Game Grades – Thursday, December 26th - Spurs @ Mavs
Overview
It seems like the more I watch sports (and indeed, the more I age), the more I learn to appreciate the less than obvious aspects of the game (and life). It's certainly exciting to watch Kawhi rise up for a monster dunk, but perhaps there is as much enjoyment to be found from a great defensive lockdown that ends in a 24 second violation. It is part of the reason we are so lucky as Spurs fans that we can so often appreciate these smaller, less noticeable intangibles en route to a victory, not in spite of a loss.
So today, perhaps I'm a little less enthused than I normally would be about a tough, grinding victory between two teams showcasing some pretty shoddy offenses. Despite this, the evening ended with both teams scoring 111.5 points on average. After 7 games in 10 nights, however, I'm glad to see the Spurs managed to salvage 5 wins out of the last 8, capping it with a moderately entertaining victory against the Mavs, 116 to 107 the day after a rough loss on Christmas to Houston.
But I also know that our team now has about 48 hours to rest, collect themselves, and come out firing on the 29th against the Kings. The fact that we escaped perhaps the most grueling part of our schedule – Rodeo Road Trip included --, without a single injury is something I can enjoy and appreciate much more than going 6-1 or 7-0 over that span. I'll enjoy knowing the fact that, beyond beating the Mavericks and 3 other teams, the Spurs as a whole have managed to stall Father Time just a little bit longer. At this point, we're all just waiting for the stormy months of April and the warm months of May to bring real meaning to possessions and games, anyway. That said...
Starters
Tony Parker
C-
At first glance, it might appear that Parker had a horrible night. And in truth, he wasn't great (or truthfully even good) but look again. He led the Spurs in scoring. And despite shooting a very poor 33%, he also managed to put up 23 points on 18 field goal attempts. Monta Ellis, on the other hand, took 19 shots to get to 23 points. That said, Tony had a pretty up and down evening. He was adequate at best on D, although he stayed active and had some really nice spurts, and he never looked in rhythm this evening. Still, 11-12 at the stripe was huge for the Spurs, and Parker played well late in the 4th to close the game out for San Antonio. He also deferred to Duncan for a pair of big buckets late in the game which were pivotal in securing the victory. Still, it appears that despite his age, no one is in need of rest greater than Tony right now. He appears to have lost nearly a full step on offense. Some rest could bring Tony back to the level he was earlier this season – and the team needs it, as this offense still shows signs of stagnation at times.
Marco Belinelli
D+
Didn't like Marco's effort tonight. He had some nice moments on D and a couple of good cuts, but if he's going to remain a starter on this team, he's got to find his rhythm with the starting unit. 4 points in 19 minutes for this guy is just not enough. Strange that whoever seems to be in the 2 guard to start the game for the Spurs suddenly can't find their offense to save their life. It might speak to the struggles opposing benches have to close out with good rotation on our shooters, because Marco's backup tonight was a stone cold killer. Marco eneded up with a few rebounds, an assist, and a steal, but other than that didn't exert a lot of influence on the game. Still bringing energy on defense, which is good to see, but not a lot to like about Beli's performance tonight.
Kawhi Leonard
D
Kawhi had a really poor outing. He couldn't find his stroke early on and it seemed to impact his defense. The Mavs relentlessly attacked Kawhi on screens and pick and rolls, and Kawhi allowed himself to be gobbled up like leftover Christmas turkey time and time again. It was so bad that Pop actually sat Leonard for essentially the entire 3rd quarter, and this is after the Mavs hung 30 on the Spurs in the 2nd. Leonard finished with 8 boards and ended the night with 5 fouls, although I felt like he was one of only 3 Spurs that actually remembered to box out tonight. Not enough to save this outing from our 3 though. A decent 4th quarter was the only thing that saved Leonard from a failing grade.
Tim Duncan
B+
Another great performance from the shadows from Duncan. He provided the Spurs with some stout post defense, and despite struggling to box out his former teammate, his presence was essential in giving the Spurs energy and he was instrumental in allowing this team to take over in the 4th. Duncan led all players with 13 rebounds, and scored crucial buckets down the stretch while frustrating the Mavs endlessly to give the Spurs yet another win over their cross-state rivals. Duncan's outside shot is still hit or miss but his post-moves appear to be better than they have been in a while. He ended the game 7-8 in free throws and had the Mavs scrambling on help defense whenever he got the ball in the post.
Tiago Splitter
B-
12 points on 4 shots? I'll take it. I'll even take the substandard 6 rebounds provided that Tiago played some pretty solid defense on Dirk, a guy Splitter has absolutely no business guarding (regular season). Tiago began the game in shoddy shape but gradually increased his aggression as the quarters rolled past, and even made a really hard drive to the hoop in the 2nd half. When Tiago is aggressive, good things typically happen for the Spurs.
