Posts Under Featured Category
San Antonio 89, Los Angeles Lakers 88 // 41-8 // 1st in the West Manu took his shot and missed. Parker got off a beautiful teardrop and missed. Duncan got his chance that was reminiscent of the shot he hit right before 0.4, but missed this one. Enter Antonio McDyess. The beauty of basketball is that it’s at once the most narrative driven sport and also the sport most defined…
San Antonio 86, Portland 99 // 40-8 // 1st in the West Playing–and beating–the Spurs has cache again. As the Blazers seized control late in the game last night, the energy in the building was electric. When the lead grew to double digits and we went to time out, the crowd stood through the entire time out. The Blazers have great fans regardless, but there was definitely something different about…
Denver 97, San Antonio 110 // 35-6 // 1st in the West After getting down double digits early in the 2nd quarter, the Spurs used a monster run (during which they hit 14 straight baskets) to close the first half up by 12. Through most of the second half, the Spurs operated within a 10-18 point lead, never able to fully put away the feisty Nuggets, yet never really being…
San Antonio 107, Minnesota 96 // 32-6 // 1st in the West After another dizzying 20-20 performance from Kevin Love but another tight victory from the Spurs, I’m happy to be done with the Timberwolves this year. Some teams, regardless of record, just match up well with you, and the TImberwolves are one of those teams. Great rebounding teams can get give us fits, and the W0lves, with Love, are…
Minnesota 91, San Antonio 94 // 31-6 // 1st in the West In my conversation with Jonah Steinmeyer from Howlin’ T-Wolf, he asked me about our bench and if the bench play could be the difference in the game between these two teams. Very prescient, indeed. A quick look at the numbers will show us that our bench most likely won this game for us. We played four players off…
San Antonio 90, Indiana 87 // 30-6 // 1st in the West After the last two performances by the Spurs, one would imagine that defense would be a top priority for the team coming into this game. By most accounts, the defense was much better. By Pop’s favorite metric, we held them to 37.5% shooting, always a great sign. In the fourth quarter alone, the Pacers shot only 1 of…
San Antonio 103, Boston 105 // 29-6 // 1st in the West Basketball is a game of inches and moments. Inches: one or two here and there can be the difference between a miss and a make, a steal and a foul, a charge and a block, a rebound and a loose ball, a contested shot or a blown rotation. In the aggregate, those inches can spell the difference between…
Oklahoma City 74, San Antonio 101 // 29-4 // 1st in the West Fancy new offenses are nice, and fun to watch, but deep down, Pop wants games to be won or lost on defense, with scores in the 70s and 80s. He can forgive mistakes and misses on offense, but one missed rotation on defense will draw a quick timeout and a tongue-lashing before you can even make it…
San Antonio 99, Dallas 93 // 28-4 // 1st in the West During the TNT broadcast of the game, analyst Mike Fratello talked about a conversation he had had with Pop before the game, and how Pop had described this type of game as a “lose-lose” game for the Spurs: beat a shorthanded team and all you’ve done is exactly what you should have done; lose to a shorthanded team,…
Los Angeles Lakers 82, San Antonio 97 // 27-4 // Too much for my brain to process into one coherent narrative, so let’s go bulletin-style. ACLs are for suckers: For all the talent and physical size that he has, Blair still lacks height, which, as the saying goes, can not be taught. While his nose-for-the-ball attitude and boundless hustle pays dividends…
