Cloud786
02-26-2015, 01:40 PM
http://cdn.iamatrailblazersfan.com.s3.amazonaws.com/teammatchup/TeamMatchupsSpurs2012.jpg
It seems like every time we play this team, they go from the Portland TrailBlazers to the Portland SpurKillers. It's become an annual tradition to lose to these guys on the road at least once a year, but I don't know why, the optimist in me had some hopes of winning this game. I felt that the acquisition of Afflalo made them worse if anything. The last time we faced this team (albeit in San Antonio), it was Kawhi's return game and the rejuvenated team went on to beat them 110-96. I felt that if we were going to start an upward trend anytime soon, it'd most likely be against someone who we are the kryptonite to (Golden State, Memphis), and not some lottery team. But once again, the complacent, lethargic, and pretender-esque Spurs showed up for the most part and we lost what, in my opinion, was a winnable game.
If you read my Utah post, then you probably know how frustrated I am with the Spurs. But for this game, I don't think the final score indicates what really happened out there. I'll separate the good from the bad.
The Good
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p240x240/988497_10152684690941981_4288769647994292807_n.jpg ?oh=288de70c22d42a1db02472bce2da9715&oe=5596AD29&__gda__=1434491284_5f01dcb4b645f54e272a22becca62de 8
During the Utah game, it seemed like we were down at least ten the whole time. I expected some of the same kind of deficit throughout this game, but unfortunately, out of the gate we were down 19. With some help from the second unit, we cut not one, but two of their largest leads (19 and 14) to 1 and 4 respectively. Every time Portland went on a huge run, I felt that the Spurs would give up and let it balloon into a wire to wire blowout. But they fought back, it just wasn't enough each time. In the end, the positive to take out is that we still have the intestinal fortitude to compete in games for 48 minutes no matter what the score is, and that flashes me back to the kind of mentality we had last year.
The Bad
http://i.cdn.turner.com/drp/nba/blazers/sites/default/files/styles/main_gallery_photo__480_tall/public/gettyimages_464422724_10.jpg?itok=q6DY4qVA
According to Jim Boylen, what wins championships? Defense and rebounding. Must I point out the obvious? At this point, I feel like we could have a line-up of 5 bigs Boris Ayres/Bonner Duncan Baynes and Splitter and we still wouldn't be able to grab a board. When it comes to rebounding, I debate that there's a lot of luck involved. The ball has to bounce your way, and depending on where you are on the court, you could accidentally end up with the ball. But enough is enough when it comes to my blind faith in the Spurs. We suck at every aspect of rebounding. We can't box out, we don't flood the paint when the ball goes in the air ("crash the boards"), and we don't have any Rebound-Dot players aside from Kawhi. I don't know if any of you played the earlier 2K games, but they had this feature where when the shot went up, a white target would appear where the ball would land, making it easier for the player to rebound, as they just needed to be in the right position. Some people in real life, in my opinion, have the natural instinct of this Rebound-Dot. They simply just know where the ball is going to be, and they have a knack of putting themselves in a right place, right time position to nab the board. We don't have any of these natural rebounders aside from Kawhi, so you would expect more effort from the bigs and guards to make up for the lack of this gift. But giving up at least 5 offensive rebounds per game has become an expected occurrence every time we play now. To fix this, and this is going to come off as counter intuitive, but I'd try out some small ball with Kawhi at the 4. It was nice to see Pop play this line-up in the fourth, but the game was already out of hand and I don't ever use garbage time as an indicator of whether something works or not.
http://img.ksl.com/slc/2552/255239/25523934.jpg?filter=ksl/story_635
Not only does the above paragraph speak to our rebounding execution, but I wanted to bring into light our defensive execution. I'm not one of those posters that claims that every hot hand the other team has is a fluke. I'm going to come right out and say it, Wes Matthews DESTROYED us. He picked his spots, made his contested and uncontested threes (which there shouldn't have been any), drove to the basket well, and overall had a high impact game that propelled Portland's lead every time we cut it down. I felt like he was stoppable, but the effort to shut him down wasn't there. The other players were defended well when we were glued to them, but they moved the ball so well and we rotated so poorly that they just had too many wide open shots or shots too lately contested. As of now, I feel like this team only gets up when LeBron is on the other side.
