San Antonio Spurs

Offseason

2005-09-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

Coming into the offseason with the tag of a defending champion is kind of a two-edged sword. It could work for you sometimes with great additions or you could end up having a bad contract that's going to bite you in the long run. So far Spurs have been lucky (thank god for the Summer '03 - for, Kidd didn't sign).

The priority for the Spurs was to re-sign Horry and I am glad both parties quickly got the deal done without much drama. Horry deserved a pay-hike; he battled like a warrior in the playoffs, and he still has enough gas in him for at least 2 seasons imo.

Signing Oberto was a bit of a suprise because of all the talks were just about how Spurs are going to bring in Scola. I think the Spurs once again came up with a surpise and I hope he gels with the team and is going to be major contributor immediately (needed because, if he works out great, Spurs will be better placed to let Nazr go or Trade Rasho just to get some cap-relief for a young SF next season).

Signing Nick Van Exel was a surprise. I never thought NVE is going to be a Spur. Honestly, I never liked the guy before the '03 WCF. He had a monster series against us and I like him a lot since then (although he was fearless, clutch guy before too - he was not to my liking).

Finley agreeing to play for Spurs is HUGE. Thank Mark Cuban for getting into a situation where he ended up having bad contracts , but had to release a quality baller Finley. I am glad he chose Spurs especially because other suitors were our potential CF/Finals opponents. It's like a win-win situation. You get a fine player and at the same avoided him going to a contender.

The direct outcome of Finley signing is the departure of Devin Brown. Most Spurs Fans like him - not just for the reason that he is a local boy, but he proved he could be a decent role player in the league. I am sure Spurs would've tried to match Utah's offer to Brown if they could've moved Barry's contract. But Devin became Plan B or C for Spurs, with his back still in question. You can't go into the season with him as a primary backup for Bruce in that situation. Plus you don't get guys of Finley's calibre every season for so cheap. And probably coach Pop wanted to give Barry one more chance this season before writing him off (esp. after a decent showing in the Finals). I am sure RC and Pop are aware of the aging swingmen rotation of Bowen/Barry/Finley and they'll fill the hole with a younger , quality guy next season.

Overall Spurs look set for a great season ahead with a bench comprising of almost another starting lineup for any NBA team. Tim and Manu getting a real rest with no international/national commitments is going to be huge. Chip Engelland should help in fixing some of Spurs' shooting woes and get a consistent and reliable shooters out of Tony, Brent, Bruce.

Exciting times for Spurs Fans!!!

Go Spurs Go

whooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-06-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

More later....

Go Spurs Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NBA Finals: Games 3 and 4

2005-06-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

I'd have to say right at the beginning, these games were not just disappointing, but real heart-breakers. Of course, it's just not the Pistons' won on their home-court but the sheer lack of aggressiveness and attitude shown by the team that hurts. Losing this big is going to shake you up a lot, but it's not the time to panic. They have to pull it together in game 5 or the series would be as good as over. I hope someone stands-up and takes over the team for the next two games and leads them and lifts the team out of trouble.

I' definitely don't want to take another shot at my heart anymore. Spurs just don't have to be cautious for game 5 but play it like their last game of the season.

Go Spurs Go!!!

NBA Finals: Game 2

2005-06-13T02:27:00.000-07:00

First half of game 2 was more like a typical Spurs game - coming out strong on both ends of the floor. I personally liked Tony's and Nazr's effort especially Nazr's because it didn't show up in the box score. Nazr deserves some serious love from the fans.

Coach Brown decided to force Bruce to hit shots and it hurt them badly - We all Spurs fans know Bruce can knock down open shots, but that is what an opponent should do when they Tim, Tony and Manu were in a zone. Manu brought in another aspect of his game - by knocking from outside - Pistons looked confused about their game plan against him. Tony was great defensively all game long. There was fun too in this game - with Manu, Tony and Brent making great passes for great plays. Also, Spurs ran a lot and were good at it.

As for Pistons' offense, their shots were equally distributed among Hamilton,Billups and Sheed but the guards were ineffective. Prince is not contributing at all and it's going to be tough for them he continues like this.

