Who's Going to Win the West?

I caught this item during the Mavericks-Suns game on TNT tonight, the results of the text message question of the night ...

Who's going to win the West?
Suns	52%
Mavericks	35%
Other	8%
Spurs	5%

It's natural that TNT viewers would favor the two teams that they were watching when asked the question, but I'm surprised they picked the Suns over the Mavs. Maybe it's because they recently had a 15 game win streak. Or its the well deserved popularity of Steve Nash. Or its that they missed the beating the Spurs gave the Jazz tonight.

No matter. Vegas oddsmakers know better.

Michael Redd, Mo Williams & Stomach Flu Beat Spurs

Game 29 vs. Milwaukee: Bucks 114, Spurs 107
Record: 21-8 Last 10: 8-2

Michael Redd had 36 points and Mo Williams had 23 against the Spurs tonight. Manu Ginobili and Brent Barry missed the game because of a stomach flu. Even so, this is a game the Spurs could have won.

What is stomach flu? I can't recall ever being told by a doctor that I had "stomach flu," or hearing that anyone I know had it, but it seems a pretty common occurrence in the NBA.

It says here that "the virus can be spread by direct contact with an infected person (for example, kissing or shaking hands) or by sharing food, drink, or eating utensils." OK, Manu and Brent, where did you eat on Christmas Day? Please don't tell me it was here.

Even without Ginobili and Barry, the Spurs led by 4 at the end of three periods, led by 1 with 6 minutes to play, and were within a basket with 2:30 left. Horry, Bowen and Parker all committed turnovers in the 4th. The Spurs missed 7 free throws, while the Bucks missed just one. Eric Williams had a nice night, shooting 4 of 9 from behind the arc.

Bottom line: the Spurs could have won this game. Maybe ESPN is right -- the Spurs are just cruising right now.

In unrelated news, James Brown and Gerald Ford have recently passed away. One gave us soul music and the other gave us Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney in the Executive Branch.

Coach Popovich in Wine Spectator

In case you missed this last May, consider this a Christmas gift from your friends at SpursDynasty. Merry Christmas!

Coach Gregg Popovich shoots straight about wine
By Kristiana Kahakauwila
From Wine Spectator magazine, May 31, 2006 issue

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich's biggest nightmare has nothing to do with basketball. He's not worried about a weak defense or an undisciplined team; after all, the Texas team, led by "Pop," as the players call him, has won three NBA Championships in the past six years. Instead, it's Popovich's 3,000-bottle wine collection that keeps him awake at night.

"A vintage in Bordeaux like 2000 or 1990 comes out, so you go get X number of cases and you think, 'How am I going to drink all this before I croak?' " says Popovich, 57. "Then you end up having nightmares that your kids are going [to inherit the wine], mix it with 7-Up and make sangria."

The coach is laughing, but there's urgency in his voice as well. Popovich, who favors well-aged wines, estimates that nearly one-third of his 3,000-bottle collection won't be ready to drink for years, if not decades. This includes his verticals of Ridge Monte Bello Santa Cruz Mountains 1994 to 1997, Peter Michael Les Pavots Knights Valley 1996 to 1999 and Tenuta dell'Ornellaia Toscana Masseto 1995 to 1999, as well as cases of Château Pétrus 2000 and imperials of Château d'Yquem 1990. Still, Popovich insists, "Whether it's ready or not, the Yquem is going to get drunk [by me]. Those bottles will not be passed on!"

In the meantime, Popovich can enjoy 1974 Beaulieu Private Reserve and 1974 Simi Alexander Valley Reserve, which he bought when he first began collecting wine, as well as 1949 Château Latour, 1968 Inglenook Cask Selection, 1990 Jacques Prieur Montrachet and a bottle of Madeira dating back to 1795. And because he sips wine while breaking down basketball plays on videotape, Popovich also keeps a supply of his everyday favorites on hand: Falesco Lazio Montiano from Italy, Ridge Petite Sirah Napa County York Creek and Rudd Estate Chardonnay Russian River Valley Bacigalupi Vineyard.

Spreading his love of wine is almost as much a goal for Popovich as is winning another championship. So far he's introduced former Spurs player Sean Elliott (now a commentator for Spurs Broadcasting) and assistant coach PJ Carlesimo to the joys of tasting. When the Spurs played the Sacramento Kings in January 2005, Popovich took advantage of being in the area to bring his staff to visit Leslie Rudd, owner of Rudd Estate.

"I was trying to get my coaches interested in wine," says Popovich. "Leslie whipped out the Bacigalupi and all those guys fell in love with it."

Following the Spurs' 2005 NBA Championship win, Popovich watched his players spray each other with inexpensive sparkling wine in the locker room before sneaking away with Elliott and Carlesimo to celebrate with something more drinkable: 1989 and 1990 Pol Roger, 1990 Dom Pérignon and 1990 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame.

Popovich discovered wine in 1970, when he was stationed in the Air Force in Sunnyvale, Calif. He favored big California Cabernets then, especially those from Ridge, Mondavi and Beaulieu. Later, while stationed in Germany, he was introduced to Riesling and learned to appreciate its subtleties. But it wasn't until Popovich moved to Colorado Springs, Colo., and became the assistant coach for the Air Force Academy, his alma mater, that he became a collector.

