Quick Grades: Spurs @ Rockets - Mar. 24

[timvp]

Tim Duncan C-
Simply lacked sharpness in multiple areas. On D, he was subpar -- both individually and help-wise. On O, the Rockets didn't pay him much respect yet he failed to take advantage. Didn't shoot well enough and turned it over too much. He gave the Spurs a shot with his production but there wasn't enough precision.

Manu Ginobili C-
He continues to have a lot of problems scoring the ball. His outside shot is off. He's not able to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls. He's not creating when isolated. On D, he was decent -- too aggressive at times but his liveliness was an asset. Overall, he limited his mistakes better than he has recently.

Tony Parker A
Considering he's still obviously less than 100%, I thought he did very well again. On D, Lin did next to nothing on him. Down the stretch of the game, his 12 straight points almost lifted the Spurs to victory. His passing was strong throughout. Physically, it's looking like he should be 100% before too much longer.

Kawhi Leonard B+
Pulled down contested boards. I mostly thought his D was very good. On O, he again didn't get enough touches. He spent too much of the time as a spot shooter. If other options are going to continue to struggle, the Spurs must start leaning on him with more regularity.

Danny Green C
Bad shooting night. Not being able to finish the layup late in the 4th ended up being a huge play. He started hesitating in the second half, which made him a liability on O. On D, he was exceptionally active. There were miscues mixed in but it was definitely an above averaging showing from him on that end.

Tiago Splitter B-
The Bad: Had trouble defending out on the floor; their speed was giving him trouble. His interior D was inconsistent. His finishing at the rim was better but he still isn't at his usual level. The Good: He passed very well. He was aggressive in the 4th when the Spurs needed him. Played hard and produced adequately.

Boris Diaw B
Shot the ball enough. Rebounded well enough. His D was a roller-coaster. Sometimes it was very good, sometimes he looked totally overwhelmed. On O, his sloppiness derailed a handful of possessions. Overall, he did fine but still had a lot of room for improvement.

Stephen Jackson B+
Shot straight -- and that alone raised his value. I liked his D; it was aggressive yet smart. He appeared to be even slower than usual but otherwise he was fine. This is the type of effort that will really come in handy once the playoffs begin.

Nando De Colo B-
His defense continues to look much improved since his reinsertion into the rotation. On O, he limited his mistakes and helped a little bit here and a little bit there. But with the bench desperate for points, the Spurs needed him to be more in attack mode. That didn't happen.

Pop D+
I just didn't like his playcalling all night. There was too much pounding it into Duncan, not enough plays for Leonard and the ending was … frustrating. With Parker rolling that much, how does Pop go away from him with the game on the line? Baffling.

[Pop]

Thanks, I think Nando's grade too high, Berveley did whatever he wanted against him basically, he just can't keep up vs quicker guys, I just see a downgrade over a Gary Neal since he's not as good offensively... Cojo at least brings another dimension to the table.

Green's grade feels too low, he did play great D, the kind that makes everyone want to play harder as well. We know he can't finish at the rim, it's as much on the passer than on him tbh. He should force the dunk (and eventually get called for a charge) or pass the ball.

Overall Jack, Green and Diaw all had reassuring performances with the playoffs just around the corner imo.

[TE]

Kawhi seriously needs to get more touches. He is a talent that is rotting away if Pop doesn't get him the necessary amount of touches.

Agree on all grades, especially Pop's

[siraulo23]

unfortunately, kawhi will prolly stay as a spot up shooter for the rest of this season + playoffs

[AussieFanKurt]

can't believe asik got in duncans head... he deserves an award for being able to do this

[freetiago]

people were saying Kawhi wasnt ready to take on a bigger role now suddenly after Sean is calling for it everyone else is on the bandwagon
i thought he should have been more of a mid range guy when they drafted him instead of trying to do another failed Bruce Bowen experiment
Leonard wont be as good defensively but he can be light years better offensively

if the 4th quarter wasnt played then i would agree with Leonard's grade but he made way to many mistakes there
he had a transition pass which he jumped and passed the ball which Houston thought should have been a travel
fouled harden on a 3
passed it to green in the open court which led to a Houston 3
didnt deny the ball well or manuver around the screen well which led to an open mid range shot which he was lucky wasnt called for a foul
hit the side of the backboard on what looked like an open 3

[apalisoc_9]

Pop needs to use leonard now before it's too late.

[Fireball]

Just watched the game. Man, this 3 on1 fast break at the end of the game blown by Danny Green really cost the game as the Rockets immediately scored a three at the other end. Props to Tony Parker in the 4th quarter ... astounding what he can do at the end of a game when he takes a back seat in the three quarters before. Agree that the last shot should have been his.

