How easy is to neutralize Tony Parker?

[pjjrfan]

Tony is the key to these series - and I will stand by this.

Without Manu the Spurs can't win but the same is true for TP and Duncan. The team is all built around those 3 guys.

If Tony can play at the level we know he can this series shouldn't be going over 5 games. More than Manu, TP is the key - he's been playing below horrible level and that gives me hopes he can bounce around. When he's playing at his level, few people can stay in front of him and, most importantly, he can definitely push their bigs to automatic fouling him on penetration. If you want to neutralize their bigs with this particular match-up they are presenting to the Spurs you need to ask your guards to drive them through straight to the paint and make them foul you. The Spurs have 4 players who can do that easily. Not many team can do that.

Also, I think Pop should definitely review the Splitter situation - being a rookie in the US he's been playing high level basketball with multiple accomplishments overseas. The Grizzlies guys are too big for the Spurs regular "bigs" and I think Splitter has the size to mess with them for a while

Tony is key. And right now he is struggling to find his game, his, shot, but he can do a lot of other things at this point Tony is pressing to find his game. No one on this team is really playing championship level basketball. But withou Tony's A game we are going to lose.

[GSH]

The biggest problem is that he has missed a bunch of shots at the rim that he usually makes. He used to have a bad habit of coming up looking for whistles, rather than focusing on finishing and letting the fouls take care of themselves. He had gotten away from that the last couple of seasons, and he's been a much tougher player because of it. But on a lot of these shots over the last two games, it really looks like he's mentally done once the contact comes, and waiting for the refs to bail him out.

If he had been making just an average percentage of his shots at the rim, we wouldn't be having this discussion. His numbers would look a lot better, and that would have forced the Griz to bring more help defense on him, which would leave him more places to pass.

[timaios]

He's been terrible both games.... especially at the end.

He made 2 great assists at the end... to RJ for the 3 in the corner and to Dice for the easy 2, i think that's the moment the game was won.

Parker is not great for the moment but he fights through it.

[DMC]

If Tony was easy to neutralize, he wouldn't have 3 rings and a Finals MVP. The guy is crafty, fast and dominates in the fast break. He's not easy to neutralize.

[Pauleta14]

Well his decisions at the end are questionable, although this specific jumper usually falls for him (you might have noticed he scored it once in the first half, actually). His shooting isn't too great (6-14 this time, not horrible but we would expect 7-14 or 8-14 on a usual night).

12 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, and only 2 turnovers + decent play on the defensive end. It doesn't look all that ty to me (especially since he, like the rest of the Spurs team, didn't get any love from the refs tonight).

People will remember the 2 possessions when Pop obviously told him to burn the clock down - and will forget the 2 clutch passes he made just before to create the lead.

This.

[MannyIsGod]

No hate on Tony, btw... or CoM BS either... I'm just bringing this up because one game can be luck, but two games is a trend...

No, two games is slightly more than one game.

[MannyIsGod]

If Tony was easy to neutralize, he wouldn't have 3 rings and a Finals MVP. The guy is crafty, fast and dominates in the fast break. He's not easy to neutralize.

Exactly.

[Cane]

He is going through a rough stretch but he still had 7 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 rebounds, a block, a steal, and 12 points on 6-14 shooting like what will_spurs posted.

Parker has been altering his shots a lot, imo he's overrating the Grizz's shotblocking.

[Proxy]

He made 2 great assists at the end... to RJ for the 3 in the corner and to Dice for the easy 2, i think that's the moment the game was won.

Parker is not great for the moment but he fights through it.

TBH, he was good... the pass to RJ was key, but if we want to realistically win another ring, then we need him at all-star level. We need him hitting the mid range to keep the D honest. He's usually clutch with that shot.... he doesn't have any confidence for some reason.

[G-Dawgg]

He's just adjusting....after all, this is the first time in years that he hasn't had Eva cheering him from the stands in the playoffs....

[Obstructed_View]

Parker may not have been world-beating Parker the last two games, but he's been far from "neutral". Funny how much better he was this second game when he was allowed to be the point guard instead of Hill.

[igruex]

Hopefully he will find his jumper next game, that's crucial to give him more space to attack the paint it kind of affects his mentality too. We need him to carry us in MEM, he should be taking 15-20 well selected shots, after all he always has been our most reliable scorer.

[spursbird]

Haters always hate.

[Slomo]

It's not that easy really....

[TDMVPDPOY]

grizz pulling out a playbook from the lakers 3peat....shut tp driving lanes....

[NewJerSpur]

It's not that easy really....

Judging from that pic, with the look on Parker's face, it looks like Allen has his hand in the proctologist zone.

[Bambililos]

TP has not been playing well enough, to say the least. He's way too passive at the moment, but I'm confident he will get it right for the rest of the series. Everybody knows he's the key to the series, and he won't let us down.

[JonNOKC]

Tony has been pretty good in the 1st half of both games - so maybe he needs to change whatever hes doing at half time (hope hes not texting)

At the end of this game he had two great looks and just missed - you can't really fault the shots - its not like he took a 20ft jump shot early in the clock, both were 12-16ft shots usually more in his comfort zone

[cheguevara]

Tony blows

[cheguevara]

Tony has been pretty good in the 1st half of both games -

what the r u smoking? he was beyond awful in game 1 and ty in game 2

[JonNOKC]

what the r u smoking? he was beyond awful in game 1 and ty in game 2

My bad on game 1 he played well in 2nd half in particular the 3rd qtr.(15pts, 4asts,1 TO, and 3 steals - of course he had couple poor decisions in last 2 min) and game 2 he played well in 1st half (8pts,5ast,1TO,4-6 FG)

My main point was he hasn't played a complete game for whatever reason and he is the one guy in the big 3 that has no excuses (age, injury, etc)

If TP can play a complete game and make adjustments as the Grizzlies change the way they defend him it would really give Spurs upper hand in this series - our backcourt must outplay theirs

[lefty]

He played like , BUT made 2 great assists in the 4th quarter of game 2

[spursfan09]

I was at the game last night, and he turned the ball over. I forgot how exactly, and I just started booing. I wasn't upset with TP personally, but I think other people started booing and TP just looked around like "really?" Not sure if anyone noticed that or it was just my imagination. I expect much more from TP, but that's because I know what he is capable of. He hadsn't been into it the last two games in terms of his shooting and closing out games, but he's been okay. He tried to take over at the end and couldn't make any clutch jumpers at the end. I'm so used to him making those that I beleive this is just a bad stretch.

[polandprzem]

2 games is not a trend

What's trend then?



I thought Tony would demolish Memphis.
It seems like not only he is not destroying opponents he is making really bad decisions.
Jeez shooting over Gasol just because?
You forcing the switches to have a speed advantage over bigger guys. Not to shoot over them

[Bito Corleone]

When his J isn't falling and our 3s are missing....Very Easy.

This. When a team figures that they don't have to respect his/our jump shot over the course of a game they can fully commit to collapsing on him when he tries to attack the lane.