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Kawhi was instrumental in holding Rudy Gay to really bad shooting nights last season.
Yes, so you are saying when Jax and Leonard come back we will be fine vs. the Grizz? I hope so, because when they are here we surely don't have a lack of a SF!
Kawhi was instrumental in holding Rudy Gay to really bad shooting nights last season.
matt bonner is like the spurs' security blanket. it keeps them nice and safe at home (regular season) but they can't take it when they venture outside (playoffs).
On offense, Bonner sure can do a much better job than tonight. However, on defense, while guarding one of Randolph and Gasol with Tim on the other, you can't ask for anything better from him than tonight.
Gasol was more than sizzling in the 3rd quarter, and all Spurs fans know what Randolph is capable of doing to this Spurs team. There is a reason Grizzlies are the best NBA team at 12-2 before tonight.
If Bonner can repeat this defense job on other teams' bigs in the playoffs, we can celebrate No.5 already. So of course he deserves an A- Timvp gives him. You can hate Bonner the player as you wish --- and you may have tons of legit reasons --- but for this one game you have to applaud him for his performance.
The thing about the Spurs' big rotation is that only Tim Duncan is a sure thing every night unless Pop gives him a DNP-Old. Everyone else steps up at different times, and rarely successively.
I thought Neal deserved a better game since he hit some huge shots during our big run.
4-16, though...
He shot almost as much as Timmy and Tony and shot one more shot than Manu. I know the dude loves to jack up shots, but come on!
I also noticed that Manu had five assists, six rebounds, and six steals. Even though he shot like , that's pretty impressive stuff right there. And then had had SIX turnovers.
Definitely a mediocre game, at best, for Manu.
I thought Neal was terrible. It was like having an unathletic Westbrick in silver and black.
Spurs vs Grizzlies in the WCF would be a of a series
Bonner played huge in this game. He hasn't played well this season outside of the past 2 games, but his defense against Zach Randolph was some of the best that has been played on him this season. Bonner has always been a good 1 on 1 post defender, but he was Chuck Hayes-esque tonight. Let's hope he can continue to give us 10-15 good minutes a night in the regular season.
Bonner is still the fifth big because Blair, Diaw, and Splitter are all capable of better performances even if they're less consistent.
Great point. If all our guys performed at their optimum every night we would be truly awesome. Even if one or two guys brought their A game while everyone else played their "B" game, we'd have a great season to look forward to.
They should be rounding into shape and sharpness after this many games, but we still see too many guys with inconsistent 'C" grades. Splitter is perhaps the biggest enigma with every great game seemingly followed by a mediocre one. Green and Manu have also been a puzzle.
Lets hope they put it all together for the playoffs.
It wasn't pretty but it was a hard fought win.
After 18 games played, the best news about Spurs' this year, aside of Tim's rebirth, is their defense.
Last season, Spurs were the 11th best defensive team in the league, this year they are the 5th best.
Maybe the defensive improvement deserve it's own thread with a more in depth analysis but there are 2 obvious statistical differences compared to last year:
- Spurs are way better at defending the 3 point line. Last year they were the 19th best team in 3P% allowed, this year they are the 2nd best team in that area.
- Spurs are struggling at rebounding the ball on the defensive end. last year they were the best defensive rebounding team and this year they are 23rd.
If Spurs can fix their defensive rebounding without hurting the rest of the defense, defense could be a force this year.
Leonard must be the guy who rebounds more.
We always needed that SF with ability to rebound that damn ball.
Art Garcia @ArtGarcia92 Spurs improved to 7-2 when trailing or being tied going into 4Q this season.
on this side the grizzlies game is reassuring, Griz have a formidable front court with Zbo Gasol Spreights but also Gay who is rebounding at high rate and we outrebounded them 52 48
We are making rotations so much better. Great post too, had no idea we were 2nd at defending the 3.....
first half i was with tears in my eyes, seeing Tim Duncan return to his greatness, memories of the old Tim performs breathtaking, sublime, gold basketball like only he ever able to play in history.
You read the boxscore the wrong way, Spurs were outrebounded 48-52 int his game.
I think you had to slip the defensive and offensive rebounding issue.
Spurs have been a poor offensive rebounding team for years. Part of it is by choice with Spurs focusing an transition defense instead of crashing the offensive boards.
Spurs are having a huge drop on defensive rebounding this year. The Memphis game was bad too in this area with Spurs grabbing only 66% of the defensive rebounds (Spurs had 35 defensive rebounds and Grizzlies 18 offensive rebounds).
Down the road, I think Spurs first unit will be fine at rebounding the ball on the defensive end, especially when Kawhi will be back. The issue is more with the second unit and I'm not sure there is an answer, outside of a trade/signing, to fix that weakness.
Pop coached one of a game! Neal had some timely shots, Tim Duncan is a legend its remarkable what hes doing this season. Manu effort last night was just great. We got lucky though grizz missed some layups that went in and out at the.end.but winning this game without KL and Jax was big, can't wait to have them back.
I still find it interesting that Pop didn't use the Splitter/Duncan line up which he uses against "big" teams, even Elliott mentioned it.
We need to get a big physical big man. I don't think the spurs will make a trade I hope they do though
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