Quick Grades: Spurs @ Jazz - Dec. 12

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Originally Posted by Fireball

Pop made a mistake by going back to Blair in the second quarter. And I really thought Splitter played well enough to be on the court in the final three minutes instead of Boris. Sadly a wasted effort by the great Tim Duncan.

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Yup...that's where we lost the game. Spurs had a chance to put the game away early and take the crowd out of it, but got rolled when the Blair witch project came in. Crowd stayed hyperactive the whole game, and the Jazz clearly fed off that. Still, it took having no KL, no Jack, shitty play by anyone not named Duncan or Parker, and a 27 foot fluke 3 by Mo to lose this game.

If we're at full strength and meet the Jazz in the playoffs, the only time we'll see Blair on the court is in garbage time. That series goes 5 games, max, and is probably a sweep. We'll crush them.

Lots of missed layups and close shots in this game, and Neal missed some 3s he usually makes. Just a tough game, but it still should have been a W. Pop overplayed Blair and underplayed Tiago. Diaw and Blair just SUCKED. Tim was fantastic. I don't blame the loss on Green's defense at the end, but it sure would have been nice if he would have caught Tim's court-length outlet pass which dropped into his hands. Tim Duncan is a joy to watch. Blair...not so much.

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Originally Posted by superbigtime

Lots of missed layups and close shots in this game, and Neal missed some 3s he usually makes. Just a tough game, but it still should have been a W. Pop overplayed Blair and underplayed Tiago. Diaw and Blair just SUCKED. Tim was fantastic. I don't blame the loss on Green's defense at the end, but it sure would have been nice if he would have caught Tim's court-length outlet pass which dropped into his hands. Tim Duncan is a joy to watch. Blair...not so much.

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We left at least 10 points on the court with all those missed bunnies. When you see that, and you're playing an even halfway decent team, it's generally a loss. It's caused by fatigue. The Spurs looked tired out there last night. I think they get blown out tonight in Portland, even if they don't tank.

Green was horrible in the second half, not just on the last play. They lost the lead with Green playing a key role:
1. Continually losing their hot 3 pt shooter Hayward on the perimeter. Seldom within 15 feet of his man when the ball was kicked out.
2. A really bad lazy inbounds pass attempt to Duncan that was stolen and they scored. No excuse for that one either.
3. You expect an NBA player to be able to make layups, especially wide-open shots at the rim. This isn't an exception with Green; he really has a lay-up problem.
4. Everyone in the stadium and at home watching Mo Williams hold the ball knew he was going to try to win the game with a last second shot. Green laid way off because Mo was so far out past the arc, but he should have closed the gap at 5 seconds and harassed his dribble to make Williams worry and possibly change his option from shooting to passing.

I have only 3 complaints about the game.

1. Of late, Matt Bonner has played some great defense. He is a pure shooter from 3 pt land. When we had him on the court last night, he played solid D, rebounded and blocked out the Utah bigs. On the offensive end, he made the Utah big leave the paint area to cover him. Why was he not played more than 7 mins?

2. Too many shots that should have been made from POINT BLANK RANGE were blocked from behind or below. Parker and Splitter are good examples. Parker floating to the basket gets blocked from behind by Hayward who ran him down. Yes, you read that right Hayward ran down Tony from behind. Lack of court awareness on the play by Tony. Splitter more than once came down with big O rebound only to bring it down and have the shot attempt blocked or altered.

3. Can anyone say ASSIST? No real ball movement last night and shots were not falling when we did. 18 assists from a team that averages almost 26 going into the game is unacceptable.

In conclusion, no one player lost this game. It was a team loss. While we look at Timmy with a 20-20 game, we look on the other side and see Jefferson and Milsap scoring 45. Tony gets his 22 but Hayward gets 19 off the bench. We had a team loss , forget it and move on to the next game.

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Originally Posted by keywester

Agreed....but why did Pop put him with Neal the other night? That was a disaster!!

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I'm not sure why he did that. It just didn't make sense to me. Maybe he's still experimenting with the backup rotations.

I'm more annoyed with Parker's failure to rotate, allowing a wide open three and his seeming unwillingness or inability to pass to teammates on the break. Ever. That said, I don't remember the last time the Spurs missed so many chippies. Great shot by Mo. Spurs were due to lose a close one at some point. Duncan's a fucking monster.

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Originally Posted by keywester

Agreed....but why did Pop put him with Neal the other night? That was a disaster!!

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In theory between Mills and Neal in the back-court you should have enough ball-handling and play-making to get the ball up the court and initiate the offense. You all so have two different types of scoring available with shooting from Neal and driving from Mills that should make defenses suffer especially with switching.

It is also a case where both in theory provide enough of an offensive spark where where the defensive liabilities should/may be over come. The practice isn't quite as good as the theory though, it is also perhaps a case of not having the right personal to do it with, such as a pair of defending big men who look to get clean up baskets and dump passes.

does this team still run plays or what?

it seems like when the ball is in either hands of the heroes on the team, they rarely pass it or setup plays...

Just curious....is Tim Duncan the first player 36 or older to go 20/20/5? If not, who was it and when did it happen?

We have been talking about a lot of trades but Diaw name has never been mentioned. I have not been able to watch most of the games that is why I come her to get the inside information. It just seems that every time I look at the grades Diaw is coming up with a (D) so for those watching what are your thoughts that we just signed him to a new contract......or should his name be involved in trade,..etc............

TD=GOAT and house money.