GT: Pacers vs. Spurs

[Nolan]

When: 8:30 PM ET, November 5, 2012
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

Starting Lineups:

Pacers:
PG - George Hill
SG - Paul George
SF - Gerald Green
PF - David West
C - Roy Hibbert

Spurs:
PG - Tony Parker
SG - Daniel Green
SF - Kawhi Leonard
PF - Tim Duncan
C - Boris Diaw

Well we're off to a great start and we have a chance to start the season 4-0 for the first time in franchise history tonight against the Pacers.

The Pacers will be without Danny Granger but that doesn't mean this is going to be an easy win. They're still a very dangerous team with great depth.

Go Spurs!!

[mitrandil20]

Will Duncan defende Hibbert and Diaw David West? Duncan went for oldy-goldy stats through the firsts 3 games, is this a tougher match-up for him to handle at both ends of the floor?

[co_laper]

This should be a really close game that could go both ways. Indiana coming off a double overtime win. Both teams are rested. Two things is in our favor. Danny Granger is out and we're playing at home. So I'm expecting a win.

George Hill has taken over the starting duties for Pacers. It's gonna be exciting seeing how well he'll play. Pacers are physical and have great length. That could give us trouble. And I think Duncan has trouble when being guarded againts players bigger than he is. Usually that makes him strictly jumpshooter. Againts guys more at his size or skinnier or smaller, he'll post them up a bit. Hibbert is taller and bigger than Duncan. I'd like to see how that plays out.

Offensively, we've been playing quite well so far. Defensively, it's going to be a test. Indiana isn't a team that relies on one or two players offensively like Utah or OKC. They're pretty balanced.

[Nolan]

Nice to see Blair getting big minutes and contributing, keep it up kid.

[Nolan]

Blair is beasting tonight fellas.

[mitrandil20]

Saw the stats, i'm watching the game itself soon. I'm impressed by Blair, it looks like he fought hard to catch those numbers.
Is it me or Parker kind of sidelines himself as first option scorer for now?

[co_laper]

I thought the most impressive guy today was Gary Neal. I've always questioned Gary Neal's shot selection because it feels like every game, there's always a time when he's forcing up a three with 20 seconds left on the clock. When he's not making shots, you just wanna yell at him. Today, he's making all his shots. I mean, Gary had a moment there when he's just unstoppable. I remember Hill was guarding him during that stretch and Gary just made shots after shots. Shook Hill left, right, pull ups, got to the rim, step back threes. You name it, Gary did it today. I'm not sure there was a move Gary could do that he didn't do.

Blair played well and that's great. Sadly, it's at the expense of Tiago Splitter. I really don't get it right now. I guess you can safely say that Bonner has his place set in stone won the rotation. At first, I thought Tiago is injured. But then he got on the floor at the 4th quarter and played great. So now I know he's not injured.

I think the problem is that Blair and Splitter can't play together because neither can shoot. The only solution to this is actually having Blair starts. Blair can play with Duncan. Diaw can play with Splitter. Problem is, Diaw with Duncan is the best lineup. So we're left with Splitter or Blair paired with a shooter (Bonner).

[Mykhyn]

I was guessing they were showcasing Blair for a potential trade.

[batmana]

Tiago was a bit wobbly against Utah so Pop was trying to send a message. Seeing him swat that shot in the 4th and rebound a couple of balls like a beast shows he got the message. Blair played well but we definitely need to showcase him a bit if we want fair return for him in a trade. The thing with him is that he can truly be a productive player for most teams but since he isn't playing a lot teams think something is wrong and forget how good he's been at times.
Another thing I wanted to share, I'm not sure if anyone noticed - Matt Bonner flopped (I believe it was in the 4th) on a rebound under our own basket - Mahinmi got the rebound and swung his elbows before passing out to the 3-point line, Bonner immediately went down but didn't get the call and jumped back up. Watching it, I could almost swear he would be warned under the new anti-flopping policy. Anyone else notice that?

[mitrandil20]

at the beginning of the last 4 minutes Leonard looks like afraid to go up strong and facialize his opponent, twice in a row this happens, in the first he doesnt get the foul, in the second he does but i believe he could have and-oned it with a dunk. it happend before when he cut and received the no look by Blair. I like substance before everything else, but i think it wouldnt hurt him to be more "savage" on the right occasions

[co_laper]

I'm not sure that's because he's afraid. I remember a sequence with Kawhi againts the Pacers when he attacked the rim, thought he would get a foul called and flipped a shot with his back at the basket. It should've been a foul, but wasn't called. Next possession, he attacked the rim again, this time head on, grip the ball like a statue of liberty dunk, and got fouled. So no, I don't see it as being afraid.

However, I think the team as a whole isn't much of a dunker. And I mean that they can dunk, but they rarely do. I can see a lot of instances where I thought Duncan can dunk it, but he chose to lay it up. Especially with Manu. Remember in 2005 when he'd go strong to the rim and just dunk it. Nowadays, they do it once in a while. Kawhi is kinda like that. Some times he'd go strong and dunk it. Usually, he shows off his jumping ability while he's dunking. And then there's times when he'd drive to the rim but he barely leaves his feet. So he's doing layups that sometimes fall short. I've been complaining about how when Kawhi slash to the rim, most of the time, he's not jumping high enough. But then you'll see highlights like the facial to Ibaka and everything and you know it's not that he doesn't jump high. He's got athletic ability.

[mitrandil20]

Yes i like your point and those were the plays i was referring to, that's kind of my point to, the guy has all the tools to get his points but sometimes it seems to me he wants to "keep it calm" like a veteran like Manu or Duncan does. my fault i called it "fear", id like to see more nasty out of his young muscles