Anyone see this?  wtf? I picked it off the ESPN website....not your typical Spurs-type news......

 

SAN ANTONIO -- Former NBA All-Star Alvin Robertson has been charged with sexual assault of a child, trafficking an underage child for purposes of sex and forcing a sexual performance by a child.

The charges were contained in an arrest warrant Friday. Robertson has not been apprehended.

Authorities claim the 47-year-old former Spurs star was part of a ring that kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from San Antonio, forced her to have sex with clients and to dance at a Corpus Christi strip club last year.

The girl escaped her alleged captors, prompting an investigation. Seven people have been charged, including Robertson's girlfriend, and he's the only one who has not been arrested.

The seventh overall pick in the 1984 draft, Robertson averaged 14 points over 10 seasons and was voted to four All-Star Games.

OK, so this is a picture I just snapped off with my cell phone.  Can you tell?  Its grainy and the lighting is poor.  But once you get past that, you will see a tattered old Taco Cabana cup featuring Bruce Bowen on my desk here at work.  It is one of my prized possessions.

 

 

Three to four times a day, I fill it with water to drink. I take it to meetings to fuch with a bunch of my fellow Ohioans.  Its really funny to see some people crane their neck trying to understand just what the heck it is…because you see, we have no Taco Cabana in Cincinnati – and of course, we have no Bruce Bowen. This is what we know.

What we don’t know is just how much water is in the cup.  Is it half full or half empty?  This is kind of where we sit as Spurs fans right now.  For fans of most teams, a second place spot in the conference, a 30-14 record and a road win over a play-off bound team all seem like great things to bank on.

From another perspective, the Jazz are banged up, they killed us on the boards in the 3rd and they shot almost 50% for the game. If they can give us this kind of game without Boozer or Kirilenko, then what does that say about our Spurs?  Further, our guys just got washed on National TV by the one team above us and we have played down to the competition in many games leading up to that drubbing.  So which is it half-full or half empty?  Now, let’s look to the Jazz game as an indicator of the choppy year it has been thus far.

The game starts with Timmy absolutely burying leather in the mug of Utah’s Paul Millsap.  But then, Millsap comes right back with a sweet cross-over move followed by a step-back nylon brusher.  Whoa.

Tony hits a rare three only to be immediately replaced by George Hill.  Fab Oberto is even getting some early minutes…and in the ultimate irony, Oberto is on the receiving end of an alley-oop.  Does it count as an alley-oop if Oberto doesn’t dunk it?

So just what in the hell is going on here? 

The choppy first half of the quarter is quickly replaced by a furious last four minutes where an 18-15 game turns into a 28-25 Jazz lead after one.  So far, Manu has logged about six minutes and they are not very noteworthy. He is called for one offensive foul, but does execute a nice pick and roll with Fab-O for a deuce.

The second quarter begins with the Jazz maintaining the energy they had to end the first, scoring 8 quick in the first four minutes.  A Bonner 3-ball and two Duncan baskets are keeping the Spurs right there.  Right about now, any serious Spurs fan is really starting to get annoyed with the performance of CJ Miles, Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap. Millsap has 12 and Brewer 10 thus far.  They are doing everything for the Jazz right now.  We have yet to hear from many of the players on Stampler’s guys that matter list from the other day….except for Timmy of course. On his second bucket of the sequence, Tim weathered a bunch of body blows and rose above the fray to collect and deposit.  It looked like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. When everything else that you expect breaks down, it seems that you can always count on Tim to lend some order to the madness.

Middle part of the quarter sees Gino go out for Ime Udoka and the PtR natives are getting restless.  What’s up with this guy? Tony’s not passing him the ball, he’s not looking for his shot.  Again, what the hell is going on here?

Play is starting to get really ragged on both ends, but Timmy gets a hoop, Tony some free throws and another long one by the Super Bon Bon put the Spurs ahead 41-38 with just over two and a half left.  Bonner now has 11 and he scored on Gino’s 3rd assist. Bonner will get one more right at half’s end to firmly cement himself as "on fire." Matt finishes with 20 points and 7-10 shooting. 

That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Utah cans a trio of 3-balls and a long two by Okur to end the half shooting over 54%. Where would we be without Duncan and Bonner in the first half? Tim has 16 and 7 at the break and Bonner has 4 of the Spurs 6 treys.  Spurs are shooting 6-10 from distance thus far, and are down 21-19 on the boards.

Spurs come out of the break with gun-powder on their ass.  Bonner and Mason both can a pair of three-pointers and Tim gets a pair of hoops to run the Spurs lead out to 10 at 68-58 with 6:47 left in the third. OK, so we’re looking half-full right now….we are doing all this, basically without Manu who hasn’t yet played in the second half, hasn’t yet scored, and frankly hasn’t been real involved on either end of the floor to this point.

Ready for the half-empty?  Spurs don’t get a rebound between 6:27 and 1:02 of the third.  And the one we got at 1:02 was a "Team Rebound," which basically means that Paul Millsap clanged one and it bounced around before being knocked out of bounds by a Jazz player. Manu finally claims a rebound by the Spurs in the final seconds of the third.  This, my friends, will turn a 10 point lead into a tie ball game.  Manu does get points 2 and 3 at the line, but the Spurs inexplicably allow Ronnie Brewer to run coast-to-coast in the last five seconds of the third to tie the game and cap a 31 point quarter by the home-standing Jazz.  I’m ready to kill somebody, I’m sure old Coach Head Stitches is ready to kill somebody….and I’m not even gonna re-hash some of what you all said on the live game blog by this point…..

