Apparently, this needs a title... (game2 recap)

rick.2g — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:52:14 -0000

Ok... so I didn't do the Seattle recap like I promised I would. And I've barely posted since then. But, in my defense, I really meant to do it, and I did actually get halfway through a decent recap before I got an urgent call from my wife. Long story short, it's a girl, six pounds, seven ounces, and we named her Sophia. Yay.

Anyway, my wife has been busy cashing in on all the pity points she's been accumulating for the past nine months, so I've had roughly zero time for myself and my basketball team. I'm currently on-call and pretending to troubleshoot a subtle and insidious networking problem at the office that no-one else seems to be able to fix. I've known about this little issue for more than a month, and it only took about two minutes to fix, but I'm going to spend at least three more hours here with a look of strained concentration on my face before hitting "commit" and going back home for the next four weeks.

Powell, I know you're busy, but this is how you manage time. Learn from the master.

But, thank the gods and every last tomato-paste slathered strand of the flying spaghetti monster, I've been able to catch the first two games of the Spurs/Suns series. I have to say, I never expected this - to be up 2-0 against a Suns team custom-built to take us down. I fully expected our boys in black to drop at least one at home, and for us to be looking at an early exit from the playoffs. I mean, for the past month, we've been losing big games. And we weren't just losing, we were getting CREAMED. We lost by 20 points to Utah and LA, despite being tied or better at the half; we were utterly unable to close late against Phoenix, and Shaq's play against Duncan made everyone who watched the game think there's no way we can eliminate them head-to-head. And then, there was Popovich pulling his key players when he realizes we're not going to win, like he did against Utah...
Nobody in the Western Conference was trying to avoid the Spurs in the first round. We've spent the last month of the season looking like the easiest out this side of the Mississippi, with the glaring exception of an injury-crippled Houston. ...and I am convinced Utah tanked a bit against us to draw the remains of the Rockets in the first round.

I totally forgot to put "faking a massive coronary" into the Flopobili index

But, one double-OT-with-a-double-side-of-3pt-drama and a solid win later, we're sitting pretty, and Popovich is looking every bit like a Hall-of-Fame coach. And that scares the living shit out of me. Granted, this is much better than being down 2-0, but the Spurs have managed to let leads like this slip away before. In fact, I look upon this 2-0 lead much like I looked upon the 17 point lead we had late in the third quarter - it's a good buffer to lean on when the other team eventually makes a run - and everyone in the AT&T center knows the Spurs will let them do exactly that. It's a story as old as the franchise itself; the Spurs build a large lead, then let it slip through thier fingers to either lose the game, or hang on in unneccessarily dramatic fashion. The most glaring examples were the Lakers teams anchored by none other than Shaquille O'Neal. Luckily, this Suns team is nowhere close to the defensive titan the three-peat Lakers were.

It's worth noting that Shaq's best teams featured Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, and Rick Fox. That may have been the most formidable flopping trio ever to share the floor.

Now, about Game 2...

The Good:

Coaching and End-of-Quarter play - the Haq-a-Shaq, especially in Popovich's hands, is more mental gamesmanship than solid strategy. It's traditionally been used in end-of-game desparation situations, where it really is unlikely to work, but it's proving far more effective in the middle of a game. Regardless of the percentage he's been shooting at the line, it completely took the Suns out of their offensive gameplan during the close-of-quarter play, and it forced D'Antoni to take Shaq out of the lineup a couple of times. Even when he stayed in at the third quarter close, Phoenix completely neglected to give Shaq any touches because they were afraid of the intentional fouls. If the Suns were mentally stronger, the strategy would truly hurt the Spurs... but because the Suns were spending their time adjusting to SA, it's allowed the Spurs to dictate how then end of quarters are being played. I don't think it will work much more, but it's been a net plus so far. I'd highly recommend Popovich not continue to push his luck on it.
Fabo - He's badly overmatched, undertalented, and out of his depth, but he's playing as smart as anyone can. He played the +/- to a draw last night in his limited minutes; against Stoudamire and Shaq, that's about as big a victory as he can hope to get. He surprised a lot of people last playoffs (including most of us), and I'm thinking (ok, praying) he may surprise again this year. It's not much to pin our hopes on, but if he continues playing intelligently and grab a couple of key rebounds, it might help give us another game or two we wouldn't otherwise win.
TP - the wee Frenchman has been playing as well as we could hope. Tim is the cornerstone of the team and franchise, but the heavy lifting on offense last night was all TP. He's been fearlessly driving into the lane despite getting pasted every other time. You know how the commentators who hate the Spurs keep saying that Phoenix needs to start knocking Manu and TP down when they get in the paint? Newsflash... they've been doing exactly that for a while, and it's not working too well. And Tony's even been hitting clutch jumpers, which is an unexpected plus to everyone here in the Alamo City. If that 18-20 footer keeps falling, which is not too unlikely, we can hang with any team in the league. And I am so happy to know that, even tho it's occasionally streaky, that J is no longer as huge an "if" as it once was. Another season or two like this, and it might not be unreasonable to call it "reliable". Fingers crossed, wood knocked on, and salt thrown over shoulder.
Manu - That had to be the quietest 29 points I've ever seen Manu put up. The only highlight-reel worthy play was his late assist to Duncan. He may be flashy on occasion, but his style of play is complete San Antonio Spurs - fundamentally sound, intelligent, and efficient play on both sides of the ball. More than any other Spur, his prodigious nose to the grindstone was what put us over the top.
TD - Just like Tony carried the bulk of the offensive load last night, TD anchored the defense. And this isn't to minimize what the rest of the Spurs did last night on defense - during the second half, neither Stoudamire or Shaq could put the ball down around waist height without getting it stripped by a rotating guard, whether it was TP, Manu, or Finley. But our D is, and always has been, anchored by the one player who we can consistently count on, night in, and night out.
Finley - No Billy Ocean jokes today - Finley sucker punched the Suns in Game 1 with that huge three, and he gave them a few un-prepared-for jabs in their soft underbelly coming out of the locker room in Game 2. While the Suns came out looking to key their defense on TD, TP, and Manu, Finley stepped up and exploited the holes in the defense the big three had opened up. Great timing and coaching by Popovich, and a flawless on-demand performance by Finley to utterly demoralize the Suns for the entire critical third quarter.
Ime getting some easy buckets - Udoka has looked hesitant and completely out-of-sorts for the first one-and-a-half games; he's probably Pop's current 'Exhibit A' for why he likes playoff-tested veterans come late April, but he finally got a few easy shots, and hopefully, he'll loosen up for the next couple of games. If he manages to start hitting a few three's, it will completely open up the game for our other players.
All-around-Game - this was the most Spur-like game I've seen in a while. We played killer defense at critical moments; we built a lead and bent, but didn't break, near the end. We got into a few offensive lulls, but never got so cold that it became a bigger issue than concentrating on the next few stops. TP ran his one-man-fast-break when the opportunity presented itself, and we settled in and ran an efficient offense when the Phoenix defense got back in time. We went to TD often, but never got overly dependent on 4-down. Manu did his thing, driving and shooting, playing pesky D, and making huge late-game plays. On both sides of the ball, this was the solid game we've known all along we were capable of.