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/width960/img/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/-35fb68b98cc2b73a.jpg
I don't know about you, but one possession that strikes out to me is the possession where Portland ran a pick and roll, it failed, they ran it again, moved the ball from side to side, Batum passed it from the top of the key to Matthews in the corner for the wide open 3 with about 1.2 seconds left in the shot clock. My brain couldn't process that it wasn't the Spurs who were orchestrating and conducting that play. What I'm trying to say is that every single thing that we did right last year to a tee, we are doing the complete inverse of now. The 2014 Spurs were the ones who punished you if you committed any unforced errors or turnovers. Now we ourselves commit countless turnovers and give up way too many transition points. I'm not saying that we were ever a good transition team, but we would thrive off points off turnovers because every possession last year we played like it was our last. Now, and especially as of late, we have the worst of luck in the TIMING of our turnovers. Every time the other team goes on a huge run, I feel like it's source is a Spurs series of turnovers that leads to a gargantuan, insurmountable point swing (a la Parker's missed bunny leading to Lillard's wide open lay up). We can't afford to hemorrhage this much anymore, and last year, if we did something stupid, Pop would immediately call timeout and limit the bleeding. Now, we give up run after run after run and Pop is just letting the baby cry.
Enrique Porker
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/width960/img/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/-f25045113cc08eb7.jpg
See that? I put a picture of him playing defense. You got me. I put a picture of him NOT playing defense, because that's his new moniker on that end. In 2013 and 2014, I defended him because his offensive game, especially running the loop over and over again, I told myself that he was just conserving his energy to carry us and it wasn't needed because we had Wing Stop. But now, instead of making himself valuable at any aspect of the game, he's just playing like your average D-League scrub. He once again settled for way too many jumpshots he wasn't making, and when he penetrated, he didn't put himself in a position to get off a tear drop or gliding baseline layup like he used to. He's going straight up and either getting blocked or forcing a terrible, inaccurate pass that 99% of the time leads to a transition bucket for the other team. He's not fulfilling his role as the point guard, but he did have one sweet dime to Duncan off a pump fake pass. It's too little too late but I'll take what I can get from him.
http://blogs.columbian.com/blazer-banter/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2015/02/Spurs-Jazz-Basketball_acco-1.jpg
I don't know if you noticed this, and I'll advocate it for sure, but Pop inserted Parker back into the game in the fourth when the game was un-winnable. This reminded me of Game 4 in the 2014 WCF when Pop wanted to jump start Diaw into Diaw 2.0, and low and behold, it worked out in the end for us. In my opinion, if the game isn't close, we should be running with CoJo and Mills for the first 3 quarters, then let Parker get in some burn towards the end to see what he has left. I don't think he can start at point anymore, but if he and Manu can switch roles per se, where Manu becomes the definite floor general and Parker the scorer, then I don't mind seeing him late in games (I'm assuming he regains his offensive repertoire). If not, then like I said in the Utah post, I want Manu to focus on scoring exclusively and Parker to play spot minutes.
Danny Green
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/29/files/2015/02/danny-green-arron-afflalo-aron-baynes-nba-san-antonio-spurs-portland-trail-blazers-850x560.jpg
Danny made me look stupid this game. I called him a better on-ball defender than Kawhi in my Utah post, but he made so many silly mistakes on both ends of the floor, it almost warranted Pop to discipline him by benching him. On defense, he was getting blown by, he had trouble fighting through screens, pump fakes will always be his bane, and his close outs, and honestly the entire teams close outs, I don't know if this is by design or not, but I see absolutely ZERO acceleration from players closing out. I know these guys are unathletic, but when Portland was moving the ball, we looked like we were lightly jogging to the shooter and we jump contested AFTER they released the ball. It's pathetic, and Green is starting to become the face of this blunder. On offense, he seems to be getting his shooting stroke and rhythm back, but I'm not going to go on into detail about that because there's a reason his nickname is IcyHot.
