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timvp call me a hornfan (yet I've always scoffed Corey) but I don't think it was Corey looking old against the Kings, but flat out scared, flummoxed, and hesitant against a big backcourt that made him look like a midget.
The Spurs simply failed to take care of business tonight. After coming out flat, they allowed the lowly Kings to build a 15-point first half lead. Though the Spurs fought all the way back, they never truly took control of the game. The Kings kept at it and escaped the AT&T Center with a much deserved 88-86 victory.
The Spurs almost came back to steal this victory, leading by six points with three and a half minutes to go, but they never did sharpen their attack on either end … and it came back to bite them. I'm really disappointed in this loss; it basically erases all the hard work they did by going out on the road and beating the Magic. To make things worse, the Spurs have to turn around and try to beat the Rockets on the road tomorrow following this emotional letdown.
These are exactly the type of games the Spurs can't afford to lose with Manu Ginobili sidelined. With five of the next six games on the road, San Antonio could soon be looking at .500 unless their level of play picks up a notch or two.
Tim Duncan C+
Statistically, Tim Duncan looked like he did decent work in his limited playing time, but I wasn't very impressed. He was having trouble with his mobility and wasn't jumping well. On defense, he failed to get out to contest shots and wasn't very good at protecting the rim. Offensively, his decisions were slow and he seemed to shy away from physical contact. Since he played only 25 minutes, let's hope he's a go for tomorrow night.
Tony Parker B-
Like Duncan, Tony Parker's night wasn't as smooth as his numbers suggest. His level of play was all over the map. While I thought his defense was mostly good in the second half, he didn't bring much focus to that end of the court in the first half. In the fourth quarter, he dominated the middle of the period but left much to be desired in the beginning and end of the quarter.
Richard Jefferson C-
Richard Jefferson is starting to make a habit of this poor, uninspired play. He shows very little hustle, no tenacity and only visits the paint if absolutely necessary. Offensively, he's now starting to pass up open shots, which brings his value down even more. On defense, I thought he had a decent stretch on Tyreke Evans but was otherwise a non-factor.
DeJuan Blair C-
To begin the game, DeJuan Blair played like he forget to stretch. He wasn't moving well at all, wasn't getting any elevation and just looked out of it. In other stints, Blair looked much better. That said, defensive rebounding when he's on the court continues to be a major issue and he hit less than half his shots for the first time since Jan. 5.
Kawhi Leonard C
In the first and third quarters, I thought Kawhi Leonard was pretty darn bad -- as bad as he's been since becoming the starter. In the first quarter he was invisible, in the third quarter he was playing decent defense but his offense was atrocious. That said, Leonard was a beast in the second quarter. His defensive energy was perhaps the biggest reason the Spurs got back in the game so quickly. Leonard was also out in transition a lot that quarter and made good decisions.
Danny Green C+
This was a night of extremes for Danny Green. On one hand, he had a few fantastic drives to the hoop and was passing the ball well. Defensively and on the boards, Green spent most of the time swooping into the action. On the other hand, Green missed some huge shots down the stretch, including an airball on a runner that could have tied the game at the buzzer. He also got schooled repeatedly by Evans on defense. At first, Green got blown off the dribble a few times. Then late in the game, Green -- fearing the drive -- gave Evans a mile of space and Evans hit the game-winning jumper. I'm starting to notice Green have a lot of trouble on defense against players who either are really fast or use a lot of screens. Hopefully it's something he can adjust to, otherwise Pop is going to have to be more selective with Green's matchup.
Tiago Splitter A-
The unquestioned bright spot was Tiago Splitter. I thought he did well in every aspect. Defensively, he defended the rim, moved his feet well out on the perimeter and gave good effort on the glass. Out of everyone on the team, Splitter was by far the most consistent on the defensive end tonight. Offensively, Splitter continues to make great moves. The only thing that stopped him on offense against the Kings was a lack of passing by his teammates. If he would have gotten more passes, he probably could have carried the team to a victory.
Gary Neal D+
Well, he's not afraid to shoot. Gary Neal just keeps firing away. Unfortunately, he's not making many these days. At least tonight I couldn't really argue with his shot selection too much. He wasn't always picking good times to shoot, however the shots he took were usually open. Defensively, he's still bad but he's been a lot better the last two games.
Matt Bonner C+
After Matt Bonner finally hit a three-pointer late in the game, that elevated his evening from sub par to about average. I liked his work on the boards but his man-to-man defense and rotations were a step slow. Physically, I'm not convinced Bonner is totally healthy. He has been running even weirder than normal recently.
Cory Joseph D-
Cory Joseph didn't play much but he played long enough to really hurt the team. Against the athletes on the Kings, Joseph looked like an old man trying in vain to keep up. That's not exactly what you want to see out of a 20-year-old rookie.
Pop C+
The big mistake that Pop made was putting Green on Evans when it mattered. Green was having trouble all night dealing with screens and keeping players in front of him. To put him on Evans was suicide. In hindsight, Pop probably should have put Duncan back into the game to close it out. It would have been nice to have let Duncan rest most of the fourth and then go for another win tomorrow night, but that gamble didn't pay off. If Pop isn't going to trust Joseph, he really needs to go out and sign another point guard. Running Parker into the ground isn't the answer.
Last edited by timvp; 01-21-2012 at 01:17 AM.
timvp call me a hornfan (yet I've always scoffed Corey) but I don't think it was Corey looking old against the Kings, but flat out scared, flummoxed, and hesitant against a big backcourt that made him look like a midget.
