Game Grades - Cavs @ Spurs - 1/14/16

[Cry Havoc]

@

January 14th, 2016

The Venue:

AT&T Center

Game Summary

If you missed the Cavs play the Spurs on Thursday night (TNT), you missed a very entertaining battle between two very intense, playoff focused teams with eyes on hoisting a trophy at the end of the season. At times it was less than stellar on offense, but defensively, both squads threw down and put forth some of the highest degree of effort seen all season in the NBA. Nearly every single play showcased a hard fought battle between 10 guys on the court that were in constant motion, and easy buckets were very difficult to come by.

1st quarter

The first quarter was a dominant effort by the Cavs. On the back of a trio of treys from JR Smith and Kevin Love, and some surprisingly effective play by Matthew Dellavedova, the Cavs roared out of the gate to a 12 point lead. The Spurs offense looked completely inept, as multiple long jumpers by Aldridge, Mills, Manu, and Leonard were all well off the mark, while the defense allowed for a number of forays near the hoop from Irving and Dellavedova.

35-20 Cavs

2nd quarter

For much of the 2nd, things did not look much better for the Spurs. Not a single player found a shot from range in the period, in fact not a single shot would fall from outside 13 feet for the entire period. The Cavs cooled off somewhat, going just 2-7 from downtown. After a furious outpouring in the first quarter from the Cavs, they were held to just 15 points in the 2nd, and the Spurs manufactured enough points to cut the lead to a surprising 6 points.

50-44 Cavs

3rd quarter

The Cavs shot 3-6 from downtown in the 3rd. Despite this, the Spurs continued the momentum and continued to close the gap. Amazingly, the Spurs only allowed 4 FGA in the paint for the entire quarter. A couple of treys from Leonard and some scintillating defense on one LeBron James saw the Spurs climb into the lead repeatedly. The Cavs recaptured the lead to close the quarter with a 3 point shot by Delly.

73-72 Cavs

4th quarter

But the Spurs defense continued to tighten, and in the 4th quarter against Cleveland put forth one of the best defensive quarters of the year. LeBron was limited to 3 FGA (making 1), and the Cavs shot 6-18 from the field. The Spurs challenged jump shots, as the Cavs made just 2 shots outside of the paint the entire quarter. Meanwhile, the Spurs played a very effective 4th quarter, getting into the paint even as the 3 point shooting continued to struggle.

99-95 Spurs win! The Spurs extend their season long winning streak to 10 games, remaining unbeaten at home, 23-0.



Spurs Starters





Tony Parker - A

For two games in a row now, Tony Parker has done nothing short of rekindling images of his incredible 2013 campaign. He was not only a force on offense, calmly guiding the Spurs up the court and only giving up 1 turnover, but was also a fantastic presence on defense, where he routinely bothered Kyrie Irving. Parker played a physical brand of defense, and absorbed contact extremely well, fighting through screens and gliding into the paint. His 11-18 shooting was sorely needed on a night when many Spurs struggled to find the rhythm with their shot. Parker was the most potent offense for either team on the night, scoring a game high 24 points on 11-18 shooting. Bottom line, Tony Parker just completely outplayed Kyrie Irving on both sides of the ball, and produced one of his finest games in recent memory.

Highlight Alert: Parker splits not two, but THREE defenders and still manages to add flash to the end of the play on this sick reverse layup.

https://streamable.com/khxk




Danny Green - F

It's officially worry time for Danny Green. He shot 1-7 from the field, and looked incredibly uncomfortable whenever he touched the rock all night. He is usually a pest on defense, but tonight got burned repeatedly and seemed to think JR Smith was a man you should leave open even after he hits his first 3. Green easily put in one of the worst performances of the season on a night when the Spurs could have desperately used his defense and 3 point shooting, of which he had repeated wide open shots from deep. As far as these ratings are concerned, Green has unofficially lost his Spurs jersey until he shows improvement.





Kawhi Leonard - A

Perhaps any player on any other team in the entire League that goes H2H with LeBron James for a full 48 minutes and arguably wins the battle should automatically get an A+. Not so with Kawhi Leonard. He was a monster on defense tonight, and continually bothered James, who never seemed to find even a shred of his usual comfort zone for the Cavs. Despite LeBron scoring 22 points, it took him 17 shots to get there and he never really asserted dominance over the game. Kawhi, meanwhile, struggled at times to find his shot, and also ended the game with 4 TOs, but his defense was an absolute thing of beauty. Outside of Leonard, I do not know if I have ever seen an individual that can physically match up 1 on 1 vs LeBron and actively deny LeBron buckets. Kawhi is simply a marvel on D, and should already be on the short list for the greatest wing defenders in league history. That seems insane for a player who won't be able to rent a car until July 29th, but he is that incredibly good. Interestingly, Kawhi had a team-high 10 boards and tied for a game high 5 assists (James).

