Series Grades: Spurs vs. Suns

[timvp]

SPURS 4 - SUNS 1

Series Preview: Spurs vs. Suns

Game 1 - 117-115 OT - Game Thoughts
Game 2 - 102-96 - Game Thoughts
Game 3 - 115-99 - Game Thoughts
Game 4 - 86-105 - Game Thoughts
Game 5 - 92-87 - Game Thoughts


--------------------------------------------------
Tim Duncan

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 24.8
Rebounds: 13.8
Assists: 2.6
Blocks: 2.4
FG%: .495
FT%: .613

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Tim Duncan's points, rebounds and blocked shots were all up compared to his regular season. His assists, field goal percentage and free throw percentage were down a bit. After a decent regular season, Duncan again proved he as another gear to go to in the playoffs.

ANALYSIS
In Game 1, Tim Duncan had one of his best games of his life to kickoff the playoffs for San Antonio. He had 40 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, not to mention his game-saving three-pointer. He wasn't as dominant in the remaining four games but he was solid throughout. Duncan posted five double-doubles, played good defense and continued to be the foundation this franchise is built upon.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
A-
He didn't play a flawless series but considering he had a 350-pound player leaning on him for all five games, Duncan did about as much as could be expected.
--------------------------------------------------


Manu Ginobili

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 18.2
Rebounds: 3.8
Assists: 2.0
FG%: .451
3P%: .350
FT%: .870

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Manu Ginobili played exactly the same amount of minutes per game that he did in the regular season, however his points, rebounds, assists, field goal percentage and three-point percentage were down, while his turnovers and fouls were up.

ANALYSIS
Manu Ginobili’s numbers don’t look overly pretty for the series, although I don’t think those numbers do him complete justice. For the first three games of the series, Ginobili played really good basketball. His only poor outing was in Game 5. Additionally, Ginobili's defense was impressive, both on the perimeter and on the low block. The only aspect of the game he struggled throughout the series was his assist to turnover ratio (he finished with averages of 2.0 assists and 3.2 turnovers). It should be noted that Ginobili battled a groin injury and an ankle injury during these five games.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B
His numbers don't look great but he played well for a majority of the series. Compared to last year versus the Suns, Ginobili was much more consistent.
--------------------------------------------------


Tony Parker

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 29.6
Assists: 7.0
Rebounds: 3.4
FG%: .523
FT%: .762

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Compared to his regular season numbers, Tony Parker's production was up across the board. He had three games with at least 30 points, including a career-high 41 in Game 3.

ANALYSIS
While Duncan is still the foundation of this team, Tony Parker was the engine against the Suns. His scoring and playmaking were extremely important for the Spurs. Outside of the first half of Game 1, Parker rarely had trouble finding holes in the Suns' defense. In Game 2, Game 3 and Game 5, Parker was the best player on the court. If he can continue to play at this level, the Spurs will gladly accept it. Defensively, Parker was also very good. In Game 2 and Game 5, he played suffocating D.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
A
While Parker won the Finals MVP last season against the Cavs, he was much better in this series.
--------------------------------------------------


Bruce Bowen

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 0.8
Rebounds: 1.8
Assists: 0.4
FG%: .167
3P%: N/A

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Bruce Bowen averaged 22 minutes per game but produced remarkably little on the stat sheets. He averaged a combined three points, assists and rebounds per game. Or to put it differently, Bowen averaged 1.8 points per 48 minutes.

ANALYSIS
Grading Bruce Bowen in this series is difficult. On one hand, he may have broken an NBA record for the least amount of points per minute in a playoff series. He went scoreless in four out of the five games. Amazingly enough, Bowen didn't even attempt a three-pointer all series. The Suns obviously made it a priority to not give Bowen open three-pointers and they did a great job of doing just that. However, on the other end of the court, Bowen had a lot of success against Steve Nash. If Nash is the head of their snake, Bowen successfully defanged the Suns.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
C
Bowen's defense deserves much props but his offense made him a liability for much of the series.
--------------------------------------------------


Michael Finley

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 7.0
Rebounds: 1.8
Assists: 0.8
FG%: .433
3P%: .364

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Despite playing significantly more minutes per game than he did in the regular season, Finley stats were almost all down. Only his field goal percentage was up (.433 versus .414).

