The Third Quarter Massacre
A familiar problem to anyone who watched the Spurs last year resurfaced in tonight's 99-90 loss to the New Orleans Hornets: the inability to play a complete 48 minutes. We played 2 sterling quarters (the first and the fourth), winning them by a combined score of 54-40. However, the middle two quarters were a completely different story, as the Hornets outscored us 59-36. Yikes. The real killer was the close to the third quarter, when the Spurs went almost 6 minutes without a field goal and the Hornets pulled away, ultimately putting the game out of reach, despite a noble effort by the squad of Ginobili, Hill, Jefferson, Neal, and Blair that played almost the entirety of the 4th quarter and got us to within 3 before running out of gas.
People may question Pop's choice to play the same group for the entire quarter and not put Duncan or Parker back in once the game got close. I can see both sides of the dilemma, but I support continuing to play the players that got you back into the game. That squad had a real chemistry going and clearly had the Hornets back on their heels. We were one 3-pointer away from tying the game in the last 2 minutes and changing the complexity of how the game ended.
The Hornets present a particularly frustrating challenge to us, as their best players are at the two positions that seem to give us the most trouble defensively: PG and PF. Chris Paul is an all-world player and is a problem for anybody. But the way he went off in the 3rd quarter was devastating. That might have been partly why Pop never went back to Parker, even though he was playing very well offensively. David West has been a thorn in our side for the last 4 years. We really don't have anybody to guard those middle 4s, who rely mostly on midrange jump shots. I'll be interested to see how Splitter fares against them.
What I Liked:
Welcome to the team...now start making some 3s. Both Anderson and Neal got a healthy dose of playing time tonight, and both played well. Again, I was impressed with Anderson's will to compete, especially on the defensive end. And Neal showed why the Spurs gave him a contract out of summer league: the man can flat out shoot, something our team sorely missed last season. I like the way the pieces are starting to fit together.
Richard Jefferson's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. Of all the things that keyed our 4th quarter rally, perhaps nothing was more important that RJ's offense. He's aggressive and attacking the rim, but he's doing it with a confidence and a purpose that he didn't have last year. I'm excited to watch how he grows with the team this season.
George Hill, 4th Quarter Specialist. Does Hill just need to play the 4th quarter of each game? Again, he was spectacular in the final frame while playing poorly in the first 3. His defense on Paul was nothing short of terrific.
More Cohesion. At least to start the game, the starters played much better together, and the offense was really clicking in the first quarter. Parker was especially effective, looking like the Parker of yore.
Lock that up. Speaking of which, congrats to Parker on his new extension. Despite rumors and innuendo to the opposite, Parker has always insisted that he wanted to remain a Spur; and now he will. Parker is a favorite scapegoat of the Spurs faithful, but when he is healthy, he is as dynamic a player as there is in the NBA and gives our offense a unique dimension.
My new iMac. My 6-year old starter Dell died last week. Honestly, it was a miracle it had lasted that long so effectively. I took the plunge and jumped over to an iMac. How have I lived until now? This thing is amazing. Not only that, it's instantly my best TV and makes watching the games online more enjoyable than when the Spurs are on National TV.
What I Didn't Like:
Half a game. As mentioned earlier, we played a really great half of a game. We need to tighten that up, obviously.
Early game giveaways. This is a game we could have won and we didn't. I would like to see more urgency from our team early in the season to get some wins.
George Hill, First 3 Quarters Dog. Again he seemed to press, he seemed out of sorts, and his shot is still MIA. I know he'll find it. I just wonder if the pressure is getting to him a little bit. Much like jumping from 50 wins to championship contender seems to be the hardest leap for a team, jumping from really good player to great player seems to be the hardest jump for a player. We have a lot of expectations for Hill this year, but it might be rough roads for a while before he figures it out and finds his place on this team.
Slow Down, Big Man. As Sean Elliott said on the broadcast, Blair is just moving too fast at times. So many times he gets blocked at the rim or just misses the shot point blank because he seems to be in hyper speed. Blair has shown amazing aptitude in figuring things out quickly and implementing them almost instantly, so I expect he'll correct this. But we left quite a few points on the floor from missed shots.
