Category: Featured (Page 4 of 78)

De-Rooked

2017 Western Conference Playoffs, First Round
San Antonio 94, Memphis 105
Spurs lead series 2-1

The Grizzlies did what we thought they would do, what they had to do.

The lower-seeded team winning Game 3 at home after going down 0-2 to start the series is one of the safest bets in sports, particularly when the disparity between the two teams isn’t enormous (sorry, Pacers). The energy of the home crowd mixed with the desperation of going down 0-3 (and essentially ending your season) is a potent cocktail.

And let’s face it: the Spurs, perhaps despite their reputation, aren’t the kind of team to put the clamps down in a Game 3 scenario like this. If you’re not predicting a sweep, then you’re predicting the Grizzlies will win at least one game: Game 3 was the most likely candidate.

That said, we can’t just dismiss the Spurs’ performance. They played well in the first half, fighting off the first rush of energy from the Grizzlies and keeping the game close, only down 4 at intermission.

The second half was a different story. Pop did a wholesale line change only a few minutes in, hopefully sending a message to the starters. You might argue that subbing the bench in so quickly might have cost the Spurs a chance in this game. You might also argue it could be what wins them the series. (We’ll see in Game 4.)

The biggest disappointment in the 2nd half was Kawhi. After another monstrous first half, he was unusually quiet in the second half. He had one big dunk and that’s about it. This isn’t the 2014 Spurs; they aren’t good enough to survive down performances from their star. As Kawhi goes, so do the Spurs. They might not always win when he plays well, but they will surely lose when he doesn’t.

There’s plenty more blame to go around. After a good opening to the series, Parker was terrible in Game 3. Zero points, zero assists, zero steals, 19 minutes. It’s like he was a ghost out there. When Conley is the counterpart, that won’t play well.

While Patty had a bit of a bounce back game (though we’ll need at least one hot shooting game from him this series), Manu and Lee continue to really struggle. Manu has yet to score in this series, and it looks like his age caught up to him right around April 14th. We can handle low-scoring performances from Manu, but he’s really not doing anything else, either.

After a great regular season, Lee is struggling to find his playoff mode. His defense was surprisingly good in the regular season, and it’s been surprisingly (or perhaps not) bad in the post-season. This might be a bit of an exaggeration, but at one point in the 3rd quarter he gave up 7 straight and-1 baskets. On offense, it looks like he hasn’t caught up to the speed of the playoffs, with his cutting and passing just a bit off rhythm.

With such little production from the bench and some glaring holes in the starting line-up, the Spurs are ripe for a loss or two. Let’s hope it’s not more than that.

On the plus side, Kyle is playing very well in his role and minutes. He’s not a series-swinger, but he can be a difference-maker and X-factor. His length is important on defense, and his patience and slithery-ness on offense work in the postseason.

Gasol is also playing well in his minutes and his role. Again, a series can’t hinge on his play, but it can be lost on it.

Simmons showed good energy and reliability off the bench. While he can’t cannibalize Anderson’s minutes, perhaps he might be inserted in instead of Manu or even Parker at times.

Aldridge also had a solid game on both ends. Still, as the clear #2 player on the team, we need more from him.

Game 4 now becomes the swing game of the series. A Memphis win and we’re in for a long one. A Spurs win and it will just about seal it. Memphis has clearly found some things they like, and if they continue to get 2011 Z-Bo, they will be a tough out. If 2017 Z-Bo returns, the Spurs should win Game 4.

I’m excited to see how the team responds after the Game 3 shellacking. Despite it looking like the Spurs we’ve known for so many years, we actually don’t know a whole lot about this squad and how they’ll respond to their first playoff adversity. Game 4 will tell us a lot about the character of this team, win or lose.

Game 4 is Saturday night.

Go Spurs Go.

Photo credit: Eric Gay, Associated Press

Did We Learn Anything Watching Golden State vs San Antonio?

(Photo: Getty Images)

I’m going to level with you all before I get deep into this one.

I have no clue what to expect in a potential Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs playoff series. The season series was just about as nonsensical as it gets. Teams this talented and well-coached shouldn’t play three blowouts against one another. Never mind that two of the blowout wins were by the team on the road.

Still, we must have learned something from these games, as non sequitur as they seemed… right?

If nothing else, we’re going to try to learn, so buckle up!

GAME ONE
Season Opener
Spurs at Warriors, October 25, 2016
Spurs win 129-100

It’s hard to remember this game, it was so long ago. So much has changed in the world since this glorious night. Back then, the USA hadn’t even elected a reality TV star as president yet! What a world… what a world!

