Quick Grades: Spurs at Thunder
By LJ Ellis
San Antonio Dispatch
The San Antonio Spurs were down by as many as 12 points in the first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In the final two quarters, the Spurs dominated — outscoring the Thunder 56-38 on their way to a 117-104 victory. The difference between the two halves? The defense was night and day. After giving up 66 points in the first half, the Spurs made it a halfcourt game, sent swarming double-teams and rotated extremely well. Add in a plethora of three-point splashes and it was game over for OKC.
Tim Duncan C- The moves were there but Duncan couldn’t finish. D was good in spurts.
Manu Ginobili B+ Ice cold in first half but got to line throughout and heated up late.
Tony Parker A- Defense really good. Scoring kept the Spurs afloat for long stretches.
Richard Jefferson A- Actually defended Kevin Durant pretty well. Attacked on O.
DeJuan Blair B+ A little out of control but is starting to produce gaudy numbers.
George Hill C+ Off with shot but the rest of his game was better than average.
Matt Bonner A+ Hit all seven three-point attempts. Good D and rebounded well.
Antonio McDyess B+ Hustled on both ends. Physical under the basket. Jumper off.
Gary Neal B+ Rebounded really well again. Good shot selection. Solid basketball.
Tiago Splitter INC Early foul trouble. Sat and watch Bonner bomb threes.
Last edited by timvp; 11-14-2010 at 10:43 PM.
You missed Neal, who I thought did a passable job.
I also think Dice contribution early in the 4th will be lost in the 7 three pointer madness, but I also thought he was important. Wished he played more in the first half when we had a Bonner-Blair tandem.
Then again, it was a b2b, so maybe Pop was just saving him for the end.
Great game. Possibly the best game of the year. For all the hate he gets around here, Bonner when he is on makes the Spurs almost unbeatable.
No grade for Gary Neal? I think he's doing a fine job on defense, and more importantly I like the fact that he's so enthusiastic about getting better on D.
Other than that, good grades.
RJ's defense and Bonner's shooting were the highlights of the game. A lot to be happy about if RJ can have more defensive efforts such as this one. you also gotta factor in that he's making the defense work as well on the offensive end.
Definitely a game of two halves. I hope we can keep up the defense from the second half around.
Hill has been passing up a lot of good looks. It hasnt hurt us yet. I would think that Tim's block on Durant late in the 3rd that allowed the Spurs to take a lead on the next possession was the biggest defensive play of the game. that was followed by a strong defensive effort by the team that left the Thunder dazed and confused and they never quite recovered. And again the team had a strong 4th qtr. That's a damn good pattern to develop for this team. A major weakness last season.
Thought Dice did a good job breaking down the defense at the beginning of the fourth quarter. RJs defense on KD was pretty good actually, as was the Spurs team defense in the second half.
The ratcheting up of the defense as the game goes on seems to be a trend for the Spurs this season. Wish they could get that second half intensity in the first though.
LOL at "Ice Cold"
That was confusing
Usually in basketball, its used to describe a player who is killing the other team
The most impressive is that it was the back end of a back to back. Granted the sixers didn't do much last night but the "old" Spurs looked pretty fresh against the young guns tonight.
Player of the game is definetly Bonner, loved RJ's defense and Blair is improving!
It's more commonly used in the way timvp used it.
Example: Kobe Bryant was ice cold from the field in Game 7, going 6/24.
The tempo of this game changed when McDyess came onto the floor.
Personally I was glad he was not playing up to that point because I thought the pace was bad for him and we would get run out of the gym with him on the court.
Instead the exact opposite happened. He helped us totally slow them down.
As for George Hill....maybe it was a matchup thing but I thought his defense was best of the year so far. Not as good as we need but the best so far.
Bonner played great D too, its just his red hair makes the ball automatically go in.
Thanks, fixed.
Yeah, RJ's defense was pretty impressive. Last year, Pop gave up on RJ playing the role of defensive stopper by the end of October. This was RJ's first big challenge of the season and he did well
You must be Canadian.
timvp, i thought you would fix your typo after putting neal in but you didn't. you put "stat" instead of "sat." normally, i wouldn't point this out but you are putting this on your news website and typos won't look very professional.
I like how good Neal is rebounding. Last night 7, today 5. Nice to see this from Gary.
You are thinking of "Icey" or "Ice running through his veins" for a player who is killing the other team.
Ice cold means the same thing as everywhere else, no where near your goal.
Yep. Tonight was the first B2B, and it was nice to see so much energy. They looked like a much younger team out there. The Sixers' athleticism gave the Spurs a lot of trouble the last couple of years. Last night, we looked every bit as quick as they were.
The young guys are holding their own. I hope everyone is giving Tony credit for just how awesome he's been so far.
Thanks.
Crying babies
Watching him box out bigs is a sight to see...Knocked Ibaka on his ass.
if duncan is not healthy why this early in the season why play him
TP was awesome tonight. RJ played a very good game too. I liked Neal's aggressiveness out there and that box out on Ibaka was fantastic.
Bonner great too.
Duncan looked fine to me. Pop just chose not to play him.
3 straight games in single digits
said he had flu like symptons a couple games ago
grant it spurs do not need his o now but...
NoThanks, fixed.
Yeah, RJ's defense was pretty impressive. Last year, Pop gave up on RJ playing the role of defensive stopper by the end of October. This was RJ's first big challenge of the season and he did well
You must be Canadian.
Try again
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