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spurs looked good in that game.
It was great to see Manu Ginobili back on the basketball court. Within a few minutes of watching him play, the offseason ankle surgery became a distant memory. Oh and yeah the San Antonio Spurs played a game on Monday night. With the help of a third quarter run led by Ginobili (who else?), the Spurs defeated the Memphis Grizzlies to improve their record to 7-6.
The run in the third started with six minutes gone in the quarter and the Spurs only up three points. Ginobili then scored seven of the team’s next nine points to spark a 23-9 burst that essentially put the game away. George Hill also played a big role during that stretch, as he scored ten points without missing a shot.
Until that run, the young Grizzlies did a good job of keeping the game within reach. While Memphis will struggle to win games this year, their collection of talent is impressive. OJ Mayo looks like a bonafide scorer who could one day lead the NBA in that category and Rudy Gay has superstar potential.
For the Spurs, things are looking good. Ginobili is back and seems healthy. Roger Mason, Jr. and Hill continue to play well. The Spurs are also on the right side of .500 for the first time this season. Going forward, San Antonio needs to continue to just build on this current momentum.
Tim Duncan
30 minutes, 14 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks
6-for-18 from the field, 2-for-3 at the line
Tim Duncan had a difficult time on the offensive end of the court. Memphis deserves a lot of credit as they swarmed Duncan with the duo of Marc Gasol and Darko Milicic – who combine to be one fierce 14-foot, 570 pound Grizzly. With the refs letting the bigmen play, Milicic especially did a great job being physical with Duncan. On the other end of the court, Duncan was able to get some revenge by playing stellar defense. His rotations were on time and he gobbled up many contested rebounds. Overall, it wasn’t a day for Duncan to remember but he gave a quality effort.
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Manu Ginobili
11 minutes, 12 points, four rebounds
3-for-4 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line
Prior to the game, Manu Ginobili said he was going to take things slow and be conservative. Yeah, right. As expected, Ginobili came out attacking from the moment Pop put him in the game. Although he’s obviously not in tiptop basketball shape, he actually played very well. If you had been living under a rock for the last three months, it would have been difficult to tell that Ginobili was coming back after a 12-week absence. Ginobili was attacking the basket, finding the open teammate, drawing fouls and just basically making plays – like usual. All things considered, Ginobili and the Spurs couldn’t have hoped for a better performance in his return.
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Roger Mason, Jr.
39 minutes, 18 points, three assists, five turnovers
6-for-12 from the field, 5-for-7 on three-pointers
Starting at point guard, Roger Mason, Jr. was lights out from three-point land once again. He hit his first five shots from beyond the arc after going 7-for-10 in his last outing. Mason’s confidence is high and he’s taking good shots within the flow of the offense. Against the Grizzlies, Mason struggled a bit at times running the offense and making the right passes, which helped lead to the five turnovers. Defensively, he had a few lapses but was overall decent enough. On the whole, it was another positive outing for Mason.
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Michael Finley
32 minutes, seven points, five rebounds, three assists
3-for-8 from the field, 0-for-3 on three-pointers
Michael Finley wasn’t as crisp as he’s been of late but he still helped out. Defensively, he actually did a really good job on Gay for long stretches. In the second half, however, he seemed to tire a bit and Gay was able to get a few open shots and hurt the Spurs on the offensive glass. Finley forced a few shots offensively but considering how hot he’s been lately, it’s tough to be mad at him for just about any attempt.
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Bruce Bowen
30 minutes, three points, four rebounds, two steals
1-for-4 from the field, 1-for-4 on three-pointers
In the first half, Bruce Bowen’s defense against Mayo was lights out. Mayo, who came into the game averaging more than 20 points per outing, was only able to score three points in the first half. Bowen’s defense wasn’t as sharp in the second half but by the time Mayo really got going, the game was out of reach. Offensively, Bowen missed a few open shots but didn’t do anything else noteworthy.
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Fabricio Oberto
21 minutes, two points, three rebounds, three assists
1-for-1 from the field
With all the new perimeter options to play with, Fabricio Oberto is having a fun time whipping passes around the court. He had three assists for the second straight game and he’s making a good pass almost every time he touches the ball. While the passing is great, it’d still be nice for Oberto to help out a bit more in terms of points and rebounds. Maybe Pop can tell him to pass to that round orange ring sitting about ten feet off the ground.