 

 

Uh-oh.  Out of water.  Better get a re-fill. Bruce, where you at my, man?

Not sure what to make of this game just yet.  The first three periods are marked by high tempo sequences, only to be followed by slower bumper-grinder ugly type stuff. And its not like one team is benefitting from one style here.  Both teams have used the fast paced action to take an advantage (Jazz to end the first half and the Spurs to start the third). Both teams have used the slower ugly stuff as well (Spurs early in the second and Jazz to end the third).

Under the radar, Tony Parker scores 9 points in the last half of the third to keep the Spurs in it.

One thing is for sure so far, the Jazz players that don’t matter, really matter tonite. Brewer, Millsap and Miles end up with for 53 of the Jazz 100 points on a combined 21 of 43 shooting. Spurs are also shooting a dismal 9-17 at the line so far.

So, back to my favorite cup……….Bruce comes into begin the 4th and promptly drops in two baskets. Somewhere SiMA is jersey popping that #12. Is it a coincidence that the Spurs defense picks up here as well? Our favorite old guy ninja draws Mehmet Okur and locks him up.

Ragged ragged ragged play in this sequence.  Hacks, clangs and a body pile up are around each corner. Is it also a coincidence that these are also Bruce Bowen minutes?  Roger Mason hits a biggie at the 8:40 mark to give the Spurs a an 88-82 lead.  Spurs get two offensive rebounds and Manu begins to show himself by pulling down 4 defensive rebounds in 5 Jazz possessions.  Jazz get only two FGs in first four minutes of the period and the Spurs take advantage by hitting six of their first nine to take a 92-84 lead. 

 The Jazz will get as close as one point on a couple of occasions, but never fully recover from this pivotal Spurs run.  Manu re-enters after a brief rest to dominate ball handling the rest of the way and basically exert his will on the game without scoring more than one basket. In one short stanza, Manu has went from not being involved to being Option 1.

Manu gets a big steal on Millsap just inside the two minute mark by somehow poking the ball straight up in the air and gathering it in after it bounces around in a sea of arms and legs. That’s the Manu we know and love.  Then, he promptly makes too aggressive of a drive to the hole and drops the ball off for a Utah run-out. Yikes. Oh Manu.........

As if all of this Manu were not enough, he finally gets it right.  Timmy feeds Gino for a wild, twisting, back-handed lay-up to put the Spurs up 96-93 on a great cut to daylight. On the ensuing Jazz possession, Ginobili makes one of the greatest rakes I have seen in a long time, victimizing Ronnie Brewer. Spurs ball.

Manu gets himself to the line an eye-popping 4 times in the last minute of this game and sinks all 8 attempts. Spurs right the ship with solid defense down the stretch, making 12 of 15 free throws in the quarter and managing to play even on the boards.  Manu is also key to this point by pulling down 6 of his 9 caroms in the 4th.  Jazz had only 6 bench points.  Spurs had 25, 13 of them belonging to Manu.

Your three stars:

Bruce Bowen.  Look, a case can be made for Tony (9-18, 24 points) and  Matt (6-7 long ones and 20 points) can be made here. Tony was kind of under the radar and Matt didn’t score after the first few minutes of the third period. I went with Bruce because he came in and helped stem the tide of a hot Jazz end to the third period.  The first half of the fourth is one of the places where this game was won.  Bruce tied up Mehmet Okur (0-4) during this stretch and scored 4 points of his own. Besides, he’s on the cup, man!!!!!! He’s the cover boy to this recap.  I can’t leave him out in the cold after he’s been there for me day in and day out.

Manu Ginobili.  Do I really ever have to justify giving Manu a star?  He ran the game at the end with steals, free throws and an impossible make at a key time for his only basket. He hit all 8 free throw attempts in the fourth folks.  Bet the folks in Utah are tired of seeing that. Manu may have been 1-5 from the field, but he added 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.  Most of this was done in crunch time.

Tim Duncan. He had 24 points on 10-16 and a +16. He also had 9 rebounds, 8 assists and three blocked shots. As always, he was the man. He steadily performed whjile everything else around him was chaotic.

 So how much water was in that dang old cup anyway?

 

As for now, I'm really thirsty.  Gotta run.....

Say it ain't so:

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have assigned center Ian Mahinmi to the Austin Toros, the NBA Development League team owned and operated by the Spurs.

Mahinmi is currently recovering from a sprained right ankle. He will use this assignment to the Toros as an opportunity to get back into basketball shape and complete his rehabilitation.

The 22-year-old Mahinmi is entering his second season with the Spurs. He split the 2007-08 campaign between San Antonio and Austin. Mahinmi started the season in San Antonio, appearing in six games with the Spurs, averaging 3.5 points in 3.8 minutes, before being assigned to the Toros on 11/21.

Mahinmi was named to the 2008 All-NBA Development League First Team. In 46 games with the Toros, he averaged 16.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.70 blocks in 29.6 minutes while shooting .615 (276-449) from the field and .766 (219-286) from the line. Mahinmi ranked 19th in the D-League in scoring, second in field goal percentage, eighth in rebounding and ninth in blocks. For the season Mahinmi posted 16 double-doubles. In four games in the 2008 D-League Playoffs, Mahinmi averaged 18.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.50 blocks in 38.3 minutes.

Mahinmi was selected by the Spurs in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft with the 28th overall pick. He was signed by the Spurs on 8/23/07 after spending the previous four seasons in the French A League.

…and did ATS hit the nail on the head with that line or what?

 

The obvious good news here is that our boys are finally in the win column.  The obvious bad news is that it took this much of an effort against a team that is nowhere near pay-off status.  That said, off we go….

