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Thanks for the grades!
As I said before the key to the series is to get our bench going. And today we went on our big run with LMA and DeMar sitting.
After a pair of demoralizing losses, the Spurs bounced back in grand fashion with a 120-103 victory over the Nuggets to force a Game 7. Considering how handily San Antonio was outplayed the previous seven quarters, I was proud of the way the good guys played tonight. The necessary energy was apparent from the opening tip, they withstood Denver's runs with resolve and battled their way to a resounding win. Well done.
The Spurs led for much of the first three quarters but couldn't quite grab control of the contest. The Nuggets, to their credit, were persistent and Nikola Jokic, specifically, was phenomenal. That might have been one of the ten best performances against a Pop coached team in the postseason.
Thankfully, San Antonio was able to thrill their home fans by seizing momentum in the waning minutes of the third period. Following a Jokic basket that cut the Spurs lead to 88-85 with 1:25 remaining in the quarter, the good guys rolled off a 19-2 run over the next six and a half minutes to basically put the game in the books.
Again, I thought this was a great win that exhibited a lot of character. It would have been easy to activate Cancun mode but, instead, the Spurs got a measure of revenge and forced a do or die Game 7 on Saturday night.
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LaMarcus Aldridge
LaMarcus Aldridge did great work setting the tone early for San Antonio. In the first half, he had 18 points and seven rebounds on 7-for-12 shooting from the field in 21 minutes. He was physical early on, didn't resort to his fadeaways and rolled to the rim with authority when it was needed. His scoring slowed in the second half but he made up for it with wise passes and running the court hard to open up space for shooters. Defensively, I thought he was iffy one-on-one and his help wasn't too noteworthy. That said, he was an absolute animal on the boards, as he ripped down a handful of hotly contested rebounds.
Grade: A-
Summary: Aldridge wouldn't allow the Spurs to get off to a slow start.
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DeMar DeRozan
This was a tale of two completely different halves for DeMar DeRozan. He began the game setting the table for his teammates. In the first half, he was constantly knifing through traffic to create open looks. Outstanding decision-making led to seven assists by halftime. In the second half, the Nuggets sent less help his direction so DeRozan instead called his own number. He finished the final two quarters with 20 points on a scintillating 10-for-11 shooting from the field, including a handful of well-time, momentum-saving shots. After such a disappointing Game 5, DeRozan turned it completely around. He was measured, smart and uber efficient. Defensively, he was active and went in among the trees to corral a few tough caroms.
Grade: A
Summary: DeRozan put together a brilliant game and gave the Spurs exactly what they needed.
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Derrick White
It wasn't a flashy outing for Derrick White but a few lucky bounces here and a few defensive plays there and he was definitely an asset on this night. Offensively, he was pushing the pace more than usual and did a good job of spreading out Denver when they tried to blitz him (more on that below). While he was a bit tentative, he also authored a number of key plays when it counted the most. Defensively, his help was really good -- against both size and shooters. His individual D wasn't as tight as usual but he did well enough. White found himself in first half foul trouble after a rare moment of losing his composure on the defensive end but he regrouped and seemingly got better and better as the game progressed.
Grade: B
Summary: White aided the cause on both ends.
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Bryn Forbes
Compared to the last couple games, I really liked Bryn Forbes' shot-selection. He was more under control and didn't force up contested looks just because he hadn't shot the ball in a while. Forbes was patient and it paid off with an efficient 12 points on eight shots. Defensively, he had his moments but he also had his mistakes. Forbes was jumpy at times and lost his man at other times but he competed well enough to avoid hurting the team too much on that end.
Grade: B
Summary: Forbes didn't deviate from the gameplan and it paid off.
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Jakob Poeltl
Chalk it up as another rock solid performance by Jakob Poeltl. Defensively, I have to dock him a little bit for allowing Jokic to go nuclear but, then again, Poeltl wasn't getting much help and Jokic was on fire. While he was also slow off his feet at times when going for rebounds on the defensive end, Poeltl's help-defense was timely and he was extremely active. The Austrian's mobility and coordination continues to be a big plus on that end. On offense, Poeltl set some vicious screens, was a beast on the offensive glass and his deceptively high basketball IQ was on display by way of his passes and split second decisions. Also, his hands were sure and his quick shots in the lane allowed him to finish in cramped quarters.
