Pounding The Rock

And a Warrior fan shall lead them.

drinks on me!

Uh I never like that Calvin thing

it is shiny thouh

and they did virtually whiz on the Mavs

couldnt agreez more

Yeah, as an actual Calvin and Hobbes fan, I find it pretty distasteful. Bill Waterson would never have depicted Calvin urinating on something, or kneeling before a cross, etc., etc.

quincyscott - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

WIN! See you guys!

TDzilla! - January 5, 2012 reply

That was easy

in and out

TWSS

play_splitter - January 5, 2012 reply

TWYS

We just need one of those Staples buttons.

winner winner chicken dinner

unusually lop sided? head scratcher?

It was LD and I arriving fashionably late

Totally. We turned the tide and pushed the team to the finish line.

I hope you have a small hand

I need bigger monitor. Much bigger.

Zoom in 500%….

it was the first quarter.

rank - January 5, 2012 reply

damn skippy. 33 effing points

Somehow I ended up with the most posts even though I missed the majority of the first half O.o

You’re addicted.

Matt Bonner: 17
Dirk, Kidd, Marion and Odom: 14

In conclusion, Matt Bonner is Jesus.

Tim C. - January 5, 2012 reply

amen

BONER

Wow.

Jesus traveled a lot

Used to walking on anything he wants.

Queness - January 5, 2012 reply

!!

i will make him a nice big sammich

Church of Bonner?

count me in

Bonshakalaka!

sparking!!! - January 5, 2012 reply

Are we supposed to caption the photo?

Spurlady - January 5, 2012 reply

Pretty please… it’s been so long since i ran out on my fiancee

Ha!

where the fck youve been?

I have adjusted my schedule to maximize Skyrim-playing time and so I sleep during the day. How are you broham? Happy to see RJ doing well?

meh. it always starts out well. twss

Then he leaves you at the altar.

zactly

I just killed a dragon. Awesome.

It’s fucking great isn’t it? I’m saving all those dragon scales to make some effing awesome dragon armor.

btw skyrim is that good?

Yes.

Yes.

no.

Banned.

they want $90 for it in this country…

Same here, Mexico.

Well, it’s not Skyrim’s fault NOW IS IT? How come you guys get crazy expensive prices like the British while being 1/4th of the great country they are?

certain publishers force some game prices to be stupid high in this country. normally the biggest games – modern warfare 3 is $100, batman: arkham city is $100, skyrim is $90…fucking bullshit.

That’s fucking crazy man, I won’t even drop $60 on a new game. I buy either used or on sale. $90 is almost half the price of a new Xbox.

it’s even more crazy considering i’d buy it through steam, which means no physical copy, no physical store costs. a digital copy should cost the same all over the world really. but no, not here in australia, because game stores here are too scared about losing market share.

GOL. I love you

Manuwar - January 6, 2012 reply

it’s free if you download it illegally, though. Which is cheaper.

sorry, i have a full time job and can’t morally justify doing that anymore.

Morals?

i write software for a living. bit hypocritical of me to pirate stuff. plus i just prefer the convenience these days with patches and updates and shit.

Then bite the bullet and pay for it. Or buy an used copy.

a*

i have about 100 games in my steam library to play still, so i’m in no rush – i’ll wait til it drops in price/goes on special.

Must be some Australian word.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_invasions_of_the_R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata

boooooorrrriinnnggg

Manuwar - January 6, 2012 reply

It’d be amusing, to say the least.

1 post? The script is biased against me. I blame Stern.

Hey LD, how’s graduate school treating you so far?

First semester came and went and it was fine. A few more to go. :)

Are you on a 4-5 year program?

I’m in a until-your-adviser-says-so program, it seems.

I see. Good luck!

Thanks, dlf! How are things on your end?

I have a pretty similar situation. I came here to the US last August to work on my PhD. First semester had been rough but I’m glad I survived.

Where are you studying?

Washington State U.
It’s a 5-hr drive from Seattle and Portland. It’s tempting to buy a ticket for the Blazers-Spurs game on the 21st of Feb.

Nice. I hope I can actually watch some Spurs games when i go back, myself.

