Spurs Update

So Wednesday night, this happened:


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Nothing wrong with that defense, really, just can't let teams hang around to get the opportunity to take the game winning shot.

Beautiful Glen Canyon, UT/AZ

Source: National Geographic / Via - (NSFW)

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Spurs Update

This was Manu's game - Image Source (AP Photo/Colin E Braley)

"If the Spurs don't win game-4, it will be a waste of effort, time, and energy." --Me, Sunday.

Game-4 in Salt Lake City saw a sloppy shooting performance by both teams. Then Manu, Jack, and Neal scored 7-straight to take the early 1st-Q lead 22-19. And then our 2nd-Q lead would swell to 12, before the Jazz closed it to 8. At halftime it was 50-42, Spurs.

The 3rd-Q was pretty close throughout, as Devin Harris continued what he began with 9 first-half points. He has been mostly non-existent in this series, though. Derrick Favors started this one, and rightfully so, as he, too, was torching us. Then Manu hit two straight threes - his first two of this this series! Up 10, 68-58 at the end of 3-Qs, Manu, Splitter, and Green continued to pour it on - outscoring the Jazz 15-0 for 8:08 (including the end of the 3rd-Q and the first 7+ minutes of the 4th-Q). Jefferson would finally put a halt to it, but we were then up by 21, 81-60, with 6:00 left. So the Spurs relaxed. Players took their foot off the gas, and thought the Jazz were in "white flag" mode.

The Jazz played inspired b-ball from then on, and forced Pop to bring back Tony & Timmy. But it didn't help. It appeared we had already put the game on "coast". Jefferson, Harris, and company would dominate us for 5 minutes, and come within 4! It's the 1st time we've been challenged in weeks, here. But a critical Jazz turnover with :49 left led to the clinching lay-up by Manu , and then a few fouls & FTs later, the game was ours, but barely. The 87-81 Spurs WIN marks our 14th straight. We close-out Utah, and await the winner of Memphis and the Clippers. Here's the boxscore, and here's ESPN's recap.. Bench scoring: Spurs 56, Jazz 10. Jazz 3-point shooting: 0-13.

Yeah it's a sweep, as noted in my post last night, but the last two games were not pretty by any means! We now get some rest, and more importantly, some practice time, and then - bring them on. Whoever it is. Memphis might just pull it out.

Four down, Twelve to go!

Via

Spurs Update

The San Antonio Spurs had two more days off between Wednesday's game-2 and Saturday's game-3. Of course there was travel time in there, and also a couple of practices. They took the court in Salt Lake City to face the Jazz just following an odd release of a sea of navy, gold, green, and white balloons. Doing this before a game is a new one for me.

At any rate - calming down their crowd must've been the #1 priority, because within the first 30 seconds, Timmy drew an "and-1", and another foul for 2 FTs, and then before a minute was gone, he had 6, and it was 6 to nothing. Offenses were both ready as it was 30-28 after the 1st-Q. Gary Neal capped it off with two-straight threes in the last 2-minutes.

Image Source

Alec Burks and Enes Kanter would carry the Jazz for a while, as our shots weren't really falling. The game was very tight throughout most of the 2nd-Q, as Manu showed signs of a shooting slump. Not only that, but Matt Bonner got 3 quick fouls in 4 minutes - the 3rd of which was total BS. No biggy, though, we have plenty of players. Danny Green, Tony, and Timmy carried us to the last play of the half. Cue Matt Bonner for a designed last-second play, and his only points of the game. Spurs 52, Jazz 50 at the half.

The game remained tight for most of the beginning of the 3rd-Q. Devin Harris was going off for the first time in this series, but Danny Green responded with 9 3rd-Q points. Jack also hit two key threes in this late 3rd-Q run that was 15-8.. from 60-60 to 75-68, where the time ran out in period-3. It was a span that saw the Spurs D hold Utah to 3 of 12 shooting, 2 blocks, and 2 key turnovers.

Before 75 second had expired in the 4th-Q, our lead was 81-68, thanks to Tiago's incredible post-play. The Jazz would then score 6-straight, prompting Pop to take a well deserved timeout.

