Tim Duncan A
Vintage numbers across the board. His rebounding alone made a huge difference. Scored well from various spots on the court. Defended well, even in switches. Physically, looked spry and moved with pep.
Manu Ginobili C-
Passed the ball well; was able to create scoring opportunities with his court vision. Otherwise, though, it was a forgettable night. Iffy decisions. Subpar D. Loose with the ball. Appeared stiff when trying to score.
Kawhi Leonard B-
Commendable aggression, particularly in the open court. Any shyness in his game is evaporating. Authored quality passes and played strong D. Misfirings from the perimeter dampened his scoring output.
Danny Green C
Hit his threes, stayed mentally engaged on D and played with ferocity. Unfortunately, interior shooting was off, turned it over too much and his decisions were sometimes foolhardy.
Cory Joseph B-
It was a safe outing but he needs to dial it up some more -- on both ends. Could have applied more pressure on D. On O, he was too willing to pass it quickly rather than make plays.
Tiago Splitter A-
He didn't finish well but dealt with a lot of contact around the rim. I liked his rebounding; loved his perimeter D. He guarded Nowitzki well and challenged the potential game-winner. Passing also a plus.
Gary Neal B+
It wasn't always pretty but he supplied much-needed scoring. Hit a pair of key threes in the 4th. Took care of the ball; dished it adequately. D was pretty damn horrid -- but did what he could with limited mobility.
Boris Diaw A-
Played with a lot more purpose than usual. Entered the game ready to play. Made plays instantly on O. His D was very strong -- both help-wise and individually. Only negatives: his board-work and sloppiness.
Stephen Jackson B-
Kept it simple. Limited his mistakes while rebounding and passing well. Didn't score a point in 11 minutes but also didn't get many touches. Wasn't a star but also helped more than hurt.
DeJuan Blair C
Didn't defend well. Didn't get to open spaces on offense. Thankfully, only played six minutes.
Pop B-
Strangely coached game. Ended the game with Ginobili at point guard -- and that didn't exactly work out fantastically. Then again, his shortened rotation helped keep the team's rhythm intact.
If this is the kind of effort we can see from Tim in the playoffs watch out, I know it's the Mavericks but he played well with the time off from his last start. Gary Neal did make better decisions with the ball this game but his defense is still atrocious. I always see him wander into the paint as if he's going to block a 7 footer while his man is about 10 feet away shooting an open jumper.
Even though Kawhi's shooting% was poor, it wasn't like he was taking a lot of bad shots. Was just missing shots that he could ordinarily make. Was playing within his game for the most part.
He didn't take bad shots but he wasn't as aggressive in the second half, he pulled up a lot looking to pass rather than attack or confidently shoot.
I'm worried Joseph is going to become too conservative, like many Spurs backup PGs of the past, tbh..it happened to De Colo earlier in the season after he had a nice game as a starter, as well..
They play aggressive basketball with success, but eventually revert to being conservative and deferring to the bigger name players on the floor..
This is true. He should be challenging the rim more, since he's also become one of our better free throw shooters. Now that he's actually putting the ball on the floor and creating his own shot, the next step in the evolution in his game would be playmaking, which we are already seeing a little bit of. Its awesome. Early in the season I was actually mildly disappointed since we were seeing what we saw last year, where he mainly just buried himself in the corner and occasionally made a basket cut. Since that Chicago game he's been assertive on offense. Loving it.
Joseph has always played conservatively
he creates nothing
just scores of cuts to the baskets and transition
spurs are a drive and kick team and he needs to get into the paint to draw defenders in and kick it out
outside of Parker no one has been able to do this
its effecting all the role players game
well see if Parkers return can make the bench play better
and Leonards 3 point shot has been off for a while now
his last game shooting over .500 on 3s was Feb 6th
been shooting mostly 1/4 or 1/3s since then
I think Joseph will improve the penetration and dish game with more time, he's still feeling out everything with the players on the floor. Parker will definitely come back and make an improvement not only because he can score in the paint but also he has improved his passing and it shows with the assists he has this season. I think Leonard has struggled from the 3 point arc but that's actually helped his mid range and inside game more, I'm all for Leonard being able to hit a 3 but having someone who can slash to the basket score and possibly get a foul call is going to be better in the long run. We haven't had that kind of presence from a wing in quite some time and the refs will grow accustomed to this and afford him more trips to the line if he's successful.
Neal scored well, but he held on to the ball for far too long most of the time imo. He had some really good scoring drives though.
have you ever given Timmy a bad grade? I'm not saying he's not usually an A...but you a homer brah.
you know he's gonna reply to this with occasions he's given him a bad grade, right?
Tiago too high: You would need to overlook he's a big and he was 3-9 (4-19 the last two games). Teams finally paying more attention to him?
