It's panic time

Well, I can't say this loss wasn't expected. Even without making a deal at the deadline, the Spurs are still at top 3 team in the NBA. That's right, one spot ahead of the Cavs. Tim Duncan was his usual robotic self, going for 18 and 18, but the thing that always catches me off guard is how good Tony Parker is. He had 19 points, 11 assists, and 5 rebounds. He should at least be in the conversation for the third best point guard in the League behind CP3 and Deron Williams. I would put him up there with Nash and Billups

Both teams showed up defensively last night, as each was held to about 40% shooting. Iverson was hot with 31 points, but he couldn't hit a 3-pointer at the end of the game, when he had two tries. That really kind of makes him useless at the end of close games. Most refs will swallow their whistle at the end, and teams won't let AI drive in and make an easy 2. He is only a 31% shooter from 3. He needs to work on his range

The Spurs unveiled a new secret weapon last night. Matt Bonner killed us, going 5-8 from downtown. Not bad for a center.

We played the Spurs close in basically every facet of the game, with the exception of perimeter shooting. I think the real reason we lost is because our most important scorer, Rip, never got into sync, going 2-10 from the floor. This is not coincidence. This is Bruce Bowen. We are not that great of a team at creating our own shots, so Bowen can seek and destroy.

Hopefully, the Pistons to get something out of this loss. I am not kidding about panic mode. We are now 1 game above .500. We need to make some changes. Perhaps move Rip into the starting lineup again, because Stuckey is really not playing very well lately. If we had won this game, everybody would have talked about how it righted the ship, but now we know for sure that we have major problems.

Also here is a quick review of the Bucks game from Tuesday:

We got off to a bad start, trailing 29-17 at the end of the first. Most of this was Richard Jefferson, who finished with 29 points on only 13 shots. Iverson, Stuckey, and Rip weren't shooting well (a combined 12-38), so we had to rely on McDyess to score. He did, getting 24 points and 14 boards, and we started to come back. But we were stymied by Milwaukee's defense all night. Sessions played well against us again, scoring 17, with 9 rebounds and 7 assists

Sessions vs. Rip City

Wow! I had no idea that Ramon Sessions was going to tear through our defense like a hot knife through butta. He had 20 points in the fourth quarter, and 44 in all. He was 13-18 from the field and 18-21 from the free throw line. He also had 12 assists. Not bad for a second round draft pick. If the team would have had Michael Redd as a kick out option for Sessions, there is no doubt in my mind that we would have lost. However, they are crippled with injuries. We also have Rip Hamilton, who was the man last night

Rip scored 38 points on 15-25 shooting. The more unsung hero of last night's game was Tayshaun. He only scored 7 points, but he contributed 13 rebounds and 9 assists. Iverson and Sheed also played above average, each scoring 27 points. We had no trouble shooting the ball, going 48% from the field, 55% from downtown, and hitting 26-28 from the charity stripe.

Usually a win in overtime is cause for celebration and a good start in building momentum. In the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast my friend." We may have shot very well, but what quality of defense were we playing against. The only defensive minded player on that team is a rookie, LRMaM. Sheed played good defense against former Spur Francisco Elson, but Amir struggled mightily against Chuck Villanueva, who scored 33 points. And Allen Iverson and Rip could not stop Sessions all night. We got the win, but it came against a sub-.500 team missing three of it's best players (Bogut, Redd, and Ridnour if you are keeping track at home.) We need to start going deeper into our bench to allow our starters to stay fresh until the end of the game, because we are terrible in the second half. Coach Curry needs a new scheme

Other things of note:

• My boy, Adam Morrison, was traded to the Lakers along with former Spartan Shannon Brown for VladRad. Rufus on Fire believes the Lakers only really wanted Brown


• New Jersey obliterated Denver, 114 to 70


• Disco Dirk scored 44 as the Mavs beat da Bulls in OT

Game 48 Preview

PG: Well, the Bucks are going to miss Luke Ridnour. Maybe they put Sessions here, which wouldn't be a drop-off, but he was already playing in Redd's spot

Advantage: Pistons

SG: Sessions is a good distributor, but I am not sure if he is a good shooter or defender. I'm not betting on it

Advantage: Pistons

SF: I think Richard Jefferson is one of the most overrated players. He doesn't really do all that much but score about 15 a night

Advantage: Pistons

PF: Villanueva has the skill set to be an All-Star, but he seems indifferent to how he performs. Regardless, Amir is going to have his hands full, but what else is new?

Advantage: Bucks

C: The Bucks also really miss Andrew Bogut. Sheed should dominate tonight

Advantage: Pistons

Overall: I liked the Bucks team at the beginning of the season, but now, three of there top 5 players are down and out. We are definitely playing them at the right time. I think we should win by at least 10.