"My big thrill in those days was finding liquor stores that carried wine and seeing if they made [pricing] mistakes," he laughs. One day, he and a friend found Château Palmer 1970 and Croft Vintage Port 1970 selling at bargain prices; they bought as much as they could, with the intention of cellaring the wine. Today, Popovich has a hard time keeping his collection at fewer than 3,000 bottles.

Popovich stores his wine in an aboveground cellar behind his home in San Antonio. Surrounded by trees, the 12-foot-by-20-foot building, built using Sisterdale cream stone by San Antonio-based Casa Linda Remodeling, was completed in 2001. "The stone's the same gold-yellow buttery color as Château d'Yquem wine," says Popovich. It's no coincidence: Yquem is his favorite wine.

At the entrance, two pillars support a limestone bas-relief inspired by an ancient Egyptian carving of two men picking grapes. Heavy wooden doors, imported from Spain, open into a large room with an arched ceiling. A tasting table, handcrafted from fir, rests on stone tiles from Chicago's Paris Ceramics, while redwood racks recessed into the stone walls gleam beneath a Spanish chandelier. The room, cooled to 58° F with 66 percent to 70 percent humidity, is Popovich's "private little hideaway."

After establishing himself as a basketball coach at the Air Force Academy, Popovich was hired in 1979 as the head coach for Pomona-Pitzer in Claremont, Calif. Nine years later, he joined Larry Brown's staff as an assistant coach of the Spurs, becoming the team's head coach in 1995. Since then, he's led the Spurs to NBA Championship victories in 1999, 2003 and 2005, and they were pre-season favorites to repeat as champions this year.

Popovich is looking forward to a strong season, but he doesn't intend to neglect his love for wine. He even attended a Romanée-Conti tasting in Chicago the night before a Bulls game. "I was excited about that," he says.

Copyright ©2006 Wine Spectator Online

Spurs, Pistons Back on Top

At long last, the Spurs are once again leading the Western Conference. And while no one was paying attention to the hapless East, where a 10-13 record is good enough to be the best in the Atlantic division, the Pistons are now in first, too. Seems like old times, eh?

But first in the East is only good enough for sixth in Steve Kerr's latest power rankings. Kerr finds it noteworthy that, "The Spurs lead the NBA in three-point percentage, thanks in large part to Brent Barry, who's making 52 percent of his shots from beyond the arc."

The Most Devastation New Orleans Has Seen Since... Well You Know

Game 24 at New Orleans/Oklahoma City: Spurs 103, Hornets 77


I haven't written here for a while. In my defense I'm tremendously lazy. Also, I think I almost had a heart attack a week ago. I had already been up 32 consecutive hours between 9 AM Thursday and 5 PM Friday, writing two term papers, having lunch with my newspaper editor and working before I discovered that I still wasn't quite sleepy enough to go back to my shitty apartment, so I decided that I might as well start making the long drive home to the bay area and see how far I can go before I had to pull over and sleep. I was determined to be home in time to watch Spurs-Sixers the next day no matter what, and I figured this would cinch it for sure, as long as I didn't kill myself on the road.

To help me on my journey I took four No-Doz and drank a Red Bull. Neither of these close relatives to crank is a part of my usual pharmacuetical repertoire by the way. In retrospect, eating some food might have been a good idea before I pumped this stuff into my bloodstream. Also, I came up with the bright idea of playing my I-Pod in the car and playing my mix of 50 songs whose lyrics I know by heart. If my mouth was moving and my brain was being active, thinking of what the next lyric was going to be, I figured it'd be a good way to stay awake.

Anyway, for the first five or six hours everything was going swimmingly, except for the two hours I spent on Highway 5 going nowhere because of the state government's genius decision to start roadwork there at 7 pm. A four lane highway road was haphazardly converted to a one lane highway road and that wasn't pleasant.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I was on the road for like six hours before I felt weird. Then my heart started beating rather loudly. My body started to shake. As I was singing 80's pop songs, everything coming out of mouth was a loud, babbling, incoherent, trite cliché. A troubled thought occured to me - is that what it's like to be Stuart Scott?

+= ?


As for the game itself, well they're getting a bit monotonous.

In case you're scoring at home - and I know you're not - this was our fifth blowout in the last seven games. However, unlike the other four, this one was preordained to be lopsided before the game even started. With the Warriors, we didn't even know that Manu would play until tip-off and Biedrins and Richardson kicked our asses in Oakland. At Charlotte, not had the Bobcats already smacked us in San Antone, but we were playing the second night of a back-to-back. Versus the Clips, who'd have thunk that was going to happen? I thought those guys would win the Pacific this year for crying out loud and they were healthy and fully rested. And we blew them out again in LA, again on a back-to-back.

Howevuh, in the case of the unfortunately-named New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (aka The NOOCH) nothing short of a natural disaster or act of God (take your pick, America) was going to prevent the Spurs from beatin' the holy hell out of them.

And this time, they can't blame it on Brownie.


If the Nooch were at full strength I would've expected the game to be quite competitive actually and there's an excellent chance we would've lost, mainly thanks to the edge they'd have had at small forward and point guard, but they were missing their second, third, fourth and fifth best players in David West, Peja Stojakovich, Tyson Chandler and Bobby Jackson, so the game was over before it began.