Kawhi Leonard
http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/17117927-standard.jpg
While Danny Green and Tony Parker are also at fault for this, let it be known that I am so sick and tired of intent-less drives from our players. Either you're going in to score, or you're driving and kicking. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a Spur player unsuccessfully bulldoze their way into the paint, and PUT THEMSELVES IN THE AIR. That is such a fundamental failure on their part because no one aside from Aaron Rodgers throws accurate passes in mid air. And if they don't jump, they pick up their dribble and look at the other four players to bail out their useless overdribbling. Or they charge their defender. Or they turn the ball over. Or they put up a contested shot. Nothing good comes from intent-less drives, and I know that this is the way to develop players, because this is how Paul George evolved into the player he is today, by repeatedly driving and learning what is right and what is wrong, but this needs to stop immediately (not to mention our current spacing is abysmal, yet another executional fault on our part).
Tim Duncan
https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mc2aRcZnBTD9Sp-MCZ-fNUS5Ino=/0x36:4869x2775/1600x900/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45775928/usa-today-8405892.0.jpg
Oldylocks still got it. He was the reason we cut into that first deficit, and I had rumblings of the first half of Game 6 2013 NBA Finals. I don't have much to say about the GOAT PF except that I'm happy he's starting to shoot the mid range more aggressively, but Portland kept giving him Rondo-ish room to shoot. I'd rather him shooting a mid range jumper right now than any other option, so teams can show him respect and he can spread the floor a little more than just around the paint (I want him to have Ibaka range).
Aron Baynes
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/dailyprogress.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/96/096f9a5f-ca13-593c-a567-9a298ff0ed20/54eec0f64d21e.image.jpg?resize=300%2C431
He had a decent game that was overshadowed by Duncan. I'm still noticing some fouling issues, but I still feel better when he's on the floor than when Splitter is. Aside from a few nice post moves, I don't have anything else to say.
Cory Joseph
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/phototab/img/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/17117928-large.jpg
I'm glad that Pop gave him the backup PG nod for the first three quarters. On defense, he played well, although at times I saw some unnecessary switches, but the Spurs don't take any risks so I'm not going to get mad at him for that. But sadly, on offense, he didn't drive, he didn't shoot, he was just...there. 2013 CoJo showed up yesterday. He did play a majority of his minutes with Parker and Manu, and I've said before that I don't mind his limited offense, but the operative word is limited. You can't come completely empty handed. Disappointing game from someone who I think could jumpstart the starting unit's defense if given the chance.
Manu Ginobili
http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/article/media_slots/photos/001/977/789/hi-res-eb8f9f7814da2f68ec7a45026ccf7179_crop_exact.jpg?w= 340&h=226&q=85
Had a nice lefty lay up to start off his playing time, but everything went south from there. He tried a few mid range jumpers and threes but all were bricks. I still don't believe that he isn't capable of putting up a big game, but it all starts with how many drives he has to begin with. Old Manu would drive, EuroStep, and either pass it to the open man or take it up himself. Once the defender expected the drive, Manu gave 'em the ol' step back and started his scoring spree from there. He looks like he's playing half-assedly and is very stoppable, but at least in this game we didn't get crazy turnover prone Manu. Just mediocre Manu.
Marco Bellinelli
http://images.worldnow.com/AP/images/6841826_G.jpg
I'm bias and I hate him so I'm not going to say anything except for ask Pop, why? Why is he in late in the game? What do you see in him that supersedes playing Green or Kawhi a few extra minutes? Why are you opting to conform to his defensive deficiencies and play zone? I don't even care if he's productive anymore. If we are ever going to start winning games, it's going to be grinding out a low scoring game while keeping our defensive players in for the majority of the game. Whenever I see Belli in the game, I think of Mike D'Antoni. Someone who should never be mentioned on a Spurs website.
Boris Diaw
http://40.media.tumblr.com/f62ea46d7e2b7fbf8072f0d1cd402f39/tumblr_nkc22wLFXp1rugvcno1_500.jpg
I'm seeing improvement on the offensive end. I'd like to see him be more aggressive, especially on mismatches. Last year, if Lillard was on Diaw, Diaw would've backed him down all the way into the depths of the restricted area and put up a bunny or easy hook. Now, he gets so scared by the baseline double team that he passes it way too early and often to the wrong person. I don't usually promote cross court passes, but if someone can make them, it's Diaw. Against unathletic teams, I don't mind moving the ball out of the elbow onto the wing to other wing to the corner. But that ball movement is negated by athletic defenders that can patrol a zone and cover ground quickly. I hope we see him get more touches though, because he's willing to do something with the ball now that's more positive than earlier on in the year.
