Game Grades: Jazz @ Spurs

[Robz4000]

The Story:
The Jazz came into the AT&T Center sporting a 1-2 record with losses to Portland and the Clippers and a win over the juggern:lolut Lakers while the Spurs boasted a 4-0 record with wins over Golden State, Sacramento, New Orleans, and Miami. Unfortunately, the Jazz left with their biggest victory of the season.

To start things off, Pop opted to go with Simmons in the SL over Fathead. Unfortunately, this didn't work out well. The starters got outplayed and, to make matters worse, the bench also was outplayed for the first time this season. Before long the Spurs found themselves down by 16. Thanks to some heroics by the starters (most notably Kawhi and Pau) when they came back in, the Spurs managed to tie the game before the Jazz righted the ship a bit and went into halftime up 4.

The second half saw the Spurs open up with a quick 8-0 run to take the lead. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Thanks to some wonky rotations by Poop and terrible shot selection by everyone on the team (even Kiwi), the Jazz regained momentum and were able to hold a lead the rest of the way thanks to some timely shots by Joe Johnson and Trey Lyles as well as George Hill taking over the game when guarded by Porker/Manu/anyone not named Kawhi Leonard.

In the end the Spurs lost 106-91. Now the Spurs face the prospects of a 3-game losing streak with a road game against this same Jazz squad coming up Friday and a home game against the Clippers the following night. The ball is in your court now, Pop; don't let this happen.

Some things I noticed during the game:

-The Jazz really packed the paint on this one, and as DPG noted they should've been called for a handful of defensive three second violations. Good strategy by Utah, but most likely unsustainable.

-The Jazz displayed some absolutely beautiful ball movement in the first/early second quarters of the game that resulted in plenty of open threes (which they made for once this season apparently). This helped get their team in a rhythm that really paid off in the fourth quarter to keep the Spurs at bay.

-Too much overpassing. The team kept moving the ball around, even after finding the open man to take a good shot. This helped bog down the offense and took everyone out of their comfort zone. When they weren't moving the ball, the team was often standing around while Kawhi/Simmons/etc went to work.

-Just terrible shot selections from everyone all-around throughout the game. Not sure if it was unfamiliarity or if the Jazz's length gave them trouble, but many possessions were rushed and ruined early on in the shot clock resulting in desperation attempts.

-I know its a work in progress, but the LMA/Gasol combination is having some issues notable on the offensive end. They both have similar comfort zones and get in each other's way at times resulting in one trying to operate while the other stands off to the side. As the season goes on hopefully they figure things out, but it'll be something to watch.

-Parker quietly had one of his better games until the fourth. If he can average 5-6 assists with one or no turnovers while scoring ~8 points a game, I'll take it. His defense was fine until the final few quarter when the Jazz began running their offense through whoever he was guarding.

-LDN is really missed, and it'll show in the next few games. Outside the Dubs game, none of the Spurs' opponents thus far had any outstanding perimeter talent and the Spurs could get away with it. Not so for Jazz (albeit Hayward is out as well), Clippers, and Rockets (Gordon isn't exactly good, but he kills the Spurs for whatever reason). Spurs might be 4-4 by next Friday if they don't figure something out.

Kawhi Leonard - B

To begin the game Kawhi Leonard was hitting shots left and right while containing Joe Johnson on the other end except for a few occasions. He was also key in bringing the Spurs back late in the second to make a game of it. In the second half Kawhi started off well, then found himself on the bench for a bit of an extended period of time. When he checked back in Kawhi found himself drawing key fouls to give the Spurs points when they couldn't seem to find a bucket. However, soon he began looking for fouls by forcing the issue which resulted in several bad decisions that helped the Jazz put the game away. His state line is fairly impressive, but overall it wasn't his best game.

LaMarcus Aldridge - C+

LMA started off the game slowly, missing a few shots but made up for it with some decent activity on the other end. As noted above, at times he just stood around on offense while Pau went to work, which cannot happen. In the end he managed 21 on 8-16 shooting, which is great but only managed 4 rebounds which is unacceptable against a solid frontline like Utah's.

Pau Gasol - B-

Pau started off the game with a nice jumper, which has gradually been rounding into form the last few games (and something Timmy sadly couldn't give us last year in his final season). That will help make things flow much smoother on offense as the season wears on. His passing is also just as good as Timmy's, if not better. However, like LMA, he tends to stand around at times when he isn't involved in a play. He was instrumental alongside Kawhi when the Spurs made their brief comeback in the second quarter with some impressive rim protection and timely passing/jumpers. However, he missed a few bunnies that could've altered the outcome of the game and became a turnstile on defense at times in the second half.

Jonathon Simmons - C-

A lot of ups and downs with the Juice tonight. He started in place of Fathead tonight, and really didn't do much good with it. He brought a lot of enery on both ends but wasn't able to do much with it. Couldn't hit a jumpshot to save his life tonight (including a long airball on a wide-open three) but had a really nice dunk during the third quarter. Actually thought his defense was above-average when he was guarding bench players, but when matched up on Joe Johnson (much higher BBIQ than JSimms) or Hood (completely negates JSimms athleticism advantages with his own) he couldn't do much. Should've finished with 6 or 7 assists if anyone could hit a jumper tonight.

