Tim Duncan A-
The vintage tour continues. Duncan put together another great game.
Manu Ginobili B
Despite the choppy play, he definitely helped the Spurs win tonight.
Kawhi Leonard B
Hit key jumpers and ran the court very well. D a work in progress.
Danny Green B+
Fantastic hustle most of the night. Hit big shots. Had a few mental mistakes.
Patrick Mills C
Got destroyed by Damian Lillard in the first half. Competed better in second half.
Boris Diaw D+
Poor perimeter defense. Invisible on the glass. Mostly invisible on offense.
Gary Neal A+
Wow. His fourth quarter explosion was impressive and keyed the victory.
Stephen Jackson B+
Stout defense. Good passing. Strong drives. All around good effort.
Tiago Splitter D+
Extremely soft tonight. Inattentive defense. Weak finishes on offense. Bad hands.
Nando De Colo B+
Didn’t blink when playing in the fourth quarter. Competed hard. Exemplary vision.
Matt Bonner Inc.
Not a cameo to remember.
Pop B
Rhyme and reason seemed to be lacking but found right combo at the end.
Excellent grades as usual timvp:
Boris Diaw took his propensity for deferring on the offensive end to an entirely new level. 0-0 in 15 minutes of play, and I distinctly remember at least one possession where he passed up a wide open 3 point attempt at the top of the key.
Spurs stole this game tbh. Portland was in control most of the night.
Lots of small-ball tonight.
These are the best kind of wins early in the season, tbh. Gritty, "pounding the rock" type wins where we're fighting from behind for most of the game.
Gary Neal received some valuable and much deserved experience at running the point in crunch time. Manu received some much needed crunch time minutes while he's trying to get back into a rhythm.
Edit: And the best part about this win is that there will be plenty of teachable moments. Our role players won't get complacent with our 6-1 record either.
That is why we keeping wanting to trade someone for a PF/C who can bang and get rebounds and has decent offense. It hurts me to say this but Splitter just doesn't have what it takes for the NBA and trust me i hate saying it cause I bought his jersey. I know we went cheap with getting Diaw but heck even that we are not getting what we are paying him. Packing him Splitter, and Bonnor for anyone who can play defense.
I would definitely keep Diaw I think he adds a lot to the team but Splitter...he's another story. I share your same sentiments my disappointment in Splitter saddens me because I'm always cheering for the guy I really want to see him beast it out there but it never happens. Pack him in with Blair no one wants Bonner and never will.
need to get kenyon martin asap
we had to resort to putting small forwards on centers
splitter hasnt played with a big man yet
its usually 1v3 with him trying to boxout and get a rebound
the next biggest guy he plays next to is 6'7 and 35 years old with no athleticism
diaw defers too much imo, we dont need a playmaker big who cant hit baskets when we need offense where needed....
Splitter is capable of being a 15/8 guy as he showed last year. The problem is Pop has done everything to screw up with his confidence. He starts Dejuan Blair to help him play better but he's never considered doing that for Splitter even though Splitter has the greater potential. If Pop has no clue how to maximize Splitter he should trade him because he can help another team win.
I've always defended Splitter and criticized Pop when necessary, but I don't see how Pop merits the blame for Splitter's struggles..
If Splitter finished aggressively and physically, he would easily be a 15/8 player, regardless of Pop's confidence in him..his positioning and basketball IQ is impressive, he's great at rolling to the basket, but he's completely afraid to play inside..
I think Splitter actually played a little better tonight than he has in the past few games. Dude may never be the savior we wanted, but he was a serviceable backup tonight.
Couldn't believe that right in the midst of that great run into the fourth, up by 9 or 10, and Pop switches out the lineup and puts the guys who were struggling all night back in, Portland immediately gets right back into the game.
Obviously subs were going to happen at some point, but the run was still going at full momentum when Pop made the switch and it just killed it straight away. Do not understand the reasoning behind that.
We only made the run because Terry Stotts (Blazer's coach) got y and decided to play his scrubs, Will Barton, Sasha Pavlovic, Jared Jeffries etc. Having a 14-0 run against a team like that isn't something to be THAT proud of.
Jared Jeffries: -14
Will Barton: -9
Not proud, I'd just rather ride out the momentum with the guys who created the momentum and are pouring in the shots. It just seems like common sense.
Yeah I find it quite troubling we struggled so hard against a team with no bench to speak of. Sure TP was missing but just his absence isn't an excuse for a game against a team of their caliber to be so tight if we want a shot at winning a WCF this year.
The Spurs hadn't won in the Rose Garden since 2008. I'd say it was a pretty good win minus TP. Also how many defensive rotations does Tiago have to miss before it stops being Pop's fault?
Neal was incredible tonight. He and Patty are competing for those backup point minutes, and they've each put on a show the past two nights to win games. A nice problem to have early in the season.
Thanks for the quick grades,as usual. This win was pretty damn special to me. Thought Diaw and TS could have played better, but they both had their moments..
Those scrubs are his bench rotation, he has to give his starters a rest, he didn't have a choice..as I said before the game, Portland has the worst bench in the NBA and the Spurs need to take full advantage..thankfully, they did, as the Blazers' starters completely dominated the Spurs..
Wow. I thought they were third string players. In that case then, Portland may have THE worst bench in the NBA. I mean, Babbitt, Jeffries, Barton, Pavlovic? These guys wouldn't even make the roster on a playoff team.
Why are we complaining about Bonner, Splitter, Blair etc when every single player on our bench is better than every player on the Blazers' bench?
Diaw and Splitter were disappointing. Diaw is too passive and so is Tiago. Maybe cause Diaw is still new to the spurs he doesnt wanna try score too much in case he's labelled as a hog or something. ed if i know. I'd like to see those two ers be more aggresive. The only two bigs behind them are Blair/Bonner so they've gotta get their nasty on for us to succeed.
funny. diaw had the same passive reputation while on the bobcats.
"it's because he wasn't on a winning team"
Since the Hack-a-Splitter last season Tiago has never been the same, even on Brazil's NT. I think his confidence reached bottom and he's actually afraid of having to go to the FT line. It's the only explanation I see for his lack of will to score.
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