Game Grades - Spurs @ Blazers - February 1st

[Cry Havoc]

Well, that was brutal. The Spurs just never got any flow going against the Blazers. Numerous whistles and a lack of on-floor leadership really hurt the Spurs, as after the first half, no one seemed to step up to fill the scoring void. The loss drops us to a still scintillating 40-8, but also underscores how easy it is to lose games if a couple of guys don't produce. The Spurs struggled all night to find easy shots against a physical Blazers team, and ended up taking a huge array of rushed, ill-advised jumpers, or forcing passes into traffic for easy turnovers. On the defensive end, Mr. Aldridge had a field day with our defense, detonating for a career high in points. Popovich needs to retool our offense, because it's growing dangerously stagnant at times lately. The only thing more injured than the Blazers in the NBA right now is Carmelo's inbox, LeBron's reputation, and Kevin Garnett's sense of decency. We have to beat teams like this.


Adjustments to be Made

In lieu of giving a Player of the Game award out in a loss (it would have to go to a Blazer, would it not?), I thought I would try my hand at taking a look to see what went wrong, and how to stop it from going wrong again moving forward. I will separate this into three categories: Offense, defense, and transition, and will try to touch briefly on all of them.

Offense
Pick your poison from last night. Really, was anything going right for the Spurs? The only weapon last night that seemed to be in any moderate dosage was Blair for a while, and Hill hitting corner threes. Every Spurs player was struggling to find looks, and while a few shot over 50%, the ones that did failed to step up and be "the man" tonight. This underscores how vital Parker and Manu are to the team if no one else is going to take the reins. Popovich really needs to ride the 3rd, 4th, and 5th options to wake up and start doing damage if our best scorers are having an off-night. And what ever happened to Gary Neal? Earlier in the season, he was wide open from 3 and getting all kinds of good looks. Lately, he can't even find space to tie his shoes. Popovich, I hate to call you out, but you seriously need to run some plays to get our 3 point shooters open, because I haven't seen it happen much since Bonner went down with an injury.

Defense
The first ominous sign I saw in this game came in the 1st quarter. After holding the Blazers scoreless for the first 3 minutes, they ended up scoring 24 on us in the final 9:00. Some of this was due to the fact that they were just hot from the field, as evidenced by the shot chart:



Notice in the 2nd and 3rd quarters how multiple shots are from outside the paint. In the 1st and 4th quarters, the defense was really abysmal as far as protecting the rim, and in the middle two quarters the Spurs sagged back and the Blazers hit jumpers, getting open looks off screens. Some of this is undoubtedly due to the 4 days of rest Portland had coming into the game, as there are times a team gets hot and there's not much you can do to stop it. But I didn't see team defense from the Spurs tonight, I saw 1 on 1 from our 5 guys on defense. This is the time of year that Pop makes it apparent that we have to play championship defense if we want a le. The time to start making that shift seems to be now. Also: Wouldn't it be just a jim-dandy idea to bring Bruce mothereffing Bowen back onto the team as a defensive coach? Do you not think he would have our guys busting ass to wreck the other team's confidence?

Transition
What the happened? Just a couple games ago, we were running the floor like an experienced, hungry team. This past game, the Blazers beat us up and down the court, and almost every time we had numbers we'd force a bad pass or miss a shot. If the Blazers are going to bank on getting back for defense, the Spurs need to KILL them on the glass. Instead, the rebounding edge stood even, 37 a piece. How does a guy like Dante Cunningham get rebounds against this Spurs team? This might be controversial, but I would like our guys to start playing with a little condescension. Don't let those no name players beat you. Get in their face and completely take them out of the game. And would someone please get out on picks to stop open 3s from happening?


Starters

Tony Parker - D I expect to hear that I scored Parker too high here, with his 3-11 performance and just 4 assists. However, he was attempting to make things happen while he had the ball in his hands, which is more than I can say for a lot of our guys. Parker drove inside numerous times, drawing contact, only to have no whistle blown, blowing the opportunity to score instead. To be honest, the only reason Parker doesn't get an F for this game is because he only turned the ball over once, and the simple fact that everyone else on the team played poorly. I did also see some nice defense at times from Tony, staying with his man and not getting caught off screens. But overall perhaps the quietest performance of the season from our PG.

