Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Blazers - March 8

[timvp]

Tim Duncan B-
His per-minute production statistically was great. Can’t complain much about his scoring and rebounding. However, he was poor on D -- individually and team-wise – and his O was too often sloppy.

Manu Ginobili C-
His shot was off from three but he did well going to the hoop. He had some good passes but they were more than negated by turnovers. On D, he was terrible. No juice and was caught out of position constantly.

Kawhi Leonard A-
Really can’t muster much to complain about. Very aggressive on O with mostly positive results. Good effort on the boards. D was actually really good. He was definitely the bright spot on this gloomy night.

Danny Green B-
His D was respectable until late when he was roasted by Lillard -- but that was tall task. On O, he was decent. Limited mistakes, good shot selection, played at a sustainable pace and didn’t try to do too much.

Cory Joseph B
This loss can’t be blamed too much on him. The Spurs only looked competent defensively against Lillard when he was the defender. He was helpful on O with quality court vision and enough scoring.

Tiago Splitter C+
His D was tepid. He rebounding was weak. His offense was good; he scored well, passed well and excelled in pick-and-rolls. But he needed to be more well-rounded in this game.

Stephen Jackson B-
Painfully slow at times but his level of play didn’t suffer too much. D was decent -- but listless. His O featured smart passes and a lack of mistakes. Overall, he wasn't bad but the Spurs could have used a spark.

Patrick Mills C
I don’t have a problem with his offense. In fact, he was quite effective. My problem was his defense, or lack thereof. He was horrendous when attempting to maneuver around screens. It was ugly to watch.

Boris Diaw C+
His offense was okay. His had adequate aggression, found open teammates and was reasonably sharp. His individual D was good enough but his help-defense was weak and his rebounding was non-existent.

Matt Bonner C-
Another player who did well on offense: He was decisive and hit a couple difficult shots. Another player who did bad on defense: poor in every aspect on that end … including rebounding.

DeJuan Blair C+
Rebounded well. Did fine on offense. Hideous on defense.

Gary Neal Inc.
Didn’t waste time in firing up a couple attempts in garbage time. His ugly jumper soon told the story of why he’s relegated to garbage time right now.

Nando De Colo Inc.
In hindsight, could he have been able to do something against Lillard? Maybe. But, eh, probably not. That rook was blazin’.

Pop C-
‘Twas a deadly combo of too many Spurs being flaccid on D and Portland playing out of their minds on O. Pop didn’t help matters with his coaching. Instead, bizarre lineups helped cause the historic meltdown.

[racm]

F for every non-sophomore on the team, tbh.

In other words Kawhi and Cory were the only halfway competent players again.

[hater]

:lmao timvp with d bads. Everyone should have got no more than a d minus

[racm]

:lmao timvp with d bads. Everyone should have got no more than a d minus

shh, timvp still thinks this team can win a playoff game.

[hater]

shh, timvp still thinks this team can win a playoff game.

A playoff game sure

A playoff series? Ok

A playoff series vs a hot team? :lmao good luck depending on danny green ir corey joseph

[Slippy]

Pop deserves a D. Continuing with Bonner, Diaw, Manu , Sjax and Patty to start the 4th defensively was a crazy line-up. The Spurs still had chance of winning the game but staying with that line-up sealed the deal for the blazers. Slow footed , not much physcality and too much ball watching.

over-all Spurs defense was really bad . Too many good looks on the perimeter for the Blazers and off the dribble Spur couldn't keep up. Blazers got way too much room to operate.

[Aztecfan03]

A playoff game sure

A playoff series? Ok

A playoff series vs a hot team? :lmao good luck depending on danny green ir corey joseph

Why would they need to depend on a backup pg? And why can't you depend on him at all? He's still playing well. Same with Green.

[chapnis]

Pop, Bonner and Diaw all deserve a D/F

[TampaDude]

Burn the tape. Move on.

