Tim has lost the ball against seemingly every double team this season. Its like watching him get doubled as a rookie again. He'll start making the correct decisions again eventually (which mostly just amounts to making a decision quickly), he just has to remember how.
Tony tried harder on defense tonight to keep in front of Nash, and even get through screens, the area which usually has me yelling at him through the TV screen. I was surprised to see he only had 11 points tonight as he kept the cylinders pumping on the offense throughout the first 3 quarters.
Manu stepped up and took over for a stretch in the first half when we needed it.
Richard took his turn taking over in the 4th. It is great to know that RJ is playing so well that the Spurs can win a high scoring game w/ TP finishing 11/6. Did Richard Jefferson have a 4 consecutive game stretch this good the entirety of last season or the playoffs? Great stuff! He has completely become apart of the team, "one of the guys," which might have been one of the biggest problems for him last here, imo.
Tiago Splitter is a golden god. I was looking over his stats, and despite having 7pts, and 3off boards in just 15 minutes I was left thinking Didn't he do more? Timvp reminded me of his 3 drawn fouls on defense. Having a guy who has such an impact off of the stat lines, as well as one on it, is great and the Spurs couldn't have asked for someone who fits their needs better. Its as if Fabricio Oberto managed to become fast, and picked up an offensive game.
Garrett Temple could barely bring the ball up court, and should probably have his pg minutes given to Manu whenever George is unavailable, and have Neal pickup the extra time at SG.
Finally, I get the feeling James Anderson still isn't quite in the best shape he could be, and in a month or so he will be finishing more of his drives to the rim. His decision making is proving to be fantastic however.
Well the fact that Temple has a lot more experience in this system was the reason. Offensively and Defensively he is better equipped to play when the game is on the line at the moment. Once Hill comes back I would hope Temple is pretty much "buried" on the bench, because I am not very impressed with him so far at all this year.
dude that is why no a grade tonight
Overall, a pretty sloppy game from the Spurs, but incredibly, our talent actually won the game for us - in the end, we were just too much for the Suns to handle. Compared to last season's semifinals debacle, the Spurs did not seem tired or worn out come the 4th quarter; in fact, it looked like the Suns were the old, tired, outmatched team.
RJ played like RJ can for the 4th straight time, and in fact notched his best game of the early season, and one of his best as a Spur. I 100% agree his flurry of three pointers from the corner "basically won the game" for the Spurs. Last season, when all the other Spurs were running out of gas, RJ was unable to step up and make big plays for us down the stretch. He's had no trouble asserting himself throughout the game in this early stretch.
TP9 is another person that some may overlook considering only the box score. His defensive presence on Nash was extremely vital to us managing a win. He wore and wore on him and in the end, Nash was exhausted and too well defended by Parker, leading to a string of bricks when they needed him most. Big props for a strong defensive effort, including battling through foul trouble, despite not turning in a big game on the other end.
Manu was good, but ineffective in the second half. I thought he was a bit careless and just looked out of sync after managing a stretch of 8 straight points in the first half.
James Anderson looks like he could be a big help. His three point stroke seems more than decent, and he demonstrated he already has a feel for his role, shooting, driving, and passing as the situation calls for it. Defensively, he's got plenty of athleticism and length to cause players trouble. I remember him giving the Suns trouble whenever he trapped.
And how could I forget about our most exciting acquisition of the offseason, Tiago Splitter? He's definitely played better than I expected this early in the season, coming off an injury. He's deceptively quick footed and has a very good sense for the game. I also liked how he was aggressive anytime he got the ball in the low block area. His FT stroke is terrible, though. Don't wanna forget Timmy, either, but the description of how he helped us is pretty much by the script .. that amazing game saving block has to be 40th or so of his career..
Overall, can't be disappointed in a win, especially against the Suns on the road.
Last edited by z0sa; 11-04-2010 at 12:32 AM.
While I was typing people gave good reason for Temple to be in there, i.e. manu/neal can't stick with Steve Nash. Good point, anyone who said it.
dp
Right, I didn't say he deserved one. I agree with the B+, though its hard to argue with 25 and 17 if someone does want to give him the A/A-.
the thing i like this season so far is that this team has so many options. plenty of guys on the bench that can play. plenty of guys that can step up when and win other guys aren't playing well. this is key.
Pop must be ing his pants, feeling like a boy in a candy store. Hes got a ton of options, i also noticed mingus, when one lineup stops working he goes to another one, this was definetly missing last couple of years.
I like,
tp, anderson rj,
and either duncun/splitter or duncan/dice
That TP,Anderson,RJ,Dice,Splitter lineup was moving the ball very well offensively there in the beginning of the 4th
That was a good one too, Anderson is looking better and better with each game.
