timvp
12-01-2012, 04:16 PM
As it turns out, the most talked about Spurs game of the season was the one that the substantially sanctimonious commissioner figured no one would want to watch. In a gallant effort, the defending champion Heat were almost toppled by a Spurs squad that was missing arguably its top six players.
Prior to the game, Pop sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green to San Antonio in order to buy them an extra day or rest. Already short-handed without the injured Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson, San Antonio was left with a ragtag group. However, what the players lacked in skill, the team made up for with unity, chemistry, cohesiveness and belief in the system. It was truly a joy to behold.
The Heat got up to an early lead but the Spurs quickly recovered. With 4:48 to go in the fourth quarter, Nando De Colo hit a three-pointer to put San Antonio up by seven points. Miami came back but then a Gary Neal three-pointer with 2:14 to go put the good guys back up by five points.
Unfortunately, that’s where the Cinderella story ended. Superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade traded layups before Ray Allen sank a backbreaking three-pointer with 22 seconds left on the clock to put the Heat up by a pair. The Spurs were never able to connect on another field goal and lost by a final score of 105-100.
Despite the L, I was very proud of the effort. It will go down as one of the most enjoyable regular season games I will ever witness.
(Note: Grades won’t be given out for Pop’s rest games this year per request from David Stern.)
http://www.spurstalk.com/box171.jpg
http://www.spurstalk.com/box172.jpg
---------------
Tiago Splitter
http://www.spurstalk.com/ts12.png
It’s impossible to be upset with Tiago Splitter’s production. The Spurs needed him to step up and produce and he did just that. Overall, I thought he did well. He was setting great screens and his rolls to the bucket were crisp. He usually finished well at the basket and made quality decisions. On defense, he was better than usual. Splitter ate up space in the paint and did admiral work on the boards. If I must nitpick, I’d say he was too finesse at times. On both ends of the court, he had chances to use more power but opted not to, for whatever reasons.
---------------
Boris Diaw
http://www.spurstalk.com/bd12.png
Forced into more responsibility, Boris Diaw was impressive. Defensively, he spent quite a bit of time defending LeBron James and the results were relatively wonderful. Diaw isn’t a LeBron stopper but he stayed in front of him enough to avoid getting destroyed by the best player in the league. On the other end, Diaw limited his mistakes and maximized his attempts. He could have been more aggressive … but that will always be the case with him.
---------------
Nando De Colo
http://www.spurstalk.com/ndc12.png
The breakout performance of the game was authored by Nando De Colo. The freshman Frenchman was the point guard for a majority of the evening and didn’t evaporate in the spotlight. Au contraire, De Colo was much better than any point this season. His ballhandling and court vision looked extremely positive. His outside jumper wasn’t a train wreck (which was an improvement) and he had no trouble getting to the hoop. Defensively, he showed off good awareness and anticipation. That said, De Colo still has some glaring weaknesses. First of all, he doesn’t look to shoot enough. I lost count of how many wide open layups he decided to pass up. He’s also still adjusting to the speed of the NBA. A few passes he attempted had no chance of reaching their destination and he was caught out of position on D a handful of times.
---------------
Matt Bonner
http://www.spurstalk.com/mb12.png
Apparently, Matt Bonner had forgotten that rebounding was part of his job description. He remembered that fact against the Heat, thankfully, and gave much, much, much better effort on the boards than he had all season -- as evident by his nine first half rebounds that matched his previous total for the year. Other than his great effort on the glass and solid positional defense, I liked what I saw out of Bonner on the offensive end. When he was open, he shot the ball. When he wasn’t, he either made a quick pass or a quick move. It doesn’t sound too difficult but Bonner was much too slow with his decisions this season up until this game.
---------------
Patrick Mills
http://www.spurstalk.com/pm12.png
Patrick Mills is hoping that all copies of this game are destroyed. Simply put, he was bad. Really, really bad. Defensively, he made a few plays but was largely ineffective. On offense, he was sloppy with the ball, couldn’t knock down his outside shots, putrid when trying to pass and basically just looked totally inept when trying to create opportunities for himself or others. Hopefully it was just a bad night at the office.
