Quick Grades: Spurs @ Rockets - Mar. 24

[timvp]

Tim Duncan C-
Simply lacked sharpness in multiple areas. On D, he was subpar -- both individually and help-wise. On O, the Rockets didn't pay him much respect yet he failed to take advantage. Didn't shoot well enough and turned it over too much. He gave the Spurs a shot with his production but there wasn't enough precision.

Manu Ginobili C-
He continues to have a lot of problems scoring the ball. His outside shot is off. He's not able to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls. He's not creating when isolated. On D, he was decent -- too aggressive at times but his liveliness was an asset. Overall, he limited his mistakes better than he has recently.

Tony Parker A
Considering he's still obviously less than 100%, I thought he did very well again. On D, Lin did next to nothing on him. Down the stretch of the game, his 12 straight points almost lifted the Spurs to victory. His passing was strong throughout. Physically, it's looking like he should be 100% before too much longer.

Kawhi Leonard B+
Pulled down contested boards. I mostly thought his D was very good. On O, he again didn't get enough touches. He spent too much of the time as a spot shooter. If other options are going to continue to struggle, the Spurs must start leaning on him with more regularity.

Danny Green C
Bad shooting night. Not being able to finish the layup late in the 4th ended up being a huge play. He started hesitating in the second half, which made him a liability on O. On D, he was exceptionally active. There were miscues mixed in but it was definitely an above averaging showing from him on that end.

Tiago Splitter B-
The Bad: Had trouble defending out on the floor; their speed was giving him trouble. His interior D was inconsistent. His finishing at the rim was better but he still isn't at his usual level. The Good: He passed very well. He was aggressive in the 4th when the Spurs needed him. Played hard and produced adequately.

Boris Diaw B
Shot the ball enough. Rebounded well enough. His D was a roller-coaster. Sometimes it was very good, sometimes he looked totally overwhelmed. On O, his sloppiness derailed a handful of possessions. Overall, he did fine but still had a lot of room for improvement.

Stephen Jackson B+
Shot straight -- and that alone raised his value. I liked his D; it was aggressive yet smart. He appeared to be even slower than usual but otherwise he was fine. This is the type of effort that will really come in handy once the playoffs begin.

Nando De Colo B-
His defense continues to look much improved since his reinsertion into the rotation. On O, he limited his mistakes and helped a little bit here and a little bit there. But with the bench desperate for points, the Spurs needed him to be more in attack mode. That didn't happen.

Pop D+
I just didn't like his playcalling all night. There was too much pounding it into Duncan, not enough plays for Leonard and the ending was … frustrating. With Parker rolling that much, how does Pop go away from him with the game on the line? Baffling.

[Pop]

Thanks, I think Nando's grade too high, Berveley did whatever he wanted against him basically, he just can't keep up vs quicker guys, I just see a downgrade over a Gary Neal since he's not as good offensively... Cojo at least brings another dimension to the table.

Green's grade feels too low, he did play great D, the kind that makes everyone want to play harder as well. We know he can't finish at the rim, it's as much on the passer than on him tbh. He should force the dunk (and eventually get called for a charge) or pass the ball.

Overall Jack, Green and Diaw all had reassuring performances with the playoffs just around the corner imo.

[TE]

Kawhi seriously needs to get more touches. He is a talent that is rotting away if Pop doesn't get him the necessary amount of touches.

Agree on all grades, especially Pop's

[siraulo23]

unfortunately, kawhi will prolly stay as a spot up shooter for the rest of this season + playoffs

[AussieFanKurt]

can't believe asik got in duncans head... he deserves an award for being able to do this

[freetiago]

people were saying Kawhi wasnt ready to take on a bigger role now suddenly after Sean is calling for it everyone else is on the bandwagon
i thought he should have been more of a mid range guy when they drafted him instead of trying to do another failed Bruce Bowen experiment
Leonard wont be as good defensively but he can be light years better offensively

if the 4th quarter wasnt played then i would agree with Leonard's grade but he made way to many mistakes there
he had a transition pass which he jumped and passed the ball which Houston thought should have been a travel
fouled harden on a 3
passed it to green in the open court which led to a Houston 3
didnt deny the ball well or manuver around the screen well which led to an open mid range shot which he was lucky wasnt called for a foul
hit the side of the backboard on what looked like an open 3

[apalisoc_9]

Pop needs to use leonard now before it's too late.

