Siete Triunfos
2017 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5
City of the Year - That was freaking insane. (No, I'm not talking about President Trump firing F.B.I. Director James Comey on Tuesday. While that was the desperate attempt of an unstable leader to cover up the high crimes and misdemeanors that could prove his illegitimacy and was unquestionably insane, luckily for the former reality show star who currently occupies the White House, this is a basketball blog series so, for our purposes, a reference to 45 most likely refers to Michael Jordan's post-retirment bad luck jersey number.) Of course, the insanity that I'm referring to is the madness that took place at the AT&T Center down in San Antonio on Tuesday evening or what will henceforth always be known simply as Game 5. Where to begin? I guess the obvious. Reaching deep down for my inner-Charles Barkley, "GINBOILI!" 36 hours later, I can't get enough. I've been replaying the block over and over again in my mind. The basketball IQ required to be able to anticipate from behind the play (after getting beat) the exact place where James Harden is going to shoot the ball, jump before he goes into the shot, and meet him in the air at the perfect time to block it clean as a whistle is through the stratosphere. No other basketball player that I've seen it my life could/can tap into the combination of intangibles it takes to make that play. None. What a special, special player. (Hey Brian, I know you were smiling down on your favorite player for that one.) I mean, come on. Not only the anticipation, but the utter fearlessness to even go for it. Keep in mind, with Manu, these types of things don't always work out. More than any other player in the history of the NBA, his game exemplifies the saying, "live by the sword, die by the sword." Remember, Manu cost us a series (and probably a title) when he fouled Dirk Nowitzki going for an irrational block. That foul allowed the Dallas Mavericks to tie Game 7 of the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals and send the game into overtime (where they outlasted us en route to the NBA Finals). Manu's block attempt on Tuesday night carried with it the same inherent risk. If he had come up with arm on that attempt, James Harden would have been at the line shooting three free throws and would have likely sent the game into double overtime. But alas, the combination of Manu's unequaled anticipation and fearlessness paid off on Tuesday and this time, the #BlackAndSilver lived by the sword. We lived by the sword in a big way...
Oh, by the way...reminiscent of Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals, Manu also had a huge dunk in the second quarter of this game to help the San Antonio Spurs hang on in overtime to defeat the Houston Rockets 110-107 in Tuesday's pivotal Game 5 and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Semifinals. While Manu's Game 5 heroics were deservedly headline grabbing, the player of the game was Danny Green. With Kawhi Leonard sidelined with knee and ankle injuries, Danny single-handedly outscored the Rockets in overtime 7-6 hitting the two biggest shots of the series so far, a deep clutch three and a driving layup plus the foul (both times after the Rockets had threes of their own to take the lead). Danny finished the game with 16 points (4-8 behind the arc), five rebounds, three assists, and one legendary playoff performance now added to be counted among the upper-echelon of legendary Spurs playoff performances. I'll be honest, with Kawhi sidelined and LaMarcus Aldridge once again out of sorts, things weren't looking good three minutes into the overtime period. The Spurs were scoreless and seemed dead in the water after Patrick Beverley dropped a three pointer to give the Rockets the lead. Luckily, Jonathan Simmons got himself the free throw line with 1:28 left to close the gap to one point and that was enough "juice" to give the Spurs a spark so that Danny Green cold take over and bring us home. I could spend several hours writing a detailed recap of this game but unfortunately there simply isn't any time. Due to work and travel commitments, I've had precious little time over the past 36 hours to get anything down on paper and have instead been relegated simply to basking in the glory of this historic win by replaying Manu's block and Danny's clutch shots in my mind. As of the completion of this post, it is still unknown whether Coach Pop will allow Kawhi to play tonight. If it's meant to be and Kawhi takes to court at the Toyota Center in Houston, I have full confidence that he will continue accepting the passing of the torch from Tim Duncan that we talked about in Tres Triunfos by channeling TD circa 2003 with another franchise cornerstone performance to close out another hard-fought playoff series on the road in six. If, for some reason, it's not meant to be and Kawhi can't go...well, his teammates proved in overtime on Tuesday that we can still get this thing done as a team. It's easy to say "next man up" but in order to execute it to the degree that the Spurs have so far in this series, losing Tony Parker and now possibly Kawhi, it takes something more than words. It takes something that doesn't come simply from the players, or the coaches, or the franchise. It takes something that comes from the entire city. The type of thing that allows a city to keep believing even when your two best players are sidelined with injury and you've gone three and a half minutes into an overtime period without scoring a single point. You know, a certain little something that earns said community the title, City of the Year. In order to have overcome all of the adversity we've faced during this playoff series and put ourselves in a position to close out our in-state rival tonight, it has taken all of us believing whole-heartedly in what we can accomplish together. Tonight, the city of San Antonio's greatest weapon to accomplish the goal of closing out the Rockets is our faith.
