Spurs of the Moment

By Mason Pitluk

On a night when the Spurs got off to a fast start, things turned awfully bad really quick. After jumping out to an early 7-0 lead, San Antonio quickly found themselves down 25-35 entering the second quarter, a quarter which would see starting shooting guard Manu Ginobili fracture the fifth metacarpal in his left hand. This injury is devastating for both the Spurs and their star lefty who, as Tony Parker pointed out post-game, “was playing at an All Star level.” There will be plenty of time to discuss Ginobili’s injury in depth (as I plan to do soon in my next article), so let’s focus on last night’s contest alone, and what, beyond the loss of Ginobili, is worth noting.

Road Woes

A very brief look at the Spurs’ five games this season will reveal a pretty black and white blueprint for Silver & Black success; stay in San Antonio. In three home games this year the Spurs have blowout victories over their two toughest opponents thus far, the Grizzlies and Clippers, as well as the Utah Jazz, while their two road games have both ended in blowout losses to the Rockets and now the Timberwolves. Needless to say, if the Spurs can’t find a way to start picking up victories away from home they could be in danger of being out of playoff contention by the time Manu returns.

DeJuan Blair’s Defense

Throughout his time in San Antonio the biggest hole in DeJuan Blair’s game has been his defense. So far this season Blair has looked improved on both ends, especially offense, but last night he got torched. Kevin Love absolutely abused Blair on pick and pop three pointers, particularly in the first quarter, time and again receiving ample space to shoot from Blair, even after knocking down three after three. Blair’s help defense was also noticeably off last night. Much like taking a bad pursuit angle in football, Blair kept trying to meet driving guards around the free throw line, rather than lower in the paint, and more often than not was blown by as Ridnour, Rubio, or some other Minnesota guard finished easily at the rim. Obviously, listed very generously at 6’7’’, no one expects him to be a shot blocking force, but Blair has to position himself better to at least be able to contest shots as they go up. Overall, DeJuan had a really rough game, going 2 of 9 from the field for just 6 points to go along with only 3 rebounds in 28 minutes. For the Spurs to be successful Blair must continue to improve defensively, return to rebounding the ball at the high rate he had in his first two seasons, and continue along the offensive pace he set in this season’s first few games.

The Timberwolves Shooting

aka “Dr. K. Love (Or: How We Learn That Some Nights Teams Are Just On Fire and Win the Game)”

Minnesota ended the night shooting an amazing 58% from the field and 57% from three, but those numbers are misleading; the T-Wolves actually shot the ball way better. With about half the third quarter gone, the Timberwolves were still above 70% shooting from the field. Entering the fourth quarter Minnesota had hit 11 of 14 three pointers, a whopping 79%. No, these aren’t typos. Wesley Johnson, for example, had been averaging just over 5 points per game on 31% shooting. Last night he went 6 of 6 for 14 points. Overall as a team, the Spurs weren’t playing defense that terribly*. The younger Wolves, who were noticeably more energetic despite beating Dallas the night before, simply shared the ball to perfection. Playing the exact sort of balanced, pass-first, efficient and effective offensive that new coach Rick Adelman is known for, the home squad bombarded the visiting Spurs with bucket after bucket. When a team is playing that lights out, chances are they’re going to win, and unlike last year when Minnesota twice surrendered big leads to San Antonio, the Timberwolves never really let the Spurs back in it as they coasted to a 106-96 win.

Don’t look now but the Spurs just won four games in a row – the last three against the alleged contenders of the Western Conference. Granted the Mavs were without Dirk, it’s still satisfying to watch S.A. smash thru the early conference favorites one after the other.

After beating the Lakers 97-82 last Tuesday, the Spurs went on to beat the Mavs in Dallas on Thursday 99-93. That was an interesting game since the Mavericks were without Dirk Nowitzki but the Mavericks still gave the Spurs all they could handle behind Caron Butler’s season-high 30 points and yet another triple-double from Jason Kidd. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, Tim Duncan had a bounce back game with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Gary Neal came off the bench to bombard Dallas with 21 points of his own. I kind of had to laugh at the Mavs starting Brian Cardinal. Did they think he could pass for Nowitzki and draw double-teams or something? Anyway, the poor Mavs – who I actually am more worried about than the Lakers right now – suffered another setback when Caron Butler hurt is knee in their next game, a loss in Milwaukee. finally, the Spurs completely dismantled the Thunder 101-74 on Saturday night. They held Kevin Durant to 16 points and the Thunder to 33% shooting from the field. Only Serge Ibaka came to play with 14 points, 13 boards, four blocks, and a steal – although he shot only 5-of-13 from the floor himself. Tim Duncan led all scorers with 21 points while Tony Parker had 14 points and 10 dimes.