Ticket’s too expensive though. I’ll try saving for a short visit to San Antonio during the 1st round of the playoffs.

I think I’m gonna do some “blogging” and try to score a press pass. :P

Sorry I haven’t replied to your email yet, but I hope to see you at Saturday’s game.

If you think you can make it, just email Tom. It’d be pretty sweet to have FOUR £ers representing at the same game!

And please feel free to go even if you’re not going to be able to write about it right away (or at all) because of your schedule. Neither Tom nor I really care about that. Seriously. We’d both rather see you than have you NOT go b/c of that.

I didn’t know you were in the states, dlf.

Shoot me an email about next Friday’s game, will you?

Do it. Away games are a blast, even though 95% of the arena hates you.

Tim C. - January 6, 2012 reply

what are you studying? Man, I’m hoping of getting to a grad school in the US for my PhD. I just haven’t had the guts of sending in my applications yet. Currently taking a Master’s degree here in the Philippines just to get some extra credit, make my application look better (I hope)

anirontag - January 6, 2012 reply

Let me know if you DO get to the US, anirontag. That’d be excellent news.

I was hoping of getting there before TD retires… Not sure I can do that now though.

anirontag - January 6, 2012 reply

I’m studying Molecular Biology. Getting a Master’s degree and having a good research background will definitely boost your chances of getting in. If ever you decide to apply to grad schools in the US and have any questions about the process, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email. :)

day_late_friend - January 6, 2012 reply

Nice. I’ll probably send in my applications in a year or two. I’m familiar with the process, just not sure yet if I can do well on the GRE’s. I might have to take a GRE subject test, in physics…

anirontag - January 6, 2012 reply

Hawks have shot 46 FT’s.

Maybe less 3’s next time, good win either way

Chris Bosh is carrying the Heat

Might go to overtime.

Wow Bosh just tied the game

That’s why you foul when up by 3.

Atlanta looks deflated now

why is barkley commentating on the miami/atlanta game?

he hates Shaq

he’s based in Atlanta, I assume they just had him come into the stadium instead of the studio, but then he said he flew down from NY so maybe he’s gonna be doing this some this year

RamblingSpur - January 5, 2012 reply

I’m out guys. GSG!!

sparking!!! - January 5, 2012 reply

Dang RJ with +30 on +/-

i luv this site - January 5, 2012 reply

RJ +/- three point Oh!

RamblingSpur - January 5, 2012 reply

meh. manu had a -93. doesnt mean anything

Manu is usually at the top of those in the overalls. Even though it can be representative, it does show truth at times.

RJ had a +21 last night. He’s picking it up.

Night all

Spurlady - January 5, 2012 reply

Night, Spurlady.

Goodnight fellow Femspur

au revoir!

Night Lady

Later.

our pgs had a combined ZERO turnovers? wow

Spurs had zero turnovers in the first half I believe. At most, 1 turnover, I believe.

They had 2 turnovers, I believe. And Mavs had 11. I heard it on TV, I believe.

I’ll take that too.

May be it was in the 2nd half though.

something something, something, I believe.

I can fly and touch the sky, I believe.

thank you, I thought someone could…

I can jump and touch myself, I believe.

If we need to have this kind of stuff at all, let’s save it for the game thread — ok?

Someone mentioned cake

Okay…

haha
it’s a lie!

Iullaby - January 5, 2012 reply

oh and only 2 threads? meh

no pukey

could be

have any of the game threads broken 2 threads yet? certainly none of the ones i’ve posted in have. we’re off on form.

It takes a while to get into midseason posting form.

i blame your dog

I blame him too.

I thought Josh was intentionally limiting the threads to 2.

really? ok, didn’t realise…

That’s just what I thought, I might be wrong.

Josh Guyer (completely deck) - January 5, 2012 reply

Kind of, sort of. There is no “limit”, but I don’t think we’ve broken 500 in a part II yet

876 currently in the most recent part 2 though?

Josh Guyer (completely deck) - January 5, 2012 reply

I hadn’t noticed. Sorry about that. I’ll keep a more vigilant eye out now!

wasn’t nitpicking, was just curious about any rough guideline you were using…

whens the lakers or heat game?

