Spurs vs. Nuggets Series Recap - Grades

Tim Duncan
20.2 Points
10.6 Rebounds
5.4 Assists
3.0 Blocks
.473 Field Goal Percentage
Denver threw a lot of physical bigmen at Duncan and Duncan responded with an overall balanced performance. With the Spurs playing with an inside-out offensive philosophy, Duncan was a huge part of the action on both sides of the court. Although he did miss more easy shots than usual, it's hard to criticize his overall dominance in this series.
Grade: B+


Manu Ginobili
13.4 Points
5.0 Rebounds
3.8 Assists
1.2 Steals
.339 Field Goal Percentage
.261 Three Point Percentage
Stopping Ginobili was a priority for George Karl and the Nuggets and overall Denver had to be happy with the job they did on the Spurs star shooting guard. With the lane clogged, Ginobili was forced to shoot more shots further away from the basket. To Ginobili's credit, he made up for his lack of scoring with his rebounding, passing, momentum altering baskets and overall team play. However, down the line, the Spurs will need more of a scoring punch out of Ginobili.
Grade: C+


Tony Parker
18.2 Points
6.8 Assists
3.2 Rebounds
.442 Field Goal Percentage
Parker bounced back from a couple of games early in the series where he didn't play well to turn in one of his most complete performances in his playoff history. Parker outplayed Allen Iverson, who the Spurs point guard was matched up with a good portion of the time. He became more and more aggressive offensively as the series went on, while also progressively getting better on the defensive end.
Grade: B+


Bruce Bowen
6.0 Points
2.6 Rebounds
1.6 Assists
1.6 Steals
.462 Field Goal Percentage
.400 Three Point Percentage
Bowen played only 19 minutes in the Game 1 loss. In the next four contests, Bowen never played less than 34 minutes. His defense in the last four games was a huge reason why the Spurs won the series. He switched defensively between Iverson and Carmelo Anthony without skipping a beat. Bowen's offense was also improved compared to his regular season numbers.
Grade: B+


Francisco Elson
3.2 Points
4.8 Rebounds
0.4 Blocks
.400 Field Goal Percentage
Elson had a tough series. Other than Game 5, he was constantly hurting the Spurs on both ends of the court. Offensively, he was hesitant to assert himself (he finished the series without an assist). Defensively, he was oftentimes late on rotations and not physical enough in the low blocks. The Nuggets were a difficult matchup for Elson, who should play better against a less physical team such as the Phoenix Suns.
Grade: C-


Michael Finley
16.0 Points
3.8 Rebounds
.467 Field Goal Percentage
.528 Three Point Percentage
Finley was the long range bomber the Spurs needed versus the sagging Nuggets defense. He hit at least one three-pointer in each contest, finishing with 19 on the series. Perhaps equally as impressive, he defended Anthony well. If Finley can keep knocking down his shots and playing defense, he's going to be a huge part of the Spurs playoff push.
Grade: A-


Brent Barry
1.8 Points
1.2 Assists
.273 Field Goal Percentage
.273 Field Goal Percentage
Barry didn't get into any sort of a groove against the Nuggets. The most minutes he played in a game was 12, which obviously wasn't enough to get him going. All 11 of his field goal attempts were from beyond the arc, as Denver was trying to force the Spurs to beat them from downtown. The bright spot for the series was his crisp passing.
Grade: C


Fabricio Oberto
5.2 Points
5.4 Rebounds
0.6 Assists
.591 Field Goal Percentage
Oberto scared San Antonio before the playoffs started when he was diagnosed with a heart condition. Luckily, he recovered in time for Game 1 and was a huge part of the Spurs success. He played smart basketball and matched the physicality of the Nuggets. He was the king of the intangibles and could even be considered as the Spurs most valuable player of the series.
Grade: A


