In a game that featured plenty of physical play and numerous intense moments, the Nuggets came into San Antonio and escaped with a well-deserved 99-94 victory. The Spurs, despite a number of runs, could never get over the hump and lost their third home game of the season.
While Denver never trailed, that fact doesn't give justice to the closeness of this game. The Spurs got off to an agonizingly slow start offensively, which allowed the Nuggets to build a 16-point lead in the second quarter. But the Spurs came storming back and got within a point before going heading into intermission down by four points.
In the third quarter, the Spurs tied it early but then their offense stalled again -- and the Nuggets took advantage by going up by seven points about midway through the period. From then on, San Antonio's deficit remained between two and seven points until late in the game.
With the Spurs down by five and less than two minutes remaining, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan scored at the rim to make it a one-point deficit. But Ty Lawson hit a twenty-footer with ten seconds remaining and then Gary Neal missed a three-pointer that could have tied the game.
As a Spurs fan, there are two ways to look at this game. Glass half full: The Spurs had everyone active and available for the first time this season and thus growing pains are expected as everyone reacclimates. Glass half empty: The Spurs dropped a winnable game against a shorthanded Nuggets team due to various miscues.
Tim Duncan B-
Prior to the game, Tim Duncan was a question-mark due to flu-like symptoms. He ended up playing and he was a rather active participant. On offense, I thought he was hurting the team early on. He held the ball too long, took a couple questionable shots and played a big part in the lack of ball-movement. As the game progressed, Duncan eventually settled into a more appropriate role that saw him finishing plays rather than initiating plays. Defensively, he was about average. While he protected the rim well, rebounded well and defended the post well, his lateral movement was lacking and he wasn't offering much help against pick-and-rolls. Interesting note: Duncan had 11 dunks all season prior to this game but tonight alone he had four dunks. He must jump higher when he's sick.
Manu Ginobili B+
In his latest return to action, Manu Ginobili looked better than expected. He seemed to be in much better shape than when he returned from his broken hand. Athletically, he wasn't 100% but he looked surprisingly close. On defense, the Nuggets attacked him a number of times but they didn't have much success; Ginobili wasn't great on defense but he wasn't a liability. Offensively, he took advantage of his touches. His passing was really good and he knocked down his first two looks from three-point land. Both of Ginobili's two-pointers got blocked but he showed decent enough burst to the rim. Let's hope he can remain healthy and he is soon ready to take on a much larger role.
Tony Parker B-
To begin the game, I thought Tony Parker once again let his guard down. A couple times this season, it seems like he relaxes a bit when Ginobili is available -- and that hurt the Spurs tonight. With Parker passive, the Nuggets built their 16-point lead. But once Parker went to work -- his first points came on a basket five minutes into the second quarter -- he was really good. He had 25 points in his final 26 minutes of action and did it on 10-for-11 shooting from the floor. Still, Parker needs to remain in attack-mode at all times and not acquiesce to who may or may not be around him. That also pertains to his defense, which was uneven throughout the night.
Richard Jefferson C
On the plus side, Richard Jefferson was running the court much more than usual. One time his running resulted in a dunk, while another time it resulted in Ginobili's first three-pointer. He even drove the ball to the basket in the halfcourt setting, something rarely seen this season. But everything else about his night was spotty at best. His defense was lazy and he wasn't helping out on the boards. I didn't really like Jefferson's shot selection and he had a couple costly mistakes in the fourth quarter.
Danny Green D
I don't know if it's his shoulder but Danny Green just isn't helping out much as of late. He missed all five of his shots tonight, most of which were wide open. The Nuggets were rotating off of him, so his misses were even more tough to stomach than usual. While he pulled down an impressive offensive rebound, he wasn't a factor on the defensive glass. The rest of his defense was similarly lacking. He spent some time on their point guards with minimal success. If Green is going to hold onto his starting gig, he's going to have to start showing a lot more.
DeJuan Blair Inc.
