Grades: Spurs @ Cavaliers - Apr. 3

[TDMVPDPOY]

patty mills has got to be the most overrated player on this team

[NASpurs]

-parker and diaw both deserve an A+. parker killed the cavs' spirit early with his scoring, assists. and when's the last time someone at least 6'8" had 9 assist for the spurs?

Duncan had 15 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists back in 11/30/2010 against the Warriors.

[Mel_13]

and when's the last time someone at least 6'8" had 9 assist for the spurs?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...011300GSW.html

[Johnny RIngo]

and when's the last time someone at least 6'8" had 9 assist for the spurs?

Duncan has 11 assists against the Warriors two years ago. Box score here:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...011300GSW.html

[jestersmash]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...011300GSW.html

Neat, there's Jeremy Lin at the bottom of the box score for Golden State

[ElNono]

Thanks for the writeup

[Spur|n|Austin]

=Boris Diaw A
Wow, this guy can really pass the ball. I knew Boris Diaw was a really good passer but the Spurs system accentuates it to another level. Tonight, he totaled nine assists in 25 minutes with only one turnover. And he didn't have a cheap assist all night. He was actively making plays -- either with a dribble move, a quick spin or movement off the ball. The rest of Diaw's game was also impressive. He was more aggressive shot-wise than we've seen him. Diaw rebounded the ball, played solid defense and overall appeared to be a step quicker than his first few games in silver and black. The coaching staff really needs to find a niche for this guy ASAP.

Of course I decided to be nice and suggest to cook dinner forgetting it was an early night for our guys tonight, so I was watching back and forth from the kitchen. I'm finishing up watching the replay on FSSW right now and I could not agree more with the efficiency of Diaw's passing. Even when the shooter didn't follow thru, some of his passes tonight were just plain sick; plus he lead all team assists with 9. This wine's for him.

[Rapper]

so many A & B grades

[Spursfanfromafar]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...011300GSW.html

The last time someone playing Diaw's position had 9 assists within 25 minutes was Luke Walton (otherwise underwhelming in other box score areas) -

Link

[jiggy_55]

I watched the highlights of the game now on league pass, Diaw technically shoulda had 8 assists. Not sure how he was credited for an assist on a Neal layup when he hadn't touched the ball the whole play lol pretty funny. Regardless, 6 pts 8 assts and 6 rebs is a nice game.

I would hope he eventually supplants Blair as a starter. He can be a huge asset to this team. Judging on his passes to Green today, he could work very well with him and get him hot easily as we know that Green can be on fire or ice cold from day to day. A couple of open 3's can make Green hot on any given day.

[jiggy_55]

The last time someone playing Diaw's position had 9 assists within 25 minutes was Luke Walton (otherwise underwhelming in other box score areas) -

Link

Too bad he technically had 8. Read my above post.

[Manu-20]

pretty much agree with you on everything though I hope pop uses diaw much more over blair he just brings so much more to the table than blair

[Cry Havoc]

I watched the highlights of the game now on league pass, Diaw technically shoulda had 8 assists.

How could you tell that from watching highlights?

[Spur|n|Austin]

How could you tell that from watching highlights?

If you watch, replay, enhance, enhance, enhance, you can see the official's scorer sheet.

[will_spurs]

Patrick Mills becomes the 11th different player to lead Spurs in scoring this season.

Can you say DEEP?

[dunkman]

Quality work timvp. Thanks for the grades. Jack, Boris and Patty are really good additions.

[benfti]

patty mills has got to be the most overrated player on this team

Im starting to think that your the biggest bell end on this board

[angelbelow]

Thanks for the write up.

Great game considering all the positives that came out of this one. We got to rest the big 3, Jackson/Bonner also got extended rest, Diaw/Mills got some extended burn, Green got some sweet revenge against the Cavs, and no injures! But that wasn't really a fun game to watch. It reminded too much of that "Bully Beatdown" show where a high school bully gets locked in a cage against a professional MMA fighter (high school bully = cavs and the professional fighter = spurs.) The beat down tonight was expected and nothing special. The Cavs are already missing their best defender in Varejao, now they're dealing with injures to Irving and Jamison as well. Very happy with the victory but wasn't entertained.

I still prefer to see Manu at the starting 2 guard. Part of the reason is because I am biased and I selfishly want to see Ginobili start games. But I don't think I'm completely crazy either.
-To me, Green's game is better suited off the bench. Hes a streaky player who can go from being invisible for most of the game to a becoming game changer.
-The Parker, Green, Leonard, Blair, Duncan 5 man unit probably won't work against the better defensive teams. If Parker struggles and Duncan is reduced to outside jumpers, the entire offensive is at risk of complete shut down.
-The current starting lineup has a +/- of -14, eFG of .429 and a eFGA of .491.