Now that the series is moving to Detroit, Spurs have to remain focussed and come out aggresively in game 3, because this is a key game and Pistons will be in trouble if they Spurs bring in their game.

Bottom note: I was listening to Ahmad Rashad's show for game 1 and Antonio Daniels talking about Timmy. It's great to know some of Timmy's life off the court and that he is as cool a guy as anyone. The way he's been friends with role players like Antonio Daniels, Stephen Jackson and Malik Rose shows that the guy is cool to hang-out with.

Go Spurs Go!!!

NBA Finals: Game 1

2005-06-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

I am glad the Spurs came through this one. The way they started the game, I started thinking this one has uglyness written all over it and honestly couldn't just watch for a stretch. Pop called two great timeouts to keep the house in order and put in Horry, Barry (surprise for so many) and finally the team responded with great energy at least on the defensive end. Too many turnovers, bad decisions and easy baskets for Pistons early in the game made Spurs to dig deep and pullout collectively as a team.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Devin on the floor, but didn't understand the way Pop spread out minutes for Brent,Devin and Glenn. May be he wanted to feel how the matchups are going to work. This combination has to produce offensively in the coming games. If Bruce can hold 7-21 kind of games for Rip, I will take him going zero points any game. It was combination of Rip missing easy ones and Manu helped out Bruce for some minutes.

Timmy being Timmy whether it is running game or defensive war was normal. Should I even talk about Manu? I'll leave it to experts and the whole media world to write millions of words. Tony was okay but he has to do a lot better in ball-handling and control the pace of game.

I was surprised Coach Brown didn't run plays for Rasheed esp. in second half. May be he decided to live and die with guards. Billups was great as usual and hope Pop throws in different strategy on him. Prince's play didn't help them either.

I'd hope to see Nazr/Timmy/Horry to be real agressive on defense and help out our guards on screens to make life tough for Pistions' backcourt. Tony is clearly the key now and he should come in to the game with a lot of focus to make good decisions on the court.

It's all about adjustments in game 2. It will be interesting to see Pop's bench rotation and him figuring out a way speed up the game.

NBA Finals: Preview

2005-06-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

So here we are going against Pistons in the NBA finals. This is going to be a hell of a matchup. While the Spurs-Suns series was great and fun, this one is going to be great too but could be ugly at sometimes.

Not to take away anything from what Pistons have achieved so far, Spurs would go into the series confidently. Spurs will be cautious but not over-awed in facing the defending champions. There are going to be some tough matchups that'll decide the series.

Parker-Billups : Historically Tony has struggled against bigger guards, but Tony of 2005 is matured and increased his basketball IQ over a period of time. He'd do a good job defensively (IMO only Marbury used to abuse Tony regularly) but his offense against Billups is what counts. Tony looks very adaptable this season if things are going tough so he'll be just fine. Tony should be little creative though on the offense to overcome the hurdles.

Ginobili-Prince: This is going to be the matchup of the Finals. Two Dynamic guys going against each other at both ends and a flair of unpredictability each bring to the court will be awesome.

Bowen-Hamilton: While Rip is very quick, Bruce is as best you can get to chase the guy.Bruce on the offensive end though should make sure he keeps Rip engaged in defending him just to tire him a bit , if not score those corner 3s.

Duncan/Mohammad- Wallaces: Rasheed has defended Timmy reasonably well in previous years, but Timmy is so good he is gonna over come any matchup thrown at him. The problem for Timmy would be to stay on perimeter to make sure Rasheed just jacks up outside shots. Nazr should be as effective as he has been this playoffs on boards.

Finally, it boils down to who play the team-ball together and run set offense/defense well. It's not like previous series, where Nash was the key no matter how much Amare was dominant.

I am sure Pop will come up with a great strategy for the series to handle Hamilton/Billups/Prince over a best-of-7 series.

Go Spurs Go!!!

Playoffs: The Suns Series

2005-06-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

Soon after the Sonics series was over, most of the Spurs fans (me included) were hoping that mavs-Suns series would go into 7 games - In the hindsight though, Suns finishing it in 6 was kind of blessing in disguise for Spurs.

