With the team getting all of tonight and tomorrow off, the lack of minutes played by Duncan, Leonard and others will no doubt pay dividends if needed for big ones in game 2. Only 27 mins for Duncan today,29 for Leonard. Huge huge for them to get that much rest.
Well, sort of. I mean, that would be like saying in Game 6 vs GS that getting Tim rest was key. The thing is, he isn't getting rest because they can afford it, he's getting rest because he is not playing well. He definitely looked better today defensively (for longer stretches and deeper into the game) than he did vs GS, but overall he still looks pretty off. It's really scary tbh..
. It was a typical Duncan day game. Yeah Duncan's post defense rebounding and good ball movement on offense was positively frightening.
I just find it incredibly odd that a champion like Duncan would have you making excuses for "a typical bored game" in the WCF. That makes no sense to me.
Duncan's struggles seem mental, tbh..
I've never seen him make as many bad decisions as we've seen in the stretch from the end of the Warriors series to today, tbh..
Bad shots, ill-advised passes..his confidence is fried..
Exactly but I think it stems from tiredness all around. You get tired, you make mistakes, you fail to box out or rotate, yours shots come up short and are flatter...all things we are seeing lately. I mean, have you ever seen Duncan be benched like he was in game 6 against GS? Duncan is one of the most mentally tough players in NBA history.
I don't know how many minutes Parker played, but I had hoped he would've also been the beneficiary of some additional rest too.
Lol he's not tired. If he was tired he wouldn't have done as well as he did on the offensive end. Overreaction to the maximum...
He's Playing incrrdibly soft, which Is very Disappointing To
see. For a great Player, Tim has always suffered from occasional Confidence issues.I'll never understand it.
Look, Tim can come back and play like he was all season and make some of us look dumb. But with the information we currently have as of late, it looks both physical and mental which is disturbing. I don't think he's just coasting or getting bored in the WCF
I have no problem with Duncan's offensive struggles if he guards and boxes out Randolph like he did today. Let's face it, the offensive playbook for this series needs to be focused on penetration, pick and roll and misdirection. Duncan won't get many iso opportunities, so he's unlikely to catch fire offensively.
Agreed, and like I said, if Tim can rebound and defend for a full game at his usual level then the Spurs can likely still advance even without him scoring 15PPG.
Yeah, it's strange.
I thought I detected a slight limp going into one of the timeouts, but I'm not sure. I saw no signs of one following it, though. Either way, he's due. It doesn't matter that he's been defended be three elite anchors or whether he's wearing down, at some point, regression to the mean will kick in at least somewhat.
As far as game two, the instant it was known that there would be a 3 day break between games 2 and 3, it was always going to be a max minutes game, no matter the result of game 1.
This. Other people can score this series. Tim, Tiago and Boris are there to keep Marc and Z-BO in check. If they do that, Parker and our perimeter game will take us home.
Timmy plays a great defense game and will play better offensively. Also, it's more efficient for the Spurs to NOT throw the ball down low to Timmy often. Just let Tony and Manu handle the ball first and then move the ball all around the court. Give it to Timmy when opportunities come, but don't force-feed him.
This.
I hate when they just pass it to him in the post, and everyone just stands around and watches.
Exactly. Force feeding Tim at this point in his career would be a bad move. He just has to contain the bigs and get whatever offense he can get. This is a series where our advantage is the perimeter shooting.
Agreed. Although the numbers statistics state otherwise, for much of Duncan's career (basically the final 40% or so) I've absolutely hated some of the types of shots he takes, especially when the game is close and the Spurs need points...those weak fading right shots that physically/mechanically are crappy as (given his shooting form). Sometimes they go in but they never look like they are going to or are meant to. Just never had confidence in those types of bull , half-assed-looking shots from the post. I'd much rather have Tony or Manu penetrate and either shoot, get fouled, or create a relatively easy opportunity for a teammate, even if either of the two aren't shooting well in the game.
We won. That's what matters.
The Grizzlies will probably play less help defense so we might need more post scoring.
Duncan..
Round 1 - Dwight Howard. DPOY player
Round 2 - Bogut - 1st Round draft Pick center who is Top 3 Center when fit and he was fit
Round 3 - Gasol + Randolph - best front court in the NBA
Miami - Bosh - easiest matchup of the playoffs.
Duncans sidekick for the task? A vaginal Splitter who plays inconsistently.
Give the guy a break
DPG nailed it, TD was getting rest not because they can afford but because he was playing bad.
It's worrying tbh. And I agree with HH that it's all mental. Hope the foundation of this team finds his rhythm back soon.
GSG.
Duncan looked fine to me. Even hit his trademark banker near the end. I'm much more worried about Splitter's confidence issues tbh.
NBA stars are stars because they take and make shots that seem terrible. Dirk's one-footed fadeaway looks dumb and low-percentage too, but he makes it.
Tim Duncan is still the best iso player on the team. Always has been.
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