Despite Tim Duncan's off shooting night (2-for-11 from the field), the Spurs converted 55.1 percent of their field goal attempts and finished with 120 points despite bricking 12 free throws and committing 18 turnovers. Remember: In one of those Mic'd up segments in Game 1, Brook screamed at his troops: "We're a defensive team." I wonder what he said after rookie Kawhi Leonard lit 'em up for 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Of course, the Thunder finished the regular season ranked 11th in Defensive Rating and currently rank ninth out of 16 playoff teams. So I'm not sure they're really the "defensive team" Brooks seems to think they are.
Speaking of Brooks, he unveiled the Hack-a-Splitter strategy with 2:31 left in the third quarter and the Thunder trailing 83-66. After about a grueling minute of that "action," Splitter had gone 5-for-10 from the line and OKC was down 88-72. Which was...good...I guess. They made up one point of their deficit anyway.
I guess Timmy gave Pop what he wanted.
Kendrick Perkins: Yikes. 3 points, 1-for-5, 5 rebounds, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, and a game-worst plus-minus of -14 in 24 minutes. Sam Smith of Bulls.com recently called Perkins a "fraud," and I'm starting to think he may have a point.
According to Brooks, though, he was just trying to change the pace of the game: "It changed the tempo a little bit. They (the Spurs) were fast tonight. That ball was just all over the floor with quick passes, passes that were right in their shooting pockets, and it kind of threw their rhythm out a little bit. He stepped up and made six of them (including another trip to the line that was not away from the ball). He did better than his playoff percentage. But if on occasion we have an opportunity to do it again, we will."
Can't wait!
Reggie Miller, quote machine: "This is a surgical clinic by Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs."
Bonus stat: The Thunder had been giving up an average of 92.9 PPG in the playoffs. The Spurs had 92 at the end of the third quarter.
Gregg Popovich, quote machine: Regarding the Hack-a-Splitter plan: "No, I’ve never done that before. I think it's a lousy thing to do. It's unsportsmanlike."
Pop then added: "No, it's a a good move. If there's a reason to do it and they felt there was a reason to do it, they did it. It's a good move."
Serge Ibaka, poster boy: Tim Duncan says: STUFF THIS, IBAKA.
Charles Barkley, quote machine: "I gotta call out my boy Scott Brooks tonight. It took him over three quarters to see you can't play those two big guys [Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka] together."
Derek Fisher: Remember how he almost saved the Thunder in Game 1 with his near-perfect shooting? I guess he used up all his makes, because last night he went 2-for-11, including 0-for-6 inside the arc. Oddly, he had a team-best plus-minus score of +9. Must be all the veteran savvy.
Russell Westbrook: His line looked pretty strong -- 27 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 0 turnovers -- but Tony Parker (game-high 34 points on 16-for-21 shooting plus 8 dimes) made Westbrook his bitch. How on fire was TP? According to Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News:
Steve Kerr, quote machine: "Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Got to start moving the ball. There's too much dribbling. You can't beat a good defense by overdribbling."
Thabo Sefolosha: I know he really starts only so James Harden can win Sixth Man of the Year awards, but damn: 2 points, 1-for-4 shooting, 1 rebound and a -10 in 15 minutes.
Nazr Mohammed and Daequan Cook: In a combined 10 minutes off the bench, Mohammed and Cook each contributed...1 personal foul. That's it. Not a point. Not a rebound. Not even a turnover. Thanks for coming, fellas.
Kawhi Leonard's shoe-tying abilities: Try a double knot, Kawhi.
Tony Parker, quote machine, Part 1: Regarding his 8 assists: "It's always been a battle my whole career, when you're a scoring point guard and Pop wants you to score, then he wants you to pass, and he wants you to score, and he wants you to pass. You go back and forth. It's always been the biggest room for me to improve, to find a happy middle between scoring and passing, and find that good balance. I think, over the years, I got better at it."
Tony Parker had a shooting game for the ages Tuesday night. It didn't matter where he was aiming from. He hit 5 of 6 shots from inside 10 feet, misfiring only on a twisting first-quarter layup. He was 7 for 9 from 10 to 20 feet. And he hit 4 of 6 from 20 feet and beyond to finish off a 34-point effort that was the biggest playoff scoring binge by a Spurs player since his 43-point effort against Dallas in 2009. Parker's 16-for-21 shooting effort Tuesday night ended up as the best shooting game by a true guard with at least 20 shots in the playoffs since Vinnie Johnson notched a similar 16-for-21 game against Boston in 1985. And it was the biggest reason why the Spurs cruised to a 120-111 victory over the Thunder, claiming a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Parker might have out Microwaved “the Microwave” with his clutch shooting down the stretch, hitting 7 of his 8 2-point attempts and one of his two 3-pointers in the second half. It finished off a memorable night that he was at a loss to explain afterwards. "I don't know," Parker said. "It was just one of those nights. I felt in a good rhythm early on. I was making my shots and just trying to be aggressive."What's more, there were a few times when you could tell Russell wanted to pay Parker back, which resulted in some of those awful dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-shoot possessions that may be the fatal flaw that prevents Westbrook from becoming a true superstar. Speaking of which...