Tiago Splitter
http://a2.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/NBA/images/2015/02/25/022515-26-NBA-Spurs-Trail-Blazers-OB-PI.vadapt.620.high.0.jpg
Box says he played 17 minutes, but aside from the dunk, I didn't notice him. Poor rebounding, and Pop opted to put Diaw on LMA for the majority of the game as far as I saw. He has some nice improvisational offense, but he settles for that ugly hook way too often. I see a lot of CoJo-like features in him. Empty offense while providing good defense, but this year his defense has been pretty bad, and on offense his off ball screens aren't as solid. It all depends on who we play in the first round, but I think it's safe to say that we can add Golden State into the same column as OKC on teams in which Splitter is useless against. I'm praying we stay at 7 and get Memphis.
Patty Mills
http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/003/294/076/hi-res-6c159e681fd696e923c4f92cfc608fb1_crop_north.jpg?w= 630&h=420&q=75
Played 11th man today, and I saw some sparkplug 2014 Mills. He was aggressive, made his threes, and pushed the pace. If Duncan cut down the first lead, it would be appropriate to say that Mills cut the second. He still isn't as lethal as he used to be, but like Green, he's regaining his rhythm. I'm hoping that he gets his shot back as quickly as possible so that Manu has three 3 point shooters to work with in the second unit (along Belli and Boris, while running screen and rolls with Splitter). Defense is borderline satisfactory, so he's still a per matchup kind of player in my opinion. Even with CoJo playing poorly, I am and always will be a defense-first guy.
http://www.csnnw.com/sites/csnnw/files/styles/home_cp_top_wide/public/usatsi_7914620.jpg?itok=5vxevAaO
That picture above is from last year's WCSF when we annihilated and obliterated Portland in a gentlemen's sweep. So why have the tables turned with virtually everything but Afflalo staying the same? I honestly don't know. If this was TL;DR for you, I request that you please, please read "The Good" and "The Bad" and give me your opinion on those. In the end, I'm sticking with my theory. Unless one of our guys steps up and carries the team to a victory (not Duncan), then we'll remain first round fodder and we can start discussing the offseason early.
It seems like every time we play this team, they go from the Portland TrailBlazers to the Portland SpurKillers. It's become an annual tradition to lose to these guys on the road at least once a year, but I don't know why, the optimist in me had some hopes of winning this game. I felt that the acquisition of Afflalo made them worse if anything. The last time we faced this team (albeit in San Antonio), it was Kawhi's return game and the rejuvenated team went on to beat them 110-96. I felt that if we were going to start an upward trend anytime soon, it'd most likely be against someone who we are the kryptonite to (Golden State, Memphis), and not some lottery team. But once again, the complacent, lethargic, and pretender-esque Spurs showed up for the most part and we lost what, in my opinion, was a winnable game.
If you read my Utah post, then you probably know how frustrated I am with the Spurs. But for this game, I don't think the final score indicates what really happened out there. I'll separate the good from the bad.
The Good
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p240x240/988497_10152684690941981_4288769647994292807_n.jpg ?oh=288de70c22d42a1db02472bce2da9715&oe=5596AD29&__gda__=1434491284_5f01dcb4b645f54e272a22becca62de 8
During the Utah game, it seemed like we were down at least ten the whole time. I expected some of the same kind of deficit throughout this game, but unfortunately, out of the gate we were down 19. With some help from the second unit, we cut not one, but two of their largest leads (19 and 14) to 1 and 4 respectively. Every time Portland went on a huge run, I felt that the Spurs would give up and let it balloon into a wire to wire blowout. But they fought back, it just wasn't enough each time. In the end, the positive to take out is that we still have the intestinal fortitude to compete in games for 48 minutes no matter what the score is, and that flashes me back to the kind of mentality we had last year.