DeJuan Blair celebrated the Spurs finally having a healthy roster for the first time this season by injuring his knee 18 seconds into the game. Thankfully, it was diagnosed as a bruised knee and he was later able to return. Although after his return, he spent most of his time limping around the court so the Spurs will probably take a closer look at his ACL-less knees to make sure he's alright.
Matt Bonner C-
In the first quarter, Matt Bonner had eight key points to jumpstart a sputtering offense. He also pulled down six rebounds in the first half. Unfortunately, that was about the extent of Bonner's pluses tonight. On defense, he was too slow and immobile to stay with Al Harrington and too unathletic to hang with Kenneth Faried. Bonner is usually able to hide a lot of his defensive flaws by being physical and doing his work early … but that wasn't happening tonight. Offensively, though he added another three-pointer in the middle of the fourth quarter, Bonner wasn't doing nearly enough to allay the damage he was causing on the defensive end.
Gary Neal C+
Gary Neal never really seemed to find a groove. Part of the reason could be blamed on his erratic role, which saw him play five minutes in the first half and then start the second half while seeing minutes at point guard, shooting guard and small forward. Defensively, he was just straight up bad. He had trouble staying in front of the quicker Nuggets players and then made a handful of wrong switches in the halfcourt defense. On offense, he mostly stayed behind the three-point line. He hit two of his first four threes before missing two late -- including the one that could have tied it.
Tiago Splitter B+
Though he's still not all the way back to his pre-injury level, Tiago Splitter is making progress. Defensively, he was extremely active tonight. He defended out on the perimeter when needed. He defended the rim really well; Splitter was jumping for blocks left and right in addition to providing a roadblock against drivers. Rebounding-wise he was adequate. Offensively is where Splitter still has rust. He's setting good screens but his rolls aren't as crisp as before and he's not being as demanding when it comes to calling for the ball on the low block.
Kawhi Leonard B
The relentlessness Kawhi Leonard brought to the game was invaluable. With the Nuggets outworking the Spurs and looking like the much sprier team, Leonard was able to change that. Offensively, he did most of his damage at the line; his nine free throw attempts were easily a season-high. Over the last two games, he's 14-for-15 at the line -- which is impressive both in terms of attempts and percentage. Against the Nuggets, I thought he settled for staying behind the three-point line too much, especially in transition. I also thought his defense was alarmingly bad at times. Since his calf injury, he's had difficulty keeping players in front of him. While Leonard was good in loose ball situations, technically his defense was substandard.
TJ Ford B+
After not playing in the first half, TJ Ford was the coaching staff's backup point guard of choice after halftime. Even though he basically just got thrown in the fire, Ford did well. I loved his effort on the boards and he made a number of quality passes. He had a couple mistakes but he did just about all that could have been expected out of him given the way the game played out.
James Anderson Inc.
James Anderson was the first player off the bench. I'm still trying to figure out why. He didn't play too poorly but he muddled an an already disjointed offensive attack.
Pop D-
Pop was going for the cover of Mad Scientist Weekly with his rotation tonight. Playing all 12 players when the team was challenged as it was to figure things out with all the new pieces added to the mix? That made no sense. I know Pop had a lot more toys to play with than usual but the answer wasn't to just throw everyone out there willy-nilly. On top of that, he made other questionable decisions such as drawing up multiple plays for Green, putting in Anderson early, not playing Neal much in the first half, waiting so long to go back to Leonard in the second half and suddenly switching to Ford. The Spurs needed a calming hand, instead Pop seemed intent to increase the difficulty.
I figured tj got hurt when he didn't play the first half. Fords defense was really good in his brief stint, I thought. Seemed to have a fire lit.
I don't agree with manu bringing the ball up the court with Ford in the game. It makes fords presence useless.
It was discouraging to see Pop stick with Bonner late in the 4th, but he did eventually pull him after Bonner made yet another defensive error. I thought Splitter was hanging well enough with the smaller Denver PF's to warrant playing next to Duncan down the stretch, too bad we didn't get to see that.
