Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Hawks - Dec. 10

Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Hawks

Though the 108-92 final score indicates another easy win for the Spurs, that actually wasn’t the case against the Hawks. The two teams were locked in a defensive battle until nine and a half minutes were remaining in the game. At that point, with a stagnant Spurs squad holding onto a one-point lead, San Antonio caught fire and outscored Atlanta 32-17 the rest of the way. A trio of triples by Richard Jefferson and constant creating by Tony Parker caused the combustion. The Spurs improved to 19-3 with the win.

Tim Duncan B-
With 14 minutes remaining in the game, Tim Duncan exited the court with the Spurs up by one point. He never re-entered. Pop stuck with a hot group in the fourth quarter and Duncan led the cheers from the bench. When he was actually playing, Duncan was decent. He passed well and was attentive when defending the basket. The size and length of the Hawks confounded him at times — most notably on the boards and when trying to finish at the rim — but Duncan was able to play mostly solid basketball.

Manu Ginobili D
From the first minutes, Manu Ginobili didn’t seem completely focused. He was extremely loose with the ball and attempted a number of ill-advised passes. Ginobili finished with no assists and six turnovers. Defensively, he was also a step slow getting to his spots. To his credit, Ginobili’s scoring didn’t suffer. He hit half of his 14 shots on his way to 18 points.

Tony Parker A-
It took Tony Parker a while to figure out how to attack Atlanta’s defense … but he finally did in the fourth quarter. With the Spurs up by seven points and less than five minutes remaining, Parker scored or assisted on 12 points in the next three and a half minutes to give the Spurs a 16-point advantage. Even more impressively, Parker did that with both Duncan and Ginobili on the bench. On defense, he did good work on Mike Bibby throughout the night.

Richard Jefferson B
Richard Jefferson relied on his newfound three-point marksmanship against the Hawks. He was 5-for-6 on threes and just 1-for-2 on two-pointers. His three-pointers down the stretch were the nails in Atlanta’s coffin. On defense, however, I wasn’t nearly as impressed. He was slow on closeouts and made a number of errors in rotations. A little more effort on the glass would also have been helpful.

DeJuan Blair A
The rebirth of DeJuan Blair’s season continues. After struggling mightily early on, Blair has found a rhythm. Against the Hawks, he was very good. Defensively, he’s really starting to figure out how to use his nimbleness and good hands to his advantage. He swiped four steals and now has 11 steals in his last four games. Blair also made quality passes, rebounded well and had a number of strong finishes in the paint. He’s starting to now look like a legit starter.

George Hill A-
Fantastic performances are becoming the norm for George Hill. In his 37 minutes off the bench, he led the team in plus/minus with a +20 and his aggressiveness on both ends was very good. Making Hill even more dangerous on offense is his renewed confidence in his three-point stroke; in the last two games he’s 6-for-8 from deep. Quietly, he’s now playing as well as any sixth man in the league.

Matt Bonner C
Matt Bonner isn’t a very good defender but he usually maximizes his ability on that end by not making mistakes. That was not the case against the Hawks. Bonner made a handful of mistakes that burned the Spurs. On offense, he hit half of his four three-pointers but seemed to struggle with his decision making.

Antonio McDyess A-
Up until Parker taking over down the stretch, Antonio McDyess was the team’s best passer. He wasn’t confused by the different looks the Hawks were showing and was able to find the open man. On defense, McDyess rebounded well and blocked a pair of shots. After playing only nine minutes in the previous week, he looked extra energized.

Gary Neal B
Defense is still a struggle for Gary Neal at times. He doesn’t look like a rookie on the offense end — but he does on D. Hopefully the frequency of his mistakes decreases as he continues to learn the system. On offense against the Hawks, Neal missed all three of his three-pointers but otherwise did well enough. He had a few good passes and converted on both of his two-pointers.

