Game 8: Spurs 113 - Trail Blazers 101

GAME 8 OBSERVATIONS

On a night that most of us will remember as the game that LaMarcus returned to Portland, the Spurs had another efficient game.   I was personally grateful of getting to see the game on ESPN and not on FOX Sports Southwest so I was spared of Shawn Elliot and his homer tendencies.  The trade off was hearing observations from Mike Tirico and Doug Collins that were based by guys who didn't follow the team, night in and night out.

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TOP 5 BALLERZ OF THE NIGHT

meh.. I fell asleep again and didn't see the Spurs complete this road game.  I attempted to take a nap before the game and everything but I couldn't stay awake!   I'll need to get my sit together before the play some of the better Western teams like the Warriors.   I was happy to see LaMarcus lead the Spurs in points last night tho'.

Game 7: Spurs 106 - Kings 88

San Antonio Spurs traveled west on Monday night to take on the Sacramento Kings.  A game that tipped off just after 9:00pm central time but ended well after my bed time.  I kinda underestimated how hard it would be to stay up and watch them play these west cost games.  I zonked out somewhere in the third quarter... so my observations are gonna be a little limiting in this journal entry.

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Top 5 Ballerz of the Night

meh.. I fell asleep and didn't see the Spurs complete the game so I feel like I can't really compile this accurately.  I looked at the box score this morning and it appears that the starting five all had good outings.  Kawhi went 10 for 13 and was 3 for 4 from beyond the arch for 24 points.  He did all of this in 32 minutes and he's not a ball hog.  I can't wait for him to drop 44 on someone very soon.

Game 7 Observations

The only observation I made last night was that the Kings are horrible...  that and there's a little uneasiness in seeing the tempo of basketball games get away from the Spurs.  If they can get their opponents to play at the pace they dictate, they can dispatch anyone in their path.  It the tempo picks up however... especially in the transition game - close games feel like a gamble. 

Oh and Boogie Cousins is a beast.  He's going to make a future franchise very happy.

Game 6: Spurs 114 - Hornets 94

San Antonio Spurs improved their home record to 2-0 tonight after dispensing the hapless Hornets.   The game was mostly memorable for their alternate uniforms (Salute to our Troops) and it being telecasted at the same time of the Alabama/LSU game.

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In other news: I can't believe Derrick Henry carried the ball 38 times tonight for over 200 yards.  Roll Tide Roll.

Tonights Fab Five

I suspect the starting five isn't going to change much, so I'm changing the recap a little bit by showcasing who I think were the top 5 contributors of the night.

1. Kawhi Leonard - 23 points on 10 for 16 shots.  One of the cool things about watching every Spurs game this season is seeing Kawhi take charge on the offensive end.  He's night in and night out the Spurs most valuable player.
2. David West - 9 points, 9 rebounds & 29 minutes. West got a lot of minutes on account of LaMarcus pulling some early fouls in the game. 
3. Patty Mills - 15 points and shot 50% from beyond the arch (3-6)
4. LaMarcus Aldridge - 16 points in 17 minutes...  He pulled 4 fouls but was efficient for the most part.  It was nice to see him hit a shot from top of the Key.  I believe he's 1 for 30 from 15 feet out.
5. Manu Ginobili - 13 points and also went 50% from beyond the arc (3-6)

Game 6 Observations

Spurs played a decent game tonight.  They were in dire need of getting another home game under their belt.  I was hoping we would get to see more from the deep end of the bench tho'.  Despite leading by as many as 25 points... we only saw Boban and Ray come in with less than 4 minutes left in the game.  The Hornets are a hot mess...  much to my surprise Jeremy Lin is on the Hornets now and he's got all kinds of crazy shit going on with his hair.

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Game 5: Spurs 99 - Wizards 102

Spurs played their 3rd east coast game in 4 nights tonight against the Wizards... A game I thought the Spurs would drop on account of the Wizards having a younger/faster back court.  The Wizards jumped out to a 19 - 2 lead in the first quarter...  so I turned my attention to a Papa Johns Pizza I picked up before the game.  Papa Johns got local San Antonio artist Cruz Ortiz to design a box that gets used on Wednesday nights.  I'm not a fan of their pizza, but I really dig that they're supporting our local arts.

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STARTING LINE UP

1. PG - Parker - 17 points
2. SG - Green - 12 points (thanks to 3 threes)
3. SF - Kawhi - 23 points and 9 rebounds
4. PF - LaMarcus - 10 points and 14 rebounds
5. C - Duncan - 8 points and 12 rebounds

Game 5 Observations

I just looked at the box score and two things stick out from tonights loss to the Wizards.  1) The Spurs turned the ball over 20 times VS the Wizards only turning the ball over 10 times. 2.) Kawhi made his presence felt in the second quarter dropping 18 points with a few minutes still left in the half.  Kawhi didn't get any decent looks before the end of the first half and he only picked up 5 more points in the second half.  For the first time in 5 games, the bench felt incredibly short... there were a number of times in the game where it felt like 2 or 3 of the substitutions were simply on the court to have 5 bodies on the floor.  The offense seems to only flow through a handful of players so it gets a little predictable at times.  I'm not sure how the Spurs are going to overcome teams with really good back courts this season.

Do You Wanna Get High?

