Spurs Western Conference Finals Update

OK now we move the series to Memphis, up 2-0.

In the mean time the Heat and Pacers have played two incredible games in Miami. LeBron won the 1st in OT, after trailing a lot of the game, with a driving layup at the buzzer. Their heroics fell short in game 2, however, as Indiana held on for a game-2 win. Now they go to Indiana split.


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Spurs won game-1 pretty dominantly after leading by double-digits most of the game. Tony Allen tried to trip Tony Parker, but it wasn't even called a foul. Why is this important? I'll answer this later. Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard had super games. Matt Bonner hit 4 of 6 threes, as the Spurs established a playoff record, 14 of 29 shooting from three-point range. The Grizzlies came within 6 at one point, but that was as close as they would get. Spurs, 105-83.. 1-0. Here's ESPN's box score..

Game-2 saw pretty much the same basketball as did game-1. We led most of the game, although not by as much as in game-1. Seemingly culminating at half-time, a 46-31 Spurs lead wouldn't hold long. So far through 7 quarters, with the lead 76-63, my Spurs seriously played great basketball. But the 4th quarter of game-2 was terrible for the Spurs. With Timmy in foul trouble throughout a lot of the late 3rd quarter and early 4th, Memphis figured out a way to capitalize. So our shots didn't fall. We missed almost everything we put up in the 4th (too many threes).

With half a minute left, and a Spurs lead of 4... 85-81, Tony Allen had a break-away lay-up following a stupid Spurs turnover. Manu did what he should have, and fouled the shooter to put him on the line. Unfortunately, the refs ruled his foul was a flagrant-I. Allen made both free throws, and then Memphis scored on their ensuing possession. The game went to overtime, and Timmy ruled. Spurs win 93-89 (OT).. ESPN's Box score - HERE..

Both gifs Via

Announced yesterday, Tony Allen was fined for "flopping" on the play. Here's the whole play:

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You be the judge! Here's a funny .gif I found


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What can we expect from this guy in game-3? Who knows. I'm not worried. I'll be back with my positive analysis of games 3 & 4. This could be a sweep, but I wouldn't feel bad at all putting all the money on 5 games.

Game-3 is in Memphis Saturday night. Spurs lead 2-0. Gonna be great! We just have to get one and come back to San Antonio to close it out.

Bring on the Grizzlies!

Courtesy Screenshots of ESPN.com Headline Story                                                                             Click for Clarity!

Our 8th time in the Western Conference Finals in the last 15 seasons. Yeah I'd say that's pretty impressive! What's even more special is this is gonna be our 5th Finals appearance, and first since 2007.

Game time in San Antonio is Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 2:30 PM Central.

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
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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

My Spurs began their rodeo road-trip last night in Memphis. This would be our 2nd game there in a week, and 3rd vs. the Grizzlies this season. Memphis came out looking a little more like they wanted to play basketball, unlike last week. After the Grizz held the early 10-9

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

lead, we went on a 9-0 run to lead 18-10. Seven different Spurs scored in the 1st Q to give us the 26-18 lead. That lead would then grow to 14, before going on a 2-minute dry spell, and Memphis would surge to within 6 at the half, 52-46. A Jeremy Pargo 27-ft. three at the buzzer helped.

Duncan and Blair would score the first 6 of the 3rd Q, followed by an RJ three a minute later, but then we would go scoreless for a while, as the Grizz tightened-up their D, and dominated us on the offensive end - outscoring us 18-2 over that 7-minute stretch. This was also a 31-14 Memphis run, going back to our 49-35 lead with 3:31 left in the 1st half. But Pop let 'em continue to a 73-67 deficit after 3 Qs.

Then obviously Pop told the guys to step it up on D, because Memphis would be stuck on 73 for HALF of the 4th Q. By this point Tiago Splitter had made 8-straight Spurs points, as apparently Pop heard Sean Elliott continuously declaring that the ball needed to go into him. The ongoing battle between Duncan & Gasol was becoming the feature of the game by this point. Duncan then tied it at 73, and James Anderson hit a three to put us up by 3. After back-to-back Rudy Gay & OJ Mayo jumpers, Tony & Timmy went to work yet again - the two of them scoring the Spurs' next 11 points, and our lead was a commanding 87-81. But Conley would sink a long three off the glass with a minute left (87-84).

During the last minute of the game, it seemed like the Grizzlies got a half-dozen attempts on their end of the floor, due to a reviewed OB call, a Duncan foul, a reviewed jump-ball call, and 3 Spurs blocks on 4 Memphis shots. Danny Green would finally secure the rebound, and nail both FTs for the 89-84 WIN.

Duncan had 19 & 17, and 5 blocks, in 32 minutes. Tony led us with 21 & 7 assists. This time Rudy Gay would score 18, but on 9 of 26 shooting. Gasol had 22, and Conley 19. Here's the ESPN boxscore, and here's the video recap. (Source)

Wednesday we're in Philly for game-2 of the road trip! I've been looking forward to this one for a while.

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.

Manu being Manu

...from opening night against Memphis. In case you missed it..


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Manu Played Through Broken Arm

The San Antonio Spurs are confirming to News 4 WOAI Monday that Manu Ginobili played with a fractured elbow in the playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies.

On April 13th in the final game of the regular season against the Phoenix Suns Ginobili injured his right elbow. The Spurs initially announced that it was a hyper-extension, and then later announced that it was a sprain.

Spurs fans still believed that Ginobili was a fighter for playing with a sprained elbow, but what they did not know was just how much Ginoibli was fighting.

Ginobili recently told the Argentine website Noticiasmdq.com that he fractured his humerus bone. But the Spurs told News 4 WOAI on Monday that Manu actually fractured his right ulna, which is the bone running from the elbow to the pinky.

Ginobili played 5 of the 6 playoff games against the Grizzlies with a fractured arm, and still lead the team with an average of 20.6 points per game.

“Last Wednesday I had an MRI with the San Antonio medical staff. The swelling has gone down and the small fracture is about 85 percent healed. I have to rest for about three weeks and then begin slowly," Ginobili Tweeted.

Ginobili chose to downplay his injury, while Boston’s Rajon Rondo was receiving a lot of national media credit for his ability to play through a hyper-extended elbow.

We'll put this right up there with the broken nose, killing the bat, and the rest of the stories when we write the book about the legend of Manu Ginobili.

Stolen from WOAI Dot Com, and enhanced

Grizz

As far as I'm concerned, this team is now the favorite to hoist the trophy for 2011. That's all I have to say right now.