Spurs @ Bucks 26.12.09

San Antonio (15-11) at Milwaukee (12-15)
Game info: 8:30 pm EST Sat Dec 26, 2009
TV: FSSW, FSWI
By Santosh Venkataraman

A two-game trip against Eastern Conference teams with poor records could help the San Antonio Spurs get back on the winning track.

It begins with Richard Jefferson returning to the Bradley Center on Saturday night when the Spurs try to complete a season sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks.

San Antonio (15-11) is 2-10 against teams that are .500 or better, but has won 13 straight against teams which currently own losing records since a 92-85 loss at Chicago on Oct. 29. The Spurs lost for the second time in eight games Wednesday with a 98-94 home defeat to Portland.

“I don’t pay too much attention to that,” guard Roger Mason said. “A lot of times it’s not so much who we are playing but how we are handling our assessments and our assignments and doing the things we are supposed to do.”

The Spurs will visit New York on Sunday after Jefferson makes his return to Milwaukee (12-15). Jefferson averaged a team-high 19.6 points in 2008-09 in his only season with Milwaukee with an injured Michael Redd limited to 33 games.

San Antonio acquired Jefferson from Milwaukee in the offseason for three players, with only Kurt Thomas remaining on the Bucks roster. Jefferson, though, is scoring 13.4 points per game for his lowest average since his 2001-02 rookie season with New Jersey.

Jefferson wasn’t much of a factor with 11 points in a 112-98 home victory over Milwaukee on Nov. 23. Tim Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Spurs led by as many as 21 points.

A 12-point effort in that loss marked the start of the decline for Milwaukee rookie Brandon Jennings, who averaged 25.3 points in the Bucks’ 8-3 start prior to that contest. Milwaukee has since lost 12 of 16, with the point guard averaging 15.8 points on 34.6 percent shooting.

Jennings had the worst game of his career after getting into early foul trouble Wednesday in a 109-97 home loss to Washington. He went 3 of 9 from the field for a season-worst seven points and committed three turnovers in a season-low 16 minutes.

“He looked out of sorts from the very beginning and looked tentative and then got fouls,” coach Scott Skiles said. “This hasn’t happened to him very much where he’s had to deal with foul trouble in a game.”

Redd made his first start at home since Oct. 31 and scored a season-high 32 points.

While the Bucks are trying to figure out how to get Jennings going again, the Spurs are looking for answers to their uneven play. San Antonio had its streak of scoring at least 100 points in eight straight games end Wednesday as it trailed the entire fourth quarter.

“It was a real tough loss,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “I thought that down the stretch in the fourth quarter we started to play with more aggressiveness and more urgency - which we didn’t have in early parts of the game.”

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who missed the first meeting with Milwaukee with a groin strain, is averaging 8.4 points over his last five games on 30.6 percent shooting.

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Team Stat Leaders

Points
Tim Duncan SA 19.9
Brandon Jennings Mil 19.7

Rebounds
Tim Duncan SA 10.5
Andrew Bogut Mil 10.0

Assists
Tony Parker SA 5.6
Brandon Jennings Mil 6.0

mouais on verra bien ... Faut juste espérer que Tony revienne à son meilleur niveau car étant le meneur, le jeu pèse vraiment en fonction de ses performances ... Bref faut espérer !

allez une victoire et une convaincante avec tous nos espoirs enfin concrétisés...j'aimerais tellement voir
un duncan a 20 pts 10 rebonds mais a peine 30 min de jeu pr le reposer
un gino a 21 pts et des dribbles de folies
un TP a 24 pts et 7 passes
un jefferson a 17 pts 5 rebonds 5 passes
un blair a 11 pts 11 rebonds
un macdyess a 9 pts 9 rebonds
un mason a 12 pts a 4/4 a 3 pts
un hill a 10 pts 3 steals
un pop avec une faut technique

que du bonheur lol

que 124 pts marqués (sans oublier que les autres peuvent mettre quelques points )

Ca n'est pas une prédiction, c'est ce qu'il aimerait voir...

Bonne victoire avec un Blair qui joue 22min et qui est dans le 5 de départ !! Tony n'a pas été très adroit mais a délivré de bonnes passes!

seule la victoire compte ;-) maintenant rdv a la mecque du basket...le madison!!

Ca fait du bien un petite victoire face au bucks .
Les spurs ne pourront ne progresser qu'avec des joueurs au top .
Une petite victoire contre NY ferait du bien.

Il y a du mieux, ça vient tout doucement, même s'il y a parfois de gros relachements en défense. Tim est un monstre, et en plus de ça hier il avait une bonne petite adresse à 4-5m. TP a l'air plus en jambe, mais il force encore pas mal et hier son shoot n'était pas là.
Blair est un monstre, ses rebonds offensifs m'ont impressioné. Il en veut le petit, il a la rage, ça fait plaisir.
RJ a loupé des panniers tout fait et Manu reste pas mal discret.

