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Ha ha! Westbrook should be in the background sucking on his thumb.

Spurs Update

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There's been lots of NBA action the last few days. All six series that weren't done went to a sixth game. One of those went on to a 7th game, and that one is tomorrow. The other five are done, and we are almost ready for second round action.

Yeah it's about time we get to play. Golden State is a team to be reckoned with. But they haven't won in San Antonio in a long, long, long time. I picked them to beat the Nuggets, and no one else did. Now let's go Spurs!

Spurs Update

Well all the "experts" said we would lose our top-seed because of Tony Parker's serious ankle injury. Not only did he come back well before the 4-week time-table, but we did just fine without him. We did not lose our #1 seed while he was hurt. I'm gonna post the same image I have posted the last two updates, although of course it's updated with the results since my last update.


Mine / Schedule Source

Oddly enough, Tony Parker played in the first game since my last update. We have gone an unimpressive 5-4 since then. Tony missed a bunch of games, and I think we went 6-2 or something without him. But many other things have struck this team. In the 2nd quarter of Tony's 4th game back, at home vs. the LA Clippers, Manu twekaed a hamstring that's been bothering him somewhat all season. It was determined that it was bad enough that he would miss 3-4 weeks. Boris Diaw missed several games due to a back problem. DeJuan Blair was sick and missed several. Stephen Jackson had missed a bunch of games, and appeared only here & there when his ankle would allow. Then Tony got a neck stinger during the OKC game, and had to miss two more!

We went through a stretch of FIVE straight games, even with Tony, which were all decided on the last play of the game. And for one (James Harden) reason or (Chris Bosh) another, we lost 3 of those 5. We competed well, and should've won against a Miami team, who sat its stars this time around. A phantom Kawhi Leonard foul on Norris Cole lost us that game. Then the very next night against Memphis, we had a 3-pt lead with mere seconds to go, for the second night in a row, and Mike Conley buried us with last-second heroics. Both of these games were officiated badly, and we should've won - no doubt.

Friday, April 12th was not a good day. News surfaced that Boris Diaw had back surgery to remove a spinal cyst, and would miss 3-4 weeks. Then just hours later it was revealed that a week-long ongoing "feud" between Stephen Jackson and Coach Pop resulted in him being CUT. Apparently he's been upset about his diminished role, and probably still not 100% psychologically since the death of his unborn child. He argued with Pop, and you know who's gonna win that battle.

So here we stand with THREE games remaining.. tied in the loss-column with OKC, but without the tiebreaker. Tony is looking great, but not quite 100%. Manu might be back midway through the first round of the playoffs, which begin NEXT SATURDAY. We won't see Boris Diaw until probably the second round. Our fierce veteran leader, and only small forward not named Kawhi Leonard is history. Yeah I hate the move, but I don't run the team. Thank you Captain Jack!!

The silver lining is that Timmy Duncan has been playing lights-out.. All season, really. Like he's 26 - not 36. Gary Neal's been one of our only sparks off the bench, and we're gonna need that to continue. There are 3 games remaining. The Lakers lost Kobe to a ruptured achilles.. He's done for a long time. We should be able to win all three of these. The only problem is OKC can just as easily win their two. We're probably gonna be stuck in the 2-seed, but at least it wasn't because of Tony Parker's ankle, as everyone assumed. It's because this team has been hit with a broad, gigantic spectrum of things no one could foresee. But that's OK with me - this team is historically resilient. A few players are gonna have to step up right now. Kawhi Leonard. DeJuan Blair. Tiago Splitter. Even you, Mr. Bonner. A series against Houston or Golden State doesn't bother me at all, really. And a Denver team who was as hot as hot can be the last month is also now reeling with Lawson & Galinari injuries of their own.

So the question remains:

Can we beat OKC in the Western Conference Finals? Of course we can! Putting our franchise's 4-0 Finals record against these Miami Heat, however, might be a different story altogether.

Here are the current NBA standings with four days left.

Spurs Update

Well it's been exactly 20 days since Tony Parker went down with a severely sprained ankle. Tomorrow will be the 3-week mark. He was already running on the treadmill a week ago, and is now already beginning limited practices. I doubt we'll see him tomorrow night against Utah, but chances are good that my prediction from my last update (back in the lineup by Wednesday, March 27th's game against Denver) will happen. And we may even get him one game sooner than that!

Here is the same schedule I posted for that last update, but this time I've written in the results since that update:


Mine / schedule source

So 6-2 without our leader? Nothing wrong with that, I say. Especially if you consider the following:

Admittedly, we did not play well in that game vs. Minnesota, and they just flat-out wanted it more. Of course when you shoot 35%, you're not gonna win very many - if any - NBA basketball games. But in the Portland game, we actually played pretty well. Shot 52%, had only 12 turnovers, and still had an almost-acceptable 22 assists on 44 FGs. But Portland shot the lights out (62%). Soon-to-be rookie of the year Damian Lillard was practically unstoppable in the 4th quarter, and they're fighting for their playoff lives. I believe they will make it, but that's another blog post.

Anyway to continue my point, we've won a few ugly games in the span as well, as our defense has been questionable lately. Those who have stood in for Tony have done a great job on the offensive side, but Tony's value on the defensive end is becoming very evident. Most importantly, however, is that we won the one game we needed the most - OKC. The Thunder have also helped matters by losing twice since their loss in San Antonio.

Our lead over OKC now stands at 2½, with Memphis, the Clippers, and Denver ALL 5½ back. Look at this way: The Heat have won 24 in a row, and they're still only 2½ games ahead of us.