Also, I think the Nooch's ghastly uniforms, which I can only describe as banana-slug yellow, inspired Pop to give the troops the Cobra Kai speech.
I mean really, what kind of deep meaning do you want from this trainwreck? We outscored them in all four quarters, outshot them from the field, from outside and from the stripe, outrebounded them both offensively and overall, and had way more assisteseses. Nobody played poorly enough for me to rip. Well, maybe Finley did. But I rip him almost every night as it is. The bottom line is that it was our least interesting game of the season thus far. These things happen when you root for the best, so you just gotta deal. I don't know about you, but the lack of drama didn't bother me all that much. I had papers to write. It's December dammit, leave me alone.


Sweep the leg Timmy.


Your 3 Stars!

3) Matt Bonner - A tip of the cap to the red rocket here. Not only did he garner five rebounds in 21 minutes, but he hit four of his six shots. Most surprising of all was that he only attempted one three. Is it me or could he be more useful than Horry in any game that's not on national TV?

2) Tony Parker - Methinks that Le Trou Noir was on the recieving end of a lecture from Coach after the starting shooting guard got only 8 FGA in 34 minutes vs. Minny. Parker looked for Manu early and often this time around and had an excellent overall game with 19 and 8, shooting 60% from the field and harassing Paul into a 2 of 11 night on the other end.

1) Manu Ginobili - The Hustlemaker's 11 1st quarter points took all the intrigue out of this one pretty quickly, and his behind the back number in the 3rd quarter was a thing of beauty. Does it concern me that 12 of Manu's last 24 field goal attempts are from three? Absolutely. But it's the only way he gets the ball when he plays off Tony. He only drives when he starts the play or when he's working a give and go with Tim. Maybe Pop likes this Steve Kerr shit. I'm trying to get used to it. It's like we have two Brent Barrys now. One that plays D and one that doesn't. God, I'm such a dick.

Record: 18-6 Streak: W-3
Up Next: Vs. Philadelphia 76ers
The Answer won't be playing in this one, so one would think it'll be another lopsided runaway. Or...

Weekly Poll

Which Spur would you most like to see play more minutes?

Jackie Butler

Eric Williams

Jacque Vaughn

Matt Bonner

Beno Udrih

Robert Horry

Francisco Elson

Fabricio Oberto

Michael Finley

Brent Barry

Manu Ginobili

Bruce Bowen

Tony Parker

Tim Duncan

See Results

Spurs Beat Up On NBA's Worst Teams

Where the hell have you been, Dingo? In Hawai'i, actually. Thanks for asking. The waves on Oahu's North Shore were perfect for the Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters. And I was fortunate to see U2 and Pearl Jam at Aloha Stadium the night before the Honolulu Marathon, which I decided not to run this year. Maybe in 2007.

So what did I miss? Lots, it appears. The Spurs have gone on a tear, winning 4 in a row and 8 of their last 9 games, by an average margin of 20 points. Nice. I hope the guys are enjoying themselves.



I hate to put a damper on anyone's parade, but the Spurs' opponents this month have all sucked. Excluding the Lakers, who beat the Spurs at Staples, the other 8 teams all have losing records, for a combined record of 63-94.

Tonight the Spurs handed the Iverson-less Sixers yet another loss, but only won by 5. Solid games from Tim, Tony and Manu, especially.

Ginobili scored eight of his 17 points late to lead the Spurs to a 103-98 victory Saturday night, handing the 76ers their 11th straight loss.

Still, the Spurs squandered a 17-point third-quarter advantage and allowed Philadelphia to take a lead late in the fourth. However, Ginobili served up a 3-pointer, another basket and three free throws in the last 2:47 to put the Spurs over 100 and seal the win.

It looks like Michael's assessment of Oberto may be right, as he's playing less and less this month. Just 6 minutes tonight for Oberto, which is the second least he's played in 25 games this season. I hope Michael is wrong and it's not a trend.

Would it matter to anyone if the Spurs were NOT beating up on the wretched refuse of the league? Yeah, I think so.

"I just asked the guys if it wasn't that much of a problem or an inconvenience if they picked up the pressure and played a little more aggressively," Popovich said, recounting his halftime speech (during the Spurs-T'wolves game). "That might be a good idea."

Speaking of playing more aggressively against the league's wretched refuse, too bad the Spurs play the Knicks just once, and that was last month.

Second Verse, Same as the First

Game 22 @ Los Angeles Clippers: Spurs 103, Clippers 81


Oooh, neat. For the second time this season I get to bust out my Duncan-Bears pic.

Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I believe we've established that we match up pretty well with the Clippers. How is it possible that we play a supposedly contending team twice in four games and rout them in almost identical fashion both times? Seriously, the only thing that changed from one game to the next was the uniforms.

I suppose if you want to get mathematically technical, this time the Clippers scored one less point and we scored eight less. At that rate, assuming we don't face them in the playoffs, (very unlikely at this point) the Clips will beat us the second time we face them next season by a score of 77-72. And yeah, theoretically I could see that happening, but only if Horry and Finley come back next year and play 40 minutes each that night.

Which leads me to my next point...

