McDonald: Struggles From Long Distance Doom Spurs

[duncan228]

Struggles from long distance doom Spurs (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Struggles_from_long_distance_doom_Spurs.html)
Jeff McDonald

NEW ORLEANS — Roger Mason Jr. took one look at the box score following the Spurs' 90-86 loss to the Hornets on Sunday night, crumbled it up and fired it at the locker room floor.

It was a moment worth noting, one of the few times all night a Spurs shooter had hit his intended target.

The Spurs hoisted 29 shots from 3-point range against New Orleans. Twenty-two off them bounced off of the rim.

That long-distance power outage from the NBA's second-best 3-point shooting team made it possible for the depleted Hornets to wrest away a key victory in an ever-fluid Western Conference race.

“We got the shots we wanted from the people we wanted,” Tim Duncan said. “They just didn't go down.”

Matt Bonner, the team's most accurate long-ball artist, was 1 of 5. Ime Udoka was 0 of 5. Michael Finley was 5 of 12 overall and 2 of 6 from 3-point range.

Mason missed all four of his attempts, including two from 3-point range, and turned in the first scoreless outing of his Spurs career. The misses made it difficult for the Spurs to win on a night in which they turned in one of their better defensive efforts.

“Missing can be contagious,” Bonner said. “You start to miss a couple, the basket gets smaller.”

But at the end of a night of not being able to throw the ball in the Mississippi River, the basket shrinking to a pinhole, the Spurs very nearly salvaged a miracle from the 3-point line.

The Spurs were down seven points when Manu Ginobili sunk his fourth 3-pointer with 25.3 seconds left. After New Orleans botched the inbounds play, with the ball going through Rasual Butler's hands, Finley hit another one with 17.8 seconds to go.

Suddenly, the Spurs (48-25) were within 87-86 and had a chance.

Chris Paul, who otherwise had an ordinary 26-point, nine-assist night, weaved up the court, waited for Ginobili to reach for him, then rose for a half-court shot. Officials awarded Paul three foul shots, and he sank all three to ice the game.

The Hornets (45-27) earned the victory despite being down two starters — Tyson Chandler (ankle) and Peja Stojakovic (back) — and with a key reserve, James Posey, serving a one-game suspension.

“We are a wounded animal,” said New Orleans coach Byron Scott, whose team sits seventh in the West. “We have no choice but to come out fighting.”

Tony Parker had 20 points and seven assists to lead the Spurs, while Duncan contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds.

New Orleans shot 37.5 percent from the field, becoming the second Spurs opponent this season to finish below 40 percent and still win the game. Oklahoma City was the other, pulling off that feat March 16.

The Hornets did it in large measure from the foul line, a place where they were as good as the Spurs were bad from the 3-point stripe. Led by David West's 11-of-11 showing, New Orleans made 32 of 33 free throws.

“They played more aggressively than we did,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They wanted the game more than we did. They played sharper than we did for more minutes than we did.”

The Spurs were done in by a constant barrage of misfires from 3-point range. They were below 20 percent for most of the night, and flirted with their season low of 11.8 percent set in a loss to Denver in November.

Afterward, Popovich would not criticize his team for something as capricious as missing shots. However, he did censure his team for not doing enough little things to weather the hail of misses.

“We had an abysmal night from three, and that would have helped a great deal if they had gone down,” Popovich said. “It comes down to execution and playing aggressively. In that regard, they took advantage of us not making threes.”

Still, the Spurs left New Orleans Arena knowing if they had only been as bad as 9 of 29 from 3-point range, they might have won the game.

“We just didn't get enough shots to go down,” Duncan said. “We have to continue to shoot the open ones, and hope for the best.”

[timaios]

Mason missed all four of his attempts, including two from 3-point range, and turned in the first scoreless outing of his Spurs career. The misses made it difficult for the Spurs to win on a night in which they turned in one of their better defensive efforts.

Hornets FT = 32/33. I don't call that "one of their better defensive efforts" !

[crc21209]

The refs were rewarding the Hornets with those free throws......they are not a driving team yet they took 33 attempts! Most were on ticky-tack fouls as well.

[duncan228]

The other side.

New Orleans Hornets get tough with division-leading San Antonio Spurs (http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/2009/03/new_orleans_hornets_get_tough.html)
by John Reid

In desperation, Spurs guard Tony Parker drove through the middle of the lane, but Hornets forward Julian Wright cut him off before forcing the ball to soar out of bounds for a turnover with 2:44 remaining.

It was that kind of effort, that type of stifling defense the Hornets took advantage of to bounce back from a two-game losing streak and defeat the San Antonio Spurs 90-86 on Sunday night in front of 18,204, the 20th sellout of the season at the New Orleans Arena.