Spurs Update

28-11, 1st in the Southwest Division, 3rd in the West - at nearly the halfway point.

Here's the stretch of games since my last Spurs Update:

Source

Not too shabby, but not nearly up to potential. We ran off a solid 7-straight, scoring an average of almost 112 a game. Then we laid an egg in the big apple during our quest for revenge on the Knicks loss from early in the season. But it's been clear to me that something is wrong with Tony Parker the last several games. I'm not sure whether he's just not seeing the open man, or whether guys just aren't getting open, but he's averaging 5 assists per game these last 5 games. More importantly his assist-to-turnover ratio the last three games is 14:15. (Source & math)  Ouch! Anyone know if he has a new girlfriend or something? Perhaps he lost a girlfriend?

Granted he's shooting the ball well (53.3%, last 5 games), and scored 30 last night in an OT loss in Memphis. He has also been hot from three-range, which is not really his niche (20 of 46 for 43.5% on the season - by far his best). He even went 3 for 3 and nailed the shot at the buzzer last night to send the game into OT:



Nevertheless it's not all on Tony, or any particular player. I have been posting on the Spurs' Facebook page for several games now that Pop has got to recognize when Tony is struggling to keep the offense running fluently. Patty Mills has got to get in the game!! He gives us such a tremendous spark, but we don't get that when he's merely waving his towel on the bench. Even Gary Neal's & a few other bench players' minutes are down, and I'm not sure why Pop isn't going a little deeper these days. Tony and Tim both played 40-ish minutes last night. Yes it was OT, but that's way more than their average minutes per game, and way more than necessary when you have a Patty Mills on the bench (and a DeJuan Blair getting basically NO playing time).

C'Mon guys - it's time to ratchet it up!

New Dig Dug High Scores

So yeah that's 1,039,950 - Level 67. I actually went beyond level 100 the other day, and was at a score of about 1.6 M, but I paused the game, and then lost the window. No biggy. I'll get there again many times in the future.. as I have posted before many times in the past..

Play Dig Dug here..

Wonder If He Realizes This?

Source

Yeah, that's a pretty big difference! Wake up, Mr. Stern. You approved the schedule, now fine yourself and the schedule-makers.

Greand Theft Auto V To Be Released - Spring 2013!

Image Source

Wheeeee! Incredible news. I'll have a new XBox360, and will finally get to play GTA IV, but the reviews of this game have been super so far. I can't wait.

So Yeah, I Did It Again

I'll never beat this score..

My prior DigDug high score posts..

Click here to go play!

So Yeah, I Did It Again

Facebook Games

Original Via

Check out This High Score

Ok Ok I know it's an old game, but I like going back and playing some of my favorite games from a long time ago.

Dig Dug was one of my favorites! I won't likely beat this score for a while..


Here's the link to go play Dig Dug..

Spurs Semi-Finals Update

I totally should've posted my review of game-2, which was Thursday night, on Friday night, since -duh- our game-3 was early Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, I'll just do two right here right now.

So in Thursday night's game-2 in San Antonio, the Clippers played us pretty close for most of the 1st half, or at least for the last 15 minutes of the 1st half. It was a half of runs. With the score 10-9, Clips, at around the 7:00 mark, the Spurs went on a 14-0 run, during which the "big-3" scored all 14. So with a 23-10 lead, the Spurs stretched it to 27-12, at which point LA would go on their own 9-2 run to close the 1st-Q 29-21. But this little run continued for 3 more minutes into the 2nd-Q, as it was 29-25 before Splitter finally scored for the Spurs at 9:11 mark - effectively a 13-2 Clippers run.

The 2nd-Q as a whole simply wasn't good period for the Spurs, as we shot 8 of 21 (38%) with several turnovers, while the Clippers put up another semi-solid 21 points. So we took a 46-42 lead to the break.

Similar to game-1, the Spurs came out on all cylinders to begin the 3rd-Q, and everyone was involved. The first 4½ minutes was a 16-5 Spurs' run. Yeah, 16! Our defense was fine as well, but LA shots were also starting to fall (notably Paul & Butler). But it didn't seem to matter, as Spurs felt confident enough to score almost every time down the floor. Danny Green had 10 3rd-Q points as the Spurs put up 32 to 25 from the Clips. The score going into

TP finally got going in game-2 Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

the 4th-Q was 78-67.

This is when the energy and defense were both taken up a notch. Neal, Splitter, and Diaw would lead another mini-run for most of 5 minutes, at which time the scoreboard read 92-76. Griffin and Evans were getting it done inside, but they had nothing to stop Tony & Tim in the 4th-Q pick-n-roll. Isn't that kind of a common theme this season? The combo would score 8 straight for SA during a 3-min. stretch that saw the lead increased to 19! Patty Mills closed it out for Tony, after a scary late foul Tony took. No idea why he was still in with 2:05 left in what was then a 17-point game.

Spurs beat the Clippers 105-88, after trading baskets a few times, and now lead the series 2-0. And we have now won 16-straight! Griffin had 20 points, but was held to 1 rebound. Chris Paul had another lackluster game with 10 pts. & 5 assts. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 22 on 8 of 19 shooting, with 5 boards and 5 assts. in 37 tough minutes. Timmy had 18 pts., 5 reb., 3 assts., and 2 steals in 33 minutes. Here's ESPN's boxscore..

Games 3 & 4 are Saturday 2:30 & Sunday 9:30 in a DUMB back-to-back in LA..

