Spurs went into tonight's game in Utah having lost 15 straight. They jumped out to a 10 point halftime lead, scoring 65 points. Too bad they only managed 37 in the 2nd half, and so went down for their 16th straight loss. “We’re obviously not a 48-minute team,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “Just not mature enough to understand you got to keep it up. It’s a game of consistency and execution, keeping your competitiveness up.” O! How far the once-mighty have fallen. Gotta effing BLOW to be a Spurs fan these days, eh?
I feel that is a bit disingenuous. They're a small market team who had an incredible ride for close to 2 decades and are now rebuilding until they hit the next star in the draft. We are fans of the Lakers so we are hugely spoiled because it's the greatest franchise in the world and had the luck of LeBron and AD decided to play for us, not because of our superior management of the franchise, but just because we are us. Not all teams have that luxury
Pop is full of s***. He's gunning for Wemby and it shows... I think we need a "tank committee" to look at this
I'm a fan of Dame and I am impressed and happy for his 70 points, but that said, high scoring just doesn't impress me as much nowadays. 70 points impresses me just as much as a 55~ points game impressed me years ago (probably more impressive than a 50 points game in 2008 or so, but definitely less impressive than 60 back then) We just recently had a 176-175 game (Kings vs Clippers). While that was with 2 OTs, it's still pretty much an All-Star level of scoring. Teams are scoring over 114 points per game. That's even above some seasons from the 60s, which is absolutely nuts. It will be kinda hilarious whenever we get a team scoring over 200 points in a game, and I feel that we're getting quite close to that happening. Anyways, I'm hating too much and I'm honestly glad for Dame, who I'll always respect for sticking to his team for this long, and who I honestly think is an amazing player. Congrats to him. It's still a great feat.
Yep... not impresseds that much (crazy to say that, right). With the pace, defense and a 3 point chucking, it's a matter of time, before someone scores a 100 again...
you're both right? i think the spurs got this reputation as the best minds in the business when it mostly just tim duncan and the way he impacted everything both on and off the court. gs has this rep now, but it's curry. if you luck into (and this is really the primary way to do it) a generational talent who is also a good, cooperative, intelligent person off the court, the rest of the job becomes very easy. mistakes are minimized and glossed over, successes amplified. i think we've been solidly managed for most (not all) of my lifetime as a fan, and i'd argue that we never had a generational talent who was also easy to work with. i could maybe hear an argument for kobe, but he did run shaq out of town and demand a trade. these aren't things duncan, dirk, or curry did or would do. so, yes, we have had a big advantage that, for whatever reason, guys want to play for this franchise. but we haven't had the other kind of golden goose, which is just such a huge advantage it almost can't be overstated. in light of that, i think about lillard in portland and feel like their inability to find the right formula around him is actually a pretty tremendous condemnation of their various front offices. i don't think he's quite the talent that those other guys i named were/are, but he's close enough. and he seems like he's a good guy who's easy to work with.
71 is still impressive regardless of all things considered. I know Dame's thing is loyalty to Portland but he would have looked nice in purple and gold.
I don't know why it's so difficult for them all to figure it out with the most loyal and dedicated player they've ever had and probably will ever have. I think they have the right idea with a lot of 3&D wings around him. The problem is his #2 was and is another undersized scoring guard. There's just not enough diversification. I'd like to see him with someone like a Jimmy Butler.
Some interesting stuff in here: drafting out of HS, shorter scheduled, rule change (coaches keep their challenge), and expansion.
Hate that target score thing, if we have that sort of thing we don’t have that crazy Kings/Clippers ending, Kings just kept coming back down big. In other news, another LaMelo injury, Ball bros can’t stay healthy
Damn. Ball bros, lots of talent but neither can stay healthy. That's his 4th ankle injury of the season.
I just read the comments on Dame's 71 point night and I agree with you guys: scoring is WAY up, D is scarcer and thus evermore precious, but I watched all the highlights, and that was just freakin' SICK play by Dame. Man. Mad props to one of my favorite non-Laker players. He's one of those ridiculously talented guys who's also not a d-bag, and he is as loyal to POR as...Kobe was to us. Some guys I can't picture playing with any other team, not do I want to see them switch teams. In a league with carpetbaggers like Kyrie and KD, I'm old skool and dig the dudes who stick with their city for the long haul.
well, he's actually considerably MORE loyal to portland than kobe was to us. i like lillard a lot, too. his defense has never been good, and that's held his teams back to some degree, but he's among the very best offensive players in the past 30 years. i'd put him above harden and some other guys who get more respect from fans and media in general. if he played in a bigger market, there would be daily "why can't they get lillard help" articles. daily. for years. dude had to roll with cj mccollum as his running mate for years and just made it work. no disrespect to cj, but he's a #3, not a #2. and when portland finally decides to move him, they do it for role players and not as part of a package for a star. that lillard hasn't demanded out of there borders on sainthood.
Kobe said he wanted to get traded to the Bulls in 2007. How much of that was leveraging? I don't know and confess I haven't read all the Kobe books yet. Too soon. The pain is still there for me. No, but you're right: Dame is otherworldly on offense. He'll never make NBA All-Defensive Team. But he's a fixture in that city. Imagine Dame with a guy like Jokic: that team could go far. Ain't gonna happen.
Okay, okay: VERY funny, Hoop Central. We all know that's a guy from the Village People. Dillon Brooks is a d-bag, but he can afford a shirt. Wait a minnit...
What the hell? Ja needs to get out of Memphis and leave all his "friends" there. He's putting himself in positions and situations that are dangerous to his career.
