Something wrong with Splitter?

[Fabbs]

and Bonner was a huge reason they won tonight again.


Man thats gotta be killing you guys.

Eric_Park will you pose behind the Spurs bench with the Bonner/Pop wedding pics emblazoned on your t-shirt?

I'm still waiting for an answer.

[TJastal]

Here's my 2nd quarter commentary.....for anyone interested.

McDyess tip in basket. McDyess's defense cause Noah to miss layup. McDyess offensive rebound off Bonner bricked runner. Deng luckily misses 3, Bonner for some reason got doubled off and was late getting back to Deng. Neal nice runner in the lane. Again Bonner loses Deng on the top of the key but luckily travels with a little pressure from George Hill. SCORE CHI 27 SA 22.

Neal gets a good pass from Dice but misses easy paint shot, Bonner called for over the back on Noah trying to muscle in for the rebound (typical Bonner foul, barely any contact.) McDyess bad outlet pass turnover. Gary Neal weak attempt to fight through a half-ass screen Korver converts a short jumper. Hill misses contested jumper. Neal gets a nice steal to make amends. Manu misses circus layup attempt, Hill rebounds and is fouled, makes only 1 FT however. Bonner & McDyess good defense to force a bad shot by Omer Ashik. Bonner drains a 3pt from top of key. Crowd is pumped. Bonner stupidly doubles off Deng to RJ's man, leaving Deng open for 3, which he drains. Ginobili drive & foul, 2 FT. CJ Watson brick. Jefferson just misses 3pt shot top of key then commits phantom foul on Deng going the other way (he's playing power forward now, Bonner is out of game). SCORE CHI 34 SA 28.

Bulls go on a run with the spurs playing small ball (why, Pop??), RJ can't make shot and makes several defensive miscues during this time. Spurs take time out. SCORE CHI 43 SA 28.

Pop comes back with Bonner @ power forward w/ Duncan. Immediately Jefferson makes a great block, swatting Ashik's driving layup and starting fast break other way. After Duncan misses in the low block, Ashik scores a dunk on a bad decision by Duncan on a P&R. Bonner tries to rotate over, but he's guarding Deng and really can't leave him. Things look really really bleak now, all of a sudden Hill drills a 3 and gets fouled for a 4pt play. CHI lead back to 14 after that. Rose P&R sets up a Deng wide open 3, but he misses, Bonner tried to close out on him, may have distracted just enough. Hill offensive foul on Korver (was close).

Duncan blocks Rose, sets up fast break for Parker who finishes and gets fouled for 3pt play. Bonner good defense on Deng drive, causes a miss. Parker gets fouled on a drop off pass from Bonner, makes 1 of 2 FT. Rose makes a runner, Parker responds with a another layup/foul and missed FT.

Rose misses runner, Bonner (thinking he's Jordan) jumps too early, allows Deng offensive rebound, luckily Bogans bricks a layup, Duncan courageously fights off Noah for the rebound (which for a second made me so proud of Timmy) and starts a fast break the other way that results in Ginobili getting a pair of free throws, which of course he misses both of them.

Spurs majorly luck out in the final seconds of the quarter, playing small ball w/ RJ @ PF again, Noah, just misses a tap in at the buzzer (could have been a momentum changer). SCORE CHI 47 SA 37

[MI21]

I like Matt Bonner. He is good enough to be a low-end rotation player on a decent team. During the regular season, he is actually pretty valuable. I don't mind him for 10MPG during the playoffs.

But Matt Bonner is fools gold. In the playoffs against the Lakers, Phil Jackson and the Lakers will dare him to take outside shots. He may even make a few, but it won't be enough to offset his deficiencies. We have seen it before and it isn't pretty.

Pop needs to realise that even if Bonner plays to his full potential, it is not going to be enough against the Gasol/Bynum/Odom frontcourt. Duncan/McDyess/Splitter (I also have hope for Blair) has a chance to contain the Lakers frontcourt so the sooner those three develop some regular play patterns, the sooner they become an even better combination.

[Mark in Austin]

and Bonner was a huge reason they won tonight again.


Man thats gotta be killing you guys.

I'm happy for Bonner, and I hope he keeps it up. Historically, he's folded in pressure situations so I have my doubts about him. But I hope he proves me wrong.

Is it not reasonable to be concerned about a player being a major part of the rotation and offensive strategy whose past performances in big moments have been so underwhelming?

[Marcus Bryant]

Contrary to popular opinion Bonner is a nice role player to have and is not overpaid.

