Quick Grades: Spurs at Knicks - Jan. 4

http://www.sanantoniodispatch.com/sa...urs-at-knicks/

Recently, San Antonio appeared to be making large strides on the defensive end. On Tuesday, the Knicks crushed that thought. In an amazing display of energy, passing and marsksmanship, New York was unstoppable on their way to a 128-115 victory. The Spurs, no matter what they tried, couldn't stop the Knicks. With Amare Stoudemire in the middle and an endless stream of shooters surrounding him, this game brought back bad memories of last season's sweep.

Tim Duncan C+ Good effort and intensity but Knicks took advantage of his immobility.

Manu Ginobili D Lacked energy, got out-hustled and made things too difficult on O.

Tony Parker B- Fought hard on offense but ran out of gas. D strategy exposed.

Richard Jefferson C Unsure on defense. Repeatedly allowed lanes. O was a positive.

DeJuan Blair A- One of few Spurs who came to play. No prayer to slow down Amare.

George Hill C- Sloppy on both ends. Wasn't aggressive enough offensively.

Gary Neal D Totally out of control on offense. A liability on the defensive end.

Antonio McDyess B Outside of his turnovers, he was doing good work in all phases.

Matt Bonner C Couldn't hang on the defensive end. Wasn't helping enough offensively.

Pop D Had plenty of time to properly prepare for this road game. Even he appeared to be looking ahead to the Celtics.

Pop's controversial to say the least decision to quit earns him an F in my view. Even Hall of famers make jackass, bush-league calls every now and then I reckon.

too nice IMO, my grades

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Originally Posted by hater

Tony: C+ great but pushed the issue and got raped on D
Manu: F sucked ass all nite and raped on D
Duncan: C- solid production but soft on D
Blair: B can't expect more from him at this point
Dick: D shit D
Hill: D shit D
Neal: B only Spur besides Blair + Dyce with balls
Bonner: F embarrasment out ther
Dyce: B see Neal
Quinn: I not enough minutes
Splitter: I not enough minutes

Pop: F was he drunk?

Overall Team grade: D+

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Neal was definitely off last night. It looked like he was on a back to back already. His shots were short and his energy was not consistent.
Blair was one of the few bright spots last night, except for the confirmation that the Spurs are capable of putting up 120 pts in a night.

strange, to me it seemed Neal was the only one hustling...

how about the decision to switch on every pick? We hardly even tried to fight through a pick, it was either under it or switch all night. The mismatches kept killing us.

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

Pop's controversial to say the least decision to quit earns him an F in my view. Even Hall of famers make jackass, bush-league calls every now and then I reckon.

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eh, Spurs had lost the potential to stop the Knicks by the middle of the fourth. They kept it close up till then but couldn't make a shot, and it had nothing to do with Knicks defense.

Better to pull the players, save them for the next game, and not risk injury. I was laughing my ass off that D'ANtoni kept his starters in till the very end. He just looks like a douchebag and I kept praying for Chris QUinn to trip Amare and cause a season-ending injury, playing in garbage time. I would have laughed my ass off if that had happened. Good coaches don't risk shit like that.

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Originally Posted by Capt Bringdown

Pop's controversial to say the least decision to quit earns him an F in my view. Even Hall of famers make jackass, bush-league calls every now and then I reckon.

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Let's get real, we were not gonna win that game regardless. The Knicks announcer hit the nail in the head, he said Pop noticed the team's attitude in the last couple of possesions was hanging their heads down and looking like shit.

I commend Pop for that decision. He said "Retreat motherfuckers!"

and sent in pretty boy Chris Quinn with the white flag.

I might just change Pop's grade to a D- for that.

Duncan...... D, he looked disinterested most of the game. I blame him most because he should have exploited Amar'e's defense earlier in the game.

Parker........ C+, he should have stayed aggressive the entire game.

Manu......... F, he was awful and frustrating to watch

RJ.......... C-, he should have demanded the ball more

Blair.. B+, he was fearless and deserved more time. Noone could stop Amar'e
anyway at least he scored and rebounded.

Bonner, D--, scared to shoot; poor rotations; didn't provide a lift.

Hill, C-, didn't bring enough from the bench

Pop......F team should have been prepared. He should have pulled them earlier in my opinion if he was going to do it.

Anyway, I was not too upset. :flag:



Neal C poor shooting night, but at least he stayed aggressive; awful on D
like the rest of the team.
Dice C just okay; nothing special at all; too many turnovers

Let's not pretend we've never seen Pop pull the plug on a losing effort by his team before. This game reminded me of the first loss of the season vs the Hornets. Outworked and out hustled.

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Originally Posted by ohmwrecker

Let's not pretend we've never seen Pop pull the plug on a losing effort by his team before.

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Tony was at the line, could have possibly been single digit lead with 3 minutes to go. Never seen that before.

C'mon, RJ got a C? Team defense was poor, not his. He shouldn't be the one to blame.

RJ B+

Pop B+ for sending the message to the team at the last 3 min. This team need an alert like that. If you want to win this game plz show your effort earlier. Say Pop let the big 3 fight till the end and Spurs got a win, this only help to grow the bad attitude they brought to the game --- lack of focus.

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Originally Posted by cheguevara

Tony was at the line, could have possibly been single digit lead with 3 minutes to go. Never seen that before.

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There was no way the Spurs were going to win that game. No momentum. No extraordinary effort.