The Bad
http://i.cdn.turner.com/drp/nba/blazers/sites/default/files/styles/main_gallery_photo__480_tall/public/gettyimages_464422724_10.jpg?itok=q6DY4qVA
According to Jim Boylen, what wins championships? Defense and rebounding. Must I point out the obvious? At this point, I feel like we could have a line-up of 5 bigs Boris Ayres/Bonner Duncan Baynes and Splitter and we still wouldn't be able to grab a board. When it comes to rebounding, I debate that there's a lot of luck involved. The ball has to bounce your way, and depending on where you are on the court, you could accidentally end up with the ball. But enough is enough when it comes to my blind faith in the Spurs. We suck at every aspect of rebounding. We can't box out, we don't flood the paint when the ball goes in the air ("crash the boards"), and we don't have any Rebound-Dot players aside from Kawhi. I don't know if any of you played the earlier 2K games, but they had this feature where when the shot went up, a white target would appear where the ball would land, making it easier for the player to rebound, as they just needed to be in the right position. Some people in real life, in my opinion, have the natural instinct of this Rebound-Dot. They simply just know where the ball is going to be, and they have a knack of putting themselves in a right place, right time position to nab the board. We don't have any of these natural rebounders aside from Kawhi, so you would expect more effort from the bigs and guards to make up for the lack of this gift. But giving up at least 5 offensive rebounds per game has become an expected occurrence every time we play now. To fix this, and this is going to come off as counter intuitive, but I'd try out some small ball with Kawhi at the 4. It was nice to see Pop play this line-up in the fourth, but the game was already out of hand and I don't ever use garbage time as an indicator of whether something works or not.
http://img.ksl.com/slc/2552/255239/25523934.jpg?filter=ksl/story_635
Not only does the above paragraph speak to our rebounding execution, but I wanted to bring into light our defensive execution. I'm not one of those posters that claims that every hot hand the other team has is a fluke. I'm going to come right out and say it, Wes Matthews DESTROYED us. He picked his spots, made his contested and uncontested threes (which there shouldn't have been any), drove to the basket well, and overall had a high impact game that propelled Portland's lead every time we cut it down. I felt like he was stoppable, but the effort to shut him down wasn't there. The other players were defended well when we were glued to them, but they moved the ball so well and we rotated so poorly that they just had too many wide open shots or shots too lately contested. As of now, I feel like this team only gets up when LeBron is on the other side.
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/width960/img/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/-35fb68b98cc2b73a.jpg
I don't know about you, but one possession that strikes out to me is the possession where Portland ran a pick and roll, it failed, they ran it again, moved the ball from side to side, Batum passed it from the top of the key to Matthews in the corner for the wide open 3 with about 1.2 seconds left in the shot clock. My brain couldn't process that it wasn't the Spurs who were orchestrating and conducting that play. What I'm trying to say is that every single thing that we did right last year to a tee, we are doing the complete inverse of now. The 2014 Spurs were the ones who punished you if you committed any unforced errors or turnovers. Now we ourselves commit countless turnovers and give up way too many transition points. I'm not saying that we were ever a good transition team, but we would thrive off points off turnovers because every possession last year we played like it was our last. Now, and especially as of late, we have the worst of luck in the TIMING of our turnovers. Every time the other team goes on a huge run, I feel like it's source is a Spurs series of turnovers that leads to a gargantuan, insurmountable point swing (a la Parker's missed bunny leading to Lillard's wide open lay up). We can't afford to hemorrhage this much anymore, and last year, if we did something stupid, Pop would immediately call timeout and limit the bleeding. Now, we give up run after run after run and Pop is just letting the baby cry.
Enrique Porker
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/width960/img/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/-f25045113cc08eb7.jpg
See that? I put a picture of him playing defense. You got me. I put a picture of him NOT playing defense, because that's his new moniker on that end. In 2013 and 2014, I defended him because his offensive game, especially running the loop over and over again, I told myself that he was just conserving his energy to carry us and it wasn't needed because we had Wing Stop. But now, instead of making himself valuable at any aspect of the game, he's just playing like your average D-League scrub. He once again settled for way too many jumpshots he wasn't making, and when he penetrated, he didn't put himself in a position to get off a tear drop or gliding baseline layup like he used to. He's going straight up and either getting blocked or forcing a terrible, inaccurate pass that 99% of the time leads to a transition bucket for the other team. He's not fulfilling his role as the point guard, but he did have one sweet dime to Duncan off a pump fake pass. It's too little too late but I'll take what I can get from him.
http://blogs.columbian.com/blazer-banter/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2015/02/Spurs-Jazz-Basketball_acco-1.jpg
I don't know if you noticed this, and I'll advocate it for sure, but Pop inserted Parker back into the game in the fourth when the game was un-winnable. This reminded me of Game 4 in the 2014 WCF when Pop wanted to jump start Diaw into Diaw 2.0, and low and behold, it worked out in the end for us. In my opinion, if the game isn't close, we should be running with CoJo and Mills for the first 3 quarters, then let Parker get in some burn towards the end to see what he has left. I don't think he can start at point anymore, but if he and Manu can switch roles per se, where Manu becomes the definite floor general and Parker the scorer, then I don't mind seeing him late in games (I'm assuming he regains his offensive repertoire). If not, then like I said in the Utah post, I want Manu to focus on scoring exclusively and Parker to play spot minutes.
Danny Green
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/29/files/2015/02/danny-green-arron-afflalo-aron-baynes-nba-san-antonio-spurs-portland-trail-blazers-850x560.jpg
Danny made me look stupid this game. I called him a better on-ball defender than Kawhi in my Utah post, but he made so many silly mistakes on both ends of the floor, it almost warranted Pop to discipline him by benching him. On defense, he was getting blown by, he had trouble fighting through screens, pump fakes will always be his bane, and his close outs, and honestly the entire teams close outs, I don't know if this is by design or not, but I see absolutely ZERO acceleration from players closing out. I know these guys are unathletic, but when Portland was moving the ball, we looked like we were lightly jogging to the shooter and we jump contested AFTER they released the ball. It's pathetic, and Green is starting to become the face of this blunder. On offense, he seems to be getting his shooting stroke and rhythm back, but I'm not going to go on into detail about that because there's a reason his nickname is IcyHot.
Kawhi Leonard
http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/17117927-standard.jpg
While Danny Green and Tony Parker are also at fault for this, let it be known that I am so sick and tired of intent-less drives from our players. Either you're going in to score, or you're driving and kicking. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a Spur player unsuccessfully bulldoze their way into the paint, and PUT THEMSELVES IN THE AIR. That is such a fundamental failure on their part because no one aside from Aaron Rodgers throws accurate passes in mid air. And if they don't jump, they pick up their dribble and look at the other four players to bail out their useless overdribbling. Or they charge their defender. Or they turn the ball over. Or they put up a contested shot. Nothing good comes from intent-less drives, and I know that this is the way to develop players, because this is how Paul George evolved into the player he is today, by repeatedly driving and learning what is right and what is wrong, but this needs to stop immediately (not to mention our current spacing is abysmal, yet another executional fault on our part).
Tim Duncan
https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mc2aRcZnBTD9Sp-MCZ-fNUS5Ino=/0x36:4869x2775/1600x900/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45775928/usa-today-8405892.0.jpg
Oldylocks still got it. He was the reason we cut into that first deficit, and I had rumblings of the first half of Game 6 2013 NBA Finals. I don't have much to say about the GOAT PF except that I'm happy he's starting to shoot the mid range more aggressively, but Portland kept giving him Rondo-ish room to shoot. I'd rather him shooting a mid range jumper right now than any other option, so teams can show him respect and he can spread the floor a little more than just around the paint (I want him to have Ibaka range).
Aron Baynes
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/dailyprogress.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/96/096f9a5f-ca13-593c-a567-9a298ff0ed20/54eec0f64d21e.image.jpg?resize=300%2C431
He had a decent game that was overshadowed by Duncan. I'm still noticing some fouling issues, but I still feel better when he's on the floor than when Splitter is. Aside from a few nice post moves, I don't have anything else to say.
Cory Joseph
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/phototab/img/oregonian/photo/2015/02/25/17117928-large.jpg
I'm glad that Pop gave him the backup PG nod for the first three quarters. On defense, he played well, although at times I saw some unnecessary switches, but the Spurs don't take any risks so I'm not going to get mad at him for that. But sadly, on offense, he didn't drive, he didn't shoot, he was just...there. 2013 CoJo showed up yesterday. He did play a majority of his minutes with Parker and Manu, and I've said before that I don't mind his limited offense, but the operative word is limited. You can't come completely empty handed. Disappointing game from someone who I think could jumpstart the starting unit's defense if given the chance.
