Spurs vs. Sonics: Post Game Thoughts

[timvp]

Good to see the Spurs finally get a win ... even if it is only preseason. Nice all around effort, especially with Parker and Horry taking the day off. The offense wasn't very crisp but the Sonic's defense was so bad, it didn't really matter.

Tim Duncan: Awesome again. He's looking better than he ever has in preseason. Hopefully that is a good sign and not a sign that he's peaking too soon.

Bruce Bowen: Finally got into offensive rhythm. He had been looking horrible on offense. He did a good job on Radmanovic ... helping to hold him to 0-11 shooting.

Rasho Nesterovic: Right when I thought he was turning the corner, he took a step back today. He was nowhere to be found in offense or defense. The only good news is he dunked it for the fourth game in a row.

Manu Ginobili: Very good game for Manu. He was very energetic and causing havoc on both sides of the court. It was awesome to see him fly around the court. He got a little banged up when he flew into the stands, but it looked like he just cut himself.

Beno Udrih -- I thought this was his worst game so far. He had a big opportunity because he got the starts ... and didn't really take advantage of it. Luke Ridnour was able to pressure him to the point that he had to pass the ball away, which is a really bad sign. He wasn't as aggressive and was playing soft at times. Had a nice pass and a couple nice shots, though.

Malik Rose: Rose was fine but nothing special. He had a lot of fumbles and was out of sync offensively. He was hustling like a mad man though.

Devin Brown: Played very good again. Took over the game at certain points with his offense and defense. He was the other hand in holding Radmanovic to 0-11. He also played Ray Allen very well one-on-one.

Tony Massenburg: He probably won a roster spot with his play today. Had a nice and one, a good looking jumper and put the hammer on a couple Sonics. He fouled out but it was nice to see a Spur flatten the other team.

Brent Barry: Still not in the flow. He fumbled a few passes and dribbled some others off his feet. You could tell that Pop was easing him into the game by limiting his minutes to only against the scrubs. His shooting looked better.

Marque Perry: Not horrible, not great. I don't think he's an NBA level point guard right this second, but could be with a little more seasoning. He's a good kid and tries really hard. It would be a good idea to keep him around in case (when?) Beno goes down.

Romain Sato: Played really well in his limited minutes. Attacked the basket and as always played very good defense. He's a hustle player who isn't afraid to stick his nose in. I don't think he has NBA size or an NBA shot right now, so the Spurs might let him go to let him play somewhere in Europe or in the NBDL. Or they could keep him around and hope he improves on IR.

James Thomas: Man, what a freaking scrub. This guy is horrible. He's a below average rebounder ... and that's his best quality. He's a spaz when he has the ball in his hand and a horrible passer. His defense isn't even that good and he gets pushed around. If the Spurs keep this guy, it is only to trick some Austin residents to buy season tickets.

Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje: He's actually getting better and better. He's not an NBA player but he tries hard and understand what he's supposed to do. Although, his offense is beyond horrible ... which will keep him off the Spurs and out of the league.

[Solid D]

Spurs look different without a 3 with size (see SF thread). Linton could help, once he's healthy. Horry is less mobile and would have to use his smarts to step out on the wing. I think the Spurs may have to make a move and add another guy if Linton can't do it.

The Sonics may have a nice FA acquisition in Gerald Wilkins' son (Dominique's nephew), Damien.

[Nikos]

How many guys can they play though? You get a SF and that automatically means either Beno or Devin doesn't play at all basically -- or you platoon all the 2/3's 20mpg....

[timvp]

seattle (82) At San Antonio (91)

Seattle

Rebounds
Player Pos Min Fgm-fga Ftm-fta Off-def-tot Ast Pf St To Pts
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===

R Evans F 24 1-2 0-0 1 8 9 1 3 0 1 2
V Radmanovic F 31 0-11 0-0 2 2 4 2 3 3 4 0
V Potapenko C 21 5-10 0-0 3 2 5 1 1 0 2 10
L Ridnour G 21 2-6 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 1 3 4
R Allen G 25 6-13 1-2 1 2 3 3 2 1 5 14
A Daniels 25 4-9 8-8 0 2 2 3 1 2 0 16
N Collison 23 0-3 2-2 0 2 2 0 2 2 3 2
D Wilkins 26 8-12 0-0 3 2 5 1 2 1 0 17
D Fortson 19 2-2 7-8 0 4 4 0 5 1 2 11
I Kutluay 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
M Cleaves 20 3-5 0-0 1 1 2 3 2 0 2 6

Totals 240 31-73 18-20 11 26 37 16 27 11 22 82
(.425) (.900) Team Rebs: 8 Total To: 22 (23 Pts)

San Antonio

Rebounds
Player Pos Min Fgm-fga Ftm-fta Off-def-tot Ast Pf St To Pts
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===

B Bowen F 14 4-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 1 2 9
T Duncan F 26 8-10 5-8 1 4 5 1 4 2 3 21
R Nesterovic C 27 1-4 0-0 1 4 5 3 2 0 0 2
B Udrih G 30 3-8 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 0 4 7
E Ginobili G 26 3-10 2-4 1 3 4 6 3 4 2 9
M Rose 19 2-7 1-3 2 2 4 2 1 0 1 5
D Brown 20 3-5 2-2 0 5 5 2 1 1 2 8
T Massenburg 12 3-4 1-1 0 2 2 0 6 0 1 7
M Perry 21 1-4 4-4 1 0 1 4 1 2 2 6
B Barry 22 3-4 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 7
R Sato 11 3-4 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 7
J Thomas 7 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0
R Boumtje-boumtj 5 1-1 1-1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3

