Grades: Spurs vs. Rockets - Jan. 11

[timvp]

A day after a deflating loss in Milwaukee, the Spurs were back to the grind. The Rockets came to town with their hardhats on and the two Texas teams played a physical game that featured numerous runs both ways. After the smoke cleared, the Spurs were able to celebrate a hard-fought 101-95 overtime victory.

I thought it was a really good win by the Spurs. Early on, the defense was terrible. Thankfully, San Antonio steadily improved on that end. Following halftime, the Spurs were playing some of their best defense of the season. On offense, the Big Two did the heavy lifting.

As for the Rockets, I'm impressed with the overall talent on their roster. While they lack high-end talent, their roster is packed with players with good potential. This year, I expect Houston to be able to fight for a playoff spot.

Looking forward, the Spurs get a day off before taking on an impressive Trail Blazers squad on Friday.

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8837/jan11box.gif

Tim Duncan A-
On the second day of a back-to-back with the Rockets pounding away at him, Tim Duncan played really well. Going 38 minutes for the second straight game, Duncan was able to keep his legs and show good mobility throughout. Offensively, he had perhaps his best night of the season on the low block. His passing was great again. On defense, Duncan was really active. Not only was he defending the rim, he stepped away and played solid defense on Luis Scola. Overall, to see Duncan play this well given the draining circumstances bodes well for the rest of the season.

Tony Parker A
Tony Parker was finally able to put it all together for a vintage performance. After a slow start, Parker put his foot on the gas and ran around the Rockets. His penetration keyed the offense; without that, the Spurs wouldn't have cracked 70 points. He scored, created for teammates and was able to limit his turnovers despite the Rockets concentrating their efforts on his every move. Defensively, Parker was very good -- especially in the third quarter. If he can play like this more often, the Spurs will be difficult to beat.

Richard Jefferson C
In overtime, Richard Jefferson hit a monstrous three-pointer. His play the rest of the night, however, was very much lacking. His defense was somewhere between below average and bad. On offense, his predictably one-dimensional ways were of little to no help. With Manu Ginobili sidelined, the Spurs need Jefferson to shoulder more of the load -- not simply blend in.

Kawhi Leonard A
I'm trying to not get too excited about this rookie but Kawhi Leonard is making that difficult. After a slow start, I thought his defense was tremendous. In crunch time, he was blanketing Martin. In fact, Martin was held scoreless in the fourth quarter and overtime. Leonard also made a number of plays when rotating on defense. Oh, and he continues to do great work on the boards. Offensively, things can still be shaky at times but Leonard is finding his niche. Let's hope he keeps getting minutes and just keeps improving by the hour -- like he's seemingly doing now.

DeJuan Blair C+
DeJuan Blair got lit up by Luis Scola to begin the game, although that's hardly a surprise. Of much bigger concern is the fact that Blair is suddenly an extremely poor defensive rebounder. Without rebounding, Blair isn't an NBA level player ... so that's a pretty big deal. Offensively, Blair was good. He picked his spots well and his efficiency on that end has been stellar of late.

Tiago Splitter B+
In spurts, Tiago Splitter was a beast tonight. He hasn't yet put it all together but the potential is obvious. Offensively, I liked what he did. Splitter kept things simple and played to his strengths. On defense, he was very good at patrolling the paint and protecting the rim. However, his post defense was really bad most of the night. That said, I see no reason why he shouldn't be playing closer to 30 minutes a night.

Matt Bonner C+
Defensively, Matt Bonner had a few good moments but it was mostly more of the same. And by same, I mean mistakes in team defense, slow rotations and softness in the paint. Offensively, he was decent but again tried to do too much.

Gary Neal C-
The first game of Gary Neal as the backup point guard wasn't very pretty. He was extremely shot happy -- to put it nicely -- and that doesn't really work from a point guard with limited court vision. At the very least, he needs to look to get the team into the motion sets instead of spending possessions searching out pull-up jumpers. Defensively, I thought he was really bad. On a bad defensive team, Neal has been the worst defender. (I'll give him a bit of the break due to the appendectomy but that excuse doesn't have an infinite shelf life.)

