Thierry • wrote:Thanks a lot Ax. Yeah I know, you described yourself as a PG that likes to shoot and not going to the hoop, hence the "non-existency in the low post".
Well, that's true to an extent. I like to drive to the hoop, but there's always that phobia of getting blocked by a big man.
Valor wrote:Love the coverage, but where's my teammate Harrison Barnes? strange that the projected number 1 overall pick isn't on the team Also, you should change it from "New Zealand league" to "Highschool team in NZ" or something 'cause otherwise I wouldn't be eligible for the team
Kirk Penney played in NZ League before playing NCAA ball at Wisconsin. Provided you don't accept payment & keep your amateur eligibility, there is no issues
Oh for real? I thought as soon as you play any kind of pro you can't play NCAA, cheers for the heads up
Davis, Foye help Clippers top Spurs in overtime thriller Preview | Recap | Game Info | Full Play-by-Play | Boxscores (SAS :: LAC)
LOS ANGELES, December 1 -- Baron Davis with the ball in his hands and a chance to win the game is dangerous. Getting two such chances for him is as good as a sure thing. The Clippers leader capped a 26-point, 10-assist night with a fadeaway jumper Wednesday night, lifting his team to a 102-101 overtime triumph over the San Antonio Spurs. Tim Duncan had a chance with 0.8 left, but was blocked by DeAndre Jordan. Davis missed a 15-foot jumper at the regulation buzzer, allowing the Spurs to reach overtime with a 90-90 score, after having a 5-point lead evaporated. Davis laughed when he said making the overtime shot was a given, especially because he missed the first one. “I had a really good look at that first one, and I wanted to go close to that same spot and get the same look. This one got in, thankfully.” San Antonio's Tony Parker hounded Davis the entire play, but coach Gregg Popovich took a gamble not sending a double-team on Davis.
Davis' huge shot spoiled Tiago Splitter's effort for San Antonio; Splitter had the first 20-10 double-double of his career with a season-best 22 points and 10 rebounds, to go with three blocks. Manu Ginobili was 2-of-12 from the field in the first half for 4 points, but worked his way in the second, shooting 8-of-14 for 17 points. After Ginobili's fastbreak dunk gave the Spurs a 88-83 lead, DeJuan Blair missed a pair of free throws with 1:11 left in regulation that would have given San Antonio a 7-point lead. Randy Foye hit a jumper in the lane and rookie Al-Farouq Aminu converted a huge 3-point play that had the Clippers fans screaming. Aminu drove the line but ran into Duncan, and as the whistle blew, he spun and made a short shot. Referees conferred, and signaled a blocking foul. “That was a huge play, a charge or block call,” Popovich said, trying his best to be diplomatic and not explode in anger. “The call goes against us and then you know that you're probably going right down to the wire. But, again, we had two free throws we couldn't convert.” Aminu's view was probably a bit different than Popovich's. “I tried to get Duncan in the lane and draw contact,” he said. “I did, and the shot fell.” Aminu finished the game with 12 points.
Larry Hughes scored a jumper and rookie Willie Warren a layup for the 90-90 score, as Davis missed the game-winner at the buzzer. A back-and-forth contest in OT, the Spurs came up with a huge offensive rebound when Blair dunked Ginobili's miss for a 100-98 lead, and the Clippers took a timeout. With the shot clock running down, Foye made yet another jumper -- he scored a game-best 29 points. With 40.4 seconds left, the ball went to Blair, who was fouled again. He made one of two for a 101-100 score and the Clippers had one last chance for Davis. When his shot swished through without touching the rim, and Duncan got blocked by Jordan in the last play, the Clippers won their second straight contest, and their 3rd in 4 games to improve to 7-12; the Spurs fell to to 12-6 with this setback. Duncan had yet another double-double with 14 points and 12 boards for San Antonio, while Hughes, starting in place of Corey Maggette, was the only other Spur in double figures with 10 points. Blair finished with 5 points, but those free throws missed in regulation still haunt him. That would have meant Davis' miss at the end of regulation would have given the Spurs a victory. Instead, it went to extra time and Davis was the hero.
