Spurs Sweep Grizzlies With 93-86 Game 4 Win

No slow start in this game.  I thought the Spurs should have blown out the Grizzlies from the get go, but they couldn't knock down their 3PT shots.  If they were just shooting their average from 3PT range, they would have been up by a lot more than 24-14 after the 1st, and 44-38 at the half. 

I still never had the sense that the Spurs were in danger of losing this game.  The 3rd quarter was the crucial one for the Grizzlies.  They put up 28 points and Quincy Pondexter was hot, but the Spurs managed to put up 28 themselves and the lead stayed at 6.  With Zach Randolph struggling again, the Grizzlies just don't have the shooters to be consistent on offense. 

Grizzlies once again destroyed the Spurs on the boards, 41-34 and got 16 offensive rebounds.  The difference was this time they failed to hold the Spurs under 90 and the turnovers were almost even (14-13 Grizzlies).  Tony Parker was just too good in this one.  The Spurs shot .513 for the game, but as a group didn't shoot that well.  They hit just 3-13 from 3PT range.  The scoring efficiency came courtesy of Parker, who made 15-21.  That's a .714 shooting percentage! Not only did Parker score a season high 37, but it was timely scoring.  Just about every time the Spurs needed a basket to stem a Grizzlies run, Parker delivered. 

Tim Duncan put in a pretty pedestrian game (at least for him) with 15 PTS (.467 shooting) and 8 REBS.  Kwahi Leonard was the only other Spurs in double-figures with 11, but only took 7 shots.  Duncan (4 blocks) and Leonard (5 steals) made their mark on the defensive end.  4 more blocked shots came from Tiago Splitter.   Manu Ginobili was just 1-6, but contributed 6 REBs and 6 STLs.

It may sound like an easy win, but the series could just as easily been 3-1 or 2-2 at this point.  The Grizzlies just never put together enough offense and I never thought Zach Randolph would struggle for 4 straight games.  Quincy Poindexter led the Grizzlies with 22 PTS (7-11) for the 2nd time all year, both coming in this series. 

 Did you happen to catch the Western Conference Championship trophy presentation?  I thought it was interesting that all the new guys were right behind the presenters.  Duncan and Ginobili was out of camera range on the far right (left of the screen) and you couldn't even see Parker until he stepped forward to hold the trophy.  That was typical Spurs...I can't think of one other team where the main players wouldn't have been up front soaking in all the attention. 

There's been a lot of congratulations after games from the bench players focused towards Duncan.  Splitter also gave him a few head pats and a big smile.  The other thing was Parker, in the post game interview, talking about winning another one for Duncan.  I wouldn't be surprised if Duncan mimics David Robinson and retires if the Spurs win the Championship this year.  It would be just like the Spurs to keep something like Duncan playing in his last season in house.  

I'm going to just relish the fact the Spurs are heading to the NBA Finals for the 5th time and post about their chances of winning once the Eastern Conference Finals are over.

Spurs Take 3-0 Lead With 104-93 Win Over Grizzlies

I expected the Grizzlies to come out with a lot of energy being back home in Memphis...what I didn't expect was that the Spurs would come out playing so badly.  As the 1st quarter went on I was wondering if they would surpass the 9 points they scored in the 4th quarter of Game 2.

How many coaches would bench the whole starting five?  If you didn't see the game, that's what Popovich did in the first quarter after.  Grizzlies led 29-13 after one.  I wasn't happy with that result (obviously neither was Pop), but I new if the Spurs just took care of the ball that the Grizzlies offense couldn't keep putting up 25+ point quarters.   I was more than happy that they got right back in it, outscoring the Grizzlies 27-15 in the 2nd to trail just 44-40 at halftime.

In the 4th quarter I was thinking if the Spurs could go on one more run they would put the game away.  They never got it.  The Grizzlies defense had much to do with that.  Spurs finally got the run in overtime, scoring 18 points in the 5 extra minutes. It was the Big Three that got it done in this game.  Tony Parker 26 points, Tim Duncan 24, and Manu Ginobili 19.  They each had 5 assists apiece.  Duncan pulled down 10 rebounds and Ginobili 7. 

Turnovers almost cost the Spurs this game (17 is too much).  I think they had 7 in the first quarter and Parker had 7 for the game (most of those in the 1st).  They also gave up 19 offensive rebounds, 9 by Zach Randolph and 5 from Marc Gasol.  I love Matt Bonners effort, but he can't handle Randolph, who is just abusing Bonner on the offensive glass.  I would hate to see what would happen if Tiago Splitter would foul out. 

