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This game would have looked a lot better if we could buy a three to save our lives. Just a bad night all the way around.
Tim Duncan D+
Looked decent early but fell off a cliff. Couldn’t buy a shot in second half. Slow reactions on D. Needed more boards.
Manu Ginobili B
Played with a commendable amount of energy. Made a lot of plays but his passing wasn’t as crisp as it needed to be.
Tony Parker C-
No energy to begin the game. Eventually tried to turn up the volume but it was too late. Playmaking was lacking.
Kawhi Leonard C+
Decent D at times; effort was there but consistency wasn’t. Offense was ragged. Needs to rediscover a niche.
Danny Green C
Impotent on offense. D was pretty good for a majority of the game but became shaky in the fourth.
Tiago Splitter C+
Wasn’t particularly bad in any area but simply wasn’t physical enough. He has to control the paint better on D.
Boris Diaw B-
Displayed a lot of versatility on D. Herky-jerky on offense. Liveliness was better than normal.
Gary Neal B
Played hard on D and his switches were quick. Offense was about average, though missed a few big shots.
Stephen JacksonC+
Defense was mostly solid. Exhibited more than enough physicality. Needs to hit more shots.
Matt Bonner D-
Pitiful on defense. Routinely lost his man. No presence in the paint. Hesitant on offense.
Nando De Colo Inc.
Passed up a three-pointer late that he really, really needed to shoot.
Patrick Mills Inc.
Played good pressure D in his seconds on the court.
Pop C-
Horrible rotation in the first half; totally senseless. Microball got the Spurs back into it but no answers in fourth.
This game would have looked a lot better if we could buy a three to save our lives. Just a bad night all the way around.
Pop should have tried a big lineup with Manu/Kawhi/Diaw/Timmy/Splitter.
Just wasn't our night. Give credit where credit is due the Pelicans played lights out.
What's up with Kawhi? He's been pretty soft lately.
i thought splitter did well tonight on defense....he had a couple of blocks
the perimeter individual defense was fkn shocking tonight, expecially the clowns that were defending gordon, vasquez...gave these clowns to much spacing to operate and teh stepback fadeaways....
if pop was going to wave the white flag in this game playing down to the pelican level, shouldve just cleared the bench
Thanks Timvp. This was disappointing all around.
I completely disagree with Pop's grade though. If people are being graded according to expectations and we know that Pop is a better coach than this, there's no way he should get anything higher than a D. It was obvious that Green didn't have it and that that the perimeter defense was not good with Vasquez and Gordon each going off. To me the game was lost on that and the boards.
Pop was the one who went with microball too long, made questionable rotations, played Bonner, gave Green too many minutes, and coached on autopilot pretty much this entire game. I think this is hands down the worst he's done on the season and a C- is far too generous.
Edit: I'm agreeing with TDMVPDPOY a little too much for my tastes so I'm going to reconsider my position.
those 8 minutes of Bonner ball were a chilling reminder tbh.
Just one of those games where everything is off. Spurs can't shoot so terribly from deep and turn the ball over 19 times and win.
More like needed more help on the boards. Eight in 25:56 is pretty damn good. Splitter continues to be bordering on pathetic on the glass, Bonner is right back to being pathetic, Diaw always has been and Green has fallen off the face of the earth compared to last season.
If the front office even considers for a second standing pat at the deadline, they're out of their minds. Turnovers is something that can be fixed internally; the defensive rebounding can not.
Agreed. He sat Parker and Leonard too long, didn't play Splitter enough and overplayed Jackson, Bonner and Neal.Pop C-
Horrible rotation in the first half; totally senseless. Microball got the Spurs back into it but no answers in fourth.
Now that he's back to a four man big rotation and the entire wing rotation is healthy, there is no excuse for Jackson to continue playing 20+ mpg. He's clearly the worst of the five wings and is looking perilously close to done, yet Pop continues to pretend as if he's still some starting caliber player.
stupid turnovers from over penetration into the key dunno what to do with it, with stupid last second bailout passes that ends up turnovers...nothing to see here
this fkn team never adjusts when isnt falling or not going their way, yet continue with the same old individual performances instead of looking to create plays....
The Spurs should be thanking the Hornets. They need to get better at playing long and athletic teams. It's the team's Achilles heel.
Also not sure what I think about Jax. Maybe give more of his minutes to Leonard and see what can be done with De Colo?
I like his energy and hustle but I don't think he's contributing when he's on the floor.
Four of those eight were offensive boards caused by missing multiple shots at the rim. Four real rebounds in 26 minutes isn't "pretty damn good", especially when the Hornets are living on the offensive glass.
Tbh, defensive rebounding has already been fixed. After the putrid start to the season, they are up to 7th in the NBA in defensive rebounding. Over the last month or so, they're right near the top.