Danny Green C+
Mysteriously, Danny Green's defense has regressed mightily since his breakout game against the Nuggets. I don't know if it's a case of a player falling back down to earth or just a rough stretch -- I guess we'll have to wait and see. Tonight, his defense was again underwhelming. Offensively, he took a few bad shots and demonstrated little touch around the rim.

James Anderson Inc.
After Green made a pair of mistakes on the defensive end, Pop pulled him and inserted James Anderson. The results weren't good. While he made a play on the defensive end, his offense is ugly right now. Anderson's biggest problem is he really struggles to dribble the basketball. With space, he has good moves and decent court vision. But when defended tightly, he's a turnover and a fastbreak layup the other way waiting to happen.

Pop B
Starting Leonard and playing him big minutes paid off handsomely. Playing Duncan and Parker so many minutes on a back-to-back was questionable, but it ended up being the right call. I would have liked to have seen Jefferson and Bonner play less and Splitter play more but overall Pop's rotation was solid. What I really liked was Pop yelling at his troops after early defensive breakdowns. By the fourth and overtime, the intensity on that end was as high as it's been all season.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Nice write up, I was just happy to see Pop put in Splitter for the OT period after staying with Bonner for much too long.

By the AS Break, I hope to see Blair coming off the bench.

[dylankerouac]

Thanks for the write-up timvp!

[ducks]

time for parker to roll out the a gradeds

no tj no manu no problem tp says

hopefully he is starting to feel better

[ElNono]

thanks

[Bender]

That said, I see no reason why he should be playing close to 30 minutes a night.regarding Splitter, did you mean no reason he should NOT be playing 30 min. a night?

[timvp]

regarding Splitter, did you mean no reason he should NOT be playing 30 min. a night?

Good catch. Thanks.

[Bill_Brasky]

DG got better as the game went on. He wasn't filling up the basket but he played some decent D and made some nice plays down the stretch, especially in OT with the block on Lowry(?). To me, he's clearly the choice for the back-up SG spot, and Anderson will just have to wait another year to prove himself. It really does suck considering how well he started his rookie campaign.

[Cane]

Good grades, love timvp threads :toast It was a vintage Parker night, looks like I'll be shutting up about his "decline"...at least for a little while ;) Dude's still a beast

Good to see the Parker/Duncan duo being effective again.

That OT was worrisome and too close for comfort. Another close game for the Spurs and that first quarter was infuriating as Scola looked like an Argentian Kevin McHale out there...after that the Spurs became more competitive defensively

Leonard puts up a quiet yet profound impact, and his good statsheet numbers don't show off his defense. As long as he keeps his arms up and leaves the gambling to guys like Green and Blair then he'll stay out of the doghouse.. Gotta love Leonard. Even with Ginobil and Ford injured, trading Hill for Leonard still looks like a great move

[DPG21920]

It's all about energy and intensity. When the spurs are active and engaged the level of play is noticeably better.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Thanks! It's unfortunate JA has been such a disappointment so far. On the other hand Leonard has been fun to watch develop.

[ElNono]

I guess I'll take the heat, but I didn't think we played that well. Houston right now is last in the West, we played at home and we didn't close a game that had no business getting to OT.

Frankly, I understand it's hard to win as it is without Manu, but this team struggles mightily when we don't hit 3s, and we've been shooting ~30% from downtown the last two games.

I thought the defense was only there for some stretches and we again went through really pitiful defensive batches during the game.

The flipside obviously is the win and I also liked Leonard a lot. Again, exceeding expectations for a rook after a shaky start. He now has guarded Durant, SJax and Kevin Martin the last 3 games, and I think he has been serviceable.

There's still a shitload of work to do on the defensive end though.

[007nites]

I almost had an orgasm when I saw Timmay and Splitter playing in OT together.

