March	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Tue 17	vs Minnesota	7:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Fri 20	vs Boston	7:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Sun 22	vs Houston	2:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Tue 24	vs Golden State	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Wed 25	@ Atlanta	6:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Fri 27	vs LA Clippers	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Sun 29	@ New Orleans	7:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Tue 31	vs Not Seattle	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
April	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Fri 03	@ Indiana	6:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Sun 05	@ Cleveland	12:00pm			1200 WOAI
Tue 07	@ Still Not Seattle	7:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Wed 08	vs Portland	6:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Fri 10	vs Utah	7:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Sun 12	@ Sacramento	8:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Mon 13	@ Golden State	9:30pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI
Wed 15	vs New Orleans	7:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI

Spurs current record is 44-22

Last year the team finished 56-26, the most losses since 1998. They would need to finish 12-4 to match that. They have gone 5-5 in the previous 10. 

If theres something the Spurs want to avoid its 30 losses. Not counting the 1997 tank season, the Spurs haven't finished with 30+ losses for the season since 1993 when they went 49-33.

16 ball games left: 9 home 7 away

Of those 7 road games 3 are against playoff hopefuls. Hornets, Cavs, Hawks

Of the 9 at home 5 are against playoff compeition: Hornets, Jazz, Rockets, Celtics

3 sets of back to backs. Warriors/@Hawks, @Blunder/Blazers,  @Kings/@Warriors.

I was gonna add some more but in PtR fashion I have to half ass this because I'm in a hurry and wanted to get this up before tonight's Wolves game.

So my prediction is 10-6.

6-10 is the worse I think they can go and 16-0 if Manu comes back tonight and saves everything.

Upcoming Games
February	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Fri 27	vs Cleveland	8:30pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI
March	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Sun 01	@ Portland	7:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Mon 02	@ LA Clippers	9:30pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI
Wed 04	@ Dallas	8:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Fri 06	vs Washington	7:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Sun 08	vs Phoenix	2:30pm			1200 WOAI
Tue 10	vs Charlotte	7:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Thu 12	vs LA Lakers	7:00pm			1200 WOAI
Sat 14	@ Houston	7:30pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI
Mon 16	@ Not Seattle	7:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI

Last set of games Spurs went 7-3. Tanking against the Nuggets and then dropping games to the lowly Raptors and Knickerbockers.

Cleveland, Portland, The Real LA team, and Houston are the playoff contenders. We've managed to beat every one of these teams once except for the Cavs who we haven't faced intill tonight.

One back to back in this entire set. Blazers/Clippers. The Clippers just beat the Celtics. Nothing to worry about. Even the Sun shines on the dog's ass once in awhile.

I predict 8-2. 6-4 being the worst scenario and 10-0 being if they decide to bring it every game.

Fun Stuff

How many Spurs players on the roster have youtube mixes? Lets find out

Timmy/Tony/Manu - obvious

Ian/Bruce??/Roger - fair enough

Ime/Malik/Pops -makes even the worst scrubs look great

Fab/Jacque/Kurt/Fin- warning: old footage

There are no youtube mix tapes for George, or Matt. Travesty really. If Fab and Ime get one why not the Red Rocket.

Remember 2 years ago when beating the Mavs and Pistons meant something? Now if you lose to either one it probably means you suck. You can go ahead and stick the Suns in the same category. For a league that loves see big time trades go down, it really likes to ignore the reprocussions of those trades. Shaq, Kidd, Iverson, good players but not what they needed. Now they suck. Makes the Spurs look even better by only going for those under the radar trades.

NOW LETS DO THIS!

Sometimes after spending some time away from the blogosphere I notice a ton of new posts and whatnot to talk about. Then I get overwhelmed and forget everything I was gonna say. For that, god invented fanposts so instead of bouncing from thread to thread I can say everything here. Holla.

Spurs All-Star breakdown

35-16

First in the Southwest

Second in the West

Fourth in the among the whole league.

We are ahead of last year's record by one game. 34-17 in 2008.

NBA news

Heat trade Chump 1 to Raptors for Chump 2

Its one of those trades where neither team gets really better. Not even close to a shake up considering both of the main guys in the trade are shells of their former selves. Somehow the Heat managed to turn one O'Neal's monster contract into another's.