Anyway, believe it or not, in the first game of the post-Tim Duncan Spurs era (coincidentally, the first game of the evil villain Kevin Durant Warriors era), three of the oldest guys left playing basketball strolled into Oakland and “Get off my lawn’d” the Warriors into a pile of rubble. It was beautiful. It made me believe that all our dreams could come true if we simply believed in the powers of light and darkness and manifested those powers directly onto the things we care about. Whether San Antonio wins the Finals this year or not, this game proved to me that as long as your team is the real-life depiction of a Disney villain, you are screwed in the long run.

What went right for the Spurs in this game?

Kawhi Leonard assumed his throne and dropped 35 points and 5 steals on the defending NBA chokeians (that’s a new word I made up for teams that blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, btw), LaMarcus Aldridge dropped another cool 26, and Jonathon Simmons – bless his heart – made us all think this was going to be the year he became a legit bench threat with a 20 point effort and an epic chasedown block on Steph Curry.

The Warriors starters were great, as expected, but their bench was HORRENDOUS. Ian Clark led the bench with 5 points. Nobody on the team had a positive +/-. Zaza Pachulia (who I hate) had more turnovers than shot attempts.

It wasn’t meant to be for Golden State on that fine October night, and while one could argue that it was their first meaningful game with Durant and they still had to learn how to play together, well… actually no you can’t make that argument because that starting unit combined for 84 points while the bench scored 16 points.

And if you really wanted to make that argument, I think San Antonio’s case for potentially laying an egg is even stronger. The Spurs were without Duncan for the first time in 19 years. They replaced him with Pau Gasol, who isn’t nearly as young nor athletically gifted as Kevin Durant, and San Antonio steamrolled the Warriors.

If we learned anything that night, it’s this: The Warriors need SOMETHING from their 5-12 guys – Zaza is included here because, honestly, he is not good enough to start for this team, c’mon – or they aren’t making a third straight trip to the Finals. Strength in Numbers? Not this season.

GAME TWO
Warriors at Spurs, March 11, 2017
Spurs win 107-85

Danny Green was the only starter for either team that played in this game. Again, Zaza doesn’t count. Anyway, that tells you almost everything you need to know about this game. Oh, get this! JaVale McGee only played five minutes in this one! In a game where literally only ten people on his team were dressed he only got five minutes.

What did we learn?

Uh… that if somehow every starter from both teams dies before they play next, that lack of bench depth we already knew about is going to be bad news for Golden State. Also, it’s going to be a really shitty and somber playoff series. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. It was also a good reminder that San Antonio has a good bench. One of the best benches.

GAME THREE
Warriors at Spurs, March 29, 2017
Warriors win 110-98

This started as the kind of game where I thought I’d be excited to see Davis Bertans and Kyle Anderson getting fourth quarter minutes against a quality opponent. But by the time the fourth quarter came around and I noticed that Anderson and Bertans were on the court, all I could do was scream and writhe in pain until my girlfriend dragged me out of the bar and into a cab.

This one hurt. Not only would a Spurs win have put the 1-seed firmly within grasp, but San Antonio raced out to a 15-0 lead and ended up losing by 12 to a team that was missing Durant. Ouch. And the Spurs weren’t missing anyone besides Dejounte Murray who wouldn’t have seen anything but garbage time if he were healthy.

The contest was pretty much our collective worst nightmare, and a microcosm of the season. The Spurs have looked like the hottest team on Earth several times this year, including versus Cleveland and opening night vs. these same Warriors (well, minus Durant).

At other times, the Spurs have looked like Brooklyn would give them a run for their money. Sometime we get both versions of San Antonio, and the shitty version sticks around for a lot longer than we’d hope for.

What did we learn?

JaVale McGee still has an atrocious rattail. But in actual basketball…

When the Spurs are operating at optimum efficiency, they can hang with and beat anyone. They led 33-17 at the end of the first quarter, and it wasn’t because they were relying on Leonard to do everything. Yes, the Spurs’ star had 8 points in the first quarter, putting him on pace for another 30 pt game, but contributions from Aldridge and Green helped them get out to their strong start.

As the game wore on, the Warriors figured out to mostly remove Kawhi from the equation, and Kawhi was eventually forced to try and take things on himself despite constant double-teams. It, obviously, didn’t work out.

Tony Parker (who went scoreless) and Manu Ginobili (who missed a lot) both looked very much their age against the younger, quicker Warriors, and neither Patty Mills nor Anderson instilled much confidence with their games either.

Remember that time I talked up San Antonio’s bench to be the best thing since the invention of the 3 point line? Bleh.

That’s all just a really long way to say that if the Spurs match up with Golden State in the playoffs, Kawhi is either going to have to become basketball Jesus, or the rest of the team is going to have to hold up their end of the bargain.

Oh, and playing some defense would be nice too. Sheesh.

« Older posts Newer posts »