How Tony Wore down Steph Curry in Game-5

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Coach Nick is a genius, and I love his analysis videos. This one is one of the best ever.

Coach Nick Analyzes Spurs' Win vs. Thunder

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Spurs Will Be OK Without TP

Tony Parker's got a grade-2 sprain, and that's what I had in July of 2011 (grade-1 is mild and grade-3 is severe). I walked through a giant airport terminal the very next day on mine. And granted I re-rolled it twice in the following month, but I got around pretty good after about 10 days. No, I'm not an NBA player, but I think Tony can come back from this sooner than 4 weeks. The month of March will surely be interesting.

Below is the entire remaining schedule. There is a big 7-game stretch right around the time he'll be close to coming back. But Wed, Mar. 27 vs. Denver is when I would think his target date should be. I have put the current playoff seeds next to the teams' names.


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I'm pretty optimistic that we can go 4-1 or 5-0 against DET, POR, MIN, DAL, and CLE.. i.e. the next 5 games against non-playoff opponents. I genuinely hope that Pop chooses to start - and lean on - Patty Mills, rather than De Colo or Joseph. It would be an incredible coming out party if Cory Joseph started these games, and became a sudden star, but I don't think he's ready for it. Not at all. And I doubt it would happen, either. It's too big a gamble. I think it's better to use him off the bench, and not put too much pressure on him. Patty needs to show him the ropes about this "spark" thing that he has going on.

With that said, I think Manu made a gigantic statement with his 14 assists Friday night. He can run the team at the point just about as well as Tony. So Manu's role has certainly changed to one of considerably-increased point guard duties. But I think Pop should still bring him off the bench as usual, expecting him to log 30 minutes, but allow Patty Mills to start. Manu still has to be shooting guard when Danny Green is resting! So we've still got FIVE guys who can run the PG position (Manu, Mills, Neal, De Colo, and Joseph - in that order).. and that's why I say De Colo's & Joseph's minutes should only be around 10-12, with Mills getting about 15. Remember Gary Neal will be back very soon, and I expect Pop to lean more towards starting him at the point than I would.

We're 1-1 with OKC, so I wouldn't be too upset if March 11 is a loss. Then again it is at home.. We'll have a 4th chance to even it back up at 2-2, or go up 3-1. But that game against Miami on March 31 has got to be the absolute latest of Tony's target dates. We need to win that game.

All in all I don't think we're in as bad a shape as a lot of people are saying. (We are 7-7 without Tony in the last 3 seasons, or something.. etc..) Given Tony comes back for the Miami game, I don't see us going any worse than 8-4 in his absence. Hopefully he'll be back for Denver, but we could possibly pull-out 9-3 or even 10-2 in this same stretch, if he doesn't.

Beer Drinking Speed Analysis

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Why Russell Westbrook Has a Lot to Learn as an NBA PG

A must-watch!


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I've always felt this. He has not learned the idea of finding the open player. He has one of the top NBA scoring leaders on his team, and yet, it never seems like it's his first option to find a way to get Kevin Durant the ball.

Spurs Have Made a Deadline Deal

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The only known details of the trade right now are that the San Antonio Spurs get former 2001-2003 swingman Stephen Jackson from Golden State, to whom he was just traded, in exchange for Richard Jefferson, and a 2012 1st-round pick.

Here is my analysis:

Richard Jefferson: 6'7" - 230, Age 31, 9.2 million, 2 years left, no rings (1 finals appearance vs SA 2003)

Career Stats: (link): 34.3 min / 16.0 pts / .467 FG% / .371 3P% / .776 FT% / 5.0 reb / 2.6 ast / 0.4 blk / 0.8 stl / 1.9 TO

Contract: He is scheduled to make $9.2 mil this season, $10.1 mil in 2012, and has a player option of $11 mil for 2013.


Stephen Jackson: 6'8" - 220, Age 33, 9.2 million, 1 year left, 1 ring (SA 2003)

Career Stats: (link): 33.3 min / 16.1 pts / .416 FG% / .337 3P% / .800 FT% / 4.0 reb / 3.2 ast / 0.4 blk / 1.3 stl / 2.6 TO

Contract: Pretty much the same as RJ's, except his ends after 2012.


We shall see... The most obvious advantages to this move are we save about 11 million dollars in the last year of what would've been RJ's final contract year. Plus we didn't have to use the "amnesty clause" on him, and we still have the option to amnesty someone. So even if the two players are about equal in talent, the move helps us financially. Lastly, they aren't equals for one reason alone: Jackson does play much better defense. He also hit several clutch threes in our 2003 championship season. Here is a highlight from game-6 of the 2003 finals against New Jersey.

But we also lose a 1st-round pick. We shall see.. I would've thought there would be three better trade-deadline strategies:

Simply stated..
1 - No move at all.
2 - Trade for a BIG.
3 - Trade for a proven back-up PG.

At least he already knows the Spurs' & Pop's system.

Stats Sources: 1, and 2

The NFL Right Now

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Defensive lines are getting much much stronger as time goes by. The entire line of scrimmage as a whole is being more & more controlled by the defensive side. The value of a QB who can - in 2-3 seconds - escape pressure, and turn a likely sack into anything positive, or even the possibility of a big play, is skyrocketing as we speak. The great QBs of today will accept the worst possible outcome from that point on. There's even a slight few who will usually turn it into something positive.

Fewer and fewer teams are finding RBs who can game-after-game find the holes, produce the extra 3-4 yards more times than not, make the first guy miss, and more importantly do it for four quarters.

Because of this.. defenses are focusing more on stopping the pass, but I still haven't figured out why yet. Superstars at corner and safety don't necessarily make the defense a great defense. The entirety of the center of the field must be controlled, and that's why most corners these days suffer. Once both safeties realize they must control the deep center of the field (8-20 yards from the line), teams might realize that they need to be much more worried about the quality of their players at the line.

Offenses are starting to realize that the "pocket passer" thing isn't working nearly as much as it used to. How Peyton Manning performs next year will be huge news. He and Tom Brady are a bout the only ones left. These two will likely continue to get it done. But I think the trend is more towards a Brees, or a Romo, who routinely turn bad plays into good ones. The other extreme is the Vick & Newton who completely confuse defenses. These two are in a class alone, but because they do the same thing that Brees and Romo do, but from a RB's perspective. If there is ever a player who is so equally both a back and a quarterback, NFL defenses will have their work cut out.

Then again, pressure on the backfield is the key, and the solidity of the line of scrimmage will ultimately win.

Why is San Francisco overrated? Because they don't have the offense to conquer the elite defenses. Dallas? Baltimore? Yeah those are two of them.

Crime Scene Blood Analysis Infographic

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