[Fireball]

Just watched the game. Man, this 3 on1 fast break at the end of the game blown by Danny Green really cost the game as the Rockets immediately scored a three at the other end. Props to Tony Parker in the 4th quarter ... astounding what he can do at the end of a game when he takes a back seat in the three quarters before. Agree that the last shot should have been his.

[Strategic]

Tim Duncan C-
Simply lacked sharpness in multiple areas. On D, he was subpar -- both individually and help-wise. On O, the Rockets didn't pay him much respect yet he failed to take advantage. Didn't shoot well enough and turned it over too much. He gave the Spurs a shot with his production but there wasn't enough precision.

Manu Ginobili C-
He continues to have a lot of problems scoring the ball. His outside shot is off. He's not able to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls. He's not creating when isolated. On D, he was decent -- too aggressive at times but his liveliness was an asset. Overall, he limited his mistakes better than he has recently.

Pop D+
I just didn't like his playcalling all night. There was too much pounding it into Duncan, not enough plays for Leonard and the ending was … frustrating. With Parker rolling that much, how does Pop go away from him with the game on the line? Baffling.

I think in crunch time Pop is going to make the team go back to Timmy and Manu iso's when Tony isn't on the court.

[EricB]

I thought green was solid, the one consistent thing he's shown he can do this year when his shot is off, still being decent defense unlike vs OKC when his shot left he forgot to play defense.

That said Stephen Jackson was in Jax mode. He fueled the comeback from down 8 with his 3's. small ball was the right move and it was working until green for Jax came in.

That said, Leonard has got to be more of an offensive contributer. He has got to have more plays run for him, but he's also when given the ball all of a sudden not act like he doesn't know what to do, which happened more than once last night.

the disturbing thing for me going forward, splitter struggles against speed. Miami, OKC could and may give him trouble. If that happens, might as well pack it in.


Pop has to relet the leashes off the offense. He's gone into 2003 mode where he only trusts 4 down and iso. The ball movement is gone, the crisp passing the moving the defense is non existent anymore and for the life of me and maybe because Parker has been gone and its only his second game back but, LA could defend this offense. THAT'S what's scary.


with Manu continuing to struggle this more and more feels like THE absolute last chance at a ring. You can't bet Duncan plays better than 2007 Duncan. There isn't much in the way of prospects IMO next year ready to contribute. So to win they have to keep the defensive intensity they had last night but get the back to spurs offense, and Duncan, stop being message board myopic and blaming the refs. The refs didn't lose that game.

[pookenstein]

Just watched the game. Man, this 3 on1 fast break at the end of the game blown by Danny Green really cost the game as the Rockets immediately scored a three at the other end. Props to Tony Parker in the 4th quarter ... astounding what he can do at the end of a game when he takes a back seat in the three quarters before. Agree that the last shot should have been his.

Terrible decisioin by Manu not to pass the ball to the much faster player in TP, who also happens to finish much better at the rim as Green and at the absolute worst would have gotten a pair of FT's out of that fastbreak. Even if Tony would have missed those two, the transitin three from Parsons would have been prevented.

[Fireball]

Terrible decisioin by Manu not to pass the ball to the much faster player in TP, who also happens to finish much better at the rim as Green and at the absolute worst would have gotten a pair of FT's out of that fastbreak. Even if Tony would have missed those two, the transitin three from Parsons would have been prevented.

Ok, I thought Green could have passed it to TP who then could have passed it back directly to Green. Then Green would have been more free for the layup ...

[John B]

Championship teams stop the last shot or make the last shot. Neither happened. I expect them to get back to the drawing board and practice closing games. There is much to be desired.

Agree Kawhi needs more touches and rest Duncan for the last possession. 2nd unit is not scoring enough. Manu is not the same, hopefully he turns around soon enough. For now we need more scoring from Diaw/Jackson/Nando. Indecision on the backup PG might have hurt the 2nd unit chemistry. They were much explosive last year. We need Neal's instant offense or maybe Kawhi needs to run with the 2nd unit. But we need more runs while the big 3 rest until they get back strong to finish the game.

[Hoops Czar]

Kawhi seriously needs to get more touches. He is a talent that is rotting away if Pop doesn't get him the necessary amount of touches.

Agree on all grades, especially Pop's

Kawhi will get more touches when Kawhi puts the ball on the floor and friggin drives to the basket. If he wants to settle for outside jumpshots, being a low % jumpshooter that he is, he doesn't deserve more touches. Pop doesn't dictate to the team who takes the shots nor does he assign roles, the players do. If he's going to settle, then he deserves as many touches as Danny Green.