Tony Porker - B+


I usually give Tony a lot of shit these days for his play, but tonight was a pretty solid game from him (until the fourth at any rate). He started off doing nothing of value, but as the game went on he started generating shots for teammates, showed flashes of MVPorker at times, and best of all never became a ball-stopping heroballer. However, he's gonna need a pillow to sit down the next few days after the Jazz ran a train on him in the fourth quarter. Not his fault these days as he's not the defender he used to be and Pop insisted on keeping him in, but god damn it was ugly.

Manu Ginobili - D

Outside of a three early on, Manu was a trainwreck on both ends. He couldn't get to the rim, couldn't hit a shot, and seemingly had more turnovers than the 3 he was credited with. He did manage to draw 5 freebies and hit all 5, but his team leading -23 +/- actually tells the story force him tonight. He's been so good to start the season, however, that I'm not too worried about him, but the team needs to find ways to win when he does have bad games like these (and he will have plenty the rest of the way).


Patty Mills - C-


Not a particularly bad game from Patty Thrills, but definitely would've been a good game for him to score 20+ and make his case for 6MOTY. Unfortunately, he couldn't hit a three tonight and didn't do much else to try to will the Spurs to a victory. When both Mills and Manu struggle, this bench is going to struggle; Mills needs to find a way to be more consistent in order to give this bench a punch when Manu can't get it done.

Fathead - F


I'm really getting tired of Fathead being so lost on both ends of the floor, in his third season in the system no less. I know he's gotten used to starting so far this season, but when LDN comes back and he goes back to the bench he'll need to find his niche or he'll (hopefully, if he plays bad) find himself out of the rotation. Two points and one rebound in a game that saw Manu and Patty struggle won't earn him any love.

David Lee - D+


Well, he finally had his first bad game as a Spur. When he tried to score he did fine, but three shot attempts is abysmal. Didn't really help on the boards, albeit when he was in the Jazz were draining a lot of their shots. Defensively he was pretty bad and was part of the reason Trey Lyles got going from 3 late in the third.

Dewayne Dedmon - C-


Barely noticed when he was in, but should've probably gotten more burn to help defend the perimeter and PnRs. When I did notice him he was missing bunnies and getting blocked on his shot. Had a couple of bad fouls as well. Might be too much to ask with his seemingly terrible hands, but he needs to work on catching passes from his teammates when they find him. Also needs to play further away from the rim which is contributing to his getting blocked/missing chipshots as he has nowhere to move the ball to better position it for a dunk.

The Rest - F


They hardly played more than 30 seconds or so, but they let the Jizz score 5 points in about 10 seconds. They can diaf.

Pop - F-


One of the worst-coached games I've seen from Poop the last few years, and there have been a couple. His decision to insert Simmons in the SL over Fathead was head-scratching in this match up, he continually threw out lineups that had negative impact at random, wasted timeouts that would've come in handy when the Jazz started regaining momentum in the third/fourth quarters, and insisted on keeping players in the game that were hurting the team time and time again (Fathead/Porker in the fourth). Must've really wanted a loss to humble the team after their unexpected good start, but chose a bad game to have it against as the next two are gonna be tough. You got your wish, Pop.

[ElNono]

Thanks Robz... solid grades, tbh :tu

[Boomersgold]

Don't think TP's play tonight warranted him getting 33 minutes. Weird rotations by Pop.

[apalisoc_9]

Thanks Homie..

[gambit1990]

a b+ for tony :rollin

[raybies]

I don't know what happened to him. He doesn't take any risks now. He plays too cautious. He lets the game come to him and then passes on that even. It's shame. Hopefully he figures it out. Pop probably played him with the second unit to get him going. Maybe handle the ball a little more. Kyle...

[100%duncan]

B+ :lmao what

[houston spurs fan]

Pop is experimenting just like Kerr is. Everybody needs to chill out in these meaningless games. I miss Timmy. First time I have not spent $200 on league pass in like 14 years. Pass the bottle please...

[Robz4000]

a b+ for tony :rollin


B+ :lmao what

That was mostly for the first three quarters tbh. Since everyone shat the bed in the fourth I curved grades for the most part.

[100%duncan]

That was mostly for the first three quarters tbh. Since everyone shat the bed in the fourth I curved grades for the most part.

If that's the case Kawhi should be A++++++

[gambit1990]

That was mostly for the first three quarters tbh.
maybe take the 4th quarter into consideration as well?

game grades... not grades for the first three quarters...

[raybies]

That was mostly for the first three quarters tbh. Since everyone shat the bed in the fourth I curved grades for the most part.

I like it. He's showing some signs of transformation. He's staying to understand his role now. Last year Pop wanted him to be featured with KL and LMA but this year he needs to just get them good looks. He could average 8 assists easy imo. The pnp wit Pau and LMA is there all day. I also liked that he was a bit opportunistic with his scoring tonight. He picked his spots.

[Robz4000]

If that's the case Kawhi should be A++++++

Eh, he played well in the first half. Third quarter he wasn't doing much.

[JoeShmoe]

I cracked up multiple times at how each player has their actual birthname/roster name as a bold heading in your post, and Kyle Anderson sits in between the rest as "Fathead". Whether you realized how funny it would look at the time you posted it or not, I applaud the humor regardless.