So there the Spurs sit atop the West – the league in fact – with a 29-4 record. Nearly halfway thru the season I have to say that I think they’re only contending with three teams this year: The Mavericks (25-8), the Celtics (25-7), and maybe Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Friends (26-9). Orlando has an outside shot with their revamped roster, and Lakers can’t be counted out just yet, but if I had to call it now then I’d say get ready for a Spurs-Celtics finals. I just don’t see anyone in the West with the depth or the championship pedigree of the Spurs. Dallas is deep but are not proven winners. The Lakers are winners, but their depth is non-existent – and WTF happened to Ron Artest? Can someone chuck a beer at this clown and get his blood pumping again? As for the East, the Celtics are the clear front-runner so long as they can remain healthy during the playoffs. It seems that they are getting their injuries out of the way early this season (Rondo, Pierce, Garnett, Shaq) so maybe that won’t be an issue. Miami is kind of a question mark. They are figuring out how to win, but can they do it in a 7-game series against a quality team? I say no. And they have to remain healthy too. Losing Haslem hurt them a lot and their interior defense was weak to begin with. Can LeBron and Wade win them four games in a series on their own? Probably not.

Next up to bat are the New York Knicks, who are actually one of my favorite teams. Yes, I grew up loving the Knicks – partially cuz I was a kid who was happy to sport some Ewing sneakers, I hated Michael Jordan and all of his zombie-like worshippers, and gravitated to the scrappiness of players like Xavier McDaniel, Charles Oakley, and John Starks. Chris Childs punching Kobe also helped. Having said all that, the Knicks stand no chance. The Spurs are just better in every way, and the Knicks will be without Danilo Gallinari who is expected to miss the next 2-3 weeks with a sprained knee. So with that, I expect the Spurs to notch their 5th win in row tomorrow night.

 I know we’ve all been anxious to see Tiago Splitter play for the Spurs, but it looks it will have to wait a little bit longer. Popovich has already named DeJuan Blair the starting center for the opener, and Splitter’s foot injury will likely keep him from suiting up at all right away. It makes sense to not rush him into action, but it is definitely frustrating to wait a few years for a draft pick to finally make his way to the league only to be sidelined almost immediately. This is good news for fantasy drafts though, since most people will not want to take a flier on a Euro-league import who hasn’t made any noise in pre-season due to injury. That will leave him available for late round draft picks for the more savvy among us.

To get a good idea of how likely it is that Splitter will play in the opener, here is what Popovich had to say: “Sure, it’s definitely in the realm of possibility,” he said. “It’s also possible I might play.”

I don’t take that as much of an endorsement that we should count on seeing either of them in a jersey until maybe a few games into the season, and then only Splitter. Although, Pop probably couldn’t shoot any worse than Roger Mason did last season.

McDyess did have some nice words to get fans excited about Splitter’s eventual court time.

“Today was the first day I saw him get out there and shoot the ball,” forward Antonio McDyess said. “He’s got a nice little touch to him. He picks up on the plays very easy and very quick. That’s very impressive, for a guy to come in and learn this system.

“I’m just as eager as the fans are, just to see what he has. He looks like a guy who can really play. It’s going to be exciting for him to get on the court, and I can’t wait for it to happen.”

I guess we’ll have to live with that for now, but I am sure the Spurs can handle the Pacers in their first game of the season. I just hope Tony Parker doesn’t roll his ankle in the first quarter.