---------------
Gary Neal
http://www.spurstalk.com/gn12.png
Although Gary Neal wasn’t extremely efficient, the Spurs desperately needed his ability to generate points. When the set plays didn’t work and the good guys were left with no other alternative, Neal took it upon himself to try to put points on the boards. Despite the poor shooting percentage and the six turnovers, I thought he did pretty well. Neal is getting better and better at shooting off the dribble and his passing is also improving. Defensively, while he made his share of mistakes, he competed and was usually in the right spot.
---------------
DeJuan Blair
http://www.spurstalk.com/db12.png
Ugh. The out of control version of DeJuan Blair was on display on Thursday night. It was like he could never corral his own muscle fibers. Missed chip shots, poor defensive rotations and other errors pockmarked his evening. It’s getting late in his career to keep looking the other way when he makes rookie mistakes.
Cory Joseph
http://www.spurstalk.com/cj12.png
Cory Joseph had a chance to throw his hat in the ring for NBA minutes this season. Mission unsuccessful. Joseph illustrated better aggression offensively and a lot of potential defensively, however he still has work to do. He was playing too fast on offense; Joseph was too often not letting plays develop. On D, he was too jumpy and missed a few rotations. Minutes in the D-League will serve him well.
---------------
James Anderson
http://www.spurstalk.com/ja12.png
Another huge positive was the play of James Anderson. His jumping ability continues to look much improved. Anderson was explosive in the paint at both ends and hustled for his entire 20 minutes on the court. Defensively, he was really good -- particularly when matched up with James or Wade. He’s still relatively slow laterally but he made up for it by doing his work early. On offense, Anderson passed the ball very well, was able to take it to the hole and did everything with great patience. He may well have played enough to stick around for a while longer.
---------------
Pop
http://www.spurstalk.com/gp12.png
The Spurs got fined $250,000 because Pop elected to make a coaching decision that he felt would improve San Antonio’s chances of winning a championship. Oh, the humanity. Hopefully Pop has learned his lesson than it’s not fair to utilize his deep bench in a way that not only improves the long-term outlook of the team, but also helps in the short-term by giving his reserves valuable playing time that is otherwise unavailable. It’s especially not fair to do that while almost beating the defending champs on the road. Think inside the box, Pop, and stop hammering that damn rock. That’s boring. Go buy a jackhammer like everyone else.
---------------
Prior to the game, Pop sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green to San Antonio in order to buy them an extra day or rest. Already short-handed without the injured Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson, San Antonio was left with a ragtag group. However, what the players lacked in skill, the team made up for with unity, chemistry, cohesiveness and belief in the system. It was truly a joy to behold.
The Heat got up to an early lead but the Spurs quickly recovered. With 4:48 to go in the fourth quarter, Nando De Colo hit a three-pointer to put San Antonio up by seven points. Miami came back but then a Gary Neal three-pointer with 2:14 to go put the good guys back up by five points.
Unfortunately, that’s where the Cinderella story ended. Superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade traded layups before Ray Allen sank a backbreaking three-pointer with 22 seconds left on the clock to put the Heat up by a pair. The Spurs were never able to connect on another field goal and lost by a final score of 105-100.
Despite the L, I was very proud of the effort. It will go down as one of the most enjoyable regular season games I will ever witness.
(Note: Grades won’t be given out for Pop’s rest games this year per request from David Stern.)
http://www.spurstalk.com/box171.jpg
http://www.spurstalk.com/box172.jpg
---------------
Tiago Splitter
http://www.spurstalk.com/ts12.png
It’s impossible to be upset with Tiago Splitter’s production. The Spurs needed him to step up and produce and he did just that. Overall, I thought he did well. He was setting great screens and his rolls to the bucket were crisp. He usually finished well at the basket and made quality decisions. On defense, he was better than usual. Splitter ate up space in the paint and did admiral work on the boards. If I must nitpick, I’d say he was too finesse at times. On both ends of the court, he had chances to use more power but opted not to, for whatever reasons.
---------------
Boris Diaw
http://www.spurstalk.com/bd12.png
Forced into more responsibility, Boris Diaw was impressive. Defensively, he spent quite a bit of time defending LeBron James and the results were relatively wonderful. Diaw isn’t a LeBron stopper but he stayed in front of him enough to avoid getting destroyed by the best player in the league. On the other end, Diaw limited his mistakes and maximized his attempts. He could have been more aggressive … but that will always be the case with him.