[Darkwaters]

It's hard not to be excited about Leonard. On paper hes the super young, super athletic, defensive-minded, thick and strong small forward this board has been salivating over for years. And through 10 games he looks as good as advertised.

[spectator]

Gotta love Leonard. Even with Ginobil and Ford injured, trading Hill for Leonard still looks like a great move

sure does

[spectator]

kl is growing game by game. hopefully his youth and energy prevent him from hitting the rookie wall. i would love to see him play this hard the entire season.

[SenorSpur]

Good grades, love timvp threads :toast It was a vintage Parker night, looks like I'll be shutting up about his "decline"...at least for a little while ;) Dude's still a beast

Good to see the Parker/Duncan duo being effective again.

That OT was worrisome and too close for comfort. Another close game for the Spurs and that first quarter was infuriating as Scola looked like an Argentian Kevin McHale out there...after that the Spurs became more competitive defensively

Leonard puts up a quiet yet profound impact, and his good statsheet numbers don't show off his defense. As long as he keeps his arms up and leaves the gambling to guys like Green and Blair then he'll stay out of the doghouse.. Gotta love Leonard. Even with Ginobil and Ford injured, trading Hill for Leonard still looks like a great move

Despite the qualms of some, who derided the Spurs, at the time, for parting with Hill.

[SenorSpur]

Gary Neal C-
The first game of Gary Neal as the backup point guard wasn't very pretty. He was extremely shot happy -- to put it nicely -- and that doesn't really work from a point guard with limited court vision. At the very least, he needs to look to get the team into the motion sets instead of spending possessions searching out pull-up jumpers. Defensively, I thought he was really bad. On a bad defensive team, Neal has been the worst defender. (I'll give him a bit of the break due to the appendectomy but that excuse doesn't have an infinite shelf life.)
All of which is why I believe that forcing Neal to play backup PG is not the answer. As I stated in another thread, Neal just doesn't have the instincts and mentality. He's a shooter and no amount of coaching is going to change that.

I know Pop is in a pinch, but if I were him, I'd just take my chances with Cory Joseph. Despite his relative inexperience, he makes far more sense as the primary backup PG, than Neal ever could.

[timvp]

It's all about energy and intensity. When the [fillinthenameofanynbateamhere] are active and engaged the level of play is noticeably better.

Thanks, captain :toast


I guess I'll take the heat, but I didn't think we played that well... I thought the defense was only there for some stretches and we again went through really pitiful defensive batches during the game.

The Rockets hit 12 of their first 16 shots. The rest of the way, they shot 36.3% from the floor. I'll obviously take that despite some lapses here and there.

But I do agree with you that the Spurs didn't really play that well. There was nothing tonight that proved that the Spurs are more of a contender or anything. But, honestly, any win right now is a good win. I can't get too picky with style points ... especially when the defense actually showed signs of life.

[timvp]

I know Pop is in a pinch, but if I were him, I'd just take my chances with Cory Joseph. Despite his relative inexperience, he makes far more sense as the primary backup PG, than Neal ever could.

I'm not quite ready to go that far. I'd give Neal a few more games. It can't be easy to suddenly become a point guard. At least he didn't turn the ball over. That in itself is pretty impressive for a guy making the switch to that position ... even though he didn't turn the ball over because he was busy shooting it :lol



One nice thing about Neal at point guard is it makes Parker seem like Magic Johnson by comparison. It takes the defense a couple possessions to adjust back to defending a point guard who will pass.

[024]

it's good to finally get some defensive presence back on the team, someone to energize the team defensively. green did it for two games and now leonard plus splitter can do it as well. the spurs have been missing that intensity since 2009 when bowen could no longer perform at a high level.

since then, the spurs had to look to mason, jefferson, and bogans to man the perimeter while bonner anchors the paint. hill had his good stretches but couldn't really guard the bigger guards and SF's in the league. finally, the spurs are at least gathering the tools to build a stronger defensive team.

[bdictjames]

Glad Timmy is back.

[ElNono]

The Rockets hit 12 of their first 16 shots. The rest of the way, they shot 36.3% from the floor. I'll obviously take that despite some lapses here and there.