 

Up front, here is one game observation:

 

Thank whoever you choose to worship for Tony Parker tonite.  His 55 points were not only a career high, but he also found time to dole out 10 assists.  Only Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson have accomplished that feat before Frenchy. Very nice.

 

Some T-Wolves Stuff:

 

The atmosphere at the beginning of this game was almost unreal – eerily quiet with a bunch of empty seats.  You could hear the coaches and players yelling pretty clearly at times. It had the feel of a pre-season game, or perhaps one of those late season playing out the string games. That changed later, but early on, it was very quiet in there.

 

Does Mike Miller have his tongue pierced?  Sure looked like it to me on a couple of up close shots.  Just asking.

 

Did anyone know that Kevin Love can throw a chest pass the full length of the court?  I followed him in college and it is kind of an amazing feat if you see it.  Typically, once a game, you will see him wrist-whip a long out of bounds pass out after a made basket.  He did it once last night, then ran down the court to collect a pass and nail a three.

 

One of the guy’s in a jacket and tie behind the T-Wolves bench was little used Center Calvin Booth.  Can’t believe this guy still draws a check in the NBA, but he did go to the same High School as I did.

 

Jim Petersen, the game analyst for the Timberwolves TV network, admitted that he had never head of George Hill’s alma mater, IUPUI.  OK, so maybe the place isn’t universally known, but if you are a professional in the sport…….maybe just don’t admit that you didn’t know that on TV, OK?

 

Onto the Game:

The first quarter of this game was flat brutal.  Neither team could hit a shot other than Tony for us and Mike Miller for them. It took until the 3:30 mark of the first quarter for someone other than Frenchy to score for the Spurs.  That happened on a Roger Mason free throw after a defensive three-seconds call. Both teams shot something near 30% for the first, which ended at 18 a piece.  George Hill came off the bench as Parker’s replacement rather than the JV for the first time this season.

 

Minnesota was a little quicker to pick up the tempo as the second quarter moved on.  Their second unit brought some hustle as they began to out work the Spurs for offensive rebounds and loose balls.  Kevin Love manufactured a couple of these with Oberto-esque tip outs.  This represented the continuance of an alarming trend of second chance opportunities that the Spurs have been giving up so far this year.  Timberwolves opened up a six point advantage in the second and Tony is the only Spur with a pulse, as he gets to the line on two consecutive trips while twisting Sebastian Telfair into knots.  Telfair’s only choice on these two trips is to clobber Tony as if he were Manu Ginobili in Denver.

 

At the six minute mark of the second, the Spurs are down 36-28 and a bunch of us are probably throwing up in our mouths a little.  I know I was.  Roger Mason gives the Spurs a little hope down the stretch of the first half and Timmy finally makes a few hoops to pull within four at the break. The bad news here is that Minne puts up 31 in the second quarter.  Second chance points off the offensive glass are killing the Spurs.

 

Roger Mason starts the second half for the Spurs again – perhaps he is the new Manu Ginobili? Like everybody else, I like Roger out there.  Is it me, or does it seem like the only runs the Spurs have made this season have come with him on the floor?

 

What I didn’t like about the Third is Popovich trying to put Mike Finley on Kevin Love.  On four straight possessions of that, the Wolves got two lay-ups and two give up hacks by the Fin-Dog.  In the early part of the quarter, Minne keeps their lead by continually outworking the Spurs.  We are just flat giving up too many open looks and too many offensive rebounds.  That’s one thing, but its too often coupled with too many stale possessions and too many clanged open looks.

 

Things do begin to look up in the back half of the third as Parker continues to torch whoever draws him.  They tried Brewer, McCants, Foye and Telfair in this game, all pretty much met the same fate.  Roger Mason also checks back and brings a few makes with him.  His jumper draws the Spurs even at 68 with 2 minutes left in the third.

 

Here is a tell tail sign of this game and of the Spurs problems so far this year:  Over the course of the second half, the Spurs hit on 10 shots in a row and score on something like 14 out of 15 possessions and still they are tied with 3:30 to go in the fourth. This is basically all Tony Parker, with a little bit of Tim and Roger Mason thrown in at this point.  For every hustle play and second chance point and shot made by the Timberwolves, the Spurs have an answer…and that answer is #9 putting someone in the popcorn popper.  Parker finished the game shooting 22 of 36.  WOW.

 

The game sees and saws with Duncan finally getting in a groove hitting a couple of shots down the stretch. Minnesota continues to match us and regulation ends with Roger Mason calmly nailing a bank shot with 2 seconds left to tie the game.

 

These overtime periods were tough.  I can’t believe that the Spurs legs held together.  The Timberwolves played very hard and very well in this game and could have very easily won this game.  However, this was not to be their night.  The Spurs FINALLY got a second chance point early in the first OT when Roger Mason hit a free throw off a possession when Timmy got an offensive rebound.  The first OT ends with Tim nailing two clutch free throws, Al Jefferson hitting an impossible jump hook and then Tony canning the jumper of the night to keep the game alive. He took a hand-off from Ime Udoka and straight-up nailed a long two from the wing at the buzzer….so we play on.

 

In the second OT, Parker kept it going with three more baskets and 3 out of 4 at the free throw line.  Al Jefferson hit a pair of shots and Randy Foye hit a three ball to bring Minne back to within a point with 35 seconds to play. On that one, Fin-Dog missed a rotation when Oberto doubled down on Al Jefferson. I thought Pop was gonna kill him in the time out that followed.  Fortunately, Parker hit both free throws when fouled and the T-Wolves went to a cold Rashad McCants who missed a three to tie the game.  Then, the remarkable happened – the Spurs sealed the game when Tony Parker chased down the rebound.

