Reply With Quote
Good to Great
Prelude
The festive atmosphere at the season opener for the 2013-2014 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs began with a ring presentation, and ended with a tense, gritty, scrappy finish from a Dallas Mavericks team that seemed to be playing with a chip on their shoulder after having been ousted from the playoffs 119 to 96 way back on May 4th. Coming into the contest on October 28th, the Mavs looked across the way to see the exact same roster they faced in that short playoff run, with the exception of an illness for Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and a couple of injuries which kept Tiago Splitter off the floor and has sidelined Patty Mills until The Great Barrier Reef recovers. The Mavs, meanwhile, are drastically different from last year's team. They added defensive stalwart Tyson Chandler, veteran of their 2011 Championship team, and threw a bank vault at Chandler Parsons to lure him from Houston. Dirk, who took a pay cut this season to rearm the Mavs, reportedly told Parsons that he is "eating on Parsons' tab all this year because it's my money anyway".
Game Summary
Given the trouble the Mavs presented to the Spurs last year, and the fact that arguably the Spurs best wing defender and post defender were out of action for this contest, odds seemed to favor the visiting team. The lead seesawed back and forth in the first quarter, ending with the Spurs up 2, thanks in part to a trio of threes from Tony Parker, Danny Green, and Marco Belinelli. The Mavs battled back strongly in the 2nd quarter based around strong shooting, going 3-6 from downtown while the Spurs shot 0-3 from beyond the arc in that span. The half ended with the Mavs up 8 points, 53 to 45, and the normally potent Spurs offense looking somewhat lackluster, with poor ball spacing and unusual lineups seeing time on the court, such as Tony Parker and Cory Joseph on the floor together for a large portion of the 2nd quarter (Danny Green saw extended rest during this time).
The 2nd half saw the Mavs lead grow to 9 briefly before a pair of momentum-building treys from Beli and Green chopped the lead to 3. Moments later, Tyson Chandler picked up a tech after Tim Duncan continually frustrated him on both sides of the ball, and Parker made a layup to follow the Beli tech FT to tie the game, prompting the announcer for TNT to state that the "Mavs had weathered the storm" by blowing a 9 point lead, which was a bit odd to say the least. Manu sank a nasty stepback 2 with just seconds on the clock to give the Spurs a 3 point lead heading into the 4th, which was dominated... by Spurs turnovers. The Spurs raced out to an 8 point lead behind a torrent of 3 balls (14-28 for the game for San Antonio), but behind some truly oddball lineups featuring Parker, Green, and Belinelli on the floor together, the Spurs "weathered the storm" to bring the Mavs back within 2, then a tie, and the lead on a patented Dirk Fadeaway with 1:28 on the clock. Enter Tony "Dale Ellis" Parker, who drilled his 4th taken and made trey of the game to put the Spurs up 101-100 and send the Mavs plummeting to an 0-1 record, tied for worst in the NBA. With the loss, Dallas falls a half-game out of playoff contention, surely disappointing for a team that was hoping to be a Finals contender this year.
