shows up and brings the fun level down. He just sucks at life. He can't help it. You cannot even pinpoint what he could do to improve himself. He is a lost cause. The good Lord simply did not bless him with the tools necessary to be successful. This is Matt Bonner in a nutshell. Generally, the group rids itself of the negative over time. It's a process. So, what's Tonya Harding up to these days? I mean, she is capable of handling this situation. Does anyone have her contact info? I would like to speed the process up. (Just kidding, kind of.)

Suicidal Thoughts and Home Losses: Jazz 90, Spurs 83

2009-11-20T05:14:39Z

Well, the absence of Tony and Manu is just as bad for the team as we all feared. Is it too much to ask for Tony to come back for the next game?

Oh yeah, we're 4-6. And we've lost 3 in a row.

First, I give you mood music:

BOX SCORE

This game started out decently enough. The Spurs briefly led in the first quarter, and managed to keep it close even after Paul Millsap went off. But then, it all went to hell. The Jazz got a double digit lead in the second quarter, and got back that double-digit lead in the third quarter. The Spurs came all the way back to tie it by the end of the third, before it all went to hell again. There, that's all the description you need. Now, on to the players:

Keith Bogans: The Boogeyman did a good job defending Deron Williams, but a certain someone made sure he was in foul trouble(anyone who exerted effort on D tonight got called for stupid fouls). Didn't do much on offense, but he's not supposed to anyway.

Theo Ratliff: Rat was a brief bright spot in an ugly game. He didn't take a single shot, but got 3 blocks and made things easier on Timmy.

Michael Finley: The pinnacle of suckitude. He didn't turn the ball over, but he wasn't exactly helpful with his 0% shooting. Or getting blocked. Or getting burned repeatedly on defense.

Antonio McDyess: Dice had a solid game, but like everyone else who attempted to play defense, he was saddled with some stupid fouls.

Roger Mason: Believe it or not, Roger didn't suck... on offense. Roger shot 5-9 for 12 points, and only had one turnover in at least 17 minutes at the point. But he sucked on defense, as much as Findog.

Matt Bonner: Sucked almost as bad as Findog on both ends. Actually, he was probably worse on defense. I'll let Fred handle the more thorough Bonner-bashing, though.

Malik Hairston: Played defense, so got in foul trouble. Malik shot as well as Findog, but was definitely better on the defensive end.

Dejuan Blair: I didn't even get to see Dejuan's minutes, because there were so few of them. His stat line looks decent for 8 minutes of play, but he had no fouls. That must mean he didn't play any defense.

Three Stars

George Hill: Cubits had a good enough game, but his shots weren't falling very well(7-17) and he fouled out in the 4th quarter, thanks to a certain someone's refereeing.

Tim Duncan: 50% shooting, 21 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists. What else is new?

Richard Jefferson: Also 50% shooting, with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Took too many long jumpers instead of attacking the rim.

And The Winner Is...

Yes, Joey wins again. Congratulations.

No, I'm not bitter at all... when does Manu come back?

Jazz @ Spurs - Second Half Thread

2009-11-20T02:46:14Z

Well guys, it could be worse. Look for nothing after the jump.

There will be no halftime fish tonight. Hipuks is invoking the karma busting two loss rule. If you have a problem with that, just remember what he posted last night. Eeeew.

GO SPURS GO!

SPURS INJURY UPDATE Manu Ginobili underwent an MRI examination this afternoon in San Antonio. The...

2009-11-20T01:28:04Z

SPURS INJURY UPDATE

Manu Ginobili underwent an MRI examination this afternoon in San Antonio. The exam confirmed that he has a mild left groin strain and showed that he has no structural damage in the area. Ginobili will begin his rehabilitation process tomorrow. He is expected to miss seven-to-ten days.

Ginobili suffered the injury in the first quarter of last night’s Spurs-Mavericks game.

Straight from the Spurs.

Jazz @ Spurs: Game Thread #10

2009-11-20T01:00:14Z

No fancy graphs or anything for you today. But, let's get a win this time, shall we?

Likely Starters

Utah

Deron Williams
Wes Matthews
Ronnie Brewer
Carlos Boozer
Kyrylo Fesenko

Spurs

George Hill
Keith Bogans?
Richard Jefferson
Tim Duncan
Antonio McDyess

Officials

Joey Crawford is in the house - that's all you need to know.

Game Preview #10: Utah Jazz at San Antonio Spurs

2009-11-19T08:06:08Z

That kid is soooo a Spurs fan right now.

Are you pissed off now? You can bet the Spurs are. Both teams in this game are already backed into a corner in the young season, and are going to fight to the death tonight. This is a SEGABABA for all involved, so... we got that going for us.

Utah Jazz @ San Antonio Spurs
Where: AT&T Center - San Antonio, TX
When: November 18, 2009, 7:30 PM Spurs time
Watch: FSN Utah (SLC); FSN Southwest (SA)

How They Stack Up


4-1	Home	3-2
0-4	Road	2-4
101.9	Offense	100.8
99.9	Defense	100.9
46.4	FG%	48.1
34.8	3-pt%	32.5
73.1	FT%	79.0
40.1	Rebounds	41.5
12.0	TOs	13.6
4-5	Last 10	5-5
Lost 2	Streak	Won 1
3rd, Southwest	Position	4th, Northwest


Country/Time Zone	Game Time
Argentina	10:30 PM
West Coast	5:30 PM
Philippines	10:30 AM
Central Europe	2:30 AM
Palestine/Egypt	2:30 AM
Least Coast	8:30 PM
Colorado/Arizona	6:30 PM
Perth, AUS	8:30 AM
Tokyo, JP	9:30 AM
Sydney, AUS	11:30 AM

Spurs (4-5)	Matchups	Jazz (5-6)
George Hill Coach's Pet	Point Guard Tony's still out, and George has done a pretty good job standing in for him. Unfortunately for Cubits, he's getting a nightmare assignment tonight. Unlike the two-headed monster of Beaubois/Barea that he was up against last night, Williams is the total package. He's got size, speed, athleticism and excellent court vision. Did I mention he also plays defense? He's my personal favorite among current point guards, because he usually gets the better of CP3 head-to-head. Look, we all love Cubits, but he's completely out of his league here. And let's not even talk about Mason running the point. The best thing George can do is attack the rim on offense and use those long arms to draw contact. Advantage: Jazz	Deron Williams 2nd Best

Keith Bogans The Boogeyman	Shooting Guard As of this writing, Manu is officially out for this game. That means we'll see a lot of Bogans, probably guarding Williams. If he can get a couple of corner threes, that'll be nice, but I want him completely focused on limiting Williams. When Bogans is sitting, we'll probably see a lot of Michael Finley and Roger Mason, with a bit of Malik Hairston thrown in for good measure. Malik did good things last night, and appeared to earn Pop's trust for the most part, so I hope he can have a decent contribution off the bench. For the Jazz, Wesley Matthews and Ronnie Brewer will likely rotate at the 2 - these 2 need to be SHUT. DOWN. Cubits, are you up to it? Advantage: Nobody	Ronnie Brewer Meh.

Richard Jefferson Still Waiting For Some RAGE	Small Forward RJ still looks lost out there sometimes when the big 4 all play. Luckily for us him, Tony and Manu won't be there to defer to. Kirilenko is an able defender, but there's no way he can stop Rage. There better be a full assault on the rim tonight by RJ. Advantage: Spurs	Andrei Kirilenko AK-47

Antonio McDyess Anti-Boozer	Power Forward Poor Dice - he gets two incredibly difficult assignments in a back to back. Luckily, Boozer had to chase Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani around all night last night. If SAM plays the kind of D he has on Dirk tonight against Boozer, he'll be all right against a tired Boozer. In other news, DeBeast will get another shot at Millsap tonight. Let's hope all those comparisons were right. Advantage: Jazz	Carlos Boozer

Tim Duncan WWTD?	Center Okur was held out last night with flu-like symptoms, replaced by the 7'1" Ukranian, Kyrylo Fesenko. I'd expect him to return tonight, but Timmy has the advantage either way. If Timmeh does enough to counter the Boozer/Millsap combo, this game is in the bag. Something tells me he will. Advantage: Spurs	Kyrylo Fesenko Chernobyl Mutant?

