River Walk Chronicles ♦ ///

[shadowgrin]

Nice update on the stat leaders and award races.

[kibaxx7]

Mayo, Randolph lead Grizzlies over Spurs in clash of Southwest Division rivals
Preview | Recap | Game Info | Full Play-by-Play | Boxscores (SAS :: MEM)
MEMPHIS, March 1 -- O.J. Mayo's day was record setting, and he was only one part of an unforgettable night for the Memphis Grizzlies. Just two days after scoring 28 points in a loss to the Spurs, Mayo finished with 34 points, two rebounds, seven assists and two steals in another dazzling exhibition from the former USC guard, Zach Randolph added 29 points and 10 boards as the Grizzlies pulled off 8, 9, 10 and 11-point rallies in the contest, before beating the San Antonio Spurs in an epic back-and-forth 124-122 win. Memphis were only nine points shy of matching the franchise's season-best in points (133 in a win over Philadelphia on February 15), but in the end, that all paled besides Mayo's growing list of mouth-opening performances. Mayo posted season-highs in scoring (34), minutes (38) and field goals made (12). “We made them work,” Randolph said. “A total team effort.” Nate Robinson scored 21 points for Memphis, which moved a season-high four games over .500 at 33-29 and shot 52 percent from the field (46-of-87). The Grizzlies also got back within only a half game of Houston for the sixth seed in the West.

Corey Maggette scored 22 points and had six rebounds, but missed a potential game-tying shot to send the game to overtime. The Spurs also got 18 points from Manu Ginobili along with four rebounds, two dimes and two steals. DeJuan Blair finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. “I guess we did a 101 on how to lose a basketball game,” Blair said. “We had less fouls than them, but we fouled when we shouldn't have, in the most important minutes of the game. It wasn't very smart.” The good news for the Spurs is that they posted a record by making every single one of their 37 shots from free throw line; their bench won 47-21 and also won in the paint 46-34 -- yet they couldn't escape FedExForum with a victory. Memphis erased a eight-point deficit with 3 minutes left in the game, then gave up ten unanswered points as San Antonio led by 2 with 1:30 left. Memphis soared back again, and eventually took control with a 6-0 run. “We knew if we were able to score the last points of the game, we'd have a chance to win it,” Robinson said. The first three quarters had nine lead changes. “We should have won it earlier,” said Tim Duncan, who had 13 points and seven rebounds, but shot 3-of-11. Chris Quinn had his best game since joining the Spurs, with five points, two steals and seven assists.

San Antonio was on the cusp of posting a comfortable win, with a 11-point lead in the second quarter, a new 9-point lead in the third period and the aforementioned 8-point lead in the fourth. By the time the game ended, those leads seemed like distant memories. “We played right into their game plan,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I can say I'm frustrated by this. Let's hope the game at Cleveland tomorrow plays a little easier for us.” Mayo scored 11 points in the first quarter, finishing with 22 points at halftime. He was just getting started. The third quarter began with Gary Neal and Quinn making 3-pointers for the Spurs, who were up 67-60. After an old-school 3-point play by Maggette -- a 70-60 lead -- back came the Grizz: Mayo found Randolph for a dunk, scored the next six points for Memphis (his only points of that period) and assisted Rudy Gay, to tie the game at 70 on a fastbreak. Gay scored 15 points. “There's something different with this team that we've talked about a couple of days ago in our win,” added Popovich, “They are tough. They don't give up. Never.” Mayo scored his last six points in the fourth frame as Memphis took an 104-99 lead. Little did anyone know, the game was just beginning: with five minutes left, Mayo was betting all his chips, and ended up hitting jackpot -- he made 6-of-7 shots from 3-point land. He said to Doris Burke, “I'm ready to go take a nap.”

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Video Music :: No ID • “Nastiness” [Muzzaik Remix]

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[kibaxx7]

ill look forward to the tournament final, will it have its correct logos on the floor?

I think they have the old logo. But still, a long way to go!

if those brackets stick...then 2nd round will be another texas showdown for you!

It's gonna be very hard if Mayo, Randolph play like this.

Nice update on the stat leaders and award races.

Thanks man. You think Splitter could make a late run at 6th Man?

Anyone got a new set of sliders I could try? I'm getting a lot of free throws and also scoring 125 points in regulation.

[Houndy]

How many games have you win/lost that are decided by 5 points?

[Martti.]

Where's the D?

[Kubik]

O.J. is beasting!! Tough loss but you are still on the top

[kibaxx7]

[kibaxx7]

How many games have you win/lost that are decided by 5 points?

That's not the question. The question is, "How many games I lost, where I had a double-digit lead?" I can recall six or seven, at least. I would have a 50-10 record. CPU's a bitch.