I'm still disapointed in our defensive effort and Tiago not getting enough playing time imo with Tim Duncan.
Cory is 6-foot-3 when he stands up straight. But he plays all game hunched over so his effective height is a midget-esque 5-foot-10. So I might have to agree with you there.
I could go with scared but he also looked slow. 37-year-old Steve Kerr looked like a better athlete than CJ tonight.
I'd probably give Pop a C- at best mainly b/c of his decision making and time management of utilizing his players down the stretch. Aside from that, I concur with the other grades.
Physically, I'm not convinced Bonner is totally healthy. He has been running even weirder than normal recently.
I can only imagine.
Trutru, he's always dribbled all hunched over like that at UT. But I still think the slowness was hesitancy not physical limitation. Don't get me wrong he is no athlete but he is not tpark either.
I said from the start this kid was not ready. Dumbass should have stayed in schoo'
Someone needs to explain to me what Joseph did that was so terrible other than to be on the floor when nobody could play defense, grab a rebound or hit a shot.
Gary Neal ran the point at the end of the first quarter and Joseph touched the ball all of three times. The offense didn't go through him and his man scored maybe one basket. He had two shots, both misses, but good moves to get smart attempts. He moved well in the offensive sets, made good passes and didn't look lost on defense. We're saying that one turnover and having an entry pass batted out of bounds is worth a D- and only six minutes of playing time? Give me a break.
The saddest thing about losing games like this is that if we were going to lose them, Pop might as well have played Joseph, Splitter, Anderson all solid solid minutes to get the acclimated to the system.
20/20 hindsight
PS I think Leonard has hit a wall already
looked pretty obvious to me against the Magic
Thanks for the writeup, LJ.
IMO, Pop needs to get over himself and stop with this madness of Tim and Tiago not being able to play together. A guy like JJ Hickson who is so bad, that's a big that's been only shooting 37% for the season coming into this game, was able to get whatever he wanted against both Matt and Blair (finished shooting 50%). With Cousins being a physical guy (and Tiago doing a great job on him), and Thomson and Hickson being tall, athletic guys, this was one of those nights where I felt we would have benefited from the twin towers.
As I stated on the game thread too, I was disgusted that the Spurs put forth the energy and effort to come back into this game and then Pop decides not to play your best players to close out the game. As you astutely point out, we're not in a position right now to not give our best shot at winning games. I'm going to be twice as mad if we lose to the Rockets tomorrow (very well within the realm of possibilities).
With regards to Evans, I wondered back in the 2nd quarter when he was already killing us, if we were going to try to change up the defense on him (trap, double) before the game was over, and not too much to my surprise, that never happened. I hardly recognize this coach anymore.
But above all, I'm starting to agree more and more with objective when he says that just watching RJ and Matt out there just sucks a good amount of the fun of watching this team. Richard's body language out there tonight was flat out awful.
And while I agree it's much more difficult to win when your 3's are not falling, tonight Sacramento won shooting just 23% from 3 (Spurs 20%). They made the stops and they had their best guys closing out the game. This is just their second victory on the road this season, six overall. Maybe there's a thing or two we can learn from a bottom feeder like them.
Leonard's bounce pass to Blair on the break in the second quarter was a thing of beauty.
OH indeed.
It sounds like the Spurs definitely weren't on the KobeSystem tonight.
Tiago is hungry. And we need to feed him.
Oh and a gigantic F for ghe little girl who said the coyote was her favorite player.
If TD doesn't have it on the block I think it's worth exploring running the offense through Tiago. He has the experience and it gives the team more variety in the offense.
rj is a scrub protecting his fg% not chuckin up shots when his open and , holds it to long or just passes it up, then pop gets into his head..he starts chuckn and misses shots
as for neal, bonner chucks up shots, but sometimes i dont like there shot selections....
for all the scoring neal provides us, his like bonner and rj on the floor...the other team scores at will on them...
green was very active this game, but too bad he didnt have a g ood scoring night, but he did play with alot of energy
most of our runs came from the bench gettin us back into the game...fck the starters should now be bench and earn pt...
Not a game they should lose at all at home! Pathetic and they will lose against Houston too IMO to make them 10-7! This makes the damn game the other night a wash yes, they go and drop a game to a garbage team after a good win! This is what this team does now. This team is not that good right now, period.
this game and the next 3 games are all winnable, i dunno wtf pop is doing...
Watching the replay, Tim/Blair have some nice high/low game going.
They could get the same thing going with Splitter and improving the defense.
thats because his done all on offense, his game isnt a spot up shooter...this game he had plenty of open shots coming from RJ the wanker who didnt wanna shoot the ball doing the extra pass to KL who wasnt expecting to shoot it, he puts up flat shots and airballs this game...he should be out there gettin most of his points in transition or creating for himself down low where his more effective with his scoring....
Great writeup.
Regarding Splitter, for the life of me, I don't understand why his teammates don't feed him in the post, when he has it rolling against his opponent. Sean Elliott has harped on this repeatedly on the broadcasts and he's absolutely right. Everyone knows this team has become to reliant on outside shots, which makes it even more appalling that Splitter isn't getting the touches. They need as many easy baskets as they can possibly amass. It's a damn shame and I just wonder why the Pop doesn't address the situation?
Joseph was atrocious, however, I was kind of expecting to do better as the game progresses, similar pattern to his previous games, but that never happened.
maybe to us fans but I bet the marketing department is high fiving each other.
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