Manu Ginobili - C Like Parker, Manu gets a boost in grade for trying to create for the team, and still fighting when he was out there. He also had 4 steals and 4 rebounds, but shot just 33% on 6-18, and made some incredibly tough passes. I understand that Manu can make plays that no one else in the NBA can, but why do we need to make tricky, high-risk passes to beat the Blazers? It occurred to me that maybe settling down on offense, grinding out the pace, and just playing old-school Spurs ball was the way to go here. Instead, the action was constantly forced, and our ball movement was non-existent, leading to a lot of bad plays or passes received out of position. Manu understood what his team needed tonight but was unable to execute and get us the W.


We do not need to be this guy to beat the Blazers.


Richard Jefferson - C RJ didn't have a bad game. He shot well (comforting signs for the future) and played some pretty decent defense. But with his athleticism and ability, couldn't he have stepped up a bit more? I certainly would have liked to see him explode to the hoop and get a big dunk, something to fire our team up on a night when momentum was in short supply. Instead, we got the player he's been all season -- camping the wings, waiting for an open look at a 3. I'm fairly certain Antonio McDyess has more dunks this year than Jefferson, and as much as I like you, RJ, that's atrocious. You're better than this. Step it up on a night when we need you.

Tim Duncan - C Duncan's numbers warrant perhaps better than this, but this is exactly the kind of game where Duncan should have been demanding the ball on offense. 6-9 shooting on a night this team struggled means we could have run the ball through Tim on offense. Who knows, maybe we even get Aldridge in foul trouble as a bonus? Duncan also grabbed 7 boards and had a block and a pair of dimes while being limited to 30 minutes. Gotta wonder if Pop is already letting some games go because we have such a big lead in the division in order to save our guys for more important battles later. Duncan also got beat on a number of drives to the hoop tonight -- shots that he should normally get to and launch into the stratosphere, or at least the 3rd row of bleachers.

DeJuan Blair - B+ The dude brought it, again. At least for the first half. Then foul trouble and a lack of rhythm basically took DeJuan out of the game. You can't fault his effort and a few bad whistles though, DeJuan came to play, and showed off his ability to control the paint by grabbing a ridiculous number of offensive rebounds (6) in the first half. He also got a number of putbacks and created his own shot well. He was perhaps the lone bright spot tonight for the Spurs, and it looks like he'll be a major factor in the team going forward. Perhaps if he keeps getting rebounds and establishing himself he'll get the benefit of a few calls once in a while.


Bench (sorted by minutes)

George Hill - B- I thought Hill played a decent game. His defense was better than most players on the team, and his 3 point shooting kept us in it. However, tonight is a night when he, like 3 or 4 other Spurs, could have put the team on his back and chose not to do so. It is slightly maddening to know that we have this much talent on the team, and at times everyone is in "defer" mode except Parker and Manu. I'm sure it's something common with some of the best teams in league history, but it still makes me want to ask Hill if blowing past Andre Miller and dunking over 3 guys wouldn't be such a spectacular idea. Hill was 4-9 and 2-5 from downtown, and I wouldn't have minded seeing him shoot more.

Antonio McDyess - C- Yeah, his numbers are decent. But Dice looked pretty damn lost on the court tonight. He had a team high with 4 TOs and made some questionable decisions on defense. In all, everyone's help defense was lacking on this night, but Dice as the oldest guy on the team has to shoulder more of the blame, along with Duncan. 16-23 shooting for Aldridge means ALL of our post-players need to step up and start playing hard-nosed Spurs defense.

Gary Neal - D+ I don't know if Pop just isn't calling plays for him any longer, if Neal is steadily working his way toward the doghouse, or what, but Gary Neal simply isn't the player we saw in the first 41 games of the season. He rarely gets open from 3, and passes on shots that look good, choosing to force his way into the lane and throw up contested layups from poor angles. I can picture Pop digging into him on the sideline, "So you like throwing up junk against their best post defender, Gary? Is your last name Bryant? Do you enjoy watching the other team get out in transition with you stumbling around the baseline? Tell you what, next game you can shoot 60 shots and we'll all cheer for you." And so forth. I'm actually kind of disappointed in Neal, because I thought he was going to be a player who showed some cojones, not just another chucker. We'll have to see if he can turn it around. Here's hoping.

Quinn, Anderson, Splitter, and Owens - Suck.