[hater]

Why would they need to depend on a backup pg? And why can't you depend on him at all? He's still playing well. Same with Green.

A team built like d spurs unfortunately gotta depend on all players including tiago, diaw, green and the backup pg.

[John B]

It's a wakeup call. Spurs were feeling confident and they just got embarassed by a non-playoff team. Good loss to an athletic team because that's our weakness, and that it's not even close makes it an eye-opener. Now the coaching staff can go back to the drawing board and address that. I hope CIA Pops play this tape every night to focus the team that they need to bring their A-game every night. They need to bring some nasty. I want to see SJ start pushing people. And please use Baynes' fouls to punish layups. Eventually we need him to push Perkins and boxout Ibaka. Why not play him now? I like CoJo getting his beak wet. We need his defense against athletic guards in the 2nd unit. i.e. Bledsoe. Anyways, I don't want to see them lose, but it's a necessary butt-kicking and to an athletic team at that. In retrospect, it might be an A++ for CIA Pops to prepare the team. Go Spurs Go!

[jesterbobman]

Second regulation loss over a 25 game stretch. 20 wins, 3OT losses, 2 losses in regulation(Detroit and this)

[racm]

310250720463032321

:rollin :rollin

[timvp]

Everyone should have got no more than a d minus

Meh, it was obviously an ugly loss but it's difficult to blame any one player. A lack of effort on D was a team-wide problem and unfortunately it was exploited by the Blazers.

Winning without TP isn't easy -- regardless of what we saw thus far. Parker is the ultimate easy-button; when things aren't going right, he'll take over (offensively and defensively, tbh) and guide the team to victory. Without him, it takes everyone else playing in unison to get it done. But the problem is that if the team isn't on the same page, they quickly become vulnerable ... as we saw vs. Portland.

Ugly loss but a loss that saw the blame spread pretty evenly around the team. It is odd that the Spurs got beat that viciously yet no player was undeniable horrible.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Manu played like shit.

[siraulo23]

Was the D really that bad? or were they just too hot? The blazers shot 60% from 3s, 60% overall FG percentage

They scored 136 points but the spurs totally stopped trying in garbage time where the blazers got a lot of uncontested layups, they were stunned like everyone else. Lillard was incredible, I was surprised Leonard/Green didnt defend him more. Manu got beat by lillard every time they were matched up and Mills also did a poor job.

Portland shot the lights out but most of their 3 pt shots were wide open, I dunno...

[Strategic]

Danny Green B-
His D was respectable until late when he was roasted by Lillard -- but that was tall task. On O, he was decent. Limited mistakes, good shot selection, played at a sustainable pace and didn’t try to do too much.


Pop C-
‘Twas a deadly combo of too many Spurs being flaccid on D and Portland playing out of their minds on O. Pop didn’t help matters with his coaching. Instead, bizarre lineups helped cause the historic meltdown.

Roasted would be getting left flat footed, and yeah I guess that too. Danny would leave Lillard to help on the inside and that's just not bothering to play defense. Maybe he was tired, who knows.

This was a rotational experiment from Pop that blew up in his face. It can be fun to watch an experiment go wrong as long as you're not too close to the components and more importantly, nobody gets hurt. it's a good one to move on from.

[EVAY]

Meh, it was obviously an ugly loss but it's difficult to blame any one player. A lack of effort on D was a team-wide problem and unfortunately it was exploited by the Blazers.

Winning without TP isn't easy -- regardless of what we saw thus far. Parker is the ultimate easy-button; when things aren't going right, he'll take over (offensively and defensively, tbh) and guide the team to victory. Without him, it takes everyone else playing in unison to get it done. But the problem is that if the team isn't on the same page, they quickly become vulnerable ... as we saw vs. Portland.

Ugly loss but a loss that saw the blame spread pretty evenly around the team. It is odd that the Spurs got beat that viciously yet no player was undeniable horrible.

