Bleacher Report - San Antonio Spurs

Pivot Points: The San Antonio Spurs Are a Brittle Bunch

Hadarii Jones — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:24:33 -0500

It was inevitable that it would come to this. However, the fact that it is happening so early in the season is a little surprising. It was announced, in a rare statement from the San Antonio Spurs, that Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker would miss time due to injuries.

It seems like I've heard that before, and I hope you can excuse my sarcasm, but who out there really thought that at some point this season that someone from the Spurs wouldn't be sidelined by an injury?

To say the Spurs are injury-prone is like saying that stop signs are red, it's a well known fact. The big three of Tim Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili have already missed time due to injuries and the season is not even 20 games old.

There is no estimate as to when Ginobili will return with his latest groin injury, and Parker has suffered yet another injury to his ankles.

Maybe they are not getting their vitamins, because as talented as the Spurs, are they just can't seem to remain healthy. The Spurs are usually slow-starters, but in the West this year, that could equate to postseason suicide.

It appears that every team in the Western Conference, outside of the Hornets, Clippers, Warriors, and Grizzlies, has a legitimate shot to make the playoffs. Even the Hornets are still capable of getting there with a healthy Chris Paul.

So where does that leave the Spurs? Well, currently it leaves them stuck below .500 and staring up at everyone in the division, and it has the potential to get worse.

Depending on the severity of Ginobili's groin and the speed at which Parker can recover from his ankle sprain, San Antonio could find itself struggling to stay afloat until the mid point of the season.

It must be discouraging for the Spurs, as Richard Jefferson was just becoming comfortable in the rotation and the Spurs were just beginning to establish a distinct chemistry among their reserves.

The question San Antonio fans must ask themselves now is, if the Spurs are suffering from injuries this early, what in the world will they look like come playoff time when the contests become more brutal?

There are other, potentially more damaging questions also, such as, has the shelf-life of Ginobili already expired? I know that Manu is only in his seventh season, but he has already had a career's worth of injuries and it must be frustrating for both him and the organization.

A lot of it has to do with his reckless style of play and how he sacrifices his body. However, you have to wonder if he realizes that at this stage in his career, he has to take more caution to avoid injuries at the times his teammates need him the most.

Or maybe it's something that he can't help, maybe he's destined to finish his career in unspectacular fashion, unable to ever be fully healthy again. That would be a shame, because at his best, Ginobili is a special player.

The issue with Tony Parker and his ankles is just as troubling, because it seems that it is a chronic problem. It's hard for me to remember the last time Parker had totally healthy wheels.

For a player like Parker, these injuries are devastating because he depends on his quickness and his ability to make crisp cut. Without that, he cannot play his game.

For the time being, Tim Duncan must rally the troops and hold down the fort until his fallen teammates can once again join him in battle. However, that is a task in itself because Duncan himself, is not entirely healthy.

The Spurs only hopes seem to rest in the hands of their reserves, who must keep San Antonio within striking distance until their team is healthy again.

The reserves are gaining valuable experience, and to be honest, they haven't played all that bad. But that doesn't change the bottom line, which is that the team remains rooted at 4-6.

In order for the Spurs to fulfill their own expectations, and become a viable challenger for the Western Conference title, they have to find a way to remain healthy.

Judging by the first part of the season, that may be easier said than done.

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After Rough Start, Spurs Need Offense and Defense To Come Together

Robert Kleeman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:08:38 -0500

"Come together, right now"

—The Beatles

So, San Antonio defended at a championship level in Dallas and still failed to capture its first road victory?

Jefferson was awful in the clutch again, and the offense looked at times like it belonged in New Jersey or Minnesota, not in the Alamo City.

Manu Ginobili re-joined Tony Parker on the injured list late in the first quarter. With Shawn Marion, Josh Howard and Erick Dampier out for Dallas, call it a fair fight.

The Mavericks edged the Spurs 99-94 in overtime in another classic that felt like a dud for San Antonio after a painful finish. After a clutch basket and block on Jason Terry, Tim Duncan missed two gimme layups in the extra minutes.

Oh yeah. The Spurs are the only team in the playoff hunt without a victory away from home.

Terry bricked 15 of 19 shots. Many of Dirk Nowitzki's 15 of 29 makes were as contested as possible. The Mavs shot 40 percent and drilled only three of 19 treys.

None of that matters after a tough-to-swallow loss.

Should I keep piling on the gloom?

