This isn’t something people noticed in retrospect. If you were watching the game, it was pretty much impossible to miss:
EXCITED FEMALE SPURS FAN IS GETTING EXCITED AGAIN!!!!!— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 07, 2013
Find the shrieker and escort her out. Won’t be hard; it’s the section where everyone’s ears are bleeding.— (@netw3rk) May 07, 2013
This screaming lady is doing her best to ruin a great game in San Antonio.— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 07, 2013
Screaming lady turned a nation of viewers against the Spurs #AmexNBA— Lang Whitaker (@langwhitaker) May 07, 2013
This woman — well, I’m assuming it’s a woman, although I suppose it also could have been a man with a really high voice — kept it up down the stretch and as the Spurs won the game in the second overtime.
As of now this fan has not been identified. But she’s certainly been noticed. -
You may have noticed it’s the offseason, which means we have plenty of time to sit around and think about many of the things that make it fun to be an NBA fan. Here at All Ball, we’ll be passing the time until the start of the season with a new series, the Fave Five. Each week we’ll count down a list of the five best, or worst … somethings. We’ll try to get creative with it. Plus we’re taking requests! If you have a suggestion for a Fave Five post, give us a shout and you may see it appear in this space over the next several weeks.
Who is going to win the Super Bowl this year? The World Series? Your guess is as good as mine. In the NFL and MLB, who wins from year to year is totally unpredictable. In football it’s about who is lucky and who is healthy; in baseball it’s who is lucky and who gets great pitching.
The NBA is different. There are very, very few Cinderella stories in professional basketball. For my money, the 2011 Mavericks and the 2004 Pistons are the only surprise champions I’ve seen in the NBA in my lifetime.
The best teams almost always prevail. Which is why when we think of the teams who have come up short since the start of the 2000s, the answers are pretty obvious.
Let’s take a look:
5. 2011 San Antonio Spurs
What happened: The Spurs got off to a ridiculous start to the season (they were 29-4 at one point), and for a while there was talk that they might flirt with 70 wins. They cooled a bit down the stretch, but still finished the regular season as the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 61-21.
The draw in the West looked pretty good, as they faced the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. Talk about a mismatch – the Spurs, four-time NBA champions, versus the Grizz, who to that point had not won a single playoff game in franchise history in three previous appearances. So naturally they advanced to face HEY WAIT A MINUTE!
Memphis shocked San Antonio in six games, and the Spurs went home as only the fourth No. 1 seed to ever lose to a No. 8 seed*.
* The Bulls became the fifth this past season, but methinks that might have turned out differently had Derrick Rose been healthy.
Why they disappointed: I’ll be honest. I don’t really think of this Spurs team as being all that much of a disappointment. Some of that is due to the fact that the Grizzlies turned out to be a pretty good team, and some (maybe a lot) is due to the fact that Manu Ginobili hurt his elbow the final game of the season and was severely limited in the series. Still, 1 seeds don’t lose to 8 seeds, so here they are.
Here on All Ball, we have made it our goal to give every GWBB the proper Horry scale treatment this season, and for the most part, we have. But there is one shot from this season we haven’t put to the test yet – Manu Ginobili‘s game-winner against the Bucks from back in mid-December*.
Many of you have emailed in requesting it get properly rated, so here you go — better late than never.
*I apologize for not getting to it at the time, but it so happened that my niece was born that day and I was with my family at the hospital. I know, I know, where were my priorities?
Once again, the Horry scale examines a shot in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
Difficulty
That’s a tough shot right there. Manu has made a living with his step-back jumpers, but he nearly loses his balance on the jump-stop before launching the shot, then continues to stumble backwards into the team bench as the ball drops through the hoop. Hey, it wouldn’t be a Manu shot if it didn’t look awkward.
Game Situation
Tie ballgame, so no harm for a miss. Ginobili got the ball up top off the inbound pass with 9.5 seconds to play with, so he had plenty of time to set up the shot he wanted.
Importance
Not a particularly important game, given the time of the season and the Spurs’ incredible level of play over the course of the season. The bucket did give the Spurs the win, and helped them to finish a six-game homestand undefeated (San Antonio wouldn’t lose another home game until March 6 against the Lakers).