But I do agree with you that the Spurs didn't really play that well. There was nothing tonight that proved that the Spurs are more of a contender or anything. But, honestly, any win right now is a good win. I can't get too picky with style points ... especially when the defense actually showed signs of life.

As a fan, I'll take being over .500 with Manu down... and definitely there will be growing pains... I agree the Spurs should lose some dead weight and play Splitter more... he's young... there's no reason not to

[therealtruth]

regarding Splitter, did you mean no reason he should NOT be playing 30 min. a night?

I don't get the point of the early deficits. Pop should start Splitter and stop spotting the other team 10 points. He's a smart player. His offense will come around in time.

[GSH]

Danny Green C+
Mysteriously, Danny Green's defense has regressed mightily since his breakout game against the Nuggets. I don't know if it's a case of a player falling back down to earth or just a rough stretch -- I guess we'll have to wait and see. Tonight, his defense was again underwhelming. Offensively, he took a few bad shots and demonstrated little touch around the rim.



Sorry, Timvp. I got tired of people blasting Green in the game thread for things that didn't happen. I only recorded the second half, but I just finished going through it and isolating every play that remotely included Green. His play just wasn't that bad - really not bad at all. (The truth is, he did several things to help save that game at the end.) And he did a hell of a lot better job on Lowry than anyone else tonight. I'm going to put it into another thread, because it's bulky, and because people need to look at facts instead of just bashing a player because everyone else is.

As for him taking "a few bad shots"? He put the ball up 5 times. Three were wide open 3-pointers... shots he was absolutely supposed to take. He made one, and the other two were barely off. (2-3 threes and he's a hero, 1-3 and he's a goat?) One shot was a jumper, that he made. The fifth was the last shot of regulation. I've watched it more than a dozen times, full speed and slow motion. IF that play was supposed to go to Tim, then Tim waited too long to make his move off of Jefferson's screen - which also kept him from getting clear of Kevin Martin. If Green had tried to dump that ball to Tim, there is a huge chance that Martin would have gotten a hand on it and/or the shot would have been too late. The timing on the play was off. Green got a clean look in the paint, and just clanked the back iron. It wasn't a bad shot, and it wasn't his fault.

If you have the game recorded, take another look. Even that play where Lowry got off the open 3-pointer wasn't what most people thought it was.

[Bill_Brasky]

I agree with timvp that Blair's lack of rebounding is troubling...but he seems to be developing a post game and learning to use his body. He swished a jumper at the beginning of the game too.

His defense is still iffy though.

[ElNono]

Danny has been sloppy, IMO. He mixed a lot of garbage with some good stuff. He's been fouling too much while reaching. He needs to slow down, know he's not going to get a block or a steal every possession and focus on the job at hand.

Kawhi also started slow but kept his composure and elevated his game.

[roycrikside]

If Pop wants the Spurs to be a good defensive team, he has to play the front court of Tim, Tiago and Kawhi together as much as he can. That can be a great defensive threesome up front. Combine them with Manu when he comes back and Tony, and those five can D up pretty well and have enough firepower on the other end to win games in the fourth quarter, although the offense will have to come a lot from in the paint because there won't be a whole lot of shooting with that quintet except for Gino.

[timvp]

Sorry, Timvp. I got tired of people blasting Green in the game thread for things that didn't happen. I only recorded the second half, but I just finished going through it and isolating every play that remotely included Green. His play just wasn't that bad - really not bad at all. (The truth is, he did several things to help save that game at the end.)

Green had his good moments but, IMO, he had too many iffy moments for a player whose main focus should be not making mistakes. I think Green gets in trouble sometimes when he wants to make a play instead of taking what is given.