The X wrote:Kirk Penney played in NZ League before playing NCAA ball at Wisconsin. Provided you don't accept payment & keep your amateur eligibility, there is no issues
Valor wrote:Oh for real? I thought as soon as you play any kind of pro you can't play NCAA, cheers for the heads up
Interesting fact
Axel. wrote:Well, that's true to an extent. I like to drive to the hoop, but there's always that phobia of getting blocked by a big man.
Or injured, at worst!
The X wrote:David Lighty is Ohio State's best player
He's second to dare now
hova- wrote:Really nice. I hope I can help my Orangemen to rock the NCCA tournament. Sweeet update !
I think you can get to the Sweet 16 at least, then is up to you man! I edited the playoffs to 1 game, so we will see some nice & explosive contests!
mandich wrote:This is really something special . . .
Nice to have you back mandich!
john26 wrote:Wow. That NCAA preview is impressive. Very good read man
Thanks John. Maybe I can have you on the NCAA next year?
thatwizardguy wrote:those script fonts are soooooooooooo nice
You can see that two fonts in every header / logo I made in this thread, trying to keep everything nice.
× Club Atlético Independiente. × × Watched: Streets of Fire (1984), At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964), Blade Runner 2049 (2017) ×
The Spurs live on the arc nba.com/spurs/beat | December 2nd, 2010
SAN ANTONIO -- After a poor 2-of-12 first half, Manu Ginobili connected his first shot attempt in the second: a 3 point basket. We should have expected that; the Spurs live on 3-point territory. In the offseason, I worked with coach Gregg Popovich to add offensive-minded players. Corey Maggette, Larry Hughes can score and allow Tony Parker to play off the ball, making him more of a threat in certain plays. Even with the loss of other players like Richard Jefferson or Michael Finley, the Spurs should improve their 3-point percentage this year and be among the league-leaders in 3-pointers the whole season. After yesterday's loss at Los Angeles against the Clippers, the Spurs find theirselves 5th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage. Most notably, rookie James Anderson made his only shot from 3-point land, bringing his season 3-point percentage to 60%, but Pop expects his numbers to settle; he won’t shoot that incredible percentage for the whole season. But having said that, I couldn’t help but recall a story from assistant coach Mike Budenholzer.
This past summer, he would end every workout the same way: Budenholzer would require Anderson to make six consecutive treys. “He’s no longer the player he was in college,” Budenholzer said. “He has revolutionized his game. He has a lot more tricks in his sleeve than in his NCAA days. In my mind, there's no doubt he will be in the top 10 in 3-point percentage when the season ends.” The Spurs aren't anticipating that, but they don't yet know what Budenholzer knows. Budenholzer drove his car to Oklahoma State and practiced in a gym with Anderson. What happened the day before Anderson left for San Antonio? Budenholzer didn’t have James make six 3-pointers to end the workout. Instead, Anderson shot 100... and made 91. I think Mike deserves a raise!
In other words, there is reason to think that while Anderson's percentage is certain to come down, his early shooting is off the charts. Anderson shot 34% last season with Oklahoma State, but this year he is shooting 60% (9-of-15). On the season, he’s more accurate from the wings and corners. Even though Anderson will cool off, I don’t expect this to dramatically drag down the team percentage. When Maggette returns from injury, his penetration will allow teammates to hover around the arc. More interestingly, Parker does not seem as shy about taking open 3s this season: 10-of-31 (.323%) -- his best percentage since 2002-03. But, having watched all 18 games this season, I can tell you they were not forced shots. Tony wanted to take them. Then in my opinion a huge surprise, rookie Gary Neal: 20-of-41 (.488%).