The Spurs make-up is transforming from the Big 3 to the fab five of TD, Tony , manu, rj and splitter. If we have any chance of winning another le it's got to come from those 5 guys collectively , we can no longer rely on TD to be a dominant plyer. Our receipe for success will look more like Detriots 5 le team of Billups , hamilton, prince, sheed and big ben
I gave myself a C+
Yes but our defense is nowhere near the elite level of that detroit team's defense. It's currently not anywhere near the elite level of past spurs championship defense.
It would be nice if Splitter can help the spurs take a step in the right direction, at least.
I was getting frustrated with Parker on Nash....
Not Parkers fault, he was getting shaved off Nash on some REALLY good screens, but I KNEW he was eventually going to get called for something eventually after draping over Nash's back almost the entire game.
I was suprised it took so long and when it DID eventually happen, it should have been an offensive foul with Nash keeping the dribble and backing up into Tony a bit.
Someone needs to step out and cut off the roll more quickly on help defense. There was a number of plays where Tony was helpless and stuck behind Nash because the help defense was totally lacking or was just too late. They just need to get out there and check him off the roll long enough for Nash to think twice and/or allow Tony to get back in position, then get back to their man.
Cut off the screen for Nash and take away a few stupid turnovers and this would have been a blowout in the making.
Last edited by phyzik; 11-04-2010 at 01:45 AM.
B+ for Duncan is not high enough. I realize he had 6 turnovers in just over 33 minutes and I realize the Suns didn't exactly have Wallace and Wallace to throw at him, but he also posted a ridiculously efficient line in that time as well. His performance merited at least an A-.
I hope this is not another scenario where CIA Popped has taken a player so far out of his natural abilities and role that it s with him. Remember when we picked up Stoudamire and he was doing just fine as a facilitator 1st and foremost and then scoring but only when it was a good fit? CIA Popped ordered him to keep horking it up 1st and it just messed him all up. I see some of the same thing with Blair in that he is forcing shots that just do not seem like him at all. He was NEVER selfish last year and certainly played team ball.
Well, 4 games and the Spurs are 3-1 with the Grizzley doing 26 min per game so it can't be all bad.
Agree with your other takes. Yet i know you type up this initial summary quickly so I'm gonna agree with a few other posters that said lets not forget Timmy Dunks 25 and 17 before we say Soft "won the game for us".
Thrilled as we are to see give much effort! That is indeed great to see!
A quality win over a quality team. Duncan was superb. TP and Manu had good first halves, but cooled considerably in the second half, though TP's defense on Nash in the second half was outstanding. Splitter, Dice and Anderson were all stellar. Anderson and Splitter just keep getting better and better. It's going to be a real treat watching their development over the course of this season.
All that said, I'm most proud of the game RJ had tonight. He endured a lot of criticism last season, and rightfully so. Most times, he seemed to be "walking on eggs s" trying to fit in and just never looked comfortable. Since the start of this season, however, we have already seen the results of all the hard work he'd put in over the summer. He's been a much more aggressive and confident player. His free throws are up. He's looked engaged and active defensively. However on tonight, he even took it up a notch above that. He was absolutely brimming with confidence and his 3-pt stroke was picture-perfect.
I'm so glad the Spurs took advantage and came away with the win. It would've been a shame to waste such a scintilating, shooting performance from RJ.
The turnovers still a bit of a concern and made the game a lot closer than it probably should have been. The good news is it's early in the season and as the cast becomes more familiar with one another, hopefully we'll see a dramatic reduction in this area.
If RJ continues this trend a tip of the hat to him and the coaching staff for turning him around. I've never seen a player roll back the clock like he has so far.
It's not even a roll back of the clock, this is a level Jefferson has never actually reached before. He's scoring more with much greater efficiency in less minutes of play.
This isn't Jefferson simply "earning" his contract or his starting spot. Jefferson is at an unconscious level right now.
Again, I'm 99.9999999% sure his efficiency is going to go down, but I'm not going to rag on him when it does. It's only human. Like I said, I'm just pleased that he looks so much more in sync out there compared to last season.
Will he continue to shoot that way? No
BUT, if he keeps up the defense, and the aggressiveness? He earns the contract.
Im confident though that outside of his jumper the numbers will be there.
I am a little worried about TPs offense. His shot looks OFF--when he's willing to even take it--and as a result he has been overdribbling at times to try to get nearer to the basket when the opportunity really isn't there.
His defense was great, but there are simply too many pg's in this league that he won't be able to contain (Paul being one) and he's going to have to offset that.
I'm never worried about any of the big 3 on our team. They've got championship pedigree, they've been through slumps in the past. They'll be fine.
Well said, tp didnt have that bad of a game 4-11fg, 3-4 ft, 3 boards, 6 assists, played his ass of on d, and had a +10.
With the the advantage pgs have in the league today, he contributed well enough. The win was a team effort. You cant have 20 and 9 every game.
I just hope TOs cut down and its the vets committing them..
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