Game Ball:
Has to go to Jefferson tonight. He scored 18 points and really helped key the team's best play in the 4th quarter.
Looking Forward:
We go on the road to LA to take on the Clippers Monday night. We've owned the Clippers for the last few years, but hope springs eternal in ClipperLand with the arrival of the much heralded Blake Griffin. I don't expect this to be an easy one, but I do expect a win.
People may question Pop's choice to play the same group for the entire quarter and not put Duncan or Parker back in once the game got close. I can see both sides of the dilemma, but I support continuing to play the players that got you back into the game. That squad had a real chemistry going and clearly had the Hornets back on their heels. We were one 3-pointer away from tying the game in the last 2 minutes and changing the complexity of how the game ended.
The Hornets present a particularly frustrating challenge to us, as their best players are at the two positions that seem to give us the most trouble defensively: PG and PF. Chris Paul is an all-world player and is a problem for anybody. But the way he went off in the 3rd quarter was devastating. That might have been partly why Pop never went back to Parker, even though he was playing very well offensively. David West has been a thorn in our side for the last 4 years. We really don't have anybody to guard those middle 4s, who rely mostly on midrange jump shots. I'll be interested to see how Splitter fares against them.
What I Liked:
Welcome to the team...now start making some 3s. Both Anderson and Neal got a healthy dose of playing time tonight, and both played well. Again, I was impressed with Anderson's will to compete, especially on the defensive end. And Neal showed why the Spurs gave him a contract out of summer league: the man can flat out shoot, something our team sorely missed last season. I like the way the pieces are starting to fit together.
Richard Jefferson's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. Of all the things that keyed our 4th quarter rally, perhaps nothing was more important that RJ's offense. He's aggressive and attacking the rim, but he's doing it with a confidence and a purpose that he didn't have last year. I'm excited to watch how he grows with the team this season.
George Hill, 4th Quarter Specialist. Does Hill just need to play the 4th quarter of each game? Again, he was spectacular in the final frame while playing poorly in the first 3. His defense on Paul was nothing short of terrific.
More Cohesion. At least to start the game, the starters played much better together, and the offense was really clicking in the first quarter. Parker was especially effective, looking like the Parker of yore.
Lock that up. Speaking of which, congrats to Parker on his new extension. Despite rumors and innuendo to the opposite, Parker has always insisted that he wanted to remain a Spur; and now he will. Parker is a favorite scapegoat of the Spurs faithful, but when he is healthy, he is as dynamic a player as there is in the NBA and gives our offense a unique dimension.
My new iMac. My 6-year old starter Dell died last week. Honestly, it was a miracle it had lasted that long so effectively. I took the plunge and jumped over to an iMac. How have I lived until now? This thing is amazing. Not only that, it's instantly my best TV and makes watching the games online more enjoyable than when the Spurs are on National TV.
What I Didn't Like:
Half a game. As mentioned earlier, we played a really great half of a game. We need to tighten that up, obviously.
Early game giveaways. This is a game we could have won and we didn't. I would like to see more urgency from our team early in the season to get some wins.
George Hill, First 3 Quarters Dog. Again he seemed to press, he seemed out of sorts, and his shot is still MIA. I know he'll find it. I just wonder if the pressure is getting to him a little bit. Much like jumping from 50 wins to championship contender seems to be the hardest leap for a team, jumping from really good player to great player seems to be the hardest jump for a player. We have a lot of expectations for Hill this year, but it might be rough roads for a while before he figures it out and finds his place on this team.
Slow Down, Big Man. As Sean Elliott said on the broadcast, Blair is just moving too fast at times. So many times he gets blocked at the rim or just misses the shot point blank because he seems to be in hyper speed. Blair has shown amazing aptitude in figuring things out quickly and implementing them almost instantly, so I expect he'll correct this. But we left quite a few points on the floor from missed shots.
Game Ball:
Has to go to Jefferson tonight. He scored 18 points and really helped key the team's best play in the 4th quarter.
Looking Forward:
We go on the road to LA to take on the Clippers Monday night. We've owned the Clippers for the last few years, but hope springs eternal in ClipperLand with the arrival of the much heralded Blake Griffin. I don't expect this to be an easy one, but I do expect a win.
posted by secretchord53 at 10:49 PM
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