No Offense or Defense---Yet

The Spurs lost at home Saturday night to an all cylinders clicking Portland team. The Timberwolves lost at home Saturday night to a come from behind, never say die Boston team. Now the 4-2 Spurs face the 4-3 T'Wolves Monday night in San Antonio.<br>
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        How do the Spurs win? Not with the poor spacing, poorer shooting, and porous defense that we saw Saturday night, that's for sure. <br>
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        First, the spacing - Brown, Ginobili, Jackson, and Kerr (all guards) seemed lost on both ends of the floor. You could tell that they have not played together and have not entirely learned the plays. They were bumping into each other. It's a good thing the refs don't whistle when you foul your own teammate.<br>
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        Second, the shooting - Few teams will win shooting a 38% field goal percentage. When the game's top scorers, Tim Duncan and Stephen Jackson, are shooting 7-16 and <br>
5-15 respectively, you have to realize that things are not going well. Tony Parker had the team's highest FG% by shooting 4-8. Tim took two shots in the second half and missed them both. Two!!! How can your leading scorer only take two shots in the second half and the team have any expectations of a win?<br>
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        Third, the defense - Where was it? When David Robinson was not on the floor the Spurs played a noticeable lackluster defensive game. Even including the time David played, the Blazers had 48 points in the paint! Implementing a new offensive strategy was, and is, a good move by Pop, but not at the expense of the team's defense. The Spurs are better suited to weathering an offensive learning curve if they keep their defensive skills sharp. They seem to be working so hard at learning how to chew gum that they are forgetting how to walk.<br>
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        The Spurs were out-rebounded, had more turnovers and fewer assists, and shot 5-13 (compared to Portland's <br>
4-7) from the three point arc in Saturday's loss. None of this is news to the Spurs. <br>
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I think we can also say that this lineup:<br>
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C - Duncan<br>
F - Rose<br>
F - Bowen<br>
G - Jackson<br>
G - Kerr<br>
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is not going to win too many games, even though Pop gave it every chance Saturday night. Subbing in Brown didn't seem to help much either.<br>
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The question is: What are they going to do about it? What <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>can</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> they do about it? Steve Smith and Speedy Claxton are injured and Manu Ginobili isn't completely healed. But just how vital are SSmith and a backup point guard to the future success of this team?<br>
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And where does this leave us Monday night against a solid division rival?<br>
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Thanks for the analysis, rilyman. So what do you think goes wrong with Duncan/Rose/Bowen/Jackson/Kerr lineup? <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:xx-small;">"Rebound by one of the big guys... Divac, I think... Hands off to one of the little guards... The big guy with the beard passes off to the little lefty... Boy, I’m having trouble with these names."<!--EZCODE BR START--><br /><!--EZCODE BR END--><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em><br>
--Johnny Most, calling a game between the Celtics and Jugoplastika Split of Croatia</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></p><i></i>