[Strategic]

Tim Duncan C-
Simply lacked sharpness in multiple areas. On D, he was subpar -- both individually and help-wise. On O, the Rockets didn't pay him much respect yet he failed to take advantage. Didn't shoot well enough and turned it over too much. He gave the Spurs a shot with his production but there wasn't enough precision.

Manu Ginobili C-
He continues to have a lot of problems scoring the ball. His outside shot is off. He's not able to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls. He's not creating when isolated. On D, he was decent -- too aggressive at times but his liveliness was an asset. Overall, he limited his mistakes better than he has recently.

Pop D+
I just didn't like his playcalling all night. There was too much pounding it into Duncan, not enough plays for Leonard and the ending was … frustrating. With Parker rolling that much, how does Pop go away from him with the game on the line? Baffling.

I think in crunch time Pop is going to make the team go back to Timmy and Manu iso's when Tony isn't on the court.

[EricB]

I thought green was solid, the one consistent thing he's shown he can do this year when his shot is off, hell still being decent defense unlike vs OKC when his shot left he forgot to play defense.

That said Stephen Jackson was in Jax mode. He fueled the comeback from down 8 with his 3's. small ball was the right move and it was working until green for Jax came in.

That said, Leonard has got to be more of an offensive contributer. He has got to have more plays run for him, but he's also when given the ball all of a sudden not act like he doesn't know what to do, which happened more than once last night.

the disturbing thing for me going forward, splitter struggles against speed. Miami, OKC could and may give him trouble. If that happens, might as well pack it in.


Pop has to relet the leashes off the offense. He's gone into 2003 mode where he only trusts 4 down and iso. The ball movement is gone, the crisp passing the moving the defense is non existent anymore and for the life of me and maybe because Parker has been gone and its only his second game back but, LA could defend this offense. THAT'S what's scary.


with Manu continuing to struggle this more and more feels like THE absolute last chance at a ring. You can't bet Duncan plays better than 2007 Duncan. There isn't much in the way of prospects IMO next year ready to contribute. So to win they have to keep the defensive intensity they had last night but get the hell back to spurs offense, and Duncan, stop being message board myopic and blaming the refs. The refs didn't lose that game.

[pookenstein]

Just watched the game. Man, this 3 on1 fast break at the end of the game blown by Danny Green really cost the game as the Rockets immediately scored a three at the other end. Props to Tony Parker in the 4th quarter ... astounding what he can do at the end of a game when he takes a back seat in the three quarters before. Agree that the last shot should have been his.

Terrible decisioin by Manu not to pass the ball to the much faster player in TP, who also happens to finish much better at the rim as Green and at the absolute worst would have gotten a pair of FT's out of that fastbreak. Even if Tony would have missed those two, the transitin three from Parsons would have been prevented.

[Fireball]

Terrible decisioin by Manu not to pass the ball to the much faster player in TP, who also happens to finish much better at the rim as Green and at the absolute worst would have gotten a pair of FT's out of that fastbreak. Even if Tony would have missed those two, the transitin three from Parsons would have been prevented.

Ok, I thought Green could have passed it to TP who then could have passed it back directly to Green. Then Green would have been more free for the layup ...

[John B]

Championship teams stop the last shot or make the last shot. Neither happened. I expect them to get back to the drawing board and practice closing games. There is much to be desired.

Agree Kawhi needs more touches and rest Duncan for the last possession. 2nd unit is not scoring enough. Manu is not the same, hopefully he turns around soon enough. For now we need more scoring from Diaw/Jackson/Nando. Indecision on the backup PG might have hurt the 2nd unit chemistry. They were much explosive last year. We need Neal's instant offense or maybe Kawhi needs to run with the 2nd unit. But we need more runs while the big 3 rest until they get back strong to finish the game.

[Hoops Czar]

Kawhi seriously needs to get more touches. He is a talent that is rotting away if Pop doesn't get him the necessary amount of touches.

Agree on all grades, especially Pop's

Kawhi will get more touches when Kawhi puts the ball on the floor and friggin drives to the basket. If he wants to settle for outside jumpshots, being a low % jumpshooter that he is, he doesn't deserve more touches. Pop doesn't dictate to the team who takes the shots nor does he assign roles, the players do. If he's going to settle, then he deserves as many touches as Danny Green.

[Spur|n|Austin]

[B]Kawhi Leonard [SIZE=5]B+
Pulled down contested boards. I mostly thought his D was very good. On O, he again didn't get enough touches. He spent too much of the time as a spot shooter. If other options are going to continue to struggle, the Spurs must start leaning on him with more regularity.