I thought the Spurs low post defense was much better than when these teams met two years ago, but I didn't think they could bottle up Randolph...at least not for 3 straight games.  Randolph is just 12-40 (.300) in the series so far.  While you can say that's due to the Spurs defense, that doesn't explain why he's just 7-16 (.438) from the free throw line (he shot .750 for the season).  Coach Lionel Hollins is a great motivator, but he's not showing me much on the strategic end.  The Grizzlies haven't changed much to get the ball down inside to Randolph.  Mind you, I haven't seen the Grizzlies play much, so maybe they don't run the offense through Randolph, but the statistics show that Randolph was the Grizzlies leading scorer and the leader in shot attempts.  In Game 3, Mike Conley took 21 shots to Randolph's 14. 

In the last two games, the Grizzlies have held the Spurs under 90 in regulation, pulled down 38 offensive rebounds, and won the turnover battle.  Those were the things I thought they would need to beat the Spurs...the Grizzlies got it, but still lost.  They just can't score enough points without Randolph's normal contribution.  The Grizzlies just aren't a good shooting team.  Randolph shot .460 for the season.  Conley .440, Tony Allen .445 and Quincy Pointdexter was just .428 (so he's shooting way over his average for the series).  Before you think that Rudy Gay would've helped, he shot just .408 for the Grizzlies.  Gasol is the only Grizzly with a decent shooting average (and he's excellent at .494), but his game isn't scoring so he isn't going to shoot a lot (he was 3rd in attempts behind Randolph and Conley). 

Unless Randolph can get going I think this ends on Memorial Day.  Which reminds me of the "Memorial Day Miracle" game winner by Sean Elliott in 1999 (Game 2 vs. Blazers in Western Conference Finals).  If Elliott didn't shoot off his toes he would have been out of bounds.  What I remember most was Elliott, after making that shot, pointing at Mario Ellie saying "I told you, I told you." 

Western Conference Finals, Spurs win Game 2 93-89 in OT.

I figured the Spurs would go cold sooner or later…just didn’t think it would happen all at once in the 4^th quarter. 

Spurs looked like they were going to cruise to a 2-0 series lead, up  46-31 at halftime and the Grizzlies struggling to even find the rim, let alone make a shot.  At one point, the shooting was so bad even the announcers said there was a lot of bricks being thrown up.  Then in the 3^rd the Grizzlies got hot, outscoring the Spurs 33-30 in the quarter.  I still felt the Spurs were in control…no way the Grizzlies could keep that scoring pace up.  The Grizzlies did return to normal, scoring only 21 in the 4^th quarter, but the the Spurs went stone cold, scoring only 9 points. 

Despite the horrible 4^th quarter and Tim Duncan getting in foul trouble (he played in only 31:08 including the overtime) and sitting on the bench, the Spurs still should not have let this game go into overtime.  Two back-to-back unnecessary fouls sandwiched around a bad offensive possession let the Grizzlies tie the game.  With 52.1 seconds left and an 85-78 lead, Matt Bonner pushes Zach Randolph in the back as Randolph got wide open under the basket.  There was no way Bonner was going to keep Randolph from scoring in that situation and pushing him in the back just gave him the three point play and stopped the clock.  Still, it’s an 85-81 lead, run the clock down and get a good shot…make it and game over.  Even if they don’t score, the Grizzlies will have only one possession left.  Make them use some clock and it comes down to hitting a few free throws.

Spurs don’t even get a shot off and Manu Ginobili ends up turning over the ball leading to a Grizzlies fast break.  Ginobili then compounds the turnover by fouling Tony Allen on the layup.  Should it have been called a flagrant?  That didn't matter, the really important part was if Ginobili just lets him score, the Spurs are still up 85-83 and have the ball with under 18 seconds left.  Again, the Grizzlies have to foul and you can ice the game with free throws.  Actually I thought it was going to be called a Clear Path foul, which would have been the same result, free throws for Allen and the ball back for the Grizzlies.

Give credit to Allen for hitting some clutch free throws and Mike Conley for tying the game, but it never would have come to that point if Bonner and Ginobili used their heads and just let Randolph and Allen score. 

You can add the last possession in regulation to the bad play list too.  Spurs end up with a fall away 18 footer by Duncan to try and win it.  Duncan was closely guarded and moving away from the basket when he got the ball….the shot had no chance. 

