Matt Bonner, Playoff Super Scab

[milkyway21]

No, they aren't. In the playoffs he has shot 40% FG and 37% 3PTFG for the spurs in his career.



Actually, it isn't. 5 minutes per game is huge when he's already playing extremely limited minutes as-is.


Show me big men that can shoot the 3 like he does, put it on the floor and either score or find an open teammate off the dribble? How many are there besides him? Like 2 or 3 in the entire league? Rebounding isn't his strength but he's still at least average at it. If you want to say he's awful at blocking shots, I'd agree with you, but his rebounding is fine.

Okay he helped the Spurs once in the 1st series..but that was it SO FAR!
Even if Bonner can shoot 42% from the 3pt line but IF HE'S AFRAID TO SHOOT EVERYTIME HE'S ON THE FLOOR, the high % don't matter.

that guy has no guts or the confidence...even if he has the ball & he's open, there's no guaranty he'll let it fly..

[Dre_7]

A little surprised we're 50+ posts in and no one has pointed out the obvious -- why Pop started Bonner.

The rationale is, imo, obvious. With no David Lee, GSW has no bigs who can defend outside the rim. Not outside the paint... outside the rim. Bogut's extremely effective under the rim, but doesn't have the quickness to be effective anywhere else. It's why we've seen Duncan get so many shots from the top of the key; GSW would rather keep Bogut inside to collect rebounds and clog the paint to prevent Parker drives. And it's a good strategy too.

So, how do the Spurs counter that? By sending in "another" offensive floor-stretching big. Duncan by himself is a reasonable floor-stretcher for a big, but you can easily use help defense to mitigate that. But put Duncan and Bonner out there together, and the Warriors, THEORETICALLY, are essentially forced to make their defense spread the floor as well. Someone has to cover Bonner out there... that, combined with Duncan being at the top of the key, leads to HUGE space for Parker to drive.

The question then becomes, what affects Bonner's +/-? Given that he doesn't shoot much, this should be obvious.... Bonner's +/- is almost entirely dependent on if Parker and the guards are successfully driving the lane, and if Duncan et al are hitting their jumpers. In Game 2 --- they did not. It's not Bonner's fault. Just like it's not to his credit if it's high. He's practically a decoy.

This!

It is so funny reading you guys go back and forth about Bonner. No he shouldnt have been givin the start. And no, he didnt give them anything positive. But still, arguing over bonner??

What you should be pissed about was all the missed layups and free throws. That is what killed the Spurs.

The big 3 and Kawhi need to step up tonight. Bonner's threes (as well as Green's, Neal's, Leonard's, Diaw's, and everyone else's) will go in at a higher rate if the offense is playing effecient Spurs basketball.

[therealtruth]

Okay he helped the Spurs once in the 1st series..but that was it SO FAR!
Even if Bonner can shoot 42% from the 3pt line but IF HE'S AFRAID TO SHOOT EVERYTIME HE'S ON THE FLOOR, the high % don't matter.

that guy has no guts or the confidence...even if he has the ball & he's open, there's no guaranty he'll let it fly..

The reason it worked in the first round is the Lakers bigs were so reluctant to defend him at the 3pt line.

[thOOdee]

You want evidence? Look at his freakin' pathetic playoff numbers since he got here.

FG%:

Regular Season, .468
Playoffs, .373

3PT%:

Regular Season, .417
Playoffs, .329

RPG:

Regular Season, 3.3
Playoffs, 2.2

APG:

Regular Season, .7
Playoffs, .4

PPG:

Regular Season, 6.5
Playoffs, 3.2

The clock turns May and he turns into a ing scrub.

and to add, thats not even really getting into any defensive statistics....its not a coincidence the year he started playing significant minutes, the spurs have not won a championship since.

[Obstructed_View]

The reason it worked in the first round is the Lakers bigs were so reluctant to defend him at the 3pt line.

The Lakers were overmatched, and Bonner on the floor against Gasol and Howard forced cross matchups. Let's not lose sight of the fact that Bonner was on the floor against the Lakers to foul Dwight Howard.

Matt Bonner does not move better than Tiago Splitter, so a lineup with him in it is NOT IN ANY WAY a "small" lineup, it's a lineup sacrificing defense and rebounding in order to generate offense. During the regular season, lineups with Bonner tended to move the ball around very well. The ball movement is currently not there against the Warriors, so either they've found a way to defend it, or it's run out of mojo. Either way, that means he shouldn't be in the rotation.

[Brazil]

YOU!! This is just disrespectful to MATT.. Stop making thread like this man.. Have some respect for the guy.. His trying to give everything for this team...

[Spur Bank]

sup DrZ...

I have no idea what you're talking about.

The fact that Bogut won't go away from the paint, no matter if you play Bonner/Diaw or anybody else, make the whole exercise futile. We've also seen, especially on Game 2, that the Warriors do recover pretty well to 3 point shooters, including Bonner. Which is why we've seen him time and time again put the ball on the floor instead of actually getting a shot off.

They're giving both Tony and Tim the jumper. That's going to be there after every Tim/Tony pick & roll. They also know Tony for the most part won't force the issue when facing a shot blocker, and will kick out instead. Which is why recovering to the shooters isn't that complicated for them.