 

It should be noted that the Spurs shot 7 of 8 free throws in the overtime periods and went 23 of 28 for the game.

 

In addition to Parker’s double nickel, Tim had 30 and Roger Mason chipped in 26. No other Spur scored in double figures.  Ime Udoka had eight. Mason and Miller had 30 and 25 respectively for the Timberwolves.  Some other items: Bruce Bowen finally played in the second half and logged a whopping 33 minutes. Bonner started the game and played only six minutes. Not much of Kurt Thomas in this game as well.  He played just over 12 minutes.  George Hill played very well in a few stretches off the bench after miserably clanking his first shot attempt. Somehow Mike Finley led the Spurs with a +12.

 

Its nice to get a win and all, but right now the Spurs do not look at all like one of the top teams in the league, conference or their division, frankly. I’m going to assume that the defensive intensity will pick-up.  It always does.  The part that we had better fix quick is defensive rebounding, so if you want to find a button to hit for this team, hit that one.

 

Continue reading this post »

 

Below is Charley Rosen's take on Game 6.  This is an outstanding re-cap.  One of his best of the year. However, given the format, I wonder if he ether got really tired or had a very quick deadline. Either way, he spells it all out for you. He is also about the only member of the larger national media that I would ever give any credence to.

Spurs shoot their way into Game by Charley Rosen

1) REPEAT! REPEAT! San Antonio wins whenever it shoots well from the outskirts. Before garbage time filled the tail end of the fourth quarter, the Spurs shot a collective 20-for-37 from outside. Included in this total was a 11-for-21 mark from downtown.

2) Tim Duncan played lock-down defense on David West. The latter was 4-for-14 for 10 points, a far cry from his stupendous 38-point output in Game 5. Duncan's length, footwork and aggressiveness did the trick. Also, TD played up in West's chest, forcing him to drive to help spots.

3) Manu Ginobili came to play — 9-for-15, including 6-for-9 treys, for 25 points. No surprise there.

4) Gregg Popovich designed a game plan that would free Duncan — usually by running screen-and-rolls that involved two other players, then having TD make dive-cuts at the appropriate times.

5) In the second half, the Spurs doubled Chris Paul on screen-and-rolls and also whenever and wherever else they could corner him. By taking the ball out of CP's hands, the Spurs forced his teammates to make the ball-distribution decisions Paul usually makes. That's primarily why New Orleans totaled only 13 assists (on 33 baskets) to go with nine turnovers. In Game 5, its numbers were 24 assists and six turnovers.

6) Ime Udoka had the game of his life off the bench — 5-for-5, including 3-for-3 triples, 2 assists, one steal, one block, and 13 points in 21 minutes.

7) Tony Parker made a total of eight faulty decisions with the ball, ranging from ill-advised passes to forced penetrations. Even so, he managed 6-for-13, 4 assists, 2 steals and 15 points. Yet the most redeeming aspect of Parker's game was his jump shooting — 3-for-5.

8) The Spurs' ball movement was superb. Extra passes were the rule and unselfishness was their guide. Credit them with 28 assists on 38 buckets.

9) While the Spurs didn't run too many screen-and-rolls, they got good production whenever they did — eight points on eight screen-and-rolls. David West was frustrated by Tim Duncan, then reaggravated a back injury. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

10) Fabricio Oberto — 2-for-4, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 points — passed well, set sturdy screens and played excellent position defense.

11) What might be the most significant key in Game 7 was the crushing back-screen that Robert Horry set on David West. If West is still hobbled Monday night, the Hornets' season will be over.

All in all, a highly predictable resurrection game by the defending champs. If there were several keys to the Spurs win, there were also several locked doors that the Hornets were unable to open.

1) Duncan's aforementioned defense on West, who seemed to so unnerved by this surprise matchup that he missed several wide-open jumpers.

2) They never could get any kind of handle on Duncan. On 13 sequences, the Hornets doubled TD on the catch and the Spurs wound up connecting for 20 points. TD was doubled twice on the move, with the Spurs scoring two points. Duncan was played straight up five times, with the home team generating six points. The Hornets fronted Duncan once and he tallied a dunker.

3) The Hornets' dreadnaught high screen-and-rolls were just about negated by the Spurs' two-timing tactics. Twenty times the Hornets undertook their money play, and it produced only 12 points.

4) Paul had a solid if not explosive performance — 9-for-18, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers (all on offensive fouls), and 21 points. However, most of his scoring was created by his individual brilliance.

5) Except for Tyson Chandler's occasional quickness to the ball, the Hornets' defensive rotations were tardy.

6) West was especially inept in defense of screen-and-rolls.

7) While Peja Stojakovic has his moments on offense — 5-for-10, 13 points — and took it to Bruce Bowen by design, his defense was atrocious. Especially against Udoka.

8) The Hornets got nothing from either Bonzi Wells or Jannero Pargo when they needed a boost.

Besides excitement, the impossibility of a blowout and a rip-roaring crowd in New Orleans, what else might be expected in Game 7? San Antonio will likely have Duncan guard West for most of the game — probably after Oberto bangs him around for a few minutes. The Spurs will also concentrate on having Parker cut down on his mistakes. They must find a way to prevent Paul from killing Parker in the low post. And, rest assured, Paul will have to combat double-teams at almost every turn.

