Reply With Quote
Green is not a B- but otherwise good stuff!
Tim Duncan A+
Wow. What can be said about a 37-year-old who was by far the best player on the court? Duncan's outside jumper was going and that opened up everything else. Whether on the low post, running the court or catching it on the perimeter, he was a monster. On D, he battled hard and rebounded well. Duncan was locked in from the opening tip and had a great game. Even more importantly, he looks to be in outstanding health right now.
Manu Ginobili A-
His numbers aren't as spectacular as they were in the first two games but Ginobili's play was just as promising -- if not more promising. He was exploding well toward the basket, defending with aggression and he exhibited more confidence when making quick bursts. Outside of a few sloppy possessions, Ginobili took another step in the right direction.
Tony Parker B+
Parker's play, particularly in pick-and-roll sets, was instrumental in putting the Lakers back on their heels. His attacking was great in the first half and produced a ton of open shots. In the third quarter, he turned it over too much but otherwise did well maintaining the pressure. I have to knock him a bit due to a handful of lackadaisical possessions on D -- but given his compe ion, it was understandable.
Kawhi Leonard B+
There was nothing too amazing out of Leonard but he again was an extremely positive force. On offense, his ability to shoot jumpers off the dribble continues to look more and more natural. With the Lakers were forced to go small, he was able to show off his burgeoning moves on the post. On D, while there wasn't much for him to guard against, he provided swift help and was seemingly always in the mix.
Danny Green B-
His stats look better but I wasn't too thrilled with how Green played. Early on, I thought he was forcing shots. Coming out of the gates, it appeared to me as if were pressing -- and that's not a good sign. He settled down as the night progressed but he needs to relax a bit and let the game come to him. The bright spots were his hustle and his play in transition.
Tiago Splitter B-
This big win was marred by a Splitter ankle injury. Early reports have him out up to 10 days. Obviously, this is bad timing. The Spurs will find it much more difficult to win in the second round if they don't have Splitter. As far as this game, he was better. He was less soft, held his ground on D well and boarded better. His finishing is still uncharacteristically poor but the Spurs will surely miss him while he's gone.
Matt Bonner A-
The playoff series of Bonner's life continues. He buried a couple more three-pointers, made quick decisions on O and was a threat the Lakers had to account for at all times. He didn't have quite as much success on D as last game but he was again physical, did a great job of keeping his arms up and wasn't shy about committing hard fouls when necessary.
Gary Neal C-
At times Neal was the Lakers best defender. He was breaking the offense too much -- whether it was to shoot or aimlessly dribble. That he was without a field goal when the game was in doubt made his ball-dominant ways even more annoying. I'll give him some credit for trying hard on D and for providing really good effort on the glass, though.
Cory Joseph A
Since the playoffs have started, Joseph has been a man possessed. I am in love with how he's playing right now. Everything is fast, with purpose, with energy and with physicality. He doesn't take a possession off and he's brimming with confidence. I'm not sure where this has come from but let us hope it stays around. His play at backup point guard is close to perfect right now.
DeJuan Blair B+
I didn't like his defense this game. Blair wasn't doing his work early and was caught out of position repeatedly. That said, there was a whole lot to like about his offense. He ran the court fantastically. His touch around the basket was superb. His screens were great and his timing on rolls was excellent. Add in very good passing (and rebounding) and it was definitely a quality night at the office.
Pop A-
Pop's button-pushing is masterful right now. His rotation makes a ton of sense. He's unveiling new plays left and right -- and they're working. My only minor quibble tonight is that I thought he could have bought more rest for Duncan … but other than that, Pop is rolling.
Green is not a B- but otherwise good stuff!
Cory Joseph was AWESOME tonight. Ginobli got the bench going. Duncan was unconscious. Neal and Splitter couldn't get going as usual. Same with Danny until garbage time. We are playing an extremely limited and flawed team, and I think it's disguising a lot of our mistakes, but still. A+ performance tonight. Let's close this one out Sunday.
Disagree vehemently with Parker's grade.
TP looked the best he's looked since the ankle injury imo, tho I only caught the first half.
Thanks as always for the grades!
Tbh, I'd find it easier to respond if I knew the direction of your disagreements, IMO.
The best part about each game that passes is that Tony looks more and more like himself....
I was hoping Baynes, Patty, and Cojo would be on the quick grades as well. Tbh I thought Neal was hogging the ball too much in garbage time.
You said you were not too thrilled and thought the game came to him later but B- is too much IMO! I give him a C at best! B anything is too much for him right now IMO! I am glad as we won but man thats too much right now. He is not playing well right now on both ends.
Last edited by Sean Cagney; 04-27-2013 at 02:35 AM.
I liked the fact that Pop made a concerted effort to get Leonard more involved in the offense, especially when he had a mismatch in the post. That was sorely missing in game 1 and even game 2, albeit to a lesser extent.
I liked the fact that Leonard is slowly (re?)-expanding his game to take that pull up mid range jumper out of the pick and roll. We saw a lot of that during summer league and during the early regular season, but I thought he went away from that for much of the latter half of the regular season. Nice to see his pick and roll to pull up re-emerge.
Neal showed the downside of iso/1 on 1 scorers. It's good to have the option if the offense goes in the tank, but if the offense is working well at all, it shouldn't happen, it's just less efficient. Thought he was comfortably the weakest Spur tonight.
Cory was fantastic. Like Hill before him, passiveness can be a concern, but when he's playing like a disruptive little guy who's aiming to piss off opposing players and play with physicality, he's excellent.
Kawhi posting on Laker guards seemed cruel. They fronted him, guards tossed it out of their reach, Kawhi grabbed and then had easy looks against small players from 5 feet away. They could've run that all game if it got close, the only answer is doubling and TD(WOW) and Bonner are good enough shooters to make that a losing proposition.
It should end in 2 days.
he was kinda lazy in the 2nd half and had a ton of dumb turnovers.
i can be a TP hater but I don't mind the grade. besides, timvp gives Parker the Pitchfork treatment with his grades, it's almost always in the B range no matter what.
Last edited by HI-FI; 04-27-2013 at 02:57 AM.
By then the game was basically over. As long as he didn't look bad athletically it's fine.
Good grades timvp, thanks as always. One thing that concerned me regarding pop was that line up in the 2nd I believe with CoJo, green, neal, blair...It was pretty damn terrible for playoff standards tbh, lets just hope pop was screwing around and new the team was in no danger because if he plays that line up in the 2nd round they'll get burned imho
TP Bad condition ?
In all honesty does anyone think we shoot 60 +% without TP's play and aggression. Yes he wasn't unconscious like 3rd qtr game 2, and he turned the ball over 3 times in a row, but he was far from worrisome to me. We win by 30, Tim is off the chart PERIOD!!, Manu again looks great. and TP looked pretty damn spry for someone getting the crap knocked out of him consistently. I'm optimistic about the playoffs, and have been concerned after our end o f the season collapse. It was probably somewhat orchestrated to an extent. Now is the time to play!!
I think TP still isn't 100%, but the d-league combo made him look as quick as he normally is.
One for the ages. TP, besides the short TO spate was brilliant. TD, only a true wordsmith could do him credit. Red Mamba, he went to All Star Weekend did he not. CJ, wow he looks a playoff player. Blair, I will not rest until he dunks over Dwight.
I think you can switch Manu's with TP's but fair enough. Thanks LJ.
Nice grades. TP played great, but I think he let Goudelock gain some confidence by hitting those 3s.
But really nothing too much to complain about across the board.
Tentative injured splitter = we are fishing in 2 weeks.
Who defended Goudelock most of the time?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
