I cringed when Pop subbed-in Fin for Thomas in the last moments and Turiaf immediately took advantage of no Thomas box-out for an easy offensive putback. Thomas would come back in after the lead was down to nothing.
Tim Duncan B+
In the fourth quarter, Duncan looked as good as any point since he's returned from injury.
Tony Parker A-
He made putting up 30 points and 10 assists look routine.
Roger Mason, Jr. A-
Broke out of his slump and added another game-winner to his resume.
Matt Bonner B
Got a few threes to fall but lacked in the rebounding and defense departments.
Michael Finley C
Chalk up another ghost game for Finley.
Bruce Bowen B-
Too aggressive offensively but was once again impressive on the defensive end.
Ime Udoka B
His all-around play and his toughness were helpful on this night.
Kurt Thomas B
Choked at the line late but came up with big rebounds when they were needed most.
Fabricio Oberto B-
Didn't play as well as his last extended action but he was more active than usual.
Drew Gooden B
Looked to be starting to turn the corner in terms of actually helping the team win.
George Hill C-
Got buried early after aggression led to a turnover and a few misses.
Pop D
Was he trying to lose the game? He played with fire by going with a rotation that would have made Nellie blush.
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Please submit your own grades for this game. I will post the ulative SpursTalk.com grades in two hours from the time of this post.
(Grading now closed. Results below.)
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SpursTalk's Average Grades
Tim Duncan B+
Tony ParkerA
Roger Mason, Jr. A-
Matt BonnerB-
Michael Finley C
Bruce Bowen B-
Ime UdokaB-
Kurt Thomas B
Fabricio Oberto B-
Drew GoodenB-
George HillC+
PopD+
Last edited by timvp; 03-25-2009 at 12:40 AM.
I cringed when Pop subbed-in Fin for Thomas in the last moments and Turiaf immediately took advantage of no Thomas box-out for an easy offensive putback. Thomas would come back in after the lead was down to nothing.
I'll have to admit I just gave my very first F, and that honor went to Pop. I don't think I'm even going to try to figure out whats on Pop's mind anymore becuase it seems completely gone at this moment in time.
I thought Finley looked better tonight. 2 of his missed shots were prayers as time was running out. Also looked lively on defense. Did a good job on Jackson early on and I don't recall him getting burned by anyone else.
Pretty quiet night in terms of rebounds or assists though.
The grades look spot on though. Thanks again for them.
Why do I have a sinking feeling that the postscript of this season is going to begin with the words, "Why the heck did Pop put Finley into the game ......"
It's just insane. Pop uses the stupidest rotation I've seen from him yet this season ... however the one constant remains that he inexplicably finds room for Finley down the stretch.
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Damn me too. What was he doing with Finley in there man! His assistants need to stop him from doing that . PJ would have you know it. Stop the madness!
Good game for tim tp and mase 76 pts at 28 / 45. Even with these stats the spurs won by only 1 pt....
Go post in my rotations thread.
As for Tim, at the 6:30 mark in the 4th I said in the game thread: "Tim will not let us lose this game. He has that look on his face". And then he carried us, at both ends, right down to about 2:30 when Finley came in and Pop almost gave away the game.
My only criticism of Tim is that on that second last possession he should've known the double was coming... but no-one, not even Tim, is perfect!![]()
You put Fin in when the Spurs have the ball late in games up by 3 or more (foul shooting), and not when the Spurs are about to defend.
I gave a D- just to have done the necessary to win late in th 4th with the vets: tim kurt bruce parker
That logic is too complex for our head coach. And apparently the other suits on the bench too.
I agree but 2 bad TOs with few min left almost cost us the game
Thats about what I gave him on the last game. However I think he just hit the last oflimit that I could take from his rotations.
Man, I still don't know the reasoning behind some of the rotations Pop has been experimenting with lately. However, I'm pretty sure i don't ever want to see Mason handling the ball again, or small ball with Finley playing PF.
Ime's recent play has definitely been a bright spot, which is a testiment to his hard work and professionalism. Honestly, I was counting the days until the offseason when we could dump the guy, but he may be making a case for a short-term contract, especially with Bruce set for retirement. I guess we'll see how he does in the playoffs.
Funny how Pop's been making these stupid personnel decisions for four or five years now, and it's taken this long for folks to start to recognize it.
I thought Udoka down the stretch was almost as bad as Fin in.
I nominate a new nickname for Fin, Michael "The Ghost" Finley. Since that is what we get more often than not, then that should be the nickname, right?
you're grades are way too high for a one point game against the warriors... i would start with a c minus as the top of the mark and work your way down from there...
LOL about time you guys woke up. If Pop doesn't have a plan behind all these crazy rotations then he has contributed to messing the team up. Very messy job from Pop again.
I loved one game when PJ took over coaching for Pop after he was ejected a couple of seasons ago.
They had the mike in the huddle and PJ said something like "Stop messing around, grab the rebounds and blow this team out". I think we won that game quite handily.
Pop needs to demand that these guys put teams away. Punish them. We should not be going down to the wire against a team of this caliber. Not to take anything away from the Warriors as they played hard tonight.
Good post. Pop hasn't broken Ime. The guy is proving he is a tough player and a professional.
Spot. ing. On. You just said what I came into this thread expecting to say, except one thing: did you see Pop's boner when he called Finley from the bench?
Examples? He's made some dumb moves (2006 Mavs, for example) but this high level tinkering hasn't extended this long into a season.
Encouraging that Timmy played better.
He shot better than 50% from the field, and had another 20 10 game.
However, he was 11 for 13 from the free throw line. He was efficient, but didn't make a lot of field goals (only 5). Will he make that percentage of free throws normally and shoot that many free throws?
Hope that Tim is physically capable of playing this well the rest of the season because we need it.
This play out of Tim is probably good enough for our team to get to the WCF and lose to the Lakers.
If you've followed along, I've been complaining about his rotation for almost the entire season.
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