---------------
Nando De Colo
http://www.spurstalk.com/ndc12.png
The breakout performance of the game was authored by Nando De Colo. The freshman Frenchman was the point guard for a majority of the evening and didn’t evaporate in the spotlight. Au contraire, De Colo was much better than any point this season. His ballhandling and court vision looked extremely positive. His outside jumper wasn’t a train wreck (which was an improvement) and he had no trouble getting to the hoop. Defensively, he showed off good awareness and anticipation. That said, De Colo still has some glaring weaknesses. First of all, he doesn’t look to shoot enough. I lost count of how many wide open layups he decided to pass up. He’s also still adjusting to the speed of the NBA. A few passes he attempted had no chance of reaching their destination and he was caught out of position on D a handful of times.
---------------
Matt Bonner
http://www.spurstalk.com/mb12.png
Apparently, Matt Bonner had forgotten that rebounding was part of his job description. He remembered that fact against the Heat, thankfully, and gave much, much, much better effort on the boards than he had all season -- as evident by his nine first half rebounds that matched his previous total for the year. Other than his great effort on the glass and solid positional defense, I liked what I saw out of Bonner on the offensive end. When he was open, he shot the ball. When he wasn’t, he either made a quick pass or a quick move. It doesn’t sound too difficult but Bonner was much too slow with his decisions this season up until this game.
---------------
Patrick Mills
http://www.spurstalk.com/pm12.png
Patrick Mills is hoping that all copies of this game are destroyed. Simply put, he was bad. Really, really bad. Defensively, he made a few plays but was largely ineffective. On offense, he was sloppy with the ball, couldn’t knock down his outside shots, putrid when trying to pass and basically just looked totally inept when trying to create opportunities for himself or others. Hopefully it was just a bad night at the office.
---------------
Gary Neal
http://www.spurstalk.com/gn12.png
Although Gary Neal wasn’t extremely efficient, the Spurs desperately needed his ability to generate points. When the set plays didn’t work and the good guys were left with no other alternative, Neal took it upon himself to try to put points on the boards. Despite the poor shooting percentage and the six turnovers, I thought he did pretty well. Neal is getting better and better at shooting off the dribble and his passing is also improving. Defensively, while he made his share of mistakes, he competed and was usually in the right spot.
---------------
DeJuan Blair
http://www.spurstalk.com/db12.png
Ugh. The out of control version of DeJuan Blair was on display on Thursday night. It was like he could never corral his own muscle fibers. Missed chip shots, poor defensive rotations and other errors pockmarked his evening. It’s getting late in his career to keep looking the other way when he makes rookie mistakes.
Cory Joseph
http://www.spurstalk.com/cj12.png
Cory Joseph had a chance to throw his hat in the ring for NBA minutes this season. Mission unsuccessful. Joseph illustrated better aggression offensively and a lot of potential defensively, however he still has work to do. He was playing too fast on offense; Joseph was too often not letting plays develop. On D, he was too jumpy and missed a few rotations. Minutes in the D-League will serve him well.
---------------
James Anderson
http://www.spurstalk.com/ja12.png
Another huge positive was the play of James Anderson. His jumping ability continues to look much improved. Anderson was explosive in the paint at both ends and hustled for his entire 20 minutes on the court. Defensively, he was really good -- particularly when matched up with James or Wade. He’s still relatively slow laterally but he made up for it by doing his work early. On offense, Anderson passed the ball very well, was able to take it to the hole and did everything with great patience. He may well have played enough to stick around for a while longer.
---------------
Pop
http://www.spurstalk.com/gp12.png
The Spurs got fined $250,000 because Pop elected to make a coaching decision that he felt would improve San Antonio’s chances of winning a championship. Oh, the humanity. Hopefully Pop has learned his lesson than it’s not fair to utilize his deep bench in a way that not only improves the long-term outlook of the team, but also helps in the short-term by giving his reserves valuable playing time that is otherwise unavailable. It’s especially not fair to do that while almost beating the defending champs on the road. Think inside the box, Pop, and stop hammering that damn rock. That’s boring. Go buy a jackhammer like everyone else.
---------------