I have trouble with the logic inherent in acknowledging that the the team got the worst beating of the Tim Duncan era, 'yet no player was undeniable (sic) horrible'.
Arguably, every player was undeniably horrible.

Yes, this game made Tony's importance to the team more obvious, but it doesn't follow that 'even with Tony' the loss might have happened because Portland was playing so well.

A loss is one thing; losing this badly to a non-playoff team that had lost in overtime the night before is inexcusable. It is the size of the loss that is inexcusable, not the loss itself.

[EVAY]

Tim's defense was virtually non-existent, and Manu's play exposes him as little more than a 'sometimes great' role player, much like Neal or Mason. Those players could occasionally have great games, too. But they couldn't do it consistently. And that is what last night showed all of us. Tim and Manu can have occasional flashbacks to greatness, but they can no longer perform at a consistently high level. That should inform our expectations about the post season if the opposition can shut down Parker.

Any player can be taken out of the equation if teams focus on him enough (ok - maybe not Lebron, but still). But when that happens, the rest of the team should be able to be freed up by that one player commanding so much attention that they can go off. Last year's playoffs showed that the rest of our team couldn't pull us through, and last night is evidence that the same will happen again this year.

[Strategic]

A loss is one thing; losing this badly to a non-playoff team that had lost in overtime the night before is inexcusable. It is the size of the loss that is inexcusable, not the loss itself.Losing by thirty after trailing by only eight after three quarters is taking a special kind of ass whipping. I thought the Spurs had enough perimeter defense, Danny Green and Cory Joseph, to cover Lillard. Pop didn't keep Joseph in the game and opted for Green on Lillard. As where Joseph did a nice enough job on Lillard, Green blew the assignment in the fourth quarter. Maybe that was Pop's experiment in this game, and Green exploded the beaker. Time to wipe off the counter top and get ready for the next experiment.

:toast

[tmtcsc]

Manu was pretty bad. His defense was atrocious.

[silverblackfan]

The one game of the year blacked out on NBA TV for Seattle. Sounds like I missed seeing a lot bad defensive plays and the Spurs showed they missed Parker. I hope this gives CJ a chance in crunch time for the next game.

[tlongII]

What grade would you give to Damian Lillard?

[Trainwreck2100]

H for hopefully he blows out his knee falling into aldrige who, in turn, blows out his knee

[Brunodf]

TD/Splitter/CoJo grades are too low.
Diaw/Bonner/Blair/Mills/Pop too high

[DejuanorwhatDude]

What grade would you give to Damian Lillard?

NP for no playoff appearances till he's out of Portland.

[loveforthegame]

Leonard and CJ were the only bright spots on this disastrous night.

[freetiago]

Popovich lost the game with his terrible rotations
their runs all game came when no rim protectors were on the floor
ive said it a lot of games back that since he started Tiago at first he would stagger the minutes to have one of them on the floor
now idk wtf this clown is doing
he pulls Tiago early then basically sits him entire quarters while the Diaw/Turd frontline gets abused
at this point its probably better to start Diaw and just have Splitter go back to his old role but play more minutes with the starting lineup
Our bench has been on the downward trend since Splitter started and its getting worse still
Ginobili has no one to run pick and roll with unless you want Blair on the floor
A lot of Splitters bad grades come when the entire team ignores him (3 shots) and everyone else just says he has to be more demonstrative
all the heroes need to stop chucking and get him the ball inside
one thing Manu does that annoys me is throw the skip pass 90% of the time
he never hits the rollman on the pick and roll and someone like Splitter who is a good passer can find the corner 3 while rolling
Leonard was also ignored for the majority of the game
he shot the ball like 10 times in the first quarter and didnt get many attempts up after that
instead during the 3rd we saw Ginobili shoot lots of offbalance 3s

[mercos]

This game wasn't a matter of the Spurs playing bad, it was the Blazers playing out of their minds. Hickson, Aldridge, and Lillard took turns going supernova. We already knew Aldridge was an All Star player, and Lillard is an emerging superstar. Props to the Blazers for playing a great game. They've got a lot of talent on that team. If they could must 75% of that effort consistently, they would be at least a mid tier playoff team. Tip the hat and move on.