Highlight alert: Kawhi Leonard throws down a monster putback jam off a Danny Green miss.

https://streamable.com/73v2





LaMarcus Aldridge - D

Coming off the back of a stellar performance against Detroit, Aldridge very nearly disappeared from this meeting with the Cavs at several points. He never looked like he fit into the offense, and Aldridge never really asserted himself to take command of the game, either. He seemed content to float to the outside of the paint and take off-balance fadeaway jumpers. 2-7 for 6 points is absolutely not going to cut it for our new PF against good teams. The only saving grace was LMA's defense, which remains active and disruptive. Aldridge did a nice job boxing out the Cavs and had several tipped balls which wound up in the Spurs possession. Other than that, it was a forgettable performance from our native Dallas...sonian. Sonian? Sonian.





Tim Duncan - C+

It's absolutely bonkers that Tim Duncan is 39 and is making a very strong case for consideration for the NBA's 1st team all-defense. But here we are. Tim just continues to be a force on the defensive side of things. His decision making is simply phenomenal. Duncan was left on an island a few times tonight, and played the offensive player, particularly LeBron James better than anyone with a 3 inch vertical and about .75 good knees on his entire body has a right to. That said, I was a little disappointed in the offensive production from Duncan tonight, as he seemed to allow himself to get bodied out of the paint and resorted to taking less than ideal hooks and set shots. Duncan ended the night with 9 points on 10 shots, 6 boards, 3 assists, a steal, and a pair of blocks. It's pretty remarkable that the Spurs were able to get a convincing win against Cleveland when 3 of their 5 starters combined for a total of 20 points.

Highlight alert: Duncan ices the game with a ridiculously difficult spin move into bank shot

https://streamable.com/uy64


The Other Starters





Patty Mills - C

As usual, the energy from Mills tonight was fantastic, in the short 13 minutes he played. His two 3 pointers were both sparkplugs for the Spurs and accounted for all 6 of Mills's points. But on a night when Tony Parker was simply dominant, Mills was relegated to very much of a bench role. He also seems to really struggle with over-committing when the player he is defending cuts hard, letting his man then change direction and burn him (this applies to off-ball as well but is much more of an on-ball issue). Mills really does need to improve his defensive performance, but as long as Patty is raining from 3, we can afford to overlook some of his struggles given how hard he plays.





Manu Ginobili - B-

I thought Manu had an uneven performance on the night. It's easy to look at his 4-12 shooting and fairly un-noteworthy statistics and call it a terrible game from Barkley's favorite catcall. But Manu had a steadying influence on the game when Parker wasn't on the floor, and he did a good job of facilitating despite his single dime for the evening. Manu didn't shoot well, but he was extremely compe ive on defense, giving whoever he guarded a very physical time. That said, Manu needs to hit his shots.





David West - A

This is exactly what I was hoping to see from West when the Spurs signed him. In just 18 minutes of play, West racked up 13 points (5-7 shooting) and 5 rebounds. I originally wanted to give him an A+, but feel like his defense started a little slowly. By the end of the game though, West was hotly contesting every pass made in his direction, and supplied more intensity than I've seen all season from the vet. The Spurs absolutely needed everything he gave tonight, and West obliged by never taking himself out of the play. He was constantly in motion, making things happen, and overall just a positive force on the evening. He probably deserved a lot more PT on the evening.





Boris Diaw - D

Boris only got 10 minutes of playing time on the night and did absolutely nothing noteworthy on the court during that time except to give up a couple of buckets. He got 26 minutes against Detroit though, so it's not time to worry about Bobo's PT just yet.


Simmons & Anderson

I actually liked the minutes I saw from Simmons & Slomo tonight (9 & 5, respectively). They both provided a nice change of pace and a different look for the Cavs to contend with. Kyle played some physical D, and Simmons got a quick bucket after being inserted into the game. But sadly, there just wasn't minutes to go around against a tough team like the Cavs. That said, I think Simmons is slowly gaining Pop's respect with his consistent fire every time he plays.





Greggy - B-

The adjustments Pop made after the 1st quarter were the difference in the game. He gave Manu some of the responsibility at point, which in turn allowed the Spurs to have more size and physicality on defense. I thought Pop's rotations over all were pretty decent, though I would have liked to see West and Simmons play a bit more. Pop is now giving Kawhi a little bit more of a leash than he has in the past, which is great to see. And the Spurs defense after the 1st quarter was simply ruthless, holding the Cavs to 63 points over the final 3 frames. Perhaps even more impressively, the Spurs yielded just 5 field goals in the paint in the 2nd half of the game.


