Thanks, for the quick grade.
Without Manu, the bench is obviously very vulnerable and it almost cost the game for Spurs.
BTW, playoffs included, it's Pop's 998th win...
Tim Duncan A
The rest did him good. Very strong on both ends. Came up huge in the fourth. The one player who was consistent.
Tony Parker B+
Great in the first half but fell off a cliff in the second half before recovering late. Production was important.
Kawhi Leonard B+
A roller-coaster of an outing. Had a lot of positives along with handful of mistakes. Difference-maker in the 4th.
Danny Green C
Couldn’t hit from the outside. Became hesitant. To his credit, his D was relatively steady. Played hard.
Tiago Splitter B
Rebounding was great. Interior defense was strong. On O, played a starring role in the collapse.
Boris Diaw C-
Poor rebounding and D was iffy. Passing was commendable but was too sloppy. Adequately aggressive.
Gary Neal D+
Slump continues. Led the 2nd half collapse. Can’t create offense right now. Doesn’t do anything else.
Nando De Colo B-
Produced well. Perhaps most importantly, didn’t turn it over. Unfortunately, his playmaking was poor in the 4th.
Stephen Jackson F+
Horrible offensively; didn’t do anything but miss shots. D was slightly better but still bad. Doesn’t look healthy.
Matt Bonner C-
His encore was underwhelming. Didn’t do much on offense; few open looks. D was decent at best.
Pop B
Appeared to bungle the 4th rotation-wise … but it worked out. Sticking with Leonard paid off.
Thanks, for the quick grade.
Without Manu, the bench is obviously very vulnerable and it almost cost the game for Spurs.
BTW, playoffs included, it's Pop's 998th win...
Nando wasn't spectacular, but he made a real case for the backup PG position, tbh.
Stephen Jackson is so scrubby right now. Has been all season, tbh. Gary Neal is a scrub, too, tbh. Brickmaster, tbh.
Splitter only shot the ball twice in the 4th and 0 times in the 3rd
chuckers on the team were ignoring him
also got hacked bad on two drives and got no calls
cant say its a collapse when no one even attempts to get him invovled
Greens offball/screen defense continues to be terrible
iirc spurs were in the bottom 5 in the nba last year at defending it and its probably still that way this year
With splitter starting and Manu out the bench is to weak to get y and overplay them
diaw is to passive to count on
neal is also inconsistent, hes like green all or nothing
Jackson hasnt ever made any shots in the reg season in his 2 years here
de colo is still getting use to the game but his shot selection isnt that great
either passed up layups or shot offbalance 2s
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when Nando is running point with Tiago, the Spurs never seem to run the pick and roll. Is Manu's absence to blame? Can Nando not run the pick and roll effectively? I feel like he would be somewhat successful, and at the very least it would keep Gary Neal from hoisting those ridiculous shots.
Another good thing: Memphis, LA Clippers, and OKC ALL lost today.
Good question.
Bench had a tough game. They're usually at the very least if not able to get stops, able to put up points. Can't be too mad at them having an off night, that's why we have stars to close out these kind of games.
4-20 shooting from the bench tonight. That won't happen very often
I thinks its due to Manu being a better driver and finisher than de colo. Manu gets the defensive attention from other teams that Nando does not which makes the PnR more effective. If Nando can become more of a scoring threat by penetrating the PnR will open up for him.
Thanks as always Timvp.
I'd just like to disagree with Neal's grade. His shooting has been ridiculous as of late and I'm seriously thinking that the Spurs would be better off if his shot attempts were split between Tiago and Kawhi. And also, Pop needs to make the pick and roll with Tiago the main focal point for the second unit again. It didn't work out this time (but then again Splitter only took what 3 shots in the second half?) but I'd feel a lot better about our bench if it was predicated on something like that rather than Neal/Jax/point guard rushing shots on the perimeter as the first option as opposed to the last resort it should be.
Plus I think those screens may be helpful for Manu since he probably shouldn't be running the offense against teams like the Clippers.
Nando with Splitter was really effective in a few games when they ran it
but neal is usually handling the ball and chucking
Im starting to get the impression that Mills might be on the block with Blair
IMO, I think it's just Pop is experimenting again. Nando's been getting alot of DNP's lately. I guess maybe now it's Patty's turn so Pop can see what Nando has.
Mills can veto any trade because of his contract situation.
I figured that this was the likely culprit. Recalling the Miami game though (I know, small sample size), Nando was really effective running the pick and roll with Splitter. He rarely ever drove it to the basket and usually opted to reset the play instead rather than attack the basket. It might be a confidence issue at this point; he really seems to play conservative as of late, handing PG duties to Jackson or Neal. It almost cost the Spurs tonight as both those guys played poorly. I just wish he were a little more aggressive, but I suppose a lot of that is just Pop playing more conservative with a Manu-less bench.
I think Bonner might be more effective on the court if TP would pass him the ball when he is open. Not even gonna to comment on the Chucker Neal who took shots when an extra pass might have gotten us a basket from Bonner who was open twice. When we stopped sharing the ball we lost our lead. Happens every game, either the bench or the starters stop sharing the ball and we give up that lead and have to work to get the W.
Green, Neal, Diaw, Jackson & Bonner a combined 5 for 25.
Everyone outside of Duncan, Parker, Splitter, and Leonard needs to get their heads out of their asses. With Ginobili out it's time to step up, not shrivel up and put up 5-25 combined. Diaw and Neal are beyond frustrating.
Nice thoughts TimvpGreat work. When do you think Pop will get over his mad scientist routine and tighten up the rotation? Can you further give your thoughts on Jax's recent play? Should we start panicking?
Props to Tim Duncan for another dominant game tonight!! In 34 minutes he had 24 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block.....Also, shout out to Tim Duncan for passing Jerry Lucas for 15th place on the all-time rebounding list!!! FYI: Jerry Lucas is the only power forward in NBA history with a 40-rebound game. Next up for TD is Buck Williams with 13,017 rebounds.
The ESPN recap of the game is one of the sloppiest articles I've read in a while. Several significant grammatical and common sense mistakes.
The final score was 90-85, right? Did I miss something?Kawhi Leonard dunked off a turnover, then buried a 3 off a defensive board to tie it 88-all. Duncan's jumper made it 84-82 and Parker swished one the next time down.
Not even sure what that is all about.Andrew Bynum, out all season with knee injured knees, said before the game that he remained on target to return around the all-star break.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400278331
Isn't it the point guard's duty to get these guys open shots?
say his name mofo, say it....
wow, i would have watched the second half had i thought for a second the sixers would make it a close game
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