For the Hornets to win, they should have Chandler (and Melvin Ely) play Duncan straight up, conceding TD his 30 or so points, while staying in touch with Ginobili, Parker, Bowen and Udoka. Post CP against Parker and see how the Spurs react. To neutralize the double-teaming of Paul, use Pargo as the lead guard and have CP3 curl, drive and/or pop off weak-side screens. Monday night is precisely why we love this game so very much — because Game 7 is NBA heaven.

It easy to hate losing to Devner and its easy to hate losing to Phoenix, but back-to-back?!?!?!  Man.......

Even worse is that, in reality, Shaquille O'Neal played his best game as a member of the Suns and even produced a couple of stupid highlight reel material plays for TV fodder in the process.  Wonderful. ESPN is gonna be running that dive and his refusal to take Tim's hand on SportsCenter teasers for the next 3 weeks.  Surely, someone will mention this dive of his to me tomorrow at work, but they won't have any idea what happened to the ball right after fat boy went flying.

OK, the Suns did actually play good in stretches and a tip of the cap to them for it.  But if that's the best they can play (and it may be), then they are going to be in trouble whether they run into San Antonio again or a number of other teams really.  But enough about them.

The Spurs seemed to lose their way midway through the fourth quarter and couldn't get it back. The last 5 minutes or so were plagued with missed shots, both bad looks and good.  The Spurs really shot poorly all day, and O'Neal's presence was a little part of that to be fair.  But that which kept our guys around for most of the game failed them in the end.  They did a good job of defending, rebounding and not turning the ball over for three and a half quarters.  Too many empty possessions and loss of defensive intensity in crunch time made the Spurs fate in this one.

Some specific problems I had were:

-Not enough pick and roll basketball when Shaq was on the floor.  It was working for open looks by Tim and KT almost every time we did it.

-Not trying hack-a-Shaq in the fourth quarter.  You guys were with me on this one. Oberto, KT and Tim had plenty of fouls to give. Pop could have even tossed RoHo out there for a couple of hacks.

-Frenchy was not aggressive enough by any stretch.  He typically lives in the lane.  Not so much today. He did start hot and ended up with a reasonable line, but I think that we needed more from him to win today.  He wasn't much of a factor late.

-Once the Spurs got the 4th and 5th fouls on both Phoenix bigs with more than 5 minutes to go, they settled for way too many jump shots and pull-ups. When they did take it to the hole, the Spurs drivers looked to be either looking for contact or trying to hard to take a tougher shot to avoid a shot block (that said, the Manu floater over Steadywhiner should go into his YouTube file immediately).

I was sure that the game was going to twist back the Spurs way after Parker drew O'Neal's fifth and then got tangled up with Raja Bell for a double foul just a moment later.  D'Antoni went into one of his hissy fits that ended with a "Fuck You" directed at one of the officials and he drew the obligatory technical foul. This is typically a harbinger of doom for the Suns, but this time, they picked it up from there.  Let's face it, Phoenix wanted/needed it more today and it showed. 14-2 over the last 3:40 tells the tale way better than I can.

This loss was tough to take for sure, but not worth starting a Bogota-stlye soccer riot over or anything. The Spurs could have won this game going away if they play better in most of the areas you all have already noted during the in-game blog.

Your 3 Stars:

This is going to be three Spurs players because I'm not gonna write up the name of an opposing player; and this is a Spurs site after all, so......

3. Kurt Thomas.  He really wasn't that good today, but at least he probably pissed off some Suns fans just by showing up in the Los Spurs jersey. I guess he was less-lame than most.
2. Fabricio Oberto.  Why?  Dude almost died for the cause today taking a whallop upside the head from Shaq. Fab was also +11 while on the floor today and made his only two shots.  Way better than the shooting percentage of our other guys (Note: I know that Manu had 22 and almost died for the cause as well, but he just missed too many shots in the 4th to take this spot from his counrtyman).
1. Tim Duncan. Not one of his better games by any stretch, but did anyone catch the silly face he made at the camera right before he re-entered the game in the fourth? It was a laugh out loud moment for me (a sober one at that). Then Tim came right in and yanked down a one-on-four offensive rebound and dished it to Manu who drained a 3-ball. That's good enough for me. Oh yeah and he's our real MVP, I suppose.
   

this from the world-wide misleader:

Sources: Magloire, waived by Nets, could join Mavericks
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

The Dallas Mavericks appear to be tops on the list for soon-to-be free agent Jamaal Magloire, according to NBA front-office sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that the 6-11 center is strongly leaning toward signing with the Mavericks this week and that a binding decision could come as early as Tuesday, with the 29-year-old scheduled to clear waivers at 6 p.m.

Magloire was waived by New Jersey on Friday after the trading deadline passed. Although he was expected to supply the Nets with some much-needed bulk and experience on the front line, Magloire only managed to get into 24 games for the Nets, averaging a mere 1.8 points and 3.4 rebounds.

But Dallas has a fresh opening for a proven center after being forced to part with DeSagana Diop in its recent trade for Jason Kidd. Erick Dampier is the only true center left on the Mavs' roster.

After earning a surprise spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team in 2004, Magloire has struggled to stay put, lasting just one season each in Milwaukee and Portland before signing a one-year deal with the Nets last summer worth $4 million. But the recent influx of size in the Western Conference after a flurry of trades this month has apparently created a new job market for him.

"I've never seen a guy work so hard when he isn't playing," Kidd said Monday night in Dallas of Magloire, who was Kidd's teammate with the Nets as recently as a week ago.

"If that were to happen [Dallas signing Magloire], I still think he has something left in the tank."