ANALYSIS
Michael Finley hit a three-pointer in Game 1 to send the contest into overtime. After that, though, Finley didn't do much in the series. His defense was poor, he wasn't rebounding the ball and he wasn't finding many shots in the offense. However, to his credit, Finley also didn't force anything, as evident by his one turnover in 165 minutes of playing time. The Spurs will need more offense out of Finley going forward, although the Suns do deserve credit for covering Finley well throughout the series.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
C
Finley didn't play well defensively and wasn't producing much overall, but he also limited his mistakes.
--------------------------------------------------


Kurt Thomas

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 5.0
Rebounds: 6.8
Blocks: 0.6
FG%: .367
FT%: 1.000

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Kurt Thomas did a very nice job rebounding the ball. Other than that, his stats don't appear too impressive.

ANALYSIS
While Kurt Thomas didn't light up the box score, he was an integral part of the series. His post defense against Shaquille O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire was vital. He battled on the boards and was just a physical force for the Spurs. Offensively, he missed a lot of jumpers, which resulted in his low field goal percentage. But even with the misses, the threat of his jumper helped space the court.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B+
Thomas had a very successful first series with the Spurs.
--------------------------------------------------


Fabricio Oberto

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 5.0
Rebounds: 4.4
Assists: 1.0
FG%: .769
FT%: .833

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Backed by his insane field goal percentage, Fabricio Oberto's scored points at a higher than usual clip against the Suns. However, his rebounding was down compared to the regular season.

ANALYSIS
Fabricio Oberto started the first two games of the series, but then made way for Kurt Thomas. His biggest problem this series was defensively, where he just wasn't a good matchup against either O'Neal or Stoudemire. That said, Oberto competed well and scored a few very important baskets. All things considered, Oberto did about as well as could be expected given his lack of size and athleticism.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B-
The good news for Oberto is he won't face the same mismatches that he faced in the first round.
--------------------------------------------------


Brent Barry

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 3.4
Rebounds: 1.4
Assists: 0.4
FG%: .556
3P%: .571

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
After missing much of the end of the regular season with a pair of calf injuries, Brent Barry held up quite well in the first round. He wasn't too aggressive with his shot but he hit the ones he took.

ANALYSIS
I thought Brent Barry was one of the unsung heroes against the Suns. He shot well, he passed the ball well and his defense was very solid for the most part. Overall, he brought a confident aura to the team, especially offensively. He seems to be getting healthy and should become a bigger part of the team going forward.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B+
Barry played a small yet effective role for San Antonio.
--------------------------------------------------


Ime Udoka

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 3.8
Rebounds: 3.8
Assists: 0.6
FG%: .400
3P%: .111

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Rebounding-wise, Ime Udoka had a very successful series. Offensively, Udoka was only 1-for-9 on three-pointers, but 7-for-11 on two-pointers.

ANALYSIS
It took Ime Udoka until Game 5 to hit a three-pointer but he was able to contribute in other ways. His defense was adequate, while his rebounding was really good. He hit a number of momentum changing shots in the series. Overall, he played his role of being a physical perimeter option.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B-
If Udoka can find his shooting stroke, he might play more and more as the playoffs move along.
--------------------------------------------------


Robert Horry

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 2.3
Rebounds: 2.3
FG%: .300
3P%: .286

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Like Barry, Robert Horry was coming off of an injury plagued regular season. His shooting percentages don't look too healthy -- then again, the percentages are in line with how he shot in the regular season.

ANALYSIS
Robert Horry didn't have an extremely memorable series, but he did make a few plays here in there. In Game 5, he hit a three-pointer to help extend the team's lead in the first half. At the end of the game, he came up with a key steal against Nash. The best news regarding Horry is he seemed to be in reasonably good shape by the end of the series. Going forward, he should have the ability to play decent minutes when called upon.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B-
Horry didn't do much but considering it looked unlikely that he'd be able to play at all, his first round has to be thought of as a success.
--------------------------------------------------


Jacque Vaughn

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 0.8
Assists: 0.8
FG%: .222

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Jacque Vaughn only played 5.5 minutes per game as Pop went with Ginobili and Barry as the backup point guards.