I thought Gary Neals D was fine that game. He definitely tried to help out as much as possible, but he was very quick on the rotations and trying to get back. I didn't see anything on defense that stuck out. However, Good Grades.:toast

Neal ROY

Blair blair blair

Thanks for the write-up. Spurs are getting contributions from the young guns; scoring from the 4 that we really need are Parker, RJ, Hill and Blair; that is the perfect scenario for the Spurs.

That is what we need to continue to have a healthy team come playoff time, and also what we need to have enough depth to challenge when we are there.

Get it? Not even Spurstalk likes replying on day-old Game Thoughts. . .


Prolly all out watching 30 for 30

rofl @ dice being a good passer i guess you missed his inbound pass... dice is a horrible passer he makes to many mistakes he should just shoot

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Originally Posted by LeCrab

rofl @ dice being a good passer i guess you missed his inbound pass... dice is a horrible passer he makes to many mistakes he should just shoot

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I'm kinda confused... are you a troll? A cavs fan? What are you doing here?

talk about tough grading!

timvp is slippin

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Originally Posted by DesignatedT

I'm kinda confused... are you a troll? A cavs fan? What are you doing here?

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Once Dice will prove him wrong, he'll say it was an anti-jinx.

McDyess actually is a pretty bad passer though, he's right..timvp was obviously just speaking on his passing strictly in the Hawks game..

Also, it's pretty obvious which previous poster posts under LeCrab now:lol..

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Originally Posted by DesignatedT

I'm kinda confused... are you a troll? A cavs fan? What are you doing here?

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I used to be a troll everyone thought i was jamstone...... I am a ghost now just call it how i see

serious now dice is a horrible passer every game he makes a mental mistake like throwing the ball away

who am i harlem?

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Originally Posted by LeCrab

who am i harlem?

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You know that I know, son..

Jesus H Christ reform already i said


read this thread, look up history




REFORM

Don't tell son.....
@timvp neal is a solid defender he is guarding sf's much taller than himself.....

According to the Blair thread some Spurs fans think he should have received a D-minus for this game.

What a bizarre fanbase we have in San Antonio.

19-3. This is awesome. :tu

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Originally Posted by peskypesky

talk about tough grading!

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I also noticed that, I think it just shows that timvp's expectations of each player are going to evolve through the season. It's impossible to stick to beginning of season expectations... they will change due to hot streaks by some players (making us think they can always play at this level) or nice surprises (e.g. expectations for Blair have probably decreased a bit, those for RJ probably going up since the start of the season).

I also guess we are going to see wildly different grades game to game for Manu... we know he's our Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Fortunately enough the Dr Jekyll impersonations far outweigh the Mr Hyde showings.

Thx for the grades, timvp. Better than nothing.

I kinda sorta wish I'd gotten league pass this year. Hate not being able to see and evaluate the games/players myself. I'm missing out on watching Hill & Blair blossom into special players which is bugging me. Friggin' spurs are 19-3 too.

Of course If I did order it today I'd get no discount and of course it would be a gauranteed jinx to all the good fortune.

no splitter?

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Originally Posted by TDMVPDPOY

no splitter?

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He didn't play long enough to merit a grade, honestly.

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Originally Posted by peskypesky

talk about tough grading!

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Well, if you didn't know, grades aren't handed out equally. Each player is graded on what they are expected to do for the team.

Oh, and the thread title should be "Slow Grades". :lol

:lol

We had plans during the game, so timvp watched it later. By then, it was too late to do "Quick Grades" so he didn't. But then several people PM'd asking for them., so, here they are.

0 assists and 6 turnovers is definitely a rough day, but I'm not sure how you can give an NBA player a D for scoring 18 pts on 50% shooting in just less than 25 minutes.

ouch :lol

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Originally Posted by HarlemHeat37

McDyess actually is a pretty bad passer though, he's right..timvp was obviously just speaking on his passing strictly in the Hawks game..

Also, it's pretty obvious which previous poster posts under LeCrab now:lol..

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He's almost as bad as Manu. Together they're averaging 3.5 turnovers a game. You would think Pop would quit swinging the offense through Mcdyess at the top of the key and letting Manu run the offense altogether.