Quick Grades: Spurs @ Nets - Feb. 10

[timvp]

Tony Parker A+
Exquisite performance. Nets focused on him heavily yet he was flawless on O. Great leadership. Rugged on D.

Kawhi Leonard A-
Very active on D; offered fantastic help and harassed ballhandlers. Picked his spots well on O. Kept it simple.

Danny Green B
Great shooting from deep despite few open looks. Strong in transition. Too antsy on D; couldn’t defend Johnson.

Tiago Splitter B+
Soft in the first quarter but progressively hardened. Played fantastic physical, determined ball in second half.

Boris Diaw B
Didn’t rebound but boxed out well. D was up and down. His shooting form returned. Played with authority.

Matt Bonner B+
Spaced the court well. Confidently looked for his shot and let it fly. Relatively tough on D despite no rebounds.

Stephen Jackson A
Outstanding D. Pressured the ball well; blew up plays with tenacity. Offense was heady. Played his role wisely.

Gary Neal A-
Great shot selection. Played at a sustainable pace. Didn’t have tunnel vision. D was mostly acceptable.

Nando De Colo B+
Very good liveliness throughout. Used dribble to create plays. Defense was better than usual. Limited errors.

DeJuan Blair C
Set solid screens. Rolled to the basket well. D was just really bad. Took poor risks and gave little resistance.

Patrick Mills Inc.
Showboaty no-look pass in garbage time.

Aron Baynes Inc.
Hit his free throws; not sure if serious about being a Spur.

Pop A
Whatever he said to cause great improvement after first quarter needs to be bottled and sold.

[spurs1990]

Wow best report card of the season looks like.


I thought it was a sure loss and turned it off at before halftime tbh.

[GrandeDavid]

Great assessment. Spurs gave me a great birthday gift!

[Darius Bieber]

First team in the League to 40 Wins :toast

However, even after the 11 game win streak, only .5 games above OKC... :depressed

[KaiRMD1]

Ten more wins and we got ourselves another 50, good win!

[SPIDER2311]

Baynes. Please explain?

[200 miles]

Tiago Splitter B+
Soft in the first quarter but progressively hardened. Played fantastic physical, determined ball in second half.


Other than that circus-like fadeaway jumpshot over Tiago, I was relatively pleased on how well Splitter defended Lopez by denying him from posting up and getting to the basket.

[Mugen]

TP was f'n ridiculous tbh.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

So why is Baynes not serious about being a spur? Did I miss somthing

[GINNNNNNNNNNNNOBILI]

Leonard played the second half like his hair was on fire.... Needs to have that type of aggression more often

[Brunodf]

Pop B+ at best. The rotation in the 1st half was terrible. 2nd was great

[blkroadrunners]

The media is talking about Lebron's play lately, but Parker has been right up there w/ him the past 5+ games or so.

[dbestpro]

So why is Baynes not serious about being a spur? Did I miss somthing

Great assessment, but this perhaps the most strange comment I've ever seen from timvp.

[urunobili]

TP 1st team NBA TBH

[Bong]

TP really carried our team as always, he really toyed with brook lopez (one of the great defender in nba), IMO TS really made a good defense on brook lopez, almost all of BL shots were contested and resulted to bad shots eventhough it still falls i dont know if it is just a lucky shot considering BL is a very good player

baynes: i hope baynes could develop his games like TS who's really good in providing screen and moving without the ball, baynes looks like a wall when his in the floor his not actively moving.

im happy that pop put NDC and neal at same time, taking the pressure from neal in handling the ball and having the freedom to play as a SG which IMO is really good at it

[NASpurs]

I wasn't reading the game thread but why was Pop mad with Diaw in the third quarter? I noticed that Diaw kept getting in the way of Parker every time he tried to drive.

[DPG21920]

:lol Barry having to watch TP destroy Dwill and give him prhaps. Awkward!

[slayermin]

Lot of amazing stats for tonight. Among them was assists to turnovers.

Parker 11-0
Spurs 22-5

[DPG21920]

timvp - care to explain the Baynes comment?

[MI21]

Parker is ridiculous. If LeBron and Durant didn't exist he would be the MVP so far.