Off the top of my head, such plays include: 1) When he failed to box out Parsons and then overreacted and fouled Lowry. That was especially bad and deserving of the immediate hook because Neal made the same mistake in the first half. 2) I haven't watched the replay but there's no excuse for getting stuck under a pick and leaving Lowry wide open for three when the Spurs had a chance to put it away in regulation. Unless the tape shows something that made it 100% unavoidable, Green deserves blame for that. 3) When he didn't retreat to the right area in transition defense and then ended up having to foul Dragic in the fourth.


As for him taking "a few bad shots"?
One of his first half three-pointers was almost a no-look shot. He caught the ball, looked to pass for a split second and then shot it. Not surprisingly, it was an airball. Another three he seemed to force it after not being ready to shoot when he caught it. And, if I'm remembering correctly, that one two-pointer he made was a throw-it-at-the-basket-and-hopes-it-goes-in shot.

I do agree that "bad shots" was a poor way to describe those shots though. They weren't bad shots as in he shouldn't have shot them ... it was more about the execution of the shots.

[analyzed]

A few revelations: Pop is not afraid to use Tiago and Kawhi to finish close games. He is also open to go small, with Kawhi at the PF, at times we will see a line-up of Tony, Manu , RJ, Kawhi and Timmy late in the playoffs, and some occasions depending on match-ups yes Pop will use Tiago and Timmy together with Kawhi being the SF.. I'm all for this yehey !
BTW Blair is not finishing games for us. Tiago or Kawhi will be the Bigs who will finish.
It's obvious the guys Pop trust coming of the bench are: Tiago, Kawhi, Neal and Green. (special defense situations). Yeah Blair will start but he ain't finishing

[TE]

A few revelations: Pop is not afraid to use Tiago and Kawhi to finish close games. He is also open to go small, with Kawhi at the PF, at times we will see a line-up of Tony, Manu , RJ, Kawhi and Timmy late in the playoffs, and some occasions depending on match-ups yes Pop will use Tiago and Timmy together with Kawhi being the SF.. I'm all for this yehey !
BTW Blair is not finishing games for us. Tiago or Kawhi will be the Bigs who will finish.
It's obvious the guys Pop trust coming of the bench are: Tiago, Kawhi, Neal and Green. (special defense situations). Yeah Blair will start but he ain't finishing

Great post.


The question to ask now is what happens when Manu returns? We all know Manu finishes games alongside Timmy and TP. Who are the other two players?

I believe it's going to be a matter of match-ups, as you've pointed out.

I'm pretty damn excited that we have several options at the rotation. This team can compete defensively any given night, it's just a matter of time until that revelation is met.

[TDMVPDPOY]

when KL/TS can hit that FT freebies consistently they be closing out games

[GSH]

Green had his good moments but, IMO, he had too many iffy moments for a player whose main focus should be not making mistakes. I think Green gets in trouble sometimes when he wants to make a play instead of taking what is given.

Off the top of my head, such plays include: 1) When he failed to box out Parsons and then overreacted and fouled Lowry. That was especially bad and deserving of the immediate hook because Neal made the same mistake in the first half. 2) I haven't watched the replay but there's no excuse for getting stuck under a pick and leaving Lowry wide open for three when the Spurs had a chance to put it away in regulation. Unless the tape shows something that made it 100% unavoidable, Green deserves blame for that. 3) When he didn't retreat to the right area in transition defense and then ended up having to foul Dragic in the fourth.


One of his first half three-pointers was almost a no-look shot. He caught the ball, looked to pass for a split second and then shot it. Not surprisingly, it was an airball. Another three he seemed to force it after not being ready to shoot when he caught it. And, if I'm remembering correctly, that one two-pointer he made was a throw-it-at-the-basket-and-hopes-it-goes-in shot.

I do agree that "bad shots" was a poor way to describe those shots though. They weren't bad shots as in he shouldn't have shot them ... it was more about the execution of the shots.


As always, your take is fair. The comments in the game thread weren't. I didn't have the first half recorded, so I'll take your word on the two shots. I remember the one he made, but didn't notice it being a prayer. Or the no-look 3, but I'm sure you're right.

