Quick Grades: Spurs @ Thunder - Dec. 17

Tim Duncan C+
Never found a groove. Decently offensively but held the ball too much. Limited impact on defense.

Tony Parker C
Started out really well playmaking-wise. In the third, became too aggressive and didn’t trust teammates.

Danny Green C
Simply too small to defend Durant. Didn’t do too well on others either. About average on offense.

Gary Neal D
Struggled in every aspect. OKC exploited him on D. On offense, he was swallowed up by their size.

Tiago Splitter B+
Did a poor job defending Ibaka on the perimeter. Otherwise, he was very impressive on both ends.

Boris Diaw C
The Thunder ignored him and he didn’t take advantage on offense. D wasn’t anything special.

Nando De Colo A
Definitely the bright spot. Competed on D. Assertive when open. Great passing. Looked like he could hang.

Stephen Jackson B-
Not too bad in his return. Slow reactions on the perimeter but that’s expected. Good on boards.

James Anderson B-
Played with a lot of effort and fearlessness. Bounced back from slow start. Not quite a breakout game.

DeJuan Blair B
Early on, it looked like his struggles would continue. But he eventually found a decent rhythm.

Patrick Mills C+
Didn’t put together many positives sequences. Struggled to handle the ball against OKC’s length.

Matt Bonner B
Acceptable aggression. Rebounded well. Got overwhelmed by their athleticism in the paint at times.

Pop C-
Slow to react to stop the bleeding. Didn’t show enough confidence in the bench until it was too late.

Thanks for providing a quick insight into what went wrong during a blowout for fans who didn't watch the game like me.

Thanks, Tim really came back to earth.... If we don't dominate perkins-ibaka with tim-tiago its hard to win...

Pop went with his favorite midget ball lineup in the 3rd killed spurs chances just like game 5
tallest player on the court is 6'7 stephen jackson

blair >>>>>>>>>>>>>> diaw ......

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Originally Posted by freetiago

Pop went with his favorite midget ball lineup in the 3rd killed spurs chances just like game 5
tallest player on the court is 6'7 stephen jackson

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Tim + Tiago = 8 rebounds......

lol dejuan blair the scrub a B?

dude was fkn pathetic in the 4th quarter even though he scored, he was like trading baskets on the other end...nowhere to be seen on the boards, his rebounds came from not one okc player around him to contest the rebound, in other words it was only him jumping up for the reb or the ball fell into his arms with no effort...dude is a fkn scrub, no ACL he doesnt bother jump in contested rebounds, when no one is around him to contest for a reb...he jumps and grabs it down hard tryin to send a fake ass message his all hustle

Not sure who's been in a bigger funk the last 4 games, Timmy or Pop. Leaning towards the latter tbh.

I want more Anderson.

spurs 3rd quarter lineup was
de colo
neal
jackson
blair
diaw

pop waived the white flag

Blair is only looking for this OWN points. During one 2-on-1 fast break, he shamelessly ignored Mills who was on the weak-side and would have an open lay-up.

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Originally Posted by freetiago

spurs 3rd quarter lineup was
de colo
neal
jackson
blair
diaw

pop waived the white flag

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Agreed but I'm not sure diaw did as bad vs ibaka as tiago did. Tiago grabbing 3 rebounds is pretty bad, Boris boxes out at least.

Thanks for the grades. Rough one to watch.....ugh! Seems like Martin and Sarg Ibako couldn't miss...ugh!

Tiago went out and contested ibakas jumper
the gameplan for SA is to force teams to take midrange shots
duncan/splitter show on the P&R to cut off penetration and they kick it to Abaka for a midrange shot

cant rebound when neither team was missing either
abaka just cooled down by the time diaw was playing heavy minutes in the third

Spurs really need to change up the pick and roll coverage
maybe a switch or a trap every once in a while
id really like to see leonard help tony trap
spurs dont have the defenders to make the pick and roll hard to execute man to man
they rely on teams just having bad nights from mid range like the clipper series
they would just pack the paint and tell griffin to shoot and that strategy wont work vs the elite teams with abaka/bosh/gasol and even griffin whos improving

Not a surprise you gave S-jax such a candy grade. He was pure shit and I all of a sudden remember why I didn't miss him while he was out.

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Originally Posted by Hoops Czar

Not a surprise you gave S-jax such a candy grade. He was pure shit and I all of a sudden remember why I didn't miss him while he was out.