Oh yeah, I also got the NBA preview magazine from Sports Illustrated (finally). They have the Spurs ranked 3rd in the West behind the Lakers (1) and Thunder (2). That means, of course, that the Spurs are ranked #1 in the division. I’ve seen a few writers who rank the Mavs higher, and I’ll at least concede that that”s debatable based on talent. What I don’t get is how a writer or two have Houston ranked higher than the Spurs. If you see this anywhere, immediately write that person’s opinion off. They know not of what they speak. There is no way Houston outperforms San Antonio this season. Yao won’t play but 20-something minutes a game, Ariza – their best perimeter defender who they signed when they let go of Artest – is long gone, and Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin can score, but can’t guard me. Yeah, I said it.

But aaaanyway… go Spurs.. and Texas Rangers.

Tiago Splitter has a strained plantar muscle in his foot and will miss a week or so. Well that sucks, and hopefully this isn’t the beginnings of the dreaded plantar fasciitis. Stay tuned, but I think he will be back in time for a couple of pre-season games.

Meanwhile, Tim Duncan is apparently in great shape and ready to ride “until the wheels fall off“. The only real question has been exactly when are the wheels going to fall off? Well, not this season it seems. Once Tiago’s foot stops aching, he will be able to provide more support for the Spurs frontcourt along with the veteran McDyess and the emerging talents of DeJuan Blair.

After a summer that included conditioning drills designed to minimize stress on his knees, Duncan is prepared for a truncated ration of regular-season playing time. He hopes for a better start to the Spurs season that won’t scuttle coach Gregg Popovich’s plan to lessen his workload, which is to include an occasional night off in the second game of back-to-back sets.

Some of you may recall that the plan last year was to rest Duncan in the second of back-to-back games, but that didn’t quite pan out while the Spurs were fighting for a playoff spot.

George Hill returned last night from his ankle injury and made the start at point guard. He played 17 minutes and finished with six points on 2-of-4 shooting including a three pointer and 1-of-2 from the line. He also had three assists, one rebound, and a block. He says that the ankle “held up pretty good” and he expects to be ready to go against the Mavs on Wednesday. Understandably, he’d “rather shake off the rust in these last couple of games than in the playoffs.” That’s fine as long as he doesn’t hurt himself and rust on the bench during the first round. I think he’ll be alright and Coach Popovich will probably limit his minutes anyway.

There’s a good chance that Garrett Temple will be on the playoff roster even though Hill and Parker are both back from their injuries. He showed that he can run the team and play pretty mistake-free basketball. He still has plenty of work to do, but is already a decent defender and shooter which is part of why Keith Bogans has been (finally) removed from the starting unit altogether. It wouldn’t surprise me if Temple were to stick around after this season given his ability to rise to the occassion during this past week. He seems to have made a pretty good impression on the coaching staff anyway.

It is Temple’s skill and courage at the offensive end that has taken the Spurs’ coaches somewhat by surprise. After the rookie made 3 of 4 on 3-point shots and scored 11 points in Saturday’s win at the Nuggets, head coach Gregg Popovich pointed to Temple’s line on the box score and said, “We may have found one.”

And to think that the Spurs only had to nix a couple of older, little-used vets like Michael Finley and Theo Ratliff in order to make room for some new and improved players who can contribute right away. It’s been a long and arduous season, no doubt, but there is still plenty to be optimistic about in San Antonio.

The Good News: The Spurs have won four straight games, are 36-24 (12 games over .500), and are in 7th place in the West still – 5.5 games ahead of Houston (9th) and Memphis (10th).
The Bad News: Tony Parker is out for the next six weeks with a broken hand.

That’s the short and sweet version of events, but I feel compelled to elaborate. Let’s start with the wins.

Read more »

Well, the trade deadline was disappointing for Spurs fans. We managed to get slightly worse defensively by trading Theo Ratliff, an under-used shot blocker, for next to nothing. Technically we traded him for a conditional second-round pick in 2016. I guess it won’t matter in the grand scheme of things, Ratliff was not going to make or break the Spurs season. Read more »

Well, so much for the Dwayne Jones era in San Antonio. The Spurs waived him yesterday and are now down to 17 players on the roster. I expect Marcus Haislip to be the next on the chopping block. After that it’s a toss-up between Malik Hairston and Curtis Jerrells. They’ll probably carry Theo Ratliff, Marcus Williams, and the Jerrells/Hairston survivor on the inactive roster.

Read more »