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Game-3 between Spurs & Clippers was at 12:30 Los Angeles local time in Staples Center, beginning a stretch of absolute craziness involving the Lakers, Kings, and themselves. Who didn't think this out clearly enough?

I knew game-3 in hostile territory was our best chance to lose, and as the game began, what I was seeing wasn't really anything I didn't expect. While the very beginning went pretty normal - Tony scores his 3rd bucket to bring the Spurs to within 4 at 13-9, with 7:00 showing on the clock. Over the next SIX minutes none of our shots went down. We had a mere 3 turnovers, but when you combine 9-striaght missed shots with the Clippers' 6 of 9 shooting, the result is a 14-0 run that no one really saw coming. But then again I think we might have. Blake Griffin was getting almost anything he wanted,

Griffin had a career-game Image Source (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

and everyone was feeding off the crazy crowd. So when a couple mid-run Pop-timeouts didn't work, the end of the quarter would have to. But by this time it was 33-11.

When the 2nd-Q got underway, Manu & Neal would hit a few shots, but so would Mo Williams and Nick Young. The lead ballooned to 24 at 40-16 with 9:17 on the clock. So down 24 (DOH!) Pop brought in many new guys, and for us that makes things happen. In just 2 minutes the lead was down to 18. Two minutes later it was 15. Then holding the Clippers to 5 pts. in the final 3:47 of the 1st half, Spurs would get 5 from both Manu & Tony, and 5 more from Diaw & Duncan, and the Clippers' halftime lead was only 10 at 53-43.

So now that it appeared the Spurs were going to, in fact, make it a game, the crowd was much less of a factor to begin the 3rd-Q. Paul hit a jumper, and then after a nice Duncan layup, Griffin would follow it up with his own layup. With 9:38 showing on the clock, and the Clippers leading 57-45, something happened.

For the next 8:13, the Spurs would hold the Clips completely SCORELESS, while themselves netting 24 straight!   During this stretch the Spurs would shoot 10 of 15 (68%), but the Clippers went 0 for 12. And just like that, we now had a 12-pt. lead, 69-57.

Spurs 24-0 run was legendary Image Source (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

They were stuck on 57 for a long, long time. After 3-Q's it was 69-61.

So now that we've outscored them 32-20 in the 2nd-Q, and 26-8 in the 3rd-Q, the crowd wasn't about to let us run away with it. The first 3 minutes or so of the 4th-Q saw back-to-back buckets for both teams.. Leonard's 3rd three, Manu, Splitter, Neal, and for LA it was Griffin & Mo Williams. Pop would take a critical timeout with our lead cut to 7 and 9:14 on the clock. Following the timeout, both defenses were superior, as more than 3 minutes later, our lead was still 8 (scoring was 8-7 for these 3+ minutes).

Tony & Manu were pretty much scoring at will by this point, and neither team could manufacture a serious run. As is often the case late in games against these Spurs, time would simply run out on the Clippers, and five straight FTs would cement the Spurs' win 96-86.

As improbable as it seemed at the time, now that I'm looking back at the stats & play-by-play, it's no surprise that Vinny Del Negro just apparently didn't have any changes to make during his team's 8 minute 3rd-Q drought. He did call one timeout, and there were two substitutions (KMart for DJordan, and later Foye for Butler), but neither of these are moves to initiate an offensive spark for your team. Similar numbers as game-2 for San Antonio, as Tony, Tim & Manu led us again, but this time Kawhi Leonard also had a great game with 14 pts. & 9 reb.

Blake Griffin possibly put together the best game of his short career on this night - he had 28 & 16 on 13 of 24 shooting in 43 long minutes - most of it early on. Chris Paul had 12 pts. & 11 assts., and Mo Williams had a very nice 19. Here's ESPN's full boxscore..

Spurs can end the misery later tonight in game-4 at 9:30 CDT. That would be 17-straight!!

Spurs Update

Sunday and Monday the Spurs played their last two home games of the season against Cleveland and Portland. Duncan dressed, but would only play if necessary Sunday, as Diaw started in his place. It's really hard to write about these games, and still try to not portray a sense of arrogance, or act as if I know what's going to happen, but things are flowing so well that they're very nearly foregone conclusions. Just as we have the last few weeks, we put up 29 against Cleveland's22 for the 1st-Q.

Just halfway through the 2nd-Q it was pretty obvious by the look of Pop's face, that Timmy may as well go bury himself in a book in the locker room. Manu, Neal, Green, and Jack were all hitting shots, and it was 43-27 before you knew it. The fiesty Cavs would, however, make a run and close to within 52-44 at the break. DeJuan Blair would then score 13 3rd-Q points, as we slowly pulled away to begin the 4th-Q at 81-70.

I think both Manu & Jackson were extra-determined, because they were huge factors in extending a late 3rd-Q 9-pt.
Manu made it clear: "I'm ready!" - Via (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

lead to 20 with 5:11 left. Jackson had 13 of his 17 in the 4th. Trying to make NBA history by winning 6 straight games by 21+, the Spurs would fall short of the record, but the 114-98 WIN was nothing to slouch about. Not our best game of the last several, but we still shot 55%, shot 40% from three, out-rebounded and out-assisted our opponent. Five players in double-figures, and ten scored 7 or more. Here is the boxscore..

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The next night with Portland coming to the AT&T Center, most of us were remembering a Feb. 21 trip to Portland in which Pop rested Duncan & Parker, with Manu & Tiago both hurt. Oh, we also had an 11-game winning streak on the line, but Pop let it go by the wayside in order to have our guys rested as much as he wanted them. We lost by 40. So yeah, you bet we'd be at full-strength - at least for a while.