It only took Coach Wino Zitface 22 games to figure out his best starting lineup! Hooray! Hooray! Gumdrops and rainbows and unicorns and big tittied women for everybody!

Pervs!

But I can't imagine a more delightful sequence of events than what transpired Monday night. The right guy finally started at center (sorry fellas, you know it's true), my four favorite Spurs


all played well on the same night, RoHo wasn't around to blow any lay-ups and Findog played 21 insignificant minutes, most of them in the 4th quarter when the game had been long decided. In fact, did you catch the SG rotation Pop used on Monday? Manu started, then came Brent, then came...Manu AGAIN! And then finally Fin. I like that. Do that more often. In fact, just take out the part where Finley checks in and I'll be ecstatic.

Furthermore, what really made the night special, aside from sitting in a bar filled with lunatic Bears fans swearing like banshees after every play, good or bad, was that the Clippers, who ordinarily boast two of the ugliest five NBA players of all time in their starting five, serendipitously gave only ten minutes of floor time to one and a DNP-Stomach Virus to the other. In other words, I was able to keep my meal down without incident.

Now there is nothing Sam "E.T." Cassell can do about his unfortunate head. At least God made it up to him (somewhat) by giving him a talent to make ridiculous amount of coin so that he can buy all the companionship he could ever want. Chris Kaman on the other hand, I find to be a lot more perplexing curiousity. This man is no prize, by any means, but he has chosen to make himself uglier than nature intended voluntarily.

The obvious example people like Simmons bring up to describe Kaman's looks is The Hulkster because of his long stringy platinum blonde hair, but I can think of a couple of other celeberties that make for a much more prudent comparison.

From a pure physical standpoint, I have to go with my man Ernie McCracken
(perhaps Bill Murray's best performance ever) from Kingpin. Both Kaman's and Ernie's hair seem to get longer and thinner as a game goes on which I find to be a fascinating phenomenon.

On the other hand, in the philosophical "what was he thinking?" sense, the best choice has to be, hands down, Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins. Just let me explain. See Billy, when he first got famous, after the hit single "Today" was the decent enough looking, if slightly pug-nosed fellow that you see here in the middle:
However, perhaps after his 1,000th consecutive night of ravaging several willing groupies my theory is that young Billy grew jaded about the importance of his physical appearance in relation to attracting the female sex. My guess is that one night he had this epiphany and thought to himself, "If I hear one more ho tell me how cute I am, I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to make myself as ugly as possible so that from now on when these nymphs throw themselves at me, I won't be the least bit delusional about their motivations for doing so."

And thus we were presented with modern Billy:



You follow me?

So either Kaman just want to make sure his hos are just hos or he wants the future Mrs. Kaman to have to really prove the extent of her commitment. That's deep yo.

Either way, his absence let Paul Davis of Michigan State play, a guy I've always liked watching in the big dance, and he went off on us to the tune of 15 and 6 in the fourth quarter. I hope he'll get more run as the season goes along (somebody the Spurs should keep their eyes on, btw, just in case)...

Um... your 3 stars!

3. Tim Duncan - Struggled a bit with fouls, but he had the Clips at his mercy on offense, passing flawlessly from the post time and again to open shooters. His five dimes in the first 5:30 helped us get out to a 16-7 lead an we kinda cruised from there.

2. Manu Ginobili - Another routine 18 points in ten shots and only 23 minutes. He's in one of those hot streaks right now where he can score pretty much whenever they need him to, but we simply don't need him to that often. He's doing most of his damage early to set up the runaways and chilling in the second half.

1. Brent Barry - A bad, baaad man. One could argue he's been the team MVP at the quarter pole. His play more than any Spur has been far above what was expected. I cringe at the thought of where this team would be right now if he was playing as poorly as Fin and RoHo.

Record: 16-6 Streak: W-1
Up Next: Vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Same shit, different year. Timmy will probably have a slightly worse night than KG in the box score, but he'll make more plays when it counts and we'll pull away late. I've never bought into the "If KG was a Spur and Duncan was a Timberwolf, nothing would change between the two franchises" argument. Not for a second. It was pretty much the first thing I ever wrote for PtR last year.

LIKE YOUR GRANDMA USED TO GIVE YOU

Urbane philosopher Tasty Taste once wrote (in the epic poem Granny Said Kick Yo Ass) : "I'm gonna kick yo' ass"

"That was just a good old-fashioned butt whuppin'," Clippers point guard Sam Cassell said. "Like your grandma used to give you when you messed up and you knew you were going to get it."

(Coach Don Nelson of the Warriors described their 129-89 loss as "an ass-kicking," as we reported)

WHY THE NBA IS ON NOTICE THAT FRESH, CRITICAL BEATDOWNS ARE NOW BEING SERVED:
* Tony Parker remembers that he can pass. 12 assists in the half against the Clippers. In... the... half. 15 for the game, career-best, and 8 of 9 first-half treys were assists from him. Of course, Eva Longoria is calling his love permanent and marrying him now. The man just keeps showing new levels of improving his game.
* Francisco Elson is a member of the above-mentioned prodigy's fan club. SanFran (as I'm now calling him, mark your calendars) is breaking with Tres Bien and it's on, fully. Their N-A-S-T-Y dunk combo on the Clips was Nash-Stoudemire worthy. Remember, Tony used to shoot first and pass questions later, and SanFran used to be on another team.
* 5 To 1, baby, 1 in 5 ... 31 assists to 6 turnovers (season low)
* rare, early season .750 win record, tied for league best, and it's not even Chanukah yet, much less Cinqo de Mayo
* 75% also represents our FT %, which makes the Spurs dangerous. Seriously.
* we've won the last 3 by about 90 points, averaging over 20 a game, a franchise first
* Our bench is putting up huge numbers, especially minutes. Scary. Especially since Finley and Ginobili are both benefitting greatly from their rotation. Tim and Rob are getting rest, and our reserves are getting really good.