P TOWN JUNK IS OUT

whog ?

ciao

Later

Wade and LeBron are both out and Atlanta let Bosh tie it? They suck.

Miami has such an easy road to get to the finals

And it’s a BABA for Miami.

Wow Tmac is on the hawks

I’m perplexed as to why he suddenly doesn’t suck again.

Tim C. - January 5, 2012 reply

He actually did okay on the Pistons last year

And he’s doing well.

all of our starters scored in double digits. except blair.
who else had 10+? Bonner.
maybe he should start…………….

Small sample size FTW!

TWSS.

To you maybe.

Neither should start, but you use the tools you are given.

TWSS

Atlanta sucks

Props to Chris Bosh and company. That’s impressive, even if they don’t win.

Tim C. - January 5, 2012 reply

it says a lot about atlanta too

Is is that they shot so poorly or our D was very good?

Galfusica - January 5, 2012 reply

They looked tired.

and old

now you show

Fashionably late.

LD and I were fashionably late. We brought the win.

what did you bring?

I have some eggnog and some cheesecake.

Is there Baileys in the nog?

Mmm, Bailey’s. Rich and creamy…

DrumsInTheDeep - January 5, 2012 reply

Agreed. (hey drums)

Welcome back to the land of the living.

DrumsInTheDeep - January 5, 2012 reply

Thanks. Longest. Offseason. Evar.

6 games in 8 nights for them. And people worry about the fast schedule. Everyone is f-ed at some point.

Our D wasn’t bad but hey shot poorly.

*they

“the spurs are putting a hurting on the Mavs”

watching the box score from my little beach-side cavern here in Cebu. Ahhhh. A sunny day all around.

and oh, hola PtR! long-time fan, first time poster here

Welcome to it!

hey welcome! im going back to cebu on the 20th. you for there?

from

thanks, mi paisanos! from Mindanao originally, but been here for like the past 8 years, school and stuff.

Kinda awesome knowing there’s like a barrio-full of “Pinoys” around here. Spurholics are hard to come by in Filipinas.

The 20th? Some belated Sinulog-in? :-)

attending a wedding. chinese new year about that time. you think hotels are full?

around that time, still probably are.

you from Cebu, too?

no. manila. asa mo sa mindanao?

haha, nice one. Agusan del Sur, el Congo de Filipinas hehe

ahh taga-iligan mi. ayo-ayo.

ayo-ayo pud, theonlyromeo. Larga Spurs larrrrrrga!

Galing! taga bxu ko bai!

rank - January 5, 2012 reply

por bida! nagkatag diay ta mga Bisaya diri! haha

mao gyud!

rank - January 6, 2012 reply

I need to learn this stuff.

LasEspuelas - January 6, 2012 reply

They were taking about all of us, I’m sure.

I need to learn English.

We’re talking about YOU all the time.

welcome!

bienvenue

Bienvenido

gracias, gracias

Welcome to PTR! Apir!

haha apir gyud!

Welcome pare!

Ayatollah - January 5, 2012 reply

Laters, kids.

Queness - January 5, 2012 reply

Later Q.

bye q

This Heat/Hawks game will never end

3rd OT. Barkley wants to get the hell out of there.

He wants to gamble

Everyone wants to get the hell outta there

Everyone is fouling out, so I think you are right.

We going to triple overtimeeeeeee

I sat 9th row on the mavs side. I gave Odom, Terry, and Cuban so much lip. I even got D west pissed when i asked him how Lebrons mom was.

Spurs Yoda - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

Hmm. Not cool. The last part, I mean.

Maybe I’m wrong. It’s not like he hasn’t heard it all before.

Ipthe usher let me get close because i kept it clean but got in there heads.

I had so many kardashian jokes that had the crowed rolling. I got right up to Terry and yelled, HAVE A NICE DRIVE BACK TO DALLAS!

Cuban i yelled, YOU STILL THINK THIS TEAM IS BETTER THAN LAST YEARS!

Spurs Yoda - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

salute you, I do.

RG8907 - January 5, 2012 reply

This is hypnotic but also creepy.

would’ve found a better one, but i’m too tired after being at the game tonight. lol. sorry about that.