Where's the D?

I don't know, I'm waiting for it... as Valor said before, the Spurs can't let teams score 110+ against them, in regulation! If this story repeats in the game against the Cavs, gonna have to do a major change on the sliders...

O.J. is beasting!! Tough loss but you are still on the top

Yeah I hate O.J. now. I still have Lakers and Heat with a better record, and I face both of them next week. MUST-WIN GAMES.

[Martti.]

Try playing 11 min when scores are still so high.

[Valor]

No, because his shot attempts for both sides are somewhat realistic, it's just the field goal % is wayyyyyyy too high, so is the 3pt %. While the user 3pt attempt is way too low and there's too many free throws (37/37?)

Turn the field goal % down, 3 pt % down, user 3 pt attempt tendency up, fouls down a bit, contact shot (and1s) wayyy down and I reckon it'll be a lot better

[Grandmama Johnson]

Tough loss against Memphis, but I can't wait to read about the Lakers and Heat games. Big week, let's go Spurs!

[kibaxx7]

Manu, Duncan, Spurs ride huge first quarter to rout league-worst Cavaliers
Preview | Recap | Game Info | Full Play-by-Play | Boxscores (SAS :: CLE)
CLEVELAND, March 2 -- Just when the Cleveland Cavaliers thought they hit rock bottom, along came even more indignity. Manu Ginobili scored 20 points and Tim Duncan added 18 as the San Antonio Spurs handed the sorry Cavs their biggest loss of the season, and at the Quicken Loans Arena: a 115-79 decision that was never a contest. San Antonio shot 70 percent from the field in the first quarter, taking a 20-point edge into the second and leading by as many as 42 in the last period. “I think it's hard to play much better than this,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, with a huge smile on his face. Duncan also posted 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks for the Spurs in a retro all-around performance. “We executed on offense and made our shots,” Duncan said. “I could say we did a decent job on defense in the first quarter, and we kept the pressure on them from that point.” Rookie James Anderson had 17 points on only 18 minutes, 7-of-8 from the field, as the Spurs had 34 assists on 47 field goals.

In the other locker room, you could find the opposite sentiment. Mo Williams scored 20 points and seven assists, but a season-worst nine turnovers. Rookie Manny Harris and J.J. Hickson added 16 and 13 points, respectively, for Cleveland, which has lost 16 of its past 20 overall and 8 of its past 10 at home. It's not that many were around to see it, the arena that hosts the team with the Eastern Conference's worst record, at 17-43, had lots of empty seats. Joey Graham scored 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Hickson also had 11 boards for the Cavs, who committed 17 turnovers that led to 14 fastbreak points for the Spurs (a season-high). After the game, Cavs coach Byron Scott looked lost, looking for an answer. “We're going to have to do an intervention here,” Scott said. During a timeout late in the second quarter, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and general manager Chris Grant were sitting in their center-court seats, laughing. Must have been one heck of a joke, because they couldn't find humor in the on-court product, and San Antonio up by 25. “Quick, efficient, ruthless. They didn't forgive our miscues,” said Anderson Varejao, who scored a season-low 5 points. “That was the real, contending San Antonio in the first 12 minutes. A clinic.”

The Spurs went up 100-70 on a hook-shot by DeJuan Blair with 7:40 left, and the Cavaliers couldn't get any closer than 30 points after that. Blair scored 13 points and six rebounds for the Spurs, who only had a season-best three turnovers, shot a spectacular 70-28 on the paint and their bench defeated Cleveland's, 41-24. The 11-point first-quarter for the Cavs was another season-low. Cleveland got within 54-32 when Williams found Varejao for a layup with 1:45 left in the first half, before the Spurs opened the second half with a 8-0 spurt. All comeback hopes ended in the third when San Antonio posted a new 14-2 run. Ginobili and Corey Maggette combined to shoot 8-for-11 in the third quarter, as San Antonio took an 87-60 lead into the fourth frame. With 6 minutes left in the game, Williams, Hickson and Graham got the rest of the night off, and the Spurs kept pouring it on with their second unit on the floor. “The team is going in a nosedive, you can say I'm frustrated,” Hickson said. “I'm not pleased with my play, and I'm not pleased with the team's play. I know I can play better than this.” Hickson (-42), Varejao (-35) and Williams (-25) combined for a terrible plus-minus of -102, while Duncan (+37), Maggette (+36) and Ginobili (+26) teamed up for a plus-minus of +99.

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Video Music :: Steve Mac • “Paddy's Revenge” [D.O.N.S. Remix]

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[kibaxx7]

Try playing 11 min when scores are still so high.