Robert Horry
7.8 Points
3.6 Rebounds
1.4 Blocks
.500 Field Goal Percentage
.375 Three Point Percentage
Horry looked finished in the regular season. But not only is Horry alive and kicking, he had enough in the tank to sink the Nuggets. Horry had big shots and big plays all series long. From his momentum changing block in Game 2, to his clinching shot in Game 4, Horry did it all. With even more heroics, Horry has cemented himself as one of the clutchest players in NBA history.
Grade: A


Jacque Vaughn
2.4 Points
1.4 Assists
.417 Field Goal Percentage
Vaughn came out ready to rumble from the opening tip of Game 1. However, he didn't settle down and really start playing good basketball until Game 4. The last two games Vaughn was a very good player off the bench for the Spurs. If he can continue to spell Parker to keep Parker fresh, that's going to help the team in the long run.
Grade: B


Gregg Popovich
Pop's in-series adjustments were key to the Spurs ending the series as soon as they did. In Game 1, he tried to put the most shooters on the court as possible. After that didn't work, he went back to relying solely of defense winning the series for the Spurs. Pop also kept the Spurs playing inside-out on offense, which wore down and eventually beat the Nuggets. He managed minutes well and did an infinitely better job of utilizing his bench than Karl did his. Pop's championship level coaching was on full display in this series.
Grade: B+


Overall
The Spurs rebounded well from the Game 1 defeat to win the series in five games. Although the overall outcome was the same as 2005 versus Denver, this Nuggets team was a lot better. Denver played at a level that would have given any team in the playoffs trouble. That said, the Spurs handled them in impressive fashion. Led by their defense and inside-out offensive approach, the Spurs fought their way to the second round.
Grade: B+

Game 1 Grades
Game 2 Grades
Game 3 Grades
Game 4 Grades
Game 5 Grades

Finley deserves an A!

Thanks mon ami!

Another great post that I can read while (faking) working! :)

Nice assessment all around. I'm very impressed that the Spurs basically swept the Nuggets after taking game 1 to wake up from the week off.

I agree Finley probably deserved an A...tonight's game took away any negatives in this series.


I definitely think the job Parker did in this series was the toughest....

He was the one basically going head to head against an MVP...and like he did against Jason Kidd in 03, and GP as a 19 year old rookie...Parker held his own. If you look at his numbers vs the numbers AI put up, in what was probably the worst playoff performance of AI's career(statwise and aesthetically), I think he actually outplayed AI. And that's something I've never seen done to AI in a head to head matchup by anyone except maybe Kobe.

Parker always seems to be the guy with the toughest matchup in our championship runs, and he just about always holds his own against them, and gets little or no credit for doing it at what many consider to be the toughest position in the NBA. Good job Tony, this is a whole new level of holding your own, your bitchlist is now complete :tu

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Originally Posted by whottt

Parker always seems to be the guy with the toughest matchup in our championship runs

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If Golden State manage to beat Dallas and to be in the Western conference Finals, what you say is pretty true as Tony will have to defend on Iverson, Nash, Baron and Billups (if Detroit made it) to win the championship!

Where's Beno's grade?

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Originally Posted by ManuTim_best of Fwiendz

Where's Beno's grade?

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Beno got an A for court vision for showing his ability to find the referee and hit him with a perfect pass.

Good job overall, but I would slightly downgrade Bowen and Oberto.

I think Bruce did a hell of a job against AI, but wasn't all that impressive against Melo. The guy was shooting 50% for the series until Game 5. So I'd give Bruce a "B."

Ditto Finley. He improved on defense for maybe the last six quarters of the series, but for 3 1/2 games he was pretty awful defensively against admittedly a tough match-up in Melo. He had like no shot against him most of the series. But I'd still give him a "A-" mainly because his 16 ppg for the series is like double what I expected.

As for Oberto, he was magnificent in Game 5, but I think in games 3 and 4 he was a bit soft inside and gave up a few too many offensive rebounds to Nene and co. He worked well with the offense and rotated pretty well defensively, but his rebounding wasn't too hot for a couple of the games. I'd give him an "A-"

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Originally Posted by Amuseddaysleeper

Finley deserves an A!

