Solid D
10-27-2012, 03:32 AM
Filling in for the inimitable timvp, who is temporarily Out-of-Office, here are Friday night's game thoughts.
No John Wall, No Nene, No Emeka Okafor, No Trevor Ariza, No Jannero Pargo and No Manu Ginobili.
On the night assistant coach Don Newman returned to San Antonio for the first time since joining the Washington Wizards’ staff, the Spurs found themselves struggling to keep up. Fielding a group of names sounding more like an accounting firm than an NBA starting 5; Barron, Booker, Webster, Beal and Price took it right to San Antonio, leading by as much as 13 in the first half. After scoring the first 2 points of the game, the Spurs struggled mightily against Washington’s active defense. In fact, the Spurs weren’t able to regain the lead until almost midway through the 3rd quarter. If not for a strong showing by Tim Duncan, an aggressive Tony Parker and the active, physical play of Stephen Jackson, the Spurs would have had a difficult time winning their “tune-up” before the season opens next week in New Orleans. Fortunately, the Spurs cranked up their defensive intensity, played strong transition D and outscored the Wizards 26-2 in fast break points and got a nice, albeit late, showing from Tiago Splitter and Patty Mills to send the AT&T crowd home happy with a 100-85 win.
Observations and impressions (In order of number of minutes played)
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard played a strong game defensively. He ardently chased and stayed in front of his man while occasionally helping with aggressive traps on the ball. Sometimes he helped too aggressively and was caught by the officals. Offensively, Leonard is still struggling with his shot. It took him 7 1/2 minutes before he scored his first points, struggling to dribble against a tight defender. He over-passed on 2 occasions resulting in shot clock violations. Finally, Kawhi found his way by rebounding, hustling for several loose balls and running the floor. Once, while running the wing in transition, Kawhi was on the receiving end of a nice alley-oop but the timing was off slightly. It resulted in a lay-in on what could have been a major flush. At this juncture, it appears that Leonard focused so much on ball-handling and upscaling his role that he's lost a bit of his shooting touch. Rx: 1 week of Chip to get Cow-eye silky smoove from the corner again.
Tony Parker
Tony started out awkwardly but while he never found his shooting stroke, it was his relentless drives to the basket and constant pushing the ball in transition that invigorated the Spurs' offense. Tony's defense was okay but has been far better. He wasn't asked to pressure the ball full court and he was guarding AJ Price but AJ did managed to score, particularly from the outside. TP played all but one minute of the 1st quarter, which is the normal in-season substitution pattern by Pop. Although Tony wasn't really displaying his 2-way prowess, it was good to see him get lots of extended minutes and make stuff happen by his tempo and initiative.
Tim Duncan
Tim started the game making Earl Barron look like Dwight Howard... at both ends of the court. Actually, Earl was awesome. (Where has THIS Earl Barron been? Don Newman must have lit a fire under him.) So finally, Tim got going and started to dominate the boards, efforting 13 rebounds for the game. He found his shooting touch from the outside and ended up tied for scoring honors with 16 points. He began to look like the Tim Duncan of old when Pop started pointing four fingers toward the court from the sideline. When Timmy wasn't posting up and outworking his defender, he was blocking and altering shots. The official scorekeeper saw two blocked shots...I counted three, for sure. This guy is clearly the captain of this ship and he's ready for Halloween night against the Hornets.
Stephen Jackson
For this game, Jack was Manu. In Manu-like fashion, Jack was first off the bench coming in for Danny Green at the midway point of the 1st and 3rd quarters. Although he replaced the 2-guard on offense when he subbed-in, Jack took the opposing SF while Kawhi covered SG Bradley Beal. The most impressive part of Stephen's game Friday was his strong, physical drives to the hoop. One particular play exemplified his style when he took the ball on the right wing and bulldozed his way through and over Cartier Martin for the basket. His 8 points in each half came at times that ignited strong runs by the Spurs. Defensively, Jackson was smart and tough. He made two steals and poked the ball away another time to start and finish a fast break. When the Spurs went small on a couple of occasions, Stephen showed his versatility by moving over to 4. Jack's team-leading 16 points really helped the Spurs and none of those points were quiet ones.
