This is the first post by Project Spurs’ newest writer Tyler Lindsey. Tyler will help keep Project Spurs updated with fresh and completely original content throughout the season. Look for his next article in the Spurs season preview package, which lands Monday, October 22.
The Spurs are coming off an 88-67 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at The American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Spurs had a rough 2nd half where they were outscored 46 to 21. It was the preseaon opener for both teams.
The Spurs were led by Brent Barry, Manu Ginobili and Matt Bonner who each scored 14 points in the game as the Spurs shot a miserable 31 percent from the field.
This was clearly a game the Mavericks felt like they needed to win as they played their starters a majority of the game, where as Tim Duncan saw few minutes and Tony Parker was on the bench in a very nice looking all-black suit. Josh Howard paced the Mavericks with 18 points, 13 coming in the first half. Dirk Nowitzki also chipped in with 13 points and 8 rebounds.
This loss puts the Spurs at 0-1 in the preseason and a game back of the 1-0 Mavericks, but don’t worry fellow Spurs fans, the preseason doesn’t mean a thing. I mean does anyone even remember the last time we had a winning record in the preseason? You probably can’t because we haven’t in a long time. That might be one of the reasons we are four time World Champions. Because our people in charge know what season you’re supposed to win in and we shall see if the Mavericks can ever learn that. Which I doubt they will as long as Mark “Dancing with the Stars” Cuban is the owner.
The next game of the preseason is against Panathinaikos Basketball Club from Greece. They are the current Euroleague Champions and should provide a good test for the Spurs reserves. Panathinaikos has former Spur Vassilis Spanoulis (he was cut in like a week, right?) and former Pacer and Warrior guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, who left the Warriors this year to return to Europe beacuse his game didn’t translate well to the NBA. While they are a very good European team, they wouldn’t provide a challenge for the regular season Spurs. But for the reserves and training camp hopefuls, they may give a test. These guys play team basketball and will be hyped and ready to play the Spurs. Especially Spanoulis, who is a great European player seeing as he single-handedly dominated the USA in the World Championships in 2006. But he made the decision he would never play in the NBA again after last season with Houston. I personally would’ve liked to have seen him in a Spurs uniform just because of the way he plays and the flow he has when he’s playing. He plays very smoothly and I thought that would’ve fit in with the Spurs very well as most foreign players do. But he’s not a Spur and I’m sure it won’t hurt them at all.
I predict the Spurs win 95-83. This all depends on how long the starters play, but they should be able to get a good lead and the reserves will be able to play steady and beat a great team by 12.
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