[ElNono]

as I said on the game thread, it's just one game. What would be worrying is if the defensive listlessness becomes a trend. They played great D in the last two quarters against Chicago. This was obviously a step back on that department, we need to be improving there, not regressing. I missed most of the first half, but the game was tied then. The last two quarters were tremendously bad defensively.

[Darius Bieber]

as I said on the game thread, it's just one game. What would be worrying is if the defensive listlessness becomes a trend. They played great D in the last two quarters against Chicago. This was obviously a step back on that department, we need to be improving there, not regressing. I missed most of the first half, but the game was tied then. The last two quarters were tremendously bad defensively.

I agree. However, we've all said "it's just one game" MULTIPLE times this season.................

[Brunodf]

as I said on the game thread, it's just one game. What would be worrying is if the defensive listlessness becomes a trend. They played great D in the last two quarters against Chicago. This was obviously a step back on that department, we need to be improving there, not regressing. I missed most of the first half, but the game was tied then. The last two quarters were tremendously bad defensively.

No Bonner/Blair

[BatManu20]

Everyone in here is just blaming the Spurs and not giving the Blazers any type of credit. They knocked down a ton of shots and most likely would've beaten any team they played last night. Yea we disnt play that well and deserve some blame, but give credit where credit is due.

[TheSkeptic]

Popovich lost the game with his terrible rotations
their runs all game came when no rim protectors were on the floor
ive said it a lot of games back that since he started Tiago at first he would stagger the minutes to have one of them on the floor
now idk wtf this clown is doing
he pulls Tiago early then basically sits him entire quarters while the Diaw/Turd frontline gets abused
at this point its probably better to start Diaw and just have Splitter go back to his old role but play more minutes with the starting lineup
Our bench has been on the downward trend since Splitter started and its getting worse still
Ginobili has no one to run pick and roll with unless you want Blair on the floor
A lot of Splitters bad grades come when the entire team ignores him (3 shots) and everyone else just says he has to be more demonstrative
all the heroes need to stop chucking and get him the ball inside
one thing Manu does that annoys me is throw the skip pass 90% of the time
he never hits the rollman on the pick and roll and someone like Splitter who is a good passer can find the corner 3 while rolling
Leonard was also ignored for the majority of the game
he shot the ball like 10 times in the first quarter and didnt get many attempts up after that
instead during the 3rd we saw Ginobili shoot lots of offbalance 3s

I agree with this. Pop made a huge mistake going with the Bonner/Diaw frontcourt since our perimter defense was also pretty questionable at that point. I'm not sure why Popovich is going away from the 3 big rotation but if this is how he plans to go about things then he should just bring Splitter off the bench. These Diaw at C lineups really suck.

And for Splitter to be taking less than 10 FGA was a travesty. While he definitely needed to rebound better, he was 4/5 from the field. It's ridiculous how the team has taken to ignoring him and this comes from someone who thinks Splitter does need to be more demonstrative. Ginobili's been kind of hit and miss and the majority of our perimeter players aren't reliable (aside from TP).

Leonard also needed to be involved more consistently. Especially since Manu was having a questionable game. That said, this game was clearly lost on the defensive end and while I can't say what would've happened, the Bonner/Diaw frontcourt was the point where things got out of hand. Pop's grade was too generous.

[TJastal]

I hate to sound like a broken record..... but Pop's refusal to integrate Baynes into the rotation is going to have consequences. Also throwing untested Cory Joseph into tbe mix this late in the season when their was already a clusterfuck logjam at the point guard position is also absolutely destroying what was left of team chemistry (which was already seriously eroded). The problems at the backup point guard probably also had the cascading effect of putting more pressure on Parker to make up the difference, thus leading to the injury IMO.

