Spurs of the Moment

The complete rosters for the 2011 NBA All-Star game were released on Thursday and the Spurs have two players who were chosen as reservers – Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Duncan is averaging 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks per game this season. Manu Ginobili is averaging 18.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.8 steals per game this season. Tony Parker (17.3 points, 6.7 assists) missed the cut. While there is going to be another player selected to take Yao Ming’s place on the team (he’s been injured for basically two years, how the !@#% did he get voted in?!) I wouldn’t hold out much hope for Parker. I expect the slot to go to LaMarcus Aldridge… at least it should. The Celctics lead all teams with four players (Rondo, Garnett, Allen, Pierce).

Spurs vs Lakers

The Spurs topped the Lakers last night 89-88 on a McDyess tip-in off a Duncan miss just before the buzzer. And this is why the Spurs are the best. Parker misses, no problem. Ginobili misses, no problem. Duncan misses, no problem. The Spurs don’t stand around and hope one guy will save them (*COUlakersGH*), or have three stars and a bunch of scrubs (COheatGH*). Honestly this year should be the Boston Celtics vs the Spurs in the Finals. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be a great match-up. Anyway, the main problem the Spurs had last night was poor shooting, only 41% from the field. Tim Duncan was only 3-of-12 for eight points points plus eight rebounds. Parker led the team with 21 points, Jefferson had 18, and Ginobili had 14 along with eight assists. McDyess finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and five assists.

Kobe was one rebound short of a triple-double. Guess which rebound he wishes he got. Mwahahaha.

Highlights Below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KgjuG_GhHw

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.

Well today is the day. LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics.. again. Call me crazy, but I am going to go out on a limb and make predictions one more time this season. I nailed the first round, and most of the Western Conference. However, my underestimation of the Boston Celtics pretty much ruined my bracket. I say no more! This time I am going to call it and get it right, so here goes.

Backcourt:
Kobe Bryant is among the best players in the NBA ever, and Ray Allen is among the best shooters in the NBA ever. They seem to share a mutual dislike for eachother dating back to Ray Allen’s days in Seattle, if not further. Kobe will be forced to run around and defend him all series or try to shut down Rajon Rondo instead. Rondo is making a case for himself being considered the best point guard in the league. The only problem is that he is banged up and the Celtics need him to run the show or they will be in trouble. They got a lift from Nate Robinson in Game 6 against Orlando, but that can’t be expected to work all series against LA. Derek Fisher is the weakest link here for either team, but that isn’t saying much as he is not a very mistake prone player and has a knack for hitting a timely shot or two in crunch time.

Frontcourt:
Lamar Odom and Ron Artest will be bothersome to say the least. Paul Pierce had his way with the Lakers pre-Ariza/Artest era, but it’s a different situation now. If Pierce can get going at all in this series it will help to keep Artest less active on offense, but the jury is out on how effective either can be against each other. KG has obviously lost a step since the Celtics won in 2008, but he has learned to adjust quite well. I’m sure it helps when you have a decent supporting cast around you. The question is how they will contain Pau Gasol. Presumably, Kendrick Perkins will do the honors of guarding Gasol most of the time, and that would be fine but there is one worrisome factor here. Perkins is one tech short of a one game suspension. Can he keep under control enough to not get T’d up or ejected? Then there’s Bynum who is still having problems with his knee. How effective can he be? I’m guessing not as effective as Rasheed Wallace - and that’s not saying much.

Bench:
Both teams have decent benches that can give them a boost when needed. Odom may start with Bynum having issues with the knee, but the Lakers also have Farmar, Shannon Brown, and Adam Morrison (just kidding). The Celtics can lean on Tony Allen sometimes (of course that could mean a timely five points or untimely five turnovers), and Nate Robinson in the backcourt, with Rasheed and Glen Davis in the frontcourt.

Coach:
Then there’s the Phil Jackson factor. Phil is a far better coach than Rivers, but Doc has surprised me lately. He is doing all the right things and navigated the Eastern Conference with relative ease.