[spurs10]

Thanks for the grades! Good write-up. I thought Kawhi looked strong most of the game, although he couldn't carry the team in the end as he often has done. They went right at Tony in the fourth, as you said, and indeed it wasn't pretty. Pop insisted on leaving him in and leaving him on George. We were really missing Danny tonight.

[gambit1990]

tony was okay in the first half. in the second half he had one assist.

was a liability defensively the whole game. also had the mostly costly turnover of the night.

b+ :lol

[HarlemHeat37]

Thanks, tbh..

[gambit1990]

the assists parker racked up in the first half... they were passes anyone could make.

he's a liability on both ends of the floor.

he over dribbled plenty tonight. his probing does nothing. he's not nash, he's not cp3.

[Hoops Czar]

The team is too dependent on Leonard. Piss poor guard play and Woefully non historic defense and you're going to have an offense and defense that could struggle on any given night. Hopefully the Spurs can stagger their struggles so the offense can pick up the defense on some nights and vice versa. Jonathan Simmons has turned back into a pumpkin, Kyle is useless in every way imaginable and Pop just doesn't get and he's too old to care.

[tbdog]

I am a bit of of a Kyle supporter, but his limitations became obvious in this one. My biggest issue with Kyle is because of his non athletic abilities and his limited scoring (which has more to do with his tendencies rather than his limitation), it makes playing him with the bench when you're down a massive discrepancy. When your first unit gets outplayed handsomely, like today, you want your second unit to be game changers. Scorers (Manu, Mills), shooters (Mills, Bertans, Forbes), offensive rebounders (Lee, Dedmon), shot blockers (Dedmon), athletes (Simmons, Dedmon). All those abilities can erase big leads, get the crowd into the game. Kyle is neither of those. Playing him when you have leads, to slow the game if things get too fast - when opposition teams start panicking, forcing passes, and his length disrupted passes, his good rebounding for his position . This is when you play Kyle. Not when you need the ball to go in the basket, or second possessions, fast breaks etc.

And that is why in this game, he was exposed, and hence the grade he got.

[SAGirl]

Good job on the review.... Thanks much Rob. :toast

Sadly a loss. I hope Pop and crew figure things out..

[sananspursfan21]

Spurs kill Jazz in rematch tbh... won't even be close

[Obstructed_View]

When a team hits outside jumpers at that rate, you tell them good game and move on. Nothing else really matters.

[Obstructed_View]

Also starting backcourt scores 8 points and it's Kyle Anderson's fault. :lmao.

[SAGirl]

Also starting backcourt scores 8 points and it's Kyle Anderson's fault. :lmao. Kyle had been blamed for guys nonperforming. That's clearly not been on him and what help he provided on defense was missed. He had been making wide open 3s too. In this one Jazz got off to a super hot starts and was playing summertime on the Spurs.

Many guys played poorly in this one but starting Simmons showed that the 5th guy in the SL wasn't going to get many shots and what Kyle had been doing for them had been fine for what they needed.

[YGWHI]

Thanks for the grades! :tu


LDN is really missed, and it'll show in the next few games
Agreed. Kawhi needs some help in the perimeter to cover guys, Simms is athletic but doesn't have defensive instincts, Parker...Manu...Patty....:depressed

[100%duncan]

Eh, he played well in the first half. Third quarter he wasn't doing much.

And? Kawhi had a good 4th. If you curve, then the guy who has the highest score tends to get more sometimes even more than the limit.

[YGWHI]

Many guys played poorly in this one but starting Simmons showed that the 5th guy in the SL wasn't going to get many shots and what Kyle had been doing for them had been fine for what they needed.

Also, Simms starting forces Kawhi to play at SF all minutes again...With Kyle, Kawhi was playing at SG during some moments and looking a lot more aggresive bullying smaller guard-defenders.

[Chinook]

Thanks for the grade. I will ask that folks in the future use players names in the players for their grades as opposed to nicknames. I don't care what you call them in the body of the text, but it's just more streamline if you don't have to parse out 'Fathead' or 'Evita' or 'Softridge' when scrolling by.

[GSH]

When a team hits outside jumpers at that rate, you tell them good game and move on. Nothing else really matters.


That, more than anything else. On any given night, any team can win if shots are falling. And when a team is in the zone like that, the other team winds up looking awkward because they're scrambling. It just winds up being a pick your poison night for the defense, and it bleeds over into a lack of confidence on the offensive end.

The grades over all are pretty solid. Funny to see Parker getting the highest grade on the team, but I guess someone had to get chosen. And it's funny to see Kawhi get a B with 30 and 7, 2 AST and 2 STL. But since he pretty much had to do it himself, I guess you can't make the case that he made anyone else better.

I do want to make a couple of observations about Simmons. A number of times we saw him drive and kick, rather than blindly heading for the rim. He got some guys good looks with it - they just didn't knock down shots. I've also noticed a number of times the last two games that he is coming hard over screens, and staying with his man. I'm not saying that he does it every play, just that he is obviously working hard on his defense. He's recognizing the screens earlier, and putting out the effort to get over them. He also put up at least two really shit-looking shots that got a lot of comments. I'm pretty sure both of them got blocked by some amazing effort from the Jazz defenders. Maybe he shouldn't have taken the shots at all, but he didn't shoot as badly as those two looked. I'm not arguing with his grade - everyone looked like shit in this game - just saying that I see signs that he's really working on the things that (I'm sure) the coaching staff is pushing him on.