I agree 100% on the lack of touches Kawhi is getting; it's almost as he got more touches earlier in the season. At this point, there's no doubt he's our 3rd option with the way Manu is playing. I'm not really sure what Pop is missing here, but Kawhi needs plays run through him when shots aren't falling elsewhere.

[therealtruth]

Where's Bonner's grade?

[Hoops Czar]

If the Spurs do lose the ship, it was lost in the offseason. They needed a backup pg in the worst way and the Spurs did nothing. Now Ginobili is struggling and the Spurs don't have a reliable backup.

[EricB]

If the Spurs do lose the ship, it was lost in the offseason. They needed a backup pg in the worst way and the Spurs did nothing. Now Ginobili is struggling and the Spurs don't have a reliable backup.


Please. There wasnt jack squat available....

[Brazil]

At this stage and in Pop's shoes I wouldn't know what to do. Can we expect do something without half of the Manu we know ? answer is no.

Opponents are going to set all their Defense scheme to slow down Parker, Rockets are a bad D team, so probably with the ball in TP's hands we won that game but if we want to go far, Spurs are going to need Tim down low and Manu's play making in the fourth. Pop is just forcing this to be prepared for the POs. Loosing a game or two for that reason is not a big issue. At what point you give up of Manu as the ball handler at the end and give the green light to KL ?

[silverblackfan]

Thanks for the grades. I agree the Tim could've gave up some touches and Manu is not all there yet. Houston got a lot of free throws but that is to be expected. I think the team needs to experience these lousy calls and persevere to win the game. The team needs to win despite the refs on a consistent basis.
They need to try and see if Kawhi can be a closer in these last games of the season.

[Thread]

F.

[tenbeersbold]

Simply put,there wasnt enough offensive firepower to put the Spurs over the top

With Ginobli's scoring punch absent for now the 2nd unit struggles to get open looks/make shots

Neal/Mills are needed along w/ the aforementioned touches for Leonard

Here's hoping Neal gets at least several games more off and is brought back for a few games at the end of the season to get in shape for the PO's.His instant offense is gonna be needed

[wildbill2u]

game after game Green misses layups. When he has a bad shooting game, at least half of his misses are layups.

Layups are the basic offensive building block of basketball that players learn when first introduced to the game as children. Layups are so basic that 'layup lines' are generally used just to get players loose and warmed up--so why does Green have so much trouble with them on a regular basis?

I doubt Chip, the shooting coach, even has a program to help players with layups. He needs to develop one for Green.

[EVAY]

I think that people are higher than they should be on Kawhi. That is not to say that he shouldn't get more touches, but his role is as defined by Pop, and when he tries to step out of that role he struggles. He struggled last night when his three point shot was defended, he lost the ball a couple of times trying to put it on the floor, and he is still inconsistent in his decision making. All of those struggles are perfectly reasonable for a second year small forward. All I'm saying is that he is not as ready to take on the savior role as some on this forum want to assign him. He had a chance at a clutch shot and hit the side of the backboard with it. I mean, come on, he's not THAT poised yet.

The shooting guard role is extremely troublesome right now, as Neal is out with his plantar fasciitis and Manu is just struggling with scoring so badly it hurts all of us to watch and probably him to experience. If Neal was healthy he would still be a defensive liability but he can shoot the clutch three for us. And we could have used it last night. Whoever it was on the board fussing about Tony missing a wide open Manu just before Tony made his last points seemed to ignore the fact that Manu has been about 1 for each game for the last seven games or so.

Pop and Tim both get stubborn about saying to themselves "Geev thee boll to Teemy and he will make it right". Tim has bailed us out of some problem games while Tony was out, but last night, two thirds of our big three let us down. Tony was the only one consistent down the stretch and Pop went away from him for the end of the game. That is on Pop, and no one else.

Let's face it folks, without a highly functioning Manu or a functioning Neal, we are not going to make it very far in the POS.

[jag]

Manu Ginobili C-
He continues to have a lot of problems scoring the ball. His outside shot is off. He's not able to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls. He's not creating when isolated. On D, he was decent -- too aggressive at times but his liveliness was an asset. Overall, he limited his mistakes better than he has recently.


It's bad when you're listing this as one of his positive contributions.

[sook]

I don't like these double standards ? Why not give grades of Rocket players as well? :)

[Fabbs]

Close game on the road vs potential playoff opponent. Which means strategy / playing time could well be the difference maker.


