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thanks for the writeup
A trip north of the border couldn't cool off San Antonio. Winning their ninth straight game, the Spurs beat the Raptors 113-106 in a surprisingly high scoring affair. It wasn't always a thing of beauty but improving to 5-0 on the Rodeo Road Trip is no small feat.
For the second straight night, the Spurs blew what appeared to be a comfortable advantage. And for the second straight night, the Spurs made enough big plays late in the game to pull out another win. Once again, Tony Parker played a starring role in the final stanza. Playing all 12 minutes, Parker had 14 points and three assists as the Spurs held off a suddenly red hot Raptors squad.
Defensively, the Spurs had by far their worst showing of their winning streak. Going against a team missing three of their top six scorers including leading scorer Andrea Bargnani, San Antonio allowed Toronto to shoot a blistering 54.7% from the field. DeMar DeRozan, who scored 53 points against the Spurs last year in their two meetings, poured in a season-high 29 points.
The Spurs are next in action Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles against that city's best team.
Tim Duncan C
Tim Duncan's streak of five consecutive double-doubles came to an end -- partially by design. The coaching staff obviously wanted to rest Duncan as much as possible on the second night of the back-to-back and their goal was accomplished by sitting him for essentially the last 18 minutes of the game. While he was out there, Duncan wasn't very active; it was the first time he looked tired in a couple of weeks. Defensively, he was slow to rotate to defend the rim and didn't offer much help against the pick-and-roll. On offense, Duncan settled for jumpers; seven of his eight shots were outside the paint. It wasn't a horrible night at the office but the future Hall of Famer had been playing at a much higher level as of late.
Manu Ginobili B
Though the rust is still apparent, Manu Ginobili is making strides. Defensively, he looked much better tonight. He was able to stay in front of his man and maneuvered well around picks. In fact, he had more success defending DeRozan than anyone else. Offensively, Ginobili's lack of chemistry with his teammates oftentimes hurt the flow. He wasn't very crisp running pick-and-rolls and his timing was a bit off when it came to passing and spacing. On the plus side, Ginobili was able to score three buckets a night after being held without a field goal. It was great to see him knock down his first three-pointer since his return, if only so he could prove to himself that he can still shoot with four screws in his hand.
Tony Parker A
With Duncan and Ginobili limited, Tony Parker proved once more than his All-Star berth was well deserved. His playmaking was consistently outstanding. He was finding shooters on the perimeter and running two-man sets to perfection. In the second half, I thought Anthony Carter played great defense against him yet Parker still found ways to power the offense to the highest point total since Jan. 7. By going 12-for-12 at the line, Parker is now shooting better than 80% for the season. Defensively, I wasn't too pleased with his play in the first half. However, in the final two quarters, he gave much better effort on that end of the court. Overall, I give a lot of credit to Parker for realizing that the Spurs really needed him tonight and relentlessly attacking from opening tip until the final buzzer.
Richard Jefferson B
I thought Richard Jefferson played one of his better first halves of the season. Defensively, he was energetic and played with much more passion than usual. Instead of just reacting to what the Raptors were doing, Jefferson actually made plays on D -- which has been a rarity for him this year. On offense, he was making quick, sharp decisions. Unfortunately, that quality play took a nosedive after halftime. After getting benched for a couple defensive mistakes in the beginning of the third quarter, Jefferson was silent the rest of the way.
Danny Green B
Like Jefferson, Danny Green thrived in the first half. He hit all four of his attempts from the field, which included three three-pointers, and both of his free throws. For someone who has seen few shots hit net during the winning streak, let's hope it's a sign of things to come. On defense, Green was solid early and especially spectacular on the defensive glass; he had all seven of his rebounds in his first 11 minutes of action. The second half, though, wasn't nearly as kind to Green. Defensively, he was horrible at getting around screens and the Raptors smartly exploited that weakness over and over and over again. On the other end, he was held without a point.
DeJuan Blair C
Looking especially landlocked tonight, DeJuan Blair wasn't of much help. On offense, he was too shot happy and failed to a hit open teammates a few times. Defensively, Blair was bad in pick-and-roll sets, sagged off his man too far, didn't even attempt to protect the rim and only had one defensive board. Blair scored three quick baskets in the third quarter to save his performance from being deemed a complete disaster.
Tiago Splitter B+
Duncan has Tiago Splitter to thank for his half-night off. Splitter was playing well enough on both ends to man the frontcourt basically by himself for the last quarter and a half. Pick-and-rolls and post-ups continue to be his very successful bread and butter on offense. His ability to find open space while he's rolling continues to amaze. Defensively, I thought he could have been better in one-on-one situations but his team defense was good and he did admirable work protecting the rim. Rebounding-wise, he could have been more physical a few times on boxouts but he otherwise he did his job.