When things are going well enough, you can always spare a few moments for a good mosh.

The Bad:

TP&TD - Timmy and Tony actually combined for a +/- of -7. This had more to do with gameflow, and was probably one of those +/- anomalies which makes it a suspect statistic, but it definitely highlighted exactly how critical Manu was last night. TD and TP deserve credit for getting deep into the fray and fighting Phoenix all night, but Manu was the one who came in and delivered the killing blows at the right times.
Manu - that groin doesn't seem to be severly affecting his play, but anything involving injury status is worrisome. He drove well, but his play was quiet and unexplosive. That was the banged-up, overplayed 2006-style Manu out there, not the early-season MVP-candidate 2007 Manu. Like I said, it's not affecting his output right now, but the sooner we close this series the better. NewOrleans vs. Dallas doesn't look like it's going to be going seven games.
The Supporting Cast - c'mon... 3 points in the first half? I know they partially redeemed themselves in the second half, but that's gotta improve. Ime needs to stop playing scared on offense, Brent needs a few more shots, Bowen needs to rediscover the corner three, and Jacques Vaughn needs better cushioning on his chair. Kurt Thomas had an +/- of -6, yet I rarely get the sense that he's actively hurting us while he's on the court; but he really needs to hit that sideline 15-footer.
The first 9:00 of the first quarter... My god, can we play any worse out of the gate? Maybe, just MAYBE... once, we could play these guys without spotting them 15 points? I know it's worked so far, but if we actually made them sweat and struggle for those first few points, then we could spend our time worrying about blowing large leads instead of worrying about making up large deficits.

The strategy appears to be to let him score, and eventually, he'll get tired.

The Ugly

Mike D'Antoni's strategery - I saw someone somewhere mention Mack Brown vs. Bob Stoops. I'm not sure it's that close.

Keep screaming at the sky. Given enough time, a meteor will come along to put you out of your misery.

and... The Three Stars:

Honorable Mention: Jacques Vaughn - played 4 minutes with an +/- of +6... I've never been prouder of him.

3. Manu - any other night, and he'd have the top spot locked up. This game had his fingerprints all over it, yet he never really stood out above...
2. Timmy D - With an emphasis on the 'D'. he completely anchored the defense, and got us started scoring during the first quarter when everyone else was cold. He scored a solid 18, pulled down 17 rebounds, and helped keep the paint clear for...
1. Tony Longoria Parker - This was the type of game that got him the MVP last finals. He was tough, mentally and physically, and he carried the biggest offensive burden for the longest and most difficult stretches of the game. He held his own on defense, and got a couple of great steals against Amare in the second half. This game made me happy to have an effeminate Belgian point guard to call our very own.

Moments like this remind me of just how French Tony is.

Isiah Thomas is a freakin' GENIUS

rick.2g — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:41:46 -0000

This article made me realize a couple of things. Zeke hasn't really been doing much of anything resembling coaching this season... that's been obvious to anyone who's taken an even cursory glance towards Madison Square Garden - he hasn't been trying, or even bothered attempting to LOOK like he was trying, but he promised miraculous turnarounds and championships right up until the bitter end. And he's now going to be paid $18M MORE to stay the hell away from anyone in the NY organization.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is an act of inspired businessman-ship. Take someone like Popovich, who has turned himself into a burned-out, hypertensive, raspy voiced codger trying to eke every last bit of production out of an eternally aging and under-talented roster. Yes, he's well paid. But he'll be paid, over the course of his decades-long career, somewhat less than what Thomas will ultimately collect for rapidly and transparently crippling one of the flagship franchises of the NBA.

This indescribable act transcends business, sportsmanship, and even basic morals. This... this debacle is an utter work of ART. I have a whole new level of respect for that man.

SB Nation User Blog: rick.2g

Apparently, this needs a title... (game2 recap)

Isiah Thomas is a freakin' GENIUS