RG8907 - January 5, 2012 reply

You are jedi master among scaredy cats. Thank you for you jedi mind tricks. I’m more than convinced that they work. Thank you. No seriously, thank you, I would’ve been more inflammatory, but yours was good too.

LOL

West is a psycho, you know. He may shoot you.

Heat’s going to win this. Crazy game. Good luck to the Hawks on the next 2 nights.

Lakers and Blazers fans must be pissed, they missed the entire first half

I would be pissed to if i had to watch the hawks

I’m watching the Bucks-Kings game, because apparently I enjoy awful offense.

I’m interested in Smart’s first game

The Kings’ players seem to be enjoying themselves more. They still suck, though.

Jimmer is better than I thought.

LOL

Best win of the season. Reminds me of the Heat trashing last year. Bonner looked great in that game too. Good times.

I was behind the heat bench then and the mavs tonight. I got in there heads so bad. Peter holt should get me season tickets there.

Spurs Yoda - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

what other games did you attend?

The Bucks are choking. The Kings have no business being this close this late in the game.

Evans at the line to get the lead with 18 seconds to go

They are playing hard

What an awful possesion to end the game for the Bucks.

Both teams played hard.

Portland looks just fine against the Fakers

Just finished reading the game threads. Time to watch the game now on league pass.
I have one thing to say: I love Leonardo Kawhibunga and we should use it from now on

Chilai - January 5, 2012 reply

Is it still free? I had several people say i was on tv tonight

Spurs Yoda - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

Its free for a couple more games

Chilai - January 5, 2012 reply

whoa! little green mage at the stands? :-)

Kings win!

and the bucks choke it away…

To be fair, their first half offense was unsustainable

why the hells skiles doesnt hire an offensive assistant coach to take care of that? His teams always are the ugliest offensive wise in the league, they take a bunch of ugly long shots.
Or maybe Skiles would make an excellent defensive assistant coach.

Chilai - January 5, 2012 reply

He would. Although, I think it is easier to find an assistant coach who can devote his time to offense.

Aldridge is so talented. If I could pick a big to pair with Duncan it would be him.

D.Howard won’t be bad as well.

Yeah…. about him…

Since this is all hypothetical I’ll point out that Aldridge could provide spacing as well as post scoring while Howard need shooters around him. I’d take Howard in a second if this was a real life scenario. But in my mind, I’m just trying to find the best fit alongside Timmy.

I think, Timmy wouldn’t mind to play with an athletic, shot-blocking 7-footer. Aldridge to me looks more like younger Timmy himself.

Aldridge to me looks more like younger Timmy himself.

Maybe that’s why I like Aldrigde :)

Aldridge is a very nice player indeed. Too bad they lost Roy, I liked him a lot too.

Yep. Bad luck all around for that franchise. But they seem to be doing OK anyway.

I believe they’re doing great at the moment. If all the their chips fell into place though, they would’ve won 5 championships in around 6 years already. They have really had so much bad luck, yet somehow they are still so good. I put them over OKC for now. They’re deeper and have better defense.

silverandblack_davis - January 6, 2012 reply

Offensively he may look a bit like duncan (just a bit).
But defensively there’s no comparison. Duncan was the best defensive player in the league for several years

Chilai - January 6, 2012 reply

Amen, brother Chilai.

True. Duncan was better player. He also always insisted of being PF, though he played a lot of center position. With Howard, he’d play power forward. With Aldridge, I am not sure who is playing what.

It doesn’t matter what position. Duncan will play like a 5 even with Aldrige.

On defense, maybe? Timmy was never that athletic. Timmy’s got so much better fundamental footwork than Howard, on both sides of the floor, especially offensively.

So, what’s the story about Delonte and LeBron’s mom?

Portland has a great team

bigtee34 - January 5, 2012 reply

yup, Felton and Crawford are great pick ups for them

also added big man depth with Craig smith and Kurt thomas

bigtee34 - January 5, 2012 reply

They just need Oden to get healthy for once and patty mills back

bigtee34 - January 5, 2012 reply

If Kawhi develops into anything close to Gerald Wallace I’ll be ecstatic

Gerald Wallace is one of my favorite non-Spur. It’ll be nice to see if Kawhi can develop into the kind of player Wallace is.

