Quick Grades: Spurs @ Heat - Nov. 29, 2012

[timvp]

Tiago Splitter A+
He was the main focus in the middle on both ends. His pick-and-roll action keyed the offense.

Boris Diaw A+
Considering expectations, did fantastic work defensive on LeBron. Aggression level high on O.

Nando De Colo A+
His breakout game. Loved, loved his poise running the show. Hit shots. Played damn good D for a rook.

Matt Bonner A+
Fantastic on the boards. Good help-defense. Took the shots he needed to take offensively.

Patrick Mills A+
*struggling to say something positive*.... He hit a big shot in the fourth quarter.

Gary Neal A+
Became the only playmaker when the Heat tightened their D. Valiant effort.

DeJuan Blair A+
He was, um, energetic and, er, hustled.

Cory Joseph A+
Quality ballhandling and defense. Wasn't afraid to shoot.

James Anderson A+
Wow. Really damn good on defense. Helped a lot on offense. Passing was excellent. Tenacious.

Pop A++
Rested his key players. Showed off his coaching skills by almost pulling out this win.

David Stern F--
Don't stick your nose in here. Let coaches coach and STFU. Thank you.

[lakerhaterade]

First post. Thanks, LJ.


Agree on errrything.

[Mel_13]

Best grades of the season to date.

[Paranoid Pop]

Not sure it was worth the special olympics gold medals for everyone tbh.

[HI-FI]

good shit. great game. happy you included Stern as well.

[racm]

:toast

That's all.

[playblair]

boris diaw is a sf ???? he seems to have his best games as a sf.......

[capek]

I was wondering what you'd say when you got to Blair. :lol:depressed

Top notch as always. It'll be interesting to see how/if this game will boosts the team's play moving forward.

[spurraider21]

:toast

[TrainOfThought5]

Timvp with the pass/fail participation grades. Nice.

[polandprzem]

It's all good but why are you still crying about Stern?


Go get some sleep and be back with the game thoughts!

[spurs10]

:clap Thanks!

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Bonner's first ever A+?

[Hoops Czar]

Even Timvp took the night off.

[mexpurs21]

David Stern 'F' as in 'fuck you'

[spurraider21]

The biggest disappointment of the game was Blair. I'm not exactly a Blair fan, but I've defended him here quite a few times. I mention how he eats minutes which helps keep Timmy fresh, etc. However, even I knew that Blair is near unusable in certain matchups like against the Lakers or Grizzlies, where the other team has 2 talented bigs. The Heat game was Blair's perfect opportunity to shine. I don't think he ever needed to guard Bosh, and I don't remember seeing him on James. He got most of his minutes against guys like Haslem, and he faceplanted. Outside of one big play in the 4th where he got an and-1, it was disappointing. Its going to be tough to validate thoughts of him playing crucial minutes in important games, let alone sniffing the playoff rotation. Its a shame, he has seemingly regressed. Before he was at least able to put up numbers as long as he got minutes.

I was, however, impressed by Nando. He made a lot of bad mistakes. Passes at the feet, deferring when he got to the rim, but all that aside, did more good than bad. I like how Mills and Neal always deferred to him and let Nando run the offense. He was able to blow by defenders off the dribble and constantly get penetration. Much like Manu, he doesn't really explode, but he managed to do well against Chalmers or Cole. He reminded me a lot of young Tony. Young Tony could get to the rim at will but couldn't finish too well over bigs. Its why he shot about 42% his rookie year, and it took him until his 4th year to hit that 48-51% we've grown accustomed to. Now, Nando is 25, not nearly as young as Tony was, but I see similarities in that regard. While Tony would take wild attempts at the rim, Nando sort of shied away and kicked it out instead of taking layups, which was frustrating to watch. But he did make several "wow" passes, and knocked down a couple of big 3's. His three pointers need to be like Tony's. Strictly catch and shoot if he is wide open. There was one play he dribbled around a screen and jacked up a three. It missed terribly. But overall he played in control, and I can't stress enough how impressed I was with his ballhanding. The overlooked aspect of De Colo's game was his defense. He was matched up on Wade quite a bit and held his own.