Grade: B+
Summary: San Antonio's most consistently positive force in this series kept at it.
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Rudy Gay
Oh, hey, I remember you. Welcome to the playoffs, Rudy Gay. Following a nightmarish first five games, the Spurs ultimate X factor finally got on track. (How much of an X factor is Gay? Consider this: The Spurs are 0-3 in the playoffs when Gay scores 10 or few points and 3-0 when he scores more than 10 points. In the regular season, they were 16-15 when he scored 10 or fewer and 32-19 when he scored more than 10.) On offense, Gay did what we've been waiting for him to do: exploit mismatches. The Nuggets struggled to defend him and Gay also made them pay with three-pointers when they left him alone in the corners. As valuable as Gay was offensively, he didn't have the same level of success defensively. He was outmuscled and outmaneuvered too easily and Gay was also weak on the boards, particularly in terms of boxing out. That said, considering his mighty struggles on offense to begin the postseason, I'm excited by what I saw from Gay this evening.
Grade: B+
Summary: The Spurs are a completely different team when Gay is Gay.
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Patty Mills
The good: Patty Mills had some slick passes off the dribble and led the Spurs bench with six assists. His decision-making in transition was (mostly) on point and he was once again much better than usual when driving the ball to the basket. Defensively, he was responsible for the team's entire sum of steals and he exhibited some vigor when caught in a mismatch. The bad: Is it me or is that wrap on his shooting thumb getting bigger and bigger? Either that or I just noticed it more as Mills hoisted missed three-pointer after missed three-pointer. I wasn't a fan of his shot-selection and he made a few questionable decisions in the halfcourt sets. And despite his effort on D, Mills remained a liability that the Nuggets sought out and attacked.
Grade: C+
Summary: Mills did some things right but the Spurs can't have him go 0-for-7 from three in Game 7.
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Marco Belinelli
Even better. Marco Belinelli took a step forward in Game 5 and took another step forward tonight. Gone was his hesitation when he was open. He let it fly and his controlled yet chaotic movement was difficult for the Nuggets to handle. I was even pleasantly surprised defensively, as Belinelli put up a fight on a handful of possessions and wasn't as quick to suc b to doormat status when isolated against.
Grade: B+
Summary: Belinelli hasn't hit double-digits in the postseason yet but he's trending in the right direction.
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Pop
This had to be a difficult game to prepare for because the Spurs have probably been the better team for the majority of the series but they've been annihilated as of late. How much and what do you change? As it turned out, Pop's decisions look masterful in hindsight. First off, he shortened the rotation to eight players, staggered DeRozan and White to keep a playmaker with the bench unit, and resisted the urge to mess with Poeltl's minutes in order to try to supercharge the offense. Gameplan-wise, Pop had Aldridge mix in more pick-and-rolls and deep post-ups to get him in an attack frame of mind, had White (and DeRozan to some extent) bait extra defenders and draw them away from the action to create 4-on-3 advantages once he passed the ball (and that ultimately led to open three-pointers), and had White push the pace more than usual. On defense, Pop was allowing Jokic to work mostly one-on-one -- only sending double-teams from the weakside once he started dribbling. With strongside defenders staying on shooters, the result was Denver struggling to get open looks from three-point land. In a game where he could have easily done too much tinkering, I thought Pop did a great job of changing just enough to confuse the Nuggets while allowing the Spurs to try to recapture the success they had earlier in the series.
Grade: A
Summary: Easily Pop's best coached game of the series.
Looking ahead: Game 7. It's going to be a tough one but at least the Spurs have given themselves a chance to pull off the upset by bouncing back and trouncing the Nuggets in Game 6. It shall be interesting.
Last edited by timvp; 04-26-2019 at 02:21 PM.
Thanks for the grades!
As I said before the key to the series is to get our bench going. And today we went on our big run with LMA and DeMar sitting.
As always thanks for the grades!!
We scored 120 points. It is all there. Defense was never the real issue, not even in game 2. Defense is at least OK, when not overall good. But offense wins this series, and tonight it worked.
Sure, DEN got cold from 3pt, they'll probably shoot better at home. Impressed by DDR, I give credit when is due, the guy this time showed some testicles and poise.
I am worried by LMA though, he took some terrible shots that thank god went in, I hope when watching film with coaches he will realize that. They won't fall in again, probably.
