Category: Featured (Page 17 of 78)

Season 48, Game 70
San Antonio 94, Dallas 101
44-26, 6th in the West

As usual, context matters. Coming into tonight’s game, the Mavs were in a  bit of a swoon. Monta has been in a pretty bad shooting slump, Carlisle may or may not have called out the heart and passion of the team. The players just didn’t seem to be gelling. They had lost a couple of important games.

The Spurs on the other hand, were feeling pretty good, coming off some big wins in which they played very well. Knowing they had OKC back in San Antonio tomorrow night, this was an easy game to look past.

So context matters. The Mavs were at home and hungry for a win. And I don’t care who is playing, what year it is, what their records are: the Mavs will always get up for a game against the Spurs. They have their title, but they’ll always be chasing the Spurs’ legacy.

The game started out promising. The Spurs played a near-perfect first quarter, seemingly picking up where they were in Atlanta. Once agains the starters were rolling, the ball was zipping around, Kawhi was a defensive menace, and Splitter introduced the underhand scoop shot into his repertoire. The team was locked in, and a win seemed imminent.

Like that, it was gone. And when it went, it went fast.

While the personnel is certainly quite different, this Mavs team coached by Carlisle is well suited to stifle the Spurs’ offense. Somewhere in the 2nd quarter, the ball stopped moving, the passes were less crisp and led to turnovers (after zero in the 1st quarter), and the Mavs activity level jumped. The Spurs never matched it, and it was all downhill from there.

We should also mention the most obvious thing: the Spurs could just not make a shot. Some of this was a byproduct of that bad passing and lack of ball movement: a team is much less prone to make shots when they’re not wide open. But some of this was just bad luck, a “one of those nights” that the basketball gods strike every team with at some point in an 82-game season. Duncan missed bunnies at the rim; Leonard missed some easy mid-rangers; and 3 after 3 bounced high off the rim, to the tune of 8 for 28.

(AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

And Monta Ellis broke out of his slump and continued his torture of San Antonio. Apparently he’s been in a slump, but Spurs fans have never seen this. He might be the most randomly terrifying opponent we play. Leonard is an All-Word defender, but he’s not quite built right to guard really small and really quick PGs. They can still drive by him pretty easily, and once they do, they finish at the rim. He did well, and got some laugh-out-loud steals, but Monta was just locked in tonight.

Honestly, despite giving up the big lead, I’m not too worried about this game. I’m more interested in tomorrow night’s game against the Thunder, and how we play against Westbrook and his back-up band. That’s a team that we should absolutely crush right now, despite Westbrook’s brilliance. One-man teams don’t fare well against the Spurs. Given the scheduling, it was always likely that the team would go 1-1 in this 2-game stretch.

Plus, we get the Mavs at home this weekend. Payback can come soon enough.

Season 48, Game 69
San Antonio 114, Atlanta 95
44-25, 6th in the West

If styles make fights, the Atlanta-San Antonio match-up is usually a pinching match. Both teams run the same system and the same sets, often with the same names. The game often devolves into what looks like intramural scrimmages, and two beautiful offenses get bogged down by all ten players on the court knowing exactly what both teams are trying to do at all times.

Today, though, the Spurs seemed determined to teach their little brother Hawks a lesson in how to properly run this system at the highest of levels. The starters came out on fire, jumped to an early 20-point lead, and the team barely looked back.

By the end, it was a master class. The Hawks made little pushes here and there, and hung closer than they should have with a good showing from the 3-point line. But make no mistake: this was as dominating a two-way performance as we’ve seen from the Spurs since a nice little 3-game stretch back in June.