I'm a little surprised at some of the comments about David Lee's defense. I won't say "I told you so", because a lot of people told you so. I'm hopeful that playing in the Spurs system will give him enough cover to make him acceptable on that end, but he's still going to get exposed some nights. Last night was one of those nights - but then again everyone was scrambling.

On nights when shots aren't falling, it's really important for shooters to be able to get to the FT line. Both for the points, but more importantly because seeing a couple of balls go through the ring often gets a shooter going. Neither Patty nor Simmons got to the line last night. That's a big problem. They both need to go to work, just like Kawhi did, on that aspect of their game. That being said, Kawhi didn't get to the FT line until the 4th quarter. Maybe the refs just weren't going to give up whistles, but it looked to me like he wasn't working for it as hard as he has been - instead trying to do it all himself. Let the zebras help.

If Pop is going to experiment, why the fuck wouldn't he throw Lap, or even Forbes into the game? It was pretty clear that this was going to be an L, if nobody stepped up. And nobody was stepping up. Get Forbes one of those open 3's that the Jazz were daring the Spurs to shoot, and there's a very good chance that he knocks one or two down. That can get other guys going, and it also would force them to stay honest on defense, so maybe the paint would open up a little. And I would have liked to see Lap under fire in a game like that - what the hell could it have hurt? You've got guys on the roster with the potential to change momentum. Why would you not use them when you need a change of momentum?

[pgardn]

Thanks for the grade. I will ask that folks in the future use players names in the players for their grades as opposed to nicknames. I don't care what you call them in the body of the text, but it's just more streamline if you don't have to parse out 'Fathead' or 'Evita' or 'Softridge' when scrolling by.

Agree.

No need to go low when you take the time to do all that work.

[pgardn]

That, more than anything else. On any given night, any team can win if shots are falling. And when a team is in the zone like that, the other team winds up looking awkward because they're scrambling. It just winds up being a pick your poison night for the defense, and it bleeds over into a lack of confidence on the offensive end.

The grades over all are pretty solid. Funny to see Parker getting the highest grade on the team, but I guess someone had to get chosen. And it's funny to see Kawhi get a B with 30 and 7, 2 AST and 2 STL. But since he pretty much had to do it himself, I guess you can't make the case that he made anyone else better.

I do want to make a couple of observations about Simmons. A number of times we saw him drive and kick, rather than blindly heading for the rim. He got some guys good looks with it - they just didn't knock down shots. I've also noticed a number of times the last two games that he is coming hard over screens, and staying with his man. I'm not saying that he does it every play, just that he is obviously working hard on his defense. He's recognizing the screens earlier, and putting out the effort to get over them. He also put up at least two really shit-looking shots that got a lot of comments. I'm pretty sure both of them got blocked by some amazing effort from the Jazz defenders. Maybe he shouldn't have taken the shots at all, but he didn't shoot as badly as those two looked. I'm not arguing with his grade - everyone looked like shit in this game - just saying that I see signs that he's really working on the things that (I'm sure) the coaching staff is pushing him on.

I'm a little surprised at some of the comments about David Lee's defense. I won't say "I told you so", because a lot of people told you so. I'm hopeful that playing in the Spurs system will give him enough cover to make him acceptable on that end, but he's still going to get exposed some nights. Last night was one of those nights - but then again everyone was scrambling.

On nights when shots aren't falling, it's really important for shooters to be able to get to the FT line. Both for the points, but more importantly because seeing a couple of balls go through the ring often gets a shooter going. Neither Patty nor Simmons got to the line last night. That's a big problem. They both need to go to work, just like Kawhi did, on that aspect of their game. That being said, Kawhi didn't get to the FT line until the 4th quarter. Maybe the refs just weren't going to give up whistles, but it looked to me like he wasn't working for it as hard as he has been - instead trying to do it all himself. Let the zebras help.

If Pop is going to experiment, why the fuck wouldn't he throw Lap, or even Forbes into the game? It was pretty clear that this was going to be an L, if nobody stepped up. And nobody was stepping up. Get Forbes one of those open 3's that the Jazz were daring the Spurs to shoot, and there's a very good chance that he knocks one or two down. That can get other guys going, and it also would force them to stay honest on defense, so maybe the paint would open up a little. And I would have liked to see Lap under fire in a game like that - what the hell could it have hurt? You've got guys on the roster with the potential to change momentum. Why would you not use them when you need a change of momentum?

Getting to the foul line is huge when they are not falling. In addition to penetration this sometimes requires getting very tough on the offensive boards to the point of fouling and then getting a 50/50 call. Someone is going to have to be that guy. Dedmon, Lee... Can't be KL, he has to be careful with the fouls now that he has to pull this team offensively and defensively, especially now with Green out.

[MaNu4Tres]

It's only 5 games in, but I'm worried about the guard/ wing play outside of Kawhi and Mills.

Parker is about done and is only good for decent pocket passes in Pick and Pop scenarios to LaMarcus. He's bad on defense, has no jumper, refuses to spot up from 3 effectively, can't turn the corner on PnRs. He doesn't do anything positive anymore on the NBA level.

