I find this interesting. If you watch a lot of the Spurs game, you’ll see that TD is taking a lot more jumpers. 48minutesofhell (if my memory serves me right) has a great article about this. He’s not posting up as much (something KG never had, which is why he never got double- or triple-teamed as much as TD) possibly for saving his body for the playoffs.

As for the Defense, i think it has a lot more to do with the personnel, especially inside. George Hill basically offsets the lack of a defensive SG. But Bonner getting this much burn, while it’s great for the offense, it sucks for the Defense.

That said, I still don’t look at their roster and see where they’ve got the talent to match up with the Lakers. The other problem is that one main drawback to taking such a “sacrifice the present for the future” attitude (if that’s what San Antonio is doing) is that it could very well make their road to The Finals far tougher than it needs to be. San Antonio will have its hands full with LA no matter what, but it certainly won’t aid their cause if they have to play the Nuggets in the round immediately preceding that.

Finally, defense is not something you can just turn on like a switch at one point late in the year. Defense is an every day commitment that just becomes part of your team’s chemistry and makeup. Traditionally the Spurs have been masters at playing defense, even if they were using guys who weren’t necessarily great defenders (Parker and Ginobili). The poor defensive showing by San Antonio last year and this year is very troubling because that’s not something they can just expect to magically be there in April and May. This is especially true when Boston and LA are #1 & #2 in Defensive Rating (99.0 and 99.3, respectively) while the Spurs are #16 (almost exactly the league average) at 106.0.

A loud “Amen” to the tale you just told. :-) Aren’t those moments absolutely wonderful, especially, when they occur in the lives of still-impressionable young people?

“The NBA’s Men In Black [white and silver]“ will need to sort out their Big Man rotation at the Center position, when TD exits in-game … and, the correct answer does NOT involve using any of Matt Bonner, DeJaun Blair, or Antonio McDyess at this specific spot. IF, Popovich and Buford can solve that personnel riddle properly, then there’s every reason to expect the Spurs to rally in the new year, as they’ve done before, when they hit the road for their extended run of games away from San Antone. They are still the 2nd best team in the WC this season but, Pop/RC will need to put their thinking caps on if they’re going to reach their team’s full capacity for excellence this season, coming playoff time.

i wont give up on the spurs.. duncan is pacing himself..the team is pacing themselves (as you alluded to).. ginobili and parker have the hearts of champions.. spurs coud very well have the last laugh this season..

great article.. props to your jv bball team!

The win against Kings was just the antidote they needed to stay in the hunt as a contender in the Western Conference. It was nice to all the best players back to their usual best.

RJ was immense during the game but I would like to give shout out to my all-time favourite player, Manu Ginobili. What a game he had! (Please check out my game re-cap and let me know what do you think)

This is just the kind of Manu that we all hoped to see all season, since his return from injury. Certainly he was lacking in confidence and it was becoming when he suffered another injury again last month.

Let’s hope it’s not just one game wonder from him and he goes into another isolation period. My wish is that he gets better as this season progress and only that can help the Spurs in their cause.