San Antonio’s 11-game winning streak came to a screeching halt in Detroit on Friday night. The Spurs started sluggishly and never could climb out of the hole they helped dig. Give the Pistons credit for playing great on the offensive end and knocking down numerous momentum-sustaining shots.
The Spurs were able to hang tough … for about five minutes. Trailing by three points, the Pistons went on a 16-3 run to take a double-digit lead in the first quarter. The Spurs recovered enough to make it 31-23 going into the second.
A Gary Neal three-pointer with 8:51 remaining before the half pulled the Spurs within four points. Unfortunately, the Pistons responded right away with a 10-1 run that was powered by a pair of Charlie Villanueva three-pointers. Things got progressively worse for the good guys in the second quarter. With 1:42 to go, the Spurs found themselves down by 21 points. Thankfully, they were able to restore some hope by scoring the final eight points before intermission to make it 65-52.
The Spurs authored runs in the third quarter but they were short-lived. It took until the 3:55 mark for San Antonio to get the deficit to nine points, 81-72. Alas, Detroit bounced back and pushed their advantage to 95-78 at the end of the period.
The fourth quarter featured a few more fleeting runs. One promising run included a Danny Green three-pointer to pull the Spurs within seven points. But Villanueva responded with a three-pointer to end the run. A few minutes later, Kawhi Leonard hit a three-pointer to make it a seven-point deficit once more. But, again, the Pistons responded with a three-pointer -- this time by Brandon Knight. With less than three minutes remaining, Tony Parker hit a pair of freebies to make it 113-105. Guess what happened next? Yep, another Pistons three-pointer -- once again by Villanueva. That one turned out to be the coup de grâce.
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Tony Parker
While Tony Parker had another monstrous outing, his slow start was an undeniable part of the downfall. He didn’t even attempt a shot until more than ten minutes were off the clock and the Spurs were down by 11 points. In retrospect, it would have been helpful if Parker came out with more aggression from the opening tip. From then on, though, the Frenchman was fantastic. He was amazingly efficient on the offensive end. On the other end, he did good work on Jose Calderon. Overall, this was great effort by a player who is at the absolute top of his game. Over his last 21 games, Parker is averaging 23 points and 8.1 assists on 56.9% shooting from the field in 33.4 minutes per game. Wow.
Final Grade: 94
Season Average: 88.0
Adj. Average: 88.0
Last 10 Average: 92.9
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Tiago Splitter
All in all, Tiago Splitter could have done better. Pulling down only three defensive rebounds is unforgivable, especially when the Spurs are getting pounded on the boards. His defense was good at times and he was reasonably active, however he got muscled out of the paint too easily and his fundamentals were wishy-washy. On offense, he had success when he went up with power and decisiveness -- but that didn’t happen often enough. His passing also wasn’t up to par. Splitter has to play better for the Spurs to win when Duncan is out.
Final Grade: 75
Season Average: 85.4
Adj. Average: 86.0
Last 10 Average: 86.3
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Kawhi Leonard
San Antonio was short on playmakers this game. Outside of Parker, there really wasn’t anyone else stepping up to the plate to make a play. Give Kawhi Leonard credit for attempting to do just that. And he was actually somewhat effective at times. Leonard’s ability to score off the dribble is improving and he has cut his turnovers significantly as of late. Defensively, Leonard was slightly above average. While his results were up and down, he played with a quality amount of energy and stuck his nose into the middle of the action to create rare stops for the Spurs. Leonard again did well corralling contested boards.
Final Grade: 90
Season Average: 84.8
Adj. Average: 84.8
Last 10 Average: 86.3
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Danny Green
The Good: Danny Green is again on fire from deep. He is now 18-for-27 (66.7%) on three-pointers in his last four outings. His defense in transition was very good. Green also had a couple good passes and took care of the ball. The Bad: His individual perimeter defense was awful. The Pistons would run him off a few simple screens and he’d get totally picked off. Green had a lot of trouble staying in front of their guards and took poor angles when closing out on shooters. If he’s not going to be a plus defender (or at least league average for a starting shooting guard), Pop may begin to think twice when it comes to playing Green significant minutes.
Final Grade: 80
Season Average: 82.6
Adj. Average: 83.0
Last 10 Average: 82.9
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Boris Diaw
Boris Diaw has now hit only three of his last 13 shots from the field. His aggression was good enough against the Pistons, he just couldn’t connect. On the defensive glass, Diaw didn’t box out well -- and that compounded issues considering he had only two defensive boards in 24 minutes. Passing-wise, he wasn’t very good. Diaw also seemed to lack spryness when running the court. In other words, this was a game he needs to forget.
Final Grade: 71
Season Average: 81.1
Adj. Average: 81.9
Last 10 Average: 81.5
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Gary Neal
Based on what we’ve come to expect out of Gary Neal, this actually wasn’t a terrible performance. His shot selection was acceptable and he knocked down enough shots. Neal’s passing was also good … but only when he was at shooting guard. Once he switched over to point guard, his inability to dribble or pass consistently really stuck out like a sore thumb. On the defensive end, Neal was decent enough when facing a stationary offensive player who was trying to outmuscle him. But when a player came at him with a head of steam, Neal was powerless.