J/k, Anderson needs more time before we decide that he sucks and won't get back to where he was.


Gregg Popovich D - In perhaps one of the worst-coached games of the year from GP, he decided to play up to the Trailblazers strengths. When they went small, we went small. When they went big, we went big. I almost wonder if Pop is artificially attempting to inject challenges for this team to overcome, because what he did Tuesday night goes against everything that has worked this season. He was incredibly quick with the hook tonight and really needed to get T'ed up in the 3rd as soon as the officials started blowing calls. Instead, he stood around, pulled guys the instant they made a bad play, only to reinsert them 45 seconds later when the guy they came out for slipped up. This kind of thing concerns me, as we have a bunch of young guys this year, and Pop has a tendency to destroy confidence with his perfectionism. All in all, it was nothing but a game of bad adjustments and mis-timed subs, and I think Pop failed to recognize that Spurs were treading water and shift gameplans in time. I really feel that an inside-out offense would have really hurt the Blazers tonight, but hey, you can't win 'em all.

A note on the officiating: Yes, the officials blew a stunning number of calls in this game, and yes, almost every call in the 2nd half went Portland's way. But if you think we got to 40 wins at this point in the year by tucking our head and accepting calls when the officials screw us, well, you haven't been paying attention. This team is good enough to FORCE the officials to call things our way, or at least even, and if we want to be champs this year we had better learn to impose our will when things get disjointed or the officiating takes us out of our gameplan. Instead I saw rushed shots, forced passes, and little communication on defense. The officiating definitely might have helped win the game for the Blazers, but only because the Spurs lost it first with their at ude and approach. We had the lead numerous times and never stepped on their necks to end it. And there's no excuse for that.

[ohmwrecker]

Every loss this year has stemmed from an inability, or unwillingness to transition to a half-court, post centered offensive game when Tony and Manu are failing to produce.
The guards continue to jack up ill-advised jumpers and force passes when the opposing teams defenses clog the lanes. Duncan needed more touches down low and Tony and Manu need to penetrate and get to the foul line. The Spurs have to find a way to slow the game down and score when the jump shots aren't falling.
Manu, 30% FG and 2 FTAs ain't gonna cut it, bubba.

[Rummpd]

well done!

[polandprzem]

Do we count this as a b2b game ?

[Giuseppe]

[[[Gary Neal - D+ I don't know if Pop just isn't calling plays for him any longer, if Neal is steadily working his way toward the doghouse, or what, but Gary Neal simply isn't the player we saw in the first 41 games of the season. He rarely gets open from 3, and passes on shots that look good, choosing to force his way into the lane and throw up contested layups from poor angles. I can picture Pop digging into him on the sideline, "So you like throwing up junk against their best post defender, Gary? Is your last name Bryant?]]]

Cry, you're adorable.

[Cry Havoc]

[[[Gary Neal - D+ I don't know if Pop just isn't calling plays for him any longer, if Neal is steadily working his way toward the doghouse, or what, but Gary Neal simply isn't the player we saw in the first 41 games of the season. He rarely gets open from 3, and passes on shots that look good, choosing to force his way into the lane and throw up contested layups from poor angles. I can picture Pop digging into him on the sideline, "So you like throwing up junk against their best post defender, Gary? Is your last name Bryant?]]]

Cry, you're adorable.

Well hey, to Kobe's credit he usually get that kind of shot to go down almost as often as not.

Neal, on the other hand....

[Bulwark]

[I]
Gary Neal - D+ I don't know if Pop just isn't calling plays for him any longer, if Neal is steadily working his way toward the doghouse, or what, but Gary Neal simply isn't the player we saw in the first 41 games of the season. He rarely gets open from 3, and passes on shots that look good, choosing to force his way into the lane and throw up contested layups from poor angles. I can picture Pop digging into him on the sideline, "So you like throwing up junk against their best post defender, Gary? Is your last name Bryant? Do you enjoy watching the other team get out in transition with you stumbling around the baseline? Tell you what, next game you can shoot 60 shots and we'll all cheer for you." And so forth. I'm actually kind of disappointed in Neal, because I thought he was going to be a player who showed some cojones, not just another chucker. We'll have to see if he can turn it around. Here's hoping.

I think this also has to do with teams now actively scouting Neal and perhaps knowing his weaknesses and "staying home" on him rather than Pop not calling plays for him... But I think there should be plays to get him open and in some sort of rhythm.