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no kidding. Oberto was rated higher than Finley....umm, no!

taking a team that many believed would have been a top 4 seed if they had been together the entire year to just 5 games is awfully impressive.

besides game 5, i think they only pulled together a B+ game in bits and pieces ... i'd go with a B- just because i dont think the consistency was there.

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Originally Posted by Amuseddaysleeper

Finley deserves an A!

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I gave Finley the minus because I think he forced some two-pointers and his lack of rebounding in Game 1 was a big reason for the loss. But yeah, can't complain with much of anything Finley did this series.

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Originally Posted by aaronstampler

I think Bruce did a hell of a job against AI, but wasn't all that impressive against Melo. The guy was shooting 50% for the series until Game 5. So I'd give Bruce a "B."

Ditto Finley. He improved on defense for maybe the last six quarters of the series, but for 3 1/2 games he was pretty awful defensively against admittedly a tough match-up in Melo. He had like no shot against him most of the series. But I'd still give him a "A-" mainly because his 16 ppg for the series is like double what I expected.

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I think the Spurs guarded Carmelo very well, he just hit tough shots all series long. For example, he was a 25% three-point shooter in the regular season. In the series, he hit 9-of-18 from deep. That just shows you how on fire he was.

Plus they held him to two points below his season average despite Melo playing three more minutes per game. And only one 30 point game from a guy who was averaging more than 30 points for most of the season is impressive.

Melo is the type of guy who can go out and get 50 and beat you. The Spurs never let him do that ... with Bowen and Finley being the main reasons.

Nice recap, Timvp.

Nice job timvp. Keep it up in the next series. Props to Finleys 3 poin shot.

I can't believe Oberto is getting dissed...honestly, there were points in this series(including tonight) where I was wishing for Oberto to come in for Duncan. He played really well in this series and I think he will continue to be a factor as long as we don't run up against a huge C(of which there aren't many left).

True. I don't have a problem with Oberto, because he steps up for a big game, and he's really smart. And I didn't think he was that soft at all through the series, so I disagree with aaron on that one. (Except maybe on the O boards, but apparently Pop was willing to let all of our teammates slide on the boards so that we could cut off the fast-breaks with our transition D)

But, it wouldn't have killed him at one point during the series (in games 2 and 3??) to try and make his shots from beside the basket, instead of throwing them through the net underneath. Is it possible to score if you shoot it up directly underneath and through the basket, and it falls back down the hoop?

Well said, as always timvp, however this:

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He was the king of the intangibles and could even be considered as the Spurs most valuable player of the series.

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which you put under Oberto should really have gone into Rob's section I think. That's not a diss of Oberto, it's a credit to Rob.

Your comments about Pop were especially on track - he managed this series beautifully. There were very few Pop detractors around the board during this series (in contrast to the usual plethora!), and I think that's because he really didn't get too much wrong after game 1.

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Originally Posted by whottt

I agree Finley probably deserved an A...tonight's game took away any negatives in this series.


I definitely think the job Parker did in this series was the toughest....

He was the one basically going head to head against an MVP...and like he did against Jason Kidd in 03, and GP as a 19 year old rookie...Parker held his own. If you look at his numbers vs the numbers AI put up, in what was probably the worst playoff performance of AI's career(statwise and aesthetically), I think he actually outplayed AI. And that's something I've never seen done to AI in a head to head matchup by anyone except maybe Kobe.

Parker always seems to be the guy with the toughest matchup in our championship runs, and he just about always holds his own against them, and gets little or no credit for doing it at what many consider to be the toughest position in the NBA. Good job Tony, this is a whole new level of holding your own, your bitchlist is now complete :tu

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Nice post whottt. You're usually crazier than a bag of cats, but that there is the straight shiznit! :)

Oh, and johngateswhiteley, please remove that banner with all the Lindsay Lohans! She is one butt ugly media ho and I think my eyes are getting cancer. :bang (where's the puking smilie when you need it?)

fin, fabricio, and horry really stepped for this series. Finley was pretty solid on offense (other than Game 4, I think) and you can really expect so much from him on defense. Besides, Melo plays so physical and is really tough to guard even for Bruce. Fabricio also had an uncanny way of being at the right place at the right time. those offensive boards he got for us in game 4 were huge. maybe the man can't jump, but i think he played with a big (and hopefully healthy) heart in this series. Horry was just in Horry mode and there are really not enough epithets to go around with a guy like him.

tony, :toast, thanks for keeping AI on a cooler and being extremely humble about it.