Coach Gregg Popovich would prefer to not allow 46 points in the paint, but he can live with the stellar defensive effort.

The problem Wednesday night was the offense, which sputtered to a halt for more than seven minutes in the second quarter.

Traditionally a low turnover team, the Spurs coughed it up 18 times. Those miscues allowed the Mavs to win the fastbreak points battle 18-7.

Parker will fix some of that. Ginobili also provides proven insurance at the point.

The problem the pending All-Star returns cannot solve is Jefferson's tentativeness alongside Duncan.

Without No. 21, he averaged more than 22 points, including a 29-point outburst last week against the Mavs. With Duncan, Jefferson's averaging 13 points with few big fourth-quarter deliveries to add to his resume.

He looked better in stretches of Wednesday's slog, including back-to-back plays in which he drove for a reverse layup and bagged a wide open triple.

The Spurs have won four of five at the AT&T Center and lost all four on the road.

They are winning at home by double figures and losing on the road by a similar margin.

A few more buckets from someone in a black uniform in the second half would have sealed an important victory.

Instead, another agonizing defeat raised more questions about Owner Peter Holt's $80 million investment.

What's wrong with the Spurs?

After several weeks of sampling, it's clear the team boasts the parts to be as good as the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

Getting those various parts to fit has been a fruitless chore.

To debug themselves, the Spurs need to play, play, and play some more. Popovich should thank the schedulers for giving him a game tonight to wash out the bad taste from the depressing defeat in Big D.

Jefferson will never learn to attack with consistent ferocity in practice. Scoring on a teammate in a gym with no paid spectators cannot compare to doing it on the road in a sold out arena against a division foe.

With no idea who to start at off guard and the other big slot, or what rotations to use, Popovich must tinker with his talent until he finds the right combinations. He needs real games to do that.

When and for how many minutes should Dejuan Blair, leading all rookies in rebounding, play?

When should the coach dust off 36-year-old Theo Ratliff?

What is Roger Mason Jr.'s role? Starting might allow him to get in an early groove.

Or maybe Keith Bogans, already proving his value as a dedicated wing defender, should get more starts.

Will athletic big Marcus Haislip see any court time? He projects as an effective situational defender, rebounder and scorer. Haislip has played zero regular season minutes.

Malik Hairston was active in his single digit minutes on the court. He played only because of Ginobili's left groin strain.

Early in the fourth quarter, he finished an athletic cut to the rim with a layup. Two plays later, a traveling call on Hairston should have been ruled a three-point play. Maybe Pop needs to dig up a few minutes for Hairston and de-activate someone else.

Should Matt Bonner start over Antonio McDyess and Blair? Which of those players should finish games?

Blair swatted a Nowitzki drive at the end of the first half. Bonner scored in double figures again. McDyess came up big with a pair of fourth-quarter jumpers.

No team changed its roster makeup this summer more than the Spurs, and it shows now.

After another distressing end, the Spurs are running out of time to make this work. If the playoffs started today, they would not qualify.

The next and only recourse for the 4-5 Spurs is to whack the road-challenged Utah Jazz tonight.

Jerry Sloan's losing streak in San Antonio dates back to 1999, and the Jazz also played a tough game Wednesday.

If the Spurs cannot keep that stranglehold, maybe this expensive venture won't work.

In years past, the Spurs offense sunk when the talent surrounding Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili could not produce.

Now, Popovich has too much talent to know what to do with a lot of it. The added talent, especially Jefferson, doesn't know what to do, either.

The Spurs threw up 131 points in regulation on the Toronto Raptors without Parker and Duncan.

They can score.

The Spurs limited Dallas to 35-percent shooting and 40-percent shooting in two outings one week apart.

They can defend.

Can they do both in the same game?

After a bumpy start that can no longer be dismissed as minor turbulence, the Spurs must do two things.

With no several-day breaks between games for the foreseeable future, and some back-to-backs on the horizon, the league office took care of the first item.

Play a lot.

The Spurs will have to use these upcoming contests to learn how to do the second.

Come together. Win.

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Top Five Power Forwards of All Time

George Mercurio — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:14:45 -0500

What better way to kick off the NBA season than with the always contentious All-Time List. Although most people say winning is the only thing, it is not the soul criteria here. Individual success is weighed on the same par as team success; otherwise the Hall of Fame would be filled with guys like Robert Horry instead of Charles Barkley.

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