Musings betwixt Games 1 and 2

So i’m watching Iron Chef America and I am thinking “hmm..this is kind of like the Spurs-Hornets series.” I know what your are thinking….”aside from Bobby Flay and Matt Bonner both being redheads….I don’t get it” OK, hear me out on this. ICA is about an upstart challenger competing against a veteran champion. The Iron Chef has been here before and more than once, he or she (yeah, I likes me some Cat Cora!) knows what it takes to win and dominate in this arena. The challenger? Oh, they want to win but usually they are just happy to be there. Sounds like the Spurs and Hornets to me. You have the champion Spurs, who have been here before and more than once who know how to win and dominate this time of year. Then you have the Hornets. They had not won a playoff game since 2004 and had not won a series since 2002 and only won 39 games last season. They had beaten San Antonio twice in the regular season but, pssht…that is the regular season. They knocked out the Mavericks last round but, pssht…that was Dallas. The Spurs beat Phoenix and did so in only 5 games, so even though the series started in the Big Easy, the veteran champion has got this, right?

Well….not in tonight’s battle, and not in Saturday night’s battle either.

You see, every so often in Iron Chef, the upstart wins. This is what happened Saturday night. For the first half and up until the 7 minute mark of the third quarter, the Spurs were doing everything right. Then with 7:07 left in the third, New Orleans took the lead at 56-54 on a Peja Stojakovic jumper. It was a lead that they would never give up and went on to win by 19. So what the hell happened?

I will sum it up with a phrase we used back in the day at the Misty Oaks Courts…”you live by the jump shot and you will die by the jump shot”. N’Awlins turned SA into a jump shooting team. In the first half it worked, in fact it worked too good. Bruce Bowen scored 17 points in the half, B-Squared 1 only had 4 points in the entire Phoenix series. Everyone and their mother knew that Duncan would be doubled and that he would have to find the open man and that man would have to make shots. What we also thought that if that happened, they would lay off the double team and let Timmy work. Byron Scott didn’t get that memo because he kept with it all game and played the odds that the Spurs hot shooting would not hold up.

Remind me to take Byron to Vegas with me the next time I go…but he’s paying.

The other thing that failed the Silver and Black was their trademark defense. Ok, I know that David West was an all-star this season but hell, even Brad Miller has made an all-star team once. West is good but he is not 30 points on 56% shooting against the defending champs good. Popovich threw Oberto, KT, Horry and Mike Finley at West. Hell, I was waiting for my phone to ring…I have 6 fouls to give! None of it worked so why not try that other big guy? You know the one I mean, about 7 feet tall, kinda quiet and looks like a koala bear when he gets fouled? Oh yea, TIM DUNCAN! You know, the guy who has been on 8 NBA All-Defensive teams? My guess is that Pop was afraid of getting TD into foul trouble…well that is a chance you have to take because DWest was killing everyone else.

Is it time to panic? Of course not, the last I checked you needed 4 wins to claim a series and, as we heard during the last series after games 1 and 2, the Hornets did what they were supposed to do..defend their home court. The Spurs have been down 0-1 before, remember last year’s playoff opener against Denver? What happened in that series? In fact, in this latest run of 3 titles in 5 years, San Antonio has fallen 0-1 in a series four times. Last year and in 2005 against Denver and in 2003 against Phoenix and Dallas. How do the Spurs react after a loss? In that same period, SA is 18-11 in the next game after a losing a game. This is not to say that all is well and that nothing needs adjusting because it does. If the Spurs continue to just be a primarily jump shooting team, they are doomed. To win championships, you play your game and make the other team adjust. New Orleans did that to success in Game 1. Popovich and his coaching staff will have to make adjustments to get Duncan loose. 1-9 shooting will not cut it. Tim Duncan needs to remember that he is Tim Freaking Duncan and remind New Orleans that he is still the best big man on the planet. The Spurs will still need to hit open shots but they need to get in to the basket more. Tony Parker did his part but even he was relegating himself to outside jumpers.

On defense, TD needs to be on West early and often. Also, why not throw a little Ian Mahinmi at him? He can be activated and used. Yeah, he is raw but he is also long and young…couldn’t hurt to try. I thought they did a good job on CP3 for the most part holding him to 17 points but he still rang up 13 assists which falls on the defense to deny the ball better to others, more points and less assists from Paul is actually a good thing.

Don’t despair Spurs fans, have faith and remember….there is still a lot of basketball left to be played.

See you after Game 2.