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He has sucked up to this point. True. In 10 games he is shooting 37% from the field and 29% from three-point range. Of course, he wasn't much better last year when he shot 40.5% from the field and 30.6% from three-point range. Or the year before when he shot 35% from the field!

jackson is the small ball four who wont back down from defending guys who have 3+inches 30+ lbs on him (the nowitzski/alderidge/world peaces of the league)
as long as he reduces blair/bonner/sadly diaws time on the court he has value for this team

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Originally Posted by playblair

blair >>>>>>>>>>>>>> diaw ......

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If that is the case we are fucked beyond belief.......

Thanks for the grades. Thunder athleticism is daunting. Hope Pop and the team can solve it.

Some additional observations from this game:

If there is one team Gary Neal seems to struggle with, it's OKC. Indeed he was swallowed up by their length. His penchant for poor, lazy passes is magnified against this team. Had Ginobili been healthy enough to play, he undoubtedly would have fallen into the same trap, as he is the king of the ill-advised passes.

The bigs did a really poor job of boxing out and limiting the Thunder to one-shot opportunities - particularly Duncan. He allowed Collison, Perkins and Ibaka to slip inside and easily get an assortment of offensive rebounds and putbacks. Because he and Splitter are the tallest bigs on the team, they must be cognizant of this and seal off the opposing bigs from getting to the offensive glass. Come to think of it, Diaw , Blair and Bonner could also stand to focus more on this area too. Of course, this is something that Bonner has always seemed to struggle with - regardless of opponent. This Thunder team is talented enough without giving them extra shots.

I've noticed that against tougher playoff-caliber opponents, the Spurs ball movement tends to stagnate, as this team's stars tend to play a bit selfish, particularly Parker. A lot of forced penetrations and neglected kickouts. Meanwhile, Duncan falls into a habit of holding the ball too long, and waiting too long to make moves in the post. This was on display during their last playoff series and again tonight.

This is an old story, but Diaw's passive play really hurts the Spurs - especially against superior teams like the Thunder. It isn't as noticable against inferior opponents. He needs to make a point of being more aggressive and not passing up a plethora of open shots.

The absence of an athletic PF on the Spurs, is very evident. Just as he did in Game 4 of their recent WCF series, Ibaka again went wild on the offensive end and the Spurs were left powerless to do anything about it. They really could use a long, tall PF who could not only step out and defend this guy, but keep him off the glass too.

Another old story is the manner in which this team turns the ball over. Of course, OKC has a lot to do with that, but the Spurs cannot compete with their speed and quickness. Therefore, turning the ball over is almost like giving them two points. They must take better care of the basketball.

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Originally Posted by letmk

Blair is only looking for this OWN points. During one 2-on-1 fast break, he shamelessly ignored Mills who was on the weak-side and would have an open lay-up.

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Tht's the thing.

At that moment I looked at Blairs jersey and said -"You are not worthy of wearing the 'spurs' on the jersey"


And another thing hit me.


We have nobody on the froncourt. Really nobody off the bench. !!!!!!!!!!
The only guy that cares on the frontcourt is Bonner and we know he can't have big role in the spurs playoffs run. Blair is looking like he does not care about anything. IMO he is in deep doghouse of Pop and also I think his knees bothering him. I don't know if he wants to retire or what?
And Diaw was suppose to be a great asset after whole camp and preseason. He now looks like a lost puppy in the meadow that can't find his way back home.

If the spurs will not change somehing with the guys attitude or pull a trigger on the trade, the spurs are lost.

We've got tough teams to face in the playoffs in Clipps Lakers and most importantly OKC with good coaching and personel to eat spurs. An old LAL clogg the lane to stop parker and the spurs are done.
bad game for Tony btw. He was forcing too much and the offense was stagnant as hell - spurs scared again to move the ball. Not good to see that OKC domination.
Frickin Ibaka madafakkka

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Originally Posted by playblair

blair >>>>>>>>>>>>>> diaw ......

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I'm going to have to agree with this. Blair's less passive than Diaw and plays better defense.

I haven't watched the game for the moment but a loss was a logical results. Spurs were tired, injured and on the road.

It's really nice to see De Colo keep playing well. He is getting more and more consistent which is the most difficult part for a rookie. Over the last 10 games, he averaged 6.8 ppg with a .500 FG%, 3.2 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.6 topg in 17 mpg.
That's some very solid numbers and it would suck to see him getting DNP-CD after DNP-CD when everybody would be healthy.

is td's amazing run finally over? he's slowed down the last few games

well it was fun while it lasted, It was an amazing stretch tbh :cry

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Originally Posted by SenorSpur

I've noticed that against tougher playoff-caliber opponents, the Spurs ball movement tends to stagnate, as this team's stars tend to play a bit selfish, particularly Parker.

