Posts Under News Category
Ok, so Gregg Popovich isn’t Stan Van Gundy. I’m better than okay with that. But this graphic does make you think, shouldn’t the Spurs be shooting more 3s? Courtesy of SB Nation:
From the Associated Press: Luis Scola scored 17 points, Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino added 16 apiece and Argentina held on down the stretch for an 82-77 quarterfinal win over Brazil in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, setting up a rematch with the U.S. in the semifinals. Argentina lost to the Americans by 29 in the preliminary round finale. With the United States’ win against Australia, the Argentines…
The recency effect is a cognitive bias wherein we assign too much significance to an observation that occurred recently in comparison to earlier observations or to the trend represented by the entire record of observations. Or, in terms of the San Antonio Spurs, we remember the last 4 games of their season, and not the 20 (or 45) that preceded it. Flaming out so spectacularly to a team that seemed…
63. 36. The perfect mirroring of the two halves perfectly mirrored the 2 distinct phases of this series. For 24 minutes (and 2 games), the Spurs were the Spurs we’ve seen all season, running an immaculate offense, getting every shot they wanted (and hitting a good portion of them) and running roughshod over whatever the Thunder threw at them. With the building a complete ruckus, the Spurs came out quickly…
Got ‘em right where we want them. The rush to crown the Spurs champs after 10 playoff wins was premature; the rush to bury them and claim the Thunder as the Western powerhouse for the next decade is probably likewise premature. The truth is, 5 games have been played between these two teams, 3 have been insanely close and contested, 1 has been kind of close but mostly controlled by…
In most ways, that last play kind of sums up the last 5 days. Down 3, we get a miracle turnover and the ball back with about 15 seconds left and a chance to tie. This is the Spurs bread and butter, play calling, execution, getting good shots out of time-outs. And…I’m not quite sure what happened. I didn’t see any discernible play (which is rare from Pop); Duncan passed…
The old pivot game. Statistically speaking, whichever team wins this game will most likely go on to win the series. Erase everything that has happened in Games 1-4, as they only matter tangentially. These teams are dead even, and the 4 games have more or less borne out that truth. Here are some thoughts heading into Game 5 Monday night: –In the 2 games in OKC, the 2nd quarter was…
We have a series now, folks. Apparently the best way to beat the Spurs is to become the Spurs. (And to make the Spurs not the Spurs, but more on that later.) For most of the game, the Thunder looked like the Spurs of this season. They were running tight offensive sets, making crisp passes and even crisper decisions, working the ball until a clean shot was free, often under…
I’m no great basketball mind…but I do think about it. A lot. Particularly after my team gets pasted in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder made a lot of key adjustments after losing the first 2 games, overwhelming the Spurs and winning easily. As the script goes, it’s time for Pop’s counters. Again, I’m no great basketball mind. But here are many of the things I’ve been…
Pop has a favorite saying (someday I’ll write a book on the Dao of Pop, ways in which his coaching can guide your life), that you need to have “appropriate fear” of a game, or an opponent, a series, etc. It’s another way of saying that you need to respect the process and the opponent, but also have faith in your talent and abilities and team and trust that you…