No, because his shot attempts for both sides are somewhat realistic, it's just the field goal % is wayyyyyyy too high, so is the 3pt %. While the user 3pt attempt is way too low and there's too many free throws (37/37?)

Turn the field goal % down, 3 pt % down, user 3 pt attempt tendency up, fouls down a bit, contact shot (and1s) wayyy down and I reckon it'll be a lot better

Fixed all that... and I could say it's working a lot better now, despite the lopsided game. Huge thanks guys!

Tough loss against Memphis, but I can't wait to read about the Lakers and Heat games. Big week, let's go Spurs!

After the two-point losses to the Thunder and the Grizzlies, this was just the game I needed to get more confidence for the games against the Heat and the Lakers. And TP returns!

Yeah: Heat-Spurs coming. The most anticipated game. STAY TUNED!

[Valor]

Much better, you still shoot a way too high FG% but seeing as it's against the cavs.....what's with the 70 Points in the paint though?

[Murat]

Spurs won the re-match of 2007 NBA Finals, this time no LeBron.

[Kubik]

Easily great win

[kibaxx7]

Spurs face huge test tomorrow against league-best Heat; TP returns
nba.com/spurs/beat | March 3rd, 2011

SAN ANTONIO -- With Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili performing at All-Star levels lately, and a bench filled with new guys exceeding expectations, the San Antonio Spurs proved they are looking to contend again, but coach Gregg Popovich says, “color me cautious”. After defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers last night on a 115-79 blowout, the Spurs (43-18) are joined by the Los Angeles Lakers (45-17) and Miami Heat (46-14) as the teams with the best records in the whole league and they are pushing pedal to the metal: the Dallas Mavericks are 8 games behind the Spurs for the West 3rd seed, and the Heat lead the Orlando Magic by 5 games on the East. San Antonio didn't allow the Cavaliers to shoot over 35 percent from the field and also outscored them 70-28 in the paint. But tonight, however, the Spurs will find out just how good they are when they host the league's best team right now, the Heat, and its All-Star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh at the AT&T Center. “We're just going have to keep building on what we've been doing up to this point,” Ginobili said. “We can't get caught up on the success that we've had so far.”

Since losing to the Chicago Bulls last week, the Heat's average margin of victory has been 27 points in two games -- defeating the Washington Wizards 95-66, holding them to only 15 field goals in the whole game and Gilbert Arenas to a season-low 11 points; and two days later, the trio scored over 22 points each and in total six Heat players scored in double figures, defeating the New York Knicks 114-89. “They have so many weapons. They are going to do their thing, but we have to do some things on defense to counter that,” Popovich said. “We also have to do what we do well from the start, carry out our game plan for the whole contest, and be smart when making adjustments.” Truth be told, with eight new players this year, the Spurs were not expected to emerge as a contender so fast, but their coaching staff has been one of the biggest factors in the team's great record. “They are really putting us in position to be successful,” said rookie Gary Neal, who described team practices as teaching sessions. “The coach has a great mind. He knows the game, and he has a staff that's really intelligent when it comes to plays and defensive sets.” The Spurs are also boosted by the comeback of Tony Parker, who was suspended by the league for three games. George Hill started in Parker's absence.

James is expected to draw some defensive assignments against Ginobili and Corey Maggette, who have taken over games in the second half for San Antonio. In the win over Cleveland, the duo combined to shoot 8-for-11 in the third quarter. The Argentinian is averaging a team-high 16.9 points, while the former Warrior posts 14.5 points per game. “I will definitely try to give it a little more when I go up against them,” said James. “I have guarded them in the past. You can try to contain, but it's hard to shut them down because they can get on a shooting streak really fast. But you have to try to keep a body in front all the time.” Although James' likely focus will be on defense, there's no doubt he will take part on the Heat's offense. Wade is averaging 25.4 points this season along with 4.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and a league-best 2.4 steals per game. James adds 25.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 6.6 assists to the stat sheet. And don't leave Bosh out of the equation -- 22.8 points and 9.4 boards, as the only three players in Miami averaging double-figures in scoring.

Another of the keys to the Spurs' success this season has been reserves play. There has not been any dropoff in the court when backups like Neal, Hill, Tiago Splitter, Larry Hughes and latest acquisition Drew Gooden have entered off the bench. “I've told them that I have the ultimate confidence in them,” Duncan added. “The one thing we don't want to do is fall in love with offense in the paint, you see 70 points against the Cavs and that's a huge number. But at the same time we have guys capable of making jump shots or getting to the free-throw line.” Popovich said on press conference today that Parker's return will be the jumpstart they need to reenergize the squad, and also tried to downplay the team's successful present, saying it is still early to talk about their record and their only focus is toward improvement. The Spurs only had fewer turnovers than their opponent in 7 of the 61 games played so far. “Ít's great to have Tony back. I spoke with the entire squad about having a desperate attitude, no matter what our record is,” said Popovich. “And that can lead to some head-scratching miscues. If you rest on that, you're going to get in trouble. We're not going to allow that to keep us from improving. If you ask me, it's still early to get excited. We need to work on our ball control.”