Danny Green started us off with two threes. The team was solid, and the Blazers weren't hitting anything. 27-10 it was with more than 2 minutes left in the first. A little Portland run closed the 1st-Q at 31-18, but Splitter & Green would come out with 6-straight (37-18), followed by 10-straight from Babbitt & Flynn (37-28)! Then Neal & Green would score 8-straight, and our lead was 45-28. It was at this point when the Blazers were already looking gassed. Tony, Timmy, Neal, & Jack kept up the aggression towards a 63-41 halftime lead.

Danny Green had a perfect night - Via (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Duncan would play sparingly from here on out, but of course, Pop still needs to keep him in "game-shape", and when he was in he dominated (26 min. 18 pts. 8 reb. 4 blk. on 8 of 13 shooting). By the end of the 3rd-Q it was obviously our game, and a little more-so (91-65). In almost back-to-back plays, a Diaw assist to James Anderson was very Globetrotter-like, followed by a sweet right-handed tip-in rebound from Manu.

Portland continued to turn it over, miss shots, relax on D, and we continued to score at will by this point. Jack hit 6, Anderson hit 5 more quick ones, and then Patty Mills entered to get some revenge on his former team - and he did so with 3 4th-Q threes. Everything was clicking as we closed out our regular-season at home with a 37-pt. beatdown WIN vs. the Trailblazers 124-89. Season-high 34 assists on 48 FGs - this with Tony playing only 22 minutes. SIX players in double-figures, and two more with 9 & 8 respectively. Oh yeah, and Manu also had 6-2-3-2 in 17 fully-charged minutes. Here's the boxscore..

With this, our 31st double-digit win of the season (NBA best), we secured the #1 Western Conference Seed. Already leading the NBA in both shooting and 3-pt. shooting, the Spurs are also now fractions of a point behind Denver for the highest-scoring team in the NBA, after averaging 116+ ppg the last eight games, and 112.3 in our last 22 wins (a 22-5 stretch), and 108.5 in our last 31 games overall (25-6). No, these are not the Spurs of old. Old? And no we're not old, either.

The last two games are at Phoenix, and at Golden State. I do not expect many - IF ANY - minutes from Tim, Tony, or Manu. They may not even travel. The #1-seed is already ours, and barring the challenge with the Bulls for the best overall record, I know Pop isn't going to go overboard in these last two games. We know he has a much larger goal in mind.

Spurs Update

Wednesday night, the Spurs wrapped-up their second B2B2B of the season vs. the Kings in Sacramento, but they would do it without Tim Duncan (resting). I'm a little surprised at this decision by Pop, but I'm also happy that he's allowing Tony & Manu to go. So rather than Timmy & Tiago, DeJuan Blair would reclaim his usual starting slot back, along with Boris Diaw. As one would expect out of a team who has been playing SO many games lately, we came out a little flat & lazy. But the defense was there, and the shots started to fall. As soon as Manu entered the game at about the 7 minute mark, his impact was instant. We would go from down-4 to up-1 during his 5 minutes on the floor, and it was a tight 29-28 game after 1-Q.

The contest would stay pretty tight throughout the 2nd-Q, as our bench was shooting well, and the Kings' crowd was feeding their high intensity. It's hard to believe this team hasn't won more than 20 games, actually. Both teams were seeminlgy scoring at will near the end of the half, as Tiago, Jack, and Mills were leading our charge, but Isaiah Thomas and DeMarcus Cousins were surely responding. Halftime: 58-57, Spurs.

Thankfully, our hot shooting continued out of the halftime break. Not 4 minutes went by and we had already strung together a 12-4 run, thanks to points by all-5 starters! The back-to-back scoring-fest returned with Manu now in the lineup. Our growing advantage at the free throw line was starting to pay off, as we would close out
Neal dominated -Image Source (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

the 3rd-Q 97-86, with eight different Spurs scoring. The bad news is Manu would collide with Tyreke Evans, not to return. As terrible as it looked (Source), Manu would only suffer a laceration.

The Spurs opened the 4th-Q extending the 3-0 run they were on, to a 16-4 run that blew the game wide open. With the lead now 21, and Gary Neal hitting everything he's putting up, we look unstoppable, yet again. After a Kings bucket, we had another 5-straight (115-91), and from then on, all we had to do was not turn it over. It was a close one for a half, but our shots continued to fall - even through the final seconds. The 127-102 WIN was simply a second-half domination 69-45 that was too much for Sacramento (or most teams, for that matter) to overcome. Spurs had SEVEN guys in double figures, and no one had more than 17. Here is the boxscore..

We just went 6-0 in two separate B2B2B's - something no other team has done this season.. Not to mention it's 5 wins in 7 nights.

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Friday night the Spurs played the LA Lakers for the 3rd time in 10 days. This time it was back in San Antonio, where we were dismantled inside by Bynum's 30 boards, (60-33 overall) a week ago Wednesday in a 98-84 loss. Of course we countered with revenge this past Tuesday 112-91 in LA. But the "best 2 outa 3" would feature Kobe Bryant's return from a 7-game shin injury. Once again Timmy would have Tiago starting along with him, and yes - we like this very much.

Spurs' starters were solid to begin - especially in defense as we were up 15-7 half way through the 1st-Q. Kawhi was super on D, holding Kobe to just 5 1st-Q pts. on 2 of 4 shooting. Meanwhile Manu would come off the bench to score 7. But it was old-school Tim Duncan whose strong early 10 led us. Our 1st-Q lead was 32-25.