Mike Brown is upset. Thinks league is out to get LeBron

Cavs coach Mike Brown thinks he must lobby for LeBron James to receive more superstar calls. Crab Dribble.

Baylor says "That's racist"

Baylor won the NBA's Executive of the Year Award in 2006. A much deserved award as the Clippers went 616-2207 (.316) in his 22 years of service. RC Buford has never won Executive of the Year.

John Paxson maybe leaves the Bulls, maybe stays tries to be as sucessful as Elgin Baylor?

Shortly after that, the Bulls released a statement from owner Jerry Reinsdorf that said: "Pete Vecsey is not a credible enough source to comment on. Two weeks ago he had John being fired. Now he has him resigning."

Myth busted?

Robinson among Hall of Fame finalists

Biggest news thus far. Having retired in 2003 the Admiral has his first shot at getting to the Hall of Fame. Some other guys by the name of Jordan and Stockton are getting attention too. But anyway congratulations to Big Dave. Its gonna look good seeing "Hall of Fame" under his jersey in the rafters.

***********

Tonight is the Rookie/Sophomore contest. George Hill is not participating. Boo. Kevin Durant is. Yay! This could be the best chance the rookie class has at beating the sophomore. It hasn't happened since 2002. Oh the anticipation.

Spurs Interested In Kings' Salmons, Miller?

Feb 08, 2009 7:46 AM EST

The Spurs reportedly have interest in Kings guard John Salmons and center Brad Miller, and they are exploring ways to acquire them in a trade.

San Antonio is even looking to see if Sacramento is interested in Robert Horry, according to a source, who the Spurs could sign and deal.

Horry would then be waived by the Kings, taking home money for nothing, but allowing Sacramento to get out from underneath the contract of either Salmons or Miller.

It's possible that Michael Finley could be involved in a deal between the two teams as well.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Salmons: Small forward, better than Fin, can score in more ways than Mason. Decent contract that goes till 2011

Miller: Still has some game, soft, not a banger, likes to shoot with range, somehow made All-Star team, comes off books next year. Gets paid big money 12 mill+

Salmons I'm comfortable with. Thats if we don't end up finding another big man. Mason-Manu-Salmons-Bruce on the wings with the Parker/Hill in the backcourt. I can live with that.

Spurs interested in Vince Carter?

The New Jersey Nets have spoken to San Antonio, Chicago, Cleveland and, surprisingly, Toronto about guard Vince Carter, the Newark Star-Ledger is reporting.

The Spurs are reportedly weighing up whether Carter would push them over the top in the West, but with San Antonio's salary structure being top-heavy, it's hard to see how a deal would be worked out.

Via Newark Star-Ledger

No, just no. It wouldn't work. Aside from the fact that in our halfcourt set having 3 ballhandlers (Ginobili, Parker, Carter) would end up limiting all of them. Carter is talented but no way the Spurs take the risk. Plus his contract is horrible.

Upcoming Games
February	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Mon 02	@ Golden State	9:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Tue 03	@ Denver	8:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Sun 08	@ Boston	12:00pm			1200 WOAI
Tue 10	@ New Jersey	6:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Wed 11	@ Toronto	6:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Tue 17	@ New York	6:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Thu 19	@ Detroit	7:00pm			1200 WOAI
Sat 21	@ Washington	7:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Tue 24	vs Dallas	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Wed 25	vs Portland	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI

Next 10 games. The previous 11 games the Spurs went 8-3. Most of us PtRer's were crossing our fingers that they would go 6-5. As seen here. So I guess we can call that last stretch of games a success.

Denver, Boston, Detroit, and Dallas are the playoff teams. Boston, in case you're really unaware, is the defending NBA Champion. Spurs are 17-3 in their last 20 games against the Celtics. 17 straight wins following by losing the last 3, gettng swept last season. The Celtics big 3; Allen, Pierce, KG, did not play the Spurs together. KG and Allen missed one game each.

Even though the trip starts Monday the Spurs will return home for extended periods... twice. After Tuesdays game against the Nuggets they get four days off before the Sunday matinee showdown with the Cs. After a SEGABABA the All-Star break rolls around and gives them six days off. Then they hit up some more East teams.

Back to Back with Mavs/Blazers is a little easier given that its a home and home set. Something that like never happens.