TP dominated again in the 4th-Q - Image Source (AP Photo/Colin E Braley)

Derrick Favors came back with another layup, and our lead was just 5 at 81-76. But Tony Parker started to take control, as he often does in the 4th quarter. He and Manu would assist Jack and Green for layups, and our D would shut them down for the most part. At 5:09 remaining, and the score 90-78, Utah would come alive again down low. Millsap, Jefferson, and Favors were seemingly scoring at will, but so was Tony Parker, as my man had 16 4th-Q points, including the last 12 for San Antonio. We hadn't played a good game, but the game was never in doubt during the late 4th-q, as the closest the Jazz would get was 8. Spurs rolled to a 102-90 WIN. Here's the boxscore..

Utah responded very well, and Al Jefferson & Devin Harris had good games, as they should have in their 1st playoff game at home. We were even out-rebounded 49-41, but Favors, Millsap, and Hayward shot a combined 10 of 36 (28%), and the Jazz missed 12 of 26 FTs!

Game-4 is Monday night at 7 CDT again in Salt Lake City. No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a 7-game series. If we lose game-4, it will have been a waste of effort. Let's get it over with!!

Here's your complete NBA playoffs update, if you're behind. All series are listed at the top for your convenience!

Spurs Update

Gregg Popovich - 2011-2012 NBA CoY - Image Source

Just prior to game-2 against the Utah Jazz Wednesday night, the Spurs head coach and general manager was presented with the 2011-2012 NBA Coach of the Year award by David Robinson and Tim Duncan. A nice little humble ceremony to precede game-2, it was. However, game-2 against the Jazz is the only game of the 2011-2012 season that I missed entirely, so since I can't really provide my own review without cheating, I'll just link you to the Associated Press's recap of Spurs/Jazz game-2, which is exactly the same at both ESPN's and NBA's websites.

What was so important that I missed it? Well, the Mass Chaos Tour with Godsmack, Staind, Halestorm, and Man Made Machine. But that's for a later post. Believe me, I was very UPSET when I found out the NBA had scheduled the first three games of this series Sun-Wed-Sat.. rather than say Sun-Tues-Thu, or Sun-Tues-Fri.. knowing that the concert, for which we had bought tickets several months ago, was on this night.

At any rate, I expected to be able to hang out in the foyer of the Alamodome's Illusions Theater from tip-off (6pm) to about 8:25 when Staind was supposed to begin. Would you believe that despite nearly 11,000 residents of the San Antonio area at this concert, there wasn't ONE friggin TV with the game on?

So I called my Mom a couple times, and found the game-center on my "stupid" smart phone. I noticed the 20-0 run because I had just noticed it was 31-26 before going outside to have a smoke, and check again. Upon my 2nd call to my Mom, it said 46-26, and we talked while Danny Green hit a three. So when I hung up it was 53-28. I checked a few more times, while waiting in line wayyy tooo
Kawhi gets my game ball (17pts. on 6 of 7) - Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

long for beer, and once I saw 101-66, I stopped worrying about it. I took solace in the fact that I missed a sweet blowout - rather than a sweet nail-biter.

No Jazz player had more than 10 points, although they did have 7 players with 8+. On the other hand 7 Spurs scored in double-figures, plus one with 9 points. Looking at the stats and the play-by-play, it was obvious that we were determined to prove our defensive abilities, as the Jazz shot just 34% for the game, and only 1 of 6 from three. The Spurs' dominating 114-83 WIN was our 12th win in a row! Here is the boxscore..

Game-3 is Saturday in Salt Lake City at 9pm CDT, and game-4 is Monday, with tip-off time still TBA. I expect much more energy from the Jazz, as well as a hostile crowd. It's always tough to win in Utah.

Spurs Update

Image Source

The Spurs begin the 2012 playoffs against the Utah Jazz. We have the home court advantage against every team except the Chicago Bulls, who lost reigning MVP Derrick Rose to a torn ACL yesterday. I learned today that we hadn't won a series opener in 6 straight series. Gulp!

It was the usual starters for the Spurs, except Boris Diaw started at center - rather than DeJuan Blair or Tiago Splitter. It didn't matter because Diaw had 5 early points. Jack and Manu had 4 each off the bench as 8 different Spurs players scored in the quarter. Both teams appeared a little rusty after 1-Q: 28-22, Spurs.

Having a highlight dunk already, Manu came out and did it again, but after building an 8-pt. lead, the Spurs allowed the Jazz 6-straight to come within 2, 32-30. Jack would then nail a three, and it was now that we would finally see Tony get going. He would have 12 2nd-Q points to lead us to a 54-47 halftime lead.