[HI-FI]

i'm so happy we have Kawhi growing with this team.
great game, that D in the second half was amazing to watch.

timvp's comment on Baynes is weird. i think he meant he's not sure if Baynes is a long term answer for us.

[WaterBuffalo]

He made his free throws; Spurs' long time reputation was as a poor free throw shooting team.

[spurnash]

Guys, Baynes is "hitting his free throws" ..... heck he is even dunking ... not sure if he wants to be a spur is pretty funny looking at the last 15 years of spur history....... just a little humor from timvp...... I apologize if i misinterpreted the comments.

[Snaq O'Meal]

Guys, Baynes is "hitting his free throws" ..... heck he is even dunking ... not sure if he wants to be a spur is pretty funny looking at the last 15 years of spur history....... just a little humor from timvp...... I apologize if i misinterpreted the comments.

Exactly as I interpreted it. :lol

[PingPong]

I think you folks put too much expectations about Baynes. An athletic guy like him should be earning max salary in NBA if he had some skills. Not playing in a lithuanian team with some bad reputation about payin salaries. He can improve. Or not. The only fact is that he will not make a huge impact in the Spurs team right now.

[Mugen]

:lol Barry having to watch TP destroy Dwill and give him prhaps. Awkward!

:lol my thoughts exactly. ESPN's been trolling JB by assigning him to so many Spurs games lately.

[silverblackfan]

He made his free throws; Spurs' long time reputation was as a poor free throw shooting team.

I figured it was a tongue in cheek remark about the Spurs free-throw history. Funny to see it threw some people. :lol

[Floyd Pacquiao]

:lol been so long since the spurs sucked at freethrows

:lol member when malik rose used to shoot are techs

[Strategic]

It seems obvious that Baynes is receiving a hellacious amount of info concerning the Spurs O sets. Maybe a while before he can challenge for the fifth big.

[benefactor]

:lol Barry having to watch TP destroy Dwill and give him prhaps. Awkward!
*handshake between Barry and Parker*

"Hey...good to see you man. You played great tonight."

"Thanks man."

"Bet you will be glad when Tim gets back. Then ESPN can go back to talking about a great Spurs player and stop talking about you."

"Yeah...you know...that will be nice. Hey, remember that time I jizzed all over your sister in law? Those were fun times. Say hi to Brent for me. Peace."

[crc21209]

TP has been playing like a a man possessed as of late. It's absolutely awesome to watch. :tu

[crc21209]

*handshake between Barry and Parker*

"Hey...good to see you man. You played great tonight."

"Thanks man."

"Bet you will be glad when Tim gets back. Then ESPN can go back to talking about a great Spurs player and stop talking about you."

"Yeah...you know...that will be nice. Hey, remember that time I jizzed all over your sister in law? Those were fun times. Say hi to Brent for me. Peace."

:lol

[timvp]

:lol I apologize for the Baynes confusion. Yeah, the old ST joke was that a new player missing his free throws was just their way of proving they want to play for the Spurs. I guess it doesn't make sense anymore since the Spurs can actually shoot free throws now...

Baynes looked fine.

[Embedded]

Oh :: whew ::: timvp you had me worried there. I feel for Baynes, no camp, preseason, little practice time, second half of the season....gotta be tough.

[superbigtime]

Nice win. Tony was awesome.

[SPIDER2311]

Oh :: whew ::: timvp you had me worried there. I feel for Baynes, no camp, preseason, little practice time, second half of the season....gotta be tough.

I think it going to be hader for baynes when Nando and Patty are trying to get him some ball. He needs to play with TP and then we will se him start to hit his groove. I think him playing with TP is looking remote

[bklynspursfan]

Great game! i was able to get some VIP access and got to see some of the guys warm up before the game, (Thankfully had the pleasure of watching Timmy shoot jumpers for about 10 minutes) Amazing experience, got autographs from Tiago, DeColo and Mike B... Wasn't looking too good early on, but way to fight back.

Tony Parker is even better in person....

[Whisky Dog]

timvp - care to explain the Baynes comment?

You should've known better.

Gotta admit was fun watching the new greys not get it.

[DPG21920]

Ya - I am not immune to lapses in judgement every now and again..