Agree with all your grades.


Without huge contributions from Finley and Oberto, the Spurs are the ones fishing right now.

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Originally Posted by whottt

I agree Finley probably deserved an A...tonight's game took away any negatives in this series.


I definitely think the job Parker did in this series was the toughest....

He was the one basically going head to head against an MVP...and like he did against Jason Kidd in 03, and GP as a 19 year old rookie...Parker held his own. If you look at his numbers vs the numbers AI put up, in what was probably the worst playoff performance of AI's career(statwise and aesthetically), I think he actually outplayed AI. And that's something I've never seen done to AI in a head to head matchup by anyone except maybe Kobe.

Parker always seems to be the guy with the toughest matchup in our championship runs, and he just about always holds his own against them, and gets little or no credit for doing it at what many consider to be the toughest position in the NBA. Good job Tony, this is a whole new level of holding your own, your bitchlist is now complete :tu

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I agree. Parker's D in this series was underrated, as it often is. If he had not been able to hold his own against Iverson, Bowen's job would have been a lot harder. Same with Finley's D against Anthony.

I expect Manu, Barry, and Elson to all have very strong games in the Phoenix series. They all play best against flimsy defenses.

Can't say I disagree with any of the grades, well done.

We won this series with Manu playing like shit and TD still a couple of notches away from his usual MVP form.

We beat the Nuggets 4-1; a much better Nuggets team than that of 2005.

That says somerthing about this team.

You forgot to grade JR Smith...he contributed alot off the bench for the Spurs and we couldn't have won games 3 or 4 without him

Giving Bowen a B+ is rediculous considering what he was asked to do...

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Originally Posted by johngateswhiteley

no kidding. Oberto was rated higher than Finley....umm, no!

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you obviously watched the games. if i'm not mistaken, oberto played almost all of the fourth tonight, which he really hasn't all year. that's how well he was playing.

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Originally Posted by carina_gino20

fin, fabricio, and horry really stepped for this series. Finley was pretty solid on offense (other than Game 4, I think) and you can really expect so much from him on defense. Besides, Melo plays so physical and is really tough to guard even for Bruce. Fabricio also had an uncanny way of being at the right place at the right time. those offensive boards he got for us in game 4 were huge. maybe the man can't jump, but i think he played with a big (and hopefully healthy) heart in this series. Horry was just in Horry mode and there are really not enough epithets to go around with a guy like him.

tony, :toast, thanks for keeping AI on a cooler and being extremely humble about it.

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I really don't think it is about "uncanny ways" as much as it is about experience. The FO has been saying this about Oberto ever since he joined the Spurs.

Remember, just because he is fairly new to the NBA doesn't mean he hasn't played in plenty of BIG games before.

It has more to do with his BB IQ, than uncanny ways.

finley and oberto were very important for the spurs in this serie

I'm really impressed by what Spurs have done as a team.
Winning 4-1 against Nuggets while the big 3 has not been that great is awesome.

props to Jacque, Horry, Finley, and Oberto. They were just awesome at just the right time.


on another note, I just can't stand when the other team doesn't admit their defeat. Especially when it ends up 4-1.

JackAss of the Series goes to Marcus "Crustache" Camby

"It turned out that way with the series being over 4-1, but as for the level of play, I can't really say they're a better team than us," Denver's Marcus Camby said. "Each game was close and could have been flip-flopped to our advantage. I still feel confident in our team and what we can build here."


Stay Classy Denver! Melo, leave your weed at home when flying.