Pop [SIZE=5]D+
I just didn't like his playcalling all night. There was too much pounding it into Duncan, not enough plays for Leonard and the ending was … frustrating. With Parker rolling that much, how does Pop go away from him with the game on the line? Baffling.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Without HCA, I can't see the Spurs beating OKC, so this loss is a huge huge blow

[Raven]

i think green should be an A- (only missing from an A+ was that layup) and splitter a C-

[will_spurs]

What I find worrying as well is how the offense stops when Tim gets the ball: either he spent 10 seconds on pivot work just to turn around and then his bank shot wasn't falling; or it was a turnover. It looked like passing him the ball was the equivalent of putting it in a deep hole out of which it would never come again. As soon as I saw Tim with the ball on the last possession I felt the game was over.

[SenorSpur]

Pop [SIZE=5]D+
I just didn't like his playcalling all night. There was too much pounding it into Duncan, not enough plays for Leonard and the ending was … frustrating. With Parker rolling that much, how does Pop go away from him with the game on the line? Baffling.

Parker had it rolling. He's the Spurs best player. The ball should've been in his hands to create something. There's absolutely no excuse for it. Also, I blame Pop for that terrible, end-of-game, play call. An off-balance, fallaway, jumper by Duncan, from the elbow WAS NOT the best possible option for that last shot.

[SenorSpur]

Just watched the game. Man, this 3 on1 fast break at the end of the game blown by Danny Green really cost the game as the Rockets immediately scored a three at the other end. Props to Tony Parker in the 4th quarter ... astounding what he can do at the end of a game when he takes a back seat in the three quarters before. Agree that the last shot should have been his.

I actually thought Leonard should've passed the ball to Parker, who I believe was running the left wing on the play. He was several steps ahead and appeared to have had what could've been an uncontested layup. Green getting his shot blocked by a PG is inexcusable.

[jjktkk]

Parker had it rolling. He's the Spurs best player. The ball should've been in his hands to create something. There's absolutely no excuse for it. Also, I blame Pop for that terrible, end-of-game, play call. An off-balance, fallaway, jumper by Duncan, from the elbow WAS NOT the best possible option for that last shot.

Pop screwed it up, but I can understand his thinking, that the Rockets were probably expecting tp to get that last shot. Not so far fetched for a coach to try something not so obvious in that situation imo.

[SenorSpur]

What I find worrying as well is how the offense stops when Tim gets the ball: either he spent 10 seconds on pivot work just to turn around and then his bank shot wasn't falling; or it was a turnover. It looked like passing him the ball was the equivalent of putting it in a deep hole out of which it would never come again. As soon as I saw Tim with the ball on the last possession I felt the game was over.

Tim was also pressing on offense, late in the game, in that he neglected to take an extra dribble on a couple of possessions. Had he done so, he could've gotten a better shot. Instead, he tried a fumbling, running one-hander on at least two occasions, which were out of his range.

[AFBlue]

If the Spurs do lose the ship, it was lost in the offseason. They needed a backup pg in the worst way and the Spurs did nothing. Now Ginobili is struggling and the Spurs don't have a reliable backup.

Sorry, but I don't think anyone anticipated the third-best player and leader of the second unit to absolutely fall off a cliff with his playmaking ability.

The Spurs had other priorities this off-season--namely bringing key pieces back--and no less than four legitimate options to pair with Ginobili in the backcourt; a gunner, a runner, a passer, and a defender.

I still think the best combo has yet to reveal itself, but that mostly has to do with Manu figuring things out on his end.

This post just reeked of hindsight being 20/20 tbh.

[rjv]

pop pounded it in to timmy because he probably thought tim could score seeing that the rockets went man to man on him. timmy just didn't deliver. last play was not too solid a call. looks like the rockets were expecting it all the way

[milkyway21]

TP should have not played when he was not 100% yet.....IMO.


Next Denver, Clippers, Miami . The 1st two are out for better positioning in the playoffs...

[Ice009]

Kawhi will get more touches when Kawhi puts the ball on the floor and friggin drives to the basket. If he wants to settle for outside jumpshots, being a low % jumpshooter that he is, he doesn't deserve more touches. Pop doesn't dictate to the team who takes the shots nor does he assign roles, the players do. If he's going to settle, then he deserves as many touches as Danny Green.

Yep, I agree. Kawhi needs to take it to the rack if he wants more touches. He can't just take a few dribbles, stop, then pass it off. That's not the way to get touches.


I agree 100% on the lack of touches Kawhi is getting; it's almost as he got more touches earlier in the season. At this point, there's no doubt he's our 3rd option with the way Manu is playing. I'm not really sure what Pop is missing here, but Kawhi needs plays run through him when shots aren't falling elsewhere.

