Spurs of the Moment

The Spurs finished their pre-season at 3-3 after dropping in the finale against the Pacers on Friday night 114-112. George Hill scored 21 off the bench, while Ginobili was off target all night shooting 2-10 from the field and missing all six three-point attempts. The good thing about Gino is that he will show up in the box score elsewhere when this happens. During this game, he also had three rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block. Tim Duncan flirted with a triple double in 23 minutes with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. DeJaun Blair continued his impressive pre-season campaign by tallying nine points, six rebounds, three steals and a block in 16 minutes.

Haislip played 10 minutes, while Mahinmi played nine and Hairston played seven. Williams was a DNP-CD. Curtis Jerrells was waived on Thursday. I told you it wasn’t a good sign when he didn’t even play against OKC. I expected that Haislip would be the next to be waived and that Mahinmi, Williams and Hairston would all go to the inactive roster. I said Haislip because he and Mahinmi are basically the same player – same position, same hight, same contributions – only Haislip is 28 and isn’t getting any better, so there is no reason to keep him around. Meanwhile, Mahinmi, Williams and Hairston are all just 22. Now Williams didn’t play against Indy, but I figured he was a better player than the other three guys (if only barely), so I was surprised he got cut. So, as it stands, I fully expect Mahinmi, Hairston and Haislip to go on the inactive roster.

On another note, ESPN’s Bill Simmons has picked the Spurs to win it all this year. The main quotes of interest would be, “This particular Spurs team has the right level of appropriate fear: fear of aging and complacency coupled with an appreciation for how fast things can fall apart (thanks to Manu’s ankle the past two seasons), and beyond that, the reality that their best player might only have one great season left in him,” and, “They are my pick to win in 2010. Convincingly.”

I concur.