The odds, suffice to say, were not in the Spurs' favor entering Monday night's winner-take-all bout with the New Orleans Hornets. And all you heard about all series was odds:
You've probably heard that the home team wins game seven 86% of the time. Never mind that the Hornets had mopped the floor (at times literally, judging by the random ice spill in the 1st quarter) with the Spurs in the first three games.
The fact that the Spurs have never gotten past the conference semifinals when defending a championship has been run into the ground.
It was also made obvious that the Spurs had never come back from an 0-2 deficit, and that it had only happened 13 times in NBA history (good for about 7% of the time).
But, after all that, everyone gave the Spurs a chance in game 7. Why? Because it's the Spurs. The general patterns of the NBA game almost don't apply to the robotic, zombie-like drive that makes up the collective identity of San Antonio. It's that sensibility that led Charles Barkley to call them "cockroaches" after the game, or helped ESPN's radio tandem of Mike and Mike discuss how they were Jason-like.
The gameplan was seemingly simple: slow down the pace and eliminate fast break points, taking out the Hornets surprisingly nervous homecrowd. It would be easy to say that the Spurs finally knocked down their shots (12-28 from three) and that was the difference, but the game was won by defense.
And that defense was nasty. It was a constant variable, changing every 4 or 5 possessions. With it all on the line, the Spurs because a defensive chameleon, phasing from one form to another. Early on, they guarded Paul 1-on-1, shading on the pick-and-rolls. As soon as New Orleans found a rhythm, the Spurs started switching the picks, leading to some awkward Tony Parker-on-Tyson Chandler matchups.
But it didn't end there. Not even close. Late in the game, when the Hornets pulled within 6, Pop used his last trick, trapping Paul towards the halfcourt line. It was subtle, but it changed the game. The Hornets had to adjust and have other guys make plays in the last 2:00, when their season was on the line. The result? Jannero Pargo taking long jumpers, while David West and CP3 helplessly watched their ball movement disappear.
Offensively, the bench was huge. The combination of Kurt Thomas, Ime Udoka, Michael Finley, and Robert Horry shot 8-14, including 6-11 from three. The 22 points off the bench were huge in a game that showed a streaky Manu (6-19 shooting), a perimeter Tony Parker (only 2 layups, by my count), and a Tim Duncan that missed his last 10 shots.
Parker...mind you the same Parker than got yanked from Pop's 4th quarter Finals lineup in 2003...again came through in the clutch, a site that is becoming more and more common to Spurs fans. You could tell he wanted that elbow jumper from the moment he touched the ball.
Someday, the Hornets will be eliminating an aging Spurs team from the playoffs. Soon enough, they will make a Finals appearance as their young core or Paul, West, and Chandler develop.
But, for now, the championship still goes through San Antonio.
No comments:
Post a Comment