Final Grade: 78
Season Average: 79.2
Adj. Average: 80.3
Last 10 Average: 73.9
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Stephen Jackson
Stephen Jackson exhibited good post moves in the low block. His passing was really good. He took adequate care of the ball. Getting to the line was helpful. His defense was lethargic at times but it was usually at an acceptable level. The main problem with Jackson remains his inability to make shots at a reasonable rate. Specifically, he’s now one for his last 16 on three-pointers.
Final Grade: 79
Season Average: 80.4
Adj. Average: 81.4
Last 10 Average: 75.1
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DeJuan Blair
Give DeJuan Blair an applause for grabbing ten of the team’s 33 rebounds in only 16 minutes of action. With the Spurs desperate for rebounding, he responded. Regrettably, that was the only area Blair shined. His offense was mostly poor; he couldn’t hit a shot and his passing wasn’t noteworthy. Offensively, the only thing Blair did well was get to the line and hit his free throws. Defensively, his physicality in the paint was substandard. He also didn’t provide any help in terms of defending penetration.
Final Grade: 79
Season Average: 80.1
Adj. Average: 81.4
Last 10 Average: 85.6
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Matt Bonner
Now that the #letbonnershoot campaign has ended, Matt Bonner got back to doing what he does best: knock down three-pointers. The two threes he hit against the Pistons match the number of triples he had in his previous 120 minutes. I also thought that his defense was better than normal against Detroit; by my count he had three blocked shots. On the other hand, Bonner was pitiful rebounding-wise and his offensive decisions weren’t as sharp as usual.
Final Grade: 80
Season Average: 80.0
Adj. Average: 81.5
Last 10 Average: 79.3
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Nando De Colo
Nando De Colo got the first crack at the backup point guard gig. It turned out to be brief, though, because he got benched for a couple defensive breakdowns. I liked De Colo’s quickness to loose balls but the playmaking that was so great in his previous outing was nowhere to be found.
Final Grade: 74
Season Average: 81.3
Adj. Average: 83.1
Last 10 Average: 80.3
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Patrick Mills
Patrick Mills was another player who got a shot at point guard. It didn’t go too well. He eventually switched to shooting guard and that, too, wasn’t much to brag about. Defensively, he was powerless to stop penetration. His maneuvering around screens was also poor. On offense, he blended into the background and didn’t offer much of anything.
Final Grade: 72
Season Average: 82.3
Adj. Average: 82.4
Last 10 Average: 77.8
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Pop
Pop pushed too many buttons versus Detroit. It seemed like no one could get a rhythm partly because Pop couldn’t decide what he wanted to do. Using four players at point guard (Parker, De Colo, Neal and Mills) didn’t help. His bigman rotation was random. Overall, I could never figure out what Pop was trying to do … and I assume I wasn’t alone in that bafflement.
Final Grade: 73
Season Average: 84.0
Last 10 Average: 83.1
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Offense
The offense was actually really, really good. The pace was relatively slow, which makes the 109 points the Spurs scored even more impressive. San Antonio did it by getting to the line, knocking down threes and taking care of the basketball. The only negative is the low number of assists, which can be traced to the lack of a playmaker outside of Parker.
Final Grade: 92
Season Average: 84.1
Last 10 Average: 83.3
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Defense
The defense was bad -- plain and simple. It didn’t help that the Pistons couldn’t miss. Whenever there was a run, the Pistons would respond within seconds ... and usually with a three-pointer. Let’s hope this was the case of the Spurs running into a team that was shooting extraordinarily well. From the deplorable rebounding to the poor defense in the paint to the inability to defend perimeter drivers, there was no silver lining.
Final Grade: 68
Season Average: 84.2
Last 10 Average: 85.3
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Overall
Again, give the Pistons respect. They had a response for everything. The Spurs need to play very well to win on the road when without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. That didn’t happen on this night. Let’s hope they can bounce back and return to the winning track.
Final Grade: 77
Season Average: 84.4
Last 10 Average: 85.3
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I'm surprised that everyone received higher than 70% (minus the defense) this game. In my opinion, a few players deserved lower.
You can't win every game, it happens to everybody. Take this game, learn from it, then keep it in the past and focus on the next one.
Another thing that surprised me was the use of an only 8 Man Rotation by Detroit.
Thanks Timvp. Great read as always.
Spurs will have to play a lot better on this back to back.
Thanks timvp, great job!
I think TP started the game slowly on purpose to save his energy for the 2nd half...
He is carrying such a load (that we take for granted!!) and the opposite team focuses so much on him, that he obviously can't stay agressive an entire game on both ends any longer if nobody else steps up.
I bet we'll see the same tonight and until Timmy and/or Manu come back, we need the bench to step up big the next two games!
detroit shot like the thunder in the WCF. they went re on us, and playing the turd towers didn't help.
Great effort on the report again. I see a real issue with opposing penetrating back courts. Detroit lived in the lane.
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