News and notes from around the league

Jimmy Butler tied a season high among all players with 53 points to lead the Bulls back to beat the 76ers.

Highlight Alert: Super Mario drills a game-winner vs. the Pistons.

https://streamable.com/wald

The Raptors beat the Magic 106-103. It was the only game of the week for both teams due to the game being played in London, England.

Prior to tonight's game, the Spurs have trailed in the 4th quarter at home for a total of 54 seconds this season. The Spurs snapped an 8 game win streak for Cleveland.

Kobe Braynt played his last game against the Warriors in Oakland Thursday night.

Next up for the Spurs: @ Home vs. Dallas on Sunday.
Next up for the Cavs: Tomorrow night @ Houston.

[SAGirl]

Love your reviews Cry Havoc, specially the bit of humor with the pictures and I enjoy your writing. Thanks for sharing this. It was a very memorable game, and we can away with this win.

[steeledl]

Tony deserves the highest of grades... We would have been out of the game if not for him. Also he was amazing on defense.



ginobili given too high a grade. Missed wide open 3's in critical moments.


thanks for the write up

[Galileo]

Great write-up. If you lived in the 19th century, you could get paid for this, before the NWO took control of the newspapers.

[Manu-of-steel]

Thanks for the grades. Good job, CH!

[YGWHI]

Thanks for the grades!

David West - A

The Spurs absolutely needed everything he gave tonight, and West obliged by never taking himself out of the play. He was constantly in motion, making things happen, and overall just a positive force on the evening. He probably deserved a lot more PT on the evening.

Amazing performance, that play on Mozgov...

[Nathan89]

David West could be huge in a finals series vs the Cavs. His main weakness is defense and the Cavs will take one of their bigs out of the picture so it will more difficult to exploit. Only a major factor if LMA continues to be invisible vs the Cavs though.

[8FOR!3]

Parker was phenomenal tonight, didn't think he was still capable of outplaying elite PGs like that.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Pop was absolutely loving this game

[Robz4000]

Green was good on D after the first quarter in which everyone was pretty mediocre. His 3-ball looks fine though he hesitates too much still. Like some of us have been saying, Green has been looking better over the past month-plus.

[100%duncan]

I think tony and kawhi deserved A+. It wasnt like kawhi was forcing up and missing badly, some of his shots rimmed out at the last second. Manu is A for his 1st qtr imho, certainly saved the team ala game 5 2014

[Arcadian]

Actually, Cleveland scored 32 in Q1 and 18 in Q2.

[T Park]

Green was good on D after the first quarter in which everyone was pretty mediocre. His 3-ball looks fine though he hesitates too much still. Like some of us have been saying, Green has been looking better over the past month-plus.

Exactly. Green's defense in the second half was pretty damn stellar.

But oh noes he missed some shots!!!!

[Fireball]

Great game ... great game grades ... everybody is happy

[pookenstein]

Appreciate the write up. Well done. Thx.

[Uriel]

Great write-up. If you lived in the 19th century, you could get paid for this, before the NWO took control of the newspapers.

The NBA wasn't around yet in the 19th century.

[From Downtown]

Thanks for the write - up, I really appreciate it as I couldn't watch the game

[Obstructed_View]

• Dallasite
• Boris Diaw deserves an F-
• Danny Green needs to watch the beginning of a game from the bench

[Macca76]

Thanks for the good work ! It's really useful as I didn't watch the game. Actually a double thanks

[thiste]

I wouldn't grade Kawhi an A tonight. He had his moments but he also struggled on O for a long stretch of the game. It's good that he didn't force the issue, but it I don't think that warrants an A anyway. It didn't feel like he was on top of his game. I'd give him a B-.

[Pocho La Pantera]

Beautiful, thanks.

[ceperez]

Tough grades, Patty and Duncan should get better grades. But great post!

I don't think Danny should have gotten a worse grade than LMA though.

[100%duncan]

thiste without kawhi lebron would have feasted on us. Game is played both ends, he made james score on an inefficent shooting. Plus he took over for most of the 2nd half not only scoring and defending but also getting rebounds.

[midnightpulp]

Nice write up, Cry.

[Obstructed_View]

I wouldn't grade Kawhi an A tonight. He had his moments but he also struggled on O for a long stretch of the game. It's good that he didn't force the issue, but it I don't think that warrants an A anyway. It didn't feel like he was on top of his game. I'd give him a B-.

I give him credit for coming back strong from the Detroit clunker.