With the NBA issuing a one-game suspension to top backup James Posey, which he served Sunday night, Hornets Coach Byron Scott asked his players to give maximum effort. Posey was suspended for throwing the ball out of frustration at referee Gary Zielinski's feet in the fourth quarter of Friday night's loss to the New York Knicks, The Hornets also did not have injured starters Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic available.

But Scott got a game-high 26 points from point guard Chris Paul, and 23 points and 16 rebounds from forward David West. Although it has not happened on a consistent basis this season, help came from the bench. Backup point guard Antonio Daniels looked to shoot and set up teammates before finishing with 10 points. Backup center Sean Marks was assertive in the post and had five rebounds and two blocks.

"I told the guys before the game we are a wounded animal, " Scott said. "Our backs are against the wall, and we have no other choice but to come out fighting. And we did that for 48 minutes."

Throughout the game, the Hornets (45-27) attacked the basket, and they made 32 of 33 free throws. Although San Antonio's Tim Duncan scored 19 points -- Hilton Armstrong and Marks helped limit him to four points in the second half.

The Hornets built an 87-80 lead with 29 seconds remaining before Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley made consecutive 3-pointers to close to 87-86. But Paul sealed the game after hitting three free throws following a desperate long shot attempt when he drew contact from Ginobili.

"That was my second time doing that this year, " Paul said. "You know they are going to foul you. Might as well throw the ball up there and get three shots instead of two."

Parker led the Southwest Division-leading Spurs with 20 points.

The Hornets hold a 2-1 series lead against the Spurs, and they play again in the regular-season finale April 15 in San Antonio.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Hornets led by as much as five points before the deficit was cut to 72-71 after they missed three of four shots and committed a turnover. However, the Hornets returned to playing solid defense, and Paul's steal and layup over Parker gave the Hornets a 76-73 lead with 7:16 remaining.

Scott used a small lineup that included having Paul and Daniels on the floor together. They got a solid second-half performance from Julian Wright that included a one-handed dunk and close-range jumper that helped the Hornets maintain their advantage.

If the playoffs had started Sunday, the second-seeded Spurs would have played the seventh-seeded Hornets in a rematch of last season's second-round series. The Hornets had dropped from fifth to seventh in the Western Conference after losing five of their previous 10 games.

Now they began a crucial three-game road trip Tuesday night at Sacramento before playing the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night and the Golden State Warriors on Friday night. The Hornets play seven of their final 10 games on the road, including contests against Miami, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Despite missing their first three shots at the start of the third quarter, the Hornets took their first lead at 55-53 when Wright drove the lane for a layup over Kurt Thomas before making a free throw. Wright scored again on an 18-foot jumper to help regain the lead at 57-55 after Ginobili's two free throws tied the score. Wright went scoreless in the first half, missing on three shot attempts.

"The first half I think it came down to just not being aggressive, " Wright said. "The second half, I just tried to help the team by getting steals and running the floor. I think that always takes the toll on an imposing team when you run the floor hard."

Unlike Friday night's loss to the Knicks when the Hornets were outscored 35-16 in the third quarter, the Hornets stayed assertive even when they trailed. West made five straight free throws to close the Hornets to 63-62. Marks' reverse layup allowed the Hornets to regain the lead at 64-63.

The Hornets' defense tightened and they held the Spurs without a field goal during the final 4:01 in the third quarter. Marks had two blocks, Paul had a steal and the Spurs missed their final seven shots, allowing the Hornets to take a 68-63 lead into the fourth quarter. On the Spurs' final possession in the third, they committed a shot-clock violation. The Spurs shot 26.3 percent in the third quarter, in which the Hornets to outscored them 25-16.

West played 42 minutes and he never stopped attacking the basket, often getting to the free throw line. He made all 11 of his free throws.

Using his size advantage against West, the Spurs began going to Duncan in the second quarter. After scoring one point in the first, Duncan had 14 in the second quarter. The Spurs took a 47-43 halftime lead with Duncan scoring their final six points, which included four free throws. Duncan finished with 15 rebounds.

Trying to get a push using a shortened rotation, Brown started the second quarter after having not played in four of the previous five games. Brown struggled, though, missing five consecutive shots after making the Hornets' first 3-pointer of the game to pull them within 25-22.

[duncan228]

Undermanned New Orleans Hornets overachieve against San Antonio Spurs (http://blog.nola.com/finney/2009/03/undermanned_new_orleans_hornet.html)
by Peter Finney

We don't know what the Hornets' future holds when you're talking playoffs.

But, let the record show, Sunday night's 90-86 victory over the Spurs has to be the No. 1 victory of the year if you're talking passion.