Michael Finley Wise Beyond Our Years	Bench & Role Players The Findog is going to be backing up both of the wing positions, and needs to hit some shots to make up for his horrible defense. Roger Mason attacked the rim last night, and I would love for him to continue doing that, but he's going to be playing PG at times tonight. Please, Roger, break out of your shooting slump tonight. Matt Bonner, Malik Hairston, Dejuan Blair and Theo Ratliff probably see court time tonight as well, and they can all be effective. Utah's bench is decidedly thinner, but their bench wings are a pretty nasty matchup. Advantage: Spurs	Wes Matthews Undrafted Rookie Starter

Gregg Popovich The Veins Are Popping Out	Coach That Sloan has never been Coach of the Year is a crime against humanity, and a stain on the NBA. He gets no respect. He's the only coach who's been with his team longer than Pop, and he's done a great job year after year, even when he doesn't have much to work with. I still can't bring myself to take Pop's white box away, but Sloan gets one too. Advantage: Tie	Jerry Sloan Rodney Dangerfield
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
Both of these teams are failing to live up to expectations so far. That doesn't mean it will continue, though. The Spurs have only looked slightly better. Advantage: Spurs
Mojo
On a SEGABABA, it's coming down to whose home crowd can give them an extra boost. Oh look, that's us! Advantage: Spurs
Winner: Spurs
There's no reason for the Spurs to lose this game. Well, no reason other than having our 2 best guards unavailable. Prediction: Spurs win, or our secret suicide pact takes effect.

Keys To The Game

Defense - The Jazz destroyed us in Utah a few weeks ago because our interior D was pathetic. The inside D has made great strides since that sad day, but it needs to continue. Without our two best outside scorers, we're also going to need the perimeter guys to step up. If the Bogans/Hill combo can limit the effectiveness of Utah's backcourt, Pop will have a happy face. OK, that was a lie - Pop never has a happy face.
Rebounding - This is getting old. Dallas got 17 offensive rebounds last night. Seventeen. The fact that the Spurs even had a chance to win this game is pretty ludicrous when you take that into account. These guys need to box the fuck out.

Strength of Schedule

The Spurs played a tough, demanding OT game against a division rival last night. The impact of that is compounded by the loss of Tony and Manu, causing our available backcourt to play a lot of minutes.

As for Utah, they had an easier go of things last night, beating Toronto 104-91. However, they always play much better at home. A SEGABABA on the road is usually terrible news for Jazz fans. The short flight the Spurs took home from Dallas is much easier than the considerably longer flight from SLC to SA.

Last Time They Met

Utah sliced and diced us mercilessly at home about 3 weeks ago. REVENGE!

Some Other Reading

Copied from previous Jazz game, due to lack of sleep.

Jazz

SLC Dunk - The Jazz SBN blog. They are not too happy about the start of the season and the Boozer mess.
Salt City Hoops - This is the TrueHoop network blog for the Jazz. I know nothing about this blog, but it looks snazzy.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell: Speaking of THN blogs, we're extremely lucky that the best one is dedicated to the Spurs. Tim and Graydon always do an excellent job of breaking down everything that's happening in the Spurs' organization.
Project Spurs: Good independent blog with lots of good content. Spurs fans are lucky to have so many good blogs out there.

The (sort of) Daily Twitter

DeJuan45

How do everybody like my new pic? It's a hott wall paper!!! Lol http://twitpic.com/q0m09

The Magic That Happened

Lots of stuff to read in the comments if you flip through the game threads. Really, it's fun.

Where to Tune In

TV

This game will be televised on local stations only. Fox Sports has the rights in both Utah and San Antonio.

Online

Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate. In fact, nobody can stop you from googling "atdhe". You can also shoot an email with your PtR username to dmenendez@gmail.com for more assistance.

Spurs League Pass audio is still free this year if all else fails, so check it out.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM).

Spurs @ Mavs: Stats of the Game

2009-11-19T17:29:08Z

I really don't want to write this. Let's all swallow our medicine after the jump....

Here is the full boxscore.

The Spurs were:

-22 FG attempts (78 to 100). I don't know how we got to overtime with that stat alone. It's not like we were sharpshooting out there (43.6 %).
-9 offensive boards (8 to 17). Percentage-wise, it isn't as bad as it seems in the same way that our defensive boards aren't as impressive. We had 16 more opportunities to get defensive boards (42 to 32, advantage Spurs), and they had 16 more opportunities to get offensive boards in turn.
-7 steals (1 to 8) and +14 turnovers (19 to 5). These ,combined with the offensive boards, explain the shot attempt differential. Some of those traveling calls (and others) were absolute garbage though. They did let Timmy offensive goal tend though....
-11 fastbreak points (7 to 18) which is likely because of the turnovers.
-24 points in the paint (22 to 46) or P in the P, as my girlfriend says. I like to come up with other things it could mean like Pee in the Pool. Our interior defense gave up too many second chance points which usually are from the paint. We settled way too often on jumpshots as well. We didn't even have that many 3's (only 15 of our 78 shots).

What an ugly game.... I can't believe we got to overtime looking at these numbers. Our offense is supposedly one of the most effiicient in the league, but if we play like this and give the opposing team 22 more opportunities on offense, I don't think our defense even matters. We just flat out don't deserve to win. Tonight, we play Utah, and hopefully we see a low turnover-high rebounding effort tonight with some aggressive scoring in the paint. I'm looking at you, RJ, and you, Hill, and you, Hairston, and you, Blair to score in the paint and not settle for anything. Duncan and Dice, you guys can shoot from wherever.

Yeah, Duncan, that says it all....that...says...it...all.
(Photo taken as he leaves the court after OT according to AP. Photo by Tony Gutierrez)

Unofficial Spurs/Mavs Recap

2009-11-19T16:36:54Z

That was a tough game to lose. There are some really good signs from last nights game, but one thing that is really not good is the loss of Manu Ginobili. I haven't heard if he's going to be out for an extended period or if everything was just precautionary last night. Let's just hope that game last night didn't cost us more than a loss.

On to the game....

The defense was pretty good last night. You have to give credit to Dirk Nowitzki, he put up 41 points on some of the hardest shots anybody could make him take. Matt Bonner and Antonio McDyess shared most of the duty guarding the large German. McDyess seemed to handle Dirk the best. 48 MoH has a table of how it Nowitzki did against Bonner and SAM. Bonner only gave up one more shot and deed seem to make Dirk work hard for his shots.

They worked hard, but came up just short

Over all our defense was strong, George Hill lead the charge on the perimeter defense. His foul trouble hurt us late in the 3rd quarter. Richard Jefferson, Keith Bogans and a rare Malik Hairston sighting really gave the Mavs trouble on the outside. Our interior defense is really suspect when Timmeh is not on the floor. In fact, it's sometimes suspect when TD is on the floor. Drew Gooden gave us worlds of problems as did the quick guards the Mavs where throwing at us. I would have liked to see a little more DeJuan Blair coming in to guard Gooden.

The little cockroach gave the Spurs trouble

Offensively, the Spurs seemed out of sorts most of the game. RJ is still not comfortable when playing with Duncan. He seems like he doesn't want to upset anyone by being aggressive. This was the kind of game we needed RJ to come out and dominate. Late in the game he was working hard, but couldn't seem to get it going offensively. Cubits ran the offense pretty well, but made several turnovers when his spacing got bad. We really could have used the Sickness during stretches where things got stagnant. There were way too many turnovers. Many times we made the Mavericks job easier with a quick shot or poor spacing.

Finley played pretty well. Roger Mason Jr. is lost. You know this is true when he tries to give somebody a facial. I'd like to see more of that type of aggression from him. McDyess did his thing. I'd like to see him in the game late to force teams to play Timmeh one on one. Tim Duncan was a rock last night. He should have gotten at least two calls late in regulation and a couple in overtime that he didn't get. He worked hard and almost carried this team to a victory.

We'd like to know why you can't get a call too, Tim

Overall I think this game was a positive. The defense looked good, the offense was a little off, but had moments that seem to tell us a bright future is coming. If we were rolling with Tony Parker and Manu I think this game would have been different. A tough loss to be sure. Yes, there is work to do, but there are signs of a team that is going to be very very good.

My 3 stars:

George Hill: Played good defense, hustled and was hitting open shots. 15 points, 4 assists

Richard Jefferson: Played hard, did fairly well on defense. 13 points, 11 rebounds

Tim Duncan: Carried the team, scored when he needed to and kept the interior defense up. 22 points, 14 rebounds

NBA Live 10 Simulation (4):: San Antonio Spurs @ Dallas Mavericks

2009-11-18T22:44:04Z

First off, just wanted to say sorry for the lateness on this. I try to get them up the morning of game days but had to do some 'honey dos' before I could play, hehe.