Player Ratings
MVP: Richard Jeff.... Tony Parker, A-
In the first game of the NBA season, Tony Parker was a monster. He had 23 points on 9-15 shooting, included 4 of 4 from beyond the arc. He was also very aggressive on defense and turned the ball over only once. Indeed, Parker made good solid passes and rotations most of the night, and if he truly has developed a deep 3 (which he used often in last year's le run), the League would best to be wary of the 32 year old point guard. He's going to be nearly impossible to guard, for even though he might have lost a half-step, Tony is still much faster than the average point guard in this league. It would also allow the Spurs to be more flexible with their sets, as a PG who's a threat from range, Parker could space the floor and create a lot of matchup problems if teams try to closeout on him, freeing up drives to the tin for easy points. The 3s might be a new wrinkle to his game, but Parker showed some sleek moves including a half spin post up and under that left poor Jameer Nelson somewhere out on the I-90. Afterward, Barkley proclaimed that Parker is the "best point guard in the league". Great show from Parker on opening night, and hopefully a sign of more to come from the rejuvenated guard. Parker finishes with a team high 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Highlight Reel
Manu Ginobili, A-
Though he did have 3 turnovers, given the fact that this was Manu's first game back after an extensive injury period, he looked as good as ever. Whipping passes all over the court, striking terror into the Mavs with whomever was unfortunate enough to guard him, and playing extremely physical, tough defense, Manu was giving the Mavs defensive fits all game long. Given the expected level of rust, it's easy to hand Manu an adjusted grade of A+, as he made things happen on the court tonight and was often the catalyst for the Spurs offense. Perhaps even more importantly, the three amigos looked absolutely passionate and ecstatic to be back on the court tonight, and it seems that if anyone doubts the desire of this team in the "Chase for Seis", those fears are drastically misguided. Manu was a threat whether dialing in from deep (2-6) or streaking to the hoop. Manu ended the night with 20 points on 13 shots, tallied 6 assists with just a pair of rebounds, but he also got to the stripe 7 times.
Tim Duncan, B+
It's easy to look at a fairly pedestrian statline that includes 5 turnovers and 2 dimes on 5-10 shooting and conclude that Duncan had a below average game. That might be true on one level, but Blackjack more than made up for that with hustle tonight. Duncan was quite literally diving into the crowd to save loose balls throughout the game when no other player on either team would, and ended up preserving 3-4 Spurs possessions because of his work ethic. It's obviously been said before, but when a 38 year old is literally the hardest working guy on the court for long stretches of a game, you just have to stop and admire that kind of passion. Duncan was a dominant force on the boards, in no small part due to that hustle, and ended with 13 boards, which is 3 more than anyone on the Mavs. His prowess and physicality caused Tyson Chandler and then later Dirk to erupt, drawing techs on both. Duncan also netted a pair of blocks for the game to go with 14 points.
Marco Belinelli, B
Marco had an uneven post-season last year, due in perhaps no small part to the supernova of offense from Patty Mills that gave the Spurs all the firepower they needed. Tonight Beli was very much an asset, and scored frequently when the Mavs missed a rotation. They might have been open shots, but Marco still needed to be there to take it, and he fit right into the offense to the tune of 15 sensationally-efficient points on 5 of 8 shots. Marco logged almost 31 minutes of gametime, and definitely looked overmatched on defense against some of the large lineups the Mavs threw into the mix tonight, but I can't really fault Marco for being undersized when Pop plays him at the 3 with Joseph and Parker as guards. Marco was less of a factor in the 2nd half, but still had a very respectable game for a guy who was lower in the rotation last season.
Danny Green, B-
To have a truly fantastic game, Danny Green needs to not turn the ball over. That is, he needs to consistently hit threes (which he still receives credit for even if it's more expected now), but he also needs to put the ball on the floor and evolve his threat as a player who can hurt a team that can close out hard on 3 point shooters. Green coughed the ball up 3 times, which is a bit much for a guy that only took 9 shots. Still, Green drilled 5 of his 9 shots and played heady defense even when switched onto Dirk. He also nabbed 4 rebounds and picked up 4 fouls, which is something Spurs' fans should live with if he's going to be forceful on D.
Boris Diaw, C+
This guy is absolutely one of the kings of players who dominate statistical categories in fantasy hoops if points are taken out of the mix. Diaw tied Ginobili for a game high 6 assists, and provided much needed spacing and ball rotation for an offense that looked positively beleaguered at times. However, particularly if Kawhi and Tiago are out for a while, the Spurs will need Diaw to assert himself more on both sides of the ball. Diaw did dive daringly to the rim, at times, but the dynamics were disappointingly duplicitous. Here's hoping the hoagie-hoarding hoopster has higher hashmarks on Hallow's Eve.