Not 3½ minutes were gone and the score was tied, however. Gasol & Barnes led their initial charge, but just as soon as we were down 3, our defense would tighten down. Already exhausted chasing Kobe around, Kawhi would hit a huge 3 to spark us on 9-5 run that included a sweet steal and
Bynum frustrated all night long -Image Source (AP Photo/Bahram Mark Sobhani)

following assist to Manu for a crowd-rearing three. The half would end with a lot of good defense, and a 56-52 Spurs lead.

The return to action saw Kobe come to form, somewhat, as he would score 9 in just over 4-min., but our offense was just getting warmed-up. Spurs would score almost every trip down the floor: Tony, Timmy, Tony, Diaw, and then Manu would score 10 3rd-Q points, while guarding Kobe for this stretch. After the opening 3rd-Q bucket Kobe hit, the 14 of 18 Spurs 3rd-Q shooting (78%) brought the score to 91-73. And just as Sean Elliott was beginning to point out how the Lakers' players were reacting to our domination by not getting back on defense, hanging their heads, and a flat-out folding with their attitudes, Matt Bonner and Gary would open the 4th-Q with 7-straight to open up a 98-73 lead.

Just one of our many pieces, Gary Neal, always seems to find a way to shoot late nails in coffins with his play. He would score 6 in the 4th. But halfway through the 4th, the Lakers would wave the white flag, and put in Jordan Hill & Andrew Goudelock. DeJuan Blair, with 6 4th-Q pts., Jack, and Mills would bring it home, with our stars resting. For the 4th straight game, we win by 21+. The 121-97 Spurs WIN effectively proved to the national media, and more importantly to the Lakers themselves, that the road to the 2012 Championship certainly goes through San Antonio! For the first time in almost a year, the Spurs' big-3 all scored 20+! San Antonio's pts. differential in our last NINETEEN games is +12.6, and that includes our 7 and 14 point back-to-back losses at Utah and at home in that terrible Lakers game, respectively! Here is the Spurs/Lakers III boxscore..

Spurs have 4 games remaining, and of course, they are two back-to-backs with a day of rest in between: Home games vs. Cleveland & Portland Sunday & Monday, followed by road games at Phoenix & Golden State. Yeah we can still win 50 - in a season with 16 fewer games than usual.

Here are the west standings through all games of April 21, 2012:

Click to enlarge! Source: ESPN

Spurs Update

The Spurs visited the Golden St. Warriors on Monday night to start a B2B2B, knowing this game would probably be just a formality in the grand scheme of things. Warriors would start 4 rookies. Doh! Spurs were at full strength. Very similar to the last game vs. Phoenix, we came out hot, and determined. In our highest scoring 1st-Q of the season, 39-24, there probably wouldn't be much doubt with this one.

That lead would be extended to 21 by halftime (70-49), a lead that would continue, with the Spurs' big-three on the bench resting - awaiting tomorrow night in LA - toward the 3rd-Q score of 96-72!
Neal leads the Spurs Image Source (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Golden St. would actually make a run to come within 18, but the excitement was never as high as it was in the final few seconds of the game. Apparently the fans get free food if the team scores 100 points. So they did what they had to do.. foul.. as if it were a game they were trying to win. But those terrible Spurs prevented it from happening. The final was 120-99, and a good WIN on the road, with the big-3 playing 41 minutes TOTAL. Already given that stat, we shot 39%, no Spur had more than 17 points, and we still scored 120. You gotta believe it. Here's the boxscore..

As it turned out, OKC lost to the Clippers while we were beating the Warriors, so as of now, we own the #1 seed in the West going into the game against the Lakers tomorrow night! And don't let the media mislead you - We were really already in first because we own the tiebreaker with OKC. Now they are effectively behind by two games.

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The very next night in LA, Spurs fans were delighted to hear that Tiago would start the game along side Timmy! It's about time, Pop! Seeking revenge @ the LA Lakers Tuesday night, it felt like a playoff game. The game was very tight for most of the beginning. Early large leads were 6 by LA (very early), and 6 by SA (mid 2nd-Q). Bynum was scoring pretty much at will, but so was Tony Parker. Spurs were also competitive on the boards this time, as this one had the look of a nail-biter so far.

Then something happened. With a 41-39 lead, and 5:41 left in the 2nd-Q, the Lakers would turn it over 5 times and miss 2 shots in 7 possessions, while my Spurs capitalized on 8 straight shots, and an 18-0 run. Our halftime lead was 16: 63-47.

In less than 2 more minutes, Tony & Timmy increased that lead to 23, and the rout was on. It's great when we come out and increase a big halftime lead in the early 3rd-Q, while so often we drop our guard and come out flat. Tony schooled Ramon Sessions most of this game, and our bigs held Bynum off the boards for the most part. Manu
Tony dominated - Image Source (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

was also a force, as he shot 6 of 13 for 15 pts., with 6 boards and 4 assists. When Tony wasn't in charge of creating - Manu was. The end of the 3rd-Q was a scoring fest - 91-70 going toward the 4th.

Lakers brought this to 91-77 quickly with our stars resting. Manu & Gary Neal would continue the aggressiveness, and with an 18-pt. lead Pop brought Timmy back to action. This, along with starting Tiago, and resting the young guys, was a clear sign it was very important for us to get our revenge for the other night's loss to this team. Success.. we ran away with it. Tony Parker's performance, and Pop's coaching were HUGE statements in this nationally-televised game that we aren't screwing around - and beating the Lakers is just as important to us as being helthy for the playoffs. OK maybe not, but we certainly succeeded with our 112-91 dominating WIN.