Weezer dropped a new single (Do You Wanna Get High?) onto the internets yesterday and it has a "Pinkerton" sound to it...  which is to say that it's surprisingly good.  

This is the second unexpected single to hit the internets by Weezer.  There's no sign of these songs belonging to a proper record of any kind... which kinda sucks because I could go for a full length of stuff that sounds like this song.   Weezer has a long history of dropping stuff randomly tho'.

Unofficial Spurs Merchandise

One of the perks of living in San Antonio, is getting to run across lots of unofficial Spurs merchandise.  I plan to document and share stuff I see/purchase in 2015...   my first entry: The Spurpones Shirt.

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Franklin Gothic

I got one of these for Rhiannon because of the obvious nod to the Ramones.  My biggest complaint is that they didn't use Franklin Gothic for "the Spurs" and space the letters correctly.

In my opinion its the best knock-off-shirt I've seen in the Alamo City.

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Game 4: Spurs 94 - Knicks 84

Spurs had their first back 2 back game of the season in Madison Square Garden tonight.  This was not only a pain in the ass for them... it was also a pain in the ass for anyone who got home just before tip off and then had to figure out dinner during the first quarter of the game.

I will always remember this game because I had a small grease fire on my balcony that required me to use the fire extinguisher on my electric grill.

STARTING LINE UP

Popovich startled no one again with this starting five...

1. PG - Parker - 16 efficient points.  Hit a clutch 3 pointer in the second half.
2. SG - Green - quietly scored 4 points and missed 2-wide-open three point attempts... 
3. SF - Kawhi - 18 points and 14 rebounds
4. PF - LaMarcus - 19 points
5. C - Duncan - 16 points/10 boards/6 assists - he could have had a triple double if teammates hit their shots

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GAME 4 OBSERVATIONS

I was pretty distracted tonight... so I really couldn't assess how the team did on a back to back game.  I was surprised to see the number of minutes by some of the starters.  The Knicks had won 4 of the last 6 meetings so I believe Pop wanted to get an easy win in November so that he could afford a loss in early March.  The team shot close to 50 percent tonight... they couldn't hit shit from beyond the arch for a good part of the game.  I recall them going something like 2 for 11 before hitting 2 big threes in the second half.  Kawhi continues to assert himself on the offensive end of the court.  LaMarcus also had a good game, only missing one shot in the paint.   He seems to get a lot of open looks above the key - but he can't seem to hit a shot from 13 to 15 feet out.  If he can find that stroke at some point of the season, he's gonna drop 30 points on someone.

Not sure if this was a quality win tho'...  the Knicks are a hot mess.  Carmelo scored 19 points on 17 shots.  This my friends is Kobe'esque.  The team consisted of players and names I had never heard of with the exception of 7'3" Kristaps Porzingis.   He got a monster dunk on LaMarcus in the 2nd quarter and if time permitted, I could totally see myself wanting to watch him play if the Knicks were on TV.  Porzingis left the game in the 4th when he appeared to get kicked in the back of the head.

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Real Talk: Robin Lopez looks like the guy who ballz with insane Body Odor 

541 Wins

Much to my surprise... the Spurs Trio of - Parker, Duncan and Ginobili - surpassed Parish, Bird & McHale with 541 Regular Season Wins.

It's a testament to how good the Spurs have been... their individual productivity and the organization avoiding temptation to trade Manu or Parker while they amassed all these wins.

Sandwich Hunter?

This is apparently not a surprise for true Spurs fans, but I just discovered that Matt Bonner has a blog where he ranks Sandwiches while traveling around the U.S. / Globe.   

Fox Sports Southwest had a little video clip of him chowing down on some sandwich in the New England area... which prompted me to ask Rhiannon what the fuck was all that about.   She naturally turned to me in true Spurs fashion with an unimpressed look on her face and said "Yeah.  He does that.  I knew about it."

Bullshit.  No one knows about this.

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Matt - haven't sniffed the court through 3 games - Bonner

Game 3: Spurs 95 - Celtics 87

STARTING LINE UP

1. PG - Parker - 6 points
2. SG - Green - 4 points 
3. SF - Kawhi - 19 points
4. PF - LaMarcus - Season High 24 points/14 Rebounds/6 assists
5. C - Duncan - 7 points

Game 3 Observations

This game was tough to watch for a variety of reasons...  tip off was at 2:30 central, smack dab in the middle of NFL Sunday Action.  If I didn't commit to watching every game this season, I would have avoided tuning in all together.

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LaMarcus killed it from the left side of the court.  He should get some good looks against the Knicks tomorrow

I was looking forward to seeing the Celtics today but they decided to shoot 35 of 98 (.357) from the field...  They completely stunk up the joint and allowed the Spurs to get away with a Win despite going 36 of 83 (.434) from the field.

The only highlight was seeing LaMarcus get a season high 24 points and 14 rebounds.  It was nice to see him become a focal point of the offensive end.  Manu and Diaw came up big off the bench, contributing a combined 23 points off the bench...

Spurs will have a back 2 back game tomorrow against Knicks tomorrow...  while no one had more than 35 minutes - you can't help but think how much Duncan/Parker will play in MSG.

A win is a win I guess...  the Spurs have now won 8 straight games against the Celtics.  A team that's pretty young and flushed with draft picks in 2016.  They also have a great Coach whose doing wonders with a roster full of B players.