Marco key to this win, glad he has again some legs under him. We need him and Rudy in game 7
I really liked the way the Spurs defended Jokic. Let him score 40 again, who cares, it's important to keep their shooters on earth and not shoot 50% from three again. I think that's the key to game 7. One man band Jokic won't kill you, but his passing to open shooters when he is doubled very well could (and did in previous games).
Murray and Jokic combined for 48 attempts and 59 points, exactly half of their shots.
The other 6 players that played during non garbage time scored 44 points. Seems like Pop is dusting off his 05' PHX strategy and having Jokic and Murray try and beat him rather than have a bunch of players score 15 points.
DDR led the team in Assists... not Mills...
Thanks Timvp for the grades as always.
I'm not that positive. I believe the team relied too much in shooting accuracy in contested shots. I appreciate the energy and winning at ude displayed by the players, of course.
Poetl did his worst game IMO, playing soft as he used to do for a good ammount of the season. Jokic got into his head early and Jakob got paralyzed, not being able of contesting any shot (even a FT line jumper without jumping). Jakob didn't help his teammates protecting the rim and didn't carry out his duties in the defensive rebound. Attacking, he was in the place to be and converted almost all his shots but Spurs can allow such a poor contribution in the other side of the court if they pretend to win Game7.
Mills was electric, penetrating and pushing the ball but that's not his game. It can lead to turnovers and bad decissions, watch out. He stole 3 balls, but made several mistakes as well. I'd rather have him hitting his threes than playmaking.
Belinelli and Forbes made some shots, but apart from that they didn't have an impact in the game that Bertans can't have. Both played poor team defense. We don't know if they will make their shots on Saturday but more than probably their defense won't be good.
Aldridge, Gay and DeRozan had a very good ofensive games. I wish they had the same concentration playing defense. How many times they helped instead of staying with his man and vice versa? How many rotations they missed just for not being focused? How many times they forgot to play defense in the weak side in the last seconds? Nuggets play very well but we're talking about an elimination game and they are supossed to lead the team. That's why these 3 never were succesful in playoffs. They showed proud and responded yesterday, they just need to transfer that to the defense.
I'm a Popovich fan but I can't give too much credit to him for Game6 win. He didn't make notable adjustments and Spurs' defense was exposed again. The Nuggets were shooting the lights out in the series and it was about time they had a night off (6/24 3pt) but I'm sure they'll be happy today watching the game, realizing most of their shots were good shots. They are easily handling Spurs "defense" and it's our coaches job to take them out of that comfort area.
Mills horrid 0-7... but he set the tone that it's okay for everyone else to chuck the 3 point shot when open!!!
Finally, Spurs took the same number of 3 point attempts as the compe ion!!!!!!!!!
Aldridge letting jokic to hit that three in the first half with the shot clock winding down show how much of pussy he is, if you compe or you can't let that happen...
Pop should come to the media and be all over the refs for trying to keep the nuggets in the game especially in the first half!
You realize it wasn’t just an off night for their shooters, right? The defense was adjusted to single up Jokic, and trade missed perimeter threes by covered shooters for his two pointers. timvp alluded to it in his write up, the Phoenix strategy. Tim Duncan was one of the best defensive bigs of all time, an Amare shredded him in 2007 with the same plan. We won, though.
Then we both have seen different games. Many of the shots that jokic made over Poeltl were tough shots. Yes there were small mistakes in between but overall with him on the court the team was very solid on the defensive end. The Foulcalls he got against him were ridicioulos, at least Jokic should get the same calls but he can shove and push people around and its ok. Besides that, Jokic had a fantastic game and it was not a fault to poeltl. I even believe that this was the gameplan to let Jokic get a little wild, but shut down everybody else.
Great game by the spurs in a must win situation.
IMO, the rest of the playoffs is gravy. If we lose game 7, so be it. We took it to the limit at least.
With that said, I would look to get Gay going early, exploit mismatches. Cause when he is on, this team Is actually a really good team.
Proud of our guys. It’s annoying because I believe they could have fought like this in game 5 and had a shot, even though the Nuggets were lights out. While I definitely think they’re capable of winning game 7, as long as they leave it all out on the floor, I’m satisfied.
Poetl did his worst game IMO, playing soft as he used to do for a good ammount of the season. Jokic got into his head early and Jakob got paralyzed, not being able of contesting any shot (even a FT line jumper without jumping). Jakob didn't help his teammates protecting the rim and didn't carry out his duties in the defensive rebound. Attacking, he was in the place to be and converted almost all his shots but Spurs can allow such a poor contribution in the other side of the court if they pretend to win Game7.
I don't know your profession,........Basketball isn't !!!!
I will give Pop credit... I think he definitely realizes how important Rudy is to bench success.
To end the 1st quarter Pop had an odd lineup (especially considering Jakob had 2 fouls) with Rudy at the 3 forcing one of Craig, Barton, or Beasley to have to defend Gay in the post, and Rudy got a couple scores. In the early second he was calling Rudy's number alot which didn't work at first (Gay missed a chip shot, then Mills TO trying to feed Rudy) but then Gay hit a couple and think it was important to his confidence in 3pt shot.
I didn't like it early in the second and was critical of Pop on GT, but think it was the right move & Pop understanding how important Gay is for 2nd unit. Let's hope Gay can continue to take advantage of mismatches & can stay hot from 3
Probably there was special atenttion to the shooters in the game plan but our players still helped out leaving them free in the 3pt line. They just missed.
About Jokic, I think Malone and his teammates went to him more than often as there weren't other players scoring regularly but mainly, he was everywere: He scored from 3pt, drove Poetl and scored in front of the helping man, converted offensive rebounds, posted up Poetl in single coverage (true, but once? twice maybe?). He also found himself into missmatches without any defensive help and rolling in picks. Anybody can check our coaches reactions in the bench and make their own conclusions about if that was the designated game plan.
30 shots are a lot for Jokic but IMO, action by action, I don't see any special intention from Spurs leaving him score. They haven't been throwing big-to-big helps all series long (I don't know why TBH) and there has been a special interest in staying with perimeter players when they cut around Jokic and only helping out over Jokic when he dribbles. Game 1 the Spurs tried to trap Jokic too often and it didn't work at all, since then, defense game plan has been the same for what I've seen.
that layup drill from going over the screens though. painful to watch over and over and over again. why are the Spurs doing that? go under, make them shoot long 2s
Because of the spaces and spots they place Jokic to distribute, there won't be long two's they will be three point shots. Also, Jokic is ridiculously good finding the angle and the timing to find the cutter with his passing ability. So we've got an amazing passer, very dinamic cutters and shooters and the perfect plays from their coach. Give them credit.
Jokic seemed to get an unusual amount of tap-ins using nothing but muscle to get in close and his reach to get to the ball over Poertl. He has a nice soft touch on those balls and rarely misses the opportunity when offered. His shots away from the rim are so ugly he looks like a refugee from a Senior league at the local rec center, but he makes them and form doesnt count.
Whatever. we won and should be proud of the team ffor coming back from the edge of Cancun time in such a defiant fashion. Play your best at home, Nuggets, we are the raggedy 2019 Spurs--but we ARE the Spurs.
I noticed the same thing-came into this thread to say it but you beat me to it...great minds think alike
I thought it was huge. Rudy got to get some happy time working over dudes he could use.
This created happy time for the whole squad when they saw Rudy turn to the page with some positive results
I thought this move was important to the success of the game
My concern was that the Spurs were shooting nearly 60% from the floor and only up 5 near the end of the third. That was frightening as I don’t expect them to shoot that well in Denver.
But still, fantastic bounce back performance and I pray the young nuggets get nervous in game 7.
Thanks TimVp.
I think your too easy on Patty Mills, all I saw was attempted flopping and missed shots. Clearly, the Spurs have no other choice and Patty runs hot and cold but game 6 he was cold offensively and defensively, and even some poor passing in the 4th. I would give him a D.
I like how the Spurs defended Jokic, it was similar to years ago when they let Stoudamire (Suns) go off but limited the 3pt shooters. Spurs cant get into a 3pt barragefest, especially with Bertans a non factor.
Also, I am not a fan of Derozan; but that might have been his best game yet as a Spur, maybe A+.
In hindsight, benching Bertans turned out to be the right move. Will give the old man credit for that as well as going with the bigger lineup more that allowed Rudy to get comfortable playing the 3.
As I said before the series started, forcing Jokic to score 30+ on single coverage with the timely double is your best bet at slowing down their offense. Obviously, he still tacked on another 9 assists but it's their best shot. When losers like Harris, Craig, Beasley and Morris get theirs, that's when the Spurs have no shot....
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