Boris Diaw
Although Boris started the game and played 22 minutes, his defense was lackluster and his rebounding was almost non-existent. He struggled guarding Trevor Booker and he struggled boxing out. Boris should just put this game out of his mind...save one play. That one play was when he & fellow compatriot Tony Parker switched roles as TP rebounded and Boris beat everyone down court to lead 61-59.
Danny Green
Danny played 20 minutes, stayed in front of his man, made a couple of nice passes and contributed 10 points to the Spurs cause. He struggled from the arc (1 of 5) but he did not play tentatively and his transition D and recognition was good. When he was on the floor while Gary Neal played lead-guard, it became downright ugly. That had mostly to do with a bad mix of players but Danny is at his best when Tony or Manu run the point and he can spot-up for drive-and-kicks, skips or extra passes to him in the corner.
Gary Neal
Yuk. Gary reported into the game for Tony with 1 minute remaining in the 1st quarter and proceded to bog everything down. He couldn't hit much from the outside, he couldn't enter the offense when he got ball pressure and he got stuck with Blair and Bonner on the floor at the same time. Neal, Green, Jack, Blair and Bonner. Pop, how could you? Anyway, Gary did manage to get fouled on a 3-point attempt and he played remarkably good defense until the 4th quarter.
Gary's reaction to ball pressure may have just restricted him to 2-guard energy scoring status.
Matt Bonner
Sheesh. "Matt the Mannequin".
Webster's Dictionary says it best:
man·ne·quin
noun
1.
a styled and three-dimensional representation of the human form used in window displays, as of clothing; dummy.
Tiago Splitter
Tiago finally entered Friday night's affair at the start of the 4th quarter. He immediately inspired Matt the Mannequin to effort an offensive rebound (his first). Splitter then proceeded to dominate the boards, set his usual array of slick picks, and he artistically rolled or re-posted front or back, as needed. He played a more physical brand of basketball in this, the 2012 version of Tiago. I like this version a lot. Of course, Tiago was going against scrubs but he was a nice influence on the flow of the game. He even made a steal and made 3 of 4 FTs. Nice stroke, Tiago!
Patty Mills
He pushed the tempo, created activity and lose balls, he scored on the run, off 1 foot, with 1 hand, 2 hands, from the arc and even from 16 feet along the baseline and slightly behind the basket. Patty is a bona fide point-a-minute man and he should steal several of Gary Neal's minutes this season.
DeJuan Blair
Although DeJuan seems to have worked on his mid-range jumper, he has de-emphasized just about everything else. He was sloppy, he got dominated on the boards and he's forgotten how to box out. This man has lost his way. "Tiago! Get in there for Blair!"
Nando de Colo
What can you learn in less than 5 minutes... as fans are starting to say their goodbyes to the people next to them? Nando did make one nice penetration resulting in an easy Splitter score. It will be difficult for Nando to find minutes in the rotation, except in cases of injuries or early foul trouble as a wing.
Cory Joseph
Cory was fortunate to get to play Friday. He will be fortunate to suit up next week. It's tough to show what you can do in clean up minutes. He mustered an assist, a dash of nice on-ball defense, and 1 missed shot.
Josh Powell It was nice while it lasted Josh. You had some nice moments in Silver and Black but it's tough when you're in at mop-up time with a pink slip taped to your locker. Keep working on your game for when it counts, Josh! You can put food on your table in Europe to be sure.
Manu Ginobili
Back Spasms - DNP (His back probably seized-up just from trying to support Manu's intensity)
Pop
Getting everyone into their exact time slots (Jack=Manu for this game). The positive in this game for Gregg was moving Timmy around from high to low with a nice dose of old-school 4-down for flavor. The minus was that abortion of a lineup with Blair and Bonner in the front court and Neal running the show. Quite frankly, there isn't an emoticon that adequately expresses that lineup, Pop. If it wasn't pre-season, even the 2-year old that won the dancing contest on the JumboTron would expect an apology from you.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
No John Wall, No Nene, No Emeka Okafor, No Trevor Ariza, No Jannero Pargo and No Manu Ginobili.
On the night assistant coach Don Newman returned to San Antonio for the first time since joining the Washington Wizards’ staff, the Spurs found themselves struggling to keep up. Fielding a group of names sounding more like an accounting firm than an NBA starting 5; Barron, Booker, Webster, Beal and Price took it right to San Antonio, leading by as much as 13 in the first half. After scoring the first 2 points of the game, the Spurs struggled mightily against Washington’s active defense. In fact, the Spurs weren’t able to regain the lead until almost midway through the 3rd quarter. If not for a strong showing by Tim Duncan, an aggressive Tony Parker and the active, physical play of Stephen Jackson, the Spurs would have had a difficult time winning their “tune-up” before the season opens next week in New Orleans. Fortunately, the Spurs cranked up their defensive intensity, played strong transition D and outscored the Wizards 26-2 in fast break points and got a nice, albeit late, showing from Tiago Splitter and Patty Mills to send the AT&T crowd home happy with a 100-85 win.
Observations and impressions (In order of number of minutes played)
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard played a strong game defensively. He ardently chased and stayed in front of his man while occasionally helping with aggressive traps on the ball. Sometimes he helped too aggressively and was caught by the officals. Offensively, Leonard is still struggling with his shot. It took him 7 1/2 minutes before he scored his first points, struggling to dribble against a tight defender. He over-passed on 2 occasions resulting in shot clock violations. Finally, Kawhi found his way by rebounding, hustling for several loose balls and running the floor. Once, while running the wing in transition, Kawhi was on the receiving end of a nice alley-oop but the timing was off slightly. It resulted in a lay-in on what could have been a major flush. At this juncture, it appears that Leonard focused so much on ball-handling and upscaling his role that he's lost a bit of his shooting touch. Rx: 1 week of Chip to get Cow-eye silky smoove from the corner again.
Tony Parker
Tony started out awkwardly but while he never found his shooting stroke, it was his relentless drives to the basket and constant pushing the ball in transition that invigorated the Spurs' offense. Tony's defense was okay but has been far better. He wasn't asked to pressure the ball full court and he was guarding AJ Price but AJ did managed to score, particularly from the outside. TP played all but one minute of the 1st quarter, which is the normal in-season substitution pattern by Pop. Although Tony wasn't really displaying his 2-way prowess, it was good to see him get lots of extended minutes and make stuff happen by his tempo and initiative.
Tim Duncan
Tim started the game making Earl Barron look like Dwight Howard... at both ends of the court. Actually, Earl was awesome. (Where has THIS Earl Barron been? Don Newman must have lit a fire under him.) So finally, Tim got going and started to dominate the boards, efforting 13 rebounds for the game. He found his shooting touch from the outside and ended up tied for scoring honors with 16 points. He began to look like the Tim Duncan of old when Pop started pointing four fingers toward the court from the sideline. When Timmy wasn't posting up and outworking his defender, he was blocking and altering shots. The official scorekeeper saw two blocked shots...I counted three, for sure. This guy is clearly the captain of this ship and he's ready for Halloween night against the Hornets.
Stephen Jackson
For this game, Jack was Manu. In Manu-like fashion, Jack was first off the bench coming in for Danny Green at the midway point of the 1st and 3rd quarters. Although he replaced the 2-guard on offense when he subbed-in, Jack took the opposing SF while Kawhi covered SG Bradley Beal. The most impressive part of Stephen's game Friday was his strong, physical drives to the hoop. One particular play exemplified his style when he took the ball on the right wing and bulldozed his way through and over Cartier Martin for the basket. His 8 points in each half came at times that ignited strong runs by the Spurs. Defensively, Jackson was smart and tough. He made two steals and poked the ball away another time to start and finish a fast break. When the Spurs went small on a couple of occasions, Stephen showed his versatility by moving over to 4. Jack's team-leading 16 points really helped the Spurs and none of those points were quiet ones.
Boris Diaw
Although Boris started the game and played 22 minutes, his defense was lackluster and his rebounding was almost non-existent. He struggled guarding Trevor Booker and he struggled boxing out. Boris should just put this game out of his mind...save one play. That one play was when he & fellow compatriot Tony Parker switched roles as TP rebounded and Boris beat everyone down court to lead 61-59.
Danny Green
Danny played 20 minutes, stayed in front of his man, made a couple of nice passes and contributed 10 points to the Spurs cause. He struggled from the arc (1 of 5) but he did not play tentatively and his transition D and recognition was good. When he was on the floor while Gary Neal played lead-guard, it became downright ugly. That had mostly to do with a bad mix of players but Danny is at his best when Tony or Manu run the point and he can spot-up for drive-and-kicks, skips or extra passes to him in the corner.
Gary Neal
Yuk. Gary reported into the game for Tony with 1 minute remaining in the 1st quarter and proceded to bog everything down. He couldn't hit much from the outside, he couldn't enter the offense when he got ball pressure and he got stuck with Blair and Bonner on the floor at the same time. Neal, Green, Jack, Blair and Bonner. Pop, how could you? Anyway, Gary did manage to get fouled on a 3-point attempt and he played remarkably good defense until the 4th quarter.
Gary's reaction to ball pressure may have just restricted him to 2-guard energy scoring status.
Matt Bonner
Sheesh. "Matt the Mannequin".
Webster's Dictionary says it best:
man·ne·quin
noun
1.
a styled and three-dimensional representation of the human form used in window displays, as of clothing; dummy.
Tiago Splitter
Tiago finally entered Friday night's affair at the start of the 4th quarter. He immediately inspired Matt the Mannequin to effort an offensive rebound (his first). Splitter then proceeded to dominate the boards, set his usual array of slick picks, and he artistically rolled or re-posted front or back, as needed. He played a more physical brand of basketball in this, the 2012 version of Tiago. I like this version a lot. Of course, Tiago was going against scrubs but he was a nice influence on the flow of the game. He even made a steal and made 3 of 4 FTs. Nice stroke, Tiago!
Patty Mills
He pushed the tempo, created activity and lose balls, he scored on the run, off 1 foot, with 1 hand, 2 hands, from the arc and even from 16 feet along the baseline and slightly behind the basket. Patty is a bona fide point-a-minute man and he should steal several of Gary Neal's minutes this season.
DeJuan Blair
Although DeJuan seems to have worked on his mid-range jumper, he has de-emphasized just about everything else. He was sloppy, he got dominated on the boards and he's forgotten how to box out. This man has lost his way. "Tiago! Get in there for Blair!"
Nando de Colo
What can you learn in less than 5 minutes... as fans are starting to say their goodbyes to the people next to them? Nando did make one nice penetration resulting in an easy Splitter score. It will be difficult for Nando to find minutes in the rotation, except in cases of injuries or early foul trouble as a wing.
Cory Joseph
Cory was fortunate to get to play Friday. He will be fortunate to suit up next week. It's tough to show what you can do in clean up minutes. He mustered an assist, a dash of nice on-ball defense, and 1 missed shot.
Josh Powell It was nice while it lasted Josh. You had some nice moments in Silver and Black but it's tough when you're in at mop-up time with a pink slip taped to your locker. Keep working on your game for when it counts, Josh! You can put food on your table in Europe to be sure.
Manu Ginobili
Back Spasms - DNP (His back probably seized-up just from trying to support Manu's intensity)
Pop
Getting everyone into their exact time slots (Jack=Manu for this game). The positive in this game for Gregg was moving Timmy around from high to low with a nice dose of old-school 4-down for flavor. The minus was that abortion of a lineup with Blair and Bonner in the front court and Neal running the show. Quite frankly, there isn't an emoticon that adequately expresses that lineup, Pop. If it wasn't pre-season, even the 2-year old that won the dancing contest on the JumboTron would expect an apology from you.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone!