Spurs of the Moment

It’s about freaking time. On the one hand, I am stoked that the Spurs signed Manu to an extension, but the Devil’s Advocate in me is a little perturbed that they waited so long that they had to shell out $39 million to keep him in San Antonio. Then again, with the way he has been playing over the past few months, they may have still gotten off cheap.

Now, with Manu locked up and RJ playing at a higher level again – and consistently I might add – we just need the rest of the team to get healthy. Tim Duncan has been a rock this season, and the Spurs should have George Hill and Tony Parker both in uniform by the time the playoffs start. Tony hasn’t been starting, but Garrett Temple is doing a decent job in place of both Parker and Hill. Temple got his first startagainst Sacramento and again in Phoenix and has averaged 13 points, 2.5 rebounds, two assists, and .5 steals per game. He also is shooting 9-of-17 from the floor. He has proven to be a savvy pickup by the Spurs, especially in light of their point guard injury woes this season.

Some good has actually come out of George Hill’s injury. First off, as I just noted, Temple is getting some nice minutes and is looking like a solid player that the Spurs could conceivably hang on to – and possibly move the inconsistent Roger Mason. Second, there was already some concern about how Coach Popovich was going to arrange the starting unit once Tony returned. With Hill sidelined, Parker can work his way back into his old spot without Hill simply being “demoted”. No harm no foul. Now that RJ and Manu are playing well together as starters, that really only leaves the center position as a weak link. Antonio McDyess has been ok, Matt Bonner has been able to come off the bench and knock down some big shots and get to the glass more, plus DeJuan Blair adds some energy and great offensive rebounding, so that may not be so weak of a link. I think the Spurs are coming around now and should be considered a legitimate threat in the West, if not the entire league.

The Spurs play Memphis today, and hopefully have a little more swag than they did against Phoenix the other night. If the Grizzlies start Thabeet then I hope DeJuan Blair gets the start just so we can watch Thabeet get abused again. DeJuan Blair may really rip his arm off this time.

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, it looks like the Spurs are officially out of the hunt for Tyrus Thomas. Apparently, the Bulls are set to trade Thomas to the Bobcats for Acie Law, Flip Murray and a future first-round pick.  Well, alright then.

That leaves one potentially good deal for the Spurs: Amare Stoudemire. Read more »

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*

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The Spurs held on for the win in Sac-Town last night 115-113. Believe it or not, but the Spurs played half of a decent 4th quarter and led by as many as 13 points with less than two minutes to play. Then the Kings were allowed back in the game for no apparent reason. A couple of steals turned into points and the final score ended up much closer thanks also to a couple of desperate three-pointers the Kings made in the final five seconds. So that basically means that if they would have been desperate about 30 seconds sooner they could have won this game. Thank goodness George Hill can shoot free throws. Tyreke Evans, for his part, kept the Kings in the game scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 32 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and a block. Meanwhile, the Spurs had four players score at least 20 points:

Tim Duncan: 22 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal.
George Hill: 23 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.
Manu Ginobili: 20 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.
DeJuan Blair: 20 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block.

How is Tim the only one on that list without a block? Go figure. Anyway, look at that - 85 points, 26 rebounds, 18 assists, 6 steals, and 3 blocks from four guys, and none of them named Tony Parker. Two of those guys came off the bench! If only we could always play the Kings…

Highlights:
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Portland is up tonight and the Blazers have won both meetings with the Spurs this season. Here are a few things to watch for tonight:

Tony Parker is planning on returning tonight. As Popovich says, “I think he’s possible, or probable, or whatever the words are.” Well, alright then. Don’t hurt yourself, Pop. If Parker does return and he starts the game, then George Hill will likely move back to shooting guard, or at least I hope so. We don’t deserve any more Keith Bogans.

Brandon Roy may or may not play tonight. Then again, he didn’t play against the Spurs in December and the Blazers still won thanks to 31 points courtesy of Jerryd Bayless. Hopefully the Spurs have an answer for him this time around. Of course, Andre Miller dropped 52 on an unsuspecting Dallas squad last week, so there’s also him to watch out for.

Juwan Howard is starting at center for the Blazers. Hopefully Timmeh and the Grizzly Blair can take advantage of the 37-year-old geezer. Ok, that’s not fair. Howard is still somewhat decent and averaging 5.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. The Blazers could be doing a lot worse at their third string center, like trying to goad Raef LaFrentz out of retirement.

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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The Spurs have done what they were supposed to do in the past two games. They beat two inferior teams and are now 11-9. Then again, wins over the Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats are hardly impressive, so I can’t pretend I am enthusiastic about it. On the one hand, it’s good to be winning again, and over the past two games Richard Jefferson (20 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg) and Manu Ginobili (21 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2 spg) have looked pretty good on offense. Plus Antonio McDyess (6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg) and Keith Bogans (8.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3 apg, 1.5 spg) are finally justifying their roles in the starting lineup again over the past two games as well. On the other hand, The Kings still managed to score 106 points, and the Spurs turned the ball over 28 times against Charlotte. Soooo… yeah. Things still ain’t where they need to be.

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The Spurs are getting ready to take on the Sacramento Kings again tonight. The Kings are playing better than most of us predicted they would this season, but the Spurs should be able to handle them easily enough. They beat them 113-94 on Halloween earlier this season. In case you forgot, that was the game with the infamous incident where Manu Ginobili pimp slapped a bat, some nutcase from PETA became outraged, and Manu had to get a zillion rabies shots. I’m not particularly worried about this game, although if the Spurs lose it won’t do much for my optimism about the team. Sac-town is getting better, but they aren’t a playoff caliber team yet, and Kevin Martin is still out. I’m more concerned with the teams the Spurs can’t seem to beat. With that said, I was looking at some stats for the season and realized some interesting things about the Spurs. Read more »

The Spurs beat the Kings on Halloween 113-94. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 24 points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals. Richard Jefferson was not far behind having his best game as a Spur so far with 21 points, two rebounds, and a steal. He shot 7-of-8 from the field including 2-of-3 from downtown. Duncan had a modest night with 10 rebounds, seven points, and 1 assist, steal and block. Several Spurs reserves had a good night as well. George Hill had 18 points, five rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal. DeJuan Blair had 10 rebounds, five points and two steals. The Spurs lead by 18 at halftime, but it’s the Kings, so it’s not like the outcome was ever really in doubt. What was in doubt, was how to stop a bat from disrupting the game. Yes, a bat. A bat flew into the building and insisted on being a part of the action by swooping down to the court several times. Amazingly enough, The Coyote could not catch it, and even more amazing was that Manu Ginobili didn’t fall down when it swooped past him. That’s right, instead of flopping, Manu slapped that sucker out of the air, picked it up and handed it to someone, then went back to the game. He finished with 13 points, three assists, one steal and one bat-slap. No word yet on whether or not anyone from PETA’s head has exploded yet. Read more »