I was hoping Spurs could play competitive games out there in Phoenix and possibly win a game. But Pop has too many weapons these days and he utilizes them to perfection. Commonsense would tell us that scores above 105 would be cakewalk for Suns. Pop allowed the team to run to Suns' pace and it worked out great. Suns' defense helped too. They just can't seem to shutdown the opponents for a decent 3-4 minutes. I felt Spurs' running straight into Suns' trap by not even playing defense in all quarters, but I guess at that pace you just can't. The real difference was Spurs imposed what they wanted to do in 4th quarters of those games and executed the game plan to perfection.

I enjoyed game 3 better just for the fact that Spurs had a great first half, which helped watch the rest of the game in a relaxed mood ;-) Game 4 could possibly the worst-ever playoff game for Timmy (or at least close to the one he had in 2001 WCF against the Lakers) - so nothing much to cry about. You expect a great team like the Suns to show up and execute better. Tony having a sub-par game didn't help either. At this point I have to say, I was a little bit nervous going into Pheonix, but not too overly worried.

Game 5 was as classic as you can get. Great first half in which the teams evenly matched. And common-sense would tell Timmy would come back with a vengeance. Early in the third quarter Spurs doing what they often do - shutting down with great D and allowing Tony to run some plays. I thought Tony did a great job despite all the hype about Tony's problems with bigger guards. I can't buy the argument that Tony struggles against a set of poing guards in the league. What they don't see is his unique ability to slash to the basket against almost anyone - not a skill most of PGs possess. But again, there is so much expectation from Tony, the guy gets unecessary bashing all the time.

Amare was absolutely a beast. Not to take away anything from him, I wonder Spurs kind of went with this plan of not concentrating too much on him. In previous years, one couldn't see Pop coming out with a definite plan of pinning one of Shaq or Kobe for a whole series. Yeah, the guy scored a load of points and is one of the best PFs out there, but installing him at the top of the best-ever list is too much of a strech.

As Pop kept on saying, Nash is what all the Suns are. They go the way he goes, period. This guy is amazing and definitely the right choice for MVP this season. I mean, I don't think anybody is going to hate this guy even for basketball reasons (yeah, Mavs Fans including ;-) ). He is all class and I am sure his team is for real for years to come. Loser Mavs :-)

Except some mud-slinging by Marion after game 4 (saying Spurs are tired, blah..), the series was all about high-quality fun basketball. The respect teams showed for each other was a sign that good guys can still survive in the NBA.

One point about Coach Mike D'antoni - He is all class and gave some of the best quotes in the interviews. He really enjoys post-game interviews - doesn't he? (After all, why wouldn't you if your teams 105+ points every time they hit the court). But he just cried a bit too much about the absense of Joe Johnson. It looked like he was it as an excuse. Yeah JJ was a big-piece in their overall scheme, but one got to live with it (Spurs are playing without Rasho and Devin too - esp. Devin could have given us some real minutes).

When the series began, I was thinking Suns could pose the biggest challenge yet. And sure they did. The series was not as easy as the 4-1 win suggests.

It's great Spurs are getting some R&R and time to cool-off from the high-octane offense that was holding the NBA a hostage for more than a week ;-)

Go Spurs Go!!!

Congratulations!!!

2005-06-02T03:35:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Spurs on their 3rd Western Conference Championship in 7 years!!! Can't wait for the NBA finals to start!!! (Although 8 days of break is most welcome considering Manu and Timmy are banged up)

Go Spurs Go!!!

Playoffs: 2nd Round

2005-05-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Coming into the Sonics series, Spurs expected it's going to be different ball game than the previous round - real physical battle with hard-fouling big bodies that the sonics are going to throw at them.

To me, Sonics mentally lost the battle before the start of the series - Ray Allen crying about he can't play well against Bruce because of his sissy basketball, refs allowing Bruce to get away with all he does. etc. I mean I can't seem to recall a superstar (btw, tag is questionable to Ray considering what superstars are supposed to do in the playoffs - carry the team) bitching more about others than what he can do on the hardwood. Seriously, Did anyone outside of the coffee-town bought his crying?