Gary Neal C
Tonight, Gary Neal shot well but his playmaking reverted to "highly questionable" status. He had one really good pass to Splitter but the rest of the night he struggled to find the open man. Defensively, Neal reverted a bit as well -- and if you remember his atrocious early-season defense, you know that definitely wasn't a good thing. And even though it looks like he rebounded well, most of those boards were simply a case of fighting his own teammate for an uncontested rebound. All in all, Neal didn't play nearly as well as his stat line suggests.
Matt Bonner B
It appeared like Matt Bonner was limping around all night but he still managed to be quite productive in his 20 minutes. With Pop running a few plays for the ex-Raptor, Bonner was as aggressive on the offensive end as we've seen him this season. On defense, while he boarded well, he had a lot of trouble staying with anyone out on the perimeter. When Toronto went small, Bonner wasn't able to keep up and that led Pop to going small as well.
Kawhi Leonard C+
Coming off the bench again, Kawhi Leonard just never made much of an impact. On offense, he was invisible. Defensively, Leonard was active but didn't make much of an impact. And really, the blame isn't all on the rookie. When the Raptors were scorching in the third quarter, Leonard was on the bench the entire period. Personally, I thought that would have been the perfect time to put him in the game but apparently Pop felt otherwise. Leonard got into the game in the fourth but by that time the Raptors had so many players hot that it didn't matter.
Cory Joseph Inc.
Playing in his hometown, Cory Joseph was given a few charity minutes at the end of the first half. As it turned out, it wasn't a very good decision by Pop. Joseph completely stalled the rhythm on offense and was out of position consistently on defense. It was a nice gesture but those few minutes helped the Raptors gain confidence heading into intermission.
Pop C+
Pop made a few iffy decisions in addition to Joseph's charity minutes and Leonard's omission from the third quarter. Playing Parker 39 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back in the middle of a long road trip was reckless. The playcalling in the second half didn't involve many of the role players. I understood going small but playing Parker, Neal, Ginobili and Green together for a key stretch in the fourth was pushing the boundaries between small ball and lunacy. That said, it's hard to argue with the results: another win with Duncan and Ginobili only playing a total of 39 minutes.
Thanks, Timvp. Nice commentary, as usual.
That 3D sign thing at the ends of the court D
It's sort of cool, the first time you see it. But it's also annoying as . I put it right up there with Boise State's blue football field.
Does it disturb anyone but me that Danny Green led the team in rebounding, with seven? And he got all of those in the first half?
Or that Tony Parker had 14 assists, but Toronto still had more assists than we did?
Or that Toronto took ten more shot attempts than we did? Ten. Double digits. And they actually made six more field goals than us?
Any win is a good win, but against even a decent team, we would be excusing a loss because it was the second night of a B2B. I'm still a fan of Danny Green, but he sure as isn't developing into a lock-down perimeter defender. He does a lot of good things, but Manu needs to teach him how to get around screens. (Manu was awesome at it tonight.)
On a positive note, there were a few times during the last two games when I thought, "Hey, Splitter is making other players better." Most of the people here have watched Tim long enough to understand that without a long explanation. I'm not suggesting that he's playing at the level of a young Duncan, so don't try and start that fight. Just that he's providing more than just his own PER.
Edit: Do you think Neal was bothered by getting his Achilles stomped on last night?
Thought Gary Neal was much better than a C.
Good write-up, timvp. Can't really argue with the grades. A win is a win and it's nice to see the win streak continue, but the D really needs to pick up again.
Kawhi Leonard should have played the 3
pop was stupid
Good grades all around.
I agree, I was thrilled to see Ginobili swish his second 3 point attempt with perfect form (along with a handful of free throws) because it demonstrates that he can still shoot post-surgery.
When you play a weird team like Toronto, weird things happen. The Spurs have historically been adept at beating the opponent at their own game, and Toronto's game is much like the Suns' old 7 second offense (just not nearly as well done and effective) so there are weird bounces and crazy stats.
Also, 2nd of a b2b, I don't look too much at anything but the W.
Great take once again Timvp!!! Couldn't watch the game tonight, so I really looked forward to your in-depth analysis!!!!!!!!
you got tony ranked A? thats a bit too high for my liking...B+
lets concentrate on the negatives
- 5 turnovers, most of it came from running into stupid defenders tryin to coast to coast after every calderon basket (he has nothing to prove against this scrub)
- when we needed baskets, he took like 2-3 straight possessions doing stupid like chucking shots
- he was part of that famous 3rd quarter lineup that blow its 9pt lead, only to be save by the bench
BLAIR = C? hahahahaha bull
The best thing about this game was playin 40mins and the team only committed 6pfs only...the last 5pfs came in the final minutes of the game....defense all game was lazy hole, but not many freebies was handed out...