Both defenses were tighter as the 3rd-Q began, but the 7-pt. halftime lead was quickly extended to 11 about halfway through the 3rd, as Tony, Timmy, and Kawhi all earned it at the line. Gordon Hayward, Al Jefferson, and Paul Millsap were really the only ones scoring for Utah, so Pop was in the process of changing his focus well away from Devin
It's what he does - Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Harris, who seemed non-existent. For the next four minutes, we would see some serious brilliance out of the Spurs' big three. Pick 'n' rolls galore, and all three continuing to create scoring opportunities in the paint, including this beautiful Manu assist to Timmy. Then with a 74-66 lead, Neal, Jackson, and Bonner would all hit threes, and along with a super lay-up by DeJuan Blair in his limited minutes, the lead became 15! Bonner's aforementioned three happened late enough that it was a GIGANTIC crowd boost as the quarter wound down.

Leading 85-70 through 3 quarters, Tinsley, Carroll, and Burks were the guys scoring for the Jazz. Then Jefferson & Tinsley made 5-straight to pull within 8 at 89-81 with 7:31 left. For the next 6 minutes, Tony, Manu, Bonner, & Jackson would outscore the Jazz 15-6 with a few
MVP Tony Parker, again - Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

key steals, and bad shooting by Devin Harris. Tony would follow-up his 12-point 2nd-Q with 12 more in the 2nd-half, leading the team with 28 pts., 8 assts., and 4 reb. on 10 of 19 shooting in 37 minutes. Time ran out on the Jazz, and the Spurs grabbed the 106-91 WIN, and while it wasn't our best, I'm not worried. We were out-rebounded 45-39, we shot only 35% from three (6 of 17), and we missed 8 FTs (20 of 28). But with only 10 turnovers compared to Jazz's 16, and their 6 more fouls, we were able to pull out a game that wasn't our best - by 15. Here's ESPN's boxscore.. Spurs lead 1-0.

Game 2 is Wednesday at 6 CDT, again in San Antonio.

Highlights of the first weekend were Durant's game-winner against Dallas, and an incredible Clippers comeback from 27 down in Memphis.

Spurs update

Home & home with the Utah Jazz Sunday & Monday. First one here, second one in Salt Lake City. Both games were terribly officiated. Here are the boxscores: Sunday 4/8: @SA-114 Uta-104 F -- Monday 4/9: @Uta-91 SA-84 F.

Pop chose to leave Tony, Manu, & Timmy at home for that second one. And we still almost won, despite the huge disparity at the free throw line. The night before we got the better end of the calls to the FT line, but they also missed tons of calls, and made so many bad calls, I was ready to scream.

I was also prepared for the previous limited post for those two games - but based upon the LA Lakers coming to town Wednesday. No doubt we'd have a great game hosting them for the first time this season, right? Not the case. Even without Kobe playing, we came out
Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

sluggish, worried, and as Sean Elliott said, "over-respecting" this team. Gary Neal didn't play due to a stomach issue, and Tony Parker seemed like he was either thinking abut his new French hottie, or dreaming about memories with Eva.

Bynum was huge in this game. Absolutely huge. 16 points & 30 rebounds. He had 19 at the half. Crazy stat #2: Metta World Peace led the Lakers in scoring with 26, including 5 of 8 from three. So as we were out-rebounded 60-33, and dominated inside most of the game, we still kept it reasonable for the most part - chipping away at the lead throughout. But it was the 3rd-Q that was our downfall. LA quickly increased the 5-pt. halftime lead to 13 in just over 3 minutes. We would close to within 9, but then go completely cold from the field, and fall to a 20-pt. deficit. Wow! Then later, down by 26 with 7+ left, the Spurs went on a 16-1 run to come within 11... but by that time, it was clear Pop was going to concede the loss with only 2 minutes to go. Lakers win 98-84.

In 24 minutes Duncan had 14 pts. 3 blocks, but 2 rebounds. In 26 minutes Manu had 9 pts., 4 reb., and 5 assists on 3 of 8 shooting. Most importantly, Tony had only 4 pts. on 2 of 12 shooting, with 8 assists. We simply got out-played, but I can guarantee it won't happen again. Every now & then the whole team is gonna have a bad game against a good team. This was one of those nights. Here is the boxscore.

Spurs/Lakers Score by quarters and all stats via ESPN.

Dead Horse Point State Park - Moab, Utah

CTE!                                                                                                     Via / Source

Park information..

Its Wikipedia Page - contains a super panorama image..

Google Maps Link..

More images of DHP State Park HERE, HERE, and of course HERE..