POST GAME SPURS

NEXT GAME - TUESDAY - 8PM - AT CHICAGO - CSNE/NBA LEAGUE PASS

POST GAME ESPNBOSTON.COM

Rapid reaction: Spurs 103, Celtics 88

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com


Rapid reaction after the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Boston Celtics 103-88 on Saturday night at the AT&T Center:

THE NITTY-GRITTY
Tony Parker scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with eight assists, while Gary Neal added 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting to pace the Spurs. Paul Pierce and Jason Terry had 18 points apiece to lead Boston, which put five players in double figures but let up for a brief instant in the third quarter and the Spurs raced away with the game.

TURNING POINT
Boston seemingly was stuck in catch-up mode the entire night. The Celtics finally pulled even three minutes into the third quarter, only to let off the gas for just long enough for the Spurs to open a double-digit lead. San Antonio embarked on an 11-0 run that started with 3-pointers from Neal and Danny Green. A second triple by Green had the Spurs on top 66-55 with 6:45 to play in the third quarter, and Boston was playing from behind yet again.

FREE THROW DISPARITY
The Celtics were enraged after shooting a mere eight free throws (making six of them). The Spurs were whistled for 12 fouls (half of which came over the final 13½ minutes). Boston endured 20 personal fouls, and San Antonio finished 15-of-20 at the charity stripe.

GINOBILI DEPARTS IN FIRST HALF
Spurs reserve guard Manu Ginobili departed in the second quarter with a left quad contusion and did not return. Ginobili crumpled to the ground after absorbing a hard (but illegal) screen from Chris Wilcox. Ginobili had three points in four minutes, but San Antonio's deep bench spread out its contribution in his absence.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics drop to 12-11 after losing both ends of a Texas back-to-back. While they were far more competitive than during Friday's game in Houston, they simply took their eyes off the road for a bit and San Antonio left them in the dust. The Celtics must brush themselves off and will have consecutive off-days before visiting the Bulls on Tuesday night to close out this three-game road trip. All the optimism that surrounded Boston following back-to-back wins before this trek has given way to head-shaking gloom with the team in danger of falling to .500 if it can't close out the trip with a win against the Bulls.

112288

I didn't watch the game, but checked in on Gary Washburn and Sherrod Blakeley's tweets from time to time.

Both were saying Rondo's defense made him look like a turnstile.

His defense has taken a big hit this year, but one could always count on him getting up for the marquis matchups, like Parker.

I guess that's not enough anymore.

Another 7 turnovers for Rondo.

Just imagine how ugly this might have gotten if Ginobili played more than 4 minutes...

When I look at the minutes distribution, I see Bass with 18, Sully with 11, Wilcox with 13. That's only 42 minutes total from our backup 5 and 4s. Throw in KG's 30 minutes and you still only have 72 minutes from our true bigs. Green played 32 minutes, had 10 points on 5-10, but he's a small PF (or, at least, he plays small for a 4). On the other hand, Rondo played 34, Lee played 30, JET played 31 and Barbosa played 9. That's a total of 104 minutes from our guards. If you figure there are 96 minutes available total for the 1s and 2s, that means our guards got a heavier amount of play. Sounds like a lot of small-ball by Doc.

I don't want to get into a bunch of pop psychology here, but it's almost like Doc was traumatized by the loss to the Heat last year and now is obsessed with small ball. He's done is A LOT this year. The problem is, of course, that we don't have a LBJ, nor are we running much in general.



bob


.

bob

I saw the game, Duncan only shot 2-13 FG and Ginoblli played just 4 minutes, but the stats don't tell the whole story. Tony Parker had way more impact than his stats, always attacking relentlessly wearing out Rondo and our defense. I don't remember a game from Rondo with so little impact and fire....and hes younger than Parker too. Boy do we need Avery Bradley back in the worst way. If KG shot 2-13 and Pierce played 4 minutes, could Rondo carry this team anywhere?

cow

Thank God for the Patriots.

TG THE PATRIOTS!!!!!!!

LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER LONG SUMMER AT THE BALL PARK AND ON CAUSEWAY STREET.

112288

As much of a disaster as these last two games have been, take heart from this. At least we're not all driving in Russia:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/driving-in-russia-compilation_n_2295863.html?utm_hp_ref=comedy

What happened to the NBA and their new crackdown on "flopping"? The Spurs and Parker in particular are top of the list for offenders. Guy just throws himself around the court and gets every call.

Here's an excerpt from a blog, Spurs Nation:


Parker dominated his individual matchup with fellow All-Star Rajon
Rondo, outscoring him by 16 and nearly matching him in assists, eight to
nine. He also had four steals to none for Rondo, who was so quiet for
most of the game it seemed as if he hadn’t suited up. Parker made the
exact opposite impression, sinking a rare 3-pointer and a series of
circus shots down the stretch as he carried the Spurs on his back.



bob


.

Rondo has embarrassed Parker on MANY occasions. Look it up. I'll chalk this up as a bad game for Rajon.

worcester,

Here's the Rondo vs. Parker head to head stats.
Sorry, I couldn't get it to format better.


Player G W L GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Rajon Rondo 11 6 5 10 37.4 5.8 12.8 .454 0.1 0.6 .143 0.9 1.5 .625 1.2 4.7 5.9 11.6 2.4 0.2 2.7 2.5 12.6
Tony Parker 11 5 6 11 35.5 7.8 14.6 .534 0.4 1.3 .286 3.1 4.2 .739 0.5 3.2 3.6 6.2 1.5 0.1 2.6 1.7 19.1

Good work TJ.
Translating your stats I read:
Rondo vs. Parker
Points - R - 12.6/ P- 19.1
Assists - R - 11.6/ P - 6.2
TRB - R - 5.9/ P - 3.7
FT% - R - .625/ P - .739
FG% - R - 37.4/ P - 35.5
Wins - R - 6/ P - 5

worcester wrote:Good work TJ.
Translating your stats I read:
Rondo vs. Parker
Points - R - 12.6/ P- 19.1
Assists - R - 11.6/ P - 6.2
TRB - R - 5.9/ P - 3.7
FT% - R - .625/ P - .739
FG% - R - 37.4/ P - 35.5
Wins - R - 6/ P - 5

The only thing you have wrong is fg%.
Parker is 53.4% and Rondo is 45.4%.
I don't think much of an argument can be made for one or the other in their 11 head to head matchups.
Shooting percentages and points are higher for Parker.
Assists, rebounds and wins go to Rondo.

TJ,

In trying to format stat tables, the thing to remember is that the system only allows for one space between characters. For example, I'm leaving five spaces between x y, yet I bet the system throws out four of those five spaces. What I do is to type a period wherever I'd like a space to occur. For example, x.....y. I know you already have the idea because you left just one space between each of the stats. It's lining up the column headings with the stats where things got a bit off.

A period doesn't take up as much space as an actual character, so you might have to type seven periods to fill up five spaces. But, if you fool around with it a bit, the periods look like liners. Although they're not beautiful, they can help in the formatting.

Sam