timvp
01-19-2013, 06:24 PM
With each team missing a star guard (Manu Ginobili for San Antonio, Stephen Curry for Golden State), the Spurs and Warriors battled for nearly the entire 48 minutes before the good guys were able to escape with a 95-88 win. The Warriors, even without arguably their best player, gave the Spurs a hell of a fight. That team plays hard, is well coached and has pieces that fit together. Golden State finally appears to be headed in the right direction as a franchise. On this night, though, the Spurs were able to notch their 14th straight win at home and their 28th straight win at home over the Warriors.
A Tony Parker layup with three and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter tied the game at 16. The Warriors then clamped down on defense and went on a 10-0 run. A Gary Neal three-pointer at the first quarter buzzer made it 26-19 after one.
Golden State got the first bucket of the second quarter. This time, it was San Antonio’s chance to respond; they scored nine consecutive points over a span of three minutes to tie the contest. Each team traded mini-runs the rest of the half. Going into intermission, the score was 47-46 Warriors.
Three minutes into the second half, the Warriors had pushed their advantage to seven points … only to watch the Spurs respond again with nine consecutive points. With the score 67-67 with 3:42 remaining in the third, the Spurs went on an 11-2 run. Unfortunately, the Warriors fought back with four straight points in the final 14 seconds of the period to make it 78-73 entering the fourth quarter.
Tim Duncan began the fourth with a jumper but the Warriors refused to fold. A 9-2 Golden State run knotted the game once again. That’s when San Antonio’s D got stingy on one end while the other end was taken over by Duncan and Parker. The two standing members of the Big 3 accounted for 12 of the team’s final 15 points and the Warriors would score only six points in the game’s final seven minutes. Game, finally, over.
http://www.spurstalk.com/box421.png
http://www.spurstalk.com/box422.png
http://www.spurstalk.com/box423.png
---------------
Tim Duncan
http://www.spurstalk.com/td12.png
With Manu Ginobili out and a flock of teammates struggling, Tim Duncan shouldered a larger than usual role offensively. The results were mostly positive. While he held onto the ball too long at times and failed to realize mismatches at other times, Duncan poured in 24 points on 16 shots. His passing was good at times but it was also overshadowed by his turnovers. On defense, Duncan did very well guarding the rim. The paint was his territory and he let nary a driver enter it unmolested. He was strong on the boards but Duncan struggled defending on the perimeter. His closeouts were usually too hard or too soft. Despite his negatives, this was definitely a strong performance and the Spurs needed every drop of sweat to attain the win.
Final Grade: 89
Season Average: 89.2
Adj. Average: 89.5
Last 10 Average: 85.4
---------------
Tony Parker
http://www.spurstalk.com/tp12.png
The Warriors defended Tony Parker with 6-foot-7 Klay Thompson. That strategy was profitable early on as Parker struggled to deal with Thompson’s length. Eventually, though, the Frenchman figured it out. By the fourth quarter he was firing on all cylinders. Despite the uneven performance, Parker ended up having a substantial offensive showing. He scored well for himself -- his ability to get into the lane and score against their halfcourt defense was vital. He also conducted the pick-and-rolls well and he routinely found shooters after penetration. On the other hand, Parker never got it going on the defensive end. It seemed like he lacked focus with Stephen Curry sidelined. As a result, Jarrett Jack had a very strong game. All in all, Parker produced well but it came with a healthy share of unsightliness.
Final Grade: 86
Season Average: 86.7
Adj. Average: 86.7
Last 10 Average: 85.2
---------------
Kawhi Leonard
http://www.spurstalk.com/kl12.png
This was just a strange outing by Kawhi Leonard. Pop jumped on him a few times and the sophomore seemed to lose his composure. He was making uncharacteristic mistakes and he was abnormally hesitant in many situations. Basically, Leonard was thinking too much instead of reacting. The consequence was a poor night at the office. Offensively, he never got going at all. He didn’t know where to be when he was off the ball. When he had the ball in his hands, his confusion only escalated. Defensively, I liked the way he went after and retrieved contested rebounds -- but that was the extent of his positives. His individual and team D were substandard. Let us hope this was just a bad game for Leonard and not a symptom of something worse.