Just not the concussions, please

I think it’s possible. I mean Chip is a top notch shooting coach. He’s turned RJ into a shooter. You have to want it, but Leonard seems like he does.

I think the Spurs will have a nice young nucleus with JA/Kawhi/Joseph/Green/Splitter

Honestly I’m not sure if JA qwill stick. I keep hearing he is good, but haven’t seen a single convincing play other than a random three. I hope I’m wrong.

Heman - January 6, 2012 reply

Honestly, the only thing that’s not working right now is his shot, consistently at least. A big part of his game is his shot. he looks a lot more fluid compared to last year. His defense is decent. Not above average, but that’s where Green stands out. But then Anderson was never a super defender, coming out of college, either.

Green is good, but I doubt he’s going to become a big time scorer. What he is, is what he is. I really like Green, but his game now is what it was at UNC. So it’s not like he’s used to anything different.

I think Crash has always had that Crash mentality, which suck for us Spurs fans. Don’t think Leonard has shown that similar aggressiveness

He’s looked to be more aggressive recently though. And his shot continues to look better. I think Leonard’s potential looks pretty good.

I’ll be conservatively optimistic.

Well, very rarely is anyone ever a star. So, expecting every Spurs draft pick to be a star, is asking a little bit much. However, I still think getting him for Hill is a win.

The move made sense financially, but it’s too early to say whether Kawhi will be as good as Hill or better. So far he is just a rookie prospect.

silverandblack_davis - January 6, 2012 reply

Agree. Kawhi barely played these last two games after a strong start to the season. I think the lack of a training camp is finally having an effect on his play.

The BABAs too. As well as the matchups. We’ll see what it is as these next few games come on.

I think Pops taking it easy on Leonard Skynyrd and &erson – putting them in a position to succeed, and making sure that they’re in a sink-or-swim situation.

Yep, he’s even quoted as saying it’s on himself/Parker/Duncan/RJ more than them two.

Yup, he said that in the pre-game presser that Matthew Tynan were in. But the context of that conversation was more about where the bulk of the production should be expected to come from, and less about WHO would be getting Manu’s minutes.

What I meant above about Pop taking it easy on Leonard Skynyrd and &erson was more about how Green and Neal are getting the PT.

Oh, I’m just making my bold prediction. :)

The trade makes sense for many reasons though.

2-0 when I go to the games so far! Woohoo! I started saying this at the game: “No Chandler, No Ring!”

Marky G - January 5, 2012 reply

Nice! Keep the good work.

It’s funny ‘cause it’s true.

Why would you put Batum on Gasol?! C’mon Nate McMillan.

to get offensive foul may be? but the refs didn’t call it.

Just because it works (it didn’t and it won’t), doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

I always think that whatever works is a good idea.

True, but think about it like this: You put TJ Ford on Gasol and Gasol turns it over = bad idea that worked.
You put Splitter on Gasol and don’t double him and he scores = good idea that didn’t work.
When you know the result it’s easy to say that you would roll the dice on a bad idea. A coach has to make a decision without knowing the outcome and I’d rather have a coach that takes the less dangerous road more often that not, unless he has to.

Nah. Let’s say you put TJ on Gasol, and Gasol turns it over. Then it happens again. TJ got 3 steals and draws 2 charges on Gasol. Gasol finishes with 5 points (2-on-13 shooting), 3 rebounds and fouled out of the game. Do you still think putting TJ on Gasol was a bad idea? I don’t think so, because it worked for whatever reason. Whoever thought of putting TJ on Gasol looks like a genius now.

Another example: do you still think that putting George Hill on Nash was a good idea in the playoffs? I don’t think so, because the result was a disaster. You cannot say what is a good idea and what is a bad one until you know the result.

Let’s say you put TJ on Gasol, and Gasol turns it over. Then it happens again. TJ got 3 steals and draws 2 charges on Gasol. Gasol finishes with 5 points (2-on-13 shooting), 3 rebounds and fouled out of the game.