Spurs did what they were supposed to do in games 1 and 2. I was expecting them to win at least one in Seattle. Missed shot from Duncan on the last possesion of game 3 gave sonics some life and credit them, for they fed off from it and played a solid game 4 to even the series.

There had been so much talk Radmonovic - like if he was not injured, Sonics would have pounded Spurs, etc. But going by his strength of 3-pt shooting I doubt it'd have been that much of a factor as Spurs typically defend the 3-pt shooting well. Yeah he'd have been a difference, but I never thought Sonics had a reasonable shot winning the series although they were the toughest matchups.

Games 5 and 6 were hard-fought battles and I am glad Spurs came through.

You got to love Nazr stepping up and playing some good ball. The guy is so spurs-like, I don't even recall that he joined Spurs only recently.

It was nice to see Antonio Daniles shining through (you can't stop loving some ex-spurs - can you?) . Hopefully he lands a good deal for himself this summer.

While Spurs advance to the next round, Sonics have a tough off-season to take care of - proiorities being re-signing coach Nate and deciding on the roster that is currently full of free agents.

It's going be a hell of a conference finals with Suns and I feel NBA has a lot to gain from the series - Two talented teams minus BS going at each other trying to impose their style of play.

Playoffs: 1st Round

2005-05-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

There were plenty of questions heading into the first round. How good Tim and Manu are feeling? Could Rasho and Devin see some playing time and be effective? How Barry is going to work-out? Is Nuggets' frontline is for real? etc.
Game 1 was a disappointment if not ringing an alarm. Started wondering if this Free Throw shooting is going to cost us big time. On a positive note, we couldn't have played any worse and were still had a chance to win.

Pop pulled a fantastic trick out of his brain to move Manu on to the bench - I'm sure no other coach/analyst who is following the series would have ever thought about it. In the hindsight though, we all tend to agree that it was not just a fluke but a well thought-out move considering Devin is almost not going to be there and we badly needed a lift.

There weren't any surprises in 3,4 and 5 - as Pop and Manu had literally brought the George Karl and the Nuggets down in game 2. The rest of the series was more about Coach Karl's blah-blah's, K-mart's crybaby antics. Honestly, more than Spurs defeating Nuggets, it was about Pop hitting a knock-out punch on Karl - Karl was really clueless what was happening in the series.

Funny Nuggets and their fans turned big time on Manu (more than what they did for Kobe) - It's crap because this guy represents what basketball is all about - he is truly amazing!! It's not just the homer in me (or any Spurs fan) that feels this way, but any true basketball fan would love to watch Manu.

April

2005-04-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Alright, Playoffs are about to start and great to know Timmy is back on the court!! Hopefully, there'll be some good news about Devin too along the way.

The two double OT games at Clippers and Warriors defined what this team is all about - Manu and Tony were huge in respective games and it was great to see an overall team effort. I got to rate it right up there near our Feb '03 roadtrip win streak in terms of team effort and staying focussed when things are going not too well. Hail the coach!!

Big Dog seems to hitting strides - can't believe this guy didn't play basketball all season and here he is playing great. Nazr seems to be learning the new system quite well too and pulling lot of rebounds consistently. Timmy seems to be comfortable so far and what better news a Spurs fan can ask for !!! And Manu being Manu!!!

Overall shaping up well for the Playoffs!!

Go Spurs Go!!!

March Games

2005-04-01T03:43:00.000-08:00

Historically month of March is when Spurs play great ball and prepare themselves for the post-season - and here comes the heart-stopper - Timmy going down with an ankle injury - Manu playing hurt (after missing some) didn't/doesn't help either. Going by Pop's words Duncan won't be ready until the start of playoffs - so much depends on the rest of the team to step up and play good through the rest of regular season.

Saw clips of Sean Elliot's Jersey retirement on express-news website - They could've edited'em better. The guy is a stud and deserves it. Nice gesture from the Spurs to the man who along with David Robinson bought so much to the franchise. It was nice to see Avery Johnson taking some time off to attend it.