Bench
Patty Mills
C-
Mills seemed to never be settled in this game, and only played 15 minutes to show for it. As the season wears on, it will be a real question mark whether Patty can play himselves into games like this, when nothing is coming to him easy. Still, Mills deserves marks for not shooting his team completely in the foot while he was on the court, but he's not going to get above a C- for being unspectacular or below average in every area.
Danny Green
A+
Welcome back, Green Ranger. Simply put, this was one of Danny's best games as a Spurs player and he was far and away the star of the game. In addition to going a ridiculous 7-7 from the field including 5 triples, Green played heady, active defense and should get credit for the defensive play of the game when he made an incredible chasedown block on Monta Ellis that was incorrectly called for goaltending. When you have a team as diverse as the Spurs and so loaded with veteran talent, it's pretty rare that you will see a night where the Spurs best offensive player is also the best defender. Green was just that, tonight. He was consistently hassling his man and using active hands to grab a trio of steals and unofficially recording 3 blocks. Simply put, if he keeps this up, the Spurs are going to be a completely different team approaching the All-Star Break... scary considering they already are close to an .800 winning percentage that they still have a lot of ceiling left.
Manu Ginobili
C-
Manu simply played “ok” tonight. He brought energy but that's about it. In 28 minutes of action Manu recorded just 8 points and 4 boards with a trio of assists. His presence on the court was valuable in the 4th quarter, but a better Manu performance would have put this game on ice before the 4th even started. Still, 7 games in 10 days means Manu is probably just a little weak in the legs at the moment, so there's no real reason to be worried, as overall Manu has been excellent this year thus far.
Jeff Ayres
C+
At this point in the year, there's not much we can ask of Aryes. The good news is that he's seeing less and less time as the games go forward. In just 8 minutes of play tonight, Ayres recorded +13, which makes me wonder if he dyed his hair and slipped on a different jersey # tonight to go with some shiny New Balances. He also didn't shoot himself or his team in the foot other than blowing “the most wide open dunk in the history of the the Western Hemisphere”. Bill Walton quotes aside... actually let's move on.
Boris Diaw
A
Quiet stats from our baguette loving Frenchman belie a performance that was worthy of some consideration when the playoffs roll around, should the Mavs match up with the Spurs again. Diaw provided the most effective defense on Dirk and some of the best the Spurs have been able to muster against the sharpshooting German since the Dirk/Duncan era has been in motion. Diaw worked tirelessly on D, continually getting in Dirk's face but also being active around the rim. He also cashed in on the few opportunities he had, going 5-6 from the field and finishing the game with a team high 5 assists. When Diaw plays well, he gives the Spurs another dimension on defense that's absolutely invaluable.
Pop
A
Going to mostly give Pop an ace just for barely playing Ayres tonight. Genius move by Pop. Surprised no one on SpursTalk has suggested playing him less minutes to this point.
Offense
B
Thanks to Danny Green, we smashed the Mavs D tonight and put up 116 on 49% shooting. 22 assists on 18 turnovers puts a quick stop to the thought that this was a stellar game on that side of the ball for the Spurs, however. The passing was choppy, the offensive flow could charitably be described as streaky, and uncharitably described as an Eastern Conference team. Still, points are points, and we got em tonight.
Defense
C+
I'm actually mildly pleased by our defense tonight. I say mildly, because giving up 107 to any team is downright painful, even the Mavs in American Airlines Center. However, I saw a lot of energy tonight from just about everyone who's name isn't synonymous with a bad mistake in baseball. Despite Dirk going 10-17, our boys were putting hands in his face and giving some nice effort to ball denial. They also hustled out to contest most 3s, and corrected some of the turnstile defense against pick and rolls, especially in the 4th quarter. The lockdown when the Mavs got close was encouraging to see after such a string of games.
Next up: Sacramento on Sunday, the 29th of December.
Last edited by Cry Havoc; 12-27-2013 at 12:54 AM.
Good grades overall.
Kawhi looked frustrated in defense and deservingly so maybe. Him and Green gets torched by pop if they play average to below average defense for like two possessions.
Also, I don't get how IGNORING THREE PLAY CALLS by KAWHI to post up calderon is not mentioned in TP GRADES OR HIS atrocious defense. They made a run everytime he run the offense.
Great job
Marco looked out of rhythm tonight, noticed he would step back when he received the pass in the pocket instead of just shooting the ball. It was as if he was looking for the 3 point line instead of just taking what was in front of him. Like him more on the bench too, better chemistry with Manu running the show.
i've noticed the problem with the starting line up is duncan and parker. they're both black holes. they don't share the ball as well as manu and patty, and the offense just looks stagnant as whenever they're on the court. that's why it doesn't matter who you put in the starting line up, they won't make a big difference until these two learn to share the ball better. that starting line up worked last year because duncan was ballin, and parker wasn't tired and ty.. not so this year.
you're not allowed to say that here man....It's against the rules
Thank you!