[Steve-O-Matic]

Parker played quite possibly a "perfect" game. 29 points, 11 dimes, 0 turnovers, 0 fouls. Heck he even hit all 4 of his FT's and his only 3-point attempt. It be interesting to find out from Elias when the last time was that a player had that many points and assists without committing a turnover or foul.

[ace3g]

Parker played quite possibly a "perfect" game. 29 points, 11 dimes, 0 turnovers, 0 fouls. Heck he even hit all 4 of his FT's and his only 3-point attempt. It be interesting to find out from Elias when the last time was that a player had that many points and assists without committing a turnover or foul.

ESPN Stats & Info ‏@ESPNStatsInfo (https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo) Tony Parker with 29 points, 11 assists & 0 turnovers tonight, a first for his career. The last to hit such totals? Dwyane Wade (Feb 4, 2009)

[jestersmash]

I think this is the first time in years that I've heard Brent give significant props to Tony on air. 99% of the time he'll stay silent on the sideline. Or, he'll try to shift the conversation to elite point guards in general.

For example, I think a couple of games ago Steve was giving props to Tony Parker and Brent shifted the conversation to how it's so critical to be able to plan for elite PGs on defense these days because people "like Russell Westbrook" are in the league. I don't remember the exact quote but it was something like that. Steve was talking about Tony Parker, and Brent shifted it to elite PGs, using Westbrook as a prototypical example.

Or, if the Big 3 are playing together and Steve starts talking about Tony, Brent will jump in with how important the contributions of Tim and Manu were "in addition." Cue followup quote about longstanding excellence of the Big 3.

[buujness]

Couple of observations from the nosebleeds:

The Barclays Center is pretty damn nice. The scoreboard was especially impressive, though the cupholders at the back of the arm rest kinda threw me off for a second.

The fans were really civil; I didn't get a single insult or negative comment. I was pleasantly surprised. Speaking of fans, there were a lot of Spurs fans in attendance. I'm not sure how well the telecast picked that up, but there were a lot of cheers for Tony (especially after that spin move and layup). Also, one last fan story: o when the Nets were up 9-6, someone behind me said "I expected more from the Spurs." After the game all I could think of was 'Ask and ye shall receive' lol.

Watching Tony Parker play like that in person was absolutely phenomenal; I was surprised to find this, but even from the nosebleeds it's obvious that he's the best player on the floor. What a pleasure that was!

Otoh, DWill is the most overrated player in the NBA. I flatout forgot he was playing at times during the 2nd half. He was awful.

The Spurs' ball movement is so much more impactful watching them live as opposed to TV. That pass that Diaw made over his shoulder to a backcutting Parker (or Green?) was a truly beautiful play. They just played chess while the Nets played checkers in the 2nd half, and it was blatantly obvious how much more intelligent the Spurs played.

Good night all around. :)

[EricB]

:lol I apologize for the Baynes confusion. Yeah, the old ST joke was that a new player missing his free throws was just their way of proving they want to play for the Spurs. I guess it doesn't make sense anymore since the Spurs can actually shoot free throws now...

Baynes looked fine.


I still do double takes at the team's FT %

[Mel_13]

Parker played quite possibly a "perfect" game. 29 points, 11 dimes, 0 turnovers, 0 fouls. Heck he even hit all 4 of his FT's and his only 3-point attempt. It be interesting to find out from Elias when the last time was that a player had that many points and assists without committing a turnover or foul.

Only 4 such games since the 85-86 season:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pgl_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id=&match=game&year_min=&year_max=&age_min=0&age_max=99&team_id=&opp_id=&is_playoffs=N&round_is_ec1=Y&round_is_ecs=Y&round_is_ecf=Y&round_is_wc1=Y&round_is_wcs=Y&round_is_wcf=Y&round_is_fin=Y&game_num_type=&game_num_min=&game_num_max=&game_month=&game_location=&game_result=&is_starter=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&c1stat=pts&c1comp=gt&c1val=29&c2stat=ast&c2comp=gt&c2val=11&c3stat=tov&c3comp=eq&c3val=0&c4stat=pf&c4comp=eq&c4val=0&order_by=date_game

[crc21209]

TP easily has to be in the Top 3 for MVP voting. The only guys who are playing at his level or better are LeBron and Durant, maybe Melo.