+ performances from Splitter (still misses bunnies at the rim with his soft "palms up" finishes though), Bonner (10 tough boards and some offense), Diaw (guarding LeBron freakin James and somehow not giving up 40 points 15 rebounds 15 assists). Neal did struggle at the end, but he was the only guy I'd trust taking big shots, and he did hit some. He was keyed in by the defense though. That turnover was the big killer, more than any bad shot he took. Not trying to repeat too much of Tim's breakdown, but I liked a lot of what I saw.

Just wasn't impressed with Blair. CoJo seemed comfortable out there, which is new, but wasn't really assertive and he never truly made an impact. I don't remember ever really noticing him out there. That is progress though. Last year I noticed when he was out there, and it was painful. It was also one of the best James Anderson performances I remember seeing. Shot with confidence, made some athletic plays including that nutty reverse layup, and played pretty darn good defense, not including the highlight reel block.

I've said it a bunch on the game thread and some threads since, but this game eerily reminds me of last season's OT loss against Dallas, where Pop benched the starters and the reserves brought us back and Green hit the game winner that didn't count. It was a loss where our bench played big and it turned our season around. After that game we were 12-10, but we blitzed through the remainder of the season. Now this year our record is actually pretty good, but most of us can agree we haven't quite played up to par. We set our expectations pretty high for Kawhi which he wasn't quite hitting, Parker had a rough start to the year, Manu looked really old, Diaw had been overly passive (literally passed up uncontested layups), and Neal's backup point guard skills had improved moderately at best. Pretty much everybody on the forum was loving the game, even after we lost. I'm feeling a resurgence coming up from this bench unit, which we will need because I don't think Tim can continue his MVP pace

[Danny.Zhu]

Great great read tbh.

[polandprzem]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck

[TDMVPDPOY]

if some of you clowns watch the game, barkley adn reggie kept on going on how the heat players were always looking at teh ref every possession trying to bailout calls...fkn pathetic

[TDMVPDPOY]

oh yeh i forgot to add in

danny green making the bus with the big3 to have games off......thats a fkn big step from a nobody, bench, starter..now part of a formation...

[KaiRMD1]

if some of you clowns watch the game, barkley adn reggie kept on going on how the heat players were always looking at teh ref every possession trying to bailout calls...fkn pathetic

I caught that too and found that hilarious. Is that part of the Heatles playbook?
- Make basket
- Look at ref for foul confirmation
- Bitch if there is no foul called

[99 Problems]

Interesting to compare Spurs combined starting salary today to that of 'sweet home Miami'

[TDMVPDPOY]

I caught that too and found that hilarious. Is that part of the Heatles playbook?
- Make basket
- Look at ref for foul confirmation
- Bitch if there is no foul called

they remind me of messi barcelonafc, running to refs everytime there is a foul stoppage...

miami cheat are the most overrated team assembled, how come they always get a passed when they get pushed to 6-7 games series in the first round and 2nd round by fodder teams, now they gettin pushed by spurs bench team....

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Interesting to compare Spurs combined starting salary today to that of 'sweet home Miami'

~$14 mil to ~$50 mil.

[TDMVPDPOY]

why did the players went away from splitter, he was killing them down low (i expect heat to be exposed in the playoffs if they dont really have a legit big man down low)....

i could accept 1/2 fts from splitter, is better then watchin blair stink up quick pussy shots

[Legacy]

if some of you clowns watch the game, barkley adn reggie kept on going on how the heat players were always looking at teh ref every possession trying to bailout calls...fkn pathetic


Yep. They sure were. They kept saying that The Heat needed to learn how to play hard EVERY night, and that they should not be relying so much on the refs for help. That's pretty fucking sad and pathetic 'fer sure. :p:

[Richie]

why did the players went away from splitter, he was killing them down low (i expect heat to be exposed in the playoffs if they dont really have a legit big man down low)....

i could accept 1/2 fts from splitter, is better then watchin blair stink up quick pussy shots

By who? There are no legit bigs in the East.

