Tim Duncan B+
Though he didn't shoot great and was somewhat slow and earth-bound on defense, Duncan was strong enough in the paint on D and did good work on the boards. His transition to playing more on the high post has been seamless so far in this young season.
Manu Ginobili A
It's been a great start of the season for Ginobili. He was once again the best player on the court. His shot-making was very good but it was his passing and overall energy that really impressed.
Tony Parker A
Parker bounced back from a sub par opening night to outplay the best point guard in the NBA in Chris Paul. Parker had nine assists to only one turnover and also had a scoring binge in the third quarter that helped break the game open.
Richard Jefferson A
The amnesty survivor is making the Spurs front office look smart. His jumper looks extremely smooth and he looks surprisingly comfortable in silver and black. When the Clippers made a run, it was Jefferson who routinely answered the bell with key shots.
DeJuan Blair A-
Blair took on the challenge of defending Blake Griffin and did about as well as possible. He played smart defense, ran the court hard and was a force on the offensive end. To nitpick, Blair struggled on the defensive glass a bit.
James Anderson B-
To begin the game, Anderson was a disaster on both ends of the court. To his credit, the second year swingman drastically improved as the game went along. By the second half, he was playing really well and looked like a supremely confident natural scorer.
Kawhi Leonard A-
I really liked the way Leonard played tonight. He made strong cuts offensively but otherwise stayed out of the way on that end of the court. Defensively, Leonard was very strong both individually and help-wise. And, best of all, he was great on the boards.
TJ Ford B+
While Ford's level of play seemed to decline as the game progressed, he was really good early. He's not trying to do too much and is concentrating on facilitating the offense, which is exactly what he should do on this team. Defensively, Ford was effective -- despite the Clippers boasting a trio of quality point guards -- and earns bonus praise for his hustle.
Tiago Splitter B
Splitter's offensive game continues to be iffy. His decision making was poor and he could definitely be stronger and more assertive with his moves. That said, Splitter was once again very good on defense. He moved his feet well and wisely picked his spots when it came to breaking out his world class flopping skills.
Matt Bonner C+
Though he can play better, Bonner improved from what we saw in the opening game. He gave good effort on the defensive end and knocked down half of his three-point attempts. However, it's troubling that he now only has one rebound in 46 minutes this season and appears to have lost a couple of inches on his already limited vertical leap.
Pop A-
I love how Pop is using Leonard right now. To ease the pressure on the youngster, he's putting him into the game early so he can play with the starters. That strategy has also had the effect of allowing Jefferson to play (and get more touches) with the bench unit. Overall, I thought Pop pushed the right buttons, although he was a little too paranoid in the fourth quarter. Putting Duncan and Ginobili back into the blowout was risky in the first game of a back-to-back.
Last edited by timvp; 12-28-2011 at 11:38 PM.
What I liked about RJ was that he was taking the shots. I wouldn't grade him too much on makes vs misses. He was confident and took responsibility for portions of the game while he was out there. We need that from him. With him being like that, and Manu being in other worldly mode, there's enough decision making on the floor to make good things happen. Factor in TP and Tim's decisions and it overcomes athletic ability that the opponent has over us.
Come on...you know Blair deserves an A.
Led the team with +23 tonight.
I think Matt Bonner is out of shape. Too many chips and sodas with his sandwiches over summer. He also missed a couple wide open threes in the short corner, a shot almost every 3pt shooter makes, which seems to lend to the argument that maybe he's a bit winded.
I hate you Matt Bonner
OP Edit: Added grade for Pop
tim duncan = bankshots were falling, should continue to take them if the defender is giving him so much space...
manu = no comment, was unstoppable
tp = was a fkn scrub in the first half, picked it up in the 2nd half...he was lucky cp3 was playin like too busy lookin to setup his own players who all fail
rj = his shots were falling all on uncontested shots
blair = he was beasting down low playing physically on offense and defense which probably got into blakes head (i think he hates gettin physically outplayed, most of his points came during the 20pt blowout with 8mins left in the 4th quarter)
JA = slow start needed to get going, should get to the line more for freebies to get his shot going...was very good on offense not afraid to create his own shots and pulling the trigger...