According to Mysa.com, Roger Mason is gonna be in the 3 point shootout and Tony Parker in the skills challenge. They'll also defend their shooting stars thingy too. Thats good for them but they better not snub the Red Rocket.

I still don't know why Malik Hairston is on the roster. But now he has played in 1 game. So he's got that going for him.

I predict 7-3 over these next 10 games.

Sun 11	vs Orlando	7:30pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Wed 14	vs LA Lakers	8:00pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI
Fri 16	@ Philadelphia	6:00pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Sat 17	@ Chicago	7:30pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI
Mon 19	@ Charlotte	1:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Tue 20	vs Indiana	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Fri 23	vs New Jersey	7:30pm	My35 HD		1200 WOAI
Sun 25	@ LA Lakers	2:30pm			1200 WOAI
Tue 27	@ Utah	8:00pm	FSNSW		1200 WOAI
Thu 29	@ Phoenix	9:30pm			1200 WOAI
Sat 31	vs New Orleans	7:30pm	KENS HD		1200 WOAI

Ok so thats eleven games. I thought the Hornets game was important enough to include in this stretch. After that game begins the rodeo road trip.

The last 10 games the Spurs went 9-1. I posted about that 20 days ago here.

We could have easily been on a 10 game winning streak had it not been for loss against the Bucks. At the same time we were only a couple of missed buckets from going 6-4 at that time too.

Of the next 11 teams Philly, Chicago, Charlotte, and Indiana are the only teams to have missed the playoffs last season. We already blew a 20 point lead to the Sixers and needed a buzzer beater to finish them off. The Pacers have beaten the Lakers, Celtics, and Suns this season. Bobcats and Bulls only look like easy wins.

One back to back, however no real layoffs just the average day of rest between. On top of that lots of road games so most of the time the team will be on a plane. That never ends well.

With all that said this team will somehow pull out some of these wins out of no where. I'm thinking 9-2 being the ceiling and 1-10 being rock bottom. And both could happen. Im saying 6-4.

Just for the sake of discussion.

What the hell is the point of Malik Hairston? We have a bunch of guards and swingmen on this team.  The guy has not and probably will not see court time. Its odd that the Spurs have already cut Tolliver off the roster and Hairston is still there. I'm thinking he's out the door by January 10th when his contract becomes guaranteed.  If he's still here then he'll be our new James White. Here for the hell of it.

All-Star Weekend

Mike Monroe of the Express News wrote an article the other day on the Spurs and their participation in All-Star Saturday. For the most part there hasn't been any. Besides that stupid WNBA/NBA player/Old guy combo shootout thing and Parker in the skills challenge in 2004 there hasn't been any Spurs players in the real contests. Not since 2000 when Terry Porter was in the 3 point shootout. The last time a Spurs player was in the dunk contest.... was 1988.

Mason and Bonner better not be snubbed out of this years contest. If for nothing else they get some reconignition for all their hard work. After all with all the perimeter shots we've taken this year it only makes sense to have two players in the 3 point shootout. And with that said....

This years team takes too many perimeter shots

Tonight in the Clippers game Parker ran the ball on a fast break, flanked by Fin and Timmy. Instead he stopped and threw the ball outside to Mason who took one of those long twos with his foot planted on the line. And missed. We might be the only team in the league that can run a 3 on 2 break and still finish with a missed jumper. 

Good times.

These are the Spurs next 10 opponents. 7 Home 3 Road

Dec 20 vs Raptors

Dec 22 vs Kings

Dec 23 vs Timberwolves

Dec 25 @ Suns

Dec 27 vs Grizzlies

Dec 30 vs Bucks

Jan 02 @ Grizzlies

Jan 03 vs 76ers

Jan 05 @ Miami

Jan 08 vs LA Clippers

This is about as easy as it gets. The Christmas game vs Phoenix is our only above .500. Along with the Raptors they are the only team that made the playoffs last season.  The Heat are at .500 and could be above the mark by January 5th. Or not.

4 of those teams already fired their coaches.

The back to backs include Kings/T-Wolves a rare home/home game. A week later we're at Grizzlies then home to the Sixers. Nothing crazy like the Hornets/Magic roadies we just went through.

For the second time we take on the Grizzlies twice within a week. Last time we took both games convincingly enough.

