Starting To Come Together, Pepper...Starting To Come Together
That was my favorite win of the season.
I hesitate to say the best win of the season, though I think the case could (quite convincingly) be made. But it was my favorite. Everything just seemed to be working right, and it finally felt like the team had an identity and was playing together. Just great stuff to watch.
It seems redundant to keep talking about how great Ginobili has been over the last month or so, but come on.
Right now, Ginobili is one of the five to ten best players in the league. He is doing everything for this team. Everything. Scoring. Playmaking. Ball handling. Clutch defense. Leadership. Desire. I'm half-expecting him to rub his hands together and heal Tony Parker Miyagi style. He's reminding every Spurs fan why he is the fan favorite, and reminding the rest of the league why he has won everywhere he goes.
Jefferson had another great game. When I watch Jefferson, I'm not concerned about the numbers (though they were great tonight). What I'm watching is his activity and his engagement with the game. He needs to feel part of the action and feel like his presence affects the outcome of the game. That's why playing with Ginobili helps him so much, because Ginobili plays the ultimate team game. The two early fouls motivated Jefferson, and he came out in the 2nd quarter with something to prove.
Blair might have had the ugliest best game I've seen since Oberto was in the Silver and Black. Every time he touched the ball I was preparing myself to cringe, and I was very often rewarded with a cringe-worthy play. But he also got almost every offensive rebound in the 4th quarter, which took the air out of the game and the Celtics, thwarting any attempt at a comeback. We were hardly an offensive powerhouse in the final frame, but when every possession is essentially 2, and kills about 40-45 seconds of game clock, there's little chance of a comeback.
More than anything, over these last 5 games it just feels like we're finally a team. We have an identity, we have a rotation, and everyone seems to be contributing in the ways that best suit their skill set. And everyone seems to be playing well within their skill set, even Bogans. (Everyone but Mason, Jr. That's another story for another day.) For the first time all season, I feel like there's a chance to compete with any team in the west, save for the Lakers. But if we can stay out of 8th, we can "make some noise", as the cliche goes.
Again, all of this hope is tempered by the return of Parker. It's nothing to do with Parker's abilities or his game. But we've finally found a groove and a rhythm, after desperately searching for one all season. And now we want to disrupt that yet again? It's really an untenable situation. Parker is a great player, you'd be foolish not to put him back in the rotation. But for whatever reason, we're playing better without him, and we jeopardize losing that by changing anything.
Looking Forward:
Warning: TRAP GAME! TRAP GAME! We play the worst team in the league after scoring one of our biggest wins of the season. If ever there was an opportunity for a letdown, this would be it. Here's hoping we're better than that.
I hesitate to say the best win of the season, though I think the case could (quite convincingly) be made. But it was my favorite. Everything just seemed to be working right, and it finally felt like the team had an identity and was playing together. Just great stuff to watch.
It seems redundant to keep talking about how great Ginobili has been over the last month or so, but come on.
Right now, Ginobili is one of the five to ten best players in the league. He is doing everything for this team. Everything. Scoring. Playmaking. Ball handling. Clutch defense. Leadership. Desire. I'm half-expecting him to rub his hands together and heal Tony Parker Miyagi style. He's reminding every Spurs fan why he is the fan favorite, and reminding the rest of the league why he has won everywhere he goes.
Jefferson had another great game. When I watch Jefferson, I'm not concerned about the numbers (though they were great tonight). What I'm watching is his activity and his engagement with the game. He needs to feel part of the action and feel like his presence affects the outcome of the game. That's why playing with Ginobili helps him so much, because Ginobili plays the ultimate team game. The two early fouls motivated Jefferson, and he came out in the 2nd quarter with something to prove.
Blair might have had the ugliest best game I've seen since Oberto was in the Silver and Black. Every time he touched the ball I was preparing myself to cringe, and I was very often rewarded with a cringe-worthy play. But he also got almost every offensive rebound in the 4th quarter, which took the air out of the game and the Celtics, thwarting any attempt at a comeback. We were hardly an offensive powerhouse in the final frame, but when every possession is essentially 2, and kills about 40-45 seconds of game clock, there's little chance of a comeback.
More than anything, over these last 5 games it just feels like we're finally a team. We have an identity, we have a rotation, and everyone seems to be contributing in the ways that best suit their skill set. And everyone seems to be playing well within their skill set, even Bogans. (Everyone but Mason, Jr. That's another story for another day.) For the first time all season, I feel like there's a chance to compete with any team in the west, save for the Lakers. But if we can stay out of 8th, we can "make some noise", as the cliche goes.
Again, all of this hope is tempered by the return of Parker. It's nothing to do with Parker's abilities or his game. But we've finally found a groove and a rhythm, after desperately searching for one all season. And now we want to disrupt that yet again? It's really an untenable situation. Parker is a great player, you'd be foolish not to put him back in the rotation. But for whatever reason, we're playing better without him, and we jeopardize losing that by changing anything.
Looking Forward:
Warning: TRAP GAME! TRAP GAME! We play the worst team in the league after scoring one of our biggest wins of the season. If ever there was an opportunity for a letdown, this would be it. Here's hoping we're better than that.
posted by secretchord53 at 8:31 PM
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