Spurs of the Moment

The Spurs handled business last night and defeated the Grizzlies 104-97 without Tony Parker. There’s still no exact time table for Parker to return from his ankle injury, but the general consensus is “several games”. Luckily, Hill and Mason are manning up in his absence. Six Spurs scored in double figures, and none of them were named Keith Bogans (he was 1-for-5, ech). Tim Duncan led the team with 19 points, nine boards, and seven assists.

“Jefferson surprised by kudos from Popovich”, and quite frankly, I am too. I think RJ is probably onto something when he says, “He was just saying that because Carmelo is coming to town.” Then again, Melo has missed three straight games and it isn’t known if he will play tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Spurs have won two games in a row and are threatening to compete with good teams, so hopefully tomorrow goes well against the Nuggets (12:00 PM CT on ABC). It’s a home game against a playoff caliber opponent. Possibly no Tony Parker and/or Carmelo Anthony. Who knows what will happen? Maybe ABC shows another game entirely… that would suck.

I know it’s a little late, but Tim Duncan narrowly beat out Dirk for the starting Power Forward spot on the All-Star team. Also, a couple of other native Texans – Chris Bosh and Deron Williams – are on their way. On a side note, I think David Lee should have been there instead of Al Horford for the East.

Also, the Spurs waived Marcus Haislip a little over a week ago, but he is now playing in the Greek league.

Tim Duncan and DeJuan Blair returned to the starting lineup and the Spurs beat the Pistons 112-92. The Spurs have now won 12 of their last 15 games and shot at least 50% for the seventh time in the past nine games.

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I suppose it’s not a foregone conclusion that a team will create a highlight reel every time they play the T-Wolves, but the Spurs sure made it look easy. I highly recommend the video below as evidence of this. The Spurs finally looked like a team comfortable with each other and were firing on all cylinders last night. The final score of 117-99 was three points more than I predicted, and the Wolves scored 10 more points than I expected, but I can’t be the least bit bothered by that after the way the Spurs handled business. It wasn’t just that they won, but that they were so fun to watch. If this chemistry is a glimpse of what’s in store for us down the stretch then watch out LA, Dallas and all other would-be contenders. Above all, one player stood out the most, and I guess by the title above you know who that was. Manu Ginobili was one rebound shy of a triple-double and turned down Popovich’s offer to stay in the game with a few minutes left to try and get it. Statistics, Triple-Doubles. A Jedi craves not these things.

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The Spurs beat the Clippers 103-87. The Spurs led by as many as 25, only had seven turnovers, and held the Clips to 43.9% shooting. Once again, they did what they were supposed to do – beat a weak team, score over 100 points, shoot better than 50%, and rest Tim Duncan (he only played 25 minutes). I’m not impressed or thrilled by any means, but the lack of enthusiasm is better than being filled with bewildered disappointment. Let’s see how they finish the year before we get too excited.

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Matt Bonner broke a bone in his shooting hand in the Spurs’ 100-99 win over the Pacers. Unofficially, he is expected to miss about four weeks, but we should know more later today or tomorrow. Marcus Haislip is expected to be activated and hopefully help fill the void left by the Red Rocket. This could also open the door for more of DeJuan Blair who I mentioned last week was being severely under-utilized. That would make the most sense, and I really don’t see Haislip getting a ton of minutes… then again, they do play the Clippers next.

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So many good things come in Fives: five fingers, five toes, $5 Footlongs, The Fab 5, The Jackson 5, Jurassic 5, Maroon 5, Five Minutes of Funk, The 5th Element. Today we hope to begin the journey that ends with 5 Spurs Championships.

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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.

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LeBron James, recovering from Influenza A, returned to the Cavs lineup and scored 22 points to go along with six rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Spurs last night. Tony Parker finished with 22 points also, and grabbed three rebounds while dishing out seven assists. Duncan had 13 points and nine rebounds, but didn’t play in the second half. Ginobili, Jefferson and Jerrells were all DNP-CDs. DeJuan Blair only played 10 minutes, but he had a decent stat line still: 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and a perfect 3-of-3 from the field. Coach Popovich took the night off and let his assistants handle the game. The replacement refs called 61 fouls. Yes, you read that right. George Hill and Tony Parker combined to shoot 20 free-throws by themselves. These replacement refs are some whistle happy dudes to say the least.

Now let’s talk cuts. 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.

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