Outcome after the jump.

Virtual Dirk lit us up for 27!

Well, I didn't think this day would come and it has and I am dreading typing this out right now. Dirk Nowitzki lit us up for 27 points and the Mavericks at one point were crushing me by 21.

Though we were down to start the fourth period, I had a lot of time to come back. The players who gave us that spark of fire were Tony Parker, Michael Finley, and Richard Jefferson. Tim Duncan was not much of a factor; he was in foul trouble all game long after picking up three in the first quarter. He didn't see much of the floor after that.

In the fourth quarter, we would score 38 points to the Mavericks 22. We came all the way back from 21 down and tied the game with just 30 seconds to go. The Mavericks came down looking for their man, Dirk Nowitzki. Even though we tried not to send him to the line by not being so aggressive on defense, we fouled once again. He nailed both his free throws to put Dallas up by two.

Richard Jefferson finished with 27.

With the final seconds running down, we turned to Richard Jefferson, who led our scorers with 27 points. He got a nice look off a screen to tie the game . . . and the ball rimmed out.

Tony Parker would finish with 20 points. Michael Finley paced the bench with 15, hitting three out of six from long range in the final period to cut the Mavericks' lead.

Box and Player Stats

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

PTR Game Preview
Spurs vs Mavericks coverage
Mavs Moneyball

Game Preview #9 - San Antonio Spurs @ Dallas Mavericks

2009-11-18T07:00:13Z

Didn't we just do this dance 2 games(but 7 days) ago? Sure - we beat Dallas at home a week ago. We then followed that by losing to Oklahoma City, also at home. Meanwhile, Dallas has played 3 games since we beat them, and won every time. Also, they're going to throw some new wrinkles at us, and this one is in Dallas. Not too difficult to see where I'm going with this...

Mavericks of the Spurpocalypse

And now, a blatant copy of silverandblack_davis' preview from last week.

San Antonio Spurs @ Dallas Mavericks
Where: American Airlines Center - Dallas, TX
When: November 18, 2009, 8:30 PM Spurs time
Watch: ESPN(Nationwide); FSN SW(San Antonio); KTXA(Dallas)

How They Stack Up


4-1	Home	3-1
0-3	Road	5-2
101.9	Offense	101.2
99.9	Defense	94.6
46.4	FG%	45.3
34.8	3-pt%	37.2
73.1	FT%	80.1
40.1	Rebounds	45.5
12.0	TOs	13.6
4-4	Last 10	8-2
Lost 1	Streak	Won 3
3rd, Southwest	Position	1st, Southwest


Country/Time Zone	Game Time
Argentina	11:30 PM
West Coast	6:30 PM
Philippines	10:30 AM
Central Europe	3:30 AM
Palestine/Egypt	3:30 AM
Least Coast	9:30 PM
Colorado/Arizona	7:30 PM
Perth, AUS	9:30 AM
Tokyo, JP	10:30 AM
Sydney, AUS	12:30 PM

Spurs (3-3)	Matchups	Mavericks (5-2)
Tony Parker Token French guy	Point Guard Tony was pretty ineffective against the Thunder. Against old man Kidd, he'll be looking for his own offense. Another advantage here is that Dallas can't shift somebody else to guard Tony, like they did last year. If they switch Beaubois or Tony onto Parker, Kidd's man will torch him, badly. It's fun to create mismatches at multiple positions, huh? Advantage: Spurs	Jason Kidd Scientific Oddity

Manu Ginobili Sky Watcher	Shooting Guard Now, I realize that Terry is still coming off the bench, even though Howard is injured. But we'll likely see more of him at SG than anyone else. The starter will likely be Roddy Beaubois, but we'll get to him in a minute. The 2 is likely to be a nightmare for us tonight, unless Manu's hamstring isn't bugging him anymore. Expect Cubits to start, as a counter to Beaubois. Advantage: Tied	Jason Terry Paper Airplane

Richard Jefferson Let's See Some RAGE	Small Forward RJ kicked some ass in the game last week against Dallas, and needs to come out and attack the rim agressively again tonight. Marion never looks good against the Spurs. Please be selfish, RJ. Advantage: Spurs	Shawn Marion Shitty Matrix Sequel

Antonio McDyess S.A.M.	Power Forward As much as we all love Dice, no Spur outside of Timmeh could get the ATS white box against Dirk. Hopefully he makes life hell on Dirk again, though. Advantage: Dallas	Dirk Nowitzki 4th Quarter Supernova

Tim Duncan WWTD?	Center Yeah, Duncan will be listed at PF. But let's get real - he's the only big on this team with the all-around game to give us an advantage at C, so he'll be playing like a C. Also, Gooden sucks, and Blair doesn't. Advantage: Spurs	Erick Dampier "2nd Best NBA Center"

George Hill Sir Hotbo... err, Cubits	Bench & Role Players Beaubois didn't even see the floor against us last week, because Carlisle foolishly thought JarJar could duplicate the magic he provided against us last season. Tonight, Roddy Beaubois gets the start again. Beaubois is quick, fairly athletic, and has super long arms(his wingspan is 6'10") - remind you of anyone? If Pop doesn't counter with Cubits, it means Keith Bogans is doing a great job. In other bench news, we have Dejuan Blair and they have... Drew Gooden. Advantage: Spurs	Rodrigue Beaubois French(ish) Cubits

Gregg Popovich Brain Aneurysm	Coach I think Carlisle is going to experiment more tonight. And I think it's going to work. I also think that Pop is still the better coach. Advantage: Spurs	Rick Carlisle Ace Ventura
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
Since we beat them a week ago, Dallas has won their last 3 games. They will also be motivated by that loss at the AT&T Center last week. Advantage: Mavericks
Mojo
They're going to throw a ton of lineups at us, and they're guaranteed to find at least one outrageous mismatch that will work. The crowd is also going to be like a wind at their backs. Advantage: Mavericks
Winner: Mavericks
This is gonna be ugly. OK, maybe I'm hoping to work the reverse jinx like davis did last week. Prediction: Mavs by double-digits

Keys To The Game

RJ's Mentality - That's right, I'm calling RJ out. He was far too deferential to Tim and Tony against the Thunder. He needs to attack the rim frequently, and with extreme prejudice. After all, that's why we agreed to pay him so much money - to have someone else that can create offense off the dribble. Also, he should have a slightly easier go of it with Howard out. Tim and Tony are going to get theirs anyway, they don't need RJ to feed them constantly.
Adjust to Their Game Plan - I'm really intrigued by the fact that Carlisle didn't even attempt to throw Beaubois at us last game. He's going to be a nightmare for us, especially if Carlisle is smart enough to use him in a lineup with JarJar at the 2. Hill is probably the only one that can guard him with any level of success, so Pop might want to time his substitutions appropriately. Even so, he'll have to find someone to guard JarJar if they're both in the game together.
Quiet the Crowd - The Dallas crowd is going to be pretty raucous... unless the Spurs can get a fast start. After several days off, that might be easier said than done, but if Pop starts Hill at SG, it gives us the best chance of doing just that. And obviously, a couple of thunderous dunks from RJ couldn't hurt either.

Strength of Schedule

The Spurs haven't played since that ugly loss to OKC at home on Saturday. The extended period between games may have let the bad taste from that loss sink in and motivate the team, but more likely it's only served to make them rusty.

For Dallas, they got their first taste of Brandon Jennings on Monday night, when they barely escaped Milwaukee with an overtime win on a SEGABABA. The fact that Jennings and Luke Ridnour(sad, right?) were able to torch them pretty easily says that our PG tandem will probably do well, but the Mavs are going to be motivated and sharp.

With this being a rivalry game, sharpness is going to be a big key tonight.

Last Time They Met

The Mavericks eliminated the Spurs in five games during last year's first round clash, in San Antonio no less. Regular PtR member SinCitySpur had this to say to the winners: "Congratulations Mavericks, your 2009 First Round Champions. Hang that banner with pride."

Some Other Reading

Mavericks

Mavs Moneyball - The Dallas Mavericks SB Nation site. Wes Cox and crew are nice guys and do a good job trakcing Cuban's boys. Go say hi and maybe drop a little friendly banter or two before the game starts. But remember to be nice and classy.
The Two Man Game - Part of the TrueHoop network of blogs that covers the Mavs. From the site banner: "Completely biased and unbalanced coverage of the Dallas Mavericks."
Blog Maverick - Mark Cuban's blog. Curiously, he hasn't posted NBA stuff for the last few entries. I hear he wants to buy the Dodgers or some baseball team? Damn rich freak.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell: Am I glad we got these guys on our side. They're always spoiling Spurs fans with excellent articles.
Project Spurs: Lots of content in this great site. Also, you can drop by and join their live chats during games.