Final Grade: 68
Season Average: 83.6
Adj. Average: 83.4
Last 10 Average: 81.2
---------------
Danny Green
http://www.spurstalk.com/dg12.png
Defensively, Danny Green wasn’t good early on against Thompson. He gave the gunner too much room and Thompson made him pay. Green was also having issues dealing with screens. But to his credit, Green got much better on D as the game went along. By his final stint, he was playing stout defense and had a good read on what Thompson was trying to do. Offensively, it was a similar story. He began the game cold from the field; it wasn’t until the second half that he got going. But then he hit two big three-pointers in the third quarter. Late in the fourth, he dropped another three that put the Spurs up by seven points with 90 seconds remaining that sealed the victory.
Final Grade: 88
Season Average: 82.7
Adj. Average: 83.0
Last 10 Average: 82.8
---------------
Tiago Splitter
http://www.spurstalk.com/ts12.png
Tiago Splitter is starting to make this routine. Against the Warriors, he put together another fine performance. Offensively, he was practically flawless. He ran the court hard, picked his spots very well and finished with determination. Splitter also authored a couple of quality passes and finished the game without a turnover. Overall, the Brazilian's assimilation to the starting lineup couldn’t be going better on the offensive end. Defensively, he was more hit or miss this game. While he rebounded adequately, his low-post defense was spotty and his protection of the rim could have been better. Like Duncan, he didn’t defend the midrange area well. The good news is that he’s making notable strides in always using his length to his advantage on D.
Final Grade: 92
Season Average: 85.3
Adj. Average: 86.0
Last 10 Average: 86.4
---------------
Boris Diaw
http://www.spurstalk.com/bd12.png
The Good: Boris Diaw played above average defense and was great on the boards. I’m not sure if he was jumping higher than usual but it sure seemed like it because he was yanking down rebounds outside of his usual zone. On offense, his passing was brilliant. The Boudini nickname (Boris + Houdini) really does fit him well. Diaw illustrated his otherworldly passing while also taking care of the ball, which is probably equally as important. The Bad: He took apathy to a whole new level in terms of his reluctance to shoot. Not only did he simply refuse to shoot, he was actively trying to hide from the ball. That, obviously, isn’t going to cut it when the stakes get higher.
Final Grade: 88
Season Average: 81.1
Adj. Average: 82.1
Last 10 Average: 85.0
---------------
Stephen Jackson
http://www.spurstalk.com/sj12.png
Aesthetically-speaking, Stephen Jackson is starting to look a lot better. He’s moving better out on the perimeter and he has regained some of the quickness that was missing earlier in the season. Jackson’s offensive forays -- particularly in traffic -- are starting to have happy endings. Against the Warriors, his defense was solid and he was sturdy on the glass. Despite those aforementioned positives, Jackson still has work to do cleaning up his game. He missed too many shots against the Warriors and he has room to get in better shape.
Final Grade: 78
Season Average: 82.4
Adj. Average: 82.7
Last 10 Average: 81.8
---------------
Gary Neal
http://www.spurstalk.com/gn12.png
Gary Neal performed some more indiscriminate chucking of shots. Even though he was full-time at shooting guard, he bit off more than he could chew on the offensive end. Instead of playing within the offense, he tried to shoulder more than his portion of the load. The outcome was calamitous. What made it even worse is that he did next to nothing elsewhere on the court. Defensively, he was sluggish. He didn’t help out on the boards, didn’t pass it, didn’t hustle … didn’t do anything, really. Outside of shot attempts, Neal failed to tally a statistic in any area. That wasn’t a statistical coincidence; it was evidence of his single-mindedness against Golden State.
Final Grade: 67
Season Average: 80.3
Adj. Average: 81.3
Last 10 Average: 78.7
---------------
Patrick Mills
http://www.spurstalk.com/pm12.png
Patrick Mills was the point guard in the first half. Again, Mills was unable to do much scoring-wise. Since being handed the backup point guard gig, the Australian is 3-for-12 from the field -- and two of those makes were in garbage time. He passed the ball decently against the Warriors and took care of the ball at a satisfactory level. His defense was also okay. But, truthfully, Mills isn’t good enough elsewhere unless he adds scoring back to the equation.