Yes, sadly, I agree. GSW is defending the way they should defend ... give up the lower percentage plays (jumpers), defend the higher ones. A Bonner 3 pt shot is one of the highest percentage shots the team has, and they're athletic enough to cover it.

So far, it seems to be a case of a Warriors team that probably could have been defending this well most of the regular season, but "chose" not to, whether due to inexperience, age, rest, or who-knows. I had hoped... even expected... that their poor regular season defense was indicative of a team that simply didn't play good D, but it looks more like it's indicative of a team that wasn't motivated at the time.

[silverblk mystix]

YOU!! This is just disrespectful to MATT.. Stop making thread like this man.. Have some respect for the guy.. His trying to give everything for this team...

#1) pos Matty is a millionaire - don't feel bad at all for him

#2) Maybe the pos will get inspired enough to say "enough of this " and strap on a pair of balls and play with an edge;
a) no more standing at the basket with your arms straight up in the air while a 5'10'' guard shoots over him at will.
b) Take the in shot if you are 6'10'' and have a smaller player running at you
c) If someone wants to iso you - it should insult you and you should foul the out of the player if he is bigger or get physical and bully
the smaller player and make him pay for having the balls to think he can iso you.
d) At the very least use ALL SIX OF YOUR FOULS to get in someone's head and make them want to fight you! At least the pos Red Pussy
will be useful to the team.

[Brazil]

#1) pos Matty is a millionaire - don't feel bad at all for him

#2) Maybe the pos will get inspired enough to say "enough of this " and strap on a pair of balls and play with an edge;
a) no more standing at the basket with your arms straight up in the air while a 5'10'' guard shoots over him at will.
b) Take the in shot if you are 6'10'' and have a smaller player running at you
c) If someone wants to iso you - it should insult you and you should foul the out of the player if he is bigger or get physical and bully
the smaller player and make him pay for having the balls to think he can iso you.
d) At the very least use ALL SIX OF YOUR FOULS to get in someone's head and make them want to fight you! At least the pos Red Pussy
will be useful to the team.

[jesterbobman]

Matt Bonner should not be called upon as the lone big man, that's not his strength. But as a second big Next to Tim or Tiago, it works on both ends. He's a good enough defender(Please stop expecting him to be prime Tim) and the floor spacing means we are really good offensively.

Also, we were outplayed, they have really good shooters, Thompson was on fire and we shot badly. Stop looking for a scapegoat in a role player.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Six minutes with nothing to show for it last night except three bricks from downtown. No boards, nothing. Calling him a mental midget would be a compliment.

Scab.

[Obstructed_View]

Matt Bonner should not be called upon as the lone big man, that's not his strength.

Matt Bonner has one strength, and that's to hit three pointers at a high enough percentage over a long period of time to allow him to eat up regular season minutes for the contributing players so they're fresh for the playoffs.

But as a second big Next to Tim or Tiago, it works on both ends.

1st quarter score with Bonner starting: Warriors 28, Spurs 23
1st quarter score with Splitter starting: Spurs 32, Warriors 23

He's a good enough defender

He's an abysmal individual defender, he's a horrific post defender, and he's a stupid team defender. The only reason his post defense numbers look decent is because he fouls before the shot so often.

(Please stop expecting him to be prime Tim)

Expecting him to be prime time Boris Diaw is setting the bar too high.

and the floor spacing means we are really good offensively.

1st quarter score with Bonner starting: Warriors 28, Spurs 23
1st quarter score with Splitter starting: Spurs 32, Warriors 23

Also, we were outplayed, they have really good shooters, Thompson was on fire and we shot badly. Stop looking for a scapegoat in a role player.

We can stop looking for scapegoats because you used all of them up to defend a role player.

[Spur Bank]

Obstructed_view, why would you spend that much time typing up a post that makes no sense? If you're going to make six individual quotes, please, make a salient point in at least one of them.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Game 1. Absolute garbage. :Td

[imjunsul]

Diaw > Bonner.. CMON POP FREE BORIS

[SA210]

Bonner

[BatManu20]

Bonner is a regular season player. Nothing changed here. Diaw needs to be playing over him. Please.

[racm]

Bonner didn't crack the 10 minute mark and Pop went with Leonard at the 4, geez.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I'd rather seen Baynes out there than fruity bonehead what a tucking zero. Looking t pass as soon as he caught the ball tonight. He was so shook he didn't even catch rim on a layup.

[timtonymanu]

I'm not surprised Bonner sucked tonight. He struggled the same against Golden State. Obviously, he's a better fit against teams that play slow and in the post (Lakers, Grizzlies).

[Yuixafun]

Those back to back missed point blank layups had me heated.

[tesseractive]

I'm not surprised Bonner sucked tonight. He struggled the same against Golden State. Obviously, he's a better fit against teams that play slow and in the post (Lakers, Grizzlies).

He's a purely situational player who only makes sense in certain matchups. He did a nice job in those matchups.

Now it's time for him to sit this series out. Since we seem to be playing some small lineups for a decent chunk of the game, Tim, Tiago and Boris should be all the big men we need for this series unless we run into foul trouble.