Cory Joseph, D+
I'm being a little rough on CoJo here, but I expect him to be at least a bit of an impact player, especially on D. Instead Cory seemed to get lost in the mix much of the time and ended up having a subpar night with under 20 minutes played, on a night that he could have easily netted 30 for the short-handed Spurs. He did shoot 3-4 with a trey and a pair of assists however, so again, perhaps he just needs a little more time to be comfortable being a major part of the offense with Mills out.
Aron Baynes, D
It seems as though there's a never-ending trail of "what-ifs" with this guy. Following a robust early 1st/2nd quarter performance, Baynes simply vanished from the game and was never a factor again. 4 points and 2 rebounds in 18 minutes of play is just not the kind of numbers the Spurs should expect on a night when this guy had the chance to shine. He did tally one very, very nice block, but aside from that I am starting to see why Aron doesn't get more PT. Just one game -- let's hope he finds himself this season and racks up some serious numbers in the post.
Matt Bonner, F
Make your ****ing shots, Rocket. He was pulled early in this contest and did not return, for good reason. Still 2nd on the team in +/- at +6. Sickening.
Coaching
Gregg Popovich
On some level, I find it exceedingly difficult to grade the greatest coach in the NBA on a game to game basis. This goes doubly so for the early part of the season, when Pop get his mad scientist on and starts running sets with Parker, Joseph, Beli, with Manu at the 4 and Diaw at C. It's haphazard by design and I think that's part of the genius of Pop: He's playing the long game, every day, all the time. Perhaps when Danny Green is watching Diaw and Marco on the court together he'll see more of an opportunity for backdoor screen to free up a shooter. It's clear by now that the Spurs use every game as a teaching moment, and they'd rather learn something about themselves than win 1 game out of the 82 that is the NBA regular season grind. It does appear to be by design that Pop is freeing up Parker to shoot more 3s, and if he hits at anything above 35%, the Spurs are going to have a ferocious new weapon that's going to force defenses to completely rethink the way they guard the Spurs starting 5. On a night when the Spurs were missing 2 starters and their backup PG, just getting the W is a thrilling start to the season.
Becky Hammon, Ettore Messina
The Spurs added two additions to the staff over the off-season. This being their first "real" game, they deserve a special place in this review. Welcome to the Championship fold, guys. Go Spurs Go.
Looking Ahead
The Spurs travel to Phoenix on All Hallow's Eve for a Friday night game vs the Suns. Afterward, a brutal slate of 5 games in 7 nights awaits them as November creeps forward, then an absolute torrid pace of games in December will test the championship mettle of our already battered le team.
Hoping for: Kawhi's return sparking utter dominance on the early half of B2Bs, allowing the Spurs to pick up a win in one of their scheduled losses to start the season 6-1 and build momentum.
Prediction: The Spurs do struggle on back to backs, but manage to manage to win the rest, starting the season 5-2 before beating the Lakers by 44 points in Tinseltown.
Good to Great
"We agree 200% with your ratings Timvp, you are always 7000% right"
It still hurts...
It's okay to be mad about a spurs win, chief. It's okay."We agree 200% with your ratings Timvp, you are always 7000% right
Good read. Don't agree with a lot of it but I do agree on one thing : Cojo's defense is not that good, I think one part is that he's too small (but then again Berveley or Avery Bradley are small as well) and the other is just footspeed... I remember 2 years ago when Curry was torching everyone, Cojo still did worse than anyone else and Curry went 10 for 11 or something when he tried to guard him...
I think this team could get a ridiculous record, Daye and Anderson gonna play in that 5 games in 7 days stretch and imo they're better than some players that were used vs Dallas (Bonner, Cojo, Beli not to name anyone)...
Only concern is slim Timmy who plays at the one positon where depth sucks and keeping everyone happy, both in term of playing time and of role... Do they start Diaw so that Kawhi is more likely to make the Allstar team or do they prioritize slim Timmy... Do they finally put Kawhi in the PnR...
