Quick Grades: Spurs @ Suns - Feb. 24

[timvp]

Tim Duncan C
Continues to look rusty since return. Post moves were ugly but his outside jumper was on. D was underwhelming.

Manu Ginobili B
Did great to get to the line; that's one of the most valuable aspects of his game. Passing was solid. Quiet elsewhere.

Kawhi Leonard A-
Very active on both ends. Missed a few makeable shots but otherwise can't complain about his production.

Danny Green B+
Shot well and made plays going to the basket. Displayed good court vision. D better than usual.

Tiago Splitter A-
Made a lot of key plays when the Spurs were pulling away. Very sharp on D. Pulled off crafty moves on O.

Nando De Colo D+
Started but didn't play well. O was ragged; often out of place. Mistake-prone on defense. Didn't help his outlook.

Patrick Mills A-
Played well from his opening minutes on the court. Made plays with and without the ball. Energetic on D.

Boris Diaw A
Had extra pep in his step. Good effort on boards and on D. Passed well. Virtually no mistakes. Stayed engaged.

Matt Bonner C
No rebounds in 17 minutes. Shot-selection was iffy. Uncharacteristically fouled too much.

Stephen Jackson C+
Strong on D, particularly maneuvering around screens. Found open teammates. Missed shots and TOs a problem.

Aron Baynes Inc.
Active in garbage time. The only positive was an altered shot at the rim.

Pop A-
Pop made sure they didn't skip a beat without Parker or Neal. Spread minutes well in the relatively easy win.

[Libri]

thanks

[Brunodf]

Thanks.
The second unit plays so well without Neal/Blair.
Kawhi played hard.

[weeks]

i'd be giving gino a b- tbh
getting to the line is great, but you gotta make em

[Strategic]

Pop A-
Pop made sure they didn't skip a beat without Parker or Neal. Spread minutes well in the relatively easy win.Earlier in the season Pop was content with using just Duncan, Splitter and Diaw for the front court rotation, lately he has been working Bonner in. It wouldn't bother me so much if he was on the court with TD or TS only but it seems like he gets a few minutes with Diaw and ...........shit.


Pop accused Parker of a little too much "hero" play for not admitting he was hurting before the loss to the Warriors.

[sananspursfan21]

really impressed with danny green lately. proven he's a valuable player and hasn't shrunk in big regular season moments. only complaint is he could still finish a little better at the rim

[AFBlue]

Loved the tough play out of Splitter. He really seems to relish playing big against the Euros like Scola and M. Gasol.

Mills playing under control and picking his spots was a pleasant surprise, as was Boris' activity on O. Without the performance of those two, this game is a potential loss.

[emanueldavidginobili]

Mills>Neal

[DanAu]

I loved the level of control during this game. For the most, solid passing and good shots, but when it was called for the hustle was outstanding.

[DesignatedT]

:tu

[LakerHater]

Was Blair active?

[racm]

The Spurs were playing back and forth until Mills and Diaw checked in, tbh.

[AFBlue]

The only downside was the rebounding...not enough boxing out or gang rebounding. It's mildly disconcerting.

[EricB]

Eh last game of a long road trip. Could tell guys were tired. Against a blah suns bunch too.


bad combo of games tonight and Wednesday IMO.

[superjames1992]

I was really disappointed with Nando today, tbh, and I'm a fan. :(

[Sean Cagney]

Mills>Neal

Yes I agree, I am not a big fan of Neal at all.

[blkroadrunners]

Thanks for the grades. What a helluva road trip.

[chapnis]

I think Nando > Patty as a straight out point guard.

But the Patty/Manu combo works better than a Manu/Nando combo.

[ElNono]

Nando was great against Chicago, and not too great today... when you don't get consistent playing time, it's somewhat expected.


Both him and Mills are much better than Neal at playing PG.

[EricB]

Nando was great against Chicago, and not too great today... when you don't get consistent playing time, it's somewhat expected.


Both him and Mills are much better than Neal at playing PG.


agreed 1000%. Nando's playing time has been way too inconsistent to get any consistency IMO.

[TJastal]

Good on Pop for addressing the backup pg situation. At least i hope thats what he was doing, guess gou never know with Pop. Seems I'd have to give Mills the nod right now, especially in lieu of the greater chemistry with Manu in the 2nd unit. Neal should not be in the regular rotation going forward, tbh.
.
Nando should still get some minutes imo, when more playmaking or a bigger defender is needed.

