PreSeason Opener Loss

Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, and Michael Finley were there for the San Antonio Spurs but just as audiences. The three Spurs stars sat on the sideline to watch the game against fellow-Texan team, Houston Rockets, but wearing street clothes. Maybe Gregg Popovich, Spurs head coach, just didn't want to his three stars to get too tired before the regular season. But apart from keeping his stars healthy, Pop also wanted to watch how his young guns would execute their play, win or lose. "If we win, nobody cares, and if we lose nobody cares," said Spurs head coach.

The Rockets blasted the Spurs out of their way by winning 85-78. Ron Artest gave the boost for his team with 18 points and three blocks. Ex-Blazers, Von Wafer, added 14 pts while Luis Scola continued to do his thang! and finishing with 13 pts. Tracy McGrady was out with an injury. But he's really not what made the Rockets more special this season, it's the ex-Spurs, Brent Barry, who hasn't stretched out his muscles yet with three pts and eight assists.

On the Spurs' side, t'was Malik Hairston who's showed flair on the offensive end with 10 points and followed by Tony Parker adding eight pts with only 13 mins playing time. Ime Udoka also had his share of seven rebounds and Fabricio Oberto with seven pts. Kurt Thomas, Ian Mahinmi, and Salim Stoudamire, were out because of injuries.

The Spurs' preseason opener proves that there still a lot to improve, particularly on the defensive end. The Rockets, with a huge number of turnovers, has outrebounded the Spurs. Apart from that, the Brent-less Spurs were outscored beyond the arc by their rival. But Pop appears to be relax and confident with his team and I think that should be enough to keep the Spurs fan happy even with Manu Ginobili out.

Spurs V Mavs

The Texas sweep huh!.. "We don't want to see Texas again. It's a great state, but we don't want to see these three teams any more. They're too tough," said coach Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics. Of course, the Texas trio [Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs] are tough teams and I've never seen a tougher Western Conference than this season. Why these trio are tough to beat? First of to Houston, which despite the absence of Yao Ming can still pull off a long winning streak. As long as T-Mac stays healthy, the Rockets are a team to beat. Second stop is Dallas. The Dallas were reshaped with the coming of Jason Kidd. He's a great advantage for the team when it comes to the offensive end. And obviously, the Mavs are offensively better and are trying to improve defensively especially with the loss of a great defensive player in the name of Diop.

But despite all the efforts coming from Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, the Mavs are on the 7th spot of the Western Conference. And they've recently lost two straight games against winning teams that is very unlikely of the Spurs' situation now who's won back-to-back games against losing teams. The Mavs are about to face their fellow-Texan team in their homecourt soon. The team's best weapon against the Spurs is their offensive edge. If they play tough D, don't ever let Erick Dampier get early fouls or they'll end up playing the slow-paced style of the Spurs. Of course, anything can happen and I'm not saying that the Spurs got this game on their bag. What I'm trying to say is that the Mavs lack of D strategies cannot easily beat a defense-minded team like the Spurs. If they want to win, they have to take the lead as early as possible and don't let Manu Ginobili out of their sights!.. And lastly, watch out for Kurt Thomas!.. =p Spurs-Mavs game by Bill Fitch

Where Will He Be?

Brent Barry is now a free agent and has 30 days to choose which team he wants to be in. Teams like the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets*, Dallas Mavericks*, and Boston Celtics are trying to buy him out of free agency. The San Antonio Spurs, the team who traded him and Francisco Elson for Kurt Thomas, has showed interest in getting Barry back but they'd have to wait for 30 days for him to re-sign. 30 days is a long waiting period for the Spurs and Barry might decide to sign to a new team. I'm just crossing my fingers that Barry would return to the Spurs. He's a great 3-point shooter, understands the system of the Spurs, and is comfortable with his former teammates. Plus, his family lives in San Antonio. I really have no idea where Brent Barry will be, I just hope he chooses San Antonio.

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Shaq should go back to Earth and do what he's gotta do << the Suns' key to win