The (sort of) Daily Twitter

MoneyMase

Spurs Foundation Grants $75,000 To Local Non-Profit Organizations http://www.nba.com/spurs/co...

George_Hill3

I need a new default pic who got me.....LoL I need something very creative and tight......

manuginobili

After an awful game, we had Sunday off and now get ready for Dallas again. Is gonna be rough. Btw, my hamstring feels good

tp9network

Big disappointment Saturday for the Oklahoma game. But there's no time to be sorry we have to think about Dallas......http://bit.ly/2u2PRN

manuginobili Wow! Great timing w/ @tp9network. We posted at the same time

Da_Finster

Thought of the day: Two wrongs don't make a right, ..... but three rights make a left!! Think about it.... U can laugh, it's good 4 u!

The Magic That Happened

Lots of stuff to read in the comments if you flip through the game threads. Really, it's fun.

Where to Tune In

TV

This game will be televised nationally on ESPN. It will also be aired locally in San Antonio(Fox Sports SW) and Dallas(KTXA)

Online

As always, NBA league pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Almost every Spurs game will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area. This game, however, will be aired on ESPN360 - if your ISP provides access, you'll be able to watch it for free.

Spurs League Pass audio is still free this year if all else fails, so check it out.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM).

Spurs International Roundup: Tiago Plays Big

2009-11-18T03:03:39Z

Tiago took on the ACB Big Dog Barcelona this week. He didn't disappoint.

Tiago Splitter

Caja Laboral

ACB (Spanish League): 5-2

EuroLeague: 3-1

Age: 24

Height: 7' 0"

Weight: 240

1st round, 28th pick, 2007

In EuroLeague play, Caja scored buckets against Maroussi BC 103-86. However, Tiago didn't do much in this one as he was in foul trouble which limited him to 11:30. He managed just 7 points and 2 rebounds.

HOWEVER.

In the ACB, in which Barca crushed Caja 100-72, Tiago manned up and put in 24 points with 7 rebounds and 2 assists in 26 minutes. His boys got crushed though and found themselves down 31 going into the final 10 minutes. Still. This is an impressive performance against one of the two best teams in the ACB. It's always better to have big games against the good teams. Unless, you know, you are A-Rod.

Not much Tiago in here. Just one boring dunk. There is a great alley oop pass by a Barca guard.

Nando De Colo

Valencia

ACB (Spanish League): 6-1

EuroCup : 0-0

Age: 22

Height: 6' 5"

Weight: 185

2nd round, 53rd pick, 2009

Valencia doesn't start EuroCup until next Tuesday against Hemofarm Stada.

Valencia got a tough 75-71 win at home over Lagun Aro GBC in the ACB to improve to 6-1. Typical Nando. 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. 0-5 from 3-pt and fouled out in 26 minutes. But hey, his team won.

Some nice passing by Nando.

James Gist

????

Age: 23

Height: 6' 9"

Weight: 220

2nd round, 57th pick, 2008

I'm going to put out an APB on James. Anybody? Bueller?

Robertas Javtokas

BC Khimki

Russian League: 2-1

EuroLeague: 3-1

Age: 29

Height: 6' 10"

Weight: 240

2nd round, 56th pick, 2001

BC Khimki improved to 3-1 in EuroLeague Group D with big win in Milano over AJ (for Armani Jeans) Milano 72-68. Robertas had 8 points and 4 rebounds. Keith Langford had a team-high 17 points to go with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

In Russian League play, BC Khimki played a late Sunday game that isn't showing up in the scores yet. I guess we'll have to wait in suspense until next week.

Jack McClinton

Aliaga Petkim

Turkish League: 2-3

Age: 23

Height: 6' 2"

Weight: 185

2nd round, 51st pick, 2009

Aliaga Petkim got pasted by Turk Telekom 109-73. Ewwww, that's a butt whipping. Jack had 6 points on 3 for 11 shooting that included 0-5 from long range. He did have 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

Lamayn Wilson had 27 and 6 board for Turk Telekom. Bekir Yarangume posted 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists for the winners.

Asvel Basket

Tony's Team

French League: 2-5

EuorLeague: 0-4

Asvel kept itself winless in EuroLeague with a 76-62 loss to Barca. Ali Traore had 20 and 8 in the loss.

In French League play, Asvel dropped another one. This to Paris-Levallois 77-75. Traore had 13 and 4 in this game. Benjamin Dewar put up 20 for Asvel.

Angel Vasallo had 24 and 3 in the win.

Eric Dawson

Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins

JBL (Japanese League): 1-13

Age: 24?

Height: 6' 9"

Weight: 235

Austin Toros 2007-2009

Mitsubishi keeps getting crushed. This time dropping a pair of games to Panasonic 90-71 and 86-70. Eric had 23 and 13 in the first game, but only 6 and 5 in the second game as he only played 19 minutes.

In the JBL, they play the same team on back-to-back days every weekend.

A Little Something About the ACB/Spanish League

The ACB is the best domestic league in Europe and I don't think there is a close second. They have 4 teams in the EuroLeague. Last year, in fact, they had 5 of the 24 EuroLeague teams. Caja, Barca, Real Madrid, and Unicaja are the 4 EuroLeague teams. Unicaja is 4-0 in EuroLeague and 1-6 in the ACB. Go figure.

Caja Laboral, as Tau Ceramica, has been a consistent final four team the last few years. Barca was a final four team last year, and it looks like Real Madrid is going to be a serious contender this year. I believe that all four teams made it out of group play and into the round of 16.

The ACB is top-heavy with powerful teams, but also has great depth as another 4 teams play in the EuroCup. Nando's Valencia squad, Gran Canaria, Ricky Rubio's former team DKV Joventut, and Bilbao Baskets.

Just to give you an idea of how good the rest of the ACB is, here is the list of the 8 teams and their current ranking in the standings after 7 weeks:

Real Madrid - 1
Barcelona - 2
Valencia - 3
Caja Laboral - 4
DKV Joventut - 5
Gran Canaria - 9
Bilbao Basket - 16
Unicaja - 17 (amazingly at 1-6 they have only been outscored by 5 points)

Tuesdays are for Losers

2009-11-18T00:00:14Z

You crazy kids posted 402 times in a 3-game Monday night loser thread. Granted, 300 of those posts were mine, but still. What a bunch of loo-hoo-hoooo-serrrs.

Just kidding. Don't leave!

Last night's games turned out to be pretty exciting, especially the Bucks and Mavericks contest. What's on tap tonight? Find oot (that's my Canadian imitation) after the jump.

Golden State at Cleveland

OKC at Miami

Indiana at New Jersey

L.A. Clips at New Orleans

Phoenix at Houston

Toronto at Denver

Chicago at Sacramento

Detroit at L.A. Lakers

Some intriguing match-ups. Can the Rockets beat Phoenix? Can anyone?

Fab posted this on his Twitter today. It's charming--it made me happy.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

The story behind the video:

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.

Here I've posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).

Here's an interview with the composer about making the video.

Warning: Blair Rebounding (Wallpaper)

2009-11-17T18:23:57Z

BLAAAAIIIIRRR!

Ever since Jalberto showed up, I've been suffering from the photoshop equivalent of penile inadequacy and shame (thanks a bunch...).

Hirschof on that fateful day.

I went through all of the stages of grief: Denial, anger, binge drinking, depression, more anger, listening to Linkin Park, and reluctant acceptance. Now its finally time to move forward. I think I'm ready.

In an attempt to prove my myself to be somewhat worthy to step onto the same digital block as Jal, I present, Warning: Blair Rebounding.

1600 x 1200

1280 x 1024

1024 x 768

Background:Last week, BSPN was going over the top NBA rookies. Mentioned (briefly) was DeBeast and mixed into the 20-25 second highlight package was a series of vicious rebounds and aggressive put-backs.

The ~~boy~~ ~~man~~ beast needs a warning label. So I started to make something that youmight see on a hot iron, a cup of McDonald's coffee, or your wife's sister (or your husband's brother). While browsing google for texture images, I came across a warning with a long stick figure in falling motion. Sound familiar?

Blair's Ippon Seoi Nage needs work but I'm sure as hell not going to tell him...

