San Antonio 71, Philadelphia 77  //  44-9  //  1st in the West

25 points in the second half. Yuck.

And we still had a chance to win the game. Popovich said it best: the game “set offensive basketball back a decade or so.” Really, just one or two plays could have won this game for us. In the end, the Sixers made the plays. We dominated the offensive glass all night, but in the last 2 minutes, the Sixers got two big offensive boards that helped to seal the game. With a chance to still tie the game, the Spurs completely botch an out of bounds play (something the team excels at), almost rolling the ball off the court, leaving Ginobili to put up what was only a “shot” in the broadest of definitions.

It was the ugliest of games. Our guards flat out stunk tonight. Jrue Holiday played what might be the best defense I’ve ever seen on Tony Parker, completely denying him the lane, contesting jump shots, and even preventing easy passes. Ginobili and Hill both had ugly games. And we missed enough shots at the rim to easily double those 25 second half points.

Such is life. The Sixers are a tough match-up for us, we played like horse manure…and we still could have won the game.

No time to dwell on the loss. We play the Wizards on Saturday night, a classic trap game. With tonight’s putrid performance, I’d expect a much sharper game from the team.