Ford Focus ST, 1000 miles

One of my favorite car related websites to read was called Inside Line...well actually it still is one of my favorites, it's just that they're not Inside Line anymore.  Inside Line was a part of Edmunds.com, which now has absorbed Inside Line to become Edmunds' Long Term Road Tests.

What makes Inside...I mean Edmunds' Long Term Road Tests different from most car review sites is that they live with these cars.  It's not just a day of driving around town and maybe hitting a test facility to get some track numbers...they keep the cars for 20,000 miles.  They take road trips in them, go grocery shopping with them, take vacations, haul their family and friends around with them...they become the staffs daily drivers.  That in itself is different, because you get the opinions of a variety of drivers, not just one person.  Some are married, some women, some young, some are older, tall, short...in other words you'll get a wide range of opinions on a vehicle. If it's a sportier car, some of the staffers will take it to a track event...just like someone who buys one of those cars would.  The site is in blog format, with different staffers posting their thoughts on the time they spent with the cars...everything that they loved or that annoyed them. 

Part of why I own an ST is because Edmunds has a Focus ST in their fleet of Long Term Vehicles.  They've already put 10,000 miles on theirs...I just went over 1000.  I got mine as a low option car in part because of the issues (which were minor, but issues none the less) with the electronic add ones and some of the staffers comments on the Recaro bucket seats.  J.D. Powers vehicle dependability studies also said that although overall vehicle dependability has improved, the most reported problems are from added electronics. There was also almost a 5k difference in price between my car, an ST1 (only option a sunroof), and the fully optioned ST3 package.  I figure if I eventual want the bolstered racing seats I can pick up a set for less than that and I'm fine using my Tom-Tom for navigation.  It was just $100 dollars, has lifetime maps, and I put it in the car when I need it...which isn't that often.

The current fleet is very broad, ranging from a 1987 Buick Grand National to a 2013 Tesla Model S.  On the right of the page is also Past Long-Term Road Test vehicles.  It's entertaining reading and really informative. The vehicles are really scrutinized and put into just about every real life situation you would put the vehicle through over the course of ownership. 

So my thoughts on the Ford Focus ST so far...

Western Conference Finals, Spurs take Game 1 Over Grizzlies 105-93

Not much to say about this game…Spurs shot great, the Grizzlies not so much.  Sportscasters tend to overreact to games like this.  The team that loses is never as bad as they looked, and the team that wins isn’t as good as they looked.  I’m sure the Grizzlies realize they won’t have another shooting game this bad from Zach Randolph.  The Spurs need to realize (and I’m sure they do after what happened last year in the Conference Finals) that, although capable of doing it, they can’t count on getting that kind of 3-PT shooting.  Spurs took 29 threes and made 14…that’s .483, they shot .376 during the season. 

In the last two games (Game 6 vs. the Warriors and this game) the Spurs have regained the offensive efficiency they had early to mid-season.  I was really concerned going into the playoffs the way the offense fell off the last month or so.  While I’m excited about the offense, they’re not going to keep shooting > .500 every game.  Averages will catch up to them and they’re going to have to find other ways to win.  Encouraging for me is that Tim Duncan (3-9) and Manu Ginobili (2-6) didn’t have much impact on and they still won by 22.  Duncan contributed on defense, blocking Randolph's first shot setting the tone for the night.  He also pulled down 10 rebounds. 

With no disrespect to Quincy Pondexter, the Grizzlies won’t win many games if he’s their leading scorer (in fact this was the first time that he’s ever led the Grizzlies in scoring).  The inability to get the ball to Randolph (he took just 8 shots) really threw the Grizzlies out of sync.  I’m pretty sure the Grizzlies will find a way to get Randolph the ball more in Game 2.

Part of the Spurs shooting success was the uncharacteristically bad defense the Grizzlies played.  Spurs shooters had open looks all game...and unfortunately for the Grizzlies, the Spurs hit a lot of 'em. I can't say much about what I expect in Game 2, except that the Spurs will have to find another way to win because I can't imagine the Grizzlies will let them shot 29 3-PTers again.  That tells me, that in Game 2 the Spurs are going to have to put the ball on the floor, hit some mid-range jumpers, get to the rim, and get to the free throw line.

While I'm not comfortable yet (Spurs were up 2-0 vs. the Thunder last year and lost the series 2-4), I would much rather be 1-0, then 0-1 and it will be silly to say I don't want them to be up 2-0 again this year.