There were so many good things that I don’t know where to begin. So let’s start where the conversation has started for nearly two decades: Tim Duncan. Without having to really score or shoot all that much, his fingerprints were all over this game. As usual, he was the anchor of the defense, protecting the lane and the rim superbly. He ended the game with 4 blocks, but he altered numerous more shots. On offense, he was incredible, serving as the central hub of the offense, running it from both the low and high post. He had 12 points and 7 assists, most of those to Splitter, I’d imagine. One of the things that really sets the Spurs apart is the Big-to-Big passing, and Tim and Tiago have been playing together so long now that they almost have a preternatural sense of where the other one is. It’s beautiful to watch such pinpoint passing in small areas.

Speaking of Tiago, what a game. He is in a stretch of play now that I would consider the best of his career, which is high praise considering just how great he was in last year’s playoffs, particularly the early rounds. He still has all of that defensive acumen and offensive sneakiness, but suddenly he’s playing as if he’s a franchise big man, so much aggression and confidence. His post-game still looks a little funny, but it is becoming ruthlessly efficient. I love this Tiago; this Tiago makes the Spurs elite.

What really sets the Spurs apart, though, is Kawhi. A fact that becomes more self-evident each game. We know he’s a one-man wrecking crew on both ends of the floor. He flirted with a triple-double today, ending up just 3 assists shy (20 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals). It was his passing that was most impressive today. This is more or less the last piece of his offensive game, and by the looks of today, he is close to figuring it all out. He’s transformed from a willing passer to a solid passer to a smart passer to (almost) a “holy heck, how did he see and do that?!” passer. A couple of his passes today looked like they were delivered by Manu. Good Manu. That full court bounce pass to Tiago will lead the highlight package, but there were plenty more.

Parker and Green also had solid games today. The Hawks seemed very focused on limiting and trapping Parker, and he obliged by drawing the extra attention then passing out of it, often to a 4-on-3 Spurs advantage. His numbers weren’t great, but he played the exact floor game he should have against this opponent.

The starting 5 right now is playing fantastic basketball. They could be the most dominant unit in the league over the last two weeks. Splitter and Leonard are at career peaks, Green might secretly be there as well, Parker is rounded back into top shape, and Duncan just carries on, same as it ever was. It’s pretty common to see a double digit lead within the opening 6-minutes.

Unfortunately, the bench might be playing as bad as it has been in a few years. Missing Manu has really hurt this last week, and it’s quite clear that, even at 37, he is the fulcrum of the second unit, the playmaker, the place setter, and the glue. Without him, everybody else struggles.

But the struggles extend beyond an absent Manu. Mills has had plenty of time but still can’t rediscover his stroke. We might be reaching a critical point where his confidence is slipping, as well. After a sizzling first half, taking the third chair behind Parker and Mills seems to have messed with Joseph. He isn’t playing as well on either end, and seems to press too much when he does get playing time. Pop put him in for a struggling Mills in the 4th quarter today, and Schroeder immediately blew by him on 3 straight possessions, prompting a time out from Pop to get the starters back in.

Marco has been the most solid contributor off the bench, but we all know his limitations. If he’s not scoring, he’s not much help. The best to expect from Marco in the playoffs is what we got today: a hot stretch in a quarter where he can go off for 10-12 points in 6 minutes and keep the team afloat. But asking him to do too much is a risk.

(DAVID GOLDMAN — AP Photo)

The team has been waiting all season for Boris to come around. It finally looks like he is, but overall, he is still frustrating. He played 3 invisible quarters today until exploding in the 4th for double digit points and more or less keeping the Hawks last gasp at bay. He was driving aggressively, scoring on scoops and floaters and bankers, and making smart passes. It’s the kind of performance that is impressive (and so critical to the Spurs’ playoff hopes), but also makes you wonder where it is the other 75% of the time.

The good news with the bench is that there are no new players there, no surprises. We know what this unit can be and what they can do, and we also know that they are all solid playoff performers. There is some concern, particularly with Patty and Boris. But if I had to bet, I’d imagine they will both be there come playoff time. With a healthy Manu and solid minutes from Baynes and Bonner, the bench can still be a net positive.

With the way the starters are playing, this team is coming together at just the right time.

Did we expect anything else?