KL = good defense and rotation
splitter = fkn beasts holding down the forte, solid defense rotations and keeping check of his man whether it was jordan or blake, he got them into trouble early on...
bonner = got too trigger happy after a few shots were fallin
ford = imo he should be forcing the tempo of the game when his playing with the bench and looking at setting up plays instead of looking for his own shots...he did well this game...
Tim did you think Tiago in the corner at the end where he turned the ball over a few times in a row was a bad play call? I didn't understand what he was supposed to be doing over there.
Good read as always, LJ.
It's still too early to get excited but I love how disciplined the Spurs look on the defensive end compared to last year. They are not just being an offense team. I also like how Pop is putting in his best defensive players as the 6th-8th man (Kawhi, Tiago, Anderson) while Bonner is placed after them. Then again, Pop can mess everything up once Bonner finds his shot, but it's good to see Pop is at least taking the risk for once.
I wonder if Bonner's role with the Player's Association during the lockout kept him from working out as much as he should have??? I suppose this could have caused him to fall behind the others as far as conditioning goes if so.
That same line of reasoning though kept Splitter on the bench all last season.
Pop knows he's going to need everyone with this hectic schedule, so he' probably giving Bonner extra burn for conditioning. Or he could just be senile.
I thought Tiago was at least a B+... he was on the floor for long stretches with Matty, and basically manning the paint on defense all by himself...
Blake is a tough matchcup for anybody and Splitter played some impressive defense on him. I wonder if this is something we should expect more out of Tiago.Tiago Splitter B
Splitter's offensive game continues to be iffy. His decision making was poor and he could definitely be stronger and more assertive with his moves. That said, Splitter was once again very good on defense. He moved his feet well and wisely picked his spots when it came to breaking out his world class flopping skills.
i love tiago but him posting up should be the last option with almost any unit. he's much better on the PnR than with his back to the basket.
the only guys in the league that he can score on in the post are probably Blair and Bonner.
I thought he did really good on defense, but the Clippers were not moving the ball very well and that showed. They had a load of broken plays that resulted in forced shots that clanked.
Not sure how long Vinny hangs around if the Clippers aren't beasting by the break.
Kawhi had 8 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench vs the Clippers. Been a long time since we've had a SF rebound that well. Especially a 2nd game SF. That's a damn good sign :-)
Agree with all the grades except Mat Bonner he gets a freakin F-........he can't play any defense the dude just plain sucks. Man if we could some how get rid of him and pick up a real big I would be so HAPPY!
As long as Splitter plays decently and doesn't play like a pussy, we should be fine 3 times out of 4.
Throw in extras like Neo (Mr. Anderson, get it?), Neal, Leonard and a scoring Blair and the sky is the limit.
Duncan - B
Parker - B
Blair - A+
Ford - A
Splitter - B+
Leonard - B+
10 of 19 from downtown, 52%. It looks like the Spurs can win when the 3's are falling.
My concern is Duncan's level of play, yeah I know he no longer is the same Tim MVP. But 10 avg / game? I know it's to early to say, and to small a sample size (2 games), but in the few isolations I've seen on both sides of the court vs Gasol and today Blake, he really looked over matched, I'm not sure we can win with TD who can't hold is own, Manu and TP are not always going to play like this, Is TD at a point where he will never attract a double team ? I hope not. just saying it's a concern. A 10 pt 8 reb avg, is not what I'm expecting from TD this season. are my expectations of the mark? am I missing something?
the way to figure out blake once he catches the ball on the baseline b4 he starts to dribble, is to have active hands and going for steals or trying to know the ball out of his hands....blair/splitter did a fine job just by putting there body there blocking the lanes and being active on defense physically also helped b4 blake did his cradle steps and ....once blake gets past you, its an easy 2pts for him...
splitter did force a steal out of blake on the lowblock tryin to post him up, was a good steal and easy bucket
Timvp, why do you hate Tiago?
td did fine this game man, he got the open shots they gave him and they all went in....the only problem here is he stop shooting afterwards trying to be unselfish and gettin others involve...
Yep, same story, different year.
I really like the defense shown in these two games though not to totally discredit everything they've done so far.
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