Tim Duncan A-
Legendary first half performance. Tired in the second half but came up with key plays late.
Manu Ginobili C+
A South American Tsunami hit the AT&T Center. Produced positive and negative plays at a dizzying rate.
Tony Parker A-
Commendable effort on D throughout. Shouldered the offensive load for long stretches, including O.T.
Danny Green D
Couldn't buy a bucket. Left with a tight hamstring. Those two sentences possibly related.
Gary Neal C-
Forgot to switch over from "hero" mode back to "role player" mode.
DeJuan Blair B+
Energetic and effective defense. Hustled throughout. Stayed out of the way on offense.
Tiago Splitter B
Rebounded well and had a few positive moments but mostly quiet.
Matt Bonner A-
His presence changed the flow and spacing on O. Battled hard on the boards and played decent D.
Boris Diaw C
Quiet outside of his fouls. Weak on the glass and passive in most phases of the game.
Patrick Mills A
Impressive bounce-back after forgettable outing. Utilized speed and liveliness to help turn momentum.
Nando De Colo B-
Made mistakes but was able to create off the dribble, which alone aided in regaining rhythm on O.
Pop A+
Dug deep into his bag of tricks when it looked like a sure loss. His decisions turned things around.
Neals shots at least came at the right time
ginobili with the 5X5 as well so he can get at least a B
spurs lack of a SF really shows vs the grizz
like a domino effect
they were outsized at pretty much every position except pg
had neal guarding gay at one point
The Spurs managing to compete with the Grizzlies on the glass was a good sign. The Spurs are winning even when their 3s aren't falling.
Let's set Mills free to be our Barea although their playing style are quite different. His speed is a game-pace changer for the Spurs, who notoriously lack of speedy players. And at least for now he seems to know his role is not being a hero, which Neal often forgets.
Gary Neal is a shooter who is told to shoot whenever he is open and in rhythm. If he doesn't shoot, he's benched. I have zero problem with his shot selection.
Really ready for Kawhi and Jack to get back.
I liked that Nando didn't look super passive this game.
Can anyone figure out why Neal and Mills can't each have a good night in the same night? I sort of feel like they both fill the same role, but don't do it in the same way.
I have some problems with Neal's shot selection. As Sean pointed out, some of those shots Gary can get at any time. He needs to find better looks and not run the 7 second offense mode. It seems many of his transition attempts are last second shot type attempts. He's hit a few, and surely Pop tells him to keep it up, but I have no doubt Pop would prefer him to be a bit more selective on offense.
I wondered why Pop didn't call a time out close to the end of regulation. Sure the Grizz would have time to set up, but so would the Spurs. It because too hectic and Manu just forced it.
The ball movement was really lacking tonight. I cannot believe we actually won, the epitome of the stone cutter story, keep pounding that rock, eventually something gives. Just be close enough when it does to make it matter.
Pop couldn't have come out of this weekend looking any better unless we actually beat Miami, but even then only slightly.
I think nando deserves an A...though he made a few mistakes he went out there and showed poise and delivered without hesitation which is hard to find on a rookie..
Nando in a few years will be a really good point guard
Very proud of all our guys. Our bench this week became part of Spurs folklore. Those guys may never reach heights that Spurs fans have been spoilt with but by the time this 'Restgate', 'Popgate' whatever gate is finished, they will have played their way into NBA history.
slightly to bad they didn't win that game..... If they had it would have been truely crowning. As is its a little bittersweet, I think the guys from San Antonio win the war but loose the battle. Its something of a theme for the area I understand.
When I check the box score during the 4th Q, I'm almost sure it would be a L after all the efforts in and out of the court. A win is certainly the best "substantially sanctimonious" counteract to David Stern's dictatorial manners in his attempt to influence coaching decisions.
Pop did make the calls that turned the game around. They had us until our amazing turn of fortune in the fourth. Tim Duncan"s 19 in the first half kept us in the game. I don't believe anyone other than the big 3 scored in the first half.......Tiago had a couple of points....Diaw a 3..then zilch. That 4th quarter was fun as to watch. It's good to see the bench bring something to the table. Matt even got some crucial boards!!?? Wtf!! Big fun!
Excuse me did Tim have 21 in the first half!!??
Last edited by spurs10; 12-02-2012 at 02:39 AM.
Who would have thought the red rocket would be a catalyst in getting us back in the game? Also I love this win because we did it without Jax and Leonard.
gary neal a bigger version of NVE....lol
Anything less than B- for Manu is a stretch, tbh. Sure, he had his up and down on offense, but he was mismatched all night on Rudy Gay due to Khawi and Jack being out and he did an admirable job, including decent rebounding and a handful of steals. On offense, his shot was off most of the night but he ended up tied with Tony for team-high 6 assists...
Sure, you don't see him tossing passes to the crowd or missing 2 freebies in a row a lot, but he contributed in other ways.
I would give him a 92 scoreline, 3rd best player of the night, tbh.
Also, Bonner is overrated in the ranks, IMO.
I hope Green is fine, especially with Kawhi and Jack already out. Good thing the Spurs don't play until Wednesday night...
TBH by arguing for a higher score you're tacitly denigrating Manu's full potential. If this is a C+ kind of game for Manu, then it's implied that "A+" Manu is 6 levels (B-, B, B+, A-, A, A+) above tonight's performance.
If this is a B- kind of game for Manu, then a perfect or near perfect "A+" game is only 5 levels removed from tonight's performance.
Most grades are pretty consistent on this point. They're relative to expectations for individual players. A 20 point (9-17), 6 assist, 6 rebound, 0 turnover game for Lebron James, for example, is almost never graded an 'A' by ESPN's Tom Haberstroh because Lebron can easily do so much better, whereas if Manu had such a stat line it'd almost certainly be an 'A-' performance at minimum assuming his defense was sufficiently competent. The bar for an 'A' (or 'B' or 'C') is higher for Lebron.
One minute he was hitting clutch threes while the next minute he was throwing the ball into the stands. He was mediocre, at best.
Manu has a true heart of a champion he never backed down despite turnovers, missed some impt free throws...suddenly hit a big three-pointer in the end, to send the team to OT..that was so awesome. there are others in the forum who wanted him to sit down (find it hilarious you know because Manu is one of the best if not the best FT shooter of the team, and he missed 2 FTs in the 4th, so a head-scratcher),but hey you can never predict...
Everyone knew the most frustrating aspect of achieving greatness this year would be watching Diaw be passive. , it's why we got him on the cheap. I wish a younger Pop could have spent a solid season or two with Diaw, because he could besuch a bad ass, and I think he's still oblivious to that fact.
So you're saying Bonner got an A because he's a re ?
this guy gets it, tbhManu has a true heart of a champion he never backed down despite turnovers, missed some impt free throws...suddenly hit a big three-pointer in the end, to send the team to OT..that was so awesome. there are others in the forum who wanted him to sit down (find it hilarious you know because Manu is one of the best if not the best FT shooter of the team, and he missed 2 FTs in the 4th, so a head-scratcher
Manu makes a couple of good plays for every bad play he makes. He had a no-mistakes game against Orlando so he was bound to screw up this one.
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