Spurs of the Moment

The Spurs beat the Pacers last night 90-87. It’s the Pacers so I am not gonna pretend that I am oh-so-excited about the win, but it does make them 4-2 so far on the Rodeo Trip. The game shouldn’t have ended as close as it did. Tim Duncan was way off shooting 4-of-23 from the field. You would have thought it was Allen Iverson if not for the 26 rebounds he pulled down. That’s what we like about Tim, when his shot is off he can still affect the game in some other way, unlike some people.   *COdirkUGH*

Tony Parker (28 points) and Manu Ginobili (18 points) were able to pick up the slack on the scoring. The most interesting subplot of the evening was Keith Bogans starting in place of Richard Jefferson. RJ responded with 13 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Bogans was, well, he was his typically borderline useless self. DeJuan Blair only played 10 minutes and was in foul trouble the whole time.

They are at Philly and Detroit next, so they should be able to come back from the trip at 6-2, and with a win over one of the above .500 teams (Denver) to boot. I can live with that. Now if they screw around and lose to the Sixers or Pistons I will be … agitated. The Spurs are currently fifth in the West and 3.5 games ahead of ninth place Houston.

Trade Deadline Today

It’s looking less and less like the Spurs will be able to pull off any significant deals before the deadline today. We can hold out hope I guess, but the best we can really hope for is somehow landing Ty Thomas from the Bulls. But even that looks like a long shot with the Knicks, Bulls, Rockets and Kings already in deep discussions with eachother. 

The John Salmons trade is also shot to hell since he was traded to the Bucks. That deal also essentially takes Chicago out of the running for T-Mac leaving the Kings or Knicks to pick him up. Right now the Kings are supposedly set to send Kevin Martin to the Rockets for Carl Landry. Personally, I don’t think this helps the Rockets much since they lose a really nice front-court player in Landry and pick up the injury prone Martin who is probably going to have the same chemistry issues with Aaron Brooks that he had with Tyreke Evans. Now if the Knicks get in on the deal and send Jordan Hill and/or Al Harrington to the Rockets in exchange for McGrady, then the Rockets sort of fill the Landry void. Add in the chance that Martin and Brooks do end up playing well together, then I will be a little more worried about the Rockets punching their way into the playoffs.

Also, The Cavs got a lot better by acquiring Antawn Jamison from the Wizards Fire Sale. So much for J.J. Hickson’s fantasy value. Funny how the only player the Wiz really needed to move from their “Big Three” is the only one left on the roster. I realize they can’t move Arenas right now but I just find it funny how they are just throwing players away right now. Then again, with the Summer of 2010 Free Agency on it’s way, maybe they figure they can be major players.