The Mavericks are also among the playoff contenders lining up to sign veteran guard Brent Barry, who was waived last week by Seattle after the Sonics acquired Barry, Francisco Elson and a 2009 first-round pick in a swap with San Antonio for Kurt Thomas. But Phoenix, Houston, Golden State and Boston -- as well as the Spurs, who must wait 30 days to re-sign him according to league rules -- are also making a strong push for Barry.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.

This from MySA.com this morning on Brent Barry. Not too much in the way of earth shattering news, but good enough to share just in case anyone hasn't seen this yet.

Pro basketball: Barry still uncertain where he'll play

Web Posted: 02/26/2008 10:45 AM CST

Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News

Former Spurs guard Brent Barry, traded to Seattle last Thursday and subsequently released by the SuperSonics, cleared waivers Monday morning.

Now free to sign with any team, including the Spurs if he is willing to wait for another 25 days, Barry said he is no closer to a decision than he was Friday, when the Sonics cut him loose.

"As of 10 a.m. (Tuesday), there is no decision," Barry said. "There have been so many changes over the past few days it's very difficult. Just because I've cleared, I don't have a timetable that today is the day I have to decide."

NBA guidelines prevent Barry from returning to the Spurs for 30 days after the date on which he was traded, which was Feb. 20. That makes March 21 the first day he could re-join the team for which he has played since signing as a free agent in July 2004.

Barry, 36, has not played since suffering a left calf injury in the Spurs' victory over the Miami Heat on Jan. 24. It was a recurrence of a problem with the left calf that first hit Barry in a game against the Bulls on Dec. 26 and kept him out for three weeks. He likely needs another 10 days to two weeks before he is able to return to game action.

Nevertheless, Barry has been pursued by some of the NBA's best teams because he remains one of the league's best shooters and smartest players. In 29 games with the Spurs this season, he averaged 7.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 18.7 minutes per game.

The Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics all reportedly have reached out to Barry and his agent, Arn Tellem, and while it is presumed the Spurs also have expressed interest, general manager R.C. Buford on Monday said the club would have no comment, even after Barry cleared waivers.

Before the Sonics decided to release Barry, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had praised his play this season and wished him well.

"I thought Brent was having a fantastic year," Popovich said before the Spurs played the Minnesota Timberwolves last Thursday. "It started last year after we decided we weren't going to make any trades last year. He played with a more devil-may-care attitude the last half of last season. He came in with that mind-set this year and did real well."

mikemonroe@express-news.net and more MySA.com banter on the topic: Spurs mailbag: Flight of the mango tree? Only a guess Web Posted: 02/25/2008 06:20 PM CST Jeff McDonald Express-News Staff Writer We here at the Mailbag don’t claim to know what Brent Barry is thinking. We haven’t tapped his phone. We aren’t in his head. We don’t know for sure where he is going to wind up when his services go up for bid on Tuesday morning. What we have here is a hunch. A gut feeling. And that gut feeling tells us Barry’s new team will look a lot like his old team. Our hunch is Barry, essentially rendered a free agent during last week’s wheelings and dealings that brought Kurt Thomas to San Antonio, will re-sign with the Spurs, even if he has to wait nearly 30 more days to do it. Our guess is he will essentially be a former Spurs swingman for less than a week. But it’s only a guess, not worth more than the virtual paper it’s printed on. We’ll admit, from a pure playing-time perspective, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Some of the other teams on his list of suitors – Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and Boston – could probably use him more. With the rise of Ime Udoka in the rotation, the Spurs are having enough trouble making room for all the wing players they’ve got. In the Spurs’ most recent victory, a 98-89 trumping of New Orleans on Saturday, Michael Finley – an erstwhile starter – managed to get on the floor for just 10 minutes, 45 seconds. How many minutes can coach Gregg Popovich carve for Barry, who is still at least 10 days away from being able to play again after his second stint on the injured list? The Rockets, Mavericks and Suns could find use for him as soon as he’s healthy enough. The Celtics would probably even offer him significant minutes at point guard. So if Barry returns to the Spurs, it won’t be for playing time. It will be for family – both his actual flesh and blood, and the fraternal bond of the Spurs locker room. Barry and his wife, Erin, have been active in the San Antonio community since he arrived in 2004. His kids, as much a fixture in the Spurs’ locker room as their father, are entrenched in school here. That will probably figure into Barry’s decision somehow. (Something that won’t: His starring turn in a series of local H-E-B commercials, though it did give rise to one of our favorite e-mails of the week. From Tom, in San Antonio: "Come back Brent. You’re the mango tree.") Then there is the prospect of returning to the team with which he’s won a pair of NBA titles. He’s familiar with the Spurs’ offense, he’s familiar with his teammates. There would be no learning curve. When he’s ready to play, he can just play. That has to factor in, too. Still, until Barry puts pen to new contract, anything is possible. Our gut feeling is that Barry will follow his heart, if not his head. But that’s only a hunch.

So this one was a complete stinker for more than three quarters.  What can I possibly say to make this one interesting, you ask?  Well to that I say that Jason Richardson sure has some shiny black sneakers, with pretty orange laces. And it was all you can eat night at the game!!! I'd be interested to know if anyone took advantage of that sweet deal.

But, the biggest news of all:  BREAKING NEWS from Bill Land and Sean Elliot.  They announced that Frenchy was gonna see some action in this game...uh...good call guys. Where did that come from?  I am personally just happy to know that he is close to a return.

Seriously though, much of this game resembled an old guy pick-up game at your local YMCA.  I know a lot about these.  Turn-overs, bad shots, clanking open looks - the works.

I do suppose that there were a few other interesting things - to me anyway.  These were as follows:

So who was the hot babe sitting next to halftime honoree Bob Bass?  She was a cutie....

