Spurs 91, Grizzlies 80 posted by Brad Hurt

It was a new year but a similar result for the Memphis Grizzlies as they hosted the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.  The Grizzlies faded in the second half of a 91-80 loss after putting up a fight for the first 24 minutes.

Tim Duncan controlled the paint and was more of a factor than he had been in earlier meetings.  On the flip side the Grizzlies had one of their patented third-quarter flops that turned the game in the Spurs' favor.  The Spurs led only 44-40 at the half before going on a 23-8 run in the third.  Duncan had plenty of help as Manu Ginobili scored the Spurs' first seven points of the fourth to snuff out a Grizzlies rally.

Hakim Warrick led the Grizzlies in scoring with 21 points off the bench as the team's two stars struggled once again to put the ball in the basket.  It's good to see him contributing consistently now after having his difficulties in the early part of the season.  Unfortunately, the Grizzlies can't afford to have Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo have coinciding off-nights.  If one of them doesn't have his shot, the other has to pick up the slack.  Without the offensive leadership of at least one of those guys, the Grizzlies don't stand much of a chance of winning, especially against a team like San Antonio.

Marc Gasol had a strong game inside for the Grizzlies, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Now that some of their dirty laundry has been leaked by coach Iavaroni, it's probably going to be hard for the Grizzlies to concentrate on playing their best basketball each night.  What he did really put the final nail in this season's coffin, and that is really despicable.  Mentally, they probably didn't have a chance to win this game, and for their own coach to be the reason they can't compete is a crime.  It's a compromise of his job description, and there is no solution other than firing him.  He has made it clear that he doesn't trust the players, and has thrown them under the bus, so they shouldn't trust him either.  I just hope they make a change soon so the team has a chance to finish with the best record possible. 

Spurs 106, Grizzlies 103 2OT posted by Brad Hurt

The Grizzlies suffered a pair of painful losses on Saturday.  They dropped a closely-contested game on the road to the Spurs that included a controversial non-call in the final seconds.  Additionally, they learned that Darko Milicic, who suffered a broken knuckle against Indiana on Friday, will miss 4-6 weeks with the injury.  Milicic recorded a season-high 14 points in that game and had been playing well in the past few weeks.  His absence will create problems for the Grizzlies inside, although they gave the Spurs all they could handle on Saturday.

In that game, Rudy Gay appeared to draw a foul on a putback attempt in the waning seconds of double overtime with the Grizzlies trailing by two.  To the dismay of the Grizzlies and coach Marc Iavaroni, no foul was called and the Spurs (20-10) held on for the win.  Now everybody knows a foul is never going to be called in that situation, as obvious as it might be.  That is just how the game goes.  It's unfortunate, and probably wrong, but that's life in the NBA.  It didn't help that the Grizzlies were underdogs playing on the road against a perennial playoff contender, either.  Officials are human, and they build up the reputations of certain teams and players to the disadvantage of others.  It's wrong, but I would love to hear an official try to deny it.

A foul should be a foul regardless of the numbers on the game clock or scoreboard or the names on the jerseys.  It's as simple as that.  Prior to that final sequence, Saturday's crew had been pretty fair to both teams.  I don't understand why they have to swallow their whistles when it matters the most just so they can get out of town sooner.

Grizzlies 108, Pacers 105 posted by Brad Hurt

There was no holiday hangover on Friday as the Memphis Grizzlies snapped a four-game losing skid with a 108-105 victory over Indiana.  The Grizzlies (10-19) never surrendered the lead over the final five minutes of the game, but they had to survive a frantic final minute in which they turned the ball over three times.  O.J. Mayo then sank the clinching free throws with a second on the clock.

The Grizzlies overcame a 68-point first half by the Pacers (10-19) by winning the third quarter to the tune of 27-19, pulling to within a point of the lead as the fourth quarter began.  They mounted their largest comeback of the season in pulling out the win, rallying from 17 points down in the first half.

Each team lost a player to injury as Indiana's Danny Granger left after colliding with teammate Jarrett Jack early in the fourth quarter and the Grizzlies' Darko Milicic broke a knuckle on his left hand.

Mayo led the Grizzlies with 18 points and eight rebounds.

