Reply With Quote
ginobili c
Tim Duncan B+
Aggressive on O but didn't try to do too much. Found the open man and took care of the ball. Interior D was solid. Defended pick-and-rolls better than usual. Ran the court hard. Unspectacular yet quality showing.
Manu Ginobili C
His night was peppered with odd decisions; mentally unsharp. D started out pathetically but got better as game progressed. His playmaking helped out but also had costly turnovers. Not a bad game … but weird.
Kawhi Leonard A
Did all that can be done against Durant. Great energy and concentration on D. The Spurs needed him on O and he delivered. Exhibited immense talent with the ball. Aggression is through the roof -- and that's great.
Danny Green A
Sparked the run that brought the Spurs back into the game. He was nearly flawless on the offensive end. Played smart, knocked down his threes and rarely made a bad decision. D was iffy early but stout late.
Cory Joseph B+
Nothing jawdropping but the sop re did well. His D was really good -- timely switches, pressured well and physical when needed. Mostly blended in on O but did enough to keep OKC from ignoring him.
Tiago Splitter A+
Wow, what a turnaround from last year's WCF. Outstanding finishing no matter who was defending him. Was patient with the ball and played to his strengths. His versatility on D was key. Great boarding.
Gary Neal B+
His D was terrible early on but eventually improved to "bad". On O, his passing -- though unsightly at times -- was effective. His playmaking skills were an important element. All in all, solid return to the rotation.
Boris Diaw C
Painfully passive early but eventually began to illustrate some heart. Once he dropped a few shots, OKC began guarding him again. Helpful passing but iffy defense, no rebounding and pointless fouls.
Stephen Jackson B
Strong defense; really competed on D no matter where he was on the court. Added needed physicality and compe iveness to the mix. A couple good passes, a few good shots but it's still a struggle on O.
DeJuan Blair C-
Got some minutes in the 1st half but did next to nothing. His decline in athleticism is even more apparent against an uber athletic team like the Thunder.
Pop A
Going to Neal at backup PG was the right move in hindsight. Shortened 2nd half rotations helpful. Feeding Leonard was smart. Effective inbounds plays. As animated on the sidelines as he's been this season.
Diaw a little bit too low IMO, I would have given up a C+ or B-..he struggled, but his best stretch of production was during a key juncture of the game, where OKC had cut the lead to 1 and the Spurs needed to make a mini-run to re-acquire momentum..Diaw made a few plays to quickly extend the lead back to 6+..
Duncan's grade is too high IMO..I thought the game was moving too quickly for him at times, and he was a step slow at times..
"C" is for "crap" tbh.
timvp with the hidden goods.
The Medium Three came up big tonight. I think they earned an HEB commercial.
I thought Boris played pretty well. It's nice to see him adjust when OKC wasn't guarding him again in the 1st qtr. Those b2b jumpers in the 3rd were huge IMO and really stymied their run. Those last couple of fouls were typical ThunderRef calls tbh.
Pretty obvious to me that, barring injury, Gary is the backup PG on this team. Don't think theres anything Cory can do about it outside of playing like a superstar for the next couple of weeks.
GREAT to see him have a decent game TBH!
I have Manu at B-, tbh... his first quarter and especially last stretch on the 4th quarter did leave a bad impression though, so I guess that's ok... I thought Timmy struggled pretty much all game. I hate Porkins, but you can't deny he owns the physical game with Tim...
thanks timvp
The best part of Tiago's game was his post up game. Rather than just finishing pick and roll like he always does, there were a good number of possessions where they just dumped the ball down low and he went to work, with great results. This will be huge in the playoffs, if we can impose our will with 2 bigs, forcing them to play Perkins big minutes
Ya know, since Parker couldn't play, Sefolosha had nothing to do and the main strength the Thunder had against the Spurs was null. Perhaps this could be the answer when Sefolosha puts Parker on lock, taking Parker out and letting the rest of the team play without him (minus Bonner). I know that's stupid but just sayin' since putting a long defender on the guy who pushes our offense brings the whole show to a halt.
Pop going after Ibaka 1on1 was genius, he's so overrated as a 1 on 1 defender
Straight post ups to Tim should be the 4th or 5th option against OKC tbh.
Turnobili tbh
He's vulnerable to pump fakes.
tiago did some damn good low post work on ibaka and collison
and I cant get enough of kawhi his progression is through the roof love his left handed dunks
Great game tonight. I don't think you can ask much more from Cojo. He is in their to get the offense into their sets and play tough D, I even liked the floater and fastbreak layup he converted tonight. Kawhi showed more of superstar flashes with his 2nd quarter play. His ball handling has improved so much through the course of the season. Tiago was a beast. He beat down Ibaka in the post and played smart all night. I thought Diaw played pretty well until he picked up ticky-tack fouls against Ibaka. He was able to hit key shots at key times in the 3rd quarter. Great team ball by the Spurs and this was a very exciting victory.
Lol at giving Tim a B+ and Boris a C, we didn't watch the same game, Tim was fumbling almost every pass thrown his way and looked horrid on D while Boris shot the ball and passed well and even made plays on D..
Lol more like it was re ed to leave him wide open before.
somehow a genius no matter what.
I'm talking on offense not defenseLol more like it was re ed to leave him wide open before.
Well we did in the past, it's more on Tiago for improving so much.
Kawhi is blossoming right before eyes.
Also typical Green made his shots so he gets a A while Cojo played much better D and should at least get the same grade if not higher...
Agree with every grade except for this one. I think Tim deserved a C. He just wasn't sharp enough and didn't compete hard enough, especially in the first half. His lazy post moves and poor one on one defense are starting to become a trend since coming back form injury, and I'm not quite sure why. As you pointed out, his pick and roll D was good, so his mobility seems to be fine. I guess he's just in a decision-making funk, but man watching him post up or play one on one defense is becoming painful.
You didn't mention Joseph's turnover total, which I thought was crucial.
Jackson's grade is right except that he helped Durant up off the floor in the second quarter. This should cost him a mark.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
