Page 95 of 749

The First Game Of The Rest Of The Season

Season 50, Game 10
San Antonio 106, Houston 100
7-3, 3rd in the West

Another road game, another home loss avenged.

At this point I almost prefer playing on the road. The team seems more focused and more disciplined. And they’re winning. 5-0 to start the season on the road, compared to 2-3 at home. What sort of upside-down world is this?

Saturday’s game marked a more important milestone: the first game of the season with a fully healthy roster. Which also means: the first game of the season with the expected ‘normal’ starting line-up.

Let’s take a look at that starting line-up.

The two big question marks so far this season have been Tony Parker and Danny Green. Green was on the shelf to start the season due to injury, but it looks like he’s healthy again and easing into the season. Green is such a valuable player for the Spurs. He’s a keystone player: he just makes everything else on the roster fit. He is a tremendous defensive player. He knows the offensive and defensive schemes and rarely makes mistakes. He’ll keep the ball moving and the offense flowing. When his shot is on, he supercharges the offense.

But even when the shot is off, he is still critical to the success of the Spurs. His ability to guard the opposing team’s biggest guard threat and save Kawhi’s workload alone is worth his contract. In the last minute of the Rockets game he made two huge defensive plays that helped to seal the win for the Spurs: first blocking a Harden 3-point attempt, then smothering a 3-point attempt and forcing the ball to swing to a shooter who made a more difficult attempt.

Parker started the season off horribly, and the great fear that he had finally fallen off the proverbial cliff was upon us. The word is that he banged his knee in the season opener and tried to play through the injury. He says now he probably shouldn’t have played through it. So if we take him at his word and just evaluate the last few games, things are looking better.

He’ll never be All-NBA Tony Parker again. He has too many miles on his legs and he’s too old. But he still has enough quickness and intelligence to be the PG that the Spurs need. In the Rockets game, he showed flashes of what I call “old man game” Parker. He is still doing his typical squirrelly drives to the rim, only he’s adding one or two more moves to it. Defenses have caught up to his speed, but he can still leverage his quickness against the defense, by stopping short, pump faking, and clearing the space. It’s not as breathtaking as the old Parker, but it can still be effective.

He is also showing flashes of becoming a more traditional PG. He has good chemistry with Gasol and Aldridge, and can run a pick and pop at any time to get either of them a free shot. His command of the offense is unquestionable. Much like we discussed with Gasol recently, Parker still has the ability to go on little 5-6 minute offensive bursts, which might just be enough. In the first 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter Saturday night he scored 6 points and chipped in 2 more assists, helping the Spurs open up a 15-point lead.

We talked about Gasol after the win in Detroit. He seems to be fitting in better, finding his role on both ends of the floor. Again, he has good chemistry with Parker, so Tony coming back should help him. His 18-foot jump shot is money, and he has looked great extending his range out this season. He is a great passer from the high post. Overall, I’m pleased with his development fitting into the Spurs’ schemes 10 games in. It’ll still be a process, and it’ll be up and down. But he followed up his impressive performance against Detroit with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists against the Rockets. Much as I was with the Detroit game, I’m really happy with that assist number.

On the other hand, I’m starting to worry a bit about LaMarcus. Much like last season, he is off to a slow start. The ‘easing into a new system’ excuse doesn’t ring true this season. Maybe he’s just one of those players that always needs to wade slowly into a new season.

Photo: George Bridges/Associated Press

Photo: George Bridges/Associated Press

My fear, though, is that some of the rumors we hear about him are true, and he is perpetually unhappy and dissatisfied with his role on the team. I don’t trust any whisperings I hear about the Spurs. But, living in Portland, I’ve heard enough of these similar grumblings for the last 10 years. Now, the Blazers tend to be the opposite of the Spurs in that they are too leaky with their rumors and innuendos, which also tends to make me distrust them. (Something about “though doth protest too much”.) All I’m saying is there is enough smoke to want to inspect for a fire.

Those issues aside, his play on the court has been less than spectacular. He is clearly a #2 option behind Kawhi, but he’s not even really playing like that. His jump shot has not been falling reliably, and that really is the skill upon which the rest of his offensive game is built. He seems disengaged for large stretches of games, and unusually passive.

I love Aldridge’s game and think it is a great fit. I’m just worried about his early-season regression from where he finished last regular season. If we can pair that LaMarcus with this Kawhi….

Speaking of Kawhi, he’s been fantastic. Duh. He is the anchor of both the offense and the defense, and his offensive gains are what have allowed Parker and others to ease into roles more suited for their current abilities.

The great fear with Kawhi is that the team is asking too much of him. What he is doing would be unprecedented over an entire season, save for players with last names like “Jordan”. It’s a long season, and we want Kawhi better at the end, not burned out. Even over the last few games, his offensive efficiency seems to have dipped a bit.

Of course, we have a coach who is obsessive with minutes and energy preservation. We can probably trust Pop on this one.  We just don’t want the team too reliant on one player. That’s never been the Spurs’ way. Having a transcendent talent like Kawhi and blending him into the unselfish style of the Spurs would elevate the team to even greater heights.

The starting unit is still a work in progress. Saturday’s game was literally the first time they’ve played together this season. It will probably take a while for them to truly find their footing and build their chemistry. Looking at the roster, though, and the way everything else fits, it probably is the best possible starting line-up.

Now their season can finally start.

The Heat come to San Antonio Monday night.

Go Spurs Go.

Scale The Wall

Season 50, Game 09
San Antonio 96, Detroit 86
6-3

Coming into the game, the Pistons were 4-0 at home, winning by an average double-digit margin, and 0-4 on the road, losing by an average of about double digits. Despite the Spurs slow start on their home court, this was a game that was there for the taking.

While we all breathe a sigh of relief that the Spurs won this game going away, it’s mostly because we avoid the awkward conversation we’d have to have if they had lost a fourth home game this early in the season. They sky might actually fall in San Antonio had that happened.

The Spurs didn’t play especially great, but they didn’t play poorly, either. They were fine. After giving up 51 points in the first half, they held the Pistons to just 34 points in the second half, continuing the trend of strong second half defensive performances. I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s different, other than maybe a few words of ‘encouragement’ from Pop at the intermission.

I was most impressed by the team defensive rebounding. Drummond is a rebounding machine, particularly on the offensive glass. It’s too much to ask one individual player to slow him down. Rather, it falls to the team to all fight and scrap and help each other out. Drummond got 6 offensive rebounds, but the Pistons only got 9 as a team (compared to 10 for the Spurs). All in all, that’s good work on the boards.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this game was the play of Pau Gasol. This was the first game he looked truly comfortable playing in the Spurs’ scheme. He came out on fire, scoring 13 points in the first quarter. This could be a good role for Gasol: first quarter scorer. It reminds me of how the team used Parker way back when. Get him going early to kickstart the offense.

He also had a team-high 6 assists, and looked really sharp working out of the high post with the ball in his hands. He has a nice touch and good vision, and made several nifty passes over the top of the defense to another big at the rim or to a small cutting to the rim from the side.

This is the Gasol that we were hoping to get, the one that would be an offensive upgrade over Duncan.

Not all games are created equal, and the most important thing about this game was not winning, it was ‘not losing’. The Spurs took care of business at home. They still look a bit disorganized, but each game is a step forward.

The Spurs face the Rockets in Houston on Saturday night.

Go Spurs Go.

« Older posts Newer posts »