The Killer Crossover 5.22.08: Spurs Seventh Heaven
Posted by Todd Spehr on 05.22.2008
New Orleans was at home. It was a Game 7. It was the Year of Paul. All the ingredients for a Hornets win was there, just one problem though: They had to beat the Spurs. And in the end, the Spurs came out on top, as they seemingly always do. 411's Todd Spehr gets to the bottom of another San Antonio big-game win, citing seven reasons they pulled out Game 7.
They did it again.
Everyone probably felt (or was hoping) that New Orleans would win Game 7 at home over San Antonio, but intuition, hoops-fan instinct, or whatever voice inside your head it was that you were trying to ignore, was probably telling you that the Spurs were going to win. Well, they did. And in the spirit of the Game 7, I've found seven reasons why they earned the right to play the Lakers in the West Finals.
7. Road-works
You could easily make the case that the Spurs have their fingerprints all over the two best road appearances of the '08 playoffs. They played flawlessly in Game 3 at Phoenix – 41 by Tony Parker, holding Phoenix under 100, shooting 56% FG, their three best guys combining for 84, holding Nash to seven, the list goes on and freaking on – and then Game 7 at New Orleans. But here's the thing: There's no real statistical evidence, unlike the Suns game, that suggests they played Game 7 brilliantly: They shot just 39.5% from the field, their top three guys (Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili) combined to shoot 18-53 from the field, they had 14 turnovers – but they answered every run, ran their offense methodically, and used three days off to make every defensive adjustment known in the free world to limit the Hornets to 82 points at home.
6. Glass-eating
Fabricio Oberto isn't good at much, truth be told, but one thing he irritatingly does with regularity is crash the offensive glass (so much so he'd make Moses Malone crack a smile) and he is the undisputed master of the back-tip; tipping the ball back over his head to a teammate, getting a second shot for his team. And no doubt Elias Sports Bureau can back me up in some way here, but the Spurs score more often than not – or better yet, get a good shot - when he does this. He did it twice in Game 7. Then there was the comical sequence where Kurt Thomas had three offensive boards on one possession, and on the third, clearly tired of making a mockery of the situation, decided to score. He crammed five offensive boards into seven minutes of work. Even Ime Udoka got in on the act. The Spurs won the boards 51-42, but their 13 offensive boards were crucial, each seemingly coming at an opportune time. And if you think about it, you'd rather out-rebound someone in a one-game series, right? You'd take it, right?
5. Defensive adjustments
When I realized that there was three days in between games six and seven, you just knew Gregg Popovich and his cronies would be sitting in an office somewhere, game tapes piled up to his naval, strategies coming thick and fast, and they'd be conjuring up some plan to not only slow the Hornets, but slow them enough that their own poor offense wouldn't be the reason for their demise. And they did. David West got hot early, so the Spurs decided to take Oberto off him, throw a little Duncan at him, give him a little Cheap Shot Rob, double on occasion, you know, your everyday screw-with-his-head-by-giving-him-eight-different-looks strategy. West made two free throws – to give him 16 points - in the opening minute of the third, and would score just four points the rest of the way.
(Note: What about Chris Paul, you say? You know, not sure what to make of his night, honestly. I mean, he was aggressive (18 shots), he was getting in the paint, he was passing (14 assists), heck, he was even boarding (eight rebounds). But you almost got the feeling that, because he could get anywhere he wanted, that if he were ever to come up short, it would be because of himself and not any outside factor. There were times when he played like it was his first Game 7, other times not so much. The aftermath was that Jannero Pargo was shooting too much, and not letting Paul (or Peja, or Mo Pete for that matter) see enough of the rock. But here's the thing: Pargo was really the only guy after halftime that mustered up enough of anything to get his team back in it. Stojakovic and Peterson had three quarters to make their mark, and they didn't, and Paul had his own opportunities as well. You can't fault Pargo, he was making shots, giving them energy, and it just wasn't enough.)
4. Make you pay for every mistake
Sean Elliott, in his brief time as an ESPN analyst in 2004, said often that Magic Johnson, like no other player, made him pay for his mistakes every darn time, without fail. The Spurs are like the team version of that. Countless times in their battles with Phoenix over the past three years has a Suns mistake been compounded by either a Ginobili bomb, a Bowen shot from his ever-so-favorite corner pocket, a Parker drive, or just about any way short of ripping your heart out. They're unbelievable at it; it's as if they know just the right time. Can you even practice this? Anyway, in the second quarter, after a New Orleans turnover – this at a point when they made their run to cut an 11-point Spur lead to naught – Peja Stojakovic was forced to pick up Tony Parker, which obviously was an atrocious form of transition defense. Of course, Paul tried to help; Parker whipped it to Ginobili, who was like 3-106 at that point, he had all day to shoot, which he did; his three was good, and the Spurs went on to finish the quarter on a 15-3 run. Big play.
3. Answer every run
Leading 36-25 midway through the second, the Spurs were grinding it out. But when New Orleans went on an 11-0 run to take the lead, you got the feeling that San Antonio may have given their best shot, the dreaded third quarter was coming up, they're on the road, everything's teetering on the brink, they could fold. But they actually responded with a 15-3 run to end the quarter, taking a 51-40 lead into the half. Then with a seemingly-safe 17-point lead in the fourth, the Hornets made one last run. After Pargo missed a potentially-tying three, Parker hit a 19-footer with 50 ticks left that made it 85-80 and essentially sealed it. If they don't respond in either of those instances, you could surmise that I wouldn't be sitting here praising the Spurs (as nauseating as that feels) about their gutsy win.
2. Third world
The big story after games one, two, and five was the monumental collapses of San Antonio in each third quarter. I mean, it was getting to the point where they might've actually been better off staying in the locker room until the fourth; and besides, we'd never seen a team do this to San Antonio multiple times - sure you might catch them off guard once, maybe twice, but three times? Like that? No way. So in Game 7, as if to show contempt at all those expecting another third-quarter meltdown, they clamped down on defense like, well, the Spurs do. And when you consider that they only made four of their first 15 shots of the quarter, and also had Duncan saddled with foul trouble, the fact they held New Orleans to 14 points over 12 minutes is the kind of thing you'd hang a banner for. And when you weigh in the Hornets' late run in the fourth, San Antonio's third quarter adjustment probably won them the game.
1. The Spurs are a better team
I know, I know, it would've been much cuter had the Hornets advanced and played the Lakers – Paul vs. Bryant they would be saying – but in reality, any team that wins a Game 7 on the road probably deserves to advance. Case in point: In 2000 when the Knicks beat the Heat in a classic Game 7 in Miami, I remember being angered that the better team had actually lost. But then I realized that not only had the Knicks earned the right to move on by winning in tough confines, but also that they had won elimination games in Miami in both '98 and '99 as well. You think they were better? Heck yeah they were. They didn't have better players, but they were a better team. Same situation here. Sure, San Antonio really has only three better-than-decent players, they're aged, they're boring to watch, but also understand, they went into someone else's place, in the biggest game of the year, after copping three blowouts during the series, and won. You think San Antonio would've let New Orleans win in their place? Nope. And yes, Dallas won a Game 7 in San Antonio two years ago, but the thing was, they were up 3-1 at one point, and had thoroughly outplayed the Spurs all series. They deserved to win. Sad as is it, and as exciting as a NO-LAL series would've been, the Spurs proved they were better. The Hornets will have their time, just not now, and just not against this team.
You can read Todd Spehr's NBA column every Wednesday at 411mania.com. To read more of his stuff, check out his recently launched blog "Runnin' The Point," which has daily updates for the NBA playoffs, analyzing every PG who takes the floor.