How about the on-court interview with Gene "Tinkerbell" Banks!?!?  Talk about a blast from the past!!!! Perhaps the worst nickname of all time, but old dude was looking pretty dapper.  Note:  I believe that Randy Johnson's "Big Unit" is the best nickname.

OK; enough of the fluff, let's dive into this pile of poo, shall we? Here is my quarter by quarter run thru:

1st Quarter:
All looks right with the world as Manu makes his presence felt early by whipping a pass to a wide open Fabricio Oberto for a lay-up.  That is about the only real action in a quarter filled with guys slogging around, throwing bad passes, dropping the good ones. Looks like someone put concrete in everyone's galoshes.

In the quarter, San Antonio goes 4 for 17 from the field with 7 turnovers.  Manu had 4 of them.  It seemed as if the Spurs turned the ball over every possession in the last 4 minutes of this quarter.  Bobcats are not much better with 6 for 17 shooting.  At least many of the Spurs shots were reasonably good looks with shoulders squared up and two feet on the floor.  Charlotte is just jacking up every long distance fall away they can.

After the first 6 minutes of futility, Pop starts going mad-scientist, trying to find anyone on the bench that can run upright and catch/pass a ball. Tim, Manu, Bruce, Fab-O, JV, Fin, Udoka and Muffs all see court time.  Seems like everybody but Frenchy gets in.

The first quarter comes to an end with the Spurs down 18-13, but Manu does out-hustles McGinnis for a loose ball on the sidelines causing Funny Hair to bark loud enough and body scrape Manu hard enough to draw a technical foul.  

2nd Quarter:
Not much more exciting than the first, with a few more points to report. Spurs out-score Charlotte 23-14 for a 36-32 halftime lead. Shooting hasn't improved much with both teams shooting percentage still in the 30s.

The first half of this quarter was still super lame.  But then again, how could the Spurs manage to do much of anything with a five of Midge, Muffs, Ime, Fin and RoHo?  I'll bet that 5 of us could give those guys a run.  Its 29-23 at the 5:30 mark for godsakes!!!!!

Festival of clanks and turn-overs continues.  Spurs are playing so poorly on the offensive end that I'm having flashbacks to the Toronto and Detroit home losses.  Thank god we're playing Charlotte.  Down 31-27 at the 2:20 mark.  A modest 5-0 run over the next game minute gives the Spurs a 32-31 lead, culminated by Tim making his first point of the game on a free throw.  Manu has 12 of the teams 36 in the first half.

3rd Quarter:
Spurs began the quarter firing on all cylinders, quickly running the lead to 10 with a pair of treys by Midge and Manu.  Midge also added a two point FG in the run. Charlotte's vaunted clank-a-minute offense in high gear.   Until......Charlotte finally broke the second half seal when J-Rich brutalized our main man by dunking on him steamroller style.  Ouchie!!

Ball movement on offense was gradually getting better in the 3rd, but Timmy is still very rusty, going 0 for 3 from 3 inches on one possession.

From there, Charlotte managed to string together a few easy baskets off of 3 turn-overs in a row.  Charlotte also plays a zone defense for a few possessions that mixes up our guys.  Lead down to 44-42 with 5:00 left in the quarter.

Just when it was starting to look queasy again, Muffs hits Timmy with a great high-low pass to end a scoring drought of 6+ minutes.  From there, JV scores 6 of the next 8 to end the quarter strong.  Spurs finish the 3rd with a 54-49 lead.

4th Quarter:
Fin and Fab-O start the 4th with hoops to lead by 9. Two more baskets by Mike Finley, two blocks by Tim and strong ball movement mark the push from here that puts the game firmly in the Spurs grasp.  Mr. Potato Head even got in on the act by finally drilling a three-pointer off of a sweet moving dish by Ime Udoka. I'm starting to get fixated on the jacked-up birthmark at this point. Spurs have finally hit the 40% shooting mark for the game.

The decisive run was finished by a Midge 3 on a vintage Spurs possession.  Midge drops to Fin, who enters the post to Tim.  In one motion, Tim tap-passed the ball over to Midge who drained a long ball.  It was one of those shots you knew was going in.  Soon thereafter Timmy takes a seat.  Tough game for him, but he did have 700 rebounds.

Game ends with Elson and Bonner getting in.  Anymore, seeing these guys in the game is like watching Eric Gagne run in from the LA Dodger bullpen circa 2003-04 - Game Over.

Your 3 Stars:

Third Star: Manu Ginobili.  OK, you could make an argument for him at #1, but I felt like the contributions of Ime and Fin were a little more of the unexpected variety.  Manu shook off the rust with 18 points and several good hustle plays to overcome his early turn-over yips.  Plus, I did want to try and make him feel better after making Michael Jason Richardson's poster early in the second half.  I really wanted to give this to Jared Dudley of the Bobcats for his -20 AND since I hated him so much at BC, but......

Second Star: Ime Udoka.  Didn't miss any assigments on D that I noticed.  Plus, he gave us 12 and 10 with 5 assists and a team high +24.

First Star: Michael Finley.  Given the way most on here feel about him, this might be the only one he ever gets. 6 of 10 shooting with key baskets to populate the Spurs 4th Quarter run to victory.  He played his role to a tee in this game.  Fin was quickest to shake the rust even though he tried a Drogba style header in the first half.

Below is what I just picked off mySA.com's blog by Jeff McDonald.  It appears that the MRI is thankfully negative.  hopefully, Timmy will be back after missing only a couple of games.