If we don't make it I'd love to see Memphis beat up on the Heat in the finals

[ManuTastic]

Amen. Fuck that Stern clown.

Want to let Stern know how you feel? Here's how:

http://www.nba.com/email_us/contact_us.html
Just choose "Business of the NBA" or "General Comments/Suggestions" from the topic drop-down.

(UNless anyone can find Stern's actual email address?)

:ihit

[cd98]

Let's not overdo this. Spurs played pretty good as a whole and didn't shrink until the last two minutes. But even though Miami had four days of rest, they also had four days of rust. Their offense looked rusty and probably had no idea how to guard these Spurs because they've never heard of most of them and probably don't have enough scouting info to make a good defense plan. This ploy only works in the regular season, but kudos to Pop for trying it.

[Chinook]

Interesting to compare Spurs combined starting salary today to that of 'sweet home Miami'

What's even better is that if you take away the respective big 3s the salaries are almost equal (less than $2 Million apart even if you include Anderson's full salary). The Spurs' supporting cast is just light-years ahead of those of every other team in the league. When you add in Green, Jack and Leonard missing the game, too, it took the Heat's stars just to squeak by the bottom nine players.

[Chinook]

I know we aren't supposed to actually evaluate anyone based on this game, but I'm curious: Who earned themselves more minutes last night?

[Mel_13]

I know we aren't supposed to actually evaluate anyone based on this game, but I'm curious: Who earned themselves more minutes last night?

Nando was the biggest winner from last night's game.

[Chinook]

Nando was the biggest winner from last night's game.

I agree. I made a poll to make discussion easier.

[EVAY]

Tiago Splitter A+
He was the main focus in the middle on both ends. His pick-and-roll action keyed the offense.

Boris Diaw A+
Considering expectations, did fantastic work defensive on LeBron. Aggression level high on O.

Nando De Colo A+
His breakout game. Loved, loved his poise running the show. Hit shots. Played damn good D for a rook.

Matt Bonner A+
Fantastic on the boards. Good help-defense. Took the shots he needed to take offensively.

Patrick Mills A+
*struggling to say something positive*.... He hit a big shot in the fourth quarter.

Gary Neal A+
Became the only playmaker when the Heat tightened their D. Valiant effort.

DeJuan Blair A+
He was, um, energetic and, er, hustled.

Cory Joseph A+
Quality ballhandling and defense. Wasn't afraid to shoot.

James Anderson A+
Wow. Really damn good on defense. Helped a lot on offense. Passing was excellent. Tenacious.

Pop A++
Rested his key players. Showed off his coaching skills by almost pulling out this win.

David Stern F--
Don't stick your nose in here. Let coaches coach and STFU. Thank you.


Well Said.

[spurspokesman]

Stern is a tool

[TDMVPDPOY]

did anyone notice lebron james jump shots was like fkn automatic last night?

[silverblackfan]

Even Timvp took the night off.

:lol

[BRs.Ganso]

De Colo is not a ''rookie''

he have at least 3 or 4 years playing in high level on europe.. is not the same that you bring a 2nd round college rookie from NCAA to NBA.

[Drom John]

Yu Darvish was a rookie last year.
Ichiro won rookie of the year his rookie year.
De Colo is a rookie.

[ajballer4]

IMO, JA earned a spot on the team for the rest of the year. He looks miles better than last year.

De Colo should be the backup PG. He can't shoot as well as Patty, but we have enough shooters. He can run the show and play better D.

[Spurs da champs]

EDIT, nvm, :lol

[blkroadrunners]

I hope JA gets more PT while Jack and Kawhi are out. He along w/ mostly everyone else had a nice outting.

[dbreiden83080]

Tiago Splitter A+
He was the main focus in the middle on both ends. His pick-and-roll action keyed the offense.

Boris Diaw A+
Considering expectations, did fantastic work defensive on LeBron. Aggression level high on O.

Nando De Colo A+
His breakout game. Loved, loved his poise running the show. Hit shots. Played damn good D for a rook.