We shot 60% to their 50%.. Tony had 29 & 13.. Duncan had 19 & 8.. Manu had 15-6-4. Bynum had 21 & 7. Rebounds were 37-37. So yeah.. this was VERY pleasing. Now the other guys are rested to go take care of bidness tomorrow night in Sacramento! Here's the boxscore..

Here's a TINY game review from ESPN:

And their resulting article from their Daily Dime. But the way ESPN configures their links, you won't be able to see this DAILY DIME after the next DAILY DIME is posted, so you may have to look around.

Here are the current NBA Standings after Tuesday night's games.

Spurs Update

Thursday night the Spurs hosted the Memphis Grizzlies for the 4th and final time this year. The race is tightening, but we've beaten the Grizzlies 3 times already. Tim Duncan (28 & 12 on this night) would continue to turn back the clock, as he and the guys come out strong. The Spurs did well containing the Grizzlies' interior play - a weakness exposed the night
Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

before by the Lakers. But Duncan guaranteed a better performance, and he certainly delivered. Spurs ended the 1st-Q with a 10-4 run (27-21).

For most of the 2nd-Q, we would hold a small lead while the starters rested, until about the 5½ minute mark, when Conley hit a three to give them the lead 37-36. But that wasn't all. We were scoreless for almost 6 minutes, during which Memphis scored 13 straight to change the game (44-36, Memphis). Duncan & Diaw would be the ones to bring us back, however, as some tight D and several key shots brought the half to an end - down by just 4, 49-45: a Spurs 13-1 run!

This time it was the 3rd-Q which proved to decide the game, for the most part, as Duncan would score 14 in the quarter. Everyone was back to sharing the ball at this point again, and lock-down D allowed a 13-5 Spurs run to end the 3rd-Q with an 8-pt. lead, 82-74. But the run continued - Manu & Bonner increased our lead to 14, as most of the rest of the final quarter, we maintained a small 5-8 point lead. What a perfectly bad time for a 5-minute Spurs' scoring drought. OJ Mayo hit a shot to bring them to within 2 at 94-92 with 2:54 left. Sigh.. Suddenly the game was on again.

The last 2 minutes were tight, but everything seemed to go our way, as our BIG THREE were all working like a well-oiled machine, and Timmy continued his dominance. Almost all our shots fell, and we got the stops we needed. Manu hit all 6 final-minute FTs in Memphis's foul-mode to clinch the 4-0 SWEEP of the Grizzlies with the 107-97 WIN. Here is the boxscore.

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After a nice day of rest, the team took the court Saturday night to face a Phoenix Suns squad, who won in Houston on Friday, in the comfy confines of our AT&T Center. This one featured a spectacular start by the home team, and to be honest, it was nearly over after one quarter. We jumped out to a 21-4 lead before a Phx timeout, and then poured it on with ultra-high intensity to take a 35-13 1st-Q lead.

The Suns would finally start to maintain the pace (coming to within 17 at 47-30), but an 11-0 run peaked our lead at 28, but became 62-38 at
Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

halftime. Since Phoenix was so far behind, Pop started Manu for the 2nd-half, in the hopes that he, too, could sit while the bench closed it out. Word surfaced that Steve Nash & Grant Hill would not return due to injury tweaks, and with that, we went up 27 again (74-47). But by 3rd-Q's end, Suns closed to within 19 (84-65).

Phoenix continued to fight back, and after outscoring us by 5 in the 3rd, they would do the same in the 4th, but it was too little too late. We shot 53% for the game and 9 of 18 from three. Everyone got in on the action once again, as all 13 Spurs had double-figure minutes, and everyone scored. The dominating 105-91 WIN sealed the Spurs' Southwest Division Championship. But yeah - we've got much, much larger goals. My man Timmy was definitely the #1 factor for these two games. Already playing younger than his years, I believe he got a little wake-up call.. Thanks, Andrew Bynum! We'll see you Tuesday! Here's the boxscore..

Our second B2B2B is Mon-Tues-Wed. all on the road against Golden St., the Lakers, and Sacramento. All eyes are on you, Pop! I expect minimal minutes out of Tony, Manu, & Tim for the first one.

Spurs Update

This past Tuesday and Wednesday the San Antonio Spurs braced themselves for back-to-back road games at Cleveland and at Boston. We've only had one game in the last five days (two days of rest on both sides), so we should definitely be ready to rumble.

Tuesday night in Cleveland Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard started us off with several early buckets, just before Tony & Tim were successful in most of the next several trips down the floor, as we took an early lead
Image Source (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

25-16. Manu, Jack, and Neal would pile it on for a 32-18 1st-Q lead. Tiago Splitter would have a great 2nd-Q, and help the Spurs to a 19-point 60-41 halftime lead. This was a quarter that also saw Daniel Green hit 2 more threes for a total of four for the first half!

Anthony Parker would lead a Cavs' charge to open the 2nd half, as they would pinch the lead down to 14. Tony Parker was not to be denied, however, as his 10 early 3rd-Q points, along with James Anderson's 5 would lead the Spurs to a serious 27-point lead (90-63). Enter Patty Mills.