Final Grade: 72
Season Average: 82.6
Adj. Average: 82.6
Last 10 Average: 81.4
---------------
Nando De Colo
http://www.spurstalk.com/ndc12.png
Pop decided to try out Nando De Colo as the backup point guard in the second half. I liked the liveliness De Colo brought to the floor. He was quick to the ball and strong on the boards. He also handed out a few nifty passes. Unfortunately, De Colo ruined his evening with a couple of unforgivably bad defensive plays that were a result of him trying to do too much instead of staying within the defensive framework.
Final Grade: 75
Season Average: 81.4
Adj. Average: 83.6
Last 10 Average: 75.3
---------------
Matt Bonner
http://www.spurstalk.com/mb12.png
Matt Bonner got minutes at the end of the first half. Why? I’m not sure. Offensively, he again wasn’t moving well to open spaces. The one shot he attempted was forced. Defensively, Bonner was a little bit better -- but nothing to alert Canada about. He had a couple good possessions defending the post but offered little to no resistance to drivers.
Final Grade: 76
Season Average: 80.1
Adj. Average: 81.9
Last 10 Average: 74.1
---------------
Pop
http://www.spurstalk.com/gp12.png
With Ginobili out, I thought Pop should have focused on keeping a steady rotation to give players a chance to adjust to their newly expanded roles. Pop apparently thought differently. He utilized an 11-man rotation that was straight out of the mad scientist handbook. There was little rhyme or reason to his rotation -- and, in my opinion, that patchiness played a role in the Warriors being able to hang around. Then again, give credit to Pop for playing Splitter big minutes and going back to Leonard despite his struggles.
Final Grade: 70
Season Average: 83.8
Last 10 Average: 82.2
---------------
Offense
Well, the Spurs only turned it over 11 times. That’s a step in the right direction. Everything else, though, was iffy. San Antonio took too many threes and didn’t hit enough. Nineteen assists is chump change for this squad. The pace was too slow and the cohesion between the players was lacking.
Final Grade: 72
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 81.9
---------------
Defense
The defense was a lot better, even if you toss in the caveat of Curry’s absence. The Spurs limited their points in the paint, limited their free throws, limited their effectiveness from three-point land and rebounded the ball extremely well.
Final Grade: 88
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 84.9
---------------
Overall
The Warriors are a good team and they played well even without Curry. That said, the Spurs shot themselves in the foot too often to be too thrilled with this win. But, regardless, San Antonio will gladly accept the victory against a playoff-bound team. Now the Spurs face an extremely short turnaround before taking on the Hawks tonight. It’s going to be difficult to get a win unless more players come along for the ride than we witnessed against the Warriors.
Final Grade: 79
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 83.1
---------------
A Tony Parker layup with three and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter tied the game at 16. The Warriors then clamped down on defense and went on a 10-0 run. A Gary Neal three-pointer at the first quarter buzzer made it 26-19 after one.
Golden State got the first bucket of the second quarter. This time, it was San Antonio’s chance to respond; they scored nine consecutive points over a span of three minutes to tie the contest. Each team traded mini-runs the rest of the half. Going into intermission, the score was 47-46 Warriors.
Three minutes into the second half, the Warriors had pushed their advantage to seven points … only to watch the Spurs respond again with nine consecutive points. With the score 67-67 with 3:42 remaining in the third, the Spurs went on an 11-2 run. Unfortunately, the Warriors fought back with four straight points in the final 14 seconds of the period to make it 78-73 entering the fourth quarter.
Tim Duncan began the fourth with a jumper but the Warriors refused to fold. A 9-2 Golden State run knotted the game once again. That’s when San Antonio’s D got stingy on one end while the other end was taken over by Duncan and Parker. The two standing members of the Big 3 accounted for 12 of the team’s final 15 points and the Warriors would score only six points in the game’s final seven minutes. Game, finally, over.
http://www.spurstalk.com/box421.png
http://www.spurstalk.com/box422.png
http://www.spurstalk.com/box423.png
---------------
Tim Duncan
http://www.spurstalk.com/td12.png
With Manu Ginobili out and a flock of teammates struggling, Tim Duncan shouldered a larger than usual role offensively. The results were mostly positive. While he held onto the ball too long at times and failed to realize mismatches at other times, Duncan poured in 24 points on 16 shots. His passing was good at times but it was also overshadowed by his turnovers. On defense, Duncan did very well guarding the rim. The paint was his territory and he let nary a driver enter it unmolested. He was strong on the boards but Duncan struggled defending on the perimeter. His closeouts were usually too hard or too soft. Despite his negatives, this was definitely a strong performance and the Spurs needed every drop of sweat to attain the win.