ANYWAYS. From that point on I started working on a street warning sign. For your game thread posting pleasure...

From there I thought I could work that into a wallpaper and now here I am (submitting this nonsense to you). Many thanks to BlaseE who critiqued the living hell out of my work and offered a few suggestions that immediately found their way into the final result. Much appreciation.

Thank you.

In Praise of Complementary Players

2009-11-17T15:53:48Z

Complementary players are not those who sit at the end of the bench and say "nice shot" a lot (those would be complimentary players). No, we're talking about players whose skill sets complement the team's stars. They fill a niche, maybe two, without getting in the way. They add without subtracting. They accept their role, perhaps grudgingly, and pour their energy into it. They relinquesh, at least temporarily, their quest to be "the man". They don't win MVPs; they win championships.

Many complementaries are defensive specialists, because defense is additive. Playing tough D does not deprive a star of the opportunity to play D in the same way that shooting deprives him of the chance to shoot. But even defensive studs need at least one reliable offensive skill. Bruce Bowen was the archetype. He dominated games at the defensive end by harassing the opposing star to the point of distraction (sometimes to the point of ejection). On offense he pulled his defender out to the corner and let the other Spurs play 4 on 4. Occasionally his defender, frustrated with Tony and Manu's shredding or Timmy's up-and-undering, would leave Bruce to go lend a hand. What happened next was so predictable entire arenas full of opposing fans would see it coming and shriek "Nooooo" before the pass even reached Bruce's hands.

Fabricio Oberto was another classic complementary. On offense he'd stand quietly on the baseline, almost out of bounds and well out of the action, watching his defender's eyes. As soon as the opponent glanced over at Timmy, Fab was gone. The defender would look back to where Oberto used to be and "hey, where'd he go"? Oh there he is, under the basket making an unmolested reverse layup.

Complementaries work on the little things. Oberto couldn't elevate to block shots or snare offensive rebounds, so he wrestled and flopped and fouled and mastered the art of tipping missed shots out to a waiting guard. Do you remember Steve Kerr stepping out of the broadcast booth in game 6 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals to slay the Pretty Ponies with 4-4 shooting from behind the arc? Of course you do. Do you also remember Dallas isolating him repeatedly on defense, hoping to victimize his 37 year old legs? Steve used every trick in the book to hold his own against vastly superior athletes, even snagging a steal at one point. He added brilliantly, without subtracting, sparking a series-ending 23-0 run.

Can NBA megastars become complementary players? Many would say we already know The Answer. It's the only thing Michael Jordan ever failed to accomplish on the basketball court. David Robinson did it, but he's an exceptional human being. Let's just say it's very, very difficult.

Who are today's complementary Spurs? Having traded a few away does the team now suffer from a shortage? Matt Bonner complements Duncan and Parker on offense and just might be figuring out how to "not subtract" at the defensive end. Among the new additions Antonio McDyess is complementary but Richard Jefferson is a pure star and Dejuan Blair is pure beast, almost an anti-Oberto. George Hill is TP-lite on offense, most effective when attacking one-on-one. Keith Bogans may lack a reliable offensive skill and Ian Mahinmi clearly lacks a complementary player's savvy. Theo Ratliff? Marcus Haislip? Malik Hairston? Michael Finley's defense? Roger Mason's shooting percentage in limited minutes? The next 50 games are about answering such questions and experimenting to figure out who can best complement the stars. It will be interesting. It may not be much fun.

This Week in San Antonio Spurs Basketball: Not-Quite-Monday Late Edition

2009-11-17T03:15:54Z

I know, I know, this is a bit late, but I was at de beach, keikis! Time passes differently over there.

If you want to know just how exactly the Spurs ruined their chances of having a completely positive week, read this post, after the jump.

Here we'll provide information, links and summaries for all the games the Spurs played during the week, so that no one has to miss Pop sneering at a reporter.

This week:

Date	Game	Result
Mon 9	Spurs 131 vs. Raptors 124	W
Wed 11	Spurs 92 vs. Mavericks 83	W
Sat 14	Spurs 98 vs. Thunder 101	L

Standings
Current record: 4-4

Upcoming games:

Date	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Wed 18	@ Dallas	8:30pm	FSNSW		WOAI-AM 1200
Thu 19	vs Utah	7:30pm	FSNSW		WOAI-AM 1200
Sat 21	vs Washington	7:30pm	My35 HD		WOAI-AM 1200

Game #6: San Antonio Spurs 131 Vs Toronto Raptors 124

Manu Ginobili - Postgame
Coach Pop - Postgame
Richard Jefferson - Postgame
Matt Bonner - Postgame
George Hill - Postgame

Pounding The Rock: Game Preview #6: Toronto Raptors @ San Antonio Spurs
The Maglev has left the station.

Pounding The Rock: PtR QuickCap: Manu is back, Spurs Slash Raptors 131-124, Pop Suffers Brain Aneurysm
The Spurs outran and outscored the Raptors. Find out more here.

Pounding The Rock: Toronto @ San Antonio Game Thread
Craving for that .500 spot. Part 2

Pounding The Rock: Toronto @ San Antonio Photo Recap: Bonnercalypse
Some thoughts on the Spurs' 6th game of the season.

Pounding The Rock: Spurs vs. Raptors: Stats of the Game
Did the Spurs just score 131 points without Tim or Tony playing?

48 Minutes of Hell: Toronto Raptors 124, San Antonio Spurs 131
"Manu Ginobili is magic. That’s how we’ll remember Spurs’ victory over the Raptors."

Project Spurs: Spurs vs. Raptors Recap
This one was fun for everyone, and Jeff García tries his hand at recapping it.

Spurs Dynasty: Matt Bonner Dunks, Creates Irreconcilable Paradox, Destroys Existence
There's life after Aaronstampler, people. SecretChord53 is writing some good recaps, and I'm having fun reading them. Take a look.

MySA: Ginobili powers Spurs past Raptors
"While George Hill filled in ably for Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili pulled a page from his pre-injury past, totaling 36 points, eight assists and four blocks to lift the Spurs past the Raptors 131-124."

Game #7: San Antonio Spurs 92 Vs Dallas Mavericks 83

Richard Jefferson - Postgame
Coach Pop - Postgame
Antonio McDyess - Postgame
George Hill - Postgame

Pounding The Rock: Game Preview #7: Dallas Mavericks @ San Antonio Spurs - The Defense Sleeps
Are you not entertained?

Pounding The Rock: Dallas @ San Antonio Game Thread
Pop wants to try some smallball. Part 2

Pounding The Rock: PtR QuickCap: Spurs Discover Long-Lost Art of Defense, Stifle Mavs in 92-83 Win
Rich Town recaps this game in stellar fashion

Pounding The Rock: Spurs go back to winning ugly in beating Mavs
Wayne loves ugly 92-83 wins.

Pounding The Rock: Spurs vs. Mavericks: Stats of the Game
BlaseE writes: "Thank you Pop for not playing around with the starting lineup and setting the tone for the whole game."

48 Minutes of Hell: Dallas Mavericks 83, San Antonio Spurs 92: the Early Edition
"Four of our starters didn’t play for the team last year. All five were not on the Spurs during the 2007-08 season. And we were still up at half."

48 Minutes of Hell: A Shot Chart is Worth a Thousand Words
Graydon Gordian writes: "Although the tactical details of basketball can be rather complicated, the underlying strategy is surprisingly simple. At a certain point, it is merely a question of number and proximity."

Project Spurs: Spurscast #179: Mavs Recap Live
More Podcast goodness from our Project Spurs friends. Fun times.

Spurs Dynasty: I'm Not One to Jump to Conclusions, But Clearly Duncan and Parker are Holding Us Back
The title made it for me.

MySA: McDyess and friends limit Nowitzki
"New Spur Antonio McDyess did the bulk of the defensive work on Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki on Wednesday, but limiting the Mavericks' All-Star to 9-for-27 shooting was a team effort."

Game #8: San Antonio Spurs 98 Vs Oklahoma City Thunder 101

Tim Duncan - Postgame
Coach Pop - Postgame
George Hill - Postgame

Pounding The Rock: Game Preview #8: OKC Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs
What will the Spurs' ever-changing lineup look like tonight against a young, athletic OKC Thunder?

Pounding The Rock: Oklahoma City @ San Antonio GameThread
The Spurs play against the Cowboy Thunderclusters. Part 2

Pounding The Rock: Thunder Execute Spurs
Wayne's feeling hostile.