Combined these teams winning percentage is .369. Spurs is currently at .600

The Suns game is the only one on National TV. Unless you count NBATV and I don't.

Is too farfetch'd to think we can go 9-1, 8-2 maybe even 10-0. Not really. So far beating up on bad teams has been working out for us. Its getting a win over the decent teams thats killing the Spurs.

I believe SEGABABA is this weird nickname given for back to backs game nights. Its either that or SECABABA, I went with the former because it has the word SEGA. I had a SEGA Genesis. Those were cool. You know whats not cool, no one has done a recap for that Spurs-Mavs game on Tuesday. You know, the game of the year thus far?

I won't actually cover what went down by the way. I think the recaps at NBA.com and ESPN can do that way better than I can. I'm gonna just highlight the good stuff.

So the Mavs game kinda went down like this.

via d.yimg.com

Do you know who that guy is under Timmy? Thats J.J. Barea. He's the Mavericks second best player.

Mavs Four Best Players as of 12/11/2008

• Jason Terry
• JJ Barea
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Jason Kidd

I'm serious. He completly came out no where and nearly won the game for the Mavs after we were up by like seven or something in the fourth. He was more efficient than Nowitzki (35pts on 33 shots) and Kidd (apparently two boards shy of a triple double, and I can't recall him doing anything besides hitting his jumpers). Odd. So good he got the Bowen treatment and was never heard from again.

Theres something I notice when we play the Mavs and thats we commit some of the worst turnovers EVER. Dribbling off the foot, throwing the ball into the stands, miscommunications just silly crap that the Spurs shouldn't do. For this one game they kept themselves in check at least. It was the Mavs who had the turnovers. Jason Terry fell like 3 times. Not a turnover but on one posession while going for the rebound, Kidd threw the ball in the basket, giving Bonner two extra points.Seven turnovers the whole game for us. Jawesome.

Now about the Spurs. Pop went with some small ball offensive line ups down the stretch.  Last season the Big 3 were the only players we could rely on to score. Everyone else was a liability. That was a big part of those lapses that killed us in big games. Completely different this year. Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Mason, Hill, Finley, Bonner. Thats seven Spurs who can put the ball in the basket in some way shape or form. Seven! Siete! Ok ok its like customary on PtR to rag on everybody except the big 3 (Three Studs and bunch of suck) but this is legit. Fin has done way more than jacked up those horrible fadeaways. I mean he takes them.. less now. He's making 3s. Maybe Mason taught him how to shoot. I don't like Red Rocket as the starting C, its like odd. But he's making 3s like a madmen. And he's a hustler that Bonedog.

via d.yimg.com

He didn't dunk that.

The aforementioned seven players won this game for us in Dallas. They were the ones that put up 133. We couldn't score 133 last year in a practice. This was the first time I watched a game and thought nobody necessarily kept the team down. This was some of the best basketball played by the Spurs, hell by any team this year. They wanted to win.

Three stars

Duncan, Ginobili, Parker

The Hawks game...

We won because the Hawks stink. There was a game against the Grizzlies earlier this year that was real similar to this. No matter what they did, they just couldn't win because we're that much better than they are.

Tony Parker played probably one of the worst games of his whole career. He might have ate something bad on the way back from Dallas, or stood outside in the cold too long because he was awful. He should have sat this one out.

At one point Pop put Oberto, Udoka, Bowen, Parker, and Mason on the floor. The offense died. It was bad.

After the first quarter the Spurs knew they could run away with this. There was just no way they were gonna lose. Sure the Hawks kept cutting into their lead but this team just was vulnerable. In the 4th quarter after cutting the lead to 3 the Spurs brought the ball up the court, gave the ball to Manu who was fouled by Al Horford. Mike Bibby said something, or looked at the referee weird, or made a gesture that the ref didnt like. Whatever he did he got a T, then Horford got one. That was game. No matter what they did we had an answer. Mostly Manu killing them with a behind the back dribble step back 3, or a spin move going to his right that only Manu Ginobili can do.

via d.yimg.com

He made that. It was the magnets.

Three stars:

Matt Bonner. 10 rebounds in one half??? Hustle Hustle Hustle

Tim Duncan: Typical Duncan stuff

Manu: Typical Manu stuff

My recaps are not funny. I'm sorry.