That said, Bonner is a role player and that role is spreading the floor during the regular season with his range from the 4 spot. I have no doubt that he helps the Spurs win regular season games they otherwise would not, which, of course, helps with playoff seeding and ultimately increasing the number of playoff series with homecourt advantage.

The problem lies in the postseason for Bonner, in which a 7 game series allows opponents to pinpoint the team's weakness and exploit it. Bonner's D and non-clutch shooting is one such weakness.

Again, one need not be a playoff superhero to have real value. And I don't think that Pop & Co. do not realize Bonner's limitations. The problem in the recent past has been that the Spurs had been light in the frontcourt rotation. That is no longer a concern.

There's definitely a spot for Bonner in the rotation. Provided it's during November through March.

[TJastal]

Here's my 3rd quarter commentary... for anyone interested.

Bonner starting 2nd half, Ginobili drains a 3 to open things, great screen by Duncan, just levels Bogans with his shoulder (probably an offensive foul on almost any other player but hey its Tim Duncan). Deng misses jumper, Duncan converts a bank shot. CHI lead down to 5. Jefferson makes a great step over to intercept a pass, Bonner makes a good entry pass to Duncan but just misses hook shot. Rose drains a long 2. Parker misses jumper. Rose misses jumper.

Ginobili brilliant driving layup, goes right by the ty defense of Keith Bogans who should know by now Manu always goes left. Parker almost intercepts a pass (he's really looking to play the passing lanes lately). Bonner almost causes a Noah turnover. Gibson finally fumbles an inbounds pass and spurs fast break the other way, resulting in a layup for Manu. CHI looks really flat at this point. Lead down to 3. Gibson backs Bonner down, Duncan has to leave Noah to help, and Noah gets an offensive putback to quiet the momentum.

Bonner takes a Parker handoff and almost travels with the basketball, doing his dipsy-do little drive into the lane then stop and look for someone to throw the ball too. Jefferson misses a runner. Bonner good help defense on Noah, surprisingly isn't whistled for a foul, causes a miss and fast break the other way where RJ gets a pair of free throws on a good drive to the hoop, sidestepping nicely to avoid a charge.

Bonner with more good defense, this time switching onto Bogans and blanketing the shot attempt (of course, its Bogans though). Duncan battling Noah valiantly again in the block for the rebound. RJ makes a corner 3 on a swing pass from Bonner to tie the game. Rose misses a P&R 20 footer, Parker does a great job of going under the screen and challenging, I think causing the miss.

Bonner misses running layup, but Duncan there to clean up. Gibson luckily bricks a wide open jumper, Bonner late getting back to him on P&R. Duncan makes layup from nice pass from Manu. David Robinson whistling and cheering from the stands (and his whistle is loud enough to hear through the tv). After a few misses from both teams, Parker drills a jumper from the foul line.

Bonner again has to help on a Rose/Deng P&R but IMO is way too late getting back, and luckily Deng bricks the wide open 3. Tim Duncan again outbattles the best rebounder in basketball for the rebound.

Bonner beats the buzzer w/ a short jumper in the lane that my grandma could have made (Noah left him to double TD). Nice, quick release helped him there, to his credit.

Bonner gets picked off and ends up on Noah, who takes him into the post and scores with a lefty baby hook.

Bonner drills a corner 3 on a nice pass from RJ. Korver misses a screen curl jumper, Hill closes out nicely, contests, and IMO causes the miss. Parker makes a brilliant driving lefty layup (suck a EVA). Parker's demeanor this whole game has been different than I've ever seen. There is no smile, no frown, just total focus on basketball. Even Pop's demeanor looks different tonight to me. There is a sharpness to his stare, imposing & intimidating, yet perfectly calm at the same time. SCORE SA 64 CHI 53.

Bonner is again hit with the Rose/Deng P&R, and is once again late getting back and Deng takes him to the hoop this time and Noah draws a foul but misses both FT's. Parker misses jumper, & Rose makes a driving layup on the other end. Pop calls a good timeout at this point, spurs look a little winded here. Out of timeout, Bonner sets a Bonner like-pick at the top of the key & Manu takes it in for a dunk. Luckily all Manu needed was a half a step on his man. Watching Manu slam it down made me scream out loud!!! I was so happy to see he still has IT.

And again, Bonner helps too much on the P&R, (he actually sat guarding NOBODY for 2 seconds like he was confused) and is late getting back but luckily Deng bricks yet another wide open 3 (yep you've heard this before). Hill goes up high for the rebound and starts the fastbreak, taking it to the lane and finishing with a nice floater. ( you Hill haters.)