Also Blair should not be in the rotation if Bonner is and vice versa. These are all lessons learned long ago but Pop refuses to learn them.

[spurs10]

The rotations looked experimental, while they played their best. 46 in the 4th? If Pop was trying to get a message across, this ought to do it.:depressed

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Really don't know why pop took Joseph off lillard. Pop still expirmenting? Cause after last night its clear as day that CoJo is the best Pg defender on this team.

[Obstructed_View]

The sub patterns in the second half of that game tell me that Pop is really really scared of the Lakers.

[ElNono]

I agree. However, we've all said "it's just one game" MULTIPLE times this season.................

we have? Only 15 losses, and this time around when we win, there's some defense to back it up... don't include me in the 'we'...

[ElNono]

I agree with the overall sentiment that Tiago/Diaw needs more minutes out there instead of keep experimenting with Blair/Bonner... I can only think Pop is doing minute management, but I'd like the team to start building some momentum instead.

[Darius Bieber]

we have? Only 15 losses, and this time around when we win, there's some defense to back it up... don't include me in the 'we'...

I've seen numerous posts like that after the Knick loss, both Clipper losses, the Detroit Loss, the Warrior Loss and now the Blazer loss.

[rmt]

The sub patterns in the second half of that game tell me that Pop is really really scared of the Lakers.

Why? Do you mean he's tanking vs LAL's rivals to get into the playoffs? If so, then he should be tanking vs GSW, HOU and especially UTA.

Don't understand Pop's rotation. Why can't he always have one of the big 3 (when TP is playing) and one of TD/TS on the court? Splitter is averaging 24 mins/game. He's only 28 - surely he can play 8-10 minutes more so that one of TS/TD is always on the court - just time the rest with time-outs/ends of quarters. Rotate in Diaw and Bonner to play with either TD/TS.

[ElNono]

I've seen numerous posts like that after the Knick loss, both Clipper losses, the Detroit Loss, the Warrior Loss and now the Blazer loss.

That's 7 games including the Blazers, and we've kicked the Clippers and Detroit asses since then... every team has horrible games... it's not like Miami or OKC didn't lose to the Wizards or the Timberwolves...

[Arc]

I agree with the overall sentiment that Tiago/Diaw needs more minutes out there instead of keep experimenting with Blair/Bonner... I can only think Pop is doing minute management, but I'd like the team to start building some momentum instead.

pop probably doesn't want another ridiculous winning streak going into the playoffs. he'll probably play tim/tiago more minutes together as the season nears the end, considering that's our best big combo. if he doesn't, and he elects to play bonner or blair in the playoffs.. may god have mercy on our souls.

[Darius Bieber]

That's 7 games including the Blazers, and we've kicked the Clippers and Detroit asses since then... every team has horrible games... it's not like Miami or OKC didn't lose to the Wizards or the Timberwolves...
True, but not by 30 points on their home floor, while giving up 130+.

[Ice009]

What is it with Pop playing Mills so much? It drove me nuts the last two games, especially against Portland.

I thought Cory was again playing decent defense against the Blazers, yet Pop still gives Mills a shitload of court time over Joseph. Mills' defense is pathetic at times. Both Neal and him are just shocking at times on defense.

Bonner is too fucking soft to be out there and he should not see the court. I want to see that enforcer out there. Kevin Willis, Tony Massenburg.

wtf happened to Pop? He has gone soft. He needs to play Baynes out there for a few minutes to lay down the hammer. It would be a good role for Baynes to get started with.

[Brunodf]

What is it with Pop playing Mills so much? It drove me nuts the last two games, especially against Portland.

I thought Cory was again playing decent defense against the Blazers, yet Pop still gives Mills a shitload of court time over Joseph. Mills' defense is pathetic at times. Both Neal and him are just shocking at times on defense.