Saw the Seattle game - Great win!

Great to see the team holding on by winning some games - Screw home court advantage and the seeding, just stay competitive till the big fella comes back.

February

2005-03-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

Okay - Finally it has happened after a full year (starting last Feb) of hearing that Malik is on the trading block. While it is not a surprise, trading Malik was really a big blow to the city of San Antonio, Fans. I mean the emotional reactions spoke of themselves about how everyone felt. Not considering the business/game aspect from the Spurs front office perspective, it was truly a sad day for me (and rest of Spurs fans). It took a while to get out of that funk (heck - even the players stunk in the Memphis game). Malik is a gem of a guy and he represented all about Spurs.

Having said that, I, for one don't argue Pop and R.C's decision - time and again they have proved they make intelligent moves. Hope it work outs great with Nazr Mohammed. I'd think we gain height advantage while not losing the hustle-play of Malik and of course money-wise it's a smart decision.

On the sidenote, why is it that Isiah happpens to pull dumbest moves each time he makes a personnel decision? I mean, the guy beats himself ;-) For the record, it looked good when he traded for Marbury last year and now you see the difference between Suns and Knicks - For all the geniuseness (??) this guy had as a player, he is proving a terrible front-office guy (and coach).

All-Star weekend was good - not the actual game. It's funny Pop got his first All-star game after these many years (well, our sluggish starts were always there ;-) ).
I could never convince myself with all that NBA is selling about this one. Anyway it's just me. Good to see Pop not burning KG and Timmy as they had requested him to limit their minutes.

All in all, this was a month full of happenings! Things are starting to heat-up in March!!

January games

2005-02-02T02:14:00.000-08:00

Dallas and Phoenix(on road) games were broadcasted here this month.

Phoenix game was absolutely great - Is there anybody in the league who is more fun and exciting than Manu to watch !!? This guy is insane :-)

Wins at Sacramento and Seattle were also great especially the Seattle game.

This current Spurs team is much more matured and looks solid than ever. Pop shows have been great and he is keeping the team grounded. Kudos to him!!!

December Games

2005-01-03T02:01:00.000-08:00

Great to see Spurs continuing the good start.

Nothing much to complain except the screw job against Houston. Also, while it is great to have great home record, it is high time we hit the 2002-03 zone while playing on the road.

BTW, I can't believe Suns and Sonics are smoking this big for almost two months. Who is gonna stick on with it in the long run?

November Games

2004-12-01T01:47:00.000-08:00

This november turned out be opposite of the usual Spurs' season beginning. I hope they keep up the momentum.

Game against the Lakers and Nuggets was broadcasted here and it felt pretty good in bleeding silver and black ten-thousand miles away from the Alamo city. But the Laker game as such lacked the usual zest because of no more Shaq on this Laker team (although Kobe has damaged our hearts as much as Shaq has).

There were some surprises though when the team went and sucked it up in Toronto and Memphis, but it was nice to see Spurs getting back to winning ways.

Great to hear from Pop that he is figuring out to control minutes for Timmy and Manu, who deserve as much rest as possible after their summer olympics appearance.

Following Spurs' Basketball from Outside of USA

2004-11-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

I am a hardcore Spurs fan and I relocated to my home country of India this off-season. It's a totally different experience following Spurs from outside of Austin/San Antonio. Now that I have to mainly depend on the internet for daily updates, I thought of sharing my experiences through this. Playoffs basketball are shown here on a regular basis, but I can watch only 4-5 regular season games of Spurs, I guess. Thanks mainly to spurszone.com (can't wait for those round-tables and the Pop shows!), I don't feel I am too isolated over here ;-)

I wish there'd be some sort of NBA league pass here in Asia in the coming years so that NBA fans can enjoy the regular season too.

A new season for the Spurs with no less of a goal than winning it all. Off-Season moves look good so far with addition of Brent Barry, bringing back Horry (huge). Got to wait and see how Beno Udrih is gonna work out. I hope he turns out be a gem.

Go Spurs GO!