Manu is looking to have lost a step himself, esp in PnRs. His inability to create room vs. his man or the big switched out on him has made him less effective. Defenses are having an easier time anticipating his passes because he's not able to draw in the weak-side defense the same as we are used to seeing.

Anderson just looks completely lost and keeps resorting to his in and out hesitation dribble into congested areas on the floor whenever he touches the ball. He turns down open 3's and uses the move constantly -- it's become an annoyance. His defense has been underwhelming as he's made poor rotations and hasn't been able to stay in-front of quicker players off the dribble. He'd be much better suited in a poor mans' creator role off the bench for a team with lottery aspirations like Philadelphia.

A guy I want to keep my eye on is Hollis Thompson. He's in his last year of his rookie deal and will be looking to get a slight raise this summer. Anderson + a 2nd rounder for Hollis would make sense for both teams. Sixers would be getting Kyle, who has two years left at the salary of Thompson + they'll be getting a late 2nd rounder -- which is small asset to have, but is still an asset nonetheless.

[MaNu4Tres]

Also, I wish we could get the effort LaMarcus displayed vs. the Warriors more consistently. He was aggressive in all phases that game and made an impact inside on the boards, inside scoring, inside on defense.

Yesterday he got his 20, but he seemed to be going through the motions on both ends. Four rebounds in 35 minutes is inexcusable. Wish he had the same competitiveness and drive as Leonard to compete in all phases game in and game out.

And this guy is suppose to lead?

He bothers me.

[TheDoctor]

Thanks for the Grades OP:tu


Thanks for the grade. I will ask that folks in the future use players names in the players for their grades as opposed to nicknames. I don't care what you call them in the body of the text, but it's just more streamline if you don't have to parse out 'Fathead' or 'Evita' or 'Softridge' when scrolling by.

I agree. Also, guys need to stay put and leave their bias aside. Be as rational and sincere as you can be. I'm putting these Grades on a spreadsheet and will average the Grades every 10 games. If the Grades are biased for whatever reason, it'll affect (obviously) the final result.

The method I'm using is the following:



A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F


6
5.5
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0





So, keep it UP!

[TampaDude]

Pop is experimenting just like Kerr is. Everybody needs to chill out in these meaningless games.

^ this

Mad scientist Pop. November. R E L A X.

[rjv]

tonight was the first night that i really think we missed danny. and not to make excuses for the spurs, but it really looks like the 5 games in 8 nights, including three of them on the road, caught up to them last night.

[Kawhitstorm]

Anderson just looks completely lost and keeps resorting to his in and out hesitation dribble into congested areas on the floor whenever he touches the ball. He turns down open 3's and uses the move constantly -- it's become an annoyance. His defense has been underwhelming as he's made poor rotations and hasn't been able to stay in-front of quicker players off the dribble. He'd be much better suited in a poor mans' creator role off the bench for a team with lottery aspirations like Philadelphia.

Yeah, Kyle's future might be a poor-man's Evan Turner type role unless he learns how to shoot & becomes a backup stretch 4.

[SASdynasty!]

a b+ for tony :rollin
Not everyone is a delusional Parker hater. He shot 60% and had double the assists of anyone else on the team. Sorry your hate has blinded you so badly. You should get it checked out tbh.

I know it irks you that Parker would get the best game grade last night. Sorry you feel that way, really. But at some point you might want to step back into reality. If you don't think Parker was our best player in 2014 and other lunacies you and the krew believe, it's going to be tough understanding the world.

[TheGreatYacht]

The bench needs to get a pass this game, tbh. They've been great every game except this one when a certain cancer got inserted into that unit.

Thanks for the grades :tu

[RD2191]

Lol @ giving tp a b. Hill skullfucked him the entire night and he ruined our offense with his stupid dribble dribble dribble. Dude is the reason we lost last night.

[SASdynasty!]

the assists parker racked up in the first half... they were passes anyone could make.

he's a liability on both ends of the floor.

he over dribbled plenty tonight. his probing does nothing. he's not nash, he's not cp3.
Hahaha anyone "could" make but for some crazy reason he was the only one who did! Wow, now you discredit reality in favor of hypotheticals?! Why don't you just make up the stat lines for the games and what "could" have happened. Maybe in that world, Mills is a good passer!

[SASdynasty!]

Lol @ giving tp a b. Hill skullfucked him the entire night and he ruined our offense with his stupid dribble dribble dribble. Dude is the reason we lost last night.
Hahahaha the guy that takes the time to write up the grades and offer real analysis gives Parker the best grade but the guy who adds no content says he was the reason we lost even though he had the 2nd best shooting % on the team and had double the assists of anyone else. If he would have shot 100% from the field and had triple the assists of anyone else, would you still say he was the reason we lost?

[RD2191]

Lol @ giving tp a b. Hill skullfucked him the entire night and he ruined our offense with his stupid dribble dribble dribble. Dude is the reason we lost last night.

[SASdynasty!]

^ Hahahaha

[sasaint]

The Story:
The Jazz came into the AT&T Center sporting a 1-2 record with losses to Portland and the Clippers and a win over the juggern:lolut Lakers while the Spurs boasted a 4-0 record with wins over Golden State, Sacramento, New Orleans, and Miami. Unfortunately, the Jazz left with their biggest victory of the season.

