Overview:
For those of you who may have never seen me post, I am a Spurs Fan living in LA. I was actually hoping this was an away game so I could report from the stands, but, alas it was a Spurs game in SA, so I had to settle for watching on "the internet."
Clippers were without their best player and floor general; it showed. They opened the game to go down 20 in the first quarter and were down 35 at the half. The Clippers managed to pull together some dignity and started trying again, and managed to cut the lead to 13 in the 3rd before the spurs put the game back up to around 20. Given that, and although the Spurs showed offensive and defensive inep ude in the 3rd and early 4th, they managed a 24 point victory. If you were to go by the box score alone, you would think this was a complete laugher and we had the twin towers in effect; instead, the game felt very much in danger in the 3rd and early 4th before the Spurs got serious again and put it to bed. Lets hope that Tiago is good to go within a few games.
Players, in order of importance to the win:
Splitter: A+ Best I have ever seem him play offensively. I know he has scored more before, but he did not even have a chance to play the whole game. Went down with a shoulder injury, but it did not look like it would cause any serious damage because he did not have that much momentum when he shouldered into the defender. In any event, Tiago had his roll part of the Pick and Roll going, and he was also playing like he has a game around the basket, which was refreshing. His defense was good, similar to what he was doing in the beginning of the season when he looked like a good defender.
Duncan: A- Seemingly effortless double double. His jumper was on. When Splitter went down he he picked up the scoring and kept the Clippers at bay. Defense in the post was good.
Parker A- 17 points is sub-par for parker, but on 8 of 9 shooting and 9 assists? He played his normal game with good results. His jumper and his inside game worked tonight, and he provided early offense by driving to the basket in the 3rd before the clipper defense could get set.
Manu A Gets a better grade than parker not because he played better, but because we don't depend on him as much as we do parker, so given that expectation that I have of him, he is playing great right now. Shot over 50% for 15 points, 6 assists, no turnovers simply cannot be nit-picked. Where he was particularly helpful was in effort plays; he got two offensive rebounds and one was a layup and the other was an assisted layup.
Kawhi B- I need to see 15 and 8 from him. 10 points on 5-8 shooting and 4 rebounds is not what I want to see from him. His defense did not seem to greatly impact the game, either. Overall, a good outing but below our expectations. I want my finals Kawhi back.
Marco B Marco had 5 points and 7 assists. I know that teams must have adjusted to him and are now not giving him the open 3, but we have to figure that one out. Otherwise, if this is what he is going to give us, I will join the chorus saying to just let danny start. Maybe it is a chemistry thing with him and manu. Anyway, can't complaint about the assists.
Danny B- Danny is shooting 40% on 3s for the year, but you would not know it from this (or many recent) games. At this point, I am honestly surprised when he makes a 3. Tonight, the timing was perfect and he redeemed himself by making a key 3 in the 4th when the spurs were only up in the teens. He also drew a monstrous charge that raised the roof. Now, shoot better than 13% and I will be a fan again (1-8 tonight).
Mills B Mills did what he typically does: he shot the ball and passed the ball to manu when it needed to be distributed. He scored 7 points and didn't mess up. I am very glad to have that sort of player on the team; our 2nd unit needs points, especially with Diaw out with a sore throat?!
Ayres: A- This grade is based on my expectations for the guy. He drew a good charge and played passable D when needed, actually hit some shots, and kept us from falling apart when Splitter went down and Duncan could not play both the 4 and the 5 by himself.
Joseph, Nando, Bonner, and Banes: Less than 10 minutes of playing time each, and not enough of an impact to truly warrant the time to comment, other than none had a negative +/-, so that means they were not a total disaster.
Defense: B Given that we did not have to face CP3, can't give the defense all the credit for holding them to 92. Still, better than in recent memory.
Offense: A You didn't really expect them to score another 70 points in the second half, did you? Granted, the offense fell off the horse in the 3rd, but the still put up 116 points and shot over 55% from the field. The 3pt shooting is a worry (4-18 for 22%), but we assisted on a ton of points and the offense looked legit in the first half.
