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Hard to picture a game where the spurs lose when Diaw plays like he played tonight, best player out there on either team imo
Thanks Tim.
Hard to picture a game where the spurs lose when Diaw plays like he played tonight, best player out there on either team imo
I think you're being generous with Gary Neal. Popovich needs to demote him for the rest of this series and make Patty Mills the 2nd unit PG.
It's not so much the numbers. Neal is shooting OK. It's just that the offense really stagnates when he out there. You know how they say "oh that player makes everyone better"? Neal makes everyone worse.
Patty Mills would be much, much better at keeping the offense flowing and the ball movement happening for the 2nd unit, and would take that burden off of Manu. I thought he and Manu played very well together in the regular season when they were on the floor at the same time.
Interesting what you had to say about Bonner. Everything else is also good as usual, I look forward to this after every Spurs game.
Neal and Mills are the same player, except that Mills is a more streaky shooter and gives up four inches in height. I'd like to see Mills worked in if at all possible, but not because I think he does anything better than Neal does.
Good, thorough analysis timvp. I might have to check back on this forum in the next few years to get your take on the Spurs every so often. God knows I can't get it from ESPN or any other mainstream media.
Completely agree with Boris Diaw's grade. He is carving up the Clippers front line within the offense. I feel like the Clippers are so focused at dissecting the many moving parts of Pop's offensive, that Boris ends up being an afterthought and he's taking full advantage.
It also shows how good the Spurs coaching staff is at taking a player's skill sets and allowing them to be successful. Good pickup for the Spurs.
Such a good set up but I can't finish it off...
What are they saying about Kawhi's face? His expression has changed only once in the 74 games (2+66+6). 1 smile for the season. At least, until we get the LOBT.
As for Diaw, I was not one of his supporters when he came over. I didnt think he would fit in with the Spurs. He has so many people giving bad reports about him that I was worried he would be a bad pickup and destroy some of the chemistry. The only thing he had going for him was his time with Tony. I, also, had hopes of Splitter breaking out and being the dominate force he can be. But Diaw has shown that he is a team player, with chemistry with more than just Tony. He has accepted the role he is to play on the team. I had always thouht he was disinterested in playing with the Suns and for sure the Bobcats. Losing has that effect. He has definately changed my mind with his play with the Spurs. Now I look forward to next season when Tim, Boris, Matt, Tiago and DaBear get to have a summer workout and a training camp TOGETHER. Damn that is a scary thought. To Boris "Welcome Home" stick around and you will get ring #2 next year.
Not sure we can call that an adjustment since Pop always benches a player (outside of TD and TP) to start the second half if he has three fouls. It worked out well, though.
Poops minutes distribution is excellent.
His limiting BonBon is so out of character 2008-2011 and that is a most pleasant surprise.
Diaw is A+.
Yeah, I didn't think of it as an adjustment. Pop always does that. It's a great sign of progress that Splitter and Duncan are playing together and nobody finds it worth noting.
Diaw has always had more talent than reputation. A very versatile defender at 4 positions, a tremendous passer and a good low usage scorer. Diaw's biggest problem was always that he's reluctant to take shots (besides the poor rebounding if he's playing a post position). For some reason, he's now taking the shots we've been giving him.
The Spurs are very complicated to stop. Their top pick'n'roll can't be stopped without help and once the help arrives they execute the ball reversal too quickly. If it wasn't for them missing 4 or 5 open corner 3s in the second quarter, the game would be over even sooner. It was the only quarter in this series they scored below 20 points. Their eFG% in this series is 60%.
However, these grades would be lower if Paul and Blake were healthy. The Spurs are a middling defensive team and we're making them look as the Bulls or the Celtics because we can't great good shots or play the transition. Once those guys are healthy, these Spurs role-players will start looking a lot worse.
customary.
Yeah, IMO, this winning streak doesn't feel fluke-ish at all mainly because it hasn't relied on Bonner. I mean, Bonner is playing his role but the Spurs of the past few years could get hot but it wasn't as sustainable because they needed two or three three-pointers from Bonner to keep the defense honest. Even the first long winning streak of this season was too Bonner-dependent for my tastes.
As you said, Bonner is a very useful player when whatever he does is gravy. If you rely on Bonner to win -- like the Spurs did from about 2009 until the arrival of Diaw -- you're just asking for trouble.
P.S.
Great writeup OV
He is also making huge momentum plays. Like when our offense is bogged down and the other team has seized momentum, Diaw has several times made fantastic plays to return Mo to Spurs.
Some huge plays on D too.
Thanks John
Watching Diaw, it makes me wonder how much a prime Duncan would have averaged with Diaw next to him. 28? 30?
The Spurs have had some good bigman passers but Diaw is on another level ... not only because his vision is great but because he can dribble the ball to further breakdown the defense before making a pass.
Let's hope he keeps it up
aka fool's gold.. I'm also grateful Pop moved away from him in a major role.
It's not just the passing... he's also a guy that won't get steamrolled to the basket on a regular basis, which means Tim has to help less, and thus end up with fresher legs.
Up to an extent, the emergence of Tiago in a meaningful way this season has also contributed to that.
I strongly disagree. Mills is way quicker than Neal, and he has a point guard's mindset and approach to the game.
Neal is a better shooter I'm sure, but Mills is not a bad shooter.
They are nothing close to the same player.
Neal's ball handling problems comes down to confidence. As long as he thinks he's not a good ball handler he's going to struggle with it. Defenders in general don't attack confident ball handlers.
I love Bonner's taking hard fouls. It prevents the and-one and it also makes the player more reluctant to attack on offense.
Mills is quicker, but only on offense, and he is indeed a point guard. Given what little I've seen of him, however, he looks like a shoot-first guy. I'm not positive that he's much more of a willing passer than Neal is.
It might be worth throwing him in there, but if the rationale is so that he can defend the Clippers guards better than Neal, I'll believe it when I see it, and I'm kind of leaning toward the "if it ain't broke" camp on this call. The rotation as it stands is working, and working well. I say leave it alone.
Last edited by Obstructed_View; 05-18-2012 at 03:06 PM. Reason: Punctuation
Thanks timvp and OV.
Diaw was absolutely fantastic. He is one of those guys who probably won't make a bad team much better but can be a huge asset for a team that is already good. His basketball IQ is simply amazing and yet he always tries to stay in the flow of the game since he came to SA (same thing can be said for Stephen Jackson). Nothing too flashy for the sake of it, just the right play/the right pass at the right time.
At times it's almost eerie how well and consistent the Spurs' roleplayers are scoring - and how unfazed players like Green and Leonard seem to be about starting games on the big stage that is the playoffs. Granted, the Clippers are banged up and there will be tougher and better opponents to come, but still, it's very encouraging.
Great point. If I knew how to see Amare's numbers with and without Diaw next to him, I'd run them.
He definitely helps when the offense bogs down because of how simple he makes the game.He is also making huge momentum plays. Like when our offense is bogged down and the other team has seized momentum, Diaw has several times made fantastic plays to return Mo to Spurs.
Some huge plays on D too.
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