Video Source: NBA on YouTube
Featured Image Source: Okayplayer
Headline Image Source: NBASpurs on Reddit
Two Forward
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 3
Deliver - ¡Viva la Fiesta! Going into the AT&T Center in San Antonio as the road team and winning a playoff game is a difficult proposition. Going into the AT&T Center as the road team and winning a playoff game during Fiesta? There are few things harder in the NBA. Obviously, it is not impossible. Last year, the Dallas Mavericks came into our home during Fiesta and stole Game 2 of the 2014 Western Conference First Round series in convincing fashion winning 113-92. The Mavericks, however, had experience on their side. Dallas had been playing road playoff games in San Antonio during Fiesta for years. They knew what to expect. Last night, the same could not be said for the Los Angeles Clippers. Unfortunately for the Clips, not only was last night a road playoff game in San Antonio during Fiesta, but it was a road playoff game in San Antonio on the 2nd Friday of Fiesta and a young Spurs superstar was accepting the Defensive Player of the Year trophy from the greatest player in franchise history before the game. Poor L.A. never stood a chance. The San Antonio Spurs annihilated the Los Angeles Clippers 100-73 in front of 18,582 Fiesta-rowdy Spurs fans last night at the AT&T Center. The entire team seemed to feed off of the energy of Tim Duncan presenting Kawhi Leonard with the DPOY trophy before the tip-off. It was a spectacular team defensive performance. The Spurs held the Clippers to 34.1 percent shooting for the game (29-85) and bottled up Chris Paul (7 points [3-11], 6 turnovers) and Blake Griffin (14 points [6-15], 3 turnovers). It was a complete dismantling of the best offense in the NBA and the fewest points scored by LAC in a playoff game in franchise history.
The Defensive Player of the Year was determined to make sure and remind us that he plays both sides of the court. Forget Bruce Bowen and move over Scottie Pippen because last night the Claw was trying to reincarnate the way a young Michael Jordan played both sides of the ball early in his career with the Chicago Bulls. Kawhi was sensational on the offensive end, scoring a career high 32 points (13-18 from the field). He added 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks for good measure. It wasn't just the scoring proclivity or efficiency, it was the types of shots Kawhi was taking to score the basketball that harkened back to his Airness in his prime. Leonard destroyed the Clippers on multiple occasions with turn-around fade away jumpers over the double team. Who else in today's NBA has that patented Michael Jordan weapon in their offensive arsenal? Kobe Bryant, and that's pretty much it. It was a strange site to see. A young superstar playing the game of basketball like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in a San Antonio uniform and while staying within the flow of the Spurs' offensive system, no less. Utterly incredible. Not only was the player of the game being like Mike with the fade-away mid-range jumpers, but he went 3-5 from deep (Bulls vs. Blazers, 1992 Finals anyone?), oh... and this happened.
Because of the spectacularly embarrassing performance last night, the Clippers could prove to be an extremely dangerous wounded animal come tomorrow afternoon. I fully expect the same type of bounce-back performance from Los Angeles in Game 4 as San Antonio put together for Game 2. If the #BlackAndSilver are prepared for the desperation that is sure to come from our opponent and we are able to play the same type of focused team ball tomorrow that we played last night, I'm hard pressed to see how the Clippers (as a team) could play at a level that could add their names to the short list of teams who have come into the AT&T Center and beaten the Spurs in the playoffs during Fiesta. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin can play at the necessary level, but who else can join them at that level on the road? While it is hard to see the scenario where DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick, and Jamal Crawford all play at the necessary level tomorrow to beat the champs in our building, I'm certainly not ruling it out. As I've said before, there is no doubt that the Clippers are a talented and dangerous group. Even after last night's performance, I'm still sticking to the notion that this is the best first round opponent the Spurs have faced in the Gregg Popovich/Tim Duncan era. We must come out tomorrow afternoon with a sense of desperation and play like we are the team in this series that is playing from the 1-2 hole on the road. But with Kawhi Leonard's superstardom currently feeding off of the energy of Fiesta and erupting like Mount Vesuvius to rain scorching lava down on the NBA city of Pompeii...I mean L.A., I think I like our chances in Game 4.