Critiques welcome, guys.
Cry Havoc, I want to say thank you for volunteering to do some of these games I know you and I are often on a different opinion but I do appropriate you spending your time doing this and hope to see more.
On another note I cant wait for RJ just go away...Forever.
Great read. Great job.
Good read. I appreciate anyone that takes the time to make a serious run at doing one of these. They serve as a great point of departure to discuss the game even if there are disagreements about your subjective evaluations.
I'll limit my comments to the 'mad scientist' theme, with the two snippets below as examples:
First off, the second line-up never happened. Tim and Baynes split the 48 minutes at center while Boris and Bonner split the 48 minutes at PF.
The first lineup was the starting lineup, so I'm not sure how oddball it was. The alternative was to play KA in Beli's place, or in addition to Beli, but keeping the rookie on the bench and going with the vets is actually the opposite of the mad scientist approach. It was actually very conservative. Everybody just moved up the depth chart.
The Spurs played a nine-man rotation in the playoffs. They played nine guys last night. Splitter, Leonard, and Mills were missing. Baynes, Bonner, and Joseph were added, with Beli moving from the bench to the SL. The major difference was that the playoff rotation was 3 bigs and 6 perimeter players and last night we saw 4 bigs and 5 perimeter players. I would expect that the rotation will be 10 deep, as it was in the regular season last year, once Kawhi returns. I'd also expect no changes to the big rotation we saw last night until Splitter returns. At that point, Bonner or Baynes will become the 5th big.
Here's hoping the hoagie-hoarding hoopster has higher hashmarks on Hallow's Eve.
love the use of alliteration and i have to agree on cojo. he was schooled on numerous occasions by devon harris. also disappointed with baines who has to become a better post up player and pick and roll defender.
hoagie-hoarding hoopster
Thanks for the review, tbh.
Baynes deserves better though. At least a C. He scored, got a block, and got a few boards in very limited action.
great reading.
Thanks for the grades, CH. Really appreciate them.
The biggest (and only real) concern I had last night in watching the game was Tim and Diaw combining for 9 turnovers. I keep telling myself, though, that the high turnovers are likely a function of Kawhi and Tiago both being out. Thing is, all the games count now, and even when Splitter and Leonard come back it will take some time for them to get into game-contribution shape, and we do't have any time. Meanwhile, Tim and Boris need to take better care of the ball. The fact that they also combined for about 20 rebounds offsets the turnovers, clearly, but it is a concern to me right now. Had Chandler Parsons not been in foul trouble a lot of last night, we could have really been in trouble.
Both Parker and Duncan started relatively slowly from the shooting perspective, imo, but they both picked up accuracy as the game went on. I agree with you that Ginobilli was just inspiring last night - an absolute thrill to watch.
Regarding Baynes - I guess I'm just not as upset with him as you are and it seems as though Pop is. He is not going to be the highest bball i.q. on any team on which he plays, and he still misses too many assignments, but his sheer size and willingness to USE that size for setting hard picks, standing and taking charges (if he could only figure out how to leave the restricted area before he sets up for those charges that end up as blocks because he hasn't paid attention to where his feet are), and generally being willing to TRY to do whatever the coaches want of him. I still prefer him to Ayres, and we have got to do something until Splitter gets back, and I think he is our best bet. Long way of saying he didn't play well, but I think a D is a bit harsh for the kid.
Bonner - you are right - he has stayed on this team for years as Duncan's buddy - but he has no business on the court.
Belinelli - well, he was better than he was in the preseason. That's good, huh?
Green - I think he looked out of sorts because he has been so spoiled by playing with the first team that he doesn't exactly know how to fit in with mixed-up line-ups. He seems like kind of the ultimate 'groove' player, and when he is out of his groove by not playing the same way with the same guys all the time, he does not do well.