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George Hill
29 minutes, 20 points, three assists, three rebounds, two steals
6-for-14 from the field, 2-for-5 on three-pointers, 6-for-7 at the line
George Hill is making this NBA thing look easy. For the third consecutive game, Hill scored at least 20 points. Again coming off the bench, Hill looks really comfortable in this role. He doesn’t have to worry about getting Duncan or anyone else involved. Instead, he can go out and be as aggressive as possible on both ends of the court. Offensively, the trait that is looking more and more exciting is Hill’s ability to get to the line. On defense, Hill continues to use his Doberman-like tendencies to torment the opponent.
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Matt Bonner
15 minutes, nine points, two assists, one rebound
4-for-4 from the field, 1-for-1 on three-pointers
Whatever shooting slump Matt Bonner went through to begin the season is now forgotten. He hit all four of his shots against the Grizzlies and looked extremely confident in doing so. Bonner has been money in the pick-and-pop plays in the last few games, especially when running it with Hill. Defensively, he was pretty good but not as good as we’ve seen in his last five games. Bonner also needs to grab more than one rebound in 15 minutes.
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Ime Udoka
11 minutes, four rebounds
0-for-2 from the field, 0-for-2 on three-pointers
With Ginobili back, Ime Udoka will likely be the swingman who will be on the outside of the rotation looking in. His offense and decision making is just a mess right now and he’s not making it up on defense – although his rebounding was impressive against Memphis. Hopefully Udoka figures it out and can be an option down the line when needed.
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Kurt Thomas
ten minutes, four points, two rebounds
2-for-2 from the field
Kurt Thomas is very slowly but somewhat surely looking better as the season has gone along. His post defense was strong against Memphis and he hit both of his perimeter shots. It’d be nice to see him rebound more but I’ll take any improvement we can get at this point.
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Jacque Vaughn
eight minutes, four points, two assists
2-for-3 from the field
After Hill cut his elbow after being tangled up with Kyle Lowry, Jacque Vaughn came into the game. Vaughn was very aggressive and while the aggressiveness led to as many bad plays as good plays, you can’t fault him for the effort. But at this point, Hill has far and away won the backup point guard job. Hopefully Pop agrees.
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Anthony Tolliver
four minutes, one point, one rebound
1-for-2 at the line
Anthony Tolliver didn’t do much in his four minutes of action. The most memorable play was when Duncan got mad at him for cutting to the basket instead of staying out at the three-point line. Duncan gave him the evil eye after he threw the ball out of bounds.
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Gregg Popovich
Pop did a good job on Monday night. He resisted the urge to play Ginobili more than planned, even though Ginobili looked healthy. Pop adjusted the rotation in a way that kept Mason and Hill comfortable while making room for Ginobili. With as well as Bonner was shooting, I would have liked to have seen a bit more of him. Instead of Bonner, Pop opted to go with small ball - which actually worked out quite well against Memphis.
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Offense
The offense was again humming. The Spurs shot 47.2% from the field, including 10-for-24 on three-pointers. Outside of Duncan, the team shot 51.9% from the field. After nine first half turnovers, they only turned it over three times in the second half. Getting to the line 21 times is a quality number with this group, as are the 20 assists. If Mason and Hill can continue to thrive even when Ginobili and Tony Parker are back, the offense this year shouldn’t be a problem.
Defense
After two games in which the defense took a half step backwards, the Spurs once again came up with a vintage defensive performance on Monday night. In the first three quarters of the game, the Spurs didn’t allow the Grizzlies to score 20 points in any quarter. Overall, Memphis shot 39% from the floor and hit only three of their 13 three-point attempts. The Spurs also did a good job on the boards – grabbing nearly 80% of the available defensive rebounds.
Drive to Survive
Next up for the Spurs is a date with the Chicago Bulls at the AT&T Center on Wednesday night. On Friday, the Spurs take on these same Grizzlies. While the Spurs aren't out of the woods just yet due to Ginobili's minutes being limited and Parker still being sidelined, this team is playing well enough that winning both of these games is very possible.
Believe.
Last edited by timvp; 11-25-2008 at 08:27 AM.
spurs looked good in that game.
timvp are you using sleep in your life?
nice read ! good to see Manu back, this guy is special : 11 min 11 pts after 3 months break, he is not human.
All we need now is TP and a big... Ian please move your ass to get in shape soon.
Mayo looks very good. I think he will get overlooked for ROY because he plays for Memphis.
Great read as always, only thing I didn't agree with was the improved defensive play of Thomas, I thought he looked lost against Marc Gasol.
It is increadible how Mason and Hill adapted so easily to the Spurs system, you have to give tons of credit to Pop and Tim because they certainly helped the process.
The only problem is that 4 of the 5 current best players are all on the backourt. Sure you could play 3 of them most of the time but when the Spurs play against long or physical threes like Odom, Diaw, Outlaw, Artest, Howard... it will be a problem particularly on the boards where they are already having problems.