This is what dynasties are made of. See below for erudite observations of the Wreck of the Hesperus game the Spurs just laid on the Clippers...

Damn It Feels Good To Be a Gangsta

Game 20 Vs. Los Angeles Clippers: Spurs 111, Clippers 82


Well, that was anti-climatic. Silly me, I thought the Clips would actually give us a game. Oops. Right now we’re just crushing everybody. In fact, our last three games have all been pretty one sided. It’s almost as if we added something to our arsenal, starting with the Warriors game that we hadn’t had before when we were slumping…

Eh, screw it, I have no idea what it is. I’ll figure it out though. Right now, let’s just enjoy the ass-kickin’ montage, eh? Right now the Spurs are Peter Gibbons, and the rest of the league is Initech.




More and more it seems clear to me that we’ve got the best team. The Oberto/Elson combo at center is leaps and bounds more productive on both ends of the floor than ‘Sho/T-Rex was last season, Bones Barry is playing about as well as he can possibly play, coach is finally using the right guy at backup point and giving him decent minutes to boot and even Findog and RoHo are rounding into form. The big three are looking as solid as ever, alternating big nights as needed, but nobody really stealing the show.

I’m a full-fledged believer in the Michael Lewis/Rob Neyer/Bill James “Moneyball” new-school method of baseball analysis, and one of their main commandments about baseball teams is that you can tell how good somebody is by their run differential. How any team, regardless of talent, coaching, or “veteran experience” does in close games is largely based on luck. When a play here or there at the end determines a game’s outcome, you can’t really make a definitive statement about the quality of either team that day. But you show me a club that wins a ton of blowouts, and I’ll show you a good team. And well, though 20 games, the standings tell the story. The Spurs scoring differential is 9.2 points a night. The next best team is the Rockets, at 6.4. This is why, even taking into account the Mavs’ recent hot spell, I still think Houston is the best bet to face off against us in the Western Conference Finals. Really my only concern about the Rockets is whether T-Mac and Yao can hold up.

As for this game itself, what can I say? The first half was an absolute clinic. We could have played anybody last night and it wouldn't have mattered. You know how coaches have that cliché about a team needing to play as well it can for 48 minutes to win? For us it’s simply not the case. Most games all we really need is one great quarter, maybe two, and it’s plenty good enough to get the job done. And I suspect that deep inside Pop knows this. No wonder he’s always got that grumpy look at the end of games these days. He knows it’s going to be hard to yell at the team about anything. I bet he’s glad we’ve got four games in the next five nights, because it’s really only these kinds of situations that will present us with adversity or a challenge.

Except for maybe three or four notable exceptions, our opponents really won’t matter for the rest of the season. That might sound cocky, but it’s true. Teams won’t challenge us, situations will.

Injuries.

Fatigue.

Back-to-backs.

Long road trips.

When we’ve got our full roster healthy and playing average for them, nobody on the planet can beat us. Unlike some other teams we’ve blown out this season, the Clips had no excuse. None. They were fully rested (their previous game was on Tuesday) and fully healthy. And we just smoked them.

While the level of our execution was inspiring, it certainly wasn’t very interesting. Actually, the only intrigue I found in the game had to do with one Tony Parker. Now, before I get started, let me point out if haven’t been crystal clear in my flowing praise already, that the entire team is playing incredibly well and that ANYONE who isn’t Pop or one of the assistant coaches would have to be an unbelievably irrational asshole, a complete nitwit, a total lowlife, and a nitpicking muckraker.

Now with all that being said, well I’m kinda ticked off at Tony.

Why you ask? How in god's name could you upset with a guy for a having a career high 15 assists? Are you sick in the head?

Of course I'm sick in the head. And he could have (and should have) had 20 assists.

The first half of the game was one of best two quarter stretches I've ever seen Tony play. He only took two shots and missed both, but he had 12 dimes, setting up teammates time and again with wide open shots. You know, like a real point guard would. The team certainly wasn't missing his scoring because his passes helped the Spurs score a whopping (for them) 65 points in the first 24 minutes.

Yet, here was Parker's quote afterward about his first half: "They (the Clippers) were kind of forcing me to pass it because they never really left me open," Parker said. "My teammates kept making shots, so I decided to keep passing the ball."

Forcing you to pass. Oh, you poor thing. Next you'll tell me Eva forces you to go down on her every now and then. What a shitty life you have. Let's just have Andrew Lloyd Webber write Les Misarables: Part Deux about the burden of being an NBA point guard and having talented teammates and stuff. Gimme a break, Frenchie. Who are you, Mike Vick?