Pounding The Rock: We Can't Pretend That Didn't Happen - Alternate Thunder Recap
What went wrong for the Spurs vs. the Thunder.

Pounding The Rock: Spurs vs. Thunder: Stats of the Game
Fred writes: "How about a win when it's my turn, guys?"

Spurs Dynasty: The Ugly Truth
SecretChord53 recaps the OKC debacle.

MySA: Hamstring strain means no Ginobili in fourth
"Fearful that a left hamstring strain that kept Manu Ginobili out of practice sessions on Thursday and Friday had re-tightened, coach Gregg Popovich held Ginobili out of the fourth quarter of a tight game."

MySA: OKC spells trouble for Spurs
"The Spurs spent the bulk of the offseason in reloading mode. They added pieces almost weekly, with an eye on getting younger and more athletic, and broke training camp with seven new faces. By almost any measure, the makeover was extreme."


This is the section for all the original Pounding the Rock content, including the FanPosts that have been recommended by the community.
	Pounding The Rock: Spurs International Roundup Winners. We drafted winners. Pounding The Rock: Oh right, Manu Ginobili plays basketball for a living... Michael Erler recaps the latest Spurs games, and he does it in style. Pounding The Rock: New La Nación article by Manu: "I'll be the father of twins; Many and I are very happy!" Mini Manus are coming.
	Pounding The Rock: A Few More Photos from the Thunder Game janieannie has even more photos to share with us. Pounding The Rock: Proposed Lineup alamobro proposes a lineup and starts the discussion. Pounding The Rock: Ginobili vs. Dracula, Chapter 3 PEN continues to mindshag us. Pounding The Rock: Bella's quirky musings... allas version Bella shares her thoughts on the Dallas game, and it's pretty quirky.


In this section you'll find every bit of Spurs-related news we were able to find through the Intertubes during the week.
	48 Minutes of Hell: The Silver Lining On Parker’s Ankle "In a phrase: increased playing time for George Hill." 48 Minutes of Hell: San Antonio’s Silent Slump "An under-reported Spurs story through six games is their three point shooting slump. Have a look." 48 Minutes of Hell: Andrew Bynum is a Game-Changer Bynum scares the beejeezus out of Tim Varner. 48 Minutes of Hell: Implications from the Spurs’ Final Five Tim Varner writes: "Through 8 games, George Hill is unquestionably the Spurs’ 5th best player, alongside Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. And he did finish the game in the loss against Oklahoma City, although it was because Coach Popovich elected not to play a gimpy Manu Ginobili in the final quarter. Hill was the Spurs’ best player down the stretch."
	Project Spurs: Welcome To Chemistry 101 "The chemistry between the new Spurs and old Spurs — the learners and returners, is still a work in progress." Project Spurs: Early Home Cooking – Why The Spurs Can’t Afford To Waste It A good article by Dan Ehrlich about the relative weakness of our early schedule. Project Spurs: Role reversal fits Bogans & Bonner Robby Lim looks at Bonner's and Bogans' stats of the last few games, and reaches an interesting conclusion. Project Spurs: Put Him In Coach Pop! Robby Lim wants Hairston in. I agree. Project Spurs: Should the Spurs start Hill? Yes, please.
	MySA: Who should adjust - RJ or the Spurs? "Someone told Richard Jefferson Wednesday night that he seemed to be fitting in nicely after all. His 29 points and seven rebounds hinted at as much." MySA: Manu: Hamstring feels fine "Manu Ginobili says the tight left hamstring that, depending on who you ask, kept him out of the fourth quarter of Saturday's loss to Oklahoma City is feeling fine." MySA: Spurs defense shows improvement against Mavs "The Spurs held Dallas to 35.4 percent shooting, the lowest for an opponent this season. Even after Wednesday’s clamp-fest, the Spurs are still allowing 99.7 points per game. Opponents are shooting 46.7 percent. Both figures rank in the bottom half of the league." MySA: Spurs' Bogans a master of the art of irritation "Every NBA player possesses at least one NBA skill. It didn’t take long for Keith Bogans to discover his: He’s built a career on his uncanny ability to be the most annoying guy in the room." MySA: Equation changes, Ginobili doesn't Buck Harvey: "His agent was talking earlier in the day, about how it was just a matter of waiting. “We can't push it,” Herb Rudoy was saying. “When they are ready to talk, they will talk.”" MySA: Ex-Bucks stop here in Spurs' victory over Mavs "Eight months ago, the Spurs and Mavericks engaged in a five-game, first-round playoff series that, for citizens of San Antonio, was pretty forgettable. For a pair of soon-to-be-former Milwaukee Bucks, meanwhile, the 2009 postseason might as well not have happened at all." MySA: Spurs try Hill-Parker backcourt "For the record, George Hill spent the entirety of Saturday's loss to Oklahoma City wearing the silver and black of the Spurs." MySA: Spurs' good, bad and an ugly turnover "The pluses and minuses of a Spurs roster with seven new players were evident in the final moments of Saturday's 101-98 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the AT&T Center." MySA: Iverson's act shows he's no Ginobili Mike Monroe: "While Manu Ginobili and Allen Iverson are both likely headed to the Hall of Fame someday, there is a big difference: Ginobili can accept a role coming off the bench, and Iverson can’t."
	NBA.com: Remade Spurs staying calm despite sputtering start "The San Antonio Spurs are finding their version of Extreme Home Makeover to require a lot more than a hammer, nails and a dose of TV magic." OregonLive: Spurs' Jefferson an unexpected defensive presence Really? Our RJ? (ht: Project Spurs) Spurs.com: Official ’09-’10 Season Wallpapers Yeah... I don't like them. The Onion: Tim Duncan Makes Citizen's Foul Call "SAN ANTONIO—Spurs center Tim Duncan took officiating into his own hands Saturday when he made a citizen's foul call on Kings guard Kevin Martin." NYTimes.com: Spurs’ Blair Is Lacking in Everything but Success "DeJuan Blair dropped in the draft because he has no anterior cruciate ligament in his knees. Now he is leading all rookies with 7.3 rebounds a game." (ht: Project Spurs)

That's it for today. Just another week for a .500 team.

Spurs vs. Thunder: Stats of the Game

2009-11-16T20:59:54Z

Let me begin by apologizing for this late post. I've been traveling, moving, and simply busy. Plus, the Spurs are not treating my Stat of the Games very well. How about a win when it's my turn, guys? After the jump, the aforementioned stats.

Here are the Blowing Trees performing "The Day The World Left Me," which basically summarizes how I felt when we dropped the game to the Thunder.

1-4, 35 Minutes
Richard Jefferson only took 4 shots in 35 minutes. This cannot happen. He went from scoring 29 without Tim or Tony to scoring a measly 4 points. We need Jefferson to be more selfish. We need him to take the ball to the hole with authority and get to the line. He does not help the team by deferring. I understand he is trying to figure out how to play with two superstars while not stepping on anyone's toes, but we need an aggressive forward. If not, then why did we get rid of Bruce Bowen? Bruce can go 1-4 in 35 minutes and play better defense. RJ needs to score.

0-8, 18 Minutes
Manu was off, that was easy to see. But he was aggressive and made all 7 of his free-throws. He also had 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. Now, why was he on the bench in the fourth quarter? This is what kills me. How hard is it to play the best five players on the roster during crunch time? Experiment, mess around, out-think yourself. Fine, Pop, do that in the first 3 quarters. Just play the best five during crunch time. Manu does not need to score in order to make a positive impact on the game. Put him in there and let him create. He makes the game easier for everyone else, regardless of whether he is on fire or ice cold.

7-18, 32 Minutes
When it takes Tony 18 shots to score 17 points, odds are the rest of the team struggled with him. As I have said, Tony controls the game more than most realize. If he is having a hard time scoring, he is having a hard time creating for others. This means that our spot up guys, Bogans, McDyess, Mason, Bonner, and Finley, are not getting the clean looks that they require to shoot a high percentage. In games where Tony struggles, it is even more important that RJ establishes himself as an offensive threat. If not, the offense stagnates and the Spurs shoot 16.7% from three point land.

Clearly, this game did not go well. When 3 of the Big 4 struggle, grinding out a win becomes extremely difficult. That being said, the Spurs were still in this game. Had a few bounces and calls gone the other way, the Spurs may have been able to get control of this one. Even in bad losses, the potential of this team is evident. In a month, expect a nice, long winning streak. Until then, try not to throw your remote at the Plasma. Apparently, Plasmas do not like that.