Bonner is too fucking soft to be out there and he should not see the court. I want to see that enforcer out there. Kevin Willis, Tony Massenburg.

wtf happened to Pop? He has gone soft. He needs to play Baynes out there for a few minutes to lay down the hammer. It would be a good role for Baynes to get started with.
Wouldn't be fair to the team tbh

[Russ]

I agree. However, we've all said "it's just one game" MULTIPLE times this season.................

The only fans to say that less are the Heat's (14 vs. 15).

[ElNono]

True, but not by 30 points on their home floor, while giving up 130+.

A loss is a loss... tbh, I rather lose to Portland than to the fucking Wiz

[Boomersgold]

What is it with Pop playing Mills so much? It drove me nuts the last two games, especially against Portland.

Why did Pop play Pop so much against Chicago? I think Patty's 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting in the second half, and the fact that the Spurs were outscoring the Bulls with a lineup that included Manu, Patty and Duncan had something to do with it.

I'll agree that only Cojo could properly defend Lillard due to size, but keep in mind that Lillard also dominated Parker in our last game against the Blazers, and that Manu and Green didn't do any better when attempting to guard Lillard.

[Obstructed_View]

Why? Do you mean he's tanking vs LAL's rivals to get into the playoffs? If so, then he should be tanking vs GSW, HOU and especially UTA.

There's no other explanation for those fucked up lineups, tbh. Pop had Green, Splitter, Ginobili, Leonard and Jack, then subbed in and had a lineup of Joseph, De Colo, Neal, Bonner and Mills. What. The. Fuck. The game was close and then Pop went full retard on the substitutions. Either he's a fucking moron, or he's a great coach who has a plan. Pick one.

[Sean Cagney]

True, but not by 30 points on their home floor, while giving up 130+.

Yeah, thats is embarassing, seriously.

[racm]

The way some of you complain you'd probably rather have a guy with no Xs and Os knowledge coaching this team like Scott Brooks.

Then again he wouldn't go mad scientist on the rotations and play Parker 38 mpg and Duncan 34 mpg, tbh.

[lefty]

"His ugly jumper" ?

timvp, a couple years ago, you were praising his shooting form

[spurs10]

There's no other explanation for those fucked up lineups, tbh. Pop had Green, Splitter, Ginobili, Leonard and Jack, then subbed in and had a lineup of Joseph, De Colo, Neal, Bonner and Mills. What. The. Fuck. The game was close and then Pop went full retard on the substitutions. Either he's a fucking moron, or he's a great coach who has a plan. Pick one.
This is what I've been wondering. Sure he gave up with the 4 pgs and Bonner, but the game wasn't going to be an historical ass kicking with the previous line-up. Pop knew damn well it was going to get much uglier and figured he'd at least have something motivational to get out of it.

[therealtruth]

The way some of you complain you'd probably rather have a guy with no Xs and Os knowledge coaching this team like Scott Brooks.

Then again he wouldn't go mad scientist on the rotations and play Parker 38 mpg and Duncan 34 mpg, tbh.

You've got to wonder what would happen if Pop didn't go mad scientist and just played regular rotations.

[therealtruth]

pop probably doesn't want another ridiculous winning streak going into the playoffs. he'll probably play tim/tiago more minutes together as the season nears the end, considering that's our best big combo. if he doesn't, and he elects to play bonner or blair in the playoffs.. may god have mercy on our souls.

I don't agree with intentionally losing games but I do think it is crucial to be able to respond well to losses.

[racm]

You've got to wonder what would happen if Pop didn't go mad scientist and just played regular rotations.

The Spurs fivepeat from 2003-2007 guaransheed :hat

That said the Blazers love running up the score, I was actually gunning for the Knicks to blow them out last season.

[Obstructed_View]

The Spurs fivepeat from 2003-2007 guaransheed :hat

That said the Blazers love running up the score, I was actually gunning for the Knicks to blow them out last season.

The Blazers love running up the score on the one team that won't give them a flagrant-two for doing it.