[Spur|n|Austin]

[SIZE=4][B]Kawhi Leonard B+
Pulled down contested boards. I mostly thought his D was very good. On O, he again didn't get enough touches. He spent too much of the time as a spot shooter. If other options are going to continue to struggle, the Spurs must start leaning on him with more regularity.

I agree 100% on the lack of touches Kawhi is getting; it's almost as he got more touches earlier in the season. At this point, there's no doubt he's our 3rd option with the way Manu is playing. I'm not really sure what Pop is missing here, but Kawhi needs plays run through him when shots aren't falling elsewhere.

[therealtruth]

Where's Bonner's grade?

[Hoops Czar]

If the Spurs do lose the ship, it was lost in the offseason. They needed a backup pg in the worst way and the Spurs did nothing. Now Ginobili is struggling and the Spurs don't have a reliable backup.

[EricB]

If the Spurs do lose the ship, it was lost in the offseason. They needed a backup pg in the worst way and the Spurs did nothing. Now Ginobili is struggling and the Spurs don't have a reliable backup.

Please. There wasnt jack squat available....

[Brazil]

At this stage and in Pop's shoes I wouldn't know what to do. Can we expect do something without half of the Manu we know ? answer is no.

Opponents are going to set all their Defense scheme to slow down Parker, Rockets are a bad D team, so probably with the ball in TP's hands we won that game but if we want to go far, Spurs are going to need Tim down low and Manu's play making in the fourth. Pop is just forcing this to be prepared for the POs. Loosing a game or two for that reason is not a big issue. At what point you give up of Manu as the ball handler at the end and give the green light to KL ?

[silverblackfan]

Thanks for the grades. I agree the Tim could've gave up some touches and Manu is not all there yet. Houston got a lot of free throws but that is to be expected. I think the team needs to experience these lousy calls and persevere to win the game. The team needs to win despite the refs on a consistent basis.
They need to try and see if Kawhi can be a closer in these last games of the season.

[Thread]

F.

[tenbeersbold]

Simply put,there wasnt enough offensive firepower to put the Spurs over the top

With Ginobli's scoring punch absent for now the 2nd unit struggles to get open looks/make shots

Neal/Mills are needed along w/ the aforementioned touches for Leonard

Here's hoping Neal gets at least several games more off and is brought back for a few games at the end of the season to get in shape for the PO's.His instant offense is gonna be needed

[wildbill2u]

game after game Green misses layups. When he has a bad shooting game, at least half of his misses are layups.

Layups are the basic offensive building block of basketball that players learn when first introduced to the game as children. Layups are so basic that 'layup lines' are generally used just to get players loose and warmed up--so why does Green have so much trouble with them on a regular basis?

I doubt Chip, the shooting coach, even has a program to help players with layups. He needs to develop one for Green.

[EVAY]

I think that people are higher than they should be on Kawhi. That is not to say that he shouldn't get more touches, but his role is as defined by Pop, and when he tries to step out of that role he struggles. He struggled last night when his three point shot was defended, he lost the ball a couple of times trying to put it on the floor, and he is still inconsistent in his decision making. All of those struggles are perfectly reasonable for a second year small forward. All I'm saying is that he is not as ready to take on the savior role as some on this forum want to assign him. He had a chance at a clutch shot and hit the side of the backboard with it. I mean, come on, he's not THAT poised yet.

The shooting guard role is extremely troublesome right now, as Neal is out with his plantar fasciitis and Manu is just struggling with scoring so badly it hurts all of us to watch and probably him to experience. If Neal was healthy he would still be a defensive liability but he can shoot the clutch three for us. And we could have used it last night. Whoever it was on the board fussing about Tony missing a wide open Manu just before Tony made his last points seemed to ignore the fact that Manu has been about 1 for each game for the last seven games or so.

Pop and Tim both get stubborn about saying to themselves "Geev thee boll to Teemy and he will make it right". Tim has bailed us out of some problem games while Tony was out, but last night, two thirds of our big three let us down. Tony was the only one consistent down the stretch and Pop went away from him for the end of the game. That is on Pop, and no one else.

Let's face it folks, without a highly functioning Manu or a functioning Neal, we are not going to make it very far in the POS.

[jag]

Manu Ginobili C-
He continues to have a lot of problems scoring the ball. His outside shot is off. He's not able to turn the corner on pick-and-rolls. He's not creating when isolated. On D, he was decent -- too aggressive at times but his liveliness was an asset. Overall, he limited his mistakes better than he has recently.

It's bad when you're listing this as one of his positive contributions.