Deng misses yet another wide open 3 pointer, this time Bonner was caught sagging into the lane, and couldn't close out in time, but gets his own rebound and dishes to Rose for the score.

Ginobili bad pass turnover. Korver misses a couple of J's (Neal good defense on one). RJ takes it strong to the rack and gets 2 FT. Rose blows by Neal who doesn't even attempt to play defense & scores a layup. Hill makes another nice running floater, this time on the baseline. Ginobili makes a better pass this time, & Duncan scores. Neal defends Brewer on the last possession, and causes a turnover.

[doobs]

Contrary to popular opinion Bonner is a nice role player to have and is not overpaid.

That said, Bonner is a role player and that role is spreading the floor during the regular season with his range from the 4 spot. I have no doubt that he helps the Spurs win regular season games they otherwise would not, which, of course, helps with playoff seeding and ultimately increasing the number of playoff series with homecourt advantage.

The problem lies in the postseason for Bonner, in which a 7 game series allows opponents to pinpoint the team's weakness and exploit it. Bonner's D and non-clutch shooting is one such weakness.

Again, one need not be a playoff superhero to have real value. And I don't think that Pop & Co. do not realize Bonner's limitations. The problem in the recent past has been that the Spurs had been light in the frontcourt rotation. That is no longer a concern.

There's definitely a spot for Bonner in the rotation. Provided it's during November through March.

I agree with this, though I'm not so sure Bonner will diminish so much during the playoffs. People don't appreciate how his outside shooting helps the Spurs transition D.

I think he and Blair will be the 4th/5th bigs, with McDyess not far ahead of them.

[TJastal]

If Luol Deng hadn't been bricking wide open 3's (he had them all night thx to Bonner) that game could have easily ended up in the loss column.

[Dr. Gonzo]

If Luol Deng hadn't been bricking wide open 3's (he had them all night thx to Bonner) that game could have easily ended up in the loss column.

If my aunt had a she'd be my uncle.

[mingus]

Bonner still sucks. and i will continue to believe that he does until he comes through in the playoffs. and Bonner wouldn't even have been on the floor if the Bulls had Boozer. and he won't be playing against any of the great teams.

[Russ]

There's definitely a spot for Bonner in the rotation. Provided it's during November through March.

Exactly right.

Bonner is an "innings eater" in baseball terminolgy -- a pitcher you use a lot during the regular season to protect your stud pitchers from overuse until the playoffs.

Every three that Bonner hits buys minutes for your other bigs on the bench. The problem comes if you fail to develop the rotation needed for the money games.

[TJastal]

Here's my 4th quarter commentary, for anyone interested.

Pop going w/ small ball, Dice & RJ as the bigs. Brewer picks off a Hill pass and goes for a dunk (he is lightning fast on the perimeter). Hill makes amends by drilling an elbow jumper.

Ashik gets to the line and makes 2 FT on a P&R, Hill got confused on the switch, McDyess switched & he didn't.

Neal misses a 3, McDyess with the quick hands grabs the offensive rebound. Manu gets fouled, & Neal makes a beautiful floater off the glass. Korver misses a J, McDyess drills a jumper from a beautiful no-look pass from Manu. Neal & McDyess both converge to cause a turnover and gets a basket & foul. McDyess misses a top of the key jumper, & Neal does a poor job fighting through a screen which results in Watson going to the line.

McDyess called for 3 seconds in the lane after executing a poor P&R with Hill. ( o Pop .. do you know you have a guy named Splitter on the team??)
Rose penetrates and thx to small ball makes another floater in the lane, cutting the spur lead to 12. ( o Pop??)

Parker calmly lays off a beautiful pass to McDyess who dunks it with authority. Rose drills another jumper on the perimeter, spurs appear to be playing a zone type defense now with the micro-ball lineup of Parker, Neal, and Hill w/ RJ & Dice.

Neal catches and shoots a top of the key 3 and misses badly. Rose pulls up and hits a long 2 (easily could have been a 3 foot was on line) cutting lead to 6 (could have been 5). Thanks, small ball & re ed zone defense!!

Hill makes a pass to Neal, RJ flashed by, and Neal wasn't expecting the pass, turnover. (Seriously, why is Pop even playing this lineup, its re ed IMO). Why wasn't Tiago Splitter called upon in this stretch where the spurs almost blew a huge lead???) Here I was all crooning and complimentary to Pop who was brilliant in the 3rd quarter, and now has sucked donkeyballs in the 4th with his small ball lineups and defensive schemes.

Rose hits an amazing 3 to bring the bulls to 7. Duncan misses jumper. Scalabrine misses 3, McDyess great box out and draws a foul. Duncan misses turnaround, but spurs get another possession thx to McDyess drawing a loose ball foul on Scalabrine. Ginobili cans a 3.