All in all - I didn't really expect us to win last night given the way we had played in the preseason, and had it not been for Manu playing his guts out and Chandler Parsons getting called for so many fouls, we likely would have lost. But I'm glad we won, and I'm glad you have agreed to so some grades for us.
Oh, and I forgot - I agree completely about CoJo. I just don't him as an NBA level point guard. Just don't see it happening, and can't figure out why he is still here.
Not sure if 18 minutes qualifies as "very limited".Thanks for the review, tbh.
Baynes deserves better though. At least a C. He scored, got a block, and got a few boards in very limited action.
Damn, 18 minutes? Didn't feel like it. Either way, he was decent. Didn't stand out but did some dirty work. Wish he would have given a hard foul to Monte when he was balling though.
You're correct, I was using the second lineup as an example of what *might* happen if our starters don't return very quickly.
As for the first, whoops, that's my bad. I meant Parker, Cojo, and Beli. Not Green.I think they ran that sometime in the 3rd quarter, and our spacing looked terrible as Tony and Cory naturally ran to the same spot.
Yeah, that's not a combo I want to see either, but I don't think we will once Kawhi returns and they go back to playing six perimeter players.You're correct, I was using the second lineup as an example of what *might* happen if our starters don't return very quickly.
As for the first, whoops, that's my bad. I meant Parker, Cojo, and Beli. Not Green.
Yeah, hopefully it's just first game jitters. The Mavs looked unimpressive last night outside of Monta and Dirk as well.
I like Baynes. I like his game, and his at ude. I'm still not sure if his skillset is ever going to fit in here in SA. I think someone like Cleveland or Minny -- starved for true big bodies -- would be thrilled to have him. He'd probably avg. 20mpg there at least.Regarding Baynes - I guess I'm just not as upset with him as you are and it seems as though Pop is. He is not going to be the highest bball i.q. on any team on which he plays, and he still misses too many assignments, but his sheer size and willingness to USE that size for setting hard picks, standing and taking charges (if he could only figure out how to leave the restricted area before he sets up for those charges that end up as blocks because he hasn't paid attention to where his feet are), and generally being willing to TRY to do whatever the coaches want of him. I still prefer him to Ayres, and we have got to do something until Splitter gets back, and I think he is our best bet. Long way of saying he didn't play well, but I think a D is a bit harsh for the kid.
Agree on the point about Green. He's waaaaaaaaaay undersized for the 3, sticking him there really wears him down as he tries to be physical with guys who have 30 pounds on him. I feel like Beli is the same way, if they get a rhythm they can go lights out. Beli almost single-handedly destroyed the Warriors last year when there weren't even any starters in the lineup other than Tiago. Regardless, I'm glad Marco is on this team. He gives us a ton of flexibility.Belinelli - well, he was better than he was in the preseason. That's good, huh?
Green - I think he looked out of sorts because he has been so spoiled by playing with the first team that he doesn't exactly know how to fit in with mixed-up line-ups. He seems like kind of the ultimate 'groove' player, and when he is out of his groove by not playing the same way with the same guys all the time, he does not do well.
Who would you sign at this point to take CoJo's place?Oh, and I forgot - I agree completely about CoJo. I just don't him as an NBA level point guard. Just don't see it happening, and can't figure out why he is still here.
the best thing about baynes is that he isn't ayres
Well, that does sort of exhaust his charms, doesn't it?
not when the alternative is Ayres
Agreed on all counts, though I don't think Cojo needs more time to adjust. His only supposed asset is defense and he got routinely torched last night. He is what he is, and that's a starter on a Chinese team. He's had plenty of time at this point, and he's proven that he isn't an impact player on either end of the court. The Pelicans are giving up on a cheap Austin Rivers contract, and he is a year younger and arguably a better player.
The Spurs can weather the storm until January with Manu at backup PG, but if Parker sprains an ankle they should probably start looking around. Cory's only real leverage is that he knows the system.
thanks. I thought Baynes was better than D.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