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Originally Posted by ohmwrecker

There was no way the Spurs were going to win that game. No momentum. No extraordinary effort.

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true. But never happened before that Pop pulled the guys in a game as close.

I didn't really have an issue with Pop pulling the plug. As some noted in the other thread, for as well as the Spurs have played this year part of the reason their record is as good as it is because they've pulled out games like this a few times this year. Games against less talented teams where the overall effort is lacking for about 40 minutes of the game. The decision probably equally parts "this isn't gonna work" and "wake up call: play like ass and we won't win."

+1 to spotlighting Blair efforts, even if this was a terrible team for him to match up against. I would have laughed in your face if you told me before hand that Dejuan would get out ahead of everyone and finish a fast break against a D'Antoni team.

Spurs did a poor job of feeding it to Duncan. He should've had 30 touches in the post last night.

Pop pulled the players because he wasnt happy with the D

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Originally Posted by mingus

Spurs did a poor job of feeding it to Duncan. He should've had 30 touches in the post last night.

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They should have at least try this - might have gotten Amare in foul trouble. Why didn't Blair play more - only 17 mins. and he was playing well.

despite the 15 points, it was Manu's worst game of the year

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Originally Posted by Supergirl

I kept praying for Chris QUinn to trip Amare and cause a season-ending injury, playing in garbage time.

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does God usually answer that type of prayer for you?

I'm just a litle bit surprised by the G. Hill grade tbh. He has been bad to very bad on D like everybody but I thought O he was good he went 5 for 8 and did a proper job. Maybe he could have been more agressive but all in all, I thought he was not sloppy on the O.

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Originally Posted by Blake

does God usually answer that type of prayer for you?

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Manu says there is no God.

Disappointing that Duncan and the Spurs couldn't capitalize on the lack of size and shotblocking the Knicks had but w/e.

This is not surprising. The guys were due for a loss like this. You can't expect them to be high intensity for 82 games. They shot lights out and their D sucked. They seemed to lack energy and weren't focused.

Let's see how they respond tonight, and if Pop's decision fuels the fire they need to get back to playing some great D. I think the guys will have more motivation to play Boston given their history and their current record. This may very well be the team the Spurs play in the finals.

I'd give Neal a B, because he was actually making plays on offense beyond vomiting up shots (which he does). Mason would have never made a drive and aerial dish for a Bonner dunk (!) or pushed the ball hard off a rebound on an unready Knicks team which led to a dish to RJ that resulted in free throws.

I would also say that the whole "Spurs couldn't have won this game no matter what" mantra is something I can't agree with.

Repeatedly going under on screens with Felton and Amare was keeping them from winning. I can't blame it on Parker because Hill was doing the same thing, so it was a Pop issue. Felton has been one of the worst PnR points for feeding the roller, NYK had to change their offense early in the season because of what an abomination he was. He can't do it like Nash, and it's led to a ton of Amare at the high post or taking 20 footers all game long. Felton wasn't going to get Amare dunk after dunk had the Spurs gone over.

The one time I remember them actually fighting over the screen was in the 4th and resulted in a Felton miss but a blown defensive rebound. That plus the switching on Chandler's slips.

Bring back the game thoughts!

The bottom line is the Spurs turned the ball over way too many times and their D was basically nonexistent, and they got blasted. They were lucky to not lose by 25.

The only alarming thing to me is that offenses similar to the Spurs(Orlando,New York,etc...), have given San Antonio trouble this year. Their perimeter d definitely needs to pick up.

Udoka should get an F for bricking two FTs at the end of the game.

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Originally Posted by Phenomanul

Udoka should get an F for bricking two FTs at the end of the game.

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He got a pink slip.

No TV and no internet last night as I was in the middle of moving. Looks like I picked a good game to miss.

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Originally Posted by timvp

http://www.sanantoniodispatch.com/sa...urs-at-knicks/

Recently, San Antonio appeared to be making large strides on the defensive end. On Tuesday, the Knicks crushed that thought. In an amazing display of energy, passing and marsksmanship, New York was unstoppable on their way to a 128-115 victory. The Spurs, no matter what they tried, couldn't stop the Knicks. With Amare Stoudemire in the middle and an endless stream of shooters surrounding him, this game brought back bad memories of last season's sweep.

Tim Duncan C+ Good effort and intensity but Knicks took advantage of his immobility.

Manu Ginobili D Lacked energy, got out-hustled and made things too difficult on O.

Tony Parker B- Fought hard on offense but ran out of gas. D strategy exposed.

Richard Jefferson C Unsure on defense. Repeatedly allowed lanes. O was a positive.

DeJuan Blair A- One of few Spurs who came to play. No prayer to slow down Amare.

George Hill C- Sloppy on both ends. Wasn't aggressive enough offensively.

Gary Neal D Totally out of control on offense. A liability on the defensive end.

Antonio McDyess B Outside of his turnovers, he was doing good work in all phases.

Matt Bonner C Couldn't hang on the defensive end. Wasn't helping enough offensively.

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It would be better for Gary Neal not to try the step back three-pointer at this time. He's a shooter, yes. But from what i have observed, non of his step back went in in the game against the knicks.

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Originally Posted by benefactor

No TV and no internet last night as I was in the middle of moving. Looks like I picked a good game to miss.

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Yeah. It had the same feel as the Orlando game except the Spurs offense was keeping them close until the final 6 minutes or so. They just looked out of sync on the defensive end.