To start things off, Pop opted to go with Simmons in the SL over Fathead. Unfortunately, this didn't work out well. The starters got outplayed and, to make matters worse, the bench also was outplayed for the first time this season. Before long the Spurs found themselves down by 16. Thanks to some heroics by the starters (most notably Kawhi and Pau) when they came back in, the Spurs managed to tie the game before the Jazz righted the ship a bit and went into halftime up 4.

The second half saw the Spurs open up with a quick 8-0 run to take the lead. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Thanks to some wonky rotations by Poop and terrible shot selection by everyone on the team (even Kiwi), the Jazz regained momentum and were able to hold a lead the rest of the way thanks to some timely shots by Joe Johnson and Trey Lyles as well as George Hill taking over the game when guarded by Porker/Manu/anyone not named Kawhi Leonard.

In the end the Spurs lost 106-91. Now the Spurs face the prospects of a 3-game losing streak with a road game against this same Jazz squad coming up Friday and a home game against the Clippers the following night. The ball is in your court now, Pop; don't let this happen.

Some things I noticed during the game:

-The Jazz really packed the paint on this one, and as DPG noted they should've been called for a handful of defensive three second violations. Good strategy by Utah, but most likely unsustainable.

-The Jazz displayed some absolutely beautiful ball movement in the first/early second quarters of the game that resulted in plenty of open threes (which they made for once this season apparently). This helped get their team in a rhythm that really paid off in the fourth quarter to keep the Spurs at bay.

-Too much overpassing. The team kept moving the ball around, even after finding the open man to take a good shot. This helped bog down the offense and took everyone out of their comfort zone. When they weren't moving the ball, the team was often standing around while Kawhi/Simmons/etc went to work.

-Just terrible shot selections from everyone all-around throughout the game. Not sure if it was unfamiliarity or if the Jazz's length gave them trouble, but many possessions were rushed and ruined early on in the shot clock resulting in desperation attempts.

-I know its a work in progress, but the LMA/Gasol combination is having some issues notable on the offensive end. They both have similar comfort zones and get in each other's way at times resulting in one trying to operate while the other stands off to the side. As the season goes on hopefully they figure things out, but it'll be something to watch.

-Parker quietly had one of his better games until the fourth. If he can average 5-6 assists with one or no turnovers while scoring ~8 points a game, I'll take it. His defense was fine until the final few quarter when the Jazz began running their offense through whoever he was guarding.

-LDN is really missed, and it'll show in the next few games. Outside the Dubs game, none of the Spurs' opponents thus far had any outstanding perimeter talent and the Spurs could get away with it. Not so for Jazz (albeit Hayward is out as well), Clippers, and Rockets (Gordon isn't exactly good, but he kills the Spurs for whatever reason). Spurs might be 4-4 by next Friday if they don't figure something out.

Kawhi Leonard - B

To begin the game Kawhi Leonard was hitting shots left and right while containing Joe Johnson on the other end except for a few occasions. He was also key in bringing the Spurs back late in the second to make a game of it. In the second half Kawhi started off well, then found himself on the bench for a bit of an extended period of time. When he checked back in Kawhi found himself drawing key fouls to give the Spurs points when they couldn't seem to find a bucket. However, soon he began looking for fouls by forcing the issue which resulted in several bad decisions that helped the Jazz put the game away. His state line is fairly impressive, but overall it wasn't his best game.

LaMarcus Aldridge - C+

LMA started off the game slowly, missing a few shots but made up for it with some decent activity on the other end. As noted above, at times he just stood around on offense while Pau went to work, which cannot happen. In the end he managed 21 on 8-16 shooting, which is great but only managed 4 rebounds which is unacceptable against a solid frontline like Utah's.

Pau Gasol - B-

Pau started off the game with a nice jumper, which has gradually been rounding into form the last few games (and something Timmy sadly couldn't give us last year in his final season). That will help make things flow much smoother on offense as the season wears on. His passing is also just as good as Timmy's, if not better. However, like LMA, he tends to stand around at times when he isn't involved in a play. He was instrumental alongside Kawhi when the Spurs made their brief comeback in the second quarter with some impressive rim protection and timely passing/jumpers. However, he missed a few bunnies that could've altered the outcome of the game and became a turnstile on defense at times in the second half.

Jonathon Simmons - C-

A lot of ups and downs with the Juice tonight. He started in place of Fathead tonight, and really didn't do much good with it. He brought a lot of enery on both ends but wasn't able to do much with it. Couldn't hit a jumpshot to save his life tonight (including a long airball on a wide-open three) but had a really nice dunk during the third quarter. Actually thought his defense was above-average when he was guarding bench players, but when matched up on Joe Johnson (much higher BBIQ than JSimms) or Hood (completely negates JSimms athleticism advantages with his own) he couldn't do much. Should've finished with 6 or 7 assists if anyone could hit a jumper tonight.

Tony Porker - B+


I usually give Tony a lot of shit these days for his play, but tonight was a pretty solid game from him (until the fourth at any rate). He started off doing nothing of value, but as the game went on he started generating shots for teammates, showed flashes of MVPorker at times, and best of all never became a ball-stopping heroballer. However, he's gonna need a pillow to sit down the next few days after the Jazz ran a train on him in the fourth quarter. Not his fault these days as he's not the defender he used to be and Pop insisted on keeping him in, but god damn it was ugly.