Anyway, despite us decimating the Clips in the first half just with Parker passing the ball, he still couldn't process that the two things weren't coincedential - that they had a very real and easily explainable cause and effect relationship. In the third quarter he took eight, count 'em eight shots, including a couple of wayward jumpers, and lo and behold we scored just an average 25 points for the period after managing 33 in the 1st and 32 in the 2nd.

And people wonder why I complain about Tony Parker. If he always played like the guy who showed up in the 1st half, I'd be the biggest Tony fan on the planet. But even after playing in a fashion that enabled his team to run up a 20 point lead and even with the Clippers making zero adjustments defensively at half time, it was like physically paining Tony to not shoot the ball. In the 3rd quarter he effectively told the team, "Hey, we've got a big enough lead, I'm gonna get mine now, no matter how open anyone is." And that pisses me off.

In closing, just in case you don't get my point:



(For the record, it took me 10 minutes to find a picture of Tony on Yahoo! that shows him passing. I had to navigate through countless shots of some naked white guy. Just so you know the sacrifices I've made to get my message across.)

Your 3 Stars:

3) Manu Ginobili - I kind of feel guilty giving this to him. It could have just as easily been Tim or Brent or Fab or like three other guys. We're playing so well right now that the pale triangle is like openly mocking their opponents, trying more and more audacious passes, shooting from further and further away. They're like that intramural 3-on-3 team that have played together for years and purposefully playing in a league two levels below where they should play, just so they can feast on all the freshman newcomers who just signed up because "they thought it'd be fun and a way to get some exercise." Still, 22 points in 20 minutes is pretty neat. I loved the Pop quote about wishing he would play more minutes. I agree, Pop, that is most unfortunate. If only there was a person who was in charge of rationing out the playing time on the team. Like a manager or coach or someone. D'oh!

2) Francisco Elson - Along with Oberto he did an excellent job on Elton Brand, rebounded well, provided some decent help defense and killed the Clips with his ability to run down the floor ahead of the other big guys. His oop to Tony's alley drew a loud scream from me in an empty sports bar. I'm glad he's not in the doghouse anymore, we're gonna need this guy a lot in May and June.

1) Tony Parker - The point of my rant wasn't to belittle him. I just wanted to point out that he played so amazingly well in the first half that I had no idea why he wanted to change anything. I want to see this Parker more often.

Record: 15-5 Streak: W-4
Up Next: @ Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakeshow has surprised some folks so far this year, but if you look at their roster their record makes sense. They're probably deeper at forward than any other team at the league. Odom has been playing at an All-Star level, Walton is having a career year, and they're getting valuable contributions from guys like Ronny Turiaf, Mauice Evans and Vladimir Radmanovic. Obviously a lot depends on whether Mamba plays or not, but I'm guessing that Phil specifically held him out of the Hawks game so he can lace 'em up for us. We'll need Bruce to be on his game and I'm guessing Manu will finally crack the 25 minute plateau.

Spurs Euthanize Bobcats

Game 19 vs. Charlotte: Spurs 96, Bobcats 76
Record: 14-5 Streak: W-3

The Spurs beat the Bobcats on Tuesday, thanks in part to another night of great free throw shooting (really?) and another poor outing by the love child of Larry Bird and Jack White.

[Just to be clear, I have all the respect in the world for Bird and White, I just thought the line was funny enough to bear repeating.]

Frankly, it's hard for me to get excited about this win, even if it was payback for the loss against Charlotte in San Antonio last month.

I mean, there are so many more important things in the news ... the confirmation hearings of Robert Gates ... the findings of the Iraq Study Group ... the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko ... Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter is pregnant ... dozens sick from E. coli in green onions at Taco Bell ... freak tornado hits London ... evidence of recent water on Mars ... James Kim dies while attempting to get help for his stranded family in Oregon mountains ... a San Antonio coed hooks up with actor Vince Vaughn ... 2007 Grammy Award nominees are announced ...

Ok, so none of this has anything to do with the Spurs or NBA basketball. Where was I? Oh, right. The Bobcats are arguably the worst team in the league, and the Spurs are one of the best (the best?). Where's the fun in that?

Just ask Sean May how tough it is playing the Spurs.

"They take Robert Horry, who's old as dirt, and they put him in a ball screen and you have to make a decision," May said. "Are you going to stop Tony Parker from getting a layup or Robert Horry from hitting that 3? They just put you in a tough position."

I mean, you wouldn't expect to see eight (!) Spurs play 20+ minutes against any other team, would you? No, not even against the Memphis Grizzlies, sin Gasol.

It certainly didn't help that Bobcats guard Brevin Knight (#4 points, #1 assists) was ejected in the third quarter or that Adam Morrison (#2 points) was 1-of-10 from the field.

This victory proved nothing. The next few days will be more telling: the Clippers at home, followed by both the Lakers and Clippers in LA. Let's hope the Spurs keep up the good work.

Manu Wrote This Blog For Me

Game 18 vs. Golden State: Spurs 129, Warriors 89



Wowzers. That's more like it. Running, ball movement, not too many careless turnovers, and most importantly, the ball going IN the basket. It's important to not put too much stock into a runaway like this because let's face it, we played about as well as we can possibly play against a miserable defensive team. Is it an encouraging sign? Absolutely. But ultimately it's nothing to be too excited about unless they manage to sustain it going forward.