As for the moving pick - Scola kept trying that same play, over and over. He drove R.J. back to the FT line on the other side of the court. And when he got Green, he used one outstretched arm to corral him. And when I watched in in super-slow, he took three steps (backwards) in driving Green back to the FT line. Green was successful in shrugging that same screen off every other time. But if you have a guy trying to do that, he's going to get you sooner or later. Once he had full body on Green, he just backed him away from Lowry. I don't think there's much Green could have done to stop that one. Either way, the people saying that Green left his man are full of crap.

On the missed box out - I was specifically watching them when the play happened. Green was guarding Parsons in the corner. I was impressed by the way he anticipated the shot, and put himself into perfect position for the rebound. He just forgot about Parsons, and he timed his charge perfectly and stole it from Green. No question he missed that one. But he doesn't make that mistake often. Mostly he does one hell of a job boxing out guys bigger than him, and holding good position. If our bigs and pseudo-bigs did it as well, we wouldn't give up so many second chance points. And if we're counting missed box-outs as major defensive gaffes, Pop would have half the team on the bench. But, yeah, that one was a legitimate blown play.

All in all, Lowry did a lot less damage to the Spurs when Green as on him, than when anyone else was on him. That's not shabby.

[xmas1997]

I can't wait to see the effect Thomas has when playing with Leonard. They know each others moves and it should be an even better defensive effort.

[mathbzh]

If our bigs and pseudo-bigs did it as well, we wouldn't give up so many second chance points.

Just for the record, the Spurs are #7 in Defensive Rebound% (75.3).
Our defensive problem does not come from rebounding (5th worse opponent FG%, 4th worse eFG%).

But thanks for the breakdown of DG's game.

About the Scola "moving screen", it is something he does since he his in the NBA. I wonder why he is never called.

[Solid D]

Thanks for taking the time to write these grades and assessments, timvp! You mentioned Tiago's post defense. I believe that when you factor-in the really nice job he did on Scola in the OT period, it's difficult not to praise him. Pop went "Big", Splitter for Green, for the entire OT and that proved to be a key strategy. Now, if the Rockets had executed a little better when it had mis-matches, going Big might have hurt in other areas but Splitter defended Luis admirably.

I agree that this was one of RJ's forgettable defensive games. Two miscues at the end could have cost the Spurs: not fouling before lowry hit the 3 (It might have been nice to have had Dalembert at the FT line instead) and basically forcing TP to switch to Parsons in the Side-OB play. Houston got the wonderful mis-match even though Parsons missed the leaning layup.

As a side note, I was also glad to see Houston slow the pace on offense (they were gassed). It kept them from pushing the pace, which might have hurt the Spurs at the end...including a wonderful mis-match Martin had on Duncan on the wing, Martin deferring to the strategy to pass the ball to the top to Lowry to set up the offense.

[quentin_compson]

It was good to see Duncan moving this well on the second night of a B2B. True, he was tired at the end of the game, but that's to be expected - and it didn't prevent him from running the floor and playing hard.

Leonard was burned pretty bad a couple of times by Martin early in the game, but he adapted and got much better at defending him later on. That's a good sign, because I think it also shows his basketball IQ. The same can be said for his offense: he usually doesn't try to do too much or to take shots he is not comfortable with. Also, it is nice to have a good rebounder now that Blair seems to have forgotten how to do that.

Neal looked pretty lost as a PG, but we should at least give him a couple of games before a final verdict. He is also the worst defender on the Spurs right now. Let's hope it's mostly due to him not having regained full strenght yet after the injury, as timvp indicated.

It's great that RJ continues to light it up from downtown, but a drive to the rim here and there and a bit more intensity and effort on the defensive end would even be better.

TP was just great.

[Russ]

If Pop wants the Spurs to be a good defensive team, he has to play the front court of Tim, Tiago and Kawhi together as much as he can. That can be a great defensive threesome up front. Combine them with Manu when he comes back and Tony, and those five can D up pretty well and have enough firepower on the other end to win games in the fourth quarter, although the offense will have to come a lot from in the paint because there won't be a whole lot of shooting with that quintet except for Gino.