Well, ...
1. Jack needs minutes to get back into shape.
2. I don't think Pop is playing Jack like a starter ... he's just in that rotation at the swingman and is picking up some extra smallball minutes.
3. I didn't see Jack as one of the leading culprits of what happened tonight (not that you are necessarily suggesting that). He needed to knock down another shot or two but he wouldn't make my first page of complaints.
4. Leonard needs to be eased back in after sitting out with tendinitis. It makes no sense to rev Leonard all the way up to his maximum capacity this shortly after that type of injury.
In these types of losses where the team comes out flat and totally unprepared, how much blame goes on the coach?
Maybe it's time to start Manu? There's no point in waiting till a crucial playoff game to see if DG decides to show up. At least with Manu you have a known clutch player. He can also improve the ball movement among the starters and make Splitter more useful like he did with Blair when they were starters. Blair did pretty well as a starter with Manu. Splitter should be even better. Let DG get used to coming of the bench. You can play him with De Colo or Neal depending on matchups.
It looked like Tim was walking a little gimpy going to the bench on one of the dead ball timeouts. I don't think he returned after that. I wonder if that had something to do with him sitting out the 4th.
Pretty valid points, though I slightly disagree. Microball (with Diaw at C and Jackson at PF) actually did pretty darn well and almost brought the Spurs all the way back. He might have used it slightly too long but it was definitely effective and goes down as a plus in my book (not that I want to see that lineup on a regular basis). Green's D on Gordon was pretty darn good until he exploded in that stretch in the fourth, so blaming Pop for giving Green those fourth quarter minutes would be somewhat unfair because it'd be relying 100% on hindsight. And I'm not sure about "autopilot"; I think this was more "mad scientist".
But, yeah, Bonner at the end of the first half was just a bad idea and the rashness of his decisions seemed to help keep the Spurs out of rhythm.
is there a fkn reason to come out flat when they gave up the knicks game + 1 day break?
EXACTLY TDMVP
whatever happen to trying to get back on defense top priority, is still the same old offense orientated game...with scrubs on the floor who have no business being in a spurs jersey, whats the point of spreading the floor if the guys cant even play a lick of defense
Green simply doesn't have the skill to defend the other team's best perimeter guy, especially when you have Leonard at hand. Pop sticking to Green on Gordon when they were running non-stop Gordon isos was the reason they could weather the Spurs comeback. Leonard was pegged to one of their bigs. I thought that was really poor coaching.
So now we're qualifying rebounds? It doesn't matter how he got them, just that he got them. I agree his defensive rebounding was sub par and has been recently, but still, overall, let's not pretend he was the main culprit. It's not his responsibility to singlehandedly keep teams off the offensive glass. Or at least, it shouldn't be.
I'm aware of their league rank, but teams with multiple bigs who are strong offensive rebounders have repeatedly bludgeoned this team and barring a trade, you can bet on this being a major part of their undoing in the playoffs.
1. He's no longer good enough for that to be a concern. Anything more than spot minutes is too much and if his name were Finley or Jefferson, you and the vast majority would be saying the same thing.Well, ...
1. Jack needs minutes to get back into shape.
2. I don't think Pop is playing Jack like a starter ... he's just in that rotation at the swingman and is picking up some extra smallball minutes.
3. I didn't see Jack as one of the leading culprits of what happened tonight (not that you are necessarily suggesting that). He needed to knock down another shot or two but he wouldn't make my first page of complaints.
4. Leonard needs to be eased back in after sitting out with tendinitis. It makes no sense to rev Leonard all the way up to his maximum capacity this shortly after that type of injury.
2. He acts like he's owed a certain amount of minutes though. Like he's above playing spot minutes.
3. Fair enough, but overall, he's a problem. 20+ mpg for a guy who looks perilously close to done is way too much.
4. He's had long enough (Nash and Gordon, were out significantly longer, yet are playing significantly more minutes far fewer games after their return). He's young, spry and not asked to do a whole lot offensively. I'm not suggesting he's as good as prime Marion or Wallace yet, but that type of player is typically capable of playing 40 mpg, yet he can't even play something like 32 mpg? Inexplicable.
Pop set the tone with his whack-a-mole rotations and the players followed suit. I agree that certain individual players and perhaps the team as a whole might have some re-discovery to do. Swings and roundabouts.
danny green give his fkn man too much spacing to operate with the ball, dude isnt long enough to be giving that spacing to rely on his length to alter any form of shots, his always late attempting to block anyway,....i guess thats the difference between him and KL/JAX when it comes to defensive assignments...the later 2 usually play in your face man2man defense leaving the player no room to operate with the ball...
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