Pop: B This is for resting Diaw with a sore throat; that is silly. No, really, he only gets a B in a 24 point blowout because we should beat the clips without CP3 at home by 24. Actually, we have a better record away (13-3) that at home (13-5); I don't remember the last time that happened, and I certainly don't expect it to continue, but still weird.
Thanks for having me. You have been great, really.
Last edited by spursfaninla; 01-05-2014 at 04:59 PM.
I could be a downer but not tonight.. really happy with tonight's results. Sure LAC went on a run but we didn't buckle, we shared the ball and everyone played like it mattered. Parker was under control tonight, ball movement, smart shots and didn't hero. Hopefully this is the kind of team we will see when we play those top Tier threats in the West. January 17th is circled on the calendar, gotta show up like this against Portland.
Parker good in a beta male role
Also
When the shot clock reset incorrectly late in the third quarter, Rivers asked if they could start over. After official Monty McCutchen said they would reset it, Rivers said, ''No, can we start the game over?''
As I said in the game thread, didnt like how Pop kept playing his starters even when they were killing the Clips by 35, then they started to come close and starters still were there, he should use some bench, and make that starters in the playoffs.
What was that last part?
What? about the starters and the playoffs? 9 man rotation instead 15, thats my point.
Lol at asking for kawhi to score 15 points..
The only way he scores 15 is if he scores 80% of his attempts..
Good grades
But did you not see him ask for a Post UP against crawford 4 times only to be ignored....
SICK AND TIRED OF THIS BS..ASKING FOR KAWHI TO SCORE WHEN HE DOESN'T GET TOUCHES.
Like I said before, the only thing that changes is the outcome. The Spurs played about 30 minutes of decent ball and the rest of the time they mailed it in, but if you want to give them As for that, knock yourselves out.
This came exemplifies why the Spurs are getting spanked by good teams
vs every good team this season the games have actually been close or the Spurs had double digit leads
then they come out with 0 aggression and make potato decisions and let the other team put up 35+ in one quarter to make it a game
the inability to guard anything in a pick and roll situation isnt good either since Crawford knew he could get mid range shots at will
the around the screen defense was weak to with whoever was running of them getting clean shots also
Spurs were lucky in the first half getting a lot of calls their way
only Tim and Tiago are A's tonight tbh...
The who won tickets via Twitter to see a Spurs/Clippers playoff game a couple seasons ago after I shared the tweet on ST? Good grades man.
Thanks for the grades. That second half was terrible though.
You are correct, sir! I got the tickets from answering patty's trivia questions on twitter: what is his 2nd middle name (or whatever), and what was his female "friend"'s favorite color (Australian model, pink, guessed, got lucky).
Good times.
I am essentially asking for him to get more touches. And he averages about 12 points now, so him averaging 15 would not be asking for a miracle. BTW, I don't blame him so much. he shoots when he gets the ball and has a chance to score, although his 3pt shooting is not helping AT ALL.
Splitter was -4 in an epic blowout while he had his best offensive game of the season lol, only other player with a negative plus minus was Mills, the other starters were all about +20...
Frankly his injury is the best thing to happen to this team since Pop wasn't taking him out of the starting lineup willingly, now he has no choice...
Also what they did with Green makes me want to puke, he had great value, either you trade him or you starts him, now his value has taken a dive, that's just disgusting how they ruined such an asset...
Thanks
thanks for the grades ... did not like that we again gave up 35 Points in one quarter ...
OP should do grades again -- good work.
Thanks spursfaninla!
Posted the same on the other grades thread but then I remember apasolic_9 preaching in the desert about TonyNotPass
"Hey Tony...Tony..." Leonard's open and demands the ball.
What do you think Tony did? Find to the open man and pass the ball?
Nahhh
Incidentally when Tony doesn't play, we win
Great grades, thanks very much.
Thanks for the grades. Lose the third quarter and we have a decent game. Seems like we played for about 36 minutes. Hopefully they got something from the game. Tony was sharing the ball better in the first half.
thanks for the writeup
Thank you. Good write up.
in the midst of all this, i noticed we're the last team still undefeated after a loss.
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