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Pounding The Rock

For all your Manu Ginobili loving and San Antonio Spurs news

Latest Entries

Open Thread: Keldon Johnson shined in Game 5

The postseason has been tough for Keldon Johnson. Ever since winning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, he’s struggled to maintain the vitality that earned him the league honor. This season the Spurs had seven players average scoring in double figures. *Harrison Barnes was 5 points from the Spurs having eight players in double figs, […]

Spurs overwhelm Timberwolves in pivotal Game 5 victory

The noise inside Frost Bank Center started long before tipoff. Fans arrived anxious, restless and desperate to see how the San Antonio Spurs would respond after letting Game 4 slip away in Minneapolis. There had been frustration over Victor Wembanyama’s ejection. Questions about composure. Questions about whether the young Spurs were ready for the weight […]

NBA

Dylan Harper questionable for Game 5 with sore knee, De’Aaron Fox is a game-time decision

The Spurs will have Victor Wembanyama back for a pivotal Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves after he avoided suspension for a Game 4 flagrant foul, but the Spurs’ guard rotation could be shorthanded. De’Aaron Fox was already listed as questionable on yesterday’s injury report with a sore ankle after Ayo Dosunmo rolled up on […]

How Victor Wembanyama avoids 3-second violations

Now officially the Defensive Player of the Year, it is well known that Victor Wembanyama dominates the paint. His mere presence alone deters shots at the rim because of his length, poise, and instincts around the hoop. But how does he manage to stay in the paint all game? The NBA, unlike FIBA, has a […]

Open Thread: A pair of Spurs Super fans make the news

I have a confession. I am obsessed with the Spurs. How many of you know exactly what I’m talking about? My Twitter feed is Spurs- Spurs players, Spurs journalists, Spurs fans, the Jackals, even former Silver Dancers, and some other sports and NBA outlets and pundits. My Facebook feed is constantly populated by Spurs Sixth […]

Game Five Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

The San Antonio Spurs did what they needed to do in Minnesota. The Spurs reclaimed home-court advantage with a win in Game Three. After losing a winnable Game Four, 114-109, the Spurs will head back to San Antonio to defend their home court and re-take a series lead. Game Five will be one of intrigue […]

What We Learned from the Spurs Game 4 loss to the Timberwolves

There’s this great trick that Francis Ford Coppolla pulls at the beginning of The Godfather, where he opts to forgo having a narrator and/or title cards to explain the story. It’s a very purposeful move, motivated partly (I suspect) by the popularity of Mario Puzo’s novel. The original novel was quite the financial success it […]

Why Victor Wembanyama lost his cool

As we all know, Victor Wembanyama was ejected from Game 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves for elbowing Naz Reid in the throat after he lost his cool early in the second quarter, and rightfully so. It was an unnecessary and potentially dangerous play. We also already know that the league will take no further action, […]

Box Grades: Scrappy Spurs fall just short in frustrating loss

I will attempt to refrain from commenting too much on the play that defined last night’s game and will instead try to focus on the optimistic fact that this young and inexperienced Spurs team very nearly scored a road playoff win against a very good (and extremely desperate) opponent without the support of their best […]

Highlights: Shorthanded Spurs slug it out in loss to the Timberwolves

What a game! I kind of inexplicably blacked out 12 minutes into the game and gained consciousness a few moments later to watch the rest of the entertaining wrestling match/basketball game trying to piece together what happened like in the movie Memento. You, fellow readers, get the pleasure of going with me on this journey […]

Open Thread: Victor Wembanyama ejected from Game 4

Sunday evening’s Game 4 in Minneapolis did not go as planned for the San Antonio Spurs. With  8:39 left in the second quarter, Wemby was ejected when his right elbow hit Reid’s throat. Forgetting for a second that, had it been any other player, the elbow would have landed on Reid’s chest, the foul represents a […]

Spurs keep Game 4 vs. Timberwolves close despite Wembanyama’s ejection, fall late

The Western Conference Semifinals between the Spurs and the Timberwolves keeps providing memorable matchups. On Sunday, Victor Wembanyama’s first-half ejection threatened to create a throwaway game, but the Silver and Black responded without their best player and battled to the very end before losing a heartbreaker, 114-109. The series will move back to San Antonio […]

The Timberwolves chances of flipping the script on the Spurs

Here’s the fourth installment of the second round’s Fraterniz With The Enemy, my ongoing, series-long conversation with Thilo of PtR’s sister site covering the Minnesota Timberwolves, Canis Hoopus. J.R. Wilco In the middle of a series that feels like a movie from a director intent on subverting expectations above all else, Game 3 was a […]

Open Thread: The Spurs moms have been visible this season

Happy Mother’s Day! I realize today is Game 4 and there are options for discussion, but for now, let’s be grateful for those women who enrich our lives. Whether it’s your mother, or the mother of your children, or that nurturing aunt or neighbor, this is a great day to reach out and remind that […]

Game Four Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

In Round One of the NBA playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs lost home-court advantage to the Portland Trail Blazers, and then won two road games to take a 3-1 lead. Now the Spurs find themselves in a similar situation, with the chance to go up 3-1 on the Minnesota Timberwolves before heading back to San […]

What We Learned from the Spurs Game 3 win over the Wolves

The lead never felt comfortable. It was weird. Ungainly. 7-1. Unsightly. 9-1. The offense was ugly. Stilted. 11-1. We were making more shots than the Wolves, sure, but that felt like a technicality. 14-1. Keldon hit a three. We still looked off. There were five minutes left in the first quarter and the Wolves had […]

Box Grades: Wembanyama’s historic night powers Spurs over Wolves

WOW. I must admit, I did my level-best to enter this game with muted expectations, as I was concerned that the Spurs could be feeling a bit overconfident after their dominant Game 2 win. Furthermore, I felt that Minnesota might be the more desperate and motivated team, as a Game 3 win for them would […]

Open Thread: The ramifications of the Spurs taking Game 3

History is on the side of the San Antonio Spurs. In a 7 games series, when tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 goes on the win the series 73% of the time. In Game 1, Anthony Edwards came off the bench. After a rapid recovery from a knee hyperextension he gave the Timberwolves a […]