Madge Outspur Spurs, Mix In Some Dunks Just For Kicks
(Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)
This might be a little too much information about me, but for various reasons, the girlfriend and I, had our first sexual tryst in about two weeks Sunday night. In the, uh, afterglow, I asked her, embarrassed, “That went bad, didn’t it?”
“Well, it wasn’t good,” she replied, brutally honest as always.
And that pretty much sums up the Spurs performance against the Madge. It wasn’t good.
Dammit, this always happens when I hype this team up. They immediately shit the bed their next game. Two weeks ago I told Manoli after the team won the game on Phoenix on Mason’s buzzer beater that they’d probably go on a ten game winning streak. Shortly thereafter, they lost to the lowly Bucks – at home. They can’t seem to string more than four or five wins together, and that, in and of itself, isn’t the worst thing in the world, but the frustrating part is that they can’t seem to beat anybody who’s actually any good.
What are their best wins so far? The Suns game on Christmas? The one at Dallas? It’s not a very long list. The game was so dispiriting, despite my obvious elation about the Eagles game earlier in the day, that I even took the time to re-read my last recap, just to evaluate if I was too effusive in my praise of the team to this point of the season. I mean, honestly, even though it might seem like integrity in a sports blogger is about as useful as an asshole on an elbow, I do kinda value my reputation as a Spurs commentator and I don't want anyone in the world to think of me as the Dave Spadaro of the Spurs.
Spadaro, you see, is this fellow who is, by far, my single least favorite thing about the Eagles organization. He is basically, a flak, a tool, a PR spin doctor employed by the team (to the point of them giving him an NFC Championship ring after the '04 season) masquerading as a "journalist" who always sees the silver cloud no matter how badly the team flubs a game, a draft pick, a free agent signing, whatever. He is to the Eagles what Scott McClellan was to the Bush administration. Every training camp, he talks up some schmoe like he's going to be some Pro-Bowler. This year it was running back Lorenzo Booker, whom Mr. Spadaro practically promised would be the second coming of Thurman Thomas in July. Booker, it turned out, could never catch or block; pretty important requirements of a running back in the Eagles' offense, and has thusly been on the inactive list for the majority of the season. He has about as much of a chance of making a contribution in our next playoff game as I do. It'd be one thing if Spuds was always optimistic and sunny about everyone and everything, but what really bothers me about him is how cold and dismissive he is about the same guys he gushed about once they leave the organization. No matter who gets cut, or traded, or leaves in free agency, Spadaro always acts like the guy wasn't a big loss, was on the decline, was overrated, etc. I hate that about him.
Anyway, I really don't want to be that guy. Yet, I find myself in a position of having to be a homer, or at least a strong advocate of the Spurs, just to counterbalance the pharmacist's overwhelming negativity. Seriously Matthew, at this point you're like an honorary Eagles fan. It's weird, the contrast between the attitudes on the two Spurs blogs I choose to rut with. I am, above and beyond, the most negative guy on Spursdynasty, yet I'm the cheeriest on PtR. Meanwhile, on Spurstalk.com, which I frequent often, I'm probably in the middle somewhere.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'll have to be more careful in what I write in the future so don't sound like a total dipshit. I obviously have my biases, but there have always been certain guys I've been critical of. Horry and Finley being the two that immediately come to mind. And Tony, of course, because let's face it, Tony Parker sucks and he's the sole reason Manu doesn't average 30 points and 10 assists a game. This year, I've seen the folly of my past ways and have decided to stop ripping Pop, thereby depriving me (and therefore, all of you) of 40% of my funniest material. Also, they finally got rid of Horry (there goes another 20%). Now all I have left to rip on is Fin and Bruce Bowen.
Oh that reminds me: Bruce Bowen is terrible. Like seriously, he is the second least valuable guy on our 14 man roster, after the JV. With Manu back and Udoka still on the roster, why Bowen isn't getting a steady stream of DNP-CDs is beyond me. Even Manu hinted in his column in the Argentina papers that Bruce has pretty much lost it, writing that Mason has taken most of his minutes because "Bruce cannot play forever." I'm sure that'll go over well in the locker room. I have to admit, that was kind of a dumb thing of Manu to do. He probably shouldn't be writing immediately after frustrating losses. It took me a couple years to figure that out.Anyway, as far as the game goes, I liked very little of what I saw. We settled for way too many long two point jumpshots, too many contested shots in general. That's pretty rare for us. Usually the Spurs take more open shots than just about any team in the league. Orlando wasn't doing anything special or unusual defensively, outside of not double-teaming Tim, and even though that limited our three point opportunities, the team still didn't do a very good job of moving the ball, cutting, just looking for good shots in general. The team just played lazy basketball, basically, and there was no excuse for it. They had plenty of rest and they weren't playing against exactly the most capable or committed group of defensive players. The laziness extended to the defensive end as well as we gave Orlando way too many open looks at three, even on the shots they missed, and they really didn't have to work very hard for their open shots. By my count of the 14 threes they made, only two, maybe three, were the byproducts of good offensive execution and good ball movement by the Magic. The rest were all very preventable and just guys overplaying the drive, not fighting through screens, blowing assignments, what have you.
Nelson 1 – Parker
Lewis 1 – Bonner
Johnson 1 – Nobody
Reddick 1 – Mason
Turkoglu 1 – Bowen
Reddick 2 – Mason
Lee 1 – Ginobili
Nelson 2 – Ginobili
Turkoglu 2 - Finley
Reddick 3 - Hill
Bogans 2 – Parker
Lewis 2 – Ginobili
Reddick 4 – Mason
Nelson 3 – Parker
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