Spurs lose Chance to Go Up 2-0

The only team I root for in the NBA is the San Antonio Spurs and they are the  only NBA team that I will watch in the regular season when high school and college basketball is going on,

However, it’s the playoffs now and the only thing that can fix my basketball withdrawal is an NBA Spurs fix.

As well as the Spurs performed in game one with that near perfect lst quarter where they lead the Thunder 43-20 on 18 for 22 in FG and committing only 1 turnover in what I thought was the best 12 minutes of basketball that I have ever seen in my 70 year involvement in the game they played as poorly in the early going of the first 7 minutes which really decided the games.

In their one point 98-97 loss last night at home to give up the home court advantage as they head for important game three at Oklahoma City on Friday night.

We all knew that the Thunder was really going to come out firing on all cylinders after their 124-92 drubbing and that they did. They raced out to a 13 point first quarter lead early in the quarter. The Spurs went 1-13 from the floor to get way behind and Duncan missed two or three easy layups and the rest of the Spurs were “Colder then a refferee’s heart” in their early lst quarter shooting.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook carried the Thunder to a lead the rest of the game until early in the fourth the 4th period the Spurs rallied to go ahead for a couple of minutes behind another great offensive performance by their Portland Trailer Blazer free agent Center LaMarcus Aldridge as he poured in 41 points to go  along with his 38 point performance in the first game win.

Kawhi Leonard had an off night but did finally put the Spurs ahead half way thru the 4th quarter. He ended up shooting for just 14 points, 7 below  his season average and 11 behind his first game output of 25.

As poorly as the Spurs played and as well as the Thunder played it still went down to a crazy finish in the last 13.5 seconds as the Thunder held on to a one point win overcoming a turnover on a throw in which ended up with a inbounds steal and then a missed three by Patty Mills of the Spurs at the final buzzer

If the Spurs had not come out so poorly they would.won this game and gone 2-0, but now face a tough task to regain home court advantage at Oklahoma this Friday.

A big difference in the game was that the Thunder got to the foul line for 17 of 21 shots where the Spurs were only just 11-13 and that was really the difference in the contest.

The Spurs have got to take it to the basket more of dribble penetration to get to the line more. If Duncan does not play better, especially defensively then “Pop”  ought to get their Siberian 7’3″ rookie into the lineup to match up better physically against the Thunders inside players, especially 6’10” strongman Adams who has some reaal impressive dunks so far in the two games.

Kevin Durant hit for 28 after just 7 in the first game and Russell Westbrook had 29 instead of 14 in the first game and 3 other Thunder players had 12 a piece. So Duran and Westbrook combined for 26 more points in their in then they did in game one 57 to 31.

The only other Spur in double figures besides Aldrich’s 41 and Leonard’s 14 was Marco Ginnobli with 11.

The overall stats for the game were as follows:

Team………FG%……………….3pt%……………FS%…………….Assists

SPURS…40-94=42.6%……6-23=26.1%…..11-13=84.6%…….19

OKC……..38-79=46.0%…..5-17=26.3%……17-21=81.0%…….16

Both teams committed 18 turnovers.

Rebounds Thunder Off 9 Def 39 total 48

………………Spurs…..Off 9 Def 37 total 46

Personal Fouls Thunder 16 Spurs 19

Let’s look at this tied series so far. The Spurs played unbelievable and win by 32 and the Thunder play great and win by 1 and the Spurs play poor and lose by 1 and the Thunder play great and win by 1.

Some real interesting calls or no calls in the last 13.5 second of the game with the Thunder having the ball out of bounds on the sideline even with the 3 point line after calling a time out after Aldridge hit 3 consecutive free throws to cut the lead to 98-97 after being fouled stupidly om a 3 shot attempt. 2 violations one defense and one offensive not called on the throwin and 3 or 4 fouls not called.

The overall officiating in the NBA is not as good as it is overall in the NCAA D-1 and the NBA only has 30 teams and the NCAA D-1 has 351. If all 30 teams were playing on the same night the NBA would need 45 officials and if all the NCAA teams were playing on the same night they would need 525.

In the last 2 minutes of each game the NBA referees really do not want to make calls even obvious ones, as they want the players to decide the game not themselves.

NBA officials should be fined for each wrong call they make or a call they should of made, maybe, just maybe, they would do a better job.

That is why I would never, ever bet on any NBA game. because “it is not what is called that effects a game it is what is not called”. Rather have the game called the same for all 48 minutes instead of changing the way things are called in the last w2 minutes after playing by different calls for 46 minutes.

The officiating in the last 13.5 seconds for both teams, that if it was Thoracic Surgery everyone involved on the court would have died on the operating table, it was that bad and inefficient for both teams.

And this is coming from a former official who worked a lot of college games, semi-pro games and even some of  the old CBA (Continental Basketball Association)  Pro League game of the Maine Lumberjacks and Maine Windjammers played at the old Bangor Auditorium.. The better the play the better and easier it is to officiate. The CBA was the equivalent of the current NBA’s Developmental League and back then we only used 2 officials  not 3 officials like they do today. It was the easiest officiating I ever did compared to high school or college or semi pro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However