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Thanks.
The Spurs cruised to their easiest win of the season with a 105-83 victory over the Hawks on Wednesday night. Outside of a stagnant stretch from the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the third quarter, the Spurs had no trouble with these listless Hawks.
San Antonio can thank their bench for the ease of the win. With the starters lacking energy and making numerous defensive mistakes, the reserves delivered intensity and overwhelmed this depth-challenged Atlanta squad.
Overall, it was a definitely a good night for the good guys. Tim Duncan got to rest and the youngsters got some confidence as the Spurs embark on a three-game road trip.
Tim Duncan B
Offensively, Tim Duncan wasn't too special. He missed all three of his perimeter shots and his decision-making was a beat slow. However, I liked his physicality when the Hawks sent multiple bodies at him. On defense, Duncan was really good. He showed on the pick-and-rolls well and also defended the rim. Best of all, he controlled the defensive glass, which allowed the Spurs to get some easy points in transition.
Tony Parker C
Coming off of a series of really good outings, Tony Parker was human tonight. He never got into a rhythm and had a handful of questionable decisions. Defensively, Parker was bad. Really bad. In fact, Pop pulled him a couple times for allowing Jeff Teague to drive into the middle of the lane. All that said, Parker had a burst of good play starting at the end of the third quarter that officially sent the affair into garbage time.
Richard Jefferson C+
The good news is that Richard Jefferson was at least aggressive with his shot selection. He wasn't passing up shots, which is more than we could say about him recently. Unfortunately, those shots he selected didn't include anything going toward the basket; Jefferson simply doesn't drive the ball to the hoop any longer. Defensively, he had a few moments of competence but mostly loafed at that end of the court.
DeJuan Blair C-
DeJuan Blair was just a mound of unbridled aggression. Early on, the results were almost all negative. As the game progressed, Blair got better -- but his game remained undomesticated, to put it kindly. Pop was urging him to play hard, so in that respect Blair succeeded. But the Spurs need their starting center to play the smarter brand of basketball we saw out of him earlier this season.
Kawhi Leonard B+
This was definitely Kawhi Leonard's best defensive game in a while. He wasn't giving Joe Johnson an inch of space, even though Atlanta's star guard has a rather deep bag of tricks. Johnson, who had 53 points in his last two outings, finished with ten points tonight (only six when Leonard was in the game). On offense, Leonard was silent until garbage time. Going forward, the rookie needs to find ways to continuously remain a threat on offense or else defenses are going to sag even more than they already do.
Danny Green B+
Another solid performance out of Danny Green. On defense, he was contesting so many shots that it was like having another bigman on the court. His individual defense wasn't too hot but the rest of his play on that end was superb. Offensively, his outside shot looked better tonight than in recent games, but what really stood out was his passing. Green can find teammates off the dribble and he's especially adept at making pinpoint crosscourt passes.
Tiago Splitter A+
What more is there to say about the man right now? He's just absolutely on fire. In Tiago Splitter's 20 minutes of action, he did about as much as physically possible to help the Spurs get the win. He's not missing shots. He's making really good passes. His defense is really good. He's running the court. He's supplying the reserves with a toughness and a swagger. Let's just hope Splitter stays healthy and will be called upon when the going gets tough.
Matt Bonner A-
When Matt Bonner gets hot, he makes it almost impossible to beat the Spurs. Tonight, he made the Hawks pay for any daylight by knocking down five three-pointers. When Atlanta started to concentrate on him, other players got wide open looks. Defensively, Bonner held Josh Smith in check -- which is no small task. All in all, this was Bonner's best game of the season.
Cory Joseph A-
Playmaking had been Cory Joseph's main problem in his short NBA career. Versus Atlanta, he made more plays in this one game than he had made the entire season. When he wasn't smartly pushing the tempo to create open looks for teammates, he was getting into the lane and finding shooters. Defensively, he wasn't great but he didn't back down and stayed in the middle of the action. Hopefully the Toronto native can use this game as a confidence builder and take this level of play out on the road.
Gary Neal B-
Gary Neal played all of his minutes in the first half. In the final two quarters, Pop opted to give Leonard extra playing time since he was doing such a good job on Johnson, which cut out Neal's minutes. When Neal was out there, he wasn't bad. His defense was average at best but on offense he made good decisions and resisted the urge to jack contested jumpers.
James Anderson Inc.