When Parker goes ISO or Duncan gets the ball in the post everyone kind of stands around waiting for them to do something, very little slashing or rotating to an open spot plus defenders are not crashing down on both players so much so everyone stays at home leads to bad passing lanes.
Good grades!!!!
The more and more I watch the Spurs, the more and more I realize the defense is absolute crap. This team aged tremendously since last season. New acquisitions brought into the rotation have just killed any defense momentum carried over from last season. The only reason the Spurs won this game was because Dallas couldn't knock down an open three. It was bad enough they did everything humanly possible to hand Dallas the game.
As long as the Spurs miss OKC, Houston, Portland, LAC, Indiana and Miami, I think they'll be alright.
i'm sure that's by design. even if someone is wide ass open, duncan doesn't pass out as much anymore. he tries for that throw the ball up falling away shot hoping for a foul call. then there's too much two man game with parker and duncan that usually leads to nothing, while everyone else has to sit and watch. no one else can get in rhythm when parker and duncan do that crap. it's really no surprise to me that when the bench comes in, and everyone has a pass first mentality, we start lighting teams up. pop has to get the other starting members more involved, otherwise we're going to continue to struggle. do some pnr with splitter, post up kawhi, etc. something's got to change besides the names in the starting line up.
Dejuan Blair
F-
Great write up, awesome read bud
Yeah, 14/11/3 is disgraceful. What was ayres contributions again?
Ayres gets the same grade as Blair
Do you ever say anything positive about the Spurs? I don't even remember you last year saying anything at all positive about them. Every take from you is dissing that team all the time.
Last year, I said a lot of positive things. This year, I haven't seen a whole lot to be positive about. Maybe offensively, things will turnaround, but defensively, the team is screwed. When Pop told the surrounding players that this could be Manu and Duncan's last shot at a championship and they should leave it all out on the court, maybe he should have taken is own advice and asked himself what he could have done to improve the big two's chances at one last championship. You can't blame the players for their shortcomings, but you can sure as all blame management for failing to recognize, evaluate and address team needs in the offseason. I don't think there is anyone who can say straight faced, this team is better than last year's. This isn't even taking into account team's that have improved.
I agree on things you say man, no doubt you are right on a few things and we all see them. I thought you were a Spurs hater or some LA fan though for some reason, but you seem to know the game so I can't really hate on you Hoops. I agree on a few things you said above, no doubt most of that is right. I thought you just hated the team, thats all.
I hate the Spurs will be fine and they are just coasting crap some say in here, to me that is a flat out JOKE and not true at all. I agree they have problems and regressed since last year, anyone can see that so far this year.
Thanks for the write-up and grades! You are tough, but fair. I'm also perplexed with the starting 2 'not doing well' syndrome. TP's doing? I'm wondering if Pop doesn't want to see Green playing with Kawhi or it's more of an issue of Green and TP. Glad we are getting some rest. It's been a tough schedule to be sure.
The Mavs aren't that good, but far better than previous years. They really wanted this game...OTOH they blew their load vs Houston a few nights ago.
This is an average win, and we almost blew it.
Duncan, Manu, and *GASP* Splitter (Ft's) saved the night for us
very solid grades but i think pop deserves an F tbh, first for the parker-kawhi drama, then for the belinelli starting than for benching a blazing hot green that would trigger the 10-0 run to make the game hard.
Parker: F-
horrible game from him despite the point total, he turned the ball over and bricked shots on consecutive possessions and was the reason the Mavs had a chance in the first place
Duncan I'd give a B, his inside D was non-existant, imo. But he did rebound and score well.
Feels more and more like Pop is completely lost without Bud...
Spurs won only because Danny had a PERFECT one-game streak, which was great to see from him in a road game.
Rest of the team for 2/11 3Gs.
On a few Mavs layups, I instinctively look for where Tim is. Sometimes, he just didn't make a move, wasn't screened out, just didn't make a move to alter or block the layup.
Spurs were also +11 FT points, on the road, and win by 9. Danny's one hot night and 83% FTs won it.
Honestly, there is nothing new or recent about the Spurs defense looking pretty shoddy in these months. Pop is always tinkering and the lack of actually matching players up to the other team definitely makes an impact.
However, I'm not ready to build a tomb over our defense yet. Splitter is still working himself back into games, and the less we see of Ayres, the better this team will look on both sides of the ball. Although Ayres has actually played decent defense in the last two games.
I also think that despite his shortcomings on D, Marco plays really hard and he's always going to go out there like he wants to shut his man down. That's good to see, and if he keeps working at it he could emerge as a less than poor defender.
I don't typically see the rotations really start to gel until around the RRT. I'm going to reserve my opinion on this team's defensive presence For that.
It's a good thing Ayres can hit some free throws--cause he can't shoot a field goal from 2 feet away. And he still looks lost on defense to me.
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