Manu Ginobili - D

Outside of a three early on, Manu was a trainwreck on both ends. He couldn't get to the rim, couldn't hit a shot, and seemingly had more turnovers than the 3 he was credited with. He did manage to draw 5 freebies and hit all 5, but his team leading -23 +/- actually tells the story force him tonight. He's been so good to start the season, however, that I'm not too worried about him, but the team needs to find ways to win when he does have bad games like these (and he will have plenty the rest of the way).


Patty Mills - C-


Not a particularly bad game from Patty Thrills, but definitely would've been a good game for him to score 20+ and make his case for 6MOTY. Unfortunately, he couldn't hit a three tonight and didn't do much else to try to will the Spurs to a victory. When both Mills and Manu struggle, this bench is going to struggle; Mills needs to find a way to be more consistent in order to give this bench a punch when Manu can't get it done.

Fathead - F


I'm really getting tired of Fathead being so lost on both ends of the floor, in his third season in the system no less. I know he's gotten used to starting so far this season, but when LDN comes back and he goes back to the bench he'll need to find his niche or he'll (hopefully, if he plays bad) find himself out of the rotation. Two points and one rebound in a game that saw Manu and Patty struggle won't earn him any love.

David Lee - D+


Well, he finally had his first bad game as a Spur. When he tried to score he did fine, but three shot attempts is abysmal. Didn't really help on the boards, albeit when he was in the Jazz were draining a lot of their shots. Defensively he was pretty bad and was part of the reason Trey Lyles got going from 3 late in the third.

Dewayne Dedmon - C-


Barely noticed when he was in, but should've probably gotten more burn to help defend the perimeter and PnRs. When I did notice him he was missing bunnies and getting blocked on his shot. Had a couple of bad fouls as well. Might be too much to ask with his seemingly terrible hands, but he needs to work on catching passes from his teammates when they find him. Also needs to play further away from the rim which is contributing to his getting blocked/missing chipshots as he has nowhere to move the ball to better position it for a dunk.

The Rest - F


They hardly played more than 30 seconds or so, but they let the Jizz score 5 points in about 10 seconds. They can diaf.

Pop - F-


One of the worst-coached games I've seen from Poop the last few years, and there have been a couple. His decision to insert Simmons in the SL over Fathead was head-scratching in this match up, he continually threw out lineups that had negative impact at random, wasted timeouts that would've come in handy when the Jazz started regaining momentum in the third/fourth quarters, and insisted on keeping players in the game that were hurting the team time and time again (Fathead/Porker in the fourth). Must've really wanted a loss to humble the team after their unexpected good start, but chose a bad game to have it against as the next two are gonna be tough. You got your wish, Pop.

Thank you for the time and effort to post the grades. I didn't see nearly the big disparity between Tony (B+) and Patty (C-). You seem to acknowledge Tony's defensive failings in the 4th quarter in your critique and then sweep it under tha carpet in your grade.

[RD2191]

Thank you for the time and effort to post the grades. I didn't see nearly the big disparity between Tony (B+) and Patty (C-). You seem to acknowledge Tony's defensive failings in the 4th quarter in your critique and then sweep it under tha carpet in your grade.

Truth

[SASdynasty!]

Thank you for the time and effort to post the grades. I didn't see nearly the big disparity between Tony (B+) and Patty (C-). You seem to acknowledge Tony's defensive failings in the 4th quarter in your critique and then sweep it under tha carpet in your grade.
Probably has something to do with Parker not only shooting better than Patty last night, but also being able to pass the ball (unlike Patty).

[sasaint]

That, more than anything else. On any given night, any team can win if shots are falling. And when a team is in the zone like that, the other team winds up looking awkward because they're scrambling. It just winds up being a pick your poison night for the defense, and it bleeds over into a lack of confidence on the offensive end.

The grades over all are pretty solid. Funny to see Parker getting the highest grade on the team, but I guess someone had to get chosen. And it's funny to see Kawhi get a B with 30 and 7, 2 AST and 2 STL. But since he pretty much had to do it himself, I guess you can't make the case that he made anyone else better.

I do want to make a couple of observations about Simmons. A number of times we saw him drive and kick, rather than blindly heading for the rim. He got some guys good looks with it - they just didn't knock down shots. I've also noticed a number of times the last two games that he is coming hard over screens, and staying with his man. I'm not saying that he does it every play, just that he is obviously working hard on his defense. He's recognizing the screens earlier, and putting out the effort to get over them. He also put up at least two really shit-looking shots that got a lot of comments. I'm pretty sure both of them got blocked by some amazing effort from the Jazz defenders. Maybe he shouldn't have taken the shots at all, but he didn't shoot as badly as those two looked. I'm not arguing with his grade - everyone looked like shit in this game - just saying that I see signs that he's really working on the things that (I'm sure) the coaching staff is pushing him on.

I'm a little surprised at some of the comments about David Lee's defense. I won't say "I told you so", because a lot of people told you so. I'm hopeful that playing in the Spurs system will give him enough cover to make him acceptable on that end, but he's still going to get exposed some nights. Last night was one of those nights - but then again everyone was scrambling.