Featured Image Source: Street Khemistry
Headline Image Source: San Antonio Express-News
Seven Down
2013 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5
The Show Goes On - Last night, for the first time in this hard fought second round series with Golden State, San Antonio played Spurs basketball consistently for 48 minutes en route to a 109 to 91 blowout victory over the Warriors. Mark Jackson's self-proclaimed "greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history" was completely locked up by Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson managed a combined 13 points on 6-22 shooting, their lowest combined point total of the season. Thompson could not even get free to attempt one three pointer. Funny, I don't remember ever hearing about that happening to Jerry West and Gail Goodrich in the playoffs and I don't remember seeing that happen to Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars either. Part of being great shooters, is having the ability to get and make your shots no matter how ferocious the defense or how intense the playoff pressure. By the way, my pointing out the ridiculousness of Mark Jackson's statement is not intended as a slight on Curry and Thompson. They are an amazing backcourt and have clearly earned the complete respect and attention of the Spurs. Maybe they will eventually earn consideration as the best shooting backcourt in NBA history, but to anoint them as such after they have only won one playoff series is disrespectful of the history of the game and Jackson should have more perspective than that as a great NBA point guard in his own right. I know that this statement can be chalked up as a motivational tool. Part of Jackson's approach to coaching is to attempt to give his team a psychological edge by instilling irrational belief in their collective abilities. It has clearly been quite effective, helping the Warriors to dispatch the more talented Denver Nuggets and giving them the confidence to compete with the Spurs, but eventually reality will set in. I'm not suggesting, either, that that eventuality has already occurred. I'm fully aware that Golden State is still capable of winning this series and that the Spurs need to treat the next game like we are the team facing elimination. However, I do think that the massive outpouring of adulation regarding Jackson's coaching ability is overblown and sooner or later the psychological motivational tools will lose their evangelical ability to elevate the team's level of play and when that happens, it is yet to be seen whether he actually has the chops as a basketball tactician and game manager to compete at the highest level. Time will answer that question. Anyway, I digress.
Last night's player of the game was Danny Green. Danny was an efficient 6-10 from the field but more importantly his defense was spectacular on Curry and Thompson. He was clearly a difference maker on both ends of the court. There is not a whole lot else to say about last night's game other than it was by far the best performance by the Spurs so far in this postseason. They need to keep it up. If we play with that type of defensive intensity and share the ball on offense with that type of surgical precision (30 assists on 40 made field goals) the #BlackAndSilver will have a lot more basketball ahead of them this postseason. Luckily, for San Antonio, we have a coach that sets quite a different tone than his Golden State counterpart. While Jackson is busy campaigning for his backcourt to be given their rightful place in the annals of NBA history, Greg Popovich has only one thing on his mind; the next game. In response to a question at the post game press conference last night asking him about the prospect of getting this series over with in Game 6, Popovich's response was as follows: "Nobody talks about getting this over with like you've got a rash...like you can take a pill or put some cream on it, it's going to be gone. This is a war. They're a class team; they bust their ass at both ends of the floor. It's not about getting rid of anything. It's about going and playing and that's about it." Coach Pop is not writing off the Warriors, he is preparing to try to beat them one more time. If we play the same 48 minutes of basketball tomorrow night that we played last night, the Spurs have a golden opportunity to leave the state of California with a trip booked back to the Western Conference Finals. Should we make that happen, then the Warrior's backcourt will have plenty of time to work on that shooting ability in an empty gym. I say forget shooting. Defense wins championships and the San Antonio Spurs are finally starting to get back to black.
Featured Image Source: San Antonio Express-News
Headline Image Source: Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.Net