Then there is Manu. As with Parker, Manu forced defenses to collapse. With the likes of Anderson, Parker and Neal stalking the stripe, he’ll have plenty of efficient kick-out options. And as with Anderson, there is strong support for supposing that Ginobili will shoot at or above 35% from deep, despite his struggles right now (a career-low .316%). From his rookie season in 2002-03 until 2007-08, he improved his 3-point percentage in every season, slowing charting up from .345% to .401%, and stands at .374% in his NBA career; his step back 3 has become something of a signature move. He's shooting a career-high .917% from the charity stripe, but that's sugar for another coffee. The Spurs play their next six games at home, against Minnesota tomorrow, then New Orleans, Golden State, Atlanta, Portland and Milwaukee. No one thinks of the Spurs as 3-point chuckers. Beware.
Anderson, Duncan, Spurs get hot in second quarter, roll past Minnesota Preview | Recap | Game Info | Full Play-by-Play | Boxscores (MIN :: SAS)
SAN ANTONIO, December 3 -- Having done enough damage in the first three quarters, DeJuan Blair got to sit out the fourth against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Blair scored 10 points with 11 boards on 5-for-7 shooting from the field, and watched the final period from the bench as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Timberwolves 105-72. “I came in tonight wanting to help my teammates on defense after my mistakes in our last game,” Blair humbly said. “Sometimes when I'm good at defense, it sets me up on offense as well. I was getting a lot of open looks.” San Antonio, playing without injured starter Corey Maggette, never trailed after Tim Duncan's 7 points were key in a 12-2 run to start the game, to build a 26-21 lead to star the second quarter. Another run, this one 19-6, in the second period helped the Spurs lead 52-33 at halftime, as they scored the final 10 points of the first half. “I felt we defended hard from the beginning of the contest. We had really good ball movement,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “When you are making that kind of effort and everyone is playing together and getting open shots, quite often you make the game significantly easier for everyone.”
Duncan had yet another double-double for San Antonio -- his fourth in a row, and 12th in 19 games. “It feels good to make a contribution in a win like this,” said Duncan, who logged 16 points, 17 rebounds and 2 blocks in 34 minutes. The Spurs shot 50 percent from the field, but 4-of-18 from beyond the arc. “With what we've been through the last game, we just wanted to start our homestand with this win and try to build on it. If I remember correctly, we play our next 5 games here with our fans, so we can't lose this games,” added rookie James Anderson, who finished with a career-high 17 points. Martell Webster scored a game-high 23 points -- but 0-of-9 from 3s -- to lead Minnesota, who have lost three of four. Alonzo Gee's 3-pointer at the buzzer of the third half pushed San Antonio's lead to 78-55; the fourth quarter was garbage time, but the lead even got bigger with San Antonio's bench exploding. “I would say this second half was our worst defensive half this year,” Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. “We were a step late on everything. Some of it was poor communication; but some of it was just dumb mistakes.” The victory also helped the Spurs avenge a last second 102-101 loss at Los Angeles against the Clippers on Dec. 1. “They showed us that they will compete for the trophy this season, and they proved to us that that loss was just an accident,” Minnesota forward Kevin Love said; Love scored 22 points and also grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds.
Manu Ginobili hit two jumpers and a And-1 in a 1:33 span to increase San Antonio's lead to 85-58; Ginobili couldn't find his shooting touch and finished with 9 points on 4-of-11 field goals. The Timberwolves went scoreless through a 6-minute stretch between the first two periods. A Wayne Ellington fadeaway jumper finally ended the scoring drought and pulled Minnesota to 31-23 in the first minutes of the second period. “We weren't like a professional team out there,” Ellington said. “We were like a high school team. That effort was terrible.” Minnesota shot 34-of-103 from the field (33 percent), while 1-of-21 from 3-point territory (4 percent); in fact, it was 5-of-39 3-pointers between both teams. “Not very proud of that,” Love added. With 5:47 left in the first quarter, and San Antonio up by 6 points, Wolves rookie Wesley Johnson suffered a strained Achilles injury and didn't return; he was placed on the injury list after the game. The Wolves also have Michael Beasley (broken jaw) and Corey Brewer (broken ankle) inactive since November 7. “We need them, as soon as possible,” Rambis added. He had no other choice than use Lazar Hayward and Anthony Tolliver at small forwards with Johnson in the locker room. Spurs guard George Hill also had a double-double, with 10 points and 10 assists.