The Grizzlies hit the road again tonight as they travel to San Antonio, where they have lost their last eight games.  The Spurs have won five straight games heading into the matchup and are 10-2 since losing five of their first seven games.  They are coming off an exhilirating 91-90 win over Phoenix on Thursday in which Roger Mason Jr. hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.  The Grizzlies' last win at San Antonio came on Feb. 26, 2005.

Although they are aging, the Spurs have several dangerous players.  With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili now healthy, they are a legitimate contender in the West.  The Grizzlies will need to be aware of Mason and George Hill in particular.  Each of them has burned the Grizzlies this season.  Tim Duncan has not dominated the Grizzlies this year but is always a threat to make a clutch play.

Cowboy Up? posted by Master Wayne

When are the Suns going to get sick of being beat up by the Spurs, and moreover, beat up by the Spurs at the Spur's leisure? Phoenix had this game, until the Spurs decided to take it back, and with a willing team to hand it over once things got rough. The Spurs bully the Suns. Always have, even back in the late nineties with Chuck. And the Suns, just seem to be ok with that. I'm beginning to wonder if the Suns, in this current lineup, will ever be able to knock out the Spurs. I think the Suns are so used to being bested by San Antone that this is what they expect when they play them. Will the Suns ever get sick and tired of this? The same result, every time. How many more beat downs, busted noses, hip checks, and dagger three balls are we going to take? When will this Suns team actually play with some fire and not allow this Spurs team to push them around like a school yard bully taking lunch money? I don't know. But what troubles me even more is, I dont think the Suns know either! Seems as though the Suns have become creatures of habit, and unfortunately losing to Spurs is a habit as hard to break as quitting smoking for them. This team needs to get angry and play angry with the Spurs. They need intensity, which they are sorely lacking, and this shows up in their record so far. Otherwise we are all going fishing early again this summer. Cowboy up Suns!Continue reading "Cowboy Up?"

The Pilot posted by FullCourtPress

Good evening ladies and gentleman. I am tonights entertainment (sorry couldn't help referencing Dark Knight.) This is my inaugral blog about our lone Canadian team, the Toronto Raptors.

This will be a live blog. Check back for updates.

Tonights matchup. Raptors vs. Spurs in SA.

-Lucky for us folks tonight that the Raptors return to the Score vs TSN2. By the way you will see me uttering my contempt towards Rogers through out the season.

-Okay so tonights starting lineups: Toronto: Jose Calderon, Jason Kapono, Jamario Moon, Chris Bosh and Jermaine  O'Neal

                                                  San Antonio: Tony Parker, Roger Mason Jr. Michael Finley, Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner (Don't laugh at his name!)

- Keys to a Raptors win (this is what I tell the kids that I coach): Play defence. Make your shots. Control the basketball. 3 simple things. We shall see how they do tonight.

-5 game losing streak is awful no? Lets hope that the boys can step it up and pull out a win tonight in one of the toughest places to play.

- Well not a bad start. Let up a 3 on the first play of the game. Raps winning 4-3. For the love of Pete I hope they hold on.

- Typical Raptors start. Their hot right now. Bad thing is, so are the Spurs.

-Its nice to see Kapono playing aggressive tonight. I am sure after last nights loss somebody stepped in and reamed out this team.  Its working so far.

Dallas Mavericks still 1.5 games behind after 6 straight home games posted by Peter

Tonight, the Mavs will play their 7th and last home game in a row against the Denver Nuggets. The Mavs have been playing strong 5-1 so far in this homestand beating the Clippers, Suns, Hawks, Bobcats, and Thunder. Their only loss came against the San Antonis Spurs in a double overtime game. Despite the 5-1 run, they're still 1.5 games behind the Southwest leader, the same amount of games before they started this home stretch. And, they are still 4th in the division. Nothing has changed.

This is testament to how good the Southwest Division is, with 4 out of 5 teams having winning records. And with the Mavs at 13-9, they're only 4th in the division. If the Mavs where in the Pacific Division, they'd be 2nd there.

Northwest leading Denver is 16-7 coming off a 3-game win streak. With the addition of Chauncy Billups, they've been on fire. The Mavs will have their work cut out for them tonight.

