littleavery1948
06-20-2013, 11:53 PM
San Antonio:
Duncan: B This grade would be higher, as he gets another double-double; he was one of few Spurs to perform at the expected level. But his miss was reminiscent of Patrick Ewing's miss in game seven against the Pacers in 1995. The turnover that led to the Battier three was a WTF moment.
Parker: D+ I would not be surprised to find that his injury has worsened since Game three. He had more missed shots and turnovers than he did assists, rebounds, and steals. It must have been bad if he was sitting out on the last possession of Game six, and the possession when they were down 92-88 in Game seven.
Leonard: A KL was a man tonight; he was the Spurs' MVP tonight. If only his three would have dropped at the end; he guarded Lebron according to the game plan, but it would have been nice to not see him give Lebron six feet of space when he took that last shot.
Ginobili: C- He gets this grade because he shot decently well, but he had three or four WTF moments. He was awful during this series; even with a decent Manu, this series is over in five, maybe six. I caught myself wondering if he should be named the MVP for the Heat. He had as many turnovers as he did made FGs and made FTs combined in games six and seven. Yikes.
Green: F This guy gets a worse grade than Ginobili, which is hard to believe, but he showed that if he cannot get wide open threes, that he is worthless on offense. Defensively, he became Battier's or Wade's lackey all night. If Green was just bad tonight, this series ends differently.
Neal: D Can you really blame him? This guy is a liability on defense, and he has never met a shot that he does not like. He turned it over twice, and was one of many Spurs who were abused on defense tonight. He is like Green; if he cannot get open looks, he is useless. At least Green can play defense, though.
Splitter: C He was a minus 6 in four minutes; failed to grab a rebound, but got hosed on a call, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. He did get two steals, though. However, this guy has been blocked by everyone on the Miami Heat this series. His performance has been night and day when comparing the Finals and the WCF.
Diaw: C- He played good defense on Lebron, and hit a three, but committed a couple of silly fouls. He grabbed two offensive rebounds, and three rebounds in 13 minutes. He would have grabbed 11 rebounds if he played Lebron minutes.
Offense: D The offense bogged down late, and was often stifled by the Heat defense. Parker was rendered ineffective for long stretches of the game (maybe his injury affected him). Too many WTF moments to count. They scored 16 and 17 points in the first and fourth quarters respectively. The three-point attack was rendered useless tonight, and Duncan struggled with Bosh on him, especially in the fourth (notice a pattern??). More turnovers than assist, and only 88 points isn't enough.
Defense: D The only thing from keeping this from being an "F" is the 16 turnovers and the 12 steals. Miami shooters were left wide open all night. Lebron had looks that Jordan and Kobe could only dream of having. I realize that the strategy was working, but when one realizes that the opponent is hitting their wide open jumpers, it might be a good idea to adjust. If Miami hits a decent amount of shots, this is a 27 point loss. I saw Lebron shot only two decently-contested shots all night (and he missed both; notice the correlation?). Battier was wide open all night. Most of the people on this board who play basketball could have hit most of the shots Miami was shooting.
Coaching: D- How do you not adjust the defense? The only thing from keeping this from being an "F" is the lack of substitution at the end of the third quarter. I am still not sure why Pop left Ginobili and Green in for so long. McGrady could not have played worse. Pop gets an "F" for games six and seven; he left Duncan ON THE BENCH at the end of a clinching game, and they lost because of that.
Lebron: A+ He had yet, another double-double, and was finally making the most of his wide open looks. His defense (and injury) rendered Parker useless, and he showed why he is the greatest in the league, and one of the greatest of all-time. He is the series MVP (a close second for Ginobili), and rightfully so. This is a dynasty that we are witnessing, although, the NBA is super weak right now. The 2007 Spurs would shred this Heat team in five games or less; this is one of the worst champions in recent history (only the 2006 Heat, and the 2010 Lakers were worse).
This was a WTF series, full of WTF moments. I think this series should be dubbed "WTF".