Having already relieved TP for a solid 7 points late in the 3rd-Q, Mills would score another 13 in the 4th for an incredible 20-2-2 line on 8 of 11 shooting (4 of 5 from three). Blair & Neal had super 4th-Q's as well as the lead would balloon to as much as 37. Wow. The Cavaliers were never in this game, although to their credit, they had seven players in double figures - led by Antawn Jamison (15). We out-shot the Cavs 59%-42%, 46-27 rebs., 31-23 assts., and hit 11 of 23 from three - a nice 48%. The 125-90 beatdown WIN was an example of the way we should be beating almost every team right now. Here's the boxscore..

That would be 8 in a row, now.

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Wednesday night in Boston things didn't come quite as easy. The Celtics have been playing very well lately, having won their last 5, and 7 of 8. They would also get Ray Allen back tonight after several games with an injured ankle. Kevin Garnett would come out angry, and make almost everything he put up for the first several minutes. Boston would jump out to a quick 16-11 lead. Resilient, Parker, Splitter, and Jackson would lead the Spurs on a 16-4 run to close the 1st-Q for a
Image Source (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

27-20 lead. But then the Celtics would make the game close again very quickly, as Avery Bradley would nail 11-straight for them. He's a good player. (Former UT product!) The Spurs, however, would go on another serious 14-2 run to take the 36-36 tie to a 50-38 lead. Bonner, Neal, & Duncan were key in this little run. Danny Green would close out the exciting half with a three, and the 59-48 lead.

As fun as this has been so far, the 3rd-Q was probably the worst Q of basketball we've played this season. And it wasn't just us. Boston was "playing along" and supplemented our sloppiness with more sloppiness. For the quarter, it was Boston 16, Spurs 9. Six Spurs' turnovers, many bad decisions, and ...well you didn't miss anything at all if you missed this Q. I think we were scoreless for 8 total minutes in 2 separate stretches of the 3rd.

So holding a 4-pt. lead, the energy for the 4th-Q was.. no different. We continued to turn it over. But the good thing is Boston continued to miss shot after shot, and I remember thinking "how in the world are we up by 13???". Our scoring was spotty, as Boston started to make the shots they got, and would be within 2 at 70-68. After a dominant Splitter drive to take a 77-70 lead, we would again go scoreless for almost 4 minutes. This is the 3rd serious scoring drought of this game, and this is alarming. Manu would finally sink the toughest shot of the season, but a few seconds later, Boston would take their first lead since 18-17 in the 1st-Q (81-79).

After a clutch Duncan jumper, Brandon Bass would again hit a shot to take a 2-pt lead. But Gary Neal nailed the three we were expecting to give us the 1-pt lead at 84-83. A sweet defensive stop later, Timmy would hit 1 of 2 FTs, and then after a second critical D-stop again, Matt Bonner nailed a 10-footer from the block on a crazy pass from Manu, and our lead was 87-83. After a timeout, one of the best shooters in the game, Ray Allen hit the three they needed (87-86), and with 16 seconds, Danny Green missed a three that would've clinched it.

Celtics had one last play, but Paul Pierce missed his fade-away jumper on the drawn-up play. And we got away with one: An 87-86 WIN with a terrible 2nd half that consisted of a measly 28 points. We had 5 guys in double figures, and killed them on the boards 53-39, but 17 TOs, and 7 of 28 from three is no good at all.. not to mention only 17 assists. TP and Manu both had bad games the same night, and we still won, so yeah.. we're lucky tonight. Here's the boxscore..

And that's 9-straight. OKC lost at Miami tonight, so we are now tied in the loss column. Sweet!

Here are the current NBA standings, courtesy of ESPN Dot Com.

Spurs Update

Wednesday the San Antonio Spurs went to Sacramento to take on the Kings, and get some revenge for our 1st home L of the season. And for the first time in a LONG time, Pop had everyone available to play! Both teams would shoot very well out of the gate, and it appeared we would all be in for an great offensive show. Spurs had the lead most of the 1st-Q until DeMarcus Cousins' tip-in tied it up at 22 with 0:59 left, but Manu would score 5-straight to lead 27-22 after the first quarter.


Image Source (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Our lead would become 6 before Isaiah Thomas would create a few good shots to pull them close. Kawhi was a monster inside during this game, as he would net 7 in the 2nd-Q. 53-49 at the half. He would continue with 5 more quick points, but Thornton & Cousins seemed to counter most of our runs - even tying it up again at one point. More Manu magic to close out the third with the lead 81-78.

It seemed defenses never tightened, as the scoring fest continued for both squads. Gary Neal had 7 Spurs points in a row, and along with another Kawhi three, our lead was 7 at 93-86. A couple of uncharacteristic bad decisions on our end, and the Kings were within 1. For the next five minutes we would pretty much score every trip down the floor. Tony & Timmy showed off with the pick 'n' roll, and Manu, Kawhi, and Jack all-3 nailed some key tough shots to put us up 110-100 with 1:39 left. They'd make it interesting, but we closed them out for the solid WIN 117-112. Manu & Kawhi were HUGE in this game - here's the boxscore.

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After two full days of some much-needed rest, the Spurs welcomed George Hill and the Indiana Pacers to the AT&T Center Saturday night. Kudos to the home crowd for giving George a very nice welcome. I miss the guy, but I like having Kawhi Leonard even more. Wearing the all-white with red trim throwback "Chaps" uni's (including knee-high white socks), we came out looking very energetic. Duncan would score 6, and Manu 5 for our the 1st-Q lead of 25-18.

Image Source (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

It wouldn't be 2½ minutes until our lead was 12, as Jack & Tiago were very aggressive. Neal hit a three, then Green hit a three.. TP layed it in twice, and it seemed as if Manu couldn't miss. Timmy even had 7 2nd-Q points, as we set our season-high for a Q with 39, and the lead was 64-48.