Consider how the deck was stacked.

The pesky Spurs were at full strength, with Manu Ginobili joining Tim Duncan and Tony Parker on the court at crunch time for the first time in six weeks, a crew that posted a 28-9 record this year.

And the Hornets?

Well, not only was Tyson Chandler missing his sixth straight game, and not only was Peja Stojakovic sitting another one out, they were joined by James (Sixth Man) Posey, whose bounce pass in a loss to the Knicks (hitting an official, not a teammate) cost him $68,000 (in fine money) and turned him into a spectator.

Still, there were the Hornets, coming up with one big play after another, right down to the wire.

You had guys like Antonio Daniels and Julian Wright and Hilton Armstrong and Sean Marks doing what Chris Paul and David West have been doing most evenings, shooting the ball, defending, making things happen.

There, at the end, when the Spurs nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to pull within one with 17 ticks remaining, you had Paul using his wits to draw a three-shot foul that made it a four-point game.

Paul's final three points left him 9-for-9 at the foul line and left the home team a stunning 32-for-33 on a night when West was 11-for-11.

"We got to the line by being aggressive, " said Byron Scott, who watched his team's golden touch on free throws offset 37 percent shooting. "We needed this one big-time, and we got it by being aggressive against one of the best teams in the league."

Paul's game-high 26 points came on an evening when he was involved in a game-within-a-game with Tony Parker, whose 20 points topped the Spurs.

They drove, they dazzled, they shot and they defended each other with the kind of passion that personified a victory that left the Hornets 45-27 and the Spurs 48-25.

It also left the Hornets with a 2-1 edge in this season's matchups that will end in San Antonio in the final regular-season game on April 15.

In December, the first meeting since the Spurs eliminated the Hornets in Game 7 of last season's playoffs, Paul sewed up a spot in the NBA record book by pilfering the ball from the clutches of Tony Parker in the second quarter, the 106th consecutive regular-season game in which he came up with a steal.

Paul was happier about what happened later on, when the Hornets spotted the Spurs a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter, and part of CP's 19 points and 12 assists contributed to a 90-83 victory over a San Antonio team that was outscored 27-13 in the final 12 minutes.

In January, it was a matter of the Spurs overcoming a 38-point evening by CP in a 106-93 win at home, a game in which San Antonio wound up with six players in double figures, three with 20-plus, headed by Parker's 25. For Parker, the first 12 came on layups as the Spurs dominated in the paint against a Hornets team playing without Tyson Chandler for the fifth game in a row.

Now the Hornets were without Chandler for the 22nd time this season and the Spurs were at full strength.

How would that affect the opening 24 minutes?

For a half, you probably couldn't have asked for more in view of recent developments.

West's shooting kept things going in the first quarter that was pretty much even until Ginobili warmed up in the fading minutes, hitting back-to-back 3s and triggering a fast-break layup with a steal that gave his team a 25-19 lead.

The second quarter was more of a surprise, that is, any second quarter won by the Hornets is a surprise, and, in this case, it was 24-22. Thank you, Daniels, who went 3-for-3 including 2-for-2 behind the arc. Paul made his presence known with a 3-pointer from 25-feet followed by a pull-up jumper from 20 feet.

By the end of this one, every Hornet was making his presence known.

[crc21209]

That last article was crap. Sure the Spurs had the big 3 out there, but I wouldnt call them at full strength just yet, they have to learn how to play with each other again and Manu has to get his legs back. They are far from full strength right now...

[mark of a champion]

What the heck happened to the inside game. You can't get to the foul line chucking threes all night. We have a great post player and two of the leagues best finishers at the rim playing for this team. They need to watch to game film of this one about 10 times to see how weak that gameplan was.

[romsho]

Struggles from long distance doom Spurs (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Struggles_from_long_distance_doom_Spurs.html)
Jeff McDonald

Chris Paul, who otherwise had an ordinary 26-point, nine-assist night, weaved up the court, waited for Ginobili to reach for him, then rose for a half-court shot. Officials awarded Paul three foul shots, and he sank all three to ice the game.”

Is that what happened? Really? I could have swore Tony Parker fouled Chris Paul in the backcourt first with about twelve seconds left and the officials failed to call it. Not worth mentioning I guess.

[spurtech09]

the refs were calling lousey calls so the hornets could go to the free throw line cause the hornets players weren't scoring either....even the announcers were saying both teams were struggling on offense.....the only way there were scoring was free throws and on SA turnovers.....cp3 was the only one on the hornets that was truely scoring......spurs players had alot of open shots but were not hitting.....if we had hit those shots the spurs would of easily won that game