Manu too low: We need an assist man with Tony out, and as much as he has sucked lately, he's pretty much the only one that can setup the offense. His stint with the starters in the 1st half led to a 7-0 run to close the quarter. 9 assists (next guy had 3), 5 boards, 2 steals and 2 turnovers is an ok game. Yeah, his shot is off, but he didn't shoot much and no step back 3s. Progress.
Blair way too high: 11 minutes of terror. 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, and a red carpet to our basket. Useless on offense. Don't know why Pop keeps insisting.
Awesome game from the 21, I hope he is saving more of those for the playoffs.
And also, lol:
Jesus . You are a seriously awful poster
I'm not sure you know what the word "homer" means.
timvp has given low marks to Tim when he has played poorly relative to expectations. The fact is, Tim hasn't had very many games where he has played poorly relative to expectations. In fact, early on in the season, for at least the first month, I can't remember a single bad game he played.
He was a top 5 MVP candidate a few months ago. Obviously the injury slowed him down a bit, but he's getting back to form.
Splitter has been getting hacked and getting no calls these past 2 games
guys going for piggyback rides and grabbing his face
hes still rebounded in double digits, made great passes, and played good D
games like these are proof that Diaw is just coasting
still need to see if Popovich will stick with staggering the Splitter/Duncan minutes
the 5 minute left sub out he does with Tiago and then brings him back at the 5-6 minute mark has been where the team has been getting torched
Even with Tony out, Manu cannot automatically be the sole closer, let alone when he did not play well for the whole game. I didn't re-watch the game, but since he took over as the ball-handler at the end of the game, the offense is so predictable. His last shot was not better than a turnover.
Plus, even if Manu personally plays well for this game, the first and foremost objective with Tony out has to be finding offense flow assuming Tony is "shutout" by bigger defenders. So the ball needs to be distributed among Tim, Kawhi, Manu and even Splitter. Right now, Tony is the only superstar in this team (being a top 5 player). If Tony is limited, then after him, it has to be the system, not Manu, and not even Tim either.
Even though Tim's overall offense production was great tonight, but when he tried to initiate the offense in the first half, he was not nearly successful. He was shooting 9-10 in the second half, but many of them were from fast break, or cut, or offense rebounds.
Although Manu is younger than Tim, he has aged worse than Tim. So Pop needs to stop dumping the ball to Manu and hope for miracles. During the playoffs, it may work for 1 game in a series, but it's bound to hurt the Spurs than help the team.
Also, I don't agree with CoJo's minutes. Granted, he was not very aggressive. But his error-free play alone has to warrant more than 13 minutes. At the beginning of the second half, when he purposefully attacked for three consecutive possessions, he was successful with 2-3 FG. I think part of his deference to senior teammates has to be related to Pop's game-calling. Basically a rookie, you have to give him opportunities to make plays and mistakes.
Neal's play is not always pretty. Like Timvp and all of rest of STers mentioned, his D and ball-handling are essentially below average. But his scoring ability in a short period shows his value to the team.
Strange game. The Spurs played their offense, netting 31 assists, but shot poorly. You have to credit the Mavs defense mostly for that, they had 10 steals and 10 blocks. They also did not turn the ball over much with only 11. You could tell the Mavs really wanted that game to avoid being swept in the season series.
It took a beast game from Duncan to get that win. When Splitter and Green go 3-9, with no Parker, it is going to be a tough night. I love Leonard's aggression since the Chicago game. He didn't shoot well tonight, but it's just a matter of time before he figures things out. He could provide a real problem for other teams in the playoffs, and will give Parker some breathing room once teams start focusing on shutting him down.
Neal and Splitter grades are too high.
Wow, what a performance by Timmy. Tonight he was really putting the fun in fundamental.
What I don't get is why they stopped feeding him at the end of the game. Until then he was scoring from the outside, inside, even had some kind of a floater. Why not be Splitter the guy who sets the pick for Manu and if nothing develops forcefeed Tim inside. We nearly pissed away his vintage performance.
I think what Neal costs in weakened defense isn't worth his streaky shooting. He got outplayed by Derek Fisher in the playoffs.
Death taxes and 24-12 - timvp circa 2003. Needs to be brought back it seems.
Missed the game. Mah boy Bonner didn't play?
pop saving him for the playoff.
There are only three things in life you can truly depend on.
Death
Taxes
Spurs will win at least 50 games each season
Cheers on yet another 50 win season for the Silver and Black. The streak dates back 13 seasons to the 1999 Lock-out (which featured a 50 game season...and would have required a perfect year for the Spurs to continue the streak). If we don't count that short season then it actually goes back 14 seasons.
Props to the best team in professional sports over the last decade plus.
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