Spurs Update

Just realized I forgot to review the game against the Grizzlies in Memphis Monday night. We took the court in Memphis ready to see if anything carried over from the very near victory by our bench in Dallas the night before.

Image Source (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

The 1st Q stayed close for the most part, until Bonner hit a three with 8 seconds left to give us a 24-19 lead. Blair had an early 6 points to get us going. As soon as the 2nd Q began it was fairly obvious they weren't gonna match our energy. A layup from Tony, and a jumper from Tiago, combined with a three each from Bonner and RJ pushed our lead out to 34-21. Memphis would again go cold for a bit, as they'd be stuck on 28 for about 4 minutes. 5 from Conley and 2 from Sam Young, and our lead of 17 was 10 at the half, 45-35.

Out of the gate in the 3rd Q, RJ hit a three, and Kawhi Leonard picked Rudy Gay's pocket to take it for a nice dunk.. 50-35. It was around this point that Gay finally scored his 1st point of the game - on a FT. Tensions were building, and it was quickly becoming crystal clear that he was extremely frustrated by Kawhi's stifling defense. Teams traded buckets for a while, and our lead shrank to 10 again. We then went on a 15-3 run for almost 7 minutes - our lead grew to 22 - before OJ Mayo hit a shot to close the 3rd Q with the score 75-55.

This time the starters stayed in longer than I thought they should have, but after a late Memphis run (we went scoreless for 5 minutes), we closed them out for the WIN 83-73. Bonner, Timmy, RJ, and Green had 15, 14, 13, and 11 pts. respectively, and Tony added 12 asst. & 5 pts. But the stat of the night was "1": Rudy Gay's total on 0 for 7 shooting in 35 minutes. Rudy, meet Kawhi Leonard. I expect you'll know who he is next time around! Here's the boxscore.

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After a day off on Tuesday, the Spurs would begin a 3-games-in-4-nights home stand with, once again (and for the last time), the Houston Rockets last night.

The beginning of this game was turrible, to quote Charles Barkley. The Rockets jumped out to leads of 13-3, 20-7, and 24-9 before a couple layups, and a Gary Neal three gave us some life, and woke up the crowd. Two scoreless minutes later, the 1st Q ended.. 27-16, Houston. Nothing was going in on our end, and their tough shots were falling, as it wasn't bad Spurs' D that saw us fall behind by as much as 19 twice. But the last 4

Image Source (Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)

minutes of the half, with the score 46-27, Timmy & Tony began doing what they do best. We finished up the half strong, 52-39. Kevin Martin had 21, and Courtney Lee had 11 in that half.

The Rockets would again stretch the lead out to 18, but we were staying with them for the most part. Duncan began to take over (17 3rd Q pts.), and combined with another Houston cold-spell, we had closed to within 4 going into the 4th. With the crowd again going nuts, the entire team fed off of it this time. With 7:01 left we took the lead on a Danny Green three, 81-79. It was bucket for bucket - with both defenses cranked up a couple notches - for almost 5 minutes, when Patterson's 16-footer at 2:21 tied it up at 91. It was also the last points the Rockets would score.

Gary Neal nailed a quick jumper. Then after a missed Kevin Martin three, and a nice drawn charge by Neal, Matt Bonner's three with 1:04 left was pretty much the nail in the coffin. Add on 3 FTs, and the game was OURS, 99-91. We held Martin to only 8 2nd-half points (29 total), and as a team outscored them 60-39 in the 2nd half. Timmy had 25 & 7 boards in 31 minutes, and Tony had 24 in 38 minutes (ouch). Bonner's 8 pts. & 10 reb., along with Neal's 15, were some crucial stats as well. (boxscore)

We're now 14-9, 5th in the West. Our defense is definitely improving - allowing only 90.3 ppg in the last 9 games. Tonight it's New Orleans, and then after a critical day of rest, we get the best-in-the-West Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.