Also, I was hoping one of the guys would give Fariad a hard foul cause he was practically laughing after every play. I knew this guy was an energizer bunny but he made the Spurs effort look very very poor tonight.
Thanks for the writeup Tim. Other than the inconsistant rotations, the biggest problem imo, was the inability to matchup with Harrington and Faried.
RJ deserves an F, he was the main reason the Spurs lost today, I mean his defense was TERRIBLE. Every guy he was guarding was scoring, he missed a lot of rotations as well. Nearly every play the guy he was guarding was blowing past him, he'd also literally run past the guy he was guarding instead of trying to challenge their shot or stay in front of them. It was by far RJ's worst game defensively in probably his career as a Spur.
The Spurs came back as soon as Leonard was inserted into the lineup, his energy, rebounding and scoring ignited the Spurs' run to cut it before half time. RJ of course started again and the lead blew up once again for the Nuggets.
Thanks for the grades.
I was disappointed Ford didn't get some burn in the first half. He makes some mistakes but his passing and offense has been pretty solid. He's trying on defense too.
Sad to see Leonard benched for a guy like Jefferson. Or Green when he's clearly playing hurt and not helping the team.
I've given up hope that Splitter might actually close a game over Bonner or Blair.
Is this any big surprise when your coach refuses to run plays for you and take advantage of obvious size mismatches in the low block against smaller defenders? Also tells the national press how "unskilled" you are at every opportunity. Then for the coup de grace calls timeouts when you have your man pinned on the low block?Tiago Splitter B+
Though he's still not all the way back to his pre-injury level, Tiago Splitter is making progress. Defensively, he was extremely active tonight. He defended out on the perimeter when needed. He defended the rim really well; Splitter was jumping for blocks left and right in addition to providing a roadblock against drivers. Rebounding-wise he was adequate. Offensively is where Splitter still has rust. He's setting good screens but his rolls aren't as crisp as before and he's not being as demanding when it comes to calling for the ball on the low block.
I think the closing power forward has to be TS. Fariad's only 6'8" yet he was dunking all over the Spurs. That's why small ball doesn't work. Fariad wouldn't be getting minutes on a healthy Nuggets team yet he's better than Bonner/Blair.
The only reason the TD-TS lineup doesn't work is Pop doesn't want to make it work. He's forgotten how to coach mismatches and can only play small ball.Is this any big surprise when your coach refuses to run plays for you and take advantage of obvious size mismatches in the low block against smaller defenders? Also tells the national press how "unskilled" you are at every opportunity. Then for the coup de grace calls timeouts when you have your man pinned on the low block?
Aye, good point. It's almost as if he discourages the spurs to play inside out. He's totally dropped the ball on encouraging Splitter's development as a post presence, and has actually worked as a roadblock in many cases. Pop rather has this kid's head turned inside out IMO (no pun intended).
He's also failed to integrate him into the starting lineup which will probablyl be another fatal mistake. Any decent coach would have figured out by now how to utilize this guy for much higher production.
I did not like putting in James Anderson this early in the game. Obviously they want to showcase him a little bit, but it put the Spurs in a hole early ...
2nd game in a row that Timmy had 3 dunks ...
TP might have a bone to pick with you...
Manu graded higher than TP?!? C'mon Tonys 25pts vs Manu's 8pts ?!?!
This is the same old Pop we've been watching the past 5 years tbh. I think he thinks it's cute to be all willy nilly n 'sheeit.
So apparently Pop thinks its necessary to sacrifice a few games in order to figure out a finalized rotation; either that or he is crazy enough to think this current 12 man cluster is going to work. I honestly don't know which at this point. He's been throwing guys in and out of the lineup at random with no rhyme or reason for a good week or so, punctuated with that completely nutty forfeit game in Portland.
Seeing as the nuggets have now crept into the 8th seed in the west and are a mere 4 games back now, I sure hope he figures things out quick. The rest of the pack is breathing down the spurs' necks. 4 games is not a big cushion and the spurs cannot afford to keep losing games.