ANALYSIS
The Suns were making the Spurs pay whenever they put offensively inept players on the court. With that in mind, Pop limited Vaughn's minutes as much as possible. As the playoffs proceed, there could be series in which Vaughn will resume his backup point guard role.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
C+
Vaughn was pretty good at Hack-a-Shaq.
--------------------------------------------------


Damon Stoudamire

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 5.5
Rebounds: 1.5
Assists: 0.5
FG%: .500

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Damon Stoudamire had pretty good success when he played in garbage time.

ANALYSIS
While Damon Stoudamire didn't play a role in the first round series against the Suns, he showed enough in garbage time that Pop may look at him if there's an emergency. As a third string point guard, he's not bad.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
B+
Hopefully he continues not to play. Otherwise, something went wrong.
--------------------------------------------------


Gregg Popovich

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Hack-a-Shaq: 26
Buttons Pushed: 86
Rotations Followed: 0

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Pop was very hands-on this series. From Hack-a-Shaq to an ever-changing rotation, Pop was using all the tricks in his coaching bag.

ANALYSIS
While Pop had a few questionable decisions, it was a wildly successful series for Pop on the whole. Hack-a-Shaq was a smashing success. The mid-series starting lineup change was a success. Limiting Bowen's and Vaughn's minutes was a great adjustment. Not only did the Spurs win the series, he got everyone involved.

FIRST ROUND GRADE
A-
Pop's championship experience shined brightly against the Suns.
--------------------------------------------------

[jestersmash]

I honestly don't agree with your "C" grade for Bruce Bowen. His defense on Nash throughout the series was spectacular (especially in that pivotal game 5 near the end). Vaughn has a higher grade (C+) than Bowen?

That really does not seem right to me. I consider Bowen to be more important than Vaughn.

If your grades are not a reflection of how important a player was to the Spurs' victory in this series, then I suppose your grades could potentially be O.K. However, it makes intuitive sense to give a grade based on their total relative importance to the team's success. Maybe that's just me though.

[timvp]

I honestly don't agree with your "C" grade for Bruce Bowen. His defense on Nash throughout the series was spectacular (especially in that pivotal game 5 near the end). Vaughn has a higher grade (C+) than Bowen?

That really does not seem right to me. I consider Bowen to be more important than Vaughn.

Grades are based on each player's expectations.

If your grades are not a reflection of how important a player was to the Spurs' victory in this series, then I suppose your grades could potentially be O.K. However, it makes intuitive sense to give a grade based on their total relative importance to the team's success. Maybe that's just me though.

If I graded like that, Duncan would get an A, Parker and Ginobili would get a C and everyone else would get an F-.

[Manudona]

Haha, I love Pop's stats

[jestersmash]

If I graded like that, Duncan would get an A, Parker and Ginobili would get a C and everyone else would get an F-.

Fair enough, but I'd still say you're grossly underestimating Bowen's importance on the defensive end (giving him an F- along with the other non-big 3 players).

Edit: I'd probably bump Tony's score up at least to a B as well.

[timvp]

Fair enough, but I'd still say you're grossly underestimating Bowen's importance on the defensive end

Stick around for more than one day and see if that holds true.

[Shaolin-Style]

Yeah Bowens offense blew but you gotta be pretty harsh to give him anything less than a B+ for making Steve Nash look like garbage throughout the series.

He'd get some crazy fallaway shot on TP all the time in the first few games, but whenever that started happening pop put bowen on him and Nash was back to being passive.

[timvp]

Suns vs. Spurs Series Plus/Minus

San Antonio Spurs
Finley +25
Thomas +18
Parker +17
Barry +14
Ginobili +12
Vaughn +5
Stoudamire +1
Duncan -3
Oberto -3
Horry -5
Udoka -10
Bowen -21

Phoenix Suns
Stoudemire +16
O'Neal +15
Diaw +8
Giricek +7
Bell -6
Nash -14
Hill -16
Skinner -19
Barbosa -29

What can we take from these numbers? Basically, if the Spurs put offensive players on the court and made Nash actively defend, the Suns were toast. The Suns were best when Nash could be hidden on defense and when Shaq was on the court.

[T Park]

Michael Finley hit a three-pointer in Game 1 to send the contest into overtime. After that, though, Finley didn't do much in the series

3rd quarter game 2?