Final Grade: 89
Season Average: 89.2
Adj. Average: 89.5
Last 10 Average: 85.4
---------------
Tony Parker
http://www.spurstalk.com/tp12.png
The Warriors defended Tony Parker with 6-foot-7 Klay Thompson. That strategy was profitable early on as Parker struggled to deal with Thompson’s length. Eventually, though, the Frenchman figured it out. By the fourth quarter he was firing on all cylinders. Despite the uneven performance, Parker ended up having a substantial offensive showing. He scored well for himself -- his ability to get into the lane and score against their halfcourt defense was vital. He also conducted the pick-and-rolls well and he routinely found shooters after penetration. On the other hand, Parker never got it going on the defensive end. It seemed like he lacked focus with Stephen Curry sidelined. As a result, Jarrett Jack had a very strong game. All in all, Parker produced well but it came with a healthy share of unsightliness.
Final Grade: 86
Season Average: 86.7
Adj. Average: 86.7
Last 10 Average: 85.2
---------------
Kawhi Leonard
http://www.spurstalk.com/kl12.png
This was just a strange outing by Kawhi Leonard. Pop jumped on him a few times and the sophomore seemed to lose his composure. He was making uncharacteristic mistakes and he was abnormally hesitant in many situations. Basically, Leonard was thinking too much instead of reacting. The consequence was a poor night at the office. Offensively, he never got going at all. He didn’t know where to be when he was off the ball. When he had the ball in his hands, his confusion only escalated. Defensively, I liked the way he went after and retrieved contested rebounds -- but that was the extent of his positives. His individual and team D were substandard. Let us hope this was just a bad game for Leonard and not a symptom of something worse.
Final Grade: 68
Season Average: 83.6
Adj. Average: 83.4
Last 10 Average: 81.2
---------------
Danny Green
http://www.spurstalk.com/dg12.png
Defensively, Danny Green wasn’t good early on against Thompson. He gave the gunner too much room and Thompson made him pay. Green was also having issues dealing with screens. But to his credit, Green got much better on D as the game went along. By his final stint, he was playing stout defense and had a good read on what Thompson was trying to do. Offensively, it was a similar story. He began the game cold from the field; it wasn’t until the second half that he got going. But then he hit two big three-pointers in the third quarter. Late in the fourth, he dropped another three that put the Spurs up by seven points with 90 seconds remaining that sealed the victory.
Final Grade: 88
Season Average: 82.7
Adj. Average: 83.0
Last 10 Average: 82.8
---------------
Tiago Splitter
http://www.spurstalk.com/ts12.png
Tiago Splitter is starting to make this routine. Against the Warriors, he put together another fine performance. Offensively, he was practically flawless. He ran the court hard, picked his spots very well and finished with determination. Splitter also authored a couple of quality passes and finished the game without a turnover. Overall, the Brazilian's assimilation to the starting lineup couldn’t be going better on the offensive end. Defensively, he was more hit or miss this game. While he rebounded adequately, his low-post defense was spotty and his protection of the rim could have been better. Like Duncan, he didn’t defend the midrange area well. The good news is that he’s making notable strides in always using his length to his advantage on D.
Final Grade: 92
Season Average: 85.3
Adj. Average: 86.0
Last 10 Average: 86.4
---------------
Boris Diaw
http://www.spurstalk.com/bd12.png
The Good: Boris Diaw played above average defense and was great on the boards. I’m not sure if he was jumping higher than usual but it sure seemed like it because he was yanking down rebounds outside of his usual zone. On offense, his passing was brilliant. The Boudini nickname (Boris + Houdini) really does fit him well. Diaw illustrated his otherworldly passing while also taking care of the ball, which is probably equally as important. The Bad: He took apathy to a whole new level in terms of his reluctance to shoot. Not only did he simply refuse to shoot, he was actively trying to hide from the ball. That, obviously, isn’t going to cut it when the stakes get higher.
Final Grade: 88
Season Average: 81.1
Adj. Average: 82.1
Last 10 Average: 85.0
---------------
Stephen Jackson
http://www.spurstalk.com/sj12.png
Aesthetically-speaking, Stephen Jackson is starting to look a lot better. He’s moving better out on the perimeter and he has regained some of the quickness that was missing earlier in the season. Jackson’s offensive forays -- particularly in traffic -- are starting to have happy endings. Against the Warriors, his defense was solid and he was sturdy on the glass. Despite those aforementioned positives, Jackson still has work to do cleaning up his game. He missed too many shots against the Warriors and he has room to get in better shape.