I was livid when Pop continued to leave Bonner in there on Harrington in the third quarter when the Nuggets went small. He finally went back to Leonard but only after Harrington embarrassed Bonner repeatedly.
I wonder if we saw the same game. Parker was actually the only playing hard, and if not for him the Spurs would have been routed at home. Duncan was decent, Leonard was good, Bonner did everything he was supposed to do in the first 5 minutes of the game.
Splitter was soft, Green was bad (but at least showed a bit of effort), Manu is still recovering (and sorry but, effort is good but production is better), everybody else was useless. ESPECIALLY Jefferson. At this point it looks like the Spurs would play better just going 4 against 5.
Pop decisions were weird but I got the feeling right from the start of the game that he had decided it would be "win, lose, I don't care, I need this game as a real life experiment".
We can discuss matchups all night long, it's pointless when most players don't care on defense and play soft.
There's one thing at least I can say in fvor of RJ, he got called for a phantom foul on the rookie, the next time he grabbed him and slammed him on the floor.
And one last thing, what's with the refs? The Spurs get better calls on the road than at home. The rookie form Denver was laughing his ass off because he could do whatever he wanted and either get no-calls (when he confused boxing out with shoving) or calls in his favor. It was ridiculous.
I actually think this was a game Blair could've really helped in. He could've put a body on that Fareid dude and kept him off the glass.
Moot point. Nex time the spurs see the nuggets it'll likely be Nene and Gallinari that Blair will be guarding. Good luck with that.
I remember one poster saying the key to the season was Blair overcoming his mental challenges. Good luck with that. I lost count of how many 3 second violation turnovers he was the cause of. Bunch of stupid offensive fouls added to that as well.
Blair gets an INC for that turd of a game? lol
Thanks for the writeup. IMO, disappointing loss at home against a shorthanded team.
Frankly, I'm alarmed to see this team slowly regressing into the 3 ball team from last season when it appeared we were making strides on the defensive end pre-ASG.
This team is incredibly frustrating to watch when they play the brand of defense they played last night.
Time to bench Green for good and get Kawhi or Manu in the starting lineup TBH
I agree.
But I get a very strange feeling about Parker and his comments about Manu. Something ain't quite right. I don't think putting those two together in the starting lineup would be a good idea.
Given that touchy situation, I think the best solution for a rotation at this point is to put Leonard & Neal into the starting lineup, ASAP. Move Jefferson to the bench and cut his minutes in half to start, and see how he responds. If he still isn't contributing give his minutes to Green. Manu & Tiago will run the 2nd unit and probably close out games with some of the starters.
If Pop is going to continue to start the mentally and physically challenged Blair, then Leonard has to start IMO. The team lacks too much size and athleticism otherwise. I think the Neal/Parker scoring combo will give the spurs enough scoring in that starting lineup to offset any offensive production lost by benching Jefferson.
Not going to happen because... pick one:
- Pop doesn't want to admit he signed RJ to a horrible extension
- RJ will be amnestied and the more he's paid by another team, the less remaining salary the Spurs have to pay for
- that would destroy his confidence (haha, according to Pop)
- "it wouldn't be fair to the team"
#1 Likely that is weighing on Pop's mind. You know he's still just hoping in the back of his mind that RJ will shake off his pansiness one day and become that 4th scorer the spurs have been looking for. Not likely given his nature.
#2 What's sad is I don't think Jefferson will even be offered half of what he's currently making by any team, regardless of what he does from here on out. Might as well just once and for all write him off as a net loss and be done with him. This continuous cycle of throwing good $$ after bad is stupid. Like trying to quit smoking by cutting your own throat so you can't inhale.
#3 Who cares at this point (ties in with #2).
#4 If Pop actually believes it wouldn't be fair to the team to see less of Jefferson and more of Leonard/Green/Neal he needs to cut back on his wine consumption.
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