[Boomersgold]

Pop A
Whatever he said to cause great improvement after first quarter needs to be bottled and sold.

"Nasty."

[Splits]

Only 4 such games since the 85-86 season:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pgl_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id=&match=game&year_min=&year_max=&age_min=0&age_max=99&team_id=&opp_id=&is_playoffs=N&round_is_ec1=Y&round_is_ecs=Y&round_is_ecf=Y&round_is_wc1=Y&round_is_wcs=Y&round_is_wcf=Y&round_is_fin=Y&game_num_type=&game_num_min=&game_num_max=&game_month=&game_location=&game_result=&is_starter=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&c1stat=pts&c1comp=gt&c1val=29&c2stat=ast&c2comp=gt&c2val=11&c3stat=tov&c3comp=eq&c3val=0&c4stat=pf&c4comp=eq&c4val=0&order_by=date_game

Diaw had basically the same stat line a couple years ago: http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201103300CHA.html



Starters
MP
FG
FGA
FG%
3P
3PA
3P%
FT
FTA
FT%
ORB
DRB
TRB
AST
STL
BLK
TOV
PF
PTS
+/-


Boris Diaw (http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/diawbo01.html)
42:02
11
16
.688
0
2
.000
4
6
.667
1
6
7
11
1
1
0
0
26
+10

[Buddy Holly]

I think this is the first time in years that I've heard Brent give significant props to Tony on air. 99% of the time he'll stay silent on the sideline. Or, he'll try to shift the conversation to elite point guards in general.

For example, I think a couple of games ago Steve was giving props to Tony Parker and Brent shifted the conversation to how it's so critical to be able to plan for elite PGs on defense these days because people "like Russell Westbrook" are in the league. I don't remember the exact quote but it was something like that. Steve was talking about Tony Parker, and Brent shifted it to elite PGs, using Westbrook as a prototypical example.

Or, if the Big 3 are playing together and Steve starts talking about Tony, Brent will jump in with how important the contributions of Tim and Manu were "in addition." Cue followup quote about longstanding excellence of the Big 3.

It's Jon Barry that does color on ESPN broadcasts, not Brent.

[blkroadrunners]

Great game! i was able to get some VIP access and got to see some of the guys warm up before the game, (Thankfully had the pleasure of watching Timmy shoot jumpers for about 10 minutes) Amazing experience, got autographs from Tiago, DeColo and Mike B... Wasn't looking too good early on, but way to fight back.

Tony Parker is even better in person....

:tu :tu :tu

[jestersmash]

It's Jon Barry that does color on ESPN broadcasts, not Brent.

Yeah I know. I was talking about the NBA TV postgame coverage with Brent/Steve Smith and that "other guy" who's name I always forget. Should've clarified that point earlier, my bad.

[DapDaGenius]

Glad Jackson didn't take a 3 this game.

[will_spurs]

Sadly for Tony every time he's reaching new heights there's a more marketable guy that does the same at the same time... Lebron is clearly the better player but it would have been nice if he had had this great streak games a bit earlier or later in the season :)

[bklynspursfan]

Only 5 turnovers?? :wow

[John B]

Great win for the Spurs with the Thunder .5 game behind. With the B2B game tonight at Bulls, I hope they carry the same momentum. To have the lead which allowed Baynes to play was great to get him some experience.

[SpursRock20]

Couple of observations from the nosebleeds:

The Barclays Center is pretty damn nice. The scoreboard was especially impressive, though the cupholders at the back of the arm rest kinda threw me off for a second.

The fans were really civil; I didn't get a single insult or negative comment. I was pleasantly surprised. Speaking of fans, there were a lot of Spurs fans in attendance. I'm not sure how well the telecast picked that up, but there were a lot of cheers for Tony (especially after that spin move and layup). Also, one last fan story: o when the Nets were up 9-6, someone behind me said "I expected more from the Spurs." After the game all I could think of was 'Ask and ye shall receive' lol.

Watching Tony Parker play like that in person was absolutely phenomenal; I was surprised to find this, but even from the nosebleeds it's obvious that he's the best player on the floor. What a pleasure that was!