Steve Kerr, quote machine: "Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Got to start moving the ball. There's too much dribbling. You can't beat a good defense by overdribbling."
Thabo Sefolosha: I know he really starts only so James Harden can win Sixth Man of the Year awards, but damn: 2 points, 1-for-4 shooting, 1 rebound and a -10 in 15 minutes.
Nazr Mohammed and Daequan Cook: In a combined 10 minutes off the bench, Mohammed and Cook each contributed...1 personal foul. That's it. Not a point. Not a rebound. Not even a turnover. Thanks for coming, fellas.
Kawhi Leonard's shoe-tying abilities: Try a double knot, Kawhi.
Tony Parker, quote machine, Part 2: On getting blistered by a Popovich rant in the second half: "He's screamed at me for 11 years. We weren't getting our plays. We were playing sloppy."
Tony Parker, quote machine, Part 3: "When you have Coach Pop screaming at you every day, that will make you pass the ball. He's always big on, 'Find a better shot.' That's the way we play."
Kevin Durant, quote machine: "There are no moral victories for us. We were down. We dug ourselves a hole. We did what we normally do, which is fight all game, and we lost."
Scott Brooks, quote machine: On why the Spurs spanked his team: "They were making shots. I mean, they were spraying them all over the floor and knocking them in. I thought (Kawhi) Leonard was making the shots. (Manu) Ginobili made a lot of tough shots tonight. (Tony) Parker was on fire."
Labels: 2012 NBA Playoffs, Matt Bonner, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Worst of the Night
43 Comments:
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I'm thinking the Spurs win this series in 5.
Hopefully games 3 and 4 won't be the free throw fest that the fourth quarter was last night.
Playing with Garnett can make you look good.
Looked straight at the author
"Holy #@*! he's back!"
Welcome back hope you won't take another year off since vacation is only about another 3 weeks away.
Lol
Spurs in 4, Heat in 5. Can't decide on the finals. SAS is just plan awesome this year, but Lebron is playing on a level no one has seen in a long time. Miami has 2 players that can 1 on 5 your team and they are doing it.
In defense of Perk, his whole value has always been against classic big men, whom he pushes well outside of their comfort zone. He owned Howard back when Howard sorta mattered. In fact, Perk was pretty good at this against the Fakeshow this year, pushing mostly Bynum to floor positions where his efficiency plummeted. To whom does he do this on the Spurs? The bigs can all shoot mid-range or better. The Spurs just took him into high pick and rolls all night, where Perk was a serious liability. My bet is that he sees limited action for the rest of the series. As usual, Barkley was right. It takes 7 quarters to figure out that perk is a poor match is this series? Brooks sat Perk during certain series last year!
The Spurs look that I like? Duncan at the high post distributing the ball. Reminds me a bit of the Triangle. It also seriously weakens Duncan's defender, since many bigs aren't comfortable out there. Plus, Duncan is such an awesome pick setter (though like all NBA picks he'd probably be called for a moving screen in NCAA).
You know whose commentary I'm liking? Kerr's. Reggie, though, has discovered the term "at this point in time." Dude, really? Substituting that phrase for "now" doesn't actually make you sound smarter. Just be Reggie. Say "man region" or something.
If SA win their 5th this year, That speech becomes one of the most iconic sports speeches of all time.
And speaking about nasty, That is one of the most violent dunks I've ever seen the TD-21000 throw.
And how about Durant? You feel like you hardly heardhis name the whole game, and he ends up scoring 31 points on 10-17 shooting. Unreal.
I love this series.
That is a great pic. Bonner is too sexy for words.
Michael, I wonder about Finals too. I think it depends on whether Bostrich comes back or not. I couldn't find anything about his injury update. I guess they're keeping it very hush hush. Without Bostrich, I think Spurs in 6. With Bostrich, maybe Heat in 6? Hard to say.
No, but seriously.... I missed you. Most more often, please?
How about that Rondo though? Wow.