Concerns about moving Manu to the starting lineup:
-Ginobili has great chemistry with Splitter and Jackson.
-Replacing Blair with Diaw is the smarter change and would probably improve the statistics from above.

[benefactor]

Replacing Blair with Diaw is the smarter change and would probably improve the statistics from above.

I was thinking this when reading your post then you said it at the very end...

I only got to see some of the game due to the weather knocking out my satellite, but from what has been said I see no reason to continue to let Blair start. Right now loyalty and corporate knowledge are the only reasons he is still there. It has to be obvious to Pop and the rest of the coaches that Diaw is the vastly superior player and needs to be on the court. Bonner is better than Blair, so it's just simple process of elimination now.

[jesterbobman]

Replacing Blair with Diaw seems like the best move. The starting lineup would then have enough real creative players to run the offense and be improved defensively. Starting PF is probably the biggest weakness in our lineup, with backup PG the 2nd biggest. Starting Diaw solves the 1st.

Manu on the bench works as it covers our lack of playmaking as our bench PG, as Manu is the de facto PG. Bonner and Splitter have worked really well as a pairing, and a Neal-Manu-SJax-Bonner-Splitter Lineup is still a really good bench. Neal isn't really a PG, so having a primary creator in Manu and other guys we can run plays with reduces the need for Neal to be a PG, and means he can be played a bit.

I don't think that this view clashes with the general consensus.

With grades, Really hard to evaluate a 35 point drubbing vs a bad team.

[will_spurs]

At this point, with the depth the Spurs, it seems to be more about balance being starters and bench, than starting the 5 best players at their respective position. Actually I wonder what the latter might achieve, apart from the subs being destroyed time and again. Right now the bench is playing so well, especially when mixed and matched with starters, that the spurs should be able to apply constant pressure, whereas the opposing team will go through highs and lows.

The main issue with the Spurs right now for me is how can Duncan-Splitter and Manu-Tony co-exist. While Manu and Splitter are great players in their own right, they both make the other member of the duo worse when on the court. Pop has solved the Duncan-Splitter issue by giving Splitter very few minutes, but obviously that won't (and shouldn't) happen with Manu. Actually it shouldn't happen with Splitter either but that's another story.

Can Pop figure out a way to make them all efficient when on the court together, instead of just going with the sitting strategy he chose with Splitter?

[Wild Cobra Kai]

If Diaw is far superior then why not just start him?

Manu is obviously superior to any of our other SGs. Why not start him?

[TheSkeptic]

At this point, with the depth the Spurs, it seems to be more about balance being starters and bench, than starting the 5 best players at their respective position. Actually I wonder what the latter might achieve, apart from the subs being destroyed time and again. Right now the bench is playing so well, especially when mixed and matched with starters, that the spurs should be able to apply constant pressure, whereas the opposing team will go through highs and lows.

The main issue with the Spurs right now for me is how can Duncan-Splitter and Manu-Tony co-exist. While Manu and Splitter are great players in their own right, they both make the other member of the duo worse when on the court. Pop has solved the Duncan-Splitter issue by giving Splitter very few minutes, but obviously that won't (and shouldn't) happen with Manu. Actually it shouldn't happen with Splitter either but that's another story.

Can Pop figure out a way to make them all efficient when on the court together, instead of just going with the sitting strategy he chose with Splitter?

Some legitimate points. In the case of both Duncan-Splitter and Manu-Tony, the only solution I can think of is just more time.

Manu and Tony have played together for a long time and I think with a bit of patience they'll work something out. Keep Manu coming off the bench maybe for insurance purposes if you prefer but I'm pretty confident that it's more a question of rhythm and rapport with them.

I don't have any stats to prove it but Duncan and Splitter seem to be improving when they play together. To my eyes at least they've been looking better on both ends than they were before. Plenty of room for improvement but a lot of the mistakes they make are the type that require more minutes to sort out.

The sitting strategy will sink the Spurs (again) so they definitely need to do something different.

[Seventyniner]

The Parker-Ginobili thing is both more and less of a concern. More in that they're more likely to be on the floor together finishing close games, but as Skeptic said, they also have much more experience playing together.

[romad_20]

I don't really care who starts as long as Pop starts locking in some sort of rotation soon. Green starting is working right now but he could go cold again as soon as the playoffs start. Taking Manu (who's mins will dramatically increase in the playoffs) off of the 2nd unit kind of takes away an edge they have.

The only real issue I see in any of the lineups is Mills/Neal and Blair/Diaw. Blair will be useless coming off the bench, we've seen it. Neal might just straight up lose his mins because we have plenty of 3 point shooting and Mills is the obvious choice at the backup PG. He's quick, runs the plays to perfection and looks as though he has great chemistry with the team already. I was really impressed when he and Duncan ran that give and go that Tony and Tim run all the time.

All that being said, let's see what this team looks like tonight and after its next loss. Everything looks good while on a long winning streak.