New Orleans Hornets on TV posted by Ryan Nelson

As a fan of good basketball on tv i am fed up with great teams such as the New Orleans Hornets and them playing the bottom feeders of the NBA such as Oklahoma City Thunder on Espn. I mean i love to watch CP3 but playin losers like that when they could show a good game like when New Orleans plays a team like San Antonio. This is the least the NBA and Television companies can do is show a compelling game every once and a while not a daily blow out. If you are tired of this comment me.Continue reading "New Orleans Hornets on TV"

Mavericks come from 15 points behind to beat the Los Angeles Clippers posted by Peter

Last night, the Mavs trailed the entire game until the final seconds to beat the Clippers. This is obviously far from an impressive outing. We're talking about the Clippers here. Their record is now 3-14. Dallas should be running laps around the Clippers. They shouldn't need to come from behind to beat them by just 2 points.

On the Mavs' Yahoo! team report, they're talking about the Mavs being on top of the division by the end of the 7 game home-stand. Are you kidding me? Sure, they're only 1 1/2 games behind the leading Houston Rockets. But, if they need last minute heroics from Jose Barea shooting 3's to edge out the lowly Clippers, they'll be lucky if still above .500 by the end of the home-stand. Especially because they'll be playing teams with winning records: Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs, and Denver Nuggets. The Charlotte Bobcats and Oklahoma City Thunder games might seem like easy wins. But if they struggled against the Clippers, I wouldn't count on those wins yet.

Spurs 109, Grizzlies 98 posted by Brad Hurt

If the Memphis Grizzlies could put four quarters together they might finally end their losing streak.  They went a long way toward doing that Friday at San Antonio, but faded in the fourth quarter of a 109-98 loss.

The Grizzlies (4-12) began the third quarter strong and while they allowed a run by the Spurs in that period, an 8-0 spurt that stretched their lead to double figures, the Grizzlies recovered for a 10-0 run of their own.  They played well out of halftime before running into trouble about four minutes into the third, just as they had against Utah.  The Spurs (9-6) led by as many as 14 in the third before the Grizzlies began their charge, primarily due to the play of Roger Mason, Jr., who scored 14 in the period.

Still, these Grizzlies don't know how to quit when they are facing a deficit.  O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay each hit big baskets in the fourth after the Spurs looked like they would put the game away again.  Unlike the other night when they could never get the deficit under five points, the Grizzlies made some progress.  They got to within three points this time.

Mayo scored 32 and Gay continued his recent resurgence with 26 points, but they couldn't offset the effect of Tony Parker's return for the Spurs, as he scored 15 and provided an emotional lift to the Spurs.  It was the third straight game in which the Grizzlies had faced an All-Star making his return from injury, after facing Utah's Deron Williams on Wednesday and the Spurs' Manu Ginobili on Monday.

The Grizzlies really need to start thinking about defending the perimeter.  It's not completely their fault because their opponents are setting solid screens and making it difficult to get through the lane, but they still need to make sure they know exactly where the shooters are.  It was especially frustrating to see Mason get open looks after what he did to the Grizzlies on Monday.  Mason finished with 20 points, making 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

I-10 Rivalry renewed posted by Jake Calenda

The Houston Rockets are coming off a hard fought 1 point loss to the Indiana Pacers this past Wednesday at Toyota Center. The Yellow and blue stunned the home town team by scoring often and late snapping the Rockets' three game winning streak. The loss soured the return of forward Shane Battier who made his season debut after missing the first 15 games of the season due to inflammation in his surgically-repaired left ankle.

The Rockets will try to turn the page returning to the court tomorrow night to face a familiar foe:

the San Antonio Spurs.

The two teams played earlier this season in a low-scoring affair. The Spurs won despite being without key parts Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Tim Duncan and rookie George Hill came up big in the 77-75 win. Duncan had a game-saving block against Rockets guard Aaron Brooks late to clinch the win for the Spurs.

Tracy McGrady went 2-12 in the loss and Yao didn't fare much better. If the two would have played better the Rockets could have easily won, but should of, would of, etc...Tomorrow night the Spurs will be back to mostly full strength. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will be active as the two rivals face off again. Both came off the bench during Friday night's game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The keys for the Rockets will be simple: Have Yao and McGrady get in the mix with decent games, have quality bench production from guys like Carl Landry, Aaron Brooks, etc., get the win on the boards, etc. Basically the same keys for every game for the Rockets.Continue reading "I-10 Rivalry renewed"

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