[maverick1948]

8 players played 20+ mins. Something strange about that. It tells me that there were a lot of different people on the court together. Having watched the game, I saw a team playing, not individuals. As a team, they played a good game. Nobody was that weak on D. Nobody was that bad on O. Rebounding? Is it a problem when we are outrebounded by 10 when we are holding the other team to 37 % shooting(30% without Gortat)? We scream over rebounding but almost all of the offensive rebounds for the Suns were LONG rebounds. It is that way most of the time against the Spurs. Without TP, we had De Colo playing PG. He did well, not great, but well. I think we all forget that the Spurs live and die on ball movement. We look at stats like assists or rebounds as an indicator of how someone played, but fail to see the rest of the game. De Colo passed to semi-open players who then passed the ball to the next player for more open shot. All 10 of the main players(not Baynes) had an assist. 6 had steals, 5 blocks 0 for Duncan and Splitter. We shot 44% from the field, including 4 - 17 from Ginobili, Bonner, Jackson and De Colo. Otherwise, it would have over 50%. It seems we have players who make plays every night. Only grade I disagree with is De Colo. He was not as bad as it appeared. Even if he did nothing else, the block from behind following turnover showed me he NEVER quits on a play.

As of now, I think we should talk about the Spurs as "the Big 3 and 1". Kawhi is fast becoming the player Pop saw he could be.

[loveforthegame]

I love seeing Leonard (and Green to a certain extent) handling the ball more and being more aggressive. They might make some mistakes still but you can see the improvement. That will only help come playoff time when teams lock in on Parker more.

[letmk]

The thing with Nando is that often times he plays tentatively. With his height and court vision, he may have better future as a PG than Mills. But besides the advantage of shooting touch over Nando, Mills goes all out every time he is on the court, offensively and defensively. Like his tower waving off the court, when Mills plays, you can see that Mills is engaged with the game and the team.

On the contrary, Nando thinks too much and worries too much. As others mentioned, giving him consistent backup minutes might help him in that regards. But at the same time, as a championship aspirer, the Spurs can not afford to play him consistent minutes if he is not up for competition.

[bus driver]

A- for Kawhi???


were they graded at halftime?

[Brazil]

At this point I just want Pop to make up his mind already with the back up PG situation. Choose a formula (Neal, Mills or NDC) and stick to it, POs are around the corner and we need to settle this rotation. Chosen one will need PT before POs start, if not I fear it will bite us.

[quentin_compson]

Considering his lofty standards not only career-wise but also this season, I thought Duncan was rather poor. Let's hope it's just him still being rusty after the injury and sitting quite a number of games out.

[DapDaGenius]

Jacksons 3pt shot has been horrible as of late. I believe he is 2 for 18 with 3's, since playing PHX in Jan.

[Fabbs]

Matt Bonner C
No rebounds in 17 minutes. Shot-selection was iffy. Uncharacteristically fouled too much.
Stats Guy or anyone else.
I know we have attempted to delve into the answer for this before.
But, once again, can anyone explain how in the hell Bonbon goes
17 min
1-4 fg
0-2 treys
0 rebounds as timvp noted
0 steals
0 blocks
1 assist..................

and yet still manages to lead the team in +/- with +14.

[Manu-20]

Stats Guy or anyone else.
I know we have attempted to delve into the answer for this before.
But, once again, can anyone explain how in the hell Bonbon goes
17 min
1-4 fg
0-2 treys
0 rebounds as timvp noted
0 steals
0 blocks
1 assist..................

and yet still manages to lead the team in +/- with +14.

Matt Bonner is the GOAT of +/- the game has ever know tbh just blows my mind how can do literary nothing and still be top dog in that department every time.

[superjames1992]

Stats Guy or anyone else.
I know we have attempted to delve into the answer for this before.
But, once again, can anyone explain how in the hell Bonbon goes
17 min
1-4 fg
0-2 treys
0 rebounds as timvp noted
0 steals
0 blocks
1 assist..................

and yet still manages to lead the team in +/- with +14.
CIA Bonner, tbh.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Stats Guy or anyone else.
I know we have attempted to delve into the answer for this before.
But, once again, can anyone explain how in the hell Bonbon goes
17 min
1-4 fg
0-2 treys
0 rebounds as timvp noted
0 steals
0 blocks
1 assist..................

and yet still manages to lead the team in +/- with +14.

It's not hard to figure out. Spurs run a ton of pnr. Bonner sits on the weakside wing. Whoever the other big is setting the pick. When a guy like Parker, Manu or whoever penetrates then the big who is covering Bonner has to honor his shot and stay above the free throw line on the weakside. That leaves the strongside big as the only one to defend the rim.

If Bonner is running the pick then just rolls to the perimeter and if the strongside big chases Tony or whoever he is left wide open. If you switch that it negates a lot of that because a good closeout and Bonner passes up the shot 90% of the time because of his catapult stroke.

He is not a good rebounder. His instincts on the carom are awful, he's not very quick and he cannot jump. IE you can beat him to the punch go around him or over him. He doesn't protect the rim for shit but you cannot just back him down in the post because he is pretty damn strong and he is quick on his rotations cutting people off from the rim.

Look at his players pairs with our pnr ballahndlers ie Tony, Manu, or Neal as well as our best pick setting big, Splitter.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208734&highlight=player+pairs