Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Thunder - Nov 1, 2012

[timvp]

Tim Duncan A
Great first half. Cooled off but played with determination throughout.

Tony Parker A
Rugged defense. Precise playmaking. Heroic shots at the end.

Kawhi Leonard C
Swiped five steals again but the rest of his outing was subpar.

Danny Green A-
If only he played this well during the Western Conference Finals . . .

Boris Diaw B+
Better aggression on offense and more chutzpah overall.

Stephen Jackson B+
His outside shot is still a struggle but otherwise was rock solid.

Gary Neal B
A bit discombobulated but got going in the second half in time.

DeJuan Blair C+
Commendable energy. Results were mixed, to put it kindly.

Matt Bonner D+
Poor defense. Passing up shots. Benched again for second half.

Tiago Splitter Inc.
Foul trouble and uninspired play led to quality pine time.

Patrick Mills Inc.
Only played two mistake-filled minutes.

Pop A-
A few questionable decisions but made right calls at the end.

[Brazil]

generous with Green tbh he had some significant mental lapses on D

[Texas_Ranger]

Green's defense was just bad. He jumped on every single pump fake....

[AussieFanKurt]

generous with Green tbh he had some significant mental lapses on D

Agreed, but he was efficient on O, thought he played well except for couple of lapses

[spurs10]

Thanks, good to see Diaw playing so well!

[spurraider21]

Being matched up on Durant frequently will make any defender look bad, and Green was no exception. I don't expect the bench to be huge in games against elite teams, because the starters are all going to get 32-35 minutes. The bench is key against lesser teams to keep our studs fresh. Oh, and to hit open shots. Tiago needs to play with some huevo's. He's regressing. There was a stretch last season where you could book him for double digit points

[TimDunkem]

Being matched up on Durant frequently will make any defender look bad, and Green was no exception. I don't expect the bench to be huge in games against elite teams, because the starters are all going to get 32-35 minutes. The bench is key against lesser teams to keep our studs fresh. Oh, and to hit open shots. Tiago needs to play with some huevo's. He's regressing. There was a stretch last season where you could book him for double digit points
Green was guarding Kevin Martin most of the time.

[SpursRock20]

Green was guarding Kevin Martin most of the time.

Or flying past him, either way :lol

[sananspursfan21]

i get furious everytime i see neal in motion of some crazy idiotic shot....then it goes in and i sit down quietly and give a little fist pump

[100%duncan]

Kawhi was B imo. But agree with the rest.

[bbarry]

can you 'slow down' these 'quick' grades a little? too little a read, and i think people would appreciate it more. a couple sentenced more on each, wouldn't hurt.

[Juggity]

Green flew past his man on the perimeter at least 3 or 4 times while trying to recover. Sure his 3s were falling, but I don't think his grade should be an A- given that he was part of the reason the Thunder stayed in the game until the end.

[timtonymanu]

can you 'slow down' these 'quick' grades a little? too little a read, and i think people would appreciate it more. a couple sentenced more on each, wouldn't hurt.

That's why there are game thoughts.

[sananspursfan21]

can you 'slow down' these 'quick' grades a little? too little a read, and i think people would appreciate it more. a couple sentenced more on each, wouldn't hurt.

he doesn't exactly HAVE to do them. they are a service to us. i understand it's nice to read more when you've missed the game or something but i would imagine even the "quick" versions are somewhat time consuming with recalling the game and reviewing footage

[99 Problems]

Discombobulated, game two word of the week.

[BillMc]

he doesn't exactly HAVE to do them. they are a service to us. i understand it's nice to read more when you've missed the game or something but i would imagine even the "quick" versions are somewhat time consuming with recalling the game and reviewing footage

This. He gets the detailed grades out soon enough. I like getting the quick take.