Manu Ginobili
http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/article/media_slots/photos/001/977/789/hi-res-eb8f9f7814da2f68ec7a45026ccf7179_crop_exact.jpg?w= 340&h=226&q=85
Had a nice lefty lay up to start off his playing time, but everything went south from there. He tried a few mid range jumpers and threes but all were bricks. I still don't believe that he isn't capable of putting up a big game, but it all starts with how many drives he has to begin with. Old Manu would drive, EuroStep, and either pass it to the open man or take it up himself. Once the defender expected the drive, Manu gave 'em the ol' step back and started his scoring spree from there. He looks like he's playing half-assedly and is very stoppable, but at least in this game we didn't get crazy turnover prone Manu. Just mediocre Manu.
Marco Bellinelli
http://images.worldnow.com/AP/images/6841826_G.jpg
I'm bias and I hate him so I'm not going to say anything except for ask Pop, why? Why is he in late in the game? What do you see in him that supersedes playing Green or Kawhi a few extra minutes? Why are you opting to conform to his defensive deficiencies and play zone? I don't even care if he's productive anymore. If we are ever going to start winning games, it's going to be grinding out a low scoring game while keeping our defensive players in for the majority of the game. Whenever I see Belli in the game, I think of Mike D'Antoni. Someone who should never be mentioned on a Spurs website.
Boris Diaw
http://40.media.tumblr.com/f62ea46d7e2b7fbf8072f0d1cd402f39/tumblr_nkc22wLFXp1rugvcno1_500.jpg
I'm seeing improvement on the offensive end. I'd like to see him be more aggressive, especially on mismatches. Last year, if Lillard was on Diaw, Diaw would've backed him down all the way into the depths of the restricted area and put up a bunny or easy hook. Now, he gets so scared by the baseline double team that he passes it way too early and often to the wrong person. I don't usually promote cross court passes, but if someone can make them, it's Diaw. Against unathletic teams, I don't mind moving the ball out of the elbow onto the wing to other wing to the corner. But that ball movement is negated by athletic defenders that can patrol a zone and cover ground quickly. I hope we see him get more touches though, because he's willing to do something with the ball now that's more positive than earlier on in the year.
Tiago Splitter
http://a2.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/NBA/images/2015/02/25/022515-26-NBA-Spurs-Trail-Blazers-OB-PI.vadapt.620.high.0.jpg
Box says he played 17 minutes, but aside from the dunk, I didn't notice him. Poor rebounding, and Pop opted to put Diaw on LMA for the majority of the game as far as I saw. He has some nice improvisational offense, but he settles for that ugly hook way too often. I see a lot of CoJo-like features in him. Empty offense while providing good defense, but this year his defense has been pretty bad, and on offense his off ball screens aren't as solid. It all depends on who we play in the first round, but I think it's safe to say that we can add Golden State into the same column as OKC on teams in which Splitter is useless against. I'm praying we stay at 7 and get Memphis.
Patty Mills
http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/003/294/076/hi-res-6c159e681fd696e923c4f92cfc608fb1_crop_north.jpg?w= 630&h=420&q=75
Played 11th man today, and I saw some sparkplug 2014 Mills. He was aggressive, made his threes, and pushed the pace. If Duncan cut down the first lead, it would be appropriate to say that Mills cut the second. He still isn't as lethal as he used to be, but like Green, he's regaining his rhythm. I'm hoping that he gets his shot back as quickly as possible so that Manu has three 3 point shooters to work with in the second unit (along Belli and Boris, while running screen and rolls with Splitter). Defense is borderline satisfactory, so he's still a per matchup kind of player in my opinion. Even with CoJo playing poorly, I am and always will be a defense-first guy.
http://www.csnnw.com/sites/csnnw/files/styles/home_cp_top_wide/public/usatsi_7914620.jpg?itok=5vxevAaO
That picture above is from last year's WCSF when we annihilated and obliterated Portland in a gentlemen's sweep. So why have the tables turned with virtually everything but Afflalo staying the same? I honestly don't know. If this was TL;DR for you, I request that you please, please read "The Good" and "The Bad" and give me your opinion on those. In the end, I'm sticking with my theory. Unless one of our guys steps up and carries the team to a victory (not Duncan), then we'll remain first round fodder and we can start discussing the offseason early.