Box Score.
Game Flow.
Post recap.
Tims recap.
Live blog.
Pounding the Rock game notes.
Highest plus/minus: Nick Young (0).
Lowest plus/minus: Antonio Daniels (-11).
We just didn't have the horses tonight, which is too bad, because I think we did try pretty hard. I liked how Blatche and Haywood played, particularly Blatche, who looks rejuvenated with more playing time.
But we lost this thing early in the fourth quarter, when a lineup featuring Mason, Songaila, and Pecherov alongside Jamison and Daniels surrendered wide open threes to Robert Horry and Michael Finley, an open jumper for Jacque Vaughn, and two layups for Manu Ginobili, which turned a one-point Wizards lead into a eight-point Spurs one. I mean, look at that lineup for a second. Two tiny guards, two slow forwards, and a black hole of a center. To that, I say, no wonder we struggled, but again, what can Eddie Jordan do with his bench so depleted? It's borderline depressing.
The starters came back in and cut the lead down to four, but their stars made big plays down the stretch. Duncan hit a leaner and drew the foul to push the lead to seven, and Ginobili, who was mostly quiet, hit a difficult fadeaway on the next possession. Oh well.
As expected, we lost because we didn't get assisted buckets offensively. Without Caron and Gilbert, we have no offensive creators. Jamison can create for himself, but that's it, and smart teams are ducking under the screen whenever Daniels tries to do anything. It's unfortunate, but that's how it goes.
This road trip should be fun.