Russel Westbrook to me is one of those Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis type of guards. Loads of talent but just doesn't get "it" because of attitude or a lack of basketball IQ.
It wasn't very long ago that this very blog was calling him an undersized shooting guard, but now I don't think anyone can argue that he isn't one of the best PGs in the game.
I'm sorry a bunch of 35 yr old jump shooters shot less FTs.
Still, Rondo....that was amazing.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/wally-szczerbiak-calls-former-teammate-kevin-garnett-game-135505975.html
Some old grudges?
If you thought the officiating last night was bawful, you could make a pretty good argument about it, but the same people screaming about the NBA being rigged are in a lot of cases these same assholes that were loving the bawful officiating in the last 2 Boston series against Philly and Atlanta because it was in Boston's favor.
Considering how inconsistent the NBA is the least we can do as fans is show less hypocrisy than the National Bullshit Association.
Heat: dislike, mainly because of one guy
Thunder: not very fond of
Spurs: what's not to like about?
Thus, I expected outcome: Heat to beat Thunder in finals. But hey, Spurs are up 2-0. Pleasantly surprised, and now I'm starting to dream. Hope I didn't jinxed Parker.
And booze. Autocomplete and a whole lotta booze.
Yeah well Allen Iverson was one of the best point guards in the league too a couple of years back. Look, I'm not denying his talent, nor am I saying the Thunder would be better off without him. He is one of the best guards in the game. But he could be so much better (and his team could be so much better) if he made smart decisions.
Fact is he overdribbles and kills the offense, he loses interest on defense, he takes bad shots, especially late in the game and with Durant and Harden on his team, he bitches to the refs instead of getting back on defense and the list goes on.
He is still young and with the right coaching he could a Tony Parker like scoring point guard, but so far Scotty Brooks seems to let all that nonsense slide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-kE9ve1KJM&feature=related
"Why would you say something like that?"
I would bet my internal organs that hanging out with him and Duncan would just be a barrel of laughs, as much as they don't show any of it on the court.
Yea, I'm sure you're not blinded by your homoerotic infatuation with the cHeat or anything.
cHeat fans mouthing off on every sounding board after winning that game is fully expected but no less pathetic; and the lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Jebus Reggie, over-share much?
kazam is a cool guy, no need to explode on him like that just because you're mad a bunch of 35 year old jump shooters shot less free throws.
When Lebron is aggressive it's not ridiculous to think he could get to the line 10 or 12 times a game.
Disclaimer: I am not a Heat homer, I am a Boston fan and am gutted that the Rondo call was missed :(
*statement may have no actual basis in reality
Wade and James finish with 4 fouls combined despite guarding all the Cs best players who are attacking the rim. Meanwhile Pierce fouls out.
In OT Rondo gets mauled in the head- no call, turns in to a cHeat fast break. Wade kicks KG in the groin and gets the and-1.
The Celtics would have been blown out in a game they dominated if the cHeat had made their regular amount of free throws.
But keep repeating "a bunch of 35 yr old jump shooters shot less FTs." if you want. Keep pretending you have some credibility as biased cHeat homers.
But there are a number of things that stand out here:
1) Rondo gets clubbed in the face on a layup by Wade, no call. My dead, blind grandmother could see this. There's no way that the officials didn't. Even the ass-kissing company men announcers expressed dismay at the call.
2) Immediately thereafter Wade gets a borderline call at the other end. Now, I'm not a fan of the makeup call, but if you truly blow a call then fer Pete's sake roughly even it up by not making matters much worse at the other end.
3) Wade has made a career of throwing himself into crowds, or just down on the floor, and getting calls.
4) LeBron doesn't do so, but he still draws lots of touch fouls. This is the freakin playoffs, and other series have been freakin rugby matches. Funny how the Heat games are always so tightly called. I'm just sayin'.
5) And ultimately, if you're going to call touch fouls one way, you gotta call them the other. Allen is grabbed on almost every cut. Garnett is grabbed and shoved whenever he touches the ball in the low post. Mind you, THIS IS ALL FINE, assuming they call it both ways. They don't.
I'm no homer. If I had to call myself a fan of any team, it would be the Sonics. Yeah, good luck with that. And I can't even bring myself to hate the Zombies, because they're a fun, charming team. But I've got no hard-on for the Celtics, and I've pretty much forgiven LeBron for anything. I think I'm pretty objective on this. The Heat are getting away with murder, much like they did in 2006. It's a travesty and makes me not want to watch.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/awopbopaloobopalopbamboom/7302232602_b4e879c002_b.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n2/awopbopaloobopalopbamboom/7302232602_b4e879c002_b.jpg