Thanks timvp! can we start a weekly mailbag with questions for you about the Spurs?
Last season was a season of disapoitment, this seasoj is so way different.
I just wonder if Hill and Mason can keep this up? They might hit the wall somewhere in the season esp. Hill. This is his first pro season. So much more demanding from a body.
Thanks for the great write-up!
As a Spurs fan, you can't help but be pleased with Mason's ability to work his way into the Spurs system so quickly and with Hill's performance so far. This is what we call the silver lining to all the injuries. I can't wait to see how the team will play once we have everyone back at full strength. It was good to see Manu on the court again and of course he did not disappoint, but I am eager to see Manu and Tony back at full strength with these guys. It could be special.
Pop went small anytime Ivaroni wasn't going with the Darco-Marc Gasol frontcourt, and that's why Bonner's minutes were limited a bit.
Manu looked like Manu which was great to see. The 1st glimpse of the possible 2 man game with Manu and Hill looks very promising. I'm thinking once Parker returns the Spurs will have a nice, deep rotation with Parker and Mason starting at the guards and Finley/ Bowen as the small forward rotation. That will set up Manu and Hill to come in with a second unit and blitz the other team's reserve guards. If Hill continues playing close to where he is now there will be a guard opposite Manu with the 2nd unit who can create and attack the basket. That should open things up for some high scoring outings.
Timvp.
What did you think of Manu's jumping ability? Was it noticeably better? The dunk looked a little akward to me.
Hey timvp, you think there is an upcoming game where Fab, Bonner, AND KT could all get solid minutes, say 22 each? Hopefully the next 2 games are blowouts and Pop puts in 2 of those bigs, I think they've been given the least amount of time to gel/get back in game shape.
Sleep is the cousin of death.
PM Kori. She is the idea person.
Not in the first half. But yeah, in the second half Pop pounced with that small ball lineup once the size was out of the Grizzlies lineup.
Compared to his best jumping last year in the regular season, it was obviously quite a bit worse. But that's to be expected since he's not in basketball shape.
Compared to last year in the Lakers series where Sasha Vujacic looked like Vince Carter in comparison, Manu's jumping was much improved.
I think Oberto and Bonner have gotten enough minutes to get in game shape. KT not so much but he hasn't exactly earned minutes with his play.
The next game in which the bigs should get extended playing time is probably Saturday at Houston.
I'm in for the mailbag one, but too bad i'm too lazy to pm kori...hope she get blinded of pm from fellow spurstalk members
Free Throw Attempts Per 48 Minutes
1. George Hill - 8.1
2. Tony Parker - 7.9
3. Tim Duncan - 7.6
4. Roger Mason, Jr. - 2.8
The above stat is the reason I'm most excited about Hill. Guards who can get to the line consistently are invaluable. If he can keep it up and make getting to the line a habit, he's going to really help out. Add in Ginobili and the Spurs could actually be able to get to the line this year.
RMJ isn't very good at getting to the line but he's an improvement when compared to everyone else on the team.
Thanks timvp
now that bonner is playing so well, i think now is the best time to trade him. package him with another big and/or udoka for a true center. i just don't see bonner in the rotation come playoff time.
That's a great stat. Last year only the big 3 went to the line. Now we have 2 PGs that can keep attacking and putting pressure on other defense the whole game
Oh really.
What true center is that pray tell?
I'm cutting KT some slack beause I think his recovery from injury has something to do with his sub-par performance to-date. As for Oberto, I think Manu's return is going to energize his play.. those two have a special chemistry.
Going forward there are a lot of things to love about this team and I think timvp hits the nail on the head with all of these points.
Our backcourt looks to be the most fearsome in the NBA once TP comes back to the court. Not only can Tony and Manu take it to any other "starting" frontcourt in the NBA, but it is significantly deep as well. Parker/Hill and Ginobili/Mason looks to be incredibly capable. It is exciting to think of the possiblities of pairing Mason with Parker. Mason's playmaking ability will give Parker the option to play off the ball with some regularlity and add yet another wrinkle to the offense. And a Parker/Hill backcourt adds a lot of speed in a small set that can breakdown defenses. It makes me think of the Chris Paul/Speedy Claxton lineup from a few years ago. Meanwhile Jacque Vaughn proves to be a superb 3rd (and if behind Mason-4th) option at the point. Ahearn is hard to pin down whether he is truly noteworthy yet. But as purely a developemental player (and our 5th option at the point) hes hardly worth worrying about.
