s_knight8

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/8184989p-9116311c.html

"My passes have eyes," said Divac, who hit two clutch perimeter shots
during the game's final five minutes. He had 11 points, nine rebounds
and nine assists.

"I guess we tried to lull them to sleep," Adelman said after his team
missed seven of its first eight shots, and trailed 12-3. "But after
that we really played solid."

"A lot of that was the second group," Adelman said after his team
outscored the Spurs 24-10 for a 27-22 lead after the first quarter.
"They really gave us a great lift. That's huge for a team playing in a
back-to-back situation."

Said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich of the Kings, who made 9 of 14
three-point field-goal attempts: "(They) knocked down a three every
time we got within four or five."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/8184990p-9116310c.html

"I am just amazed," said TNT ****yst Steve Kerr, a former Spur, no
less, "the way the Kings continue to score without a dominant low-post
game. I can't remember that ever happening. They run everything
through those two guys, and they create open shots, and get easy
opportunities. It's just so rare. Most teams dump the ball down low."

As the ball settled into the net, Divac skipped backward, smiling,
then drew circles around his eyes with his hands, as if to say, "See?"

"When I make passes," he said later, "sometimes the ball has eyes.
It's all instinct. Sometimes I get ready ... and I don't know what I
am going to do.

"That pass to Peja, I thought I was going to shoot hook shot. But then
I saw him and threw him the ball. I don't know how to explain it,
except that I always try to throw the ball to the chest, so the
shooter can continue in one motion.

"So he doesn't have to reach down for it, or too high for it. And you
can see, Brad is picking up some of my tricks."

"Vlade amazes me every day," said Jackson, after providing his own
dazzling shooting display and one spectacular reverse layup that
elicited gasps from the sellout crowd. "He's very old, but he pulls
something out of the hat every game. He's been in the league so many
years, he knows how to win games."

Divac may never make another All-Star appearance, but nobody does it
quite like Vlade. Not even Miller, though he's learning. "There are
still a few things I can teach him," said Divac, laughing, "and we
have time."

http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=211&xlc=1121395&xld=211

"What we have to have is consistency," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
said. "You have to play 48 minutes. We can't just play a half and
expect to be the team we want to be."

"I guess it would be the understatement of the year to say they're a
tough team," Duncan said.

"I thought they were guarded," Popovich said. "Our guys did a good
job. They just drilled a three every time we got within four or five.

"It's going to be fun to go through the film. I actually feel pretty
good about what we did defensively in the second half."

"We were very, very poor and lax defensively and it dug a hole for
us," Popovich said.

Duncan did his best to dig the Spurs out of it. He made 17 of 27 shots
to follow his dominating performance against New York on Tuesday.

"I thought he was awesome," Popovich said. "He's playing MVP
basketball again."

"Now," Popovich said, "we have to get everybody to follow and play 48
(minutes)."

greg brown

Weird contradictory statements by Pop.

Regardless, the Spurs are a good defensive team but they have only been a
"great" defensive team against the lesser teams in the league. IMHO, this is
the reason they have only beaten the lesser teams in the league. Against the
better teams in the league their defense has just not been enough. Against
the better teams in the league you need enough offense to sometimes simply
outscore the other team. The Spurs haven't had that offense.

Defense does win championships but not defense alone.

Also, because Duncan is the only player they have who commands a double team
they are that much easier to guard defensively. This gives the better teams
in the league an additional advantage over the Spurs. The better teams don't
have to work as hard defensively against the Spurs and the Spurs have to
work that much harder on defense to make up for their lack of offense.

The question to me is, do the defending champs have a breakout offensive
player somewhere in the organization, or did they stop their off-season
retooling to soon?

When's the trade deadline?

Greg

brink

my money is on them trying to do something to make the team better via a
trade. pop's a great GM (or co-GM or whatever he is) and i don't think
he'll feel content to hope his team miraculously gets better all by itself
if he can find a good option out there. it seems pretty obvious to me that
they're in real jeopardy of just simply being outgunned by the other great
teams in the west. they've already tried to shore things up with ward, but
he's been a bust so far. they really need a backup PG who can give them
something more.

gary collard

Ward's a quality addition, but he does not address their need. They need a
guy who can score in bunches and create his own offense, not just another
pedestrian spot up guy.

--
Gary Collard
SABR-L Moderator
gmcollard@yahoo.com

"We need to tighten this up; you go down to the Mexico-California
border on any given night and put on a pair of night-vision goggles,
it looks like the start of the Boston Marathon."
-- Dennis Miller

marcus kwan

The guys are there. Mercer, Hedo, Manu can all score in bunches. The
key is getting a system that puts them in their comfort zone.

I don't think the problem is personel. I think it is mainly a
stagnant offensive system.