Nah, he's the comeback player of the year so far
I have not watched the last few games, but what the is happening with our rebounding? And why have Tim's rebounding numbers been atrocious thest past 3 games, even in that Toronto game where we went to 2OT and he played 40+. I might understand the last 2 bad rebounding games due to the poor opponents and the game ending early, but it is worrying definitely.
Tim deserves an A+ for that 3 @ the buzzer tbh just saying
It was good that Splitter played through after hurting his knee/leg late in the game.
The only reason Tim didn't get an A+ was his rebounding. Darn near awesome in every other category, plus don't forget style points with his 3
I'm only watching the game now and I have to say that Neal is impressing the out of me, 2 minutes left in the first quarter and I counted 3 steals from him and some solid defense in general. If we had a real PG I think he could really challenge Green for starting SG.
I think Teams have worked out that if they focus on removing Duncan from the rebounding equation, there really isnt much help...I mean Duncan cant do it himself if they crash the boards...it likely means that they arent scared of the Spurs transition game, I cant remember any fast breaks or tempo pushing this game by the spurs. If every Spurs offensive play is slow, teams can put more bodies on the offensive glass without fear of a quick score at the other end.
Splitter's most meaningful mins was in garbage time but ya he was back to normal. Playing Duncan almost the whole of the first quarter didn't make sense to me or to Duncan. Spurs already had a comfortable lead after Manu came in shooting lights out.
Thank you Manu for "not sucking". The thoughtfull Spurs fan called Will Spurs must be grateful.
When Gary Neal gets shots from what the offense gives him. He is deadly. When he's running it, not so much.
That's not the whole picture, though. Check his stats from the Spanish league (at the bottom of his wikipedia page: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nando_de_Colo). his shooting % are decent (or more than decent in some years). And re: ppg you can't compare Europe/FIBA games with NBA games. With the help of Chip I see no reason why he couldn't get to the level of ~47% FG and ~38% 3P, which would be respectable.
Nobody said he'd be an All-Star, but right now he's steadily progressing towards a position in the rotation. And I'm quite sure Pop pays more attention right now to his D and court vision, which are much harder to learn.
The problem with those numbers is that they are above-average for an NBA guard. I haven't seen anything from NDC to show me that he has that in him. I would lower my expectations to 44% FG and 34% 3P. That would still be enough of an improvement, though, to not allow opponents to sag off of him at every opportunity.
Not exactly stellar compe ion, but with our injuries, an impressive win.
The thought that the Spurs could end up with 9 (or even 10) road wins by the end of November is pretty remarkable.
Think about it this way: the Spurs have 9 road wins this morning; the rest of the Southwest Division (collectively) has 10 road wins this season.
Accurate grades. I am impressed with this team's performance without KL and SJ. Neal has been surprisingly good at SG now that his defense is improving.
I also think that Jacque Vaughn has his work cut out for him. I was remarking last night that the Spurs bench could beat the Magic's starters. They just look like a lot of odds and ends right now.
Mainly because thats what they are, I'm not sure how but in the hopes of adding a second start to play along side Howard, for years the Magic were trading for guys who were over-rated, washed-up, or system guys. They also got some other filler added in here and there. After trading Howard for picks and spare parts, that is all that was left.
Neal's always had a "gunner" mentality on offense and I have no problem with it (even though I know there are a handful of spurs fans who cringe when he pulls up and shoots semi-contested 3 balls going 1 on 1, for example). I think every team needs at least 1 "selfish/gunner" type to keep the offense fresh and varied.
His defense, historically, has left much to be desired, but recently I've seen flashes of really solid, aggressive defense from Neal. He's staying in front of his defender a little bit better and he'll "bob" in and out of his opponent's personal space to keep him guessing. For example, he'll occasionally close the gap significantly with aggressive defense. This, of course, gives the opponent a small time window to just dribble and blow past him, but it never happens because Neal smartly pulls back immediately. He'll get up in an opponent's face for just a moment and pull back immediately. It's enough to fluster the opponent but not long enough for the average opponent to take advantage of Neal getting too aggressive.
Tony Parker actually has been doing the same thing (notably against Chris Paul in one or both of their meetings) with great success.
I agree with timvp that Neal's defense overall was a bit uneven during this game, but I think we definitely saw flashes of very good defense and this should be really encouraging to spurs fans. Obviously Neal has a huge chip on his shoulder right now because it's a contract year and you get the sense (just listen to his postgame comments with Sean and Andrew) that he's really trying to prove himself to earn a lucrative contract.
Suck a tailpipe. Seriously.
I really look forward to these. Don't listen to da h8rz
Knock on ing wood. I am half-expecting a report that Splitter is out for 6-8 weeks any second now.
Spurstalk is a blessing to Spursfans. I greatly appreciate the efforts of timvp and Kori. The Quick Grades and the Game Thoughts are the best source of information anyone will find ^%*$ing anywhere on the San Antonio Spurs. As Nei Young once said, although he was singing about a car, "long may you run!"
Go Spurs Go!!!!
OK, Pop playing Tim heavy mins in the first and he not wanting to come off makes a whole lot of sense now with the big three being rested for the miami game.
LJ should do the quick grades now for the Miami game.
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