Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Pacers -- Nov. 5

[timvp]

Tim Duncan A-
Dominant defensively. Missed some easy shots but otherwise shined.

Manu Ginobili B
A bit sloppy but his passing powered the bench unit.

Tony Parker B-
Solid defensively and playmaking-wise, however scoring rhythm was out of whack.

Kawhi Leonard B-
Guarded with intensity. His offense, though, was unsightly most of the night.

Danny Green B
Shot with supreme confidence from the perimeter. His D was good, not great.

Boris Diaw C+
Another very strong defensive outing, although Spurs need more overall impact.

DeJuan Blair A-
Started slowly but found his groove and excelled in all aspects.

Stephen Jackson B+
Aggression and toughness on both ends was difficult for Pacers to combat.

Gary Neal A
Much better pace offensively. His D continues to show signs of improvement.

Matt Bonner B+
His defensive effort was commendable. Played with more purpose offensively.

Tiago Splitter Inc.
Only played in garbage time but his physicality was a step in right direction.

Nando De Colo Inc.
His passes continue to drop jaws.

Patrick Mills Inc.
Didn't do anything in his four minutes to move the needle

Pop B-
His rotations are even kookier than normal right now.

[crc21209]

Yeah the rotations were pretty damn confusing tonight. Blair the first big off the bench? No Splitter until the 4th? The only thing I can think of is that he was sending a message to Tiago to get his ass in gear (just like Sean said). I like Boris' defense, but damn the guy has to look for his shot more often. I liked what Green and Kawhi brought tonight. :tu Tony and Tim were solid, but could've been better....

[spurraider21]

Diaw should be able to average 10-12 points a game easily. He keeps passing up open free throw length jumpers

[TMTTRIO]

Manu deserves a C. He was alright but sloppy with some of those passes, missed a lot of his shots, and really didn't do that much out there tonight (although they really didn't need him to).

[TD 21]

Diaw and Bonner played a combined 35:20 and failed to record a single rebound. So far, their rebounding is far worse than last season, which is saying something considering the fact that they were two of the worst rebounding bigs in the league to begin with. Combine that with Leonard's and Green's drop in rebounding and it's no surprise that the team in general is struggling on the glass.

As far as Pop going with Blair over Splitter, clearly he's trying to coax Splitter into playing consistently hard/physical. And as annoying as it is to not see him in the rotation and to see Blair and Bonner playing together, this could pay dividends in the long run.

[sananspursfan21]

Diaw should be able to average 10-12 points a game easily. He keeps passing up open free throw length jumpers

ugh, i know! it's not like he'd miss them either

[Cry Havoc]

How does Neal get a higher grade than Blair? Blair's line: 14 points on 6-8, 11 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, decent to good defense.

[widowmaker]

Spurs up hoez down.

[egtonecity]

Tbh Blair's first couple minutes were bad. He missed a rebound like 3 times on the same play then his close out was weak on green that led to his dunk. Better second half by Blair though.

[egtonecity]

In related news, I think you can attribute Blair's good play today to his Blade the day walker haircut.

[Hoops Czar]

Nando De Colo Inc.
His passes continue to drop jaws.


As long as he doesn't shoot.

[Capt Bringdown]

As far as Pop going with Blair over Splitter, clearly he's trying to coax Splitter into playing consistently hard/physical. And as annoying as it is to not see him in the rotation and to see Blair and Bonner playing together, this could pay dividends in the long run.

Blair and Bonner are post-season poison, there are no long run benefits to having them in the lineup.

[ace3g]

I'm ok with Nando shooting struggles right now, he is in the midst of Chip reconstruction. Hopefully it goes more a long the speed of Kawhi than Splitter's FT shooting.

[Chris]

Gary was in Neal with It mode tonight - I give him an A+

[Solid D]

Nando De Colo Inc.
His passes continue to drop jaws.

Yeah, Nando's dribble-drive, between his legs pass in mid-stride to Tiago was pretty nice!

[freetiago]

too many people listening to sean
splitter isnt a player who needs tough love
he needs consistent playing time to show what he has and get use to nba caliber players
coach benched his ass first year
barely played him second year and now hes made him the 5th big
disgusting how bad hes managed him
pop gets a F tonight for his garbage rotations

[callo1]

Neal's best defensive effort in a Spurs uniform.

[lurker23]

Diaw being passive isn't exactly anything new. If we're lucky, his aggression will go up by 20% through the course of the season, but don't expect anything revolutionary.

It continues to be clear that if/when the Spurs find a 3rd/4th big, rebounding has to be a big criteria in that selection. I still think a player like Millsap would be a good fit on this roster, despite his height. Unfortunately the Spurs don't quite have the contracts to really make a deal like that happen.

[Bruno]

I'm ok with Nando shooting struggles right now, he is in the midst of Chip reconstruction. Hopefully it goes more a long the speed of Kawhi than Splitter's FT shooting.

Yep,there isn't a lot to worried about De Colo not shooting the ball well for the moment. Whatever Chip is working with him, it should be relatively quick because Nando was a good shooter before joining Spurs. In his 3 years with Valencia, he played 155 games and was 196/562 (34.9%) from 3 point land. That's some convincing numbers.

[TD 21]

Blair and Bonner are post-season poison, there are no long run benefits to having them in the lineup.

I was talking about Splitter.

[therealtruth]

too many people listening to sean
splitter isnt a player who needs tough love
he needs consistent playing time to show what he has and get use to nba caliber players
coach benched his ass first year
barely played him second year and now hes made him the 5th big
disgusting how bad hes managed him
pop gets a F tonight for his garbage rotations

I agree. Surprisingly Splitter played his best last year when he got consistent minutes.

[BackHome]

I agree for what ever reason Pop does not know how to coach or handle any bigs other then Timmy. We have done TERRIBLE job of farming any big talent that just as we had to hire a coach to help with free throws we need to hire a coach just for bigs.

[koriwhat]

really bonner with a b+? i was there and for as much time as he played, or better yet ran around, he flat out sucked! for every 3 he makes, the opponent romps his ass and gets theirs triple time. dude fuckin' blows!

[koriwhat]

also, why can't that stiff ever grab a rebound instead of trying to slap that shit out of the arena? last night he had a rebound land slap dab into his hands and he proceeded to slap that shit into the face of, i believe but i could be wrong, sjax. what a waste of a roster spot, bonner deserves to rott overseas!