Totals 240 35-67 17-25 6 27 33 25 24 13 21 91
(.522) (.680) Team Rebs: 6 Total To: 21 (19 Pts)

Seattle 19 21 15 27 - 82
San Antonio 19 32 23 17 - 91

Blocked Shots: Seattle - V Radmanovic, L Ridnour, R Evans. San Antonio -
M Rose, T Duncan, R Nesterovic, M Perry, E Ginobili, D Brown.
3-pt. Field Goals: Seattle 2-15 (.133), V Radmanovic 0-6, L Ridnour 0-
2, R Allen 1-2, A Daniels 0-3, D Wilkins 1-2. San Antonio 4-10 (.400),
B Bowen 1-2, B Udrih 1-1, E Ginobili 1-5, B Barry 1-2.
Technical Fouls: None.
Flagrant Fouls: None.
Officials: Dan Crawford, Phil Robinson, Robby Robinson.
A - 16,278. T - 2:12.

[mattyc]

Marque Perry: Not horrible, not great. I don't think he's an NBA level point guard right this second, but could be with a little more seasoning. He's a good kid and tries really hard. It would be a good idea to keep him around in case (when?) Beno goes down.

James Thomas: Man, what a freaking scrub. This guy is horrible. He's a below average rebounder ... and that's his best quality. He's a spaz when he has the ball in his hand and a horrible passer. His defense isn't even that good and he gets pushed around. If the Spurs keep this guy, it is only to trick some Austin residents to buy season tickets.

I think timvp has decided where the final roster spot is going. ;)

[BronxCowboy]

I think timvp has decided where the final roster spot is going. ;)

I sure hope so. I agree that Beno might be injury prone and they really need to keep a PG. But I'm not convinced that they'll even keep a 15th player at all.

[ShoogarBear]

I saw Beno's terrible line in the boxscore and could predict what your comments were going to be.

[SequSpur]

Seems like most of your assessment is right on with mine without even watching a single preseason game.

Interesting......

[smeagol]

Manu Ginobili: Very good game for Manu. He was very energetic and causing havoc on both sides of the court. It was awesome to see him fly around the court. He got a little banged up when he flew into the stands, but it looked like he just cut himself.

But his shooting seemed to be off. 3-10 from the field. Must have really hustled out there to make a good impression on you.

[timvp]

But his shooting seemed to be off. 3-10 from the field. Must have really hustled out there to make a good impression on you.

His jumper was off but other than that, he was playing really well. Besides ... it seems like it always takes him about a month or two to get his shot going.

[Nikos]

I was listening to alot of the game and it sounded like Manu was being really disruptive on the defensive end. Had a few steals against Ray, drew an offensive foul, blocked Radmonovic shot etc......

He was doing ok from the field until he missed 3 straight open shots (from what I heard they sounded like they were way off).

I don't know if Manu will be a consistent shooter/scorer for this team, but if he isn't going to be, I hope he can at least cut down on his turnovers or increase his Steal/TO and Ast/TO ratios by a reasonable margin. That way he can be the third most important player by being a 3rd option on offense, making hustle plays, and just being a disrupter on defense -- and even by doing those things he will be almost as valuable as an improved TP hopefully. Should be interesting to see.

The fact he hasn't gotten a chance to improve his shot over the summer probably means he won't shoot too much better from 3 this season. I hope I'm wrong, but if not lets hope he can cut down on those turnovers.

[boutons]

Ray was running around like Richard Hamilton/DET trying to get free, and Manu was running his butt off chasing him.

Barry's inability to move laterally to stay in front of his man must be in his head, for someone otherwise so mobile and quick.

Beno was making a good effort on defense, too bad his money shot, those little mid-range jumpers, weren't falling. But Beno did hit his first NBA 1 3ptr, which for me is as noteworthy as Brent hitting one.

[Phenomanul]

Bruce Bowen: Finally got into offensive rhythm. He had been looking horrible on offense. He did a good job on Radmanovic ... helping to hold him to 0-11 shooting.

I hope someone keeps track of all of Bowen's defensive minutes and his opponents averages... As Artest's published stats last year were BOGUS...

[Nikos]

Hey Timvp,

This is a bit off topic, but I noticed you seem to like doing Game Reviews (which is a great thing in general and especially for those who haven't seen the game).

I was wondering if for every Spur regular season game if you could do your usual comments but also add a GRADE next to the players name. I could enter your grades into my spreadsheet and by the end of the season I could get an average grade for a player for the season.

Not that its extremely important to get an average, but I think it could be interesting to have players graded for each game to see how they did.

[smeagol]

If its not too much trouble for you, Timvp, I second Nikos suggestion/request.

[timvp]

I was wondering if for every Spur regular season game if you could do your usual comments but also add a GRADE next to the players name.

Holy sh!t, are you stalking me? I'm actually writing an article right now that includes grades for how each player has played in the preseason. :wtf

I'll add grades to the regular reviews once the season starts.

[Nikos]

:lol

Are you serious?

I just thought it would be cool, cause I know someone else who does grades for another team and does them really well for almost every game. Gives a great analysis and I thought it would be cool to have this option for the Spurs.