[Stabula]

I thought Green's defense was awful the A- grade was at least two letter grades too generous. I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed him CONSTANTLY flying by his man and consequently giving his man a wide open look. I thought Timmy was an A+, Tony was a B, Matt Bonner was an F- and Kawhi was a C+. I loved Kawhi's energy and how he was constantly challenging passing lanes but he had a hard time fully fleshing out his steals. It is very worth mentioning how his steal at the end was CRUCIAL to us getting final possession and consequently winning the game thanks to Tony's heroics and Westbrook's piss poor BBIQ.

[ElNono]

Manu Ginobili A+
Towel waving from the bench was underrated all night. Finished the game hugging Parker after THE shot. :cry what a guy :cry

[dylankerouac]

For everyone complaining about Green's defense on Kevin Martin, if it hadn't been him jumping on every pump fake it would have been Manu tbh, they both lurk and then pounce on their defender as soon as he gets the ball in his hands. If they could work on their brakes (especially Green since he still has potential) I think the results would be positive. Kevin Martin did seem to get a lot of easy points from Green's lapses but this will be great game film for Green to refer to later.

[dylankerouac]

Manu Ginobili A+
Towel waving from the bench was underrated all night. Finished the game hugging Parker after THE shot. :cry what a guy :cry

Saw that, it was nice to see.

[SA210]

Manu Ginobili A+
Towel waving from the bench was underrated all night. Finished the game hugging Parker after THE shot. :cry what a guy :cry

Those are the kinds of things that don't show up on the stat sheet.

[spurraider21]

Kawhi's gotta play within himself. The improvements will come naturally. Defensive effort and hustle on offense will go a LONG way

[Kidd K]

Way too generous with Green's grade imo, even when just factoring what his role is. He looked like a fool when guarding Martin. Constantly falling for the same shot fake. Green shot well, but defensively really wasn't there a lot of the time. Very unreliable on that end (pretty much the opposite of Leonard today)

You were a bit too hard on Leonard too. I think his defense was pretty solid. Held Durant to just 23 points with is about 70% of his norm, and ripped him 4x, including twice in a row early in the game to stop OKC's run and start us on one, then at the end to give us a shot at the W. He did shoot poorly, but tbh, if he hit one more shot it would've been a respectable 3/8. I can't really call it a bad game because of 1-2 missed shots when he was in Durant's jersey all night.

Overrated Jackson a bit too. The constant missing when we needed it most can't have landed him a B+ overall. Maybe I'm being hard on him, but I did expect more, especially from his jumper. He missed almost every jumper he took. He needs to score more than 11 points when Ginobili's out. Since his expectations are higher than that of Green, Leonard, etc, tbh I penalize him for not standing out more. Underperformed to me.

Green: B

Leonard: B

Jackson: B-


Pretty much agreed with the rest of it though. Can't wait 'til Mr. Glass gets back so we can see how good this team can be this year.

[ElNono]

Jax single-handedly kept us in the game with some of his drives and great D on Durant when Leonard was resting... some people just see one side of the ball...

And no way Jax played worse than Danny

[benstanfield]

Reggie Miller gets an F-

I for one think it's shameful that our two SFs are the 3rd and 4th best bigs on the roster.

That being said, Spurs have to be considered the best team in the West as of now. We're reaching Mavs/Suns levels of regular season champ mode.

[Interrohater]

Dude, I think you guys are seeing it wrong. if I'm not mistaken, they're supposed to chase their man off he three point line. If they make their guy shoot a long two, isn't that the goal? Lower percentage shot, and only two points rather than 3. Danny looked good to me

[bbarry]

my bad i didn't even realize timpv did the game thoughts still since i overlooked it. and i was under the impression that he did quick grades instead when he was too lazy to do the full thang.

now i see

[aintjustthem]

Really good game and good start of the season for the Spurs!

[Obstructed_View]

Green's defense was positively Finleyesque. Gonna try a drinking game when I re-watch where I drink every time Danny leaves a three point shooter wide open after collapsing FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. I expect to be hammered.