[timaios]

Michael Finley

FIRST ROUND STATISTICS
Points: 7.0
Rebounds: 1.8
Assists: 0.8
FG%: .433
FT%: .364

FT% : 5/5 = 1.000
3P% : .364

Same error with Brent Barry.

[timvp]

FT% : 5/5 = 1.000
3P% : .364

Same error with Brent Barry.

Fixed thanks.

3rd quarter game 2?

Didn't do much, not didn't do anything.

[polandprzem]

GJ (good job)

I'm not gonna to say that I do agree with grades or not, but I was surprised that you gave Obrto such high grade esp. when you was all over him all series long.

I'm worried about Finley and him losing the offensive rythym after game two. The Suns made it difficult for him. He is not that qiuck to get himself into good position and creating space to take jumpers. Hopefully Scott will not make a priority of closing all the guys accept for big three - the big load the heavy lifting everybody is talking about may be too much for the athletic squad the Scott have there in New Orlean.

I think that game one will be the most important in setting the series momentum, although spurs can break series momentum I think the Orleans freaks can gain from it and storm spurs. We will see.


Back to the Suns series
I think Tim was realy great, not much more to say. He won with Shaq and that can be the argument when talking about places in history.
Bowen was fabulous IMO. At that age he was almost as good as in 2005.
Ginobili was slowed down by those ankles and groins and he made some bad decisions in the series. I hope he will be fine enough to produce on higher level against Petterson


I don't see Oberto in the series much. I think that Kurt will get more playing time of he is able to, cause Chandler Armstong and West can eat Oberto alive. What can save Oberto is his IQ on O and playing along Tim Duncan - we will see.

Damn as much as I wanted to talk about Suns series I just couldn't say something about NO series.


look out!

[mathbzh]

Nice work as usual

I may have given Parker an A+ because I am not sure he can do better than that (Career game + 3 very good game + 1 decent game). But your ratings are quiet accurate.

[ForeignFan]

SPURS 4 - SUNS 1

A
While Parker won the Finals MVP last season against the Cavs, he was much better in this series.

Timvp, I'd like to hear what you anticipate of the CP3/Parker matchup (and I am sure I am not the only one).

[DAF86]

Stoudamire's grade is a joke, right?

[ShoogarBear]

How many Hack-a-Shaq's were there, really?

[Obstructed_View]

Stoudamire's grade is a joke, right?

I don't know, what did you expect him to do? I expected him to be in a suit sitting behind the bench.

[DAF86]

I don't know, what did you expect him to do? I expected him to be in a suit sitting behind the bench.

That's exactly why I think it has to be a joke. He only played a few "garbage" minutes in the entire series. You can't grade that.

Hey, timvp don't let us hanging, is it a joke?

[timvp]

That's exactly why I think it has to be a joke. He only played a few "garbage" minutes in the entire series. You can't grade that.

Hey, timvp don't let us hanging, is it a joke?

OV was right. The grades are based off of expectations going into the series. I expected Stoudamire to either not play or suck when he did play. He actually hit a few shots and didn't play horribly. That's more than I expected.

[DAF86]

OV was right. The grades are based off of expectations going into the series. I expected Stoudamire to either not play or suck when he did play. He actually hit a few shots and didn't play horribly. That's more than I expected.

OK, thanks.

[timvp]

Timvp, I'd like to hear what you anticipate of the CP3/Parker matchup (and I am sure I am not the only one).

timvp/Kori Ellis Spurs vs. Hornets preview coming later in the day.

[polandprzem]

timvp/Kori Ellis Spurs vs. Hornets preview coming later in the day.

dayumn

[Whisky Dog]

Damn, tough crowd. I see why you went away from doing grades in the first place, everyone likes to about semantics.

Bottom line? The Spurs dusted off a top 4 or 5 team in 5 games. A team that, according to the experts, was supposed to win the series. Very impressive.

[angel_luv]

I say " A's" for everybody. It was a group project and they got the job done.

Yea, Spurs!

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Do people always have to ask the same stupid crap after every grade posting?

"wwwwwhoa, LJ, how could you give kurt a B, its almost the same as manu whaaaaoaa"
You sound like idiots.


On another note, rotations followed, is that series or on Pop's side?