Come on man. What are the chances of that happening? There’s no reason to believe that is a good idea and I rather don’t have a coach that does something reckless like that, just to see if it works.

You cannot say what is a good idea and what is a bad one until you know the result.

But you can take an educated guess and as a coach your job is to take calculated risks depending on the situation. IMO the situation didn’t seem to call for a 6-8 wing (Batum) on a 6-11 F-C who also happens to be one of the most skilled bigs in the game (Gasol). They had the lead, Gasol was not torching them to the point of having to try something different on him and solid post defenders were available.

Roger Mason Jr. supports your view!

Portland wins!

yeeeehaaaawwww!!!!!!!

Yeah! and World Peace sucks!

Ayatollah - January 6, 2012 reply

hehe .. he?.. mmmm….

I can’t have a more ambivalent response to that…

haha

I always put quotes around “Metta World Peace”

Every night he proves why they belong there.

WaveOcean - January 6, 2012 reply

haha right on!

Wesley Mathews = solid pick up by Portland back then. Utah definitely misses him.

I’m curious what pop will go with for the 2guard position against OKC.

Parker/Neal vs. Westbrook/Sefolosha?
Parker/Anderson?
Parker/Green?

Or do you save Green for “Fear the beard”?

going to be hard to gauge the progress of this team’s D
was 35% FGM by Dallas a function of the sixgameeightnights or really a shutdown job by the Spurs D?

i luv this site - January 6, 2012 reply

Definitely a combo of both. I thought in the 3rd quarter, that was definitely more fatigue, because the team began to play pretty bad. Luckily, Pop didn’t have to ride Duncan and Parker too much.

If the Mavs can’t even get by the Spurs without Manu, they are worse than they were in 2009.

WaveOcean - January 6, 2012 reply

In their defense they were on their 6th game in 8 nights. That’s definitely harsh.

oh my god

WaveOcean - January 6, 2012 reply

Yep, as much as I would like to, I wouldnt write the ponies off just yet.

alamobro - January 6, 2012 reply

Just heard on TNT. Jim Huber died. RIP. And they said he was diagnosed with Leukemia only a few days before. :(

Some interesting tidbits…

Stat of the game: The Spurs hit 16 3-pointers and Dallas had one.

Stat of the game II: Before Jason Terry’s 3-pointer late in the third quarter, the Mavericks missed their first 13 3-pointers.

Stat of the game III: For the first time since 2007-08, the Spurs have won their first five home games of the season.

Weird stat of the game: The Spurs shot 34.0 percent of their shots inside the 3-point arc against Dallas and 48.5 percent of their attempts outside of it.

Weird stat of the game II: According to Basketball-Reference.com, the Spurs became only the 16th team since 1985 to win a game by at least 22 points when shooting less than 40 percent from the field. San Antonio finished at 39.5 percent.

The Spurs shot 34.0 percent of their shots inside the 3-point arc against Dallas and 48.5 percent of their attempts outside of it.

And the other 17.5% of attempts they had a toe on the line????

doggydogworld - January 6, 2012 reply

math fail

Chilai - January 6, 2012 reply

I think that was probably meant to be read as they made 34% of their attempts inside the arc and made 48.5% of their attempts from outside the arc, not that the percentages were the % of number of attempts. I’d mentioned in the preview that the stats cube was showing that with a starting lineup which included Anderson vs. Manu, the combination had made only 1-7 shots from inside the restricted area. I’m not sure how that’s determined, but looking at a starting lineup with Neal in Manu’s spot indicates a 2-5 from the paint.

Alamo - January 6, 2012 reply

I dont like to win shooting 3s but a win is a win

cuentaluis1 - January 6, 2012 reply

would you rather lose shooting 3s? you are hard to please.

No
But it would be nice to see
Blair, Duncan, Tiago and Parker with points in the paint

cuentaluis1 - January 6, 2012 reply

You probably also would prefer to have your cake as well as to eat it.

Only if the cake is getting points in the paint.

Otstanding, rec’d, and JTU’d

Hey, £ers, please help me make this green.

If it’s an open 3, you take it, right?

If you don’t, you’ll find that Pop’s benched you and someone else is in the game playing your minutes and shooting those shots.