On the wings the team is not nearly as strong but looks to be still be respectable. With the aforementioned Mason/Ginobili lineup likely to dominate the 2 position we are left with Bowen/Finley/Udoka at the 3. Earlier in the year this looked to be a gaping hole for the Spurs. Bowen looked old, Finley looked even older, and Udoka looked confused. Fortunately, only one of those remains true today. Finley is hitting shots like crazy and (gasp) playing defense. He is contributing consistently now and seems to have been a solid signing. I like Finley's play now better than ever. Bowen seems to be fairing much better as well. Idealy, Finley can keep his level of play high and allow Bowen to come off the bench. Bowen will probably still close out games, but playing Bowen with the second unit will not mire the offense as badly with Hill/Ginobili back there. Unfortunately, Udoka is lost in the sauce. He hasn't seemed to figure it out. But I'm hopeful that he will. And Udoka has proven to be a respectable small ball PF, meaning in a small set he has value. Hopefully moving forward he can pick it up as well and challenge for more minutes.
In the post is where the Spurs are most concerning. Duncan is Duncan, but a little older. While hes still sensational, it's concerning to be required to hang 40 minutes around his neck every night. We need to be saving him for the playoffs and need to be able to find quality options elsewhere to do so. Oberto and Thomas have underwhelmed me so far and don't look like they're worth the money. But their veteran savvy could prove invaluable down the line....just not at the moment. Bonner, while literally bombing out early on, has looked very good. If he can play like this consistently I think he has a shot at cracking the starting lineup in this weak big rotation. And if hes hitting his shots, Bonner can truly space the floor for Duncan and accomplish the one task that he was really signed on to do. Another consequence of that move would be to place Oberto in the second unit, thereby maximizing his time with Gino. Tolliver hasn't shown a lot so far (albeit in limited minutes). Hes a ballhawk and very active. But hes small, struggles rebounding, and his shooting has looked nothing like SL would indicate he can do. He looks like a nice prospect, but might not have it together enough to really contribute this year - especially if Bonner stays hot. The wild card here is Ian Mahinmi. What can he contribute? Hes basically a rookie and there are serious questions surrounding him right now. But this frontcourt is so weak that he could realistically come in and command a respectable amount of minutes. I seriously doubt he starts, but as a key reserve in the post he looks to be able to add a new facet to their play down low. Scoring, athleticism, and youth are in short supply in the Spurs frontcourt, and Ian seems able to contribute all of those.
I like these two rotations:
Starters - Parker/Mason/Finley/Duncan/Bonner
- This starting rotation is pretty well rounded. All the players can score, and most can defend (ahem, Bonner). But Bonner spaces the floor for Duncan and allows him to do his work down-low. All 3 of the perimeter spots are dangerous and can hurt opposing defenses.
Backups - Hill/Ginobili/Bowen/Mahinmi/Oberto
- Hill and Gino apply most of the offensive pressure and mix in Mahinmi looks down-low periodically. Oberto is at his best offensively also with Gino on the court. Bowen then locks down the best offensive contributor for the opposing force.
And to close games you play the big 3 with either Mason or Bowen at the other swing spot plus the big that is playing best on the night.
I really am starting to like this team moving forward. While we're weak in the frontcourt (and a trade might be in order...somehow) we might be able to pull through if Mahinmi can chip in.
I agree with most of the things you write Darkwaters but regarding the rotation I will go with a :
Starters - Parker/Mason/Bowen/Duncan/Oberto
Backups - Hill/Ginobili/Finley/Mahinmi/Bonner to ensure the scoring, Hill is a rookie He will have a lot of up and downs, if he has a bad day with a line Hill/Ginobili/Bowen/Mahinmi/Oberto all the scoring will depend on Manu.
For sure everyting can be mixed.
I think guys like Bonner or Udoka aren't good choices for the starting lineup.
Matt plays better in the second unit like Ime. When both were opening like started, they played ugly.
About Bowen in the second unit, I think the Spurs need starting the game with at least one good perimetral defender.
What has surprised me most about Hill has been his slashing ability. He's quick and crafty, and gets into the paint pretty easily. If he can become a consistent finisher, he could become a very dangerous scorer. Mason has also impressed with his ball-handling abilities and ability to penetrate. He's definitely a gunner, but he's shown the occasional ability to get to the basket and to the line.
Since the dawn of the Big Three, the Spurs have never really had any consistent slashers outside of Tony and Manu. Now they might have a third and possible fourth, giving them some completely new options and opponents a new wrinkle to figure out.
It's already been said, but I love the facets of this team once they become whole again. And I'm impressed with their ability to come together as well as they have thus far.
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