Spurs never look back, blast Bucks
Mike Monroe

MILWAUKEE — In the middle of an eventual 12-0 Spurs run that turned Saturday's game against the Bucks into a laugher, rookie power forward DeJuan Blair pump-faked Milwaukee's Hakim Warrick off his feet, then bounced a slick pass to Tim Duncan, wide open on the opposite side of the lane.

Duncan bobbled the ball, and it bounced off his chest before he snared it and laid it in the basket in one motion.

Blair chided his All-NBA teammate for almost blowing one of his three assists.

“I think I surprised him,” Blair said.

“I almost fumbled it,” Duncan said. “But nobody was there, so it worked out.”

On this night, everything worked out for the Spurs, who made a season-high 59.7 percent of their shots in rolling to a wire-to-wire, 112-97 victory over the Bucks at the Bradley Center.

Three days after the most disheartening loss of the season to a Trail Blazers team missing its leading scorer and more than half its regular player rotation, the Spurs played what may have been their most complete game of the season. They dominated a Milwaukee team that has lost four straight at home.

The Spurs' fourth road victory of the season pushed them back to five games above .500 at 16-11, with a game tonight at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks.

“We just had a different mind-set tonight,” said guard Manu Ginobili, who scored 13 and added eight assists. “We played very aggressively and moved the ball really well, so it's easier to make shots. We didn't walk the ball up every time.

“For me, getting a couple of easy transition baskets makes you feel better. That was the big difference tonight. We played faster and better with faster pace. It was more fun, definitely.”

It was the Spurs' second victory over the Bucks, a nemesis in the 13 seasons Duncan has worn silver and black. The Spurs were 12-23 all-time in Milwaukee and had been swept by the Bucks in last season's two games.

“They've always been a tough out for us, especially here,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I don't think we've won here very often, so we're really happy with the win.”

Duncan made 11 of 16 shots and led the Spurs in scoring for the sixth time in the past seven games with a game-high 26. But he was hardly the game's most efficient shooter.

Antonio McDyess, warming to his role off the Spurs' bench since ceding his starting spot to Blair, made his first seven shots, only one of them inside 18 feet. He missed his eighth but wasn't complaining about his 87.5 percent night.

“It's been a long time since I've shot the ball like that,” McDyess said. “I'm still trying to get my rhythm going, and I hope it continues. I had my confidence, and it felt great.”

Ginobili was nearly as hot as McDyess. He made 5 of 6 shots, crediting the fast pace with making the game fun for him after the frustration of Wednesday's home loss to Portland.

The two sizzling reserves keyed an astounding bench shooting performance. The Spurs' seven subs made 22 of 29 shots (75.9 percent).

“That's ridiculous, and it's not going to happen very often,” Popovich said. “It happened tonight, and it helped us keep a lead.”

Indeed, the Spurs never trailed. A lead that exceeded 20 points early in the third quarter and grew as large as 25 allowed Popovich to manage minutes and keep his starters fresh for today's game against the Knicks. No player logged more than Duncan's 32:06.

As happy as the Spurs were with their dominating performance, Duncan offered some perspective.

“We're far from where we want to be,” he said. “But starting with this game, we're on the right path. We had a really disappointing loss against Portland in a game we feel we should have had. We just didn't have the effort or the entire game that we wanted to put together.

“Tonight was better, and we go from here.”

Wow, chanceux, vous avez dû certainement voir des Spurs très appliqués (le ratio passes dec/tirs primés est supérieur à celui des bucks), shootant tout de même à près de 60% (meilleure stat de la saison, Dave) et compilant 31 passes sur 77 tirs tentés.
Cette adresse exceptionnelle compense à elle seule, l'avantage des Bucks dans les domaines du rebond off (uniquement absolu), des TO, des LF tentés, ainsi que de l'adresse à 3.
Les catégories dites purement def (steal et block) sont en revanche, en faveur des SPURS. Si l'on combine ce postulat à la maladresse des Bucks, on peut imaginer que les Spurs ont relativement bien défendu dans le périmêtre, bonne esprit.
Saluons, bien évidemment la perf de TIM, de Blair qui s'octroie quand même les 2/3 des rebonds off du team et enfin de Dice en sortie de banc, son nouveau rôle, semble-t-il. Moins exigeant et sévère que Dave, suis content de l'adresse retrouvé de Manu, du moins pour ce game.

Le match vs les knicks est à minuit, y a même pas 24h de repos, c'est fou la NBA. En espérant que nos petits Spurs aient le temps de récupérer.
Vais essayer de le regarder . Cool d'être en repos demain