I mean seriously, what's there to analyze? We had 75 freakin' bench points, and I'll be surprised if anybody in the league puts up a higher number in that category the rest of this season. And no, I have no way of checking that. Homework assignment for Dingo or Bramlet, I guess.

How many different ways are there to state that the team ran on all cylinders?

• We had 37 assists on 49 made baskets.
  
• We shot a blistering 56.5% from three, hitting 13 of 23.
  
• Sank 18 of 19 freebies, usually our biggest bugaboo (Tim only had four attempts).
  
• Just to put the 75 bench points in perspective, our whole team got only 75 in Utah.
  
• We had eight guys in double figures, and Manu wasn't even one of them. Or Bruce.
  
• No starter played more than 28 minutes, and everyone in uniform got at least ten.
  
• Heck, even Horry and Finley combined for 24 points on 8 of 13 from the field.

Of course the biggest development of the evening was the return to action of one Emanuel David Ginobili. He only played 16 minutes -- coming off the bench no less -- but managed to leave an indelible mark on the game by dishing out nine dimes to go with his three buckets. Call me crazy, but I don't find it to be a coincedence that the ball movement for the team improved as a whole with his return. Passing is contagious folks, and once you get one or two guys making the fancy pass to get the fans going, the rest of the team will want to get in on the act. Or perhaps you didn't notice Elson's five assists.

The number of helpers Ginobili had might look impressive on the box score, but really, trust me when I say this, he didn't play any differently than he usually does. Manu always sets people up with wide open looks the whole game. How many assists he finishes with is dependent solely on how many shots his teammates knock down. Last night nobody missed. I firmly believe that if Pop let him play point guard, he could average 11 assists a game easily.

The reasons he doesn't do this are because A) Manu can't guard opposing points, B) he'd be too exhausted to play more than 25 minutes a night if he always had the ball, and C) he'd probably average a half dozen turnovers a game. But as a playmaker, Gino wouldn't leave any teammates wanting, that's for sure. I don't know how many more games, if any, Manu will continue to come off the bench, but as long as he gets 30 minutes a night, I don't really care if he starts or not to tell you the truth. What I do know is that I love the chemistry of the pale triangle and I'd love to see those three guys play together as much as possible; at least ten minutes per game.

In either case, I can think of a couple guys who'd like for him to play a lot.

In all seriousness it looks like the two old-timers are starting to slowly get themselves into the season mentally, and I am hopeful that they'll both be more productive as we go along. It was also good to see Brent get his stroke back and for Elson to get some big minutes again. Now the only question is what they'll do for an encore at Charlotte.

Your 3 Stars:

3) Francisco Elson - The big guy finally got some run tonight, playing 25 minutes. Is he finally out of the doghouse for good? Time will tell. He ran the floor well, was very active on both ends of the floor, and his passing was excellent.

2) Manu Ginobili - He gets extra credit for playing very well in his return from injury. Nine assists is a pretty neat trick in only fifteen minutes of playing time, and he took it to the basket more than he gave himself credit for afterward, with all three makes inside of five feet.

1) Tony Parker - What's this? A pass first point guard? Tres bien Tony. Seven dimes, zero turnovers, and he hit six of nine shots to boot. Got the team off to an excellent start in the first quarter and we never looked back.

Record: 13-5 Streak: W-2
Up Next: @ Charlotte Bobcats
Our first must-win game of the season looms on Wednesday. I'm being serious here! I think it'd be a totally cool accomplishment for the Spurs to beat everyone at least once this season. I don't believe they've ever done it before, as one or two Eastern teams always seem to have their number in any given season. I'm not sure how many times the feat has been accomplished by any team. Probably the '96 72 win Bulls pulled it off last. Yet another homework assignment for the fellas at Spursdynasty. Anyway, we're gonna kick their ass.

The Way Nellie Looks at it

Following the Spurs 129-89 point dismantling of the Golden State Warriors (much due for their comeuppance with the SpursDynasty crew in the gym in Oakland) ...

"The way I look at it," Nelson said, "it was an ass kicking. We got it. They gave it. End of story."

An ugly win

"It was an ugly win and we'll take it. But we definitely need to go back (and) do some more practice and try to play better."
--Tony Parker

Game 17 vs. Sacramento: Spurs 100, Kings 98
Record: 12-5 Streak: W-1

Ugly? 18 Spurs turnovers. Five of them by Parker.

Ugly? Kevin "Pretty Boy" Martin scoring 30 and all five Kings' starters scoring in double digits.

Ugly? Bruce Bowen scoring 23 points, shooting 6 for 7 from behind the arc. (Wait, that's not ugly, just insane.)

Ugly? The Spurs leading by 10 near the end of the third and then getting outscored 27-20 in the fourth.

Ugly? The Spurs are playing .500 ball (3-3) these last two weeks.

Ugly? Mike Bibby.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Game 16 @ Utah, Jazz 83, Spurs 75

I don’t know about y’all, but I could hear that gynormous sucking sound at Utah all the way from my apartment in San Diego. And for once, it wasn’t the self-esteemless Ho-bags on
Big Love.