:flag:

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

If Pop wants the Spurs to be a good defensive team, he has to play the front court of Tim, Tiago and Kawhi together as much as he can. That can be a great defensive threesome up front. Combine them with Manu when he comes back and Tony, and those five can D up pretty well and have enough firepower on the other end to win games in the fourth quarter, although the offense will have to come a lot from in the paint because there won't be a whole lot of shooting with that quintet except for Gino.

Looks OK on paper, but teams would just collapse and clog the paint, which won't leave enough room for Manu or Tony to penetrate, neither for Timmy to try a low post move. None of them are great mid-range shooters.

Kawhi will need to start hitting the corner three at 40%. I'm sure it's in his TODO list, knowing Pop.

[Solid D]

If Pop wants the Spurs to be a good defensive team, he has to play the front court of Tim, Tiago and Kawhi together as much as he can. That can be a great defensive threesome up front.

...or in the situation last night, RJ was in the front court with Timmy and Tiago, while Kawhi was in the back court.

[DMC]

So we are now where we were last year minus Antonio McDyess. People are wanting Blair to come off the bench, want RJ to get less minutes even though he's been the Spurs best player thus far, and wanting basically people who aren't playing to play. It's a case of the grass being greener.

Regardless who plays, people are going to want others to play instead. Had RJ gotten the ball sometime in the last 10 minutes of the game, he might have done something. Sure Parker was doing ok, but he was ignoring his shooters and playing one on 4 ball. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but last night should never have gone to OT.

[SenorSpur]

I'm not quite ready to go that far. I'd give Neal a few more games. It can't be easy to suddenly become a point guard. At least he didn't turn the ball over. That in itself is pretty impressive for a guy making the switch to that position ... even though he didn't turn the ball over because he was busy shooting it :lol .

Neal certainly isn't bashful about getting his shots up, is he?:lol

I'm sure it's a quality that has endeared himself to Pop.

[Old School 44]

I can't wait to see the effect Thomas has when playing with Leonard. They know each others moves and it should be an even better defensive effort.

Me too, but I also worry how Leonard will react if his good friend Thomas is cut.

[Russ]

Looks OK on paper, but teams would just collapse and clog the paint, which won't leave enough room for Manu or Tony to penetrate, neither for Timmy to try a low post move. None of them are great mid-range shooters.

It worked okay with the twin towers and a bunch of saavy old swingmen like Kersey and Ellie.

Anyway, this team seems to find ways to score no matter what -- it's the defense that this lineup might establish to set the tempo early in games.

[dbestpro]

Neal is not more of a backup PG than RMJ was and it destroyed RMJ. The way Anderson is palying I would noty be opposed to giving some minutes to Joseph (Anderson minutes to Neal) or siging an interim back up PG (Ahearns) until TJ or Manu is back.

[TDMVPDPOY]

seriously NEAL shouldnt be doing PG duties, even though he sometimes over dribbles to create for himself to move in closer for the midrange jumper...

other then that he doesnt do anything a pg does....

[Bruno]

Something that I find so obvious in this game: Spurs were tired. They were often late on transition defense, screens and pick and rolls. When you look at the schedule, it isn't a surprise. It was Spurs 6th game in 8 days and a back to back with a big travel. Considering that, it's a very good win and it's hard to complain about Spurs not playing well.

Blair and RJ looked the most tired. Their transition defense was dismal. IMO, Blair recent struggles could be explained by a lack of energy. Hopefully Blair can refill his tank soon. Being energetic and active is crucial for Blair to overcome his size issue.

The defense in the first quarter was awful. In addition of being tired, Spurs were lazy. Instead of playing some sounded defense, they took the easy road by making gambles. Almost all of these gambles failed.

[weebo]

Parker deserves a D. Parker's mind is still stuck in 07.

[Russ]

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8837/jan11box.gif

One thing I don't get about this box score.

Why is Blair just listed as a "Forward" . . .

But Bonner is listed as a "Power Forward?"

:flypig