Duncan: B This grade would be higher, as he gets another double-double; he was one of few Spurs to perform at the expected level. But his miss was reminiscent of Patrick Ewing's miss in game seven against the Pacers in 1995. The turnover that led to the Battier three was a WTF moment.
Parker: D+ I would not be surprised to find that his injury has worsened since Game three. He had more missed shots and turnovers than he did assists, rebounds, and steals. It must have been bad if he was sitting out on the last possession of Game six, and the possession when they were down 92-88 in Game seven.
Leonard: A KL was a man tonight; he was the Spurs' MVP tonight. If only his three would have dropped at the end; he guarded Lebron according to the game plan, but it would have been nice to not see him give Lebron six feet of space when he took that last shot.
Ginobili: C- He gets this grade because he shot decently well, but he had three or four WTF moments. He was awful during this series; even with a decent Manu, this series is over in five, maybe six. I caught myself wondering if he should be named the MVP for the Heat. He had as many turnovers as he did made FGs and made FTs combined in games six and seven. Yikes.
Green: F This guy gets a worse grade than Ginobili, which is hard to believe, but he showed that if he cannot get wide open threes, that he is worthless on offense. Defensively, he became Battier's or Wade's lackey all night. If Green was just bad tonight, this series ends differently.
Neal: D Can you really blame him? This guy is a liability on defense, and he has never met a shot that he does not like. He turned it over twice, and was one of many Spurs who were abused on defense tonight. He is like Green; if he cannot get open looks, he is useless. At least Green can play defense, though.
Splitter: C He was a minus 6 in four minutes; failed to grab a rebound, but got hosed on a call, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. He did get two steals, though. However, this guy has been blocked by everyone on the Miami Heat this series. His performance has been night and day when comparing the Finals and the WCF.
Diaw: C- He played good defense on Lebron, and hit a three, but committed a couple of silly fouls. He grabbed two offensive rebounds, and three rebounds in 13 minutes. He would have grabbed 11 rebounds if he played Lebron minutes.
Offense: D The offense bogged down late, and was often stifled by the Heat defense. Parker was rendered ineffective for long stretches of the game (maybe his injury affected him). Too many WTF moments to count. They scored 16 and 17 points in the first and fourth quarters respectively. The three-point attack was rendered useless tonight, and Duncan struggled with Bosh on him, especially in the fourth (notice a pattern??). More turnovers than assist, and only 88 points isn't enough.
Defense: D The only thing from keeping this from being an "F" is the 16 turnovers and the 12 steals. Miami shooters were left wide open all night. Lebron had looks that Jordan and Kobe could only dream of having. I realize that the strategy was working, but when one realizes that the opponent is hitting their wide open jumpers, it might be a good idea to adjust. If Miami hits a decent amount of shots, this is a 27 point loss. I saw Lebron shot only two decently-contested shots all night (and he missed both; notice the correlation?). Battier was wide open all night. Most of the people on this board who play basketball could have hit most of the shots Miami was shooting.
Coaching: D- How do you not adjust the defense? The only thing from keeping this from being an "F" is the lack of substitution at the end of the third quarter. I am still not sure why Pop left Ginobili and Green in for so long. McGrady could not have played worse. Pop gets an "F" for games six and seven; he left Duncan ON THE BENCH at the end of a clinching game, and they lost because of that.
Lebron: A+ He had yet, another double-double, and was finally making the most of his wide open looks. His defense (and injury) rendered Parker useless, and he showed why he is the greatest in the league, and one of the greatest of all-time. He is the series MVP (a close second for Ginobili), and rightfully so. This is a dynasty that we are witnessing, although, the NBA is super weak right now. The 2007 Spurs would shred this Heat team in five games or less; this is one of the worst champions in recent history (only the 2006 Heat, and the 2010 Lakers were worse).
This was a WTF series, full of WTF moments. I think this series should be dubbed "WTF".