Final Grade: 78
Season Average: 82.4
Adj. Average: 82.7
Last 10 Average: 81.8
---------------
Gary Neal
http://www.spurstalk.com/gn12.png
Gary Neal performed some more indiscriminate chucking of shots. Even though he was full-time at shooting guard, he bit off more than he could chew on the offensive end. Instead of playing within the offense, he tried to shoulder more than his portion of the load. The outcome was calamitous. What made it even worse is that he did next to nothing elsewhere on the court. Defensively, he was sluggish. He didn’t help out on the boards, didn’t pass it, didn’t hustle … didn’t do anything, really. Outside of shot attempts, Neal failed to tally a statistic in any area. That wasn’t a statistical coincidence; it was evidence of his single-mindedness against Golden State.
Final Grade: 67
Season Average: 80.3
Adj. Average: 81.3
Last 10 Average: 78.7
---------------
Patrick Mills
http://www.spurstalk.com/pm12.png
Patrick Mills was the point guard in the first half. Again, Mills was unable to do much scoring-wise. Since being handed the backup point guard gig, the Australian is 3-for-12 from the field -- and two of those makes were in garbage time. He passed the ball decently against the Warriors and took care of the ball at a satisfactory level. His defense was also okay. But, truthfully, Mills isn’t good enough elsewhere unless he adds scoring back to the equation.
Final Grade: 72
Season Average: 82.6
Adj. Average: 82.6
Last 10 Average: 81.4
---------------
Nando De Colo
http://www.spurstalk.com/ndc12.png
Pop decided to try out Nando De Colo as the backup point guard in the second half. I liked the liveliness De Colo brought to the floor. He was quick to the ball and strong on the boards. He also handed out a few nifty passes. Unfortunately, De Colo ruined his evening with a couple of unforgivably bad defensive plays that were a result of him trying to do too much instead of staying within the defensive framework.
Final Grade: 75
Season Average: 81.4
Adj. Average: 83.6
Last 10 Average: 75.3
---------------
Matt Bonner
http://www.spurstalk.com/mb12.png
Matt Bonner got minutes at the end of the first half. Why? I’m not sure. Offensively, he again wasn’t moving well to open spaces. The one shot he attempted was forced. Defensively, Bonner was a little bit better -- but nothing to alert Canada about. He had a couple good possessions defending the post but offered little to no resistance to drivers.
Final Grade: 76
Season Average: 80.1
Adj. Average: 81.9
Last 10 Average: 74.1
---------------
Pop
http://www.spurstalk.com/gp12.png
With Ginobili out, I thought Pop should have focused on keeping a steady rotation to give players a chance to adjust to their newly expanded roles. Pop apparently thought differently. He utilized an 11-man rotation that was straight out of the mad scientist handbook. There was little rhyme or reason to his rotation -- and, in my opinion, that patchiness played a role in the Warriors being able to hang around. Then again, give credit to Pop for playing Splitter big minutes and going back to Leonard despite his struggles.
Final Grade: 70
Season Average: 83.8
Last 10 Average: 82.2
---------------
Offense
Well, the Spurs only turned it over 11 times. That’s a step in the right direction. Everything else, though, was iffy. San Antonio took too many threes and didn’t hit enough. Nineteen assists is chump change for this squad. The pace was too slow and the cohesion between the players was lacking.
Final Grade: 72
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 81.9
---------------
Defense
The defense was a lot better, even if you toss in the caveat of Curry’s absence. The Spurs limited their points in the paint, limited their free throws, limited their effectiveness from three-point land and rebounded the ball extremely well.
Final Grade: 88
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 84.9
---------------
Overall
The Warriors are a good team and they played well even without Curry. That said, the Spurs shot themselves in the foot too often to be too thrilled with this win. But, regardless, San Antonio will gladly accept the victory against a playoff-bound team. Now the Spurs face an extremely short turnaround before taking on the Hawks tonight. It’s going to be difficult to get a win unless more players come along for the ride than we witnessed against the Warriors.
Final Grade: 79
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 83.1
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