Spurs would never have a bigger lead than 16. The pacers went on several runs to come within 9 twice, and even 7 at one point, but our shots continued to fall throughout. The Pacers even out-shot us for the game, percentage-wise (53%). But Spurs hit 9 of 19 from three, and 50% overall. We out-rebounded them 40-32, and our 22 assists on 39 FGs, and our 10 turnovers were both right on par.

It was clear Pop was determined to play Tony, Tim, and Manu together a lot tonight, and it was pretty! Several Duncan highlights seriously rolled-back the clock. He had another great game tonight. The other two spots were Jackson & Bonner, or Neal & Splitter for the most part. A lot of the younger guys got some good rest this time, in anticipation for an upcoming back-to-back no doubt, but this was a super team win. Sean Elliott mentioned that we won this game "with ease", for the most part. The 112-103 WIN was our 7th straight, as we have now gone 24-5 since Jan. 30. Here's the boxscore..

Two more sweet days of rest, and then Tuesday & Wednesday we're back-to-back at Cleveland and at Boston.

Spurs Update

Saturday and Sunday nights finished off the Spurs' 1st back-to-back-to-back of the season. Saturday was a quick trip to New Orleans for a bout with the shorthanded Hornets. Spurs were also very shorthanded, as Manu didn't make the trip in order to rest an aching body. Splitter is still dealing with back spasms, and Gary Neal would also sit due to a sore foot from Friday night's game. Hornets were down Okafor (knee), Kaman (illness), Ariza (ankle), and Jason Smith due to his suspension related to the cheap shot against Blake Griffin.

The good news is Tony Parker is back. I expected this to be the game somewhat like the game @ Portland a few weeks back (a 40-pt. loss), when Pop sat Tony & Tim while Manu & Splitter were hurt. But to my surprise, Duncan would also play. The contest began OK for the Spurs, as DeJuan Blair came out like a monster possessed, but then again, he tends to have good games vs. NO. He would total 23 & 7 for this one. It remained close throughout the first half, but we trailed by a handful for most of the late 2nd-Q. Up by 1 after 1-Q, but down by 1 at half.. 23-22, and 48-47 respectively.

Image Source (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

Neither team were shot very well throughout, in fact Spurs finished with a lowly 2 of 19 from three range (ouch!), and totaled 40% overall. Hornets did better at 46%, but was 1 of 5 from three. And if it weren't for 16 NO TO's (compared with our 7), this one would've probably been much worse.

Defenses tightened up for the 4th-Q, and only 30 total points were scored. We would take a 5-pt. lead with 5 min.s to go, but Belinelli would give the Hornets the 84-83 lead with 2:06 left. Duncan would hit two clutch FTs before Belinelli put them ahead once again 86-85. But after Duncan made a tip-in (87-86), followed by a great defensive stop on Jarrett Jack (who led all scorers with 27), it was Danny Green's clutch baseline jumper that put us ahead 87-84. Green would then miss the only two FTs the Spurs would miss all night in an attempt to seal it, giving the Hornets the last shot with :02 left. It was defended well, and Belinelli came up short - we snuck out of the hive with the 89-86 WIN. Whew!

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Sunday night back at home vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, Manu would return to the lineup, but Timmy would sit. With Tiago & Neal both still out, we would obviously have to "go small" for most of this one. Here is the way NBA.com described Timmy's absence in their boxscore:

So, I guess as long as they don't play Hawes & Vucevic together, we should be OK. Holiday and Meeks came out hot, combining for 12 of the first 16 Sixers' points. Kawhi and Bonner were, however, making their presence known as well, as we jumped out to a 29-22 1st-Q lead.
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Heck, newly acquired PG Justin Dentmon even scored his first Spurs' points for the home crowd early on.

After falling behind 29-18 late in the 1st-Q, the Sixers would then go on an 18-1 run to take the lead 36-30. Sam Young and Lou Williams were key contributors. This sparked a 10-0 run of our own, led by 6 from Blair, and a three from Danny Green. The score at the half was 52-49, San Antonio.

In comparison with the previous game in New Orleans, this contest saw 26 steals and 39 turnovers! So obviously play looked a little sloppy, but both these teams are super on defense. Nevertheless, it was mid-3rd-Q when we turned on the gas. Tony & Manu came to life, while rarely playing together. We started sharing the basketball better, and ran out to an 11-pt. lead after 3-Qs (76-65). We didn't stop, though. A lot of the scoring "wave" was tempered, but we kept the pressure on defensively to the tone of a 21-pt. lead with just under 6 min. left (88-67). SO yeah, that's another 20-4 run since late third-Q.

They would close to within 14, but didn't have enough, as we held on for the impressive 93-76 WIN against the team who allows the fewest points per game in the NBA. Six guys in double-figures.. Responded to the terrible 3-pt. shooting the night
Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

before by hitting 7 (of 28, so more work to do), and we hung with them on the boards. Kawhi Leonard had a super game with 11 points and 10 boards. Tony had 21 & 7 assists, and Blair had 19 & 6 boards..

Yeah we just went W-W-W in 3 nights, like only 4 teams have done during this compacted season! Spurs have now won 7 of 8, improving to a 33-14 record, still 2nd in the West, 2 losses behind the Thunder. Now we have to go on the road again to Phoenix & Sacramento back-to-back Tues. & Wed. to complete our 5 games in 6 days (and 6 in 8), before coming home for some rest and a meeting with a good Indiana team (and George Hill) Saturday.