Hill good defense on Rose forcing a miss, Duncan again outmuscles Noah for the rebound. Parker squirts in for a layup before bulls could set their defense.
Watson hits a jumper. Parker lays off a pass to Hill in the corner for a 3 (and looks like he is fouled AGAIN but no call). Duncan gets a technical foul for showing the refs their was contact on the shot. Total bull call by a crew of bull refs.

Now Deng makes a runner in the lane, Duncan responds with a jumper. Deng again drives this time elbows Hill in the chest and what should have been an offensive foul turns into free throws for Louellen Deng.

Spurs 24 second violation, too much passing. Rose misses 3, Noah finally outmuscles Duncan for a rebound and draws a foul but misses both free throws. Duncan misses a jumper, Noah travels, caused by Manu's pressure defense. Spurs again too much passing (bulls cranking up the defense now), Parker turns the ball over. Watson makes a driving layup.

2 minutes left, I'm thinking.. it's time for a little Manu... and Manu didn't dissappoint..... behind the back all the way to the rim SLAM DUNK BABY. HOLY that was an exciting play!

Korver drains a 3, Parker a little late closing out. Another turnover, but bulls can't convert (Deng misses).

Parker abuses CJ Watson on a wing jumper. Rose cans another 3. Parker fouled 2 free throws for Parker, Jefferson with a great offensive rebound. Bulls stupidly foul Ginobili for 2 more free throws.

Duncan great defense on Deng, corrals the rebound & spurs go to the line once again to close out the game basically.

[Chomag]

I agree with this, though I'm not so sure Bonner will diminish so much during the playoffs. People don't appreciate how his outside shooting helps the Spurs transition D.

Have you been watching the spurs in the playoffs since Bonner has been on the teams rotation?

[jjktkk]

Look at it this way. Because in recent seasons the Spurs had pratically no front court depth, Bonner played irreguardless if his shot was falling or not. This year, with much better front court depth, Bonner will have a much shorter leash IMO. So come playoff time, whatever Bonner contributes wiill be iceing on the cake. I love the Spurs over all front court depth and the versatility each front court player brings. Come March I can see Splitter being a regular rotation guy, if not in the start lineup, depending on that particular oppenent.

[Spurs Brazil]

Why does it have to be Splitter or Bonner?..

Blair is clearly the worst of the 5 bigs on the team..

I'm not in favor of putting Blair in the dog house either, and I'm not in favor of seeing Bonner get starter's minutes..I want the Spurs to play their bigs based on specific situations, and based on resting Duncan for the playoffs..

The Spurs aren't going anywhere if Splitter doesn't contribute, so I really hope Pop doesn't pull this ..Splitter has already looked levels better than Bonner and Blair defensively, and he's the only other threat that the Spurs can have in the post..

Blair is definitely the biggest liability of the 5 though..

I'm hoping, by the playoffs, the minutes will be:

1. Duncan
2. Splitter
3. McDyess
4. Bonner
5. Blair

Great post, Harlem, agree 100%

[jjktkk]

Pops is a dumb ass when it comes to his refusing big men. Blair sucks. He has no offensive game at all. Gets his stuffed all night, is not giving us second chance points and cant defend.......We need to deal him or run him on the second team.

I hope Splitters lack of PT is just to make sure he doesnt reinjure himself.

What do you mean refusing big men? I would think most hetersexual men would refuse big men. Now that that topic is outta the way, did you realistically think Splitter would be a instant 20/20 guy from the start? No training camp, no preseason, and you want Pop just to put em in and just let Splitter dominate like a young Duncan huh? You seem a bit delusional.

[silverblk mystix]

He picked 3 fouls in 2 minutes against the Thunder, then returned for a minute or two in garbage time.

Against the Bulls, of the 96 minutes available @ PF&C, Duncan, Blair, Dice and Bonner played 84 minutes. I guess, Jefferson played 12 minutes at 4. One of the bigs won't play some games.

About the Lakers bigs, McDyess is listed 6'9", but he's actually more than that barefoot. His true height is around 6'11" in shoes. He and Tim will do fine against Bynum and Gasol. For Odom, the Spurs can use Splitter or Jefferson switching Blair or Dice to guard Artest, who is strength more than speed. I don't think Pop will use Bonner against the Lakers.

The last time that the spurs played the lakers was this past march or april...it was a sunday game at l.a.

The spurs played well and the game turned into a blowout. Timmy and Dice played big and more than outplayed Gasoft/Glassnum.

The biggest two surprises IMO-was RJ manhandling Odumb and -believe it or not- Bonner was on Artest and completely neutralized him. I think Pop has this in mind and he has kinda figured out the laker puzzle.

I am the biggest Bonner hater-I freely admit it....but Bonner on Artest actually
worked! I couldn't believe it myself-but watch the game for yourself.

There is no way that Pop will do what some are suggesting here-which is that Pop will only play Bonner through March and then somehow-Pop will wake up and relegate Bonner to the bench in favor of Tiago for the playoffs.

It is the same reasoning that was used when Bonner was re-signed and many posters here said that it was a good signing-provided that Pop only use Bonner sparingly. Well, guess what...for better or worse...Bonner has already eaten into both Blair and Splitter's minutes. Bonner will probably start from tomorrow on....until....who knows.

[JustinJDW]

I think Duncan, Dice and Splitter should be our main three bigs, with either Dice or Splitter starting. Blair and Bonner can split minutes as the 4th big, all depending on who the opponent is and game situation.

Bottom line, Splitter needs to be a big part of this team if we are going to go anywhere in the Playoffs. Lets be honest, if Bonner and Blair are both getting 20 minutes a game, then that's probably not a good thing. Overall, Duncan, Dice and Splitter are clearly our best bigs and especially on the defensive end.

Bonner and Blair should be the guys splitting minutes, depending on what situation we are in during the game and what we need. Blair for rebounding, energy, hustle and scrappy defense. And Bonner obviously for spreading the floor and knocking down that automatic 3-ball. But either way, Duncan, Dice and Splitter should be the guys with guaranteed minutes every night. And their is no need to worry about Blair's development. Dice is retiring after this Season, so Blair is probably going to eat up all the minutes after that.

But no way we can play Blair big minutes against the Lakers and Celtics. Those guys have loaded frontcourts with Gasol, Bynum, KG, Shaq, Jermain O'neal and so on. Honestly, Pop can't be planning to start 6'6 Blair against those guys and possibly expect good results. If he honestly expects a positive result out of that, then I fear for this team. Blair has been getting his swatted all Season long so far against guys like Taj Gibson. The thought of Blair trying to shake Gasol with some weird footwork, half traveling and then putting up some awkward and forced shot just for it to get easily double-swatted by Gasol and Bynum just makes me cringe and shake my head.

[DAF86]

Because Pop named Blair the starter, McDyess is balling right now and Bonner has a different skillset compared to our other bigs (one that Pop is really fond of), add Tim Duncan and we already have a 4 bigmen rotation, Splitter is the odd man out, he will have his PT against certain teams (LA for example) to match up their size, but if our bigs keep playing the way they're playing right now, I don't see a lot of PT in his near future.

[Bruno]

Splitter will be Spurs' best bigman behind Tim at the end of the season. A NBA season is damn long so it's too soon to worry about him not getting playing time. Spurs will start a 10 games in 17 days stretch tomorrow @Utah, I expect Pop to start giving more rest to Tim and Dice..

[TJastal]

Splitter will be Spurs' best bigman behind Tim at the end of the season. A NBA season is damn long so it's too soon to worry about him not getting playing time. Spurs will start a 10 games in 17 days stretch tomorrow @Utah, I expect Pop to start giving more rest to Tim and Dice..

I disagree, its not too early to start worrying. Pop had the perfect opportunity to use Splitter last night to begin the 4th quarter but instead chose to use a micro-ball lineup which nearly blew a 20 point lead in about 6 minutes flat.

This is why Pop has so many haters, because he pulls this time and time again.

[z0sa]

Splitter: Getting his legs back. Spurs have just entered a tough stretch of the schedule. He'll be fine, CIA Pop just being himself as usual. Bonner, Blair and Splitter will eat more and more time. Until playoffs, of course.

[amigos21]

I hope Splitter gets some more playing time soon. Love watching him play.

[jjktkk]

I disagree, its not too early to start worrying. Pop had the perfect opportunity to use Splitter last night to begin the 4th quarter but instead chose to use a micro-ball lineup which nearly blew a 20 point lead in about 6 minutes flat.

This is why Pop has so many haters, because he pulls this time and time again.

How many haters does he have? So many? How many is that? Every Spurs fan I talk too other than on ST, think people that hate Pop, must be ignorant and sniff model glue.

[TJastal]

How many haters does he have? So many? How many is that? Every Spurs fan I talk too other than on ST, think people that hate Pop, must be ignorant and sniff model glue.

Who's that, your uncle Dilbert and aunt Delilah?