[Giuseppe]

^Exactly, stay close to him, don't turn your back, don't bend over.

[Cry Havoc]

^Exactly, stay close to him, don't turn your back, don't bend over.

[admiralsnackbar]

I honestly enjoy your write-ups more than most of blogger-as-authority posters on this board, Cry. Keep up the good work and hopefully you can monetize your talents into a sideline down the road.

[Cane]

Imo Tony was the biggest liability out there. Andre Miller and the Blazers destroyed him and got into his head as well.

Tony Parker - D I expect to hear that I scored Parker too high here, with his 3-11 performance and just 4 assists. However, he was attempting to make things happen while he had the ball in his hands, which is more than I can say for a lot of our guys. Parker drove inside numerous times, drawing contact, only to have no whistle blown, blowing the opportunity to score instead. To be honest, the only reason Parker doesn't get an F for this game is because he only turned the ball over once, and the simple fact that everyone else on the team played poorly. I did also see some nice defense at times from Tony, staying with his man and not getting caught off screens. But overall perhaps the quietest performance of the season from our PG.

Shouldn't he get a D- then? /nitpick

[Cry Havoc]

Imo Tony was the biggest liability out there. Andre Miller and the Blazers destroyed him and got into his head as well.



Shouldn't he get a D- then? /nitpick

Only 1 turnover.

[pawe]

Question is, can you keep this up til the end of the season. Timvp should retire then.

[Stringer_Bell]

I was pretty disappointed when I saw Neal trying to create his own offense for the of it when we were down 2-3 shots.

[Phenomanul]

great analysis overall...

[I]
Manu Ginobili - C Like Parker, Manu gets a boost in grade for trying to create for the team, and still fighting when he was out there. He also had 4 steals and 4 rebounds, but shot just 33% on 6-18, and made some incredibly tough passes. I understand that Manu can make plays that no one else in the NBA can, but why do we need to make tricky, high-risk passes to beat the Blazers? It occurred to me that maybe settling down on offense, grinding out the pace, and just playing old-school Spurs ball was the way to go here. Instead, the action was constantly forced, and our ball movement was non-existent, leading to a lot of bad plays or passes received out of position. Manu understood what his team needed tonight but was unable to execute and get us the W.


We do not need to be this guy to beat the Blazers.

True... that said, Manu's crafty "magic" threw Cunningham for a loop...



To me it seemed like another night where Manu's layups simply wouldn't fall... Many of DB's putbacks were obtained because many of Manu's misses were borderline makes...

[GrandeDavid]

I think this also has to do with teams now actively scouting Neal and perhaps knowing his weaknesses and "staying home" on him rather than Pop not calling plays for him... But I think there should be plays to get him open and in some sort of rhythm.

And defenses staying home on him should open things up for other guys, something we lacked last year.

[ColinB]

McDyess had a terrible game. Neal too. Both Fs.

Duncan, Blair, Hill, and to a lesser extent Jefferson are the only ones who deserve a passing grade. More offense should have been run through Duncan. Uptempo offense is great, but there are times in these games where they have to slow it down. Ginobili and Neal seemed like they were trying to win the game with every shot and it was completely unnecessary.

[CubanMustGo]

Question is, can you keep this up til the end of the season. Timvp should retire then.

hasn't he already?

[dbestpro]

The refs got in the heads of the Spurs. This is something that we usually are very good at dealing with, but in this game it definitely affected our play.

As such, it's easy to over analyze the play when it was the ability to manage adversity as the main culprit of our failure.

[8FOR!3]

Honestly, the more Gary Neal drives to the basket and shoots his little floater in the game, the better he's going to get at it. And he's not terrible at it right now like Splitter is with his little hook, he actually makes it sometimes. So I'm not too upset. If he doesn't drive to the basket nobody's going to respect his ability to do so and they're never going to let him shoot threes.

[Blake]

Referees - F+

[Brazil]

wow cry impressive job !

[jag]

Who's the tranny with the black hair?

[pjjrfan]

I love Manu but he killed us with some really bad play late in the 3rd and early 4th. Tony had some bad moments but he did a better job of taking care of the ball than Manu. Manu was really active on the D but then he kept giving the ball back.

[Blake]

Who's the tranny with the black hair?

and why would the Spurs ever need to be shim to win?