The Spurs said they were going to treat Game 6 at home as if it were a Game 7, and that’s the right mentality. You want to close the series out at home if you can, because winning a Game 7 on the road is no easy task.
San Antonio jumped out to a big lead early in the game, and were up 35-16 in the middle of the second quarter when Mavs rookie Roddy Beaubois entered the game. Over the course of the next 16 minutes, Beaubois would score 16 points and lead the Mavs on a 45-28 run that would bring Dallas to within two points with 2:43 to play in the third quarter. The Spurs simply didn’t have an answer for him on the defensive end.
With the Mavs trailing by seven, Beaubois started the fourth quarter on the bench, and didn’t re-enter the game until there was 2:44 remaining in the game. Rick Carlisle wanted to get Jason Terry going, and while he did hit a six-foot runner to cut the lead to two with six minutes to play, that was the only shot he made all night. Mavs fans are left wondering what would have happened had Carlisle brought Beaubois back earlier in the quarter.
From the Spurs perspective, check out this series of scores in the fourth quarter:
6:33 Tony Parker makes 18-foot jumper 5:50 Antonio McDyess makes 13-foot jumper 4:47 George Hill makes 10-foot two point shot 4:07 Antonio McDyess makes 17-foot jumper 3:18 George Hill makes 23-foot three point jumper 1:28 Tony Parker makes 20-foot jumper
Notice anything? For a team that usually leans on Manu Ginobili drives and Tim Duncan post ups, the Spurs scored on jump shots on six possessions in just over five minutes. During that stretch, Tim Duncan didn’t take a single shot, Ginobili missed three shots and Parker missed a 16-footer. Otherwise, they were all made jumpers by McDyess, Hill and Parker. (Ginobili and Duncan did combine for five assists during that stretch.)
After a 29-point performance that essentially won Game 4 for the Spurs, George Hill scored 21 points tonight on 12 shots. Ginobili finished with 26, Tim Duncan had 17 and Tony Parker chipped in with 10. Hill gives the Spurs another offensive weapon to go to in crunch time when the Spurs’ “Big 3” need a break or just aren’t getting it done. As Reggie Miller noted, Hill was a great scorer in high school and college, so he can “score with the best of them.”
I’ll write more about the Mavs tomorrow. As it stands, they just seem like they’ve been snakebitten since losing the 2006 Finals to Dwyane Wade and the Heat. I can’t imagine what is going through Mark Cuban’s mind right now after making several big acquisitions (Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood) over the past few years. He was expecting that this team would make a run to the Finals, but instead, they just lost Game 6 to their arch-rivals and are heading home in the first round. Ouch.
For those that speak Spanish, the original article is on Clarin.com, but the translation below is from the HoopsHype rumor page.
It was hard to face what he suspected, but now assumes: Manu will not be a Spur anymore on July 1, alter three championships in eight seasons. The news comes out of his mouth with unmistakable words: “I am pretty sure I will be a free agent and that in July and August I will have to make a decision where to go” – he acknowledges – “I do not even expect the team to offer me an extension.”
This is rather surprising given Ginobili’s history with the franchise. He is still playing very well (PER of 20.32, down a bit from previous seasons but still good enough to rank 5th amongst SGs), though he spent much of last season sidelined with an injury to his left heel.
Maybe the Spurs haven’t talked extension because they want to see how he comes back from injury and handles a full 82-game season. I find it hard to believe that San Antonio would let a core piece walk in free agency if they were to make it to the Western Conference Finals. The problem with Ginobili is that he’ll turn 33 this summer and already has a reputation for being injury-prone. Still, the Spurs will be over the cap, so it’s not like they can turn around and sign someone younger and better.
If the Spurs make a run, I think Ginobili will be back. If they crash and burn in the postseason, they may let him walk.
The word rivalry is defined as “competition for the same objective or superiority in the same field.” Rivalries exist in all facets of life, but they are no more apparent than in the world of sport. With the end of the decade looming, here are the six most intense rivalries of the last ten years.
6. Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson
Competition between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson may not produce the mystique that Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus once did, but their rivalry has been exciting nonetheless. Without Tiger Woods, professional golf’s popularity would be a mere morsel of what it is today. The man has won 14 majors, holds his own tournament (the AT&T National), designed two beautiful courses, is the only golfer with his own video game, and garners public intrigue on the same level as world leaders. Still, his status as figurehead of professional golf wouldn’t have any merit without some stiff competition. Enter Phil Mickelson, Tiger’s only adversary with any staying power. When Mickelson won the 2000 Buick Invitational, he also officially ended Tiger’s streak of consecutive tournament wins at six. Over the years, Mickelson would hire Butch Harmon, Tiger’s former coach, and joke about Tiger’s use of “inferior equipment.” Still, their rivalry always remained amicable, even as Phil won his first major in ’04 (The Masters), the PGA Championship in ’05 another Green Jacket in ’06. During this year’s Masters, Tiger and Mickelson were finally paired together in a major event. Trudging down the final back nine at Augusta, the two golfers put on a show that thankfully lived up to the hype. –- Christopher Glotfelty
John Schuhmann of NBA.com wrote an interesting article last week that looks at how players perform in “the clutch” (i.e. the last five minutes of a game with a margin of five points or less).
So who is Mr. Clutch? The man in the picture.
Manu Ginobili has the highest true shooting percentage of any player in the last five seasons. He’s not a particularly good shooter (44%) in the clutch, but he gets to the line a ton and makes his free throws at a high rate (86%). Mehmet Okur is second and Steve Nash third.
You also might notice that there’s no Bryant, James, Wade or Carmelo Anthony in the top 10. They’re a little further down the list. James ranks 12th, Anthony ranks 22nd, Wade ranks 28th and Bryant ranks 38th.
Who has the biggest difference in overall TS% and clutch TS%? Or, in other words, who steps up their game the most in the clutch?
Okur is tops in that category, trailed by T.J. Ford and Carlos Boozer. Ginobili is fourth.
Who’s shooting declines the most in the clutch?
Kirk Hinrich is first, followed by Pau Gasol and Hedo Turkoglu.
Where do our big four stand? James and Anthony shoot better in the clutch, while Wade and Bryant do not.