In the end, I think the Celtics have the edge. They beat Orlando and Cleveland without home court so I don’t see why they couldn’t beat LA in a series format that arguably favors the road team. My prediction: Celtics in 6

As if the Spurs being ousted by the Suns wasn’t bad enough. My Playoff Predictions went from perfect to utterly ruined in Round Two as the Cavs choked against the Celtics in what could be LeBron’s last championship run in Cleveland.

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In the span of 24 hours, the Spurs went from beating an elite Eastern team in Boston in a blowout, to losing to the lowliest team in the league in New Jersey. I like to blame Keith Bogans, but when you lose to the freaking Nets there’s plenty of blame to go around.

The Boston Blowout: (Spurs over Celtics: 94-73)
Let’s go over the Boston game first… then maybe I will run out of steam and not have to rip the Spurs so much for losing last night. The Spurs handed the Celtics a 21-point loss on Sunday, their worst home loss of the season. San Antonio outscored Boston 33-17 in the 3rd and that was all she wrote. Amazingly, the Spurs had 16 turnovers to only 10 for the Celtics, but a rebounding edge of 48-37 (14-9 offensive) helped the Spurs take command of this game. Also, the Celtics flat out couldn’t shoot, going 37% in the game including 1-of-14 from downtown.

Manu Ginobili was brilliant as usual, dropping 28 points along with seven dimes, three boards, and a steal. He was the high-scorer of the game and played 36 minutes – in a blowout -we’ll get back to those minutes. Tim Duncan was kind of pedestrian in the box score with only eight points and nine rebounds, but he only had to play about 27 minutes. Richard Jefferson had one of his best nights with his first double-double in forever. He finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists. He shot 6-of-11 from the field and played only about 29 minutes. March has been kind to RJ and the glass is starting to look half-full with him in a Spurs uniform. George Hill also finished in double-figures with 15 points, three boards, three assists, and three steals.

For the Celtics, KG had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards, and Pierce led Boston with 18 points. Then there was Michael Finley. You remember him, right? He’s the old guy who lost his mojo then decided he was worthy of more minutes on a contender or something and requested to be released from the team about a month or so back. Well, he played 13 minutes, went 0-of-2 from the field and committed two fouls. Oh, and he had one rebound. Wow, how could we have let this guy go?

The New Jersey Debacle: (Nets over Spurs: 90-84)
Then, just when it seemed the Spurs were a team to be reckoned with, it all came crashing back down. Manu Ginobili, who played 36 minutes the night before, had to sit out this game with back spasms. When I first heard about him sitting out, I figured it was more precautionary than anything – and it probably was. Afterall, if there is a team to rest players against, it should be the Nets. Well, the Spurs were already down Parker, so sitting Ginobili meant there was no real playmaker in the lineup. The Spurs also lost Roger Mason in the first half to a sprained finger. He played only nine minutes, but was actually having a pretty good game when he was hurt. He finished with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting, making his only three-point attempt, and dishing out two assists. The Spurs still controlled the game until halfway through the 4th quarter, though. Then the Spurs fell victim to miscommunication and carelessness. The Spurs had 16 turnovers for the second straight game, while the Nets had only four. That pretty much neutralized the 53-43 rebounding edge the Spurs had, as well as the fact that New Jersey shot only 37.6% in the game. They ended up with three more shot attempts and four more free-throw attempts – speaking of which, the Spurs only shot 11-of-20 from the stripe compared to New Jersey’s 21-of-24. It all came down to the Nets wanting it more and taking this game more seriously. The NJ players stepped up and played with some pride while the Spurs simply went through the motions and got smashed in the mouth for it.

George Hill led all the Spurs with 19 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Tim Duncan had a double-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. He also had four turnovers though – see “4th quarter miscommunication”. Richard Jefferson had a nice game with 16 points, five rebounds, a team-leading five assists, and one block. Matt Bonner finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and one steal. DeJuan Blair also had a double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and one assist.