Will the Spurs pick up his rookie option for next season? As of this writing, I haven't heard official word -- though from what I was told earlier today, it wasn't likely.
Malcolm Thomas Inc.
At least he can jump. Other than that, Malcolm Thomas didn't show anything in his limited minutes.
Pop B-
When the starters struggled early in the third, Pop quickly put in three bench players. From there, the Spurs took off. Pop did a good job of resting Duncan and I liked that he allowed Leonard to defend Johnson for most of the night. However, I really question how Pop handled Parker's minutes. Allowing Parker to play 30 minutes in this much of a blowout is inexcusable. What made it worse was that Joseph was actually playing well. (Oh, and since the Spurs won, I won't complain about Splitter's minutes. But I can't say I'm confident Pop is going to play him enough in this upcoming road trip.)
Thanks.
I was wondering if you going to post this or not. This is something I look forward to read after a every game, so far you perfect every time. Thank you.
You know an opposing team's scout's first thoughts when they watch our team is "I'm really glad Tiago doesn't play 30 MPG".
The most promising aspect coming out of this game to me was Corey Joseph's continuing development. Just as Splitter did earlier in the season you can see him improve little by little each game. He really shined tonight. This is important because we can't really count on TJ Ford staying healthy. I would rather have the more experience backup on the bench, but it is nice knowing we now have a serviceable alternative.
I was high on Cory after seeing him play in the one preseason game, and I'm glad he's starting to show some upside - especially after his horrid performances in Austin.
Nice grades as always!
People always seem to talk defense first when discussing Kawhi, but I really think he has a chance to develop into an equally good offensive player. He just seems to have a natural rhythm for the game. He just needs more time and a little more confidence. I wouldn't be surprised to see him averaging 18-20 points per game within the next few years.
Was I the only one that noticed kawhis confidence level went up on offense when malcom Thomas came into the game. I thought they showed pretty good chemistry in their little amount of time on the court together.
Cool, needed this recap because I missed the game.
Was I the only one that noticed kawhis confidence level went up on offense when malcom Thomas came into the game. I thought they showed pretty good chemistry in their little amount of time on the court together.
Good stuff. Gotta love that Cory Joseph highlight where he did a spin move in the lane ala Tony Parker and dished it off, this game was probably his best so far. Also great to see that the Spurs can pull off solid wins with relatively smaller contributions from the Big 2/3
But man, are the Hawks a dumb and almost depressing team to watch. Smith was gifting Bonner 3's, all that talent and he's a knucklehead. Their bench also fell apart, finally getting Kirk back into the lineup probably only hurt their chemistry.
Thanks Tim.
The entire game looks different when Tiago is on the court. The opposition suddenly turns into more of a jump shooting team because the paint is shutdown.. he impacts all 5 guys on the court because his rotations are so good.
Great stuff.
Not brown nosing or anything but...
Timvp's grades>>> 48moh grades... tbh..
thanks for the grades - could not see the game tonight - although it seems that tony's grade is rather harsh for a guy scores 15 pts on 13 shots, 7 ast, +7, and generally is the only guy on the team who can regularly create his own shot / create for others. timmy can do that occasionally.
also, you cannot expect tony to play 30+ minutes of great offense every night - btw, this is imperative for a spurs win, since gino is out - and give great effort on defense. overall, i am delighted with this tony, considering how he started the season.
good writeup, LJ... agree all around. Thanks
Good writeup!
A positive early morning read for me!
Matty relieving himself in style.
Right now Splittler should be the 2nd big and a starter and if Bonner plays more like tonight Blair might find himself increasingly in the dog house. Blair stat padded at the end and C- might be generous.
I almost look forward to these write-ups more than the game itself tbh...
Agreed on the grades. It's good to see Splitter happy and confident after all those strange DNPs last season and his relatively limited minutes this season.
I didn't like Pop pulling out Tiago so early in the second. Until then Splitter was beasting, as usual, and Tim just wasn't that good offensively this game. At least he should have come in for Bonner at this moment and give Splitter 2 or 4 more minutes out there.
I wouldn't call it horrid. It was just very difficult to integrate Joseph into the lineup with a guy like Dentmon's playing such a prominent role. In a perfect world, they wouldn't have played together or coach Jones would have severely limited the game plan to accommodate Joseph's development, but it's tough to do these things on the fly in the D-League while trying to maintain the #1 record.
+1 fine remark !
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