Spurs Analysis

1) Brent Barry is putting to much pressure on himself to be the player everyone want him to be--a 3 point shooter. However, this season, he is getting down on himself because he missing them, therby hurting his overall play. He needs to relax and not think too much. I remember last year when I played tennis. I would think to much about my strokes, and ended up with the worse year of my tennis career. This year, however, I relaxed and cleared my head, and now i'm a completly different player. That's what Brent needs to do--not think to much. For example, today when he shot the ball, it seem he's trying to guide it in. Barry will end up being on the bench most of the time, especially in the playoffs. Look for Barry being back to his old form next year.<br>
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2) We all know that Duncan's injury will hurt us greatly, but this was bound to happen. Everyone gets injured. Might as well look at the bright side of this situation. With Timmy out, Nazr will get more, much needed minutes to get used to the Spurs system. Further, this will allow Tim to rest.<br>
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3) It is just me or is Pop more experimental with his lineups this year? This year, he puts different people out with different players. There's no set rotation. For example, he put Beno, Parker, and Brown on the court on the same time. FYI: the Parker/Beno combo didn't work against the Pistons. Everytime they were out together the Pistons would pull away. WTF? Can't coach Pop see that and not put them together?<br>
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4) Nazr Mohammed is looking really good. He doing great rebounding and scoring. He going to be a big contributor in the playoffs. <br>
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5) Rasho continues to play a lot better with out Timmy with him. It's like he's a complete different player. Once Timmy was out, Rasho played aggressively and did well. Look for Nazr to be in the starting lineup next year.<br>
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6) Beno is just tearing it up. I'm sure Parker got his extension already because Beno is doing great defensively and offesively. Beno is a better shooter and passer, while Parker is a better scorer and slasher.<br>
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7) Ginobili is great. Once he is fully healthy, the Spurs will be in a new level.<br>
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8) I think Glover will end up being in our playoff roster. He continues to show lapses of good defense and rebounding. <p></p><i></i>

Nice analysis, usckk. <br>
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Brent is the man. I'm not worried about hsi shot at all. Shooters have slumps. Big deal. He contributes in so many different ways that he is still extremely valuable, even at a "woeful" 34%. If he can raise his defensive intensity about 6 or 7 notches he'd really start to look like a Spur. After looking at his numbers, in his rookie year he shot 42% then dropped to 32% the following year. He shot 40% the year after that, then it dropped to 35%. Back up to 39% in 98 before it dropped to 30%. You can see he's had a history of jumping up and down the list of the NBA's best 3-point shooters. Last year he finished at 45%, this year he's at 34% so far. Big whoop. In the playoffs he's a 43% three-point shooter compared to his 40% regular season average. We'll see if that holds true this year. I'm looking for a jump come playoff time. <br>
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Nazr will be Spur through and through by the time Timmy comes back. In fact, I'd be THRILLED to see him start at PF with Horry and Mass backing up the 4/5. What better place to start your first game as a Spur than MSG? Nazr and Rasho played well together against Detroit. I want to see more of that. <br>
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Even without Tim, I see us winning a lot of games. I'm talking wins in NY, and Indy, plus maybe 2/3 on our homestand (Altanta, Houston, Seattle) and 2/3 as well against Denver, LAL, and LAC. I really, truly, deep-down believe we can sweep this stretch. Denver, LAL, Seattle, and Houston will be particularly tough given their current situations. <br>
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I like Pop's experimentation. On one hand it is unfortuante that he doesn't have his best combos figured out yet. On the other hand its awesome to have an incredibally versatile team. Adding to that, it says Pop is expecting a lot out of this team if he's still not satisfied with the production of the combinations that have earned a 50-16 record. He wants more than he's getting and he's still searching for the perfect combos for certain situations.<br>
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If Rasho starts rolling with Big Tim on the bench, hopefully some of his momentum will carry into the playoffs. <br>
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Parker has looked terrible in 4th quarters lately. Maybe Beno's minutes will jump since Tony is faced with added pressure to score the ball with Timmy is out. I'd like to see the kid get more run to get ready for the real season. <br>
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Hopefully Manu won't feel the pressure to put up 26 every night because the MVP has his foot in a bucket. Manu is too wreckless and crazy already. He's banged up as it is. It might sound like a stupid question, but can Manu play smart basketball and still be effective? I've never seen anyone be so effective playing a wild and crazy game like he does. I think a smarter game will prolong his career if he can maintain his effectiveness. I just don't want him to get hurt. Maybe as he matures he can be an all-star even without the insane crossovers, acrobatics, and agressive-to-a-fault defense. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><br>
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