That brings us to Keith Bogans. When the two best backcourt players on the team are sitting out, this is the time to step up your game and carry some of the load. Instead of doing that, Bogans started the game, played 19 minutes, and finished with this stat line: One point, one rebound, three fouls, 0-of-2 from the field, 1-of-4 from the free throw line. Are you kidding me? Can someone check this guy for a pulse? A Heart? A Jump Shot? Something… please? That is ridiculous. I am not saying that Bogans lost the game single-handedly, but I am saying he should be forced to earn minutes behind Malik Hairston and not the other way around. Hairston, by the way, finished with four points on 2-of-4 shooting, and five rebounds in 26 minutes. No, he is not “the answer”, but it sure as hell isn’t Bogans. I just hope Popovich has seen enough so that we don’t have to endure KB in the playoffs.

By the way, I am also growing tired of Antonio McDyess’s so-so games since he went back into the starting lineup. It’s not a huge issue when the Spurs are winning, but I don’t know how much more I can watch him play 20 minutes or so and not break double-digits in scoring or rebounds. He’s had exactly two double-doubles this year, one in November and one earlier in March (against the Knicks). He has only grabbed double-digit rebounds one other time this month and hasn’t scored in double-figures at all outside of that Knicks game. This is not a matter of minutes, or playing Blair over him – Dice just needs to play better, period.

Ginobili To Test Free Agency
From the San Antonio Express-News, Ginobili is ready to test the free agent market this summer. If we lose him this summer then it will go down as strike two for the Spurs management (strike one being the Luis Scola misfire).

“I know I’m going to get a job,” Ginobili said Monday before sitting out the Spurs’ 90-84 loss at New Jersey with back spasms. “It doesn’t matter where or how. I’m not going to be unemployed.”

Spurs Sign Gee … Huh? Who?
This is also from the San Antonio Express-News:

The Spurs signed forward Alonzo Gee for the remainder of the season, bringing their roster to the NBA’s maximum 15.

Gee, a 6-foot-6 rookie from Alabama, became available after Washington declined to pick him up for the rest of the year after he completed the second of two 10-day contracts Sunday.

The Spurs sweetened their offer to Gee, who played for the team’s summer league entry in Las Vegas and spent most of the season with its Development League affiliate in Austin, by including a make-good offer for next season that would bring him to training camp.

Since Gee joins the roster after March 1, he will be ineligible for the playoffs.

Well, as expected, Michael Finley is joining the Boston Celtics. I wish him well and all that jazz, but seriously – does he expect to get that many more minutes in Boston than he did in San Antonio? Paul Pierce barely sits down long enough to tie his shoes, and Marquis Daniels will also be in front of Finley in the rotation. Maybe he just figures the Celtics have a better shot at the Finals in the East than the Spurs do in the West… it’s a fair assessment. Also, Pierce is battling a thumb injury so it’s conceivable that Fin will get some extra minutes if Pierce takes any longer to recover.

DeJuan Blair had a career night, Paul Pierce only scored eight points, and the Spurs bench outscored the Celtics bench 44-26. Oh, and the Spurs still managed to lose. The Celtics won their 6th straight game by defeating the Spurs 90-83. The Celtics are now 15-4 and the Spurs dropped to 9-7. This was not what I anticipated, but you can’t win ‘em all I guess. I have the breakdown in my Spurs Vs Celtics Game Diary below: Read more »

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In case you missed my draft diary for the Writers League, check it out here.  It’s been three weeks since the season started and I gotta tell you, my team is struggling. We were able to pull out a much needed TIE last week. That’s right, I was settling for “not losing”. I don’t get it, my teams are great in my other leagues, but I am getting pummeled in this one. I’m going to try and figure out why and chronicle it right here.  Read more »

So, some of the Fanball Writers decided to form a Fantasy Basketball League. The league settings are as follows:
16 Teams, Head-to-Head, 2 Divisions
Roster Positions: PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, Util, BN, BN, BN
Scoring Catagories: Field Goal Percentage (FG%), Free Throw Percentage (FT%), 3-point Shots Made (3PTM), Points Scored (PTS), Total Rebounds (REB), Assists (AST), Steals (ST), Blocked Shots (BLK)
My Team: Prestige Worldwide (Yeah, like the movie “Step Brothers”)

Here is my breakdown of the draft:

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