We Can't Pretend That Didn't Happen - Alternate Thunder Recap

2009-11-16T04:13:27Z

More photos » by D. Clarke Evans - NBAE/Getty Images

At least Timmeh had the right idea. (Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)

Browse more photos »

Well, none of us want to talk about it, but it can't be ignored. The Oklahoma City Thunder seem to have our Spurs' number. This is an attempt to figure why they beat us this time.

As much as the Thunder seem to always give the Spurs nightmares, some troubling trends appear when confronted with actually watching this game as it happened. Some of the same problems that have caused us to lose other game were apparent in this game, but more frightening is that an adjustment made by the Spurs seemed to exacerbate one of those problems. Some of the issues are with the mental side of the game, but what's worse is that collectively, the Spurs didn't seem to have the heart required to win a game against a young, hungry team like OKC. Follow me beyond the jump for incoherent rambling disguised as analysis.

As a starting point, I decided to get a look at the shot chart for this game, and compare it to the one that Graydon over at 48MoH used to help dissect why we won the game against Dallas earlier in the week. It was a somewhat helpful excercise, even if it doesn't tell us the whole story.

First, here's what happened against the Mavs:

Graydon writes:

Put less laboriously, make layups and shoot threes. Make your opponents take mid-range jumpers and little else. It’s the best way to balance questions of value and distance.

It's a simple concept, but executing this type of strategy has been less than a foregone conclusion for the Spurs this season. Against Dallas, they did a pretty good job of executing their offense, as is evidenced by the shot chart. On the defensive end, it doesn't seem like the Spurs had such an obvious edge from the visual aid.

And now, the shot chart from last night's game against the Thunder:

A couple of things stand out here for me, from a defensive point of view. First and foremost, there are a lot more OKC made baskets near the rim than in the Dallas shot chart. Second, OKC couldn't miss from the top of the key. On the offensive side, the Spurs seem to have taken a few more shots from the 10-15 foot range against OKC. If they hadn't made those shots at a very good clip(they did), this game would not have been as close as it was. Basically, the Thunder did an excellent job of executing their game plan, to the detriment of the Spurs.

So, why was OKC able to do such a good job of executing against us? Are they just a terrible mismatch for us, or was there more to it? As someone who watched the entire game somewhat perplexed by what was happening, let me tell you that there was definitely more to it.

The Mismatch

Make no mistake, the Thunder pose several problems for the Spurs. But no matter what anyone tells you, age has very little to do with it.

First, OKC has the personnel to negate the Spurs biggest advantage over most other teams: our backcourt is extremely skilled. But let's take a look at the Thunder backcourt for a moment, shall we?

Russell Westbrook is 6'3", but has a nearly 6'8" wingspan
Thabo Sefolosha is a 6'7" SG, with a wingspan somewhere in the neighborhood of 6'10"
Kevin Durant is 6'10", with a wingspan of nearly 7'5"(as a Small Forward!!)

I probably don't have to tell how ridiculous it is for a team to have that much length in the backcourt, but all 3 of those guys are also fast and very athletic. And this is without making mention of the first backcourt player off the bench for the Thunder, James Harden(6'5", 6'11" wingspan).

Look, it's our Manu vs. their Manu. Nice try, but you still can't beat the original.

The Spurs only have one backcourt player who can match that combination of length, speed and athleticism, and he had an excellent game as a result. You probably already guessed who that player is: George Hill.

Beyond The Mismatch

So, we've got that mismatch discussion out of the way, and it's pretty obvious that was a factor in the game. But this was a very winnable game for the Spurs, and for all the talk of mismatches and chemistry, the key to the loss was much simpler than that: it came down to effort and heart.

This was a painful game to watch. Even though the box score will tell you that OKC shot 46.8%, the same percentage as the Spurs, the defense in the second half was almost as bad as it was against Toronto on Monday.

Defense

Watching it live, one would have observed many, many uncontested jumpers in the third quarter. First the jumpers were coming from the likes of Nenad Krstic and Sefalosha, but then even Durant was getting them. Nobody in a white jersey even attempted to get a hand in their shooters' face for the better part of the third quarter. Sure, they were mid-range and long-range shots, but the OKC shooters had time to set up and a clear look at the rim.

The Spurs followed that with a 4th quarter in which they allowed the Thunder to penetrate the interior defense almost at will. Even though most of the shots in that situation were being contested, they were still going in - once you get that close to the rim, it takes quite a disruption to make NBA players miss.

Offense

As mentioned earlier, Cubits is the only player who matches up favorably with the Thunder backcourt from a physical perspective, and it showed. Our backcourt players not named George Hill went a combined 12-39 from the field. To be fair, Manu alone was 0-8, but the other guys either weren't taking a lot of shots(because they couldn't) or weren't making them. Either way, the offense was ugly and disjointed. In particular, Richard Jefferson was very tentative, and definitely wasn't doing the kind of damage he is capable of.

There was also a very bizarre sequence in the second half, when Bonner had a 2-1 break after a steal. Rather than taking it to the paint, where he could finish or dump it off to the trailer, Matt stopped and dribbled backwards out toward the perimeter, waiting for everyone else to get back down the court. The Spurs didn't score on that possession. This was just one example of the Spurs seemingly not wanting the game bad enough to do what was necessary. Matt's played pretty well off the bench, but that kind of thing is inexcusable - at the very least, he could have drawn a foul on Durant(the only OKC player that was in front of him).

Richard Jefferson wasn't taking the ball to the rim, and instead kept deferring to Tony Parker, Hill and Tim Duncan, even though his strength should cause a hell of a mismatch with Durant. In Hill's and Duncan's case, this was a good enough strategy, but I still would have liked to see RJ try to use his strength to power his way to the rim more often. I saw him do just that... once, and he went to the free throw line as a result. Deferring to Tony was a mistake, however. The wee Frenchman picked a bad game to come back from his ankle woes, as the aforementioned Westbrook was able to harass him all night and force mistakes. Tony will be back in full one-men fast break mode soon, and probably would not have looked as bad or as slow if not for the missed time. But RJ shouldn't be deferring to Tony on offense. When you're the team's leading scorer, you should always be looking for to get yourself involved first.

Other Random Observations

A few other telling stats from the box score are 3-point percentage, offensive rebounds and blocked shots. Quite frankly, I'm getting really tired of seeing the latter two stats being skewed like this every single game.

Both teams made 16.7% of their threes, but we took 6 more shots from deep than they did. Once again, Mr. IUPUI was our savior, making 2-4 for the only respectable 3-point shooting night of any Spur. Manu was 0-4, and The Zombie was 0-2, so our 2 most prolific wing shooters weren't exactly lighting the nets on fire.

The blocks are getting old. As much as I love Cubits, he seems to get a couple of his shots blocked in every single contest, and tonight was no different. Normally, the Spurs are on the wrong end of the blocked shots comparison, but it's usually close. Last night the disparity was 10-3, probably due to the ridiculous length of the Thunder lineup. Still, it would be nice to see George learn to finish with his left hand, and for Dejuan Blair to be a bit more patient(ball fakes, maybe?) when he gets the ball under the rim.

Speaking of Blair, the 10 offensive rebounds for the Thunder, while not excessive, should not be happening when either Blair, Duncan or Antonio McDyess are in the game at all times. Duncan and Dice mostly did their part, but Blair was remarkably bad on offense tonight, and only got 1 rebound to boot. Somebody needs to light a fire under him, because he didn't even seem very interested in getting after the boards tonight, from what I watched.

Anyway, I hope all this made sense. If not, it was the allergy medicine talking. Let's hope the Spurs won't suffer from a lack of effort again on Wednesday night in Dallas. Win or lose, they should at least be giving us more effort than we saw tonight after Pop lays into them during video sessions.

Thunder Execute Spurs [Updated with 3 stars and more]

2009-11-15T09:22:52Z

I'm so hostile right now. Well, I was hostile at the end of the game, a 101-98 loss. I hate losing games like this one. We got out-executed, or as Pop said, "Oklahoma City had more guys play better." Honestly though, I don't think you really have to dig too deep into the stats to understand how we lost this one. We more or less played them to a draw, and they had a couple things go their way. They had 2 more offensive rebounds than we did, but they outscored us 20-4 on second-chance points. They also got to the line quite a bit more than us. Especially in the second half, when we only got to the line 4 times.

Of course, I will dig deeper. It felt to me like we got beat like a red-headed step child. Or, how about killed by a Red-Headed Stranger?

