The game against the Lakers was a thing of beauty (outside of the part where they let Kwame Brown look like an actual NBA player). The outside shooting was on target, Duncan dominated Turiaf and Brown, and the defense was stifling. For at least one game, the Spurs looked like they were back in the NBA Finals:
They even got a much-needed boost from Ime Udoka, who not only pitched in 18 points on 7-10 shooting but made life a living hell for Lamar Odom and Kobe Bryant on several possessions. I knew he was a dogged defender from his time in Portland, but I had no idea how strong he was. He has no fear of tangling it up against other team's power forwards. Odom had consistently racked up great games against San Antonio, but his feeble 11 points and 5 turnovers can be largely accredited to Ime bodying him up.
In the 3rd quarter of their ugly win against Miami, the Spurs again went small using Udoka as the PF. The Heat responded by posting Udonis Haslem on three straight possessions. The results? One non-shooting foul, one turnover, and a fierce ball denial by Udoka that forced Miami to rotate the ball and ditch the post up. Despite giving up 3-4 inches and some pounds on a decent post player (Haslem), Udoka screwed up the play every time. If he can continue to hit outside shots, he's perfect for their small ball lineup.
- In other news, Tim Duncan, in case you hadn't heard, is pretty good. He'll be starting in his 9th straight All-Star game and also registered his 17,000th point, putting him just 600 short of Otis Thorpe. Hm...maybe points aren't everything. He did, however, average 24.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks over his last 5 games....MVP numbers.
- Brent Barry tore up his left calf muscle again, just three games after coming back. He'll have an MRI Monday. The Spurs really missed his shooting, so Finley and Udoka will have to pick up some slack.
- As great as Duncan's been, Bowen has been equally bad. Take out a 5-10 game against the Knicks and Bruce is 8-38 for the month of January prior to tonight's game in Miami. That's 21% shooting....for the month (this after shooting under 40% for December). He's scored total of 10 points over his last 7 games. But I digress, he's not on the team to score. His defense on Dwyane Wade at the end of the game was amazing; he forced one contested jumper, a crazy spin-fadeaway, and stripped the ball from Wade on Wade's last three shot attempts.
- Popovich went small in two straight games, starting Brent Barry and, uh, Jeremy Richardson against the Lakers and Bobcats. Elson seems to have fallen out of the lineup amid all the small ball play, playing just 12 minutes in his last 5 and racking up 2 DNP's.
Update: Barry will miss 3-4 weeks with what is being called a "strain" of his left calf muscle.
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