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[kibaxx7]

Much better, you still shoot a way too high FG% but seeing as it's against the cavs.....what's with the 70 Points in the paint though?

Yep, expect the FG% to go down against the Heat. Points in the paint, I tend to score a lot with Duncan, Blair, Splitter, also penetrate with Hill, Ginobili and also try to get dunks for Maggette.

Spurs won the re-match of 2007 NBA Finals, this time no LeBron.

Yeah, they were just terrible. Hickson: -42!

Easily great win

The game I needed to be a little more relaxed. Huge games against the Heat and Lakers coming.

Tonight -- Heat @ Spurs!

[kibaxx7]

Coach Popovich “rapturously delighted” after win over Wade, LeBron, Heat
Preview | Recap | Game Info | Full Play-by-Play | Boxscores (MIA :: SAS)
SAN ANTONIO, March 4 -- The wait is over. The San Antonio Spurs can put the anguish of losing games where they had double-digits leads erased behind them. Manu Ginobili had five 3-pointers for 24 points and three assists and Larry Hughes scored a season-high 21 points and five rebounds as the Spurs used three perfect minutes in the fourth quarter to beat the league-best Miami Heat, 100-94, triggering a winning streak and snapping Miami's own streak of 6 games. “We've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and we won,” said Hughes. “I don't like them at all. A lot of people called us softies for losing all those games where we had big leads. It doesn't matter at all. We know what we can do when we are one-hundred percent.” The Heat entered with a 47-14 record -- the best in the league. They were looking pretty good when Jerry Stackhouse dunked off a feed from Mario Chalmers to put them ahead 91-85 with 2:44 remaining, but San Antonio went on a 15-3 run to finish the night. Neither team led by more than six in the whole game; the Spurs' effectiveness in the charity stripe and their 25 assists on 37 field goals proved to be two huge keys in the victory.

“Give them all the credit,” said Chris Bosh, who had 14 points and seven rebounds but was scoreless in the last period. “We had too many miscues down the stretch.” LeBron James shot 10-of-19 for 30 points along with four assists and a season-high seven steals, and Dwyane Wade was the best sidekick with another 30 points and four assists. Mike Miller scored eight points and four boards, the best reserve for the Heat. Chalmers missed his first six shots, showing frustration at times and making some questionable decisions, but he made 3-of-4 shots in the third quarter and had all 10 of his assists came in the second half, finishing 3-of-10 for 6 points and five of the team's 15 turnovers. “They played great in the fourth,” Wade said. “For a team that has the best record in the league, I didn't think we were very good. I thought that we lost it a little bit at the end.” Miami's 12 bench points and a 60 percent shooting from the free throw line were both season-lows.

“We were pretty physical. We were able to contain them, keep our poise and finish the game in the last couple of minutes,” said Tim Duncan, who stepped up for the occasion with 14 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, to go with five blocks. San Antonio's five blocks. “I'm glad I was able to get over those losses. It shows we can beat anybody. Hopefully, we'll build on it for the future.” The Spurs played excellent defense in the second half, holding Miami to only 18 points in the third quarter, as the Heat shot 6-of-18 from the field and was 1-for-6 on shots from beyond the arc. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he was exploding in joy, considering San Antonio's effort as a team, Hughes' explosion from the bench and Tony Parker's spectacular comeback. The Frenchman scored 16 points, three rebounds, eight assists and a season-high six steals for the Spurs. “You can say Tony couldn't wait to return,” Popovich said. “We really needed him and in defense he didn't have any mistakes. I'm really happy for him, and Larry, well, what can I say? Just as Tony, just marvellous.” Corey Maggette, who suffered James' smothering defense for the whole game, had only four points and two rebounds. “I'm not happy with how I played,” Maggette said. “I gotta thank Larry and Manu. Both were there when I wasn't.”

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Video Music :: David Weed • “Red Moon”

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[Fresh8]

When will you recap Sit?

[Houndy]

Nice win over the Cheat

[shadowgrin]

I love this pic. Fuck yeah.

[hova-]

Woohoo, beating the cHeat. Good effort!

[Murat]

Miami Cheat is the worst team of NBA but they are winning every match with referees.

[Sideshow Bob]

Badger lol r u serious????