Okay, so the fourth girl isn't technically one of the Ho-bags. She's Amanda Seyfried and she plays the oldest daughter on the show. I just included her because she is SMOKIN'. Also, I think the big secret in Season 2 will be that she's a lesbian. Just a hunch. You heard it here first. Still, the best character by far on the show is Ho-Bag # 2, Nikki (Chloe Sevigny). She's awesome.

Why was I talking about a bunch of fictional polygamist Mormons again?


Um….


Thinking…


Oh. Right.


Cos, the Spurs are BORING.


Watching them play last Wednesday, I couldn’t help but feel something was missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something was just off.

So let’s run down the checklist, and figure it together.

1) Tim Duncan’s bankshot. Check. He made a couple.
2) Oberto getting schooled by a decent NBA center. Check.
3) Tony missing jumpers, making garbage time lay-ups. Check and check.
4) Pop not playing Francisco Elson enough. Check.
5) Beno putting up more shots than the rest of the bench combined. Check.
6) Robert Horry stealing money. Check.
7) Findog playing like total ass. CHECK.


So have you figured it out yet? Here’s a hint….



You know that song that goes something like, “You don’t know what you’ve got til’ it’s gone?” Well that’s where the Spurs are right now, sans Manu. The only guy who can penetrate is Tony and more and more people are starting to go under the screens and sag back on him. That jumper of his that was so money for the first five, six games of the year is all but a distant memory now as once again, he’s clanking almost everything outside of 10 feet.

Not that I’m blaming Tony for this mess. He is what he is. It’s just that right now him and Tim are getting no help whatsoever from a third banana. The Jazz did the best job anyone’s done all season of not leaving Brent no matter what, so he was mostly a non-factor. And both Fin and RoHo failed to pick up the slack, shooting a combined 2 of 13.

Horry in particular hurt us at both ends of the floor as Carlos Boozer humiliated him repeatedly down low whenever the two were matched up. Beno chipped in with 11, but it took him 11 shots to get there, and that’s no way to give John Hollinger a boner.

Yeah, yeah, smart guy, I know Bruce Bowen had 17. It was still wasted though. If he's getting 12 shots, something is drastically wrong with the offense. What is he doing playing 40 minutes a night at 35 years old? Getting lit up by the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, that’s what. The offense is stagnant, lifeless. They went to the line a measly 14 times, and were outrebounded 50-34 overall, and 16 to 7 on the offensive end. Being tired isn’t an excuse, it wasn’t even a back-to-back.

This is the second game in a row now where we've relied on Tim to initiate the offense so much that he's exhausted by the fourth quarter. He can't post up every single time. Even he needs to be just a catch and shoot guy now and then. And Oberto isn't going to get it done against legit centers, okay? He looks great against small teams, but throw some size and skill and rebounding desire at him, and it's not gonna happen. He's had three games now against West centers who can play: Yao, Biedrins, and Okur, and for those three games he's been a D-minus minus. In 62 combined minutes Bowen and Fab-O had two rebounds.

I'm aware a lot of what ails us could be solved simply if Finley and Horry could hit some shots. But how many games are we going to wait for that to happen? Barry isn't nearly as effective without proper floor spacing and the threat of multiple drive and kick guys. We need some youth. We need some energy.

We need James "Flight" White.

He can, I'm guessing, take it to the cup. Most dunk champions can, right? Or is this like a gross generalization? He can give Bruce and Fin a break. He can give Bones some room to get his shot off. Maybe he can even stick his nose in there and use his pogo legs to grab the occasional rebound.

Besides that what else can we do?

1) Play Elson more. He's got a bit more size than Oberto and can grab more rebounds and block more shots than Oberto can. Besides, not having his countryman on the floor with him seems to be affecting Oberto's game. Tony isn't getting him involved.

2) Play Bonner more. At this point I'm desperate enough to try anything. I'm sick and tired of watching Horry take fadeaway 3s with ten seconds left on the shot clock. Five shots vs. the Jazz and four were threes? What a big hairy girl. He should've retired already.

3) Give Butler another shot. Yeah, he was pretty awful the one game he played, but maybe his size can give other teams trouble down low. He should be able to score. It's not like he'll be doubleteamed with Tim out there. Remember, in his 12 minutes vs. the Heat, Tim was on the bench.

Eh, screw it. This is frustrating. I can't write anymore about this tonight.

Your 3 Stars (But not really)

3) Brent Barry - It's not his fault he was covered like glue. At least he found a way to contribute with five assists and didn't force anything. He misses El Contusión more than anyone.

2) Bruce Bowen - He wasn't even any good defensively and helped us get creamed on the boards. But there are like literally no other candidates here. We played awful.

1) Tim Duncan - 21-10-4-3, and completely ran out of gas midway through the 3rd. If he were KG he'd be like punching Bonner in the face in practice right about now, just because he can. Thankfully, he's not an overrated loser like KG. Yeah, I said it.

Record: 11-5 Streak: L-2
Up Next: Vs. Sacramento Kings
The Good News is that the Spurs should be fully rested, not having played since Wednesday and having had a practice session to possibly resolve some of their issues. The bad news is that Manu is still out and I don't like this match-up at all. I suppose the fact that the Kings played last night will help a little bit, but I have a feeling that Kevin Martin is gonna hurt us tonight. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we come away with a W.