Bye Bye, Spurs.
Spurs @ Magic
I took some interest in this game because I’ve been hearing the line about the resplendent Spurs, since Tony Parker went out and they have somehow “miraculously” managed to win 8 of 9 since the injury thanks to “Manu,” as the ESPN guys noted beforehand. I took this with a grain of salt, especially considering the caliber of the opponents the Spurs were able to beat.
They snuck by the Suns, but after that?
New Orleans – beat ‘em twice – a below .500 team. Memphis – a .500 team. Beat the Knicks – one of the worst team in the league. Beat the Wolves, Clippers, and the Heat (all .500 or below .500 teams). You see a pattern here?
Context, people. Context. Which is why it was no surprise to see what came tonight:
A 110-84 drubbing courtesy of the second-hottest team in the league (behind Cleveland), the Magic.
The game started out fairly close enough, with the Spurs down by 5 at the end of the first. Pop talked with Lisa Salters between the first and the second quarters and prophesized what would end up killing the Spurs in the game – the Magic’s outside shooting and horrible perimeter defense by them, which was the case in only the first.
* Spurs reliant on outside shots.
* Magic attacking inside, TD just wasn’t fast enough to keep up with D-12.
* A few quick inside scores by the Magic, and the Spurs defense slowly started leaving the outside shooters open. Magic would kick it out and shoot, or pass it back in catching the defense off guard. After that the Magic just hit their threes, and the Spurs stayed in by making their own shots too. Pop wasn’t satisfied, and then in the second…
Turnovers for the Spurs, missed shots. Started off the second with both teams throwing up crap. Then the Magic went back to their Q1 strategy – attack, open up the perimeter. It also didn’t help that the Spurs stayed with their bench for an extended period of time. This all led to a double digit lead, and that was the game. They continued to build on it taking advantage of the Spurs’ turnovers, poor shot selection, slowness on defense, and poor spacing on offense. The game was decided in the second.
So hopefully this will end the myths about the Spurs being resurgent. They’re not – they are done.