Kawhi doesn't take it to the rack on a consistent enough basis to get those touches. He pulls up too much and settles for jumpshots. If he would take it to the rack more and try to draw fouls and create contact then I am sure Pop would give him the ball more.

You don't win Championships shooting jumpshots. What does Prime Tim Duncan, Prime Manu and Tony all have in common? They all took/take it to the rack. If Kawhi wants the ball, he needs to learn to finish his drives with contact, and not stop, pull out and pass 70% of the time after he starts one. He's not going to get his number called playing like that.

[rascal]

I don't like these double standards ? Why not give grades of Rocket players as well? :)

Go to the Rockets board for that.

[racm]

What I find worrying as well is how the offense stops when Tim gets the ball: either he spent 10 seconds on pivot work just to turn around and then his bank shot wasn't falling; or it was a turnover. It looked like passing him the ball was the equivalent of putting it in a deep hole out of which it would never come again. As soon as I saw Tim with the ball on the last possession I felt the game was over.

If it weren't for the fact that the Rockets' perimeter defense tends to gamble for steals too much (sound familiar?) Asik would be a DPOY frontrunner, tbh.

[Kidd K]

I dunno about Duncan and Ginobili getting the same grade. At least Duncan produced somewhat well. Off night? Yeah. Way off night? No. Unlike Manu. . .who's having an off month.

[jestersmash]

Parker had it rolling. He's the Spurs best player. The ball should've been in his hands to create something. There's absolutely no excuse for it. Also, I blame Pop for that terrible, end-of-game, play call. An off-balance, fallaway, jumper by Duncan, from the elbow WAS NOT the best possible option for that last shot.

Well, that was the second option. The first option was to have Manu cut hard toward the top of the key, stop on a dime, and then cut hard toward the basket while receiving a pass from Tim. The change in direction from the hard cut would presumably give Manu a step toward the rim on his defender, and he'd be able to attack some big playing help defense 1 on 1 near the rim.

This was the play that Pop called twice against our loss to Golden State a couple of weeks ago. It worked the first time. It failed the second time (Tim threw the ball away).

McHale probably planned a defensive scheme to contain Tony on that last play anyway. It's easy to say it was the wrong call in hindsight.

[jestersmash]

I dunno about Duncan and Ginobili getting the same grade. At least Duncan produced somewhat well. Off night? Yeah. Way off night? No. Unlike Manu. . .who's having an off month.

All that means is that the expectations for Tm are higher than they are for Manu. A 1-6 night from the field with minimal turnovers is just a C- kind of game for Manu these days.

3 or 4 months ago, Manu would've probably received a D for a game like this.

[sook]

Go to the Rockets board for that.

no.

[Obstructed_View]

Pop screwed it up, but I can understand his thinking, that the Rockets were probably expecting tp to get that last shot. Not so far fetched for a coach to try something not so obvious in that situation imo.

The Spurs were expecting James Harden to get the previous shot. That turned out pretty good for them. When you're the better team, you dictate to the opponent. Pop has never seemed to figure that out.

[therealtruth]

Parker had it rolling. He's the Spurs best player. The ball should've been in his hands to create something. There's absolutely no excuse for it. Also, I blame Pop for that terrible, end-of-game, play call. An off-balance, fallaway, jumper by Duncan, from the elbow WAS NOT the best possible option for that last shot.

Pop doesn't believe in the hot hand.

[will_spurs]

McHale probably planned a defensive scheme to contain Tony on that last play anyway. It's easy to say it was the wrong call in hindsight.

Nope. If Tony had failed to deliver then you could have argued that Pop should have tried to "outsmart" McHale. But when your best player, currently on a hot shooting streak and with the highest likelihood to at least get a foul on that play, doesn't get the ball, then there's no double-guessing and no hindsight, especially when the play called is lame (as has been the case a couple of times already this season when the game is determined by the last possession).

In other words: either Pop gives the ball to Tony or he comes up with a STELLAR play.

Giving the ball to Tim in the hopes that he will finally post up Asik despite the fact that he hasn't done so during the whole game doesn't suck in hindsight. It just plain sucks, period.

[TJastal]

There has been defenitive proof posted that the 2nd unit functioned best with Mills. With Manu's well documented struggles this year to score it makes the most sense IMO. Mills can score and create shots nearly as well as Neal plus he has better handles and defense.

I believe if Mills had been given the job at the beginning of the season he might have even started developing his passing skills and court vision. Instead Pop in typical Pop fashion farted around the entire fucking year without making a decision, instead content to have 4 guys all randomly platooning minutes at the position. Is it any wonder that Manu is taking so long to find his rhythym? Every game he has to adjust to anywhere's up to 4 different point guards.