On nights when shots aren't falling, it's really important for shooters to be able to get to the FT line. Both for the points, but more importantly because seeing a couple of balls go through the ring often gets a shooter going. Neither Patty nor Simmons got to the line last night. That's a big problem. They both need to go to work, just like Kawhi did, on that aspect of their game. That being said, Kawhi didn't get to the FT line until the 4th quarter. Maybe the refs just weren't going to give up whistles, but it looked to me like he wasn't working for it as hard as he has been - instead trying to do it all himself. Let the zebras help.

If Pop is going to experiment, why the fuck wouldn't he throw Lap, or even Forbes into the game? It was pretty clear that this was going to be an L, if nobody stepped up. And nobody was stepping up. Get Forbes one of those open 3's that the Jazz were daring the Spurs to shoot, and there's a very good chance that he knocks one or two down. That can get other guys going, and it also would force them to stay honest on defense, so maybe the paint would open up a little. And I would have liked to see Lap under fire in a game like that - what the hell could it have hurt? You've got guys on the roster with the potential to change momentum. Why would you not use them when you need a change of momentum?

- I saw Simmons last night the exact same way you did. He showed some patience and passing within the framework of the offense that unfortunately don't show up in the box score. I was pretty encouraged.

- Free throws can easily win games. Prime Manu personified the ability to get points from the line when he couldn't get them from the field. If Simmons (or somebody besides Kawhi) could develop that skill and recognition, it would really help on nights like tonight.

- Why on earth didn't we see Lapro and/or Forbes when almost everybody was not only playing poorly, but showing no energy?

[sasaint]

Pop is experimenting just like Kerr is. Everybody needs to chill out in these meaningless games. I miss Timmy. First time I have not spent $200 on league pass in like 14 years. Pass the bottle please...

"Experimenting... If you're Pop, it's what you do." But in the past the Spurs could overcome those experiments if they dug us into a hole - and in the NBA 16 points is not much of a hole until sometime in the 4th quarter. With this new team perhaps that is too much. At any rate, losing "meaningless games" can cost playoff seeding. Remember the Knicks and the Pels? I don't agree that any game is meaningless - especially on your home floor to an undermanned opponent after opening the season by grabbing a big win from the Dubs on their home floor. We just gave that right back to them.

Aside from Pop's being completely disengaged last night, I was mostly troubled by the lack of competitive spirit from our guys, and LMA's disinclination to rebound. 5 games in 8 nights should not be a real problem for players whose court time is strictly metered by Pop.

Just a head shaking performance by everybody from Pop on down - with a handful of bright spots.

[SAGirl]

Thanks for the Grades OP:tu



I agree. Also, guys need to stay put and leave their bias aside. Be as rational and sincere as you can be. I'm putting these Grades on a spreadsheet and will average the Grades every 10 games. If the Grades are biased for whatever reason, it'll affect (obviously) the final result.

The method I'm using is the following:



A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F


6
5.5
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0




So, keep it UP!

I feel ppl have been cutting Tony slack giving him B s here and the last game just for not heroballing, when he's not helping the team win, he has been poor on defense and very off shooting. Then when one reads the comment's ppl say he's been playing as poor as Anderson. I think Tony has been getting more curved and favorable grades than anyone due to the "not heroballing" factor.

Kawhi has carried the team and has gotten B's just bc so much more is expected of him... I don't know how these things can be factored in but a B for Kawhi has not been the same as a B for Tony.

[tbdog]

I feel ppl have been cutting Tony slack giving him B s here and the last game just for not heroballing, when he's not helping the team win, he has been poor on defense and very off shooting. Then when one reads the comment's ppl say he's been playing as poor as Anderson. I think Tony has been getting more curved and favorable grades than anyone due to the "not heroballing" factor.

Kawhi has carried the team and has gotten B's just bc so much more is expected of him... I don't know how these things can be factored in but a B for Kawhi has not been the same as a B for Tony.

It is all relative to the role. LMA and Leonard are your stars, they are expected to put points on the board etc.

[dabom]

Tony Parker got a better rating than Kawhi. :lmao

[Dex]

Nice job, OP.

[kobyz]

LMA is liability on defense... He is so passive...

[SASdynasty!]

Tony Parker got a better rating than Kawhi. :lmao
Parker shot a better percentage from the field, had triple the assists Kawhi did (on less minutes), and half the turnovers. He also didn't miss 4 of his last 5 shots like Kawhi did. Sorry you disagree.

[Dingle Barry]

Also, I wish we could get the effort LaMarcus displayed vs. the Warriors more consistently. He was aggressive in all phases that game and made an impact inside on the boards, inside scoring, inside on defense.

Yesterday he got his 20, but he seemed to be going through the motions on both ends. Four rebounds in 35 minutes is inexcusable. Wish he had the same competitiveness and drive as Leonard to compete in all phases game in and game out.

And this guy is suppose to lead?

He bothers me.

That's just LMA being LMA.

[TheDoctor]

Parker shot a better percentage from the field, had triple the assists Kawhi did (on less minutes), and half the turnovers. He also didn't miss 4 of his last 5 shots like Kawhi did. Sorry you disagree.

Tony, fuck you and your 3rd person talking about Parker shot a better percentage from the field schtick.

Go eat some crème brûlée instead.