Matt Bonner A+
Fantastic on the boards. Good help-defense. Took the shots he needed to take offensively.

Patrick Mills A+
*struggling to say something positive*.... He hit a big shot in the fourth quarter.

Gary Neal A+
Became the only playmaker when the Heat tightened their D. Valiant effort.

DeJuan Blair A+
He was, um, energetic and, er, hustled.

Cory Joseph A+
Quality ballhandling and defense. Wasn't afraid to shoot.

James Anderson A+
Wow. Really damn good on defense. Helped a lot on offense. Passing was excellent. Tenacious.

Pop A++
Rested his key players. Showed off his coaching skills by almost pulling out this win.

David Stern F--
Don't stick your nose in here. Let coaches coach and STFU. Thank you.


:lol Epic.. I predict Stern gives the Spurs a huge fine and Pop does this again in about 3 weeks..

[G-Dawgg]

Gary Neal is easily the best scorer on the team outside of the big 3. Anybody that wants him traded is not fully appreciating what he brings to the table. Not only is he an excellent pure shooter in spot up situations, but he can actually score off the dribble. Also what I like about him is although he has defensive shortcomings, its never from lack of effort. He was the captain tonight. Props to Gary Neal

[TDMVPDPOY]

last night i think it was reggie or barkley said something along the lines of...the nba is the best league in the world that consist 500 of the best players in the world...

i dont think the nba has 500 best players in the world, the word best mention in the same sentence for half the league has no business playin in the nba....

[emanueldavidginobili]

Barkley said Splitter is the best reserve big.man in the league

[TDMVPDPOY]

they gave the spurs alot of props last night, now if they were trailing for most of the night it wouldve been the other way around

[Juggity]

Barkley said Splitter is the best reserve big.man in the league

If Asik were still a reserve, I'd say he's better. But now that he's starting, I'm inclined to agree with Barkley.

[TampaDude]

Good game...Spurs scrubs were in it all the way...of course, just as I figured he would, LeBron took over late and barely avoided what would surely have been the most embarrassing regular season loss in Miami Heat history. :lol

[quentin_compson]

Bonner had a double double, LeBron didn't. So it's official: Matty > LeBron.
On a more serious note: Haven't watched the game yet, but it sure was great of the supporting cast to step up like that, even if the Heat might have played down a bit to the competition.

[silverblk mystix]

Never seen so many spurs fans so happy to lose a game. Even the fans are becoming soft. Thanks Pop. The pussification of Spurs ball is almost 100% complete. Brilliant!

[Bambililos]

Sorry, double post.

[Bambililos]

boris diaw is a sf ???? he seems to have his best games as a sf.......

He's everything you want. Unfortunately, not everytime you want...

[TampaDude]

Never seen so many spurs fans so happy to lose a game. Even the fans are becoming soft. Thanks Pop. The pussification of Spurs ball is almost 100% complete. Brilliant!

Not happy that we lost. Happy that the scrubs showed heart. This was an L from the get go...I just didn't expect it to even be close.

[KaiRMD1]

By who? There are no legit bigs in the East.

If we don't make it I'd love to see Memphis beat up on the Heat in the finals

tbh, I think Memphis has the best front court in the NBA since the LA experiment seems to be a fail. Thus if Memphis makes it to the finals, I expect them to get thier first ship in franchise history especially against the heat.

[TampaDude]

tbh, I think Memphis has the best front court in the NBA since the LA experiment seems to be a fail. Thus if Memphis makes it to the finals, I expect them to get thier first ship in franchise history especially against the heat.

^ this

If it ends up being Grizz-Heat, Z-Bo and Gasol are gonna eat Miami alive in the paint. It will be fun to watch.

[Spurs da champs]

Never seen so many spurs fans so happy to lose a game. Even the fans are becoming soft. Thanks Pop. The pussification of Spurs ball is almost 100% complete. Brilliant!

[iManu]

This made me laugh so hard it brought tears to my eyes. LOL

[Stabula]

Even Timvp took the night off.