Search Results for: ginobili
Not much about this game matters beyond the extent of Duncan’s injuries, but we’ll discuss it just the same. The first half was incredibly efficient and beautiful Spurs’ basketball, even after the injury. In fact, the team went on a tear after the injury. Scoring 51 points and holding the other team to 26 is just incredible. Everybody was playing hard, the defense was completely locked in, and we were…
In the midst of two games in 10 days, both at home, before the Rodeo Road Trip, against the dregs of the Eastern Conference, tonight’s opponent was less the Charlotte Bobcats and more lethargy. And while the opponent put up a good fight, the Spurs strung together enough better than decent minutes to get a pretty comfortable win. Charlotte played hard, but they are just young and not very good….
It isn’t always pretty and it isn’t always easy. Mired in a slogfest late in the 3rd quarter, trailing a team they would handle easily on most nights, and looking like a collection of players just going through a set of motions they’ve been trained in for decades with no real enthusiasm, Manu drove down the lane past his defender, Shannon Brown. It was a play we’ve seen a hundred…
In coach Bud’s in-game interview, when asked what the team does in the absence of Pop and Duncan, and with Parker out injured, he gave an illustrative quote as to why the Spurs continue to be so successful year after year: we try to stick with the system. Over the last half decade, more than anything else, that has been the key to this team’s continued stay at or near…
To call Tony Parker a “shoot first” PG (a sort of short hand backhanded compliment in the NBA) is to miss the point. The Spurs’ offense is built around ball movement, player movement, spacing, execution, and a million other things we’ve mentioned a million times in these recaps. But, really, what the Spurs offense is built around is Tony Parker. Shoot or pass, it doesn’t really matter what you want…
The phrase in the NBA for tonight’s loss is “schedule loss”. As in, the schedule was so tedious, the team was more than likely going to lose the game. 4 games in 5 nights–with 3 on the road–will do that to you. Throw in the Knicks’ heightened defensive focus from their head coach, and this one was all but sewn up from the tip. The team fought hard through the…
After spending the last two recaps gushing about one of the Big 3, might as well make it a clean sweep and praise Duncan. But what can you say about Duncan that hasn’t already been discussed thousands of times amongst the Spurs faithful. He is the rare breed of brilliant player whose contributions show up in the box score and yet exceed what any metric could ever measure. He is…
Watching the game, I started writing a draft of the story in my head. On the heels of last game and the Manu love fest, it was going to be an article in appreciation of Tony Parker, how his game has matured, how he continues to grow and improve as a player, how he runs the most efficient offense in the NBA with a maestro’s touch, always knowing when to…
For the last 3 seasons, the Spurs have been a regular season machine, rolling to victory after victory despite down stretches from their best players, significant injuries, odd and horrible scheduling, and anything else that could be thrown at them. This is due in large part to the culture and consistency built up by a decade and a half of Pop and Duncan, and a decade with Parker and Ginobili….
Yowzers. Before both teams started running out of gas in the 4th quarter, I was having trouble catching my breath the action was moving so quickly. It was like the Phoenix Suns’ of D’Antoni-Nash, only quicker and more frenetic. The first half was nearly impossible to get a read on, but the Spurs made a few adjustments in the second half to very subtly take control of the game. The…