Otoh, DWill is the most overrated player in the NBA. I flatout forgot he was playing at times during the 2nd half. He was awful.

The Spurs' ball movement is so much more impactful watching them live as opposed to TV. That pass that Diaw made over his shoulder to a backcutting Parker (or Green?) was a truly beautiful play. They just played chess while the Nets played checkers in the 2nd half, and it was blatantly obvious how much more intelligent the Spurs played.

Good night all around. :)

Good stuff, man! Glad you enjoyed the game. You should have told that dude that the Spurs were missing their second and third best players... and they still whooped the Nets!

[TJastal]

The TD to Parker backdoor dive to the rim and finish seems to have rubbed off on teammates now, as they are all finding him for easy buckets. Seems every game a different player finds him alone under the rim, his defender a few yards away pulling up his shorts :lol

Seems like Parker is exceptionally quick this year, not only in making the cuts but also hoisting up a shot before shotblockers can react. His coordination to be able to catch the pass and hoist it up on target is off the charts amazing.

[Obstructed_View]

:lol I apologize for the Baynes confusion. Yeah, the old ST joke was that a new player missing his free throws was just their way of proving they want to play for the Spurs. I guess it doesn't make sense anymore since the Spurs can actually shoot free throws now...

Baynes looked fine.

Some of us got it. I'm surprised so many people didn't. Strong is the church of Baynes...

[Obstructed_View]

Jon Barry was right to point out that Parker should be in the discussion for MVP. Thought it odd that Simmons dismissed the idea immediately, saying "It's between Lebron and Durant", then naming four point guards better than Parker and saying Westbrook was number 2. Either he really loves Duncan or he doesn't look at the standings. Parker's game was a great punctuation. It's not really between Lebron and anyone, but if Durant deserves second, Parker should be third or fourth.

I guess the old defense got stuck in blizzard traffic, because the Spurs that lost to Detroit came out early in that game. It's dangerous letting shooters get hot, but we know by now that you can't count on Keith Bogans. It was cute watching him try to get chippy with Jack, who reached out a hand to steady him.

Danny Green's offensive choice card should read "shoot" or "pass". If I were the coach, I'd fine him for not pulling up on the break or for shooting off the dribble without the clock winding down. I now trust him to drive the ball less than I trust Matt Bonner. I give him special credit for his defensive mindset, because even when he was being singled out and victimized, he didn't put his head down. Got to like a guy who stays cool and just keeps working.

Jerry Sloan isn't laughing about how much DWill sucks, because he's not a complete dick. Mark Cuban, on the other hand...

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Malone and Stockton on that over-the-shoulder pass by Diaw to Parker. Boris even did the shimmy before he flicked the ball to him.

:lol at Pop trolling Parker during the timeout. Tony was so into the game it took him a full five seconds to figure out Pop was joking about putting in Timmy to help with rebounding.

[Blake]

The Spurs in the first half reminded me of late 80s Spurs with Alvin, Brick, Dawkins, etc. Just outclassed and out talented.

then the Spurs played easily the best second half of the year, imo.

Where was Deron Williams? He was like a ghost.

[silverblk mystix]

Great assessment. Spurs gave me a great birthday gift!


Happy Birthday!

[dbreiden83080]

I was at this game in the 200 section there were some drunken Nets fans really getting into it with a few Spurs fans going crazy every time Tony scored or sliced the D up for a nice assist. The Spurs fans also yelled at Kris Humphries "It's not your baby" every time he got his ass off the bench. :lol

[Strategic]

Danny Green's offensive choice card should read "shoot" or "pass". If I were the coach, I'd fine him for not pulling up on the break or for shooting off the dribble without the clock winding down. I now trust him to drive the ball less than I trust Matt Bonner. I give him special credit for his defensive mindset, because even when he was being singled out and victimized, he didn't put his head down. Got to like a guy who stays cool and just keeps working.

Yes even when Green has a lateral landing before his shot he isn't very successful. Last night he was able to make a couple of offensive plays that he isn't normally successful at, and it really helped the team out. If he sticks, then maybe a couple of years working at and adding to his game will make him a special player. Hope so.:hungry: