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First game grades posted with my new computer.
The Spurs came into Sac-town having played in an unusual number of close games as of late. Perhaps it could be attributed to the recent lapse in 3 point shooting that has been dragging the Spurs down offensively, or just a lack of compe ion from being 7 games up in the conference, the Spurs had definitely been playing less than stellar ball as of late. Luckily, they flattened the Kings from the opening tip, and it was never really a close game after 3:00 into the first quarter. The Spurs opened up with a 14-4 run to begin the game, and held a double digit lead after 5:33 for the remainder of the contest. This marks another milestone in the Spurs season so far, as they have tied the mark for the 5th best start in NBA history.
Player of the Game
Has he arrived? Spurs fans certainly hope so. In what has to be one of the bust-to-breakout games of the season, Tiago Splitter absolutely whopped the Kings. He outplayed the entire Sacramento front line. He outrebounded everyone not named Blair or Cousins. He defended extremely well, arms outstretched, making shots difficult for Kings players to get off. And Tiago Splitter scored... to the tune of 7/8 from the field for 16 points (and he showed some dunking ability, finally). Make no mistake, Tony Parker was probably the best player on the floor Friday night, but he was hardly the story. This is something bigger than him, or any single Spurs player. Because it might be the game that Tiago finally steps up and takes a role in the future of the franchise. Or not. But anyone watching the game would have taken one thing away from it regarding the Spurs young Center: He shows promise. There is potential within his 6'11" frame to play more than adequate basketball. So even though my head tells me to give this award to Parker yet again, my heart says this has the potential to be much bigger than Parker's slightly above average night on the court. He's hoping that we will look back at THIS night as the night that Splitter found his confidence and started to play like the draft pick we waited so long to get. A+. His best game of the season.
Starters
Tony Parker - B+ It is becoming customary to say this, but No. 9 came out with his foot on the gas, and the pedal planted to the floor Friday night. He opened up the lead in the 1st Quarter with an 18 foot jumper from the top of the key and then a big, wide open 3. Tony went 5-7 shooting in the first period, an imprint that took any early momentum the Kings might have had. He has been shooting at a torrid pace lately: aside from the horrible Portland game, Parker has shot 50% or better in every game dating back to January 12th. His consistency and potency with getting in the lane, as well as the 7 assists, were a driving force behind San Antone's early blowout of the Kings. What I would like to see from Parker is a willingness to shut down the other team's PG, as Beno Udrih had one of the best games of the season against the Spurs. Still, 25 points with 7 assists is a number not many PGs in the league could replicate against any team.
Manu Ginobili - D+ I'm officially becoming frustrated with Manu. In the late 3rd/early 4th quarters, Manu suddenly decided to start forcing plays and shots, and he ended up turning the ball over and taking a number of ill-advised shots. On a night when the Spurs needed a kick, it would have been somewhat acceptable for him to take initiative, but why, Manu, why do you think we need heroics when we're up by 15 with a quarter to play? The answer is simple, of course: He's Manu. That's just who he is. He lives to compete, and damn the score. He's going to be the player we've known and loved all these years. But in this game, that was a double edged sword -- instead of putting the Kings away in the 3rd, the Spurs gave up chunks of their lead, and allowed a young, hungry team to stay within striking distance before righting the ship and turning them away late.
Richard Jefferson - A- When he's hot, San Antonio is a war machine. Richard Jefferson continued his streak of good shooting performances, hitting on 6-8 and firing away early to go 3-5 from downtown, with a block, a steal, an assist, and 3 rebounds. One thing I am consistently seeing from RJ is a defensive presence. He is getting hands in the faces of shooters, using his athleticism to force them into bad shots, and generally being a pest. He's also positioning himself extremely well, although he had a few lapses on D. In fact, RJ completely removed Omri Casspi from the game for the most part until very late in the contest. His offense warrants a B, but with his defense added on, I must give RJ a very solid grade for this contest and to hope he continues to improve on both sides of the ball. A few more rebounds wouldn't hurt his stat sheet, either.
Tim Duncan - A- I know that Duncan only scored 12 and 5 in this contest, but when you consider he only played for 13 minutes, that's saying something. Add in the steal and 2 assists, and that means that roughly every 40-45 seconds, Tim Duncan was completing a measurable action that was helping the Spurs win on the court. You can't ask for much more from a player in such limited time. The 2nd game on a B2B provided some rest for Big Funda, and now with 4 days off, he should get a chance to get back to 100% before the next foray on the Rodeo Road Trip. All signs point to a Spurs team that could be very close to 50 wins by the All-Star Break. Remarkable.
DeJuan Blair - B- In case you haven't noticed, Beast Mode has been working his butt off for the Spurs lately. In fact, in 6 of his past 11 games dating back to January 14th, Blair has hauled in double digit rebounding numbers, with a 7th game being a hair under at 9 against Utah. His consistency needs work, but Blair has sufficiently established himself as a player that his efforts and numbers are going to have to go up across the board, because he's elevated the standard by which I'm looking at him at. He has the potential to be a double-double machine, and I expect nothing less. I also expect Blair to be a huge weapon against the Lake Show or the Mavericks in the playoffs, if we get to the WCF. That said, I also want Blair to shut down opposing teams. Get blocks, get steals, Blair. Don't risk too much on defense, but the other team should be scared to go at you for fear of turnovers.
Bench
Tiago Splitter - Look up!
Gary Neal - B- Some might think this is a lenient grade on Neal, who only went 1-4 from 3, but hear me out. Neal didn't force things this game. Even though he shot 25% from downtown, from inside the arc, Neal hit 3-5, including a very solid 2nd quarter which saw him getting into the defense and taking good shots at relatively close range. Realistically, anything inside 16 feet should be butter for a guy with a jumper as sharp as Neal's, and it's yet another deployable weapon in the Spurs arsenal if opposing wings overrun Gary trying to chase him off the 3 point line. His step up shot from the free-throw line extended or from the side in the mid-range could be a valuable way to hurt defenders helping down low or doubling Manu or Parker.
George Hill - C+ Another solid outing from GHill, but this is becoming quite the norm for him lately. Aside from a burst of great play in the late 1st/early 2nd quarters, Hill was largely invisible in this game. But the Spurs didn't need him, and he seems to be developing a lot of mental poise. He could be a very dangerous weapon in the playoffs, especially if he keeps hitting his corner 3s.
Antonio McDyess - C A relatively quiet game for Dice, he nevertheless continues to put solid performances together. His post defense is solid, he grabs some boards, and he's a threat from his patented 18 foot jumper.
Gregg Popovich - A Pop gets a huge thumbs-up this game for finally giving Tiago some real time on the court. His early gameplan was to attack and take the Kings out of their game early, and he had his players engaged from the very beginning of the game, and playing at a high level throughout. 13 points was the final margin, but with Duncan getting just 13 minutes of action, it was a very comfortable win for San Antonio. The Spurs improved to 17-6 on the road, the best mark in the league.
Last edited by Cry Havoc; 02-07-2011 at 08:49 PM.
First game grades posted with my new computer.
grats on the new comp. is it a boy or a girl?
will post comments later.
Congrats on the new 'pooter. And great write-up, can't argue with any of the grades.
Well, it's adorned with Red LEDs, so I named it Ifrit. So I guess it's a guy.grats on the new comp. is it a boy or a girl?
will post comments later.
Great job. Thanks, Cry_Havoc!
Splitter can play - many of us knew it, nice that he's finally shown it. I don't expect him to play like that consistently until he's getting consistent minutes (probably next year), but there's no doubt he's going to be a very useful NBA player some time soon.
PS Blair's nickname is not "Beast mode", it's Grizzly. Get with the program!
Thanks! A good read as usual. It was indeed great to see Tiago get some burn!
loved what i saw from Tiago. he needs to go strong when he has an open lane and put some asses to the floor. needs to put on weight, as we all know. needs conditioning, too. lost his wind later in the game but that's to be expected being stuck on the long end of the bench for most of the season. when he went to the post later in the game, he showed patience... looked relaxed and took his shot when he was ready.
i don't know how much impact he can give the team down the stretch and into the playoffs. but i'm definitely looking forward to Splitter Season 2.
I'm not entirely sure he needs to "put on weight" so much as "play stronger and harder". He could definitely bulk up a bit, but I think what's limiting him more right now is his penchant to try flipping a shot into the hoop, rather than making a strong post-move and getting an easy bucket.
Ginobili has been even streakier than usual in January/Feb.
His last 3 games have been atrocious (start of the RRT). He had 3 solid games before that. The 5 games before that were atrocious. 4 games before that - solid. 3 games before that - atrocious.
Good news is, if he ever gets into a slump during the playoffs, hopefully it'll only last 3 or 4 games and Parker/Duncan/R.J. will be able to step up during his absence.
He constantly says that he's "tired," but that doesn't account for him forcing shots/making poor decisions.
I actually think Ginobili sometimes does not look for his shot enough off the S&R/P&R, and then to "make up" for lack of shots he'll take a bunch of bad ones. On any given night, he's one of the spurs top 2 options on offense (with Tony Parker). I think he embraces the role of facilitator too much at times, and it might be detrimental for his chances of gaining any sort of "rhythm" early on during any given game.
Thing is if we were loosing a bunch of games, Manu would be crucified lately but the spurs are winning so it's all good. BTW I do think if the spurs really needed Manu A game he would go for it, so I'm not too concerned.
I agree with the player of the game, the easy win is more linked to TP play but the most important stat is Tim 13 mn, thx for that Tiago.
Well, we're winning thanks in large part to Tony Parker. I'm actually a bit surprised more people aren't talking about it around here. TP has been playing just spectacularly for the past 10-11 games or so (with maybe one "mediocre" game here or there).
I'm usually pretty lax when it comes to Ginobili's shot selection because he usually makes up for it (and more) at the free throw line, but he's not even doing that as of late. 2, 3, and 2 free throw attempts for the RRT games so far? That's well under his average, and it's a little bit disconcerting.
I have to disagree just a bit on Manu. Yes he forced things, but he always does. We only grade him by his results though, not by his effort. Had he hit those shots, he gets a better grade.
How about that sick pass to TP on the break? That was like circa 2007 playoffs stuff.
All in all, I was glad he was pulled, and afterward the Spurs went up big in short order.
Tiago too often plays with his hands down while facing up on defense. I've seen too many times when he's been taken to the rim and doesn't have time to elevate his arms. He needs to keep his arms up. All in all, he seems like a pretty good post defender though.
Well with our record, ST is very calm with no overreaction: no fire Pop for not playing splitter, no trade TP threads, no Bonner sucks, no Tim is old etc... in counter part no Manu is god, TP best player in the league etc...
Fortunately (or not) things will heat up with the POs.
For the rest TP is playing extremly well lately but sooner it was Manu. Good thing for the moment one is hot while the other is cold, hopefully they will be good in the same time for the POs
That's a fair point. He certainly has earned the right to take those shots and he's made his fair share of them in the past.
Loved that pass to TP. Somebody posted a video of it in the Spurs/Kings postgame thread. Vintage Manu.
If Manu doesn't get a poor grade for what I saw Friday night, he never will. IN fact, he reminded me of Kobe in the late 3rd, trying to take the game over by himself. It was scary to see Manu try to be the only one on the court with the ball with no thought to passing.
manu has earned no right
duncan gets yelled at if he does wrong
manu should to!
this is what i meant.
I'm all for criticizing any spurs player for taking poor shots. No argument there.
That said, Duncan/Parker/Ginobili have all earned the right to attempt questionable shots and not get yelled at by Pop or taken out of the rotation. Those are really the only three guys with immunity in that regard. That's what I meant when I said Ginobili has "earned the right" to take those shots. It's one of the perks of being a part of the "big three."
I'll "yell" at Manu all I want here on spurstalk - not that it's going to make any difference at all, but I'll do it anyways (if warranted)
ok
they only get yelled at if they do wrong by Pop on the defensive end.
Give it up man, it's not sticking!Splitter can play - many of us knew it, nice that he's finally shown it. I don't expect him to play like that consistently until he's getting consistent minutes (probably next year), but there's no doubt he's going to be a very useful NBA player some time soon.
PS Blair's nickname is not "Beast mode", it's Grizzly. Get with the program!
Grizzly doesn't even make sense for Blair, since he is undersized. An animal like a wolverine would work better (they don't let their size affect their badassness). But Grizzlies are just too popular, and represent raw force, like Dejuan, so in that respect it makes sense.
As to the actual thread, great work once again, CryHavoc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your last paragraph was the only part of this opinion that was even remotely close to being intelligent. In the past three games Manu has led the team in +/- all three times (unless you want to count the garbage min guys playing 1 min in the Portland game.
Against the Blazers he didn't play well, but nobody did, and at least Manu led the team in scoring and had four steals. At LA he had eight assists and had a lot to do with the team opening up a lead in the fourth quarter with his playmaking.
Finally, against Sacto, he didn't force too many bad shots. He had 8 in 26 minutes for the game and only three attempts at half. He still had six assists to turnovers. The 3:1 ratio is better than his season average, so I don't understand where that complaint is coming from.
I think too many people judge Manu (and Tony) solely on his scoring and shooting percentages and don't look at the overall game.
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