December 03, 2007
Jeff McDonald: Duncan's MRI results are in
Tim Duncan's MRI results came back Monday afternoon negative, which is positive for the Spurs and their franchise player.

There is no ligament damage in his right knee, which he injured while tangling with Portland's James Jones in Sunday afternoon's game.

The Spurs are officially listing Duncan with a sprained right ankle, though his right knee remains bruised and sore for the time being. He is being ruled out of Wednesday's game against Dallas, after which time his condition will be updated.

He could miss a game. He could miss two weeks. But either is much better than the alternative.

did anyone see the fans from our favorite city acting up again last night in the NL playoffs? WOW.

as the ohio state buckeye guy here, i have to relay a quick story on the topic:

i went to the rose bowl in 1997 (ohio state over arizona state 20-17).  after that game, i was never treated more rudely by a fan base in all my life, man these people were more pissed off at me that the battery-throwing dog pound scum of cleveland when i sat there with a bengals jersey back in the day...but i digress.  

i had never seen a more whiney bunch of sore loser pricks in all my life than those sun devil fans from phoenix, arizona.

that memory kind of stuck with me over the years and it was obviously re-kindled by the behavior of folks from that part of the world after the spurs-suns series last year...and now they wanna litter their own park with shit after a call didnt go their way, in a game that had pretty much been decided? whoa.

all fans of a team have some sore losers, i get that. all fans of a team have some among them who are dumb-asses, i get that too.  but man, this is a trend across sports in that town...and on national TV no less.....how can those folks be on par with the idiots in cleveland?  

i have not yet in my life seen more than about 5 consecutive minutes of any WNBA game, but does anyone else find it somewhat ironic that the WNBA Western Conference finals feature the teams from Phoenix and San Antonio?

OK, so who knows the nicknames of these teams?  San Antonio is the Silver Stars??? i think this right...what about Phoenix?  are they the Burn or Flame or something like that? please forgive my ignorance on this topic...but i did find the whole thing ironic.

It seems that the Maricopa County Attorney, in Arizona is now looking to prosecute Tim Donaghy because the Suns lost.  Did anyone see this?

As if this isnt silly enough, the two games in question were ROAD games....as in games not played in Arizona or Maricopa County?  Guess its par for the course for these folks.

Uhhhhh yeah...the long arm statute.

Am I missing something here, or is this a total, ridiculous waste of tax dollars? At least they are not my tax dollars.

Here is the web address and the text of the story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2977395

Arizona officials eyeing Donaghy's calls in Suns games
Associated Press

Updated: August 16, 2007, 1:54 PM ET
Comment
 Email
 Print
 PHOENIX -- Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy could face charges in Arizona's most populous county if investigations by the league and FBI show that he deliberately miscalled two Phoenix Suns playoff games this year, authorities said.

Donaghy's Game Log

Tim Donaghy left a record that shows he was often involved in games that displayed, in one expert's view, "abnormal" results on betting lines. A look at NBA games he officiated in the 2006-07 season. List

In federal court Wednesday in New York, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday in connection with an NBA betting scandal.

Donaghy faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when he's sentenced for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting waging information through interstate commerce.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has sent letters to NBA Commissioner David Stern and the head of the FBI in Washington, saying he wants to know whether Donaghy gambled on the two Suns road playoff games, provided inside information to gamblers or helped determine the outcome by making bad officiating calls.

Thomas said the games in question are the April 29 game against the Los Angeles Lakers and the May 12 game against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Suns beat the Lakers 113-110 in the April 29 game, but lost to the Spurs 108-101 on May 12 in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Thomas said that if Donaghy "purposely failed to officiate the games properly and his conduct resulted in changing the outcome of the games, such conduct might have violated Arizona criminal statutes and could be the subject of criminal prosecution."

Special Assistant County Attorney Barnett Lotstein said Arizona's "long arm statute" allows the county to prosecute in such cases.

"If any element of the crime happened in our county, we have jurisdiction," Lotstein said.

Among the possible felony charges are fraudulent schemes and artifices, which carry a possible prison sentence of 3 to 10 years; and bribery of participants in professional or amateur games, which carries a possible prison term of 1 to 3½ years, according to Arizona authorities.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

OK - somebody on here had to bring this up and i guess that i will go ahead do the honors

by now, surely you have all at least heard about the tim donaghy point-shaving situation.  as soon as his name was mentioned and his picture flashed up on the screen, i recognized him and thought "oh god, i think that dude worked a game in the suns series."  recent sports show clips on the story have included a generous amount of spurs-suns play-off footage as well.

whether you agree with his opinions or not, bill simmons covers this topic in pretty good depth on ESPNs website today. do pay close attention to his inset box titled the "zapruder film."  it basically states that not all of the supposedly bad calls against phoenix were made by donaghy.  

consider this my way of debunking more stupid calls by suns fans for an asterisk......and by the way, my championship hat, shirt and DVD make no mention of any of this stuff...huh?

from the Simmons column:
Collectively, it's a damning collection of anti-Phoenix calls, although not all of them were made by Donaghy. Expect the highlights of this game to eventually become the Zapruder Film of the Donaghy Scandal. Sorry, Phoenix fans.

Fabricio Oberto's new 3 year contract is done.  He's staying. Guess we knew it all along.

Continue reading this post »

First off, I guess that I'm the new guy on here. As a long time Spurs fan living in Ohio, there isn't much in the way of a Spurs outlet around here among friends and family. I very much appreciate being able to read PtR and feel like I am among like-minded sports geniouses.....or is that geniei? Anyway, thanks for having this space.  It has been particularly vital to my sanity this play-off season.