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this has to be addressed.. Parker isnt NEARLY a good enough player to consistently beat playoff caliber Defenses. Not even close. We need All star Ginobili in the WORST way.

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Originally Posted by siraulo23

is td's amazing run finally over? he's slowed down the last few games

well it was fun while it lasted, It was an amazing stretch tbh :cry

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Lets see what happens with a couple of days of rest during the upcoming home stretch before we come to early conclusions.

Could have really used Manu and Kawhi for this one, tbh. Even then it's probably only a 50/50 shot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TrainOfThought5

this has to be addressed.. Parker isnt NEARLY a good enough player to consistently beat playoff caliber Defenses. Not even close. We need All star Ginobili in the WORST way.

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Do you have anything to show is to back up this claim? Instead I'd posit Parker is actually a good enough player to consistently beat playoff caliber defenses--he's not a good enough player to completely crush the opposition and win games single-handedly. Neither is any Spurs player ever not named Duncan.

To put it another way, you'll always get All-Star production from Parker no matter what, and sometimes supertsar production. That's not enough to win a championship, certainly not without help.

OKC too young and athletic for SAS, moving on

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freetiago

Tiago went out and contested ibakas jumper
the gameplan for SA is to force teams to take midrange shots
duncan/splitter show on the P&R to cut off penetration and they kick it to Abaka for a midrange shot

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yah it was by design. Durant running the play, the shorter, often confused Danny Green defending makes the pass off to Ibaka too easy. Things should be different when guarding Durant is left for Kawai and sjax.

Should be said though, Spurs went to toe to toe with the thunder pretty much the first half. The second Half things went downhilln fast.

Watching the game reminded me of the movie Rocky 3.
Besides the fact that OKC is incredible talented, they had something the Spurs didn’t. I could see it in their faces, they were in the zone, they were pump, they were aggressive.
OKC had the Eye of the Tiger...the Spurs didn’t.
Unlike Rocky I don’t think the Spurs have enough to beat them during PO. They are getting better and better...

I'm sorry but a lot of Spurs fans reaction to this game is ridiculous.

The Spurs are missing two of their top 4 players, in the middle of barely getting a day off between games and on the road against a team that gets more home cooking than any other team in the NBA.

Are the Thunder good? Yes, but let's not act like the Spurs last night were the team we are expected to see this season.

We're exhausted and missing key players. We don't play OKC again till March 11th, but I guarantee you the results will be different next time around. Pop threw the white flag the second the Thunder went on a run in the third quarter. Despite everything it was only a 5 point game at halftime.

It was nice to see Splitter play well against OKC after having a tough time in the WCF last year.

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Originally Posted by playblair

blair >>>>>>>>>>>>>> diaw ......

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:clap

Always has been. Always will be. Not really sure why we picked up Diaw.

lol clowns criticism jax, i think he did good for his return on durant...he showed heart out there....didnt help when pop puts him with the garbage lineup

Jack picked a bad time to return. He failed to back up his talk.

The spurs need a real PF in the worst sort of way. Diaw isn't bad but he's a utility forward he's not starting caliber, he is also not drawing offenses at all anymore since he refuses to even moderately aggressive offense.

Why do you do this Boris please remember playing offense is fun, quit trying to play complimentary enabler point forward all the time.

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Originally Posted by TDMVPDPOY

lol dejuan blair the scrub a B?

dude was fkn pathetic in the 4th quarter even though he scored, he was like trading baskets on the other end...nowhere to be seen on the boards, his rebounds came from not one okc player around him to contest the rebound, in other words it was only him jumping up for the reb or the ball fell into his arms with no effort...dude is a fkn scrub, no ACL he doesnt bother jump in contested rebounds, when no one is around him to contest for a reb...he jumps and grabs it down hard tryin to send a fake ass message his all hustle

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He played pretty well, not sure if you were watching this game...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by letmk

Blair is only looking for this OWN points. During one 2-on-1 fast break, he shamelessly ignored Mills who was on the weak-side and would have an open lay-up.

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Given that he is shooting 8% below his FG% from last season i'd chalk it up to aggression, He is a good passer if theirs an open man to be found he usually finds them.