I agree with the grades. I especially agree with what I think you are saying about Pop playing Cory just for the of it. I think we lost a lot of momentum during that time and we struggled to get it back.
I know it's his people up there and Pop is a sentimental guy. We won and all, but we seemed to have our foot on their throat and suddenly Pop changes the lineup and we give it all back off stupid turnovers and blown coverages.
Really? You can't look at turnovers in isolation. It becomes a meaningless stat. Assist to turnover ratio is ultimately what matters. If you doubt this, just imagine if Tony had 100 assists to 5 turnovers. Would you still point to "5 turnovers" as a "negative" for the game? You have to look at the ratio.
Thanks for the writeup. Agree Manu is easing back into it. He looked better tonight. I think it's only a matter of time before he's close to top form. Agree though that the screws would throw anyone off mentally even if they don't physically alter his ability to shoot. It's a bit concerning.
I don't agree with the foul take. No personal fouls can mean we aren't playing aggressive defense. In the days we were going deep into the playoffs, it wasn't unusual to have a guy in foul trouble early. An aggressive defense would not have allowed that kind of scoring to happen tbh.
Agreed. I almost wished that it would show some actual advertisements just for variety.
I heard "big toe" on the telecast. Either way, yeah it probably played a role in his slower than normal play.
And listening to the Pop interview now, he said Bonner had a sore knee ... so that would explain the limping and the inability to defend out on the perimeter.
parker has been huge on this trip 3 games over thirty on the road trip
cp3 and tp should be a good battle in la
you do know there were parts of the game where he was trying to make a point with calderon who was clearly outplayed and only trading early baskets...
hence 2 of those run in turnovers with defenders, he couldve pass it off, but he wanted to penetrate split the defense for some sort of basket...like i said if he makes shots ppl will glorify him, when he doesnt ppl will hate him...
spurs tend to do alot of stupid plays when theres a lead...
And Toronto hitting 10 or 12 in a row didn't help.
the defense wasnt there tonight, just lazy effort, but we didnt commit any stupid fouls or givin away freebies...no problem playin down to the compe ion thinkn they can hang with us, but sometimes i prefer we go for the kill, then toying around with the kill
Oklahoma City 95
Houston 96
Final Box Score
We committed a few stupid "and one" fouls when we should have just stopped the ball. That fast break foul call on RJ was bull , RJ didn't even contest the shot and he should have avoided the dude if he wasn't going to contest it. There were a number of times a shooter was fouled but not really defended going to the rim.
Low pfs doesn't mean good play. Wheel chair teams don't foul that much either tbh.
spurs were tired tonight
duncan also played 18 minutes
the spurs lazy defense tonight really turned back the clock for the raptors players in the 3rd quarter...fkn carter, derozan, butler...
has anyone noticed most of duncans points this season all come from that 18ft jumpshot, where else his inside game when contested by a defender are pathetic as blairs inside game
this game
kl and green gambled to much on defense running under the screen and giving wankers like derozan and butler to much spacing (butlers pts came from open jumpshots)
Another too close for comfort type game. Raptors have no effective iso scorers (I guess you can argue DeRozan) much like the Pistons and we still struggled defensively. Raptors are averaging 88 points on the season, didn't have their leading scorer and were on a b2b and we still allowed 106. Definitely take the win but the defense needs to improve. (Maybe as simple as timvp's suggestion of taking out Neal for Leonard in attempt to slow down the main catalyst.)
-Neal wasn't helping in the 2nd half, would have liked to see more Leonard, especially on DeMar.
-Manu looked pretty damn good. He made some pretty aggressive passes to Tiago in pick and roll situations.
-Parker exploding tonight certainly wasn't a surprise with Calderon and 36 year old Anthony Carter being the primary defenders.
-Tiago sudden minute increase in relation to Manu's return? Splitter has been the first big off the bench the last 2 games and usually with Manu attached to his hip. Although it was obvious tonight that the goal was to rest Duncan whereas last night Tiago and Timmy actually shared the court a few times.
Also I commented on how Ed Davis and Amir Johnson weren't great from beyond 15 and TD21 said that they were dependable enough. Tonight, they certainly were, Amir even hit one from like 19 feet. Amir would be the perfect Blair upgrade... tough on the offensive glass, shoots from the high post, is not a black hole, and hes athletic and long.
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