Photos by JanieAnnie

It Was the Time of the Preacher When The Story Began

The first quarter was a slow start for us. The Cowboy Thunderclusters held us to 8 points over the first 6.5 minutes of the game, jumping out to a 15-8 lead. The Durantula got 12 of his game-high 25 points in the first. Eight of those came at the free-throw line. We fought our way back into the game and had tied it at 25 by the end of the quarter. We did it despite the fact that Manu couldn't shoot straight. He was 0-5 and responsible for 5 of our last 7 misses in the quarter (and that includes FinDog's 36' turnaround that almost went in to end the quarter). A big part of the reason we got back into the game, though, was Manu's 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebound, and 2 free throws.

Even though we gave up 25 points to the Thunder in the first quarter, I thought we played really solid defense. At least, we played good defense when we set up our defense and rebounded. They got 9 of their points at the line. Of their 8 made field goals, 2 were off the offensive glass and 2 were on the fast break. Additionally, another one or two field goals (one for sure) were set up because the Spurs got lost in transition defense.

I'm pretty sure he airballed this one.

The Preachin' is Over and the Lesson's Begun

It was in the second quarter that the Thunder really did themselves some favors. They played poorly, and our guys gave the youngsters a lesson in execution. We put up 28 points. We went to the line 14 times and made 12. We shot 8 of 16 from the field. The Thunder went 8-20 from the field and committed 5 turnovers. What they did very well, though, was keep themselves in the game. They scored on their first 4 possessions of the quarter to go up by 4. Their next 12 possessions resulted in 6 points. Four of those were second-chance points. Another 6 of those points came on a pair of drives from Green and Westbrook where they got and-ones. Without those 4 plays, two hustle and two athletic, they are down 17 at the half instead of 7.

Sir HotBod played some serious-ass lockdown defense on Durant. Cubits was phenomenal defensively against KD. He denied, he challenged, he worked early in the possession. He was just awesome. Nothing I can say can capture how well he played Durant. I know, I know. Lauri is torn. Durantula or Sir HotBod?

No, that's not Muggsy Bogues covering Durant. Somebody needs to talk to Sir HotBod about his posture.

"My man can't score if he doesn't have the ball."

The Lesson is Over and the Killin's Begun

The third quarter was an abomination for the Spurs defensively. The ThunderCats had two separate streaks of 6 possessions where they scored. They shot 15-24 in the quarter. They hit both their 3's for the game and managed 3 offensive rebounds on those 9 misses. Oh, and 1 turnover. 32 points on 22 possessions for the quarter. Those are ass-whipping numbers. Miraculously, we were never down more than 5 in the quarter (despite our 5 turnovers) and entered the 4th quarter down 4. Why? Because Tim was carrying our butts. He had 22 points on 9-13 shooting. Well, it was Timmy and Sir HotBod. HotBod had 13 points on 5-7 shooting (one of those misses was an end of quarter toss from 30+ feet).

(I'm back at home now, 3:30 hours after the game ended, and I'm still a little bent out of shape about this one.)

Surprisingly, it wasn't Durant that killed us. It was Russell Westbrook who tore us apart. And I mean he really tore us apart. He worked us from many different spots and we didn't have any answers. For the quarter, he had 9 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds. They posted him up. They ran side screen and roll. They ran isolation. They ran high screen and roll. They looked like they were scoring at will. My initial recollection is that Westbrook did most of his damage against Parker. However, he had 5 points and 3 assists in the first 7:42 against Tony and 4 points and 3 assists in the final 4:18 against George.

Shake and Bake. Shake and Bake.

An' just when you think it is over, it's only begun.

The fourth quarter got off to a terrible start. Harden got a 3-point play and RJ fouled Durant on the break and just like that we were down 9 points 1:12 into the 4th. We fought back and made a game of it. We scored on 7 of our next 8 possessions to make it a 1 point game with 5:57 to go. Most of our offense came from San Antonio McDyess, who hit 3 jumpers -- Antonio had 9 of his 10 points in the 4th quarter. In that stretch, the Thunder managed to scrap together 6 points, 2 from Sefolosha and 4 from Collison. One of Collison's buckets was a running hook from about 6' that the Spurs would give him from now until forever. These were big buckets their role players contributed.

The next 4 minutes and 39 seconds was some horrific offense from our guys. We scored 2 points on 1-8 shooting and one turnover. One possession took us three shots just to hit the rim. We managed to scrap our way back into it and keep it interesting. However, we didn't execute in crunch time, either. Tony had a turnover with 39 seconds left. RJ had a turnover with 16 seconds left. Now, when I look at the play-by-play, I understand why Pop said we were beat because they executed better than we did. It's almost, yes almost, like he knows what he is talking about.

"Twins!"

Our chances of winning go down A LOT when he's not playing in the 4th quarter.

He cried like a baby
He screamed like a panther in the middle of the night

Rage, where did you go? Wednesday night you took 23 shots, were aggressive, and manhandled the Mavericks. Tonight? Four shots. Yep, seriously bro, you took 4 shots and scored 4 points (kudos, though, for making both your free throws).

This shot didn't count.

Reprise

But he could not forgive her,
Though he tried and tried and tried.
And the halls of his memories,
Still echo her lies.

Before the game, I wrote down my keys to success. Here they are:

Turnovers -- we needed to limit the Thunder's ability to get out on the break.
Durant at the line -- he hasn't been shooting well this year, but he's had some games where he's gotten to the line a lot.
Defensive intensity -- could we bring that competitive intensity we had in the Mavs game?
Containing Jeff Green -- his season high in points was 24 and in rebounds was 11.

So, how'd we do? I'd give us a 1 out of 4.

We committed 15 turnovers that led to 15 points. Not horrible, but we also had some very untimely turnovers. D
Durant went to the line 15 times. 9 in the first quarter. F
I thought we really worked on defense. Yes, they abused us in a couple stretches, but it wasn't from not working. B+
Jeff Green had 21 points and 10 rebounds. His point total would have been much better if he had done better than 1-6 on open 3-pointers. D-

[Update: I forgot the 3 stars last night.]

Here are your 3 stars:

3. Antonio McDyess - 10 points and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes. He make big shots down the stretch and grabbed some big rebounds. Exactly what we need from him.

2. Tim Duncan - Efficient. 22 points on 14 shots. 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Zero points in the fourth quarter of a close game limits you to second star though.

1. George Hill - His 18 points were only impressive for when he scored them. He scored almost all of them when his team really needed a bucket in stretches of the third and fourth quarters. His first half buckets came when he found himself covered by Jeff Green and in both cases he cleared out his side of the court and got an easy bucket. Still, George was awesome defensively. Durant had 2 points on 1 of 4 shooting in the second quarter. Those two points came on the first possession when he curled around a high screen and hit a 16 footer. After that, he got nothing. In the fourth quarter, George stole the ball from Durant twice. Btw, George played 32 minutes. He never left the game after entering in either half.

Topic of Discussion

If George is this good, and Pop keeps calling him the best player and one of the most improved players in the league, then who gets the crunch time minutes?. With Tony, George, Manu, and RJ you only have 3 positions. It's a nice problem to have and I am going to be VERY interested to see how this goes when everybody is healthy. You can't bench your best 2-way player when the game is on the line, and right now, that guy is George.

Manu's Injury

Manu tweaked a hamstring in the Mavs game and didn't practice the last couple days. Pop said he held Manu out because of the hamstring because it tightened up on him. I saw Manu stretching the hamstring on the bench during the timeouts of the fourth quarter. I told Bellasa I thought he didn't play because of the hamstring. She thought it was because Manu couldn't make shots. I thought it was the hamstring before Coach Pop said it was the hamstring. I'm going to think it was the hamstring AFTER Coach Pop said it was the hamstring.

Thunder @ Spurs: Second Half Game Thread

2009-11-15T02:54:27Z

We're up 7 at the half. Let's hope we continue holding them to 40% shooting.

OKC Cowboy Thunderclusters @ San Antonio Spurs: Game Thread

2009-11-15T01:00:33Z

The Spurs are on their first winning streak of the season - let's cheer them on as they (hopefully) continue their good play against the Cowboy Thunderclusters (thanks to Lauri for that great new nickname).

The Cowboy Thunderclusters were one of the Spurs' toughest opponents last season, taking two of the four games. Let's start a new tradition with this OKC team and not let this game come down to the wire. I'd love to see the continuation of (as put so eloquently by Wayne) Ugly Spurs Basketball. I am rooting for a certain team in the state of Oklahoma to win tonight, just not the professional basketball one.