Celebration
The Spurs just don’t do big celebrations. The whole organization seems to live by a “been there, done that” code. There are some high fives and a hug from Tim Duncan, but no one really acts like this is anything that special. When you’ve won as much as they have though, that seems fair.
Grade
1.5 Horrys. I’d give it the minimum, but given the relative difficulty of the shot (though most Ginobili shots end up looking something like this), I’ll give him the extra half star.
What do you think?
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Nicolas Batum‘s tip-in GWBB is the second this season off an inbounds lob, following Andrew Bogut‘s heroics for the Bucks against the Pacers back in December. I continue to marvel at this play’s success — when there is less than a second left, the lob towards the basket seems like something the defense has to account for. The Spurs put Antonio McDyess on the inbounds pass, which does make the lob a little more difficult, but didn’t put anyone near the basket, and they paid for it with the loss.
Of course, the Spurs’ mistake should come as no surprise, as San Antonio did pretty much everything in its power to hand this game to the Blazers down the stretch with a collection of turnovers and mistakes. I’m curious how many players have scored four points in the final second of an NBA game — maybe I can get StatsCube master John Schuhmann to look into it.
Once again, the Horry scale examines a shot in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
How did Tricky Nic do? Let’s investigate:
Difficulty
This was a very difficult play and a very simple one all at the same time. On the one hand, you only have 0.9 seconds to work with, so the lob has to be right on the money to allow Batum to get the shot off (technically there is enough time allowed to catch and shoot, but practically speaking the tip-in is Batum’s only choice). On the other hand, Batum has at least a six-inch advantage on Tony Parker, so he meets with very little resistance once the lob arrives. I think that’s nitpicking though — Andre Miller is generally recognized as the best lob-tosser in the NBA*, and he puts this one right on the money, making a very difficult play look very easy.
*After the game, Miller would say it was the best pass he’d ever thrown.
Game Situation
Tie ballgame, but with extraordinarily unique circumstances. Think of all that had to go wrong for the Spurs to lose this game. Leading by four with half-a-minute remaining, both of the Spurs’ best ballhandlers (Parker and Manu Ginobili) get their pockets picked, allowing the Blazers to tie the game after a Miller layup and then a pair of Batum free throws with 0.9 left. Then, Steve Novak throws an errant inbounds pass, the third San Antonio turnover in 30 seconds, with no time running off the clock to boot, setting Portland up for a final crack at it. Maybe the game was tied, but it sure didn’t feel like it.
Importance
Not to say that Dallas is a team to be trifled with, but the win keeps the Blazers a half-game ahead of the Hornets for the 6-seed in the West, which keeps them (for the moment) from facing the Lakers in the first round. Portland also remains only 1.5 games behind Denver for the 5-spot, so all in all a very big win.
Celebration
Man – is there a better arena in the NBA for GWBBs? The fans at the Rose Garden always seem right on top of the court, and the crowd goes ballistic as soon as the ball drops through.
Grade
4.5 Horrys. Between the amazing comeback, the perfectly-executed lob, and the outstanding celebration, I have to give this one pretty high marks. I’ll only take off half-a-Horry for the fact that it was a tie game, but otherwise, this one had it all.
What do you think?
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Manu Ginobili made a pair of plays last night to win the game for the Spurs, scoring on a driving leaner to give San Antonio a late lead over the Nuggets and then drawing a charge at the buzzer to nullify a game-winner by Carmelo Anthony at the buzzer.
That is one pair. The other pair is NBA refs Haywoode Workman and Rodney Mott, both of whom showed they had a pair in calling the charge on the game’s final play. The call was correct, for the record, but it takes some courage to call a charge in that situation*, though as my man Sekou pointed out to me, the fact that it was Ginobili on the receiving end probably factored into the decision as well.
* A friend of mine in college was reffing an intramural game between his fraternity and their rival fraternity, and called a charge on his own pledge master in the exact same scenario to give the win to their bitter rivals. Now that takes courage.
The charge gave the Spurs their seventh straight win, the best record in the NBA at 22-3 record, and made Robert Horry very sad in the process.
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Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
