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Thanks Bruno
After a convincing win against Warriors without Tim, Tony and Manu, Spurs were ready to play against arguably the best team in the West with their full roster. Sadly, just before the game ,Kawhi was ruled out because of a teeth issue.
While the first quarter was tight (thanks to the scrub Perkins), the second quarter was a whole different story. Spurs defense got destroyed and allowed 40 points. It wasn't by Durant going off against the Kawhi-less Spurs but it was their quick guards and transition offense that destroyed them. In the second half, Spurs tried to come back but never fully recovered of that second quarter because they were never able to really slow Thunder down. For the 5th time this year, Spurs allowed more than 110 points. These 5 games are losses.
NBA.com/stats boxscore:
http://stats.nba.com/gameDetail.html...00399#boxscore
PopcornMachine's GameFlow:
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/ga...21&game=OKCSAS
Side note: The NBA.com/stats boxscore is just an amazing tool. You can watch a video of every single play by just clicking on it. Plays' videos can also be accessed in the play by play tab. NBA's website has really step up this past year to offer great features for whoever is interesting at going a little beyond the classical boxscore.
Tony Parker: B-
Thunder are a tough matchup for Parker. The primary reason of it is Ibaka. Like Marcus Camby years ago, Ibaka length, mobility and shotblocking timing really bother him in the paint.
This time and after a rough start (0-4 for 0 points in the first quarter), Parker had a really nice offensive game by relentlessly attacking the basket. He showed a level of aggressiveness that he hasn't really shown so far this year. It quite confirms the theory that he is now coasting to preserve his body and can flip the switch when needed. It's also noteworthy that despite this aggressiveness, he ended the game without a turnover.
Defensively, his game wasn't, by far, that good. Parker has some nice stops on Westbrook but there wasn't enough. On a handful of plays, Westbrook bullied or caught up with his speed Parker to score easy points.
Marco Belinelli: B
If Spurs weren't down by 20 at the half, it was because or Marco. With 17 points scored before the half, he kept Spurs kinda afloat. After the break, it was another story for him with 0 points scored. Thunder makes the adjustments and Sefolosha stayed glued at him to shut him down.
Defensively, Marco really suffer against the quickness of Jackson/Westbrook. Some of the blame for that 40 points second quarter should be put on him.
Danny Green: B
Without Kawhi, Durant should have had a monster game but he didn't partially thanks to Green stepping up to defend him. I'm using partially because Durant didn't try too much in that game with Westbrook and Jackson destroying Spurs D. Regardless, Green deserves a lot of props for his defense on Durant and seems to be a good secondary option to throw at him in future games.
When he was matched up against other Thunder players than Durant, Green struggles. Their speed was an issue but I think the biggest issue was Green relaxing and taking it easy because they weren't Durant.
Offensively, as expected, Durant easily shut him down. With his combination of size, monstrous wingspan and quickness, he can both sag off him and contest enough his 3 point shots to make Green ineffective.
Tiago Splitter: B+
Splitter was by far Spurs best defender. Spurs defense was night and day when he was or not in the game. With him on the court, Spurs had a true defensive presence inside. His rebounding was top notch in that game.
Offensively, Splitter still hasn't get his rhythm and shooting touch back. Shots that were rolling in in November are rolling out in December for him. 0/2 at the line is also ugly.
Tim Duncan: C+
17/10 in 35 minutes are nice stats but they don't tell the whole story.
Duncan did fine offensively against a solid defensive frontcourt. I had the feeling he got tired at the end of the third quarter but he had a good offensive output.
The issue with Duncan was his defense. In a game were Spurs perimeter player were blown away, Tim wasn't there to save their asses and correct their mistake. He clearly doesn't have the necessary mobility to be a difference maker in pick&roll and help defense. Don't get me wrong, he still is a solid defender, especially in 1 vs 1 situations, but he clearly hasn't last year impact.
Boris Diaw: A-
Boris had a nice game. Offensively he shown a nice level of aggressiveness with some great moves. Regarding Boris, people (and especially the arena crowd) should realize that he isn't a that great three point shooter. When he isn't taking a wide open three but instead fake it and drives to the basket, it's the right move when there is a driving lane open.
Defensively, he wasn't a big presence as usual but he easily hold his own against OKC limited offensively bigmen.
Diaw is the only player that doesn't deserve some kind of complaints after this game.
Manu Ginobili: D-
What an horrible defensive game from Ginobili. If you had to put that 40 points second quarter on a player, it is on Manu. He played a Neal-like matador defense against Jackson and Westbrook. Even when matched up against weaker opponent like Lamb, he made ill-advised help defense choices.
Offensively, it wasn't really better. He had little impact whether it was in scoring or playmaking. His two turnovers were especially bad.
Patrick Mills: C
It wasn't a great game for Patrick. You can sum it up at as simple as his shots weren't going in. Aside of maybe 1 bad shot, his shot selection was fine.
Defensively, he was put mostly on Fisher. He tried to help too much on a play and get punished by a wide open 3 made by Fisher. Aside of that nothing noticeable.
Baynes, Bonner and Joseph : NA
Baynes had a disastrous 1:52 cameo appearance in the second half with Fisher owning him twice. Bonner and Joseph were there for garbage time.
Coach Pop: D-
If Ginobili and Belinelli matador defense were the main reason of this 40 points allowed in the second quarter, you had to wonder why they were put in that situation.
The coaching decision that made no sense for me was to put Mills on Fisher. Mills isn't a great defender but he isn't playing a lot of minutes, is quick and active. Why don't use that energy on Jackson or Westbrook? On top of that, Ginobili or Belinelli could have sagged a little more off Fisher with their size.
Later in that second quarter, Parker shouldn't have been hidden on Fisher too.
The decision to put Baynes in that quarter was a disaster. Even a tired Splitter is light year better than him. The only positive of the Baynes try, might be that it could mean Pop has finally given up on Ayres.
Even Pop's technical foul was weak. If you want to make a point about thunderefs, do it fully. Get the second technical and get ejected.
I fully know that there is a bigger picture. This game in itself doesn't mean a lot and it's a good idea to try players/matchups in the regular season to prepare a possible future playoffs confrontation but, damn, Pop did an horrible job in that game.
Thanks Bruno
Solid thread. Thanks for the good work, Bruno.
I'm not too worried. I think the Spurs will be much better defensively with Leonard, because Green will be available to guard Westbrook, who honestly doesn't tend to go off against San Antonio. I am worried about the bench's ability to contain Jackson, though. The lack of perimeter defense in the second unit was very apparent last night.
I really hope Tiago starts getting around 28 minutes a game. He is super soft but he's really really good. He was quick enough to cover the Thunder's pick and roll well and has enough size to contest shots.
Nice writeup and sensible grades.
It was Mills though who got burned badly by Jackson in the first loss. I think that scarred Pop.
Overall that was a great game by the Thunder. Perk being laughable bad just about the only issue for them, one hopefully they never elect solve which continues to be bizarre.
But yeah, against these kind of perimeter challenges, there is just no way that missing Leonard isn't fatal. We need both him and Green on the floor vs Westbrook and Durant. Possibly Diaw and Leonard can also work if we can play crazy deny the ball D on Durant? I dunno.
Yep, good remark.
I've looked back at the first game on OKC and a lot of Jackson points were coming from Mills making defensive mistakes (like being too aggressive or letting him open) that are fixable. I would have like ten times more Spurs coaching staff spending some time with Mills to fix his errors and tell him how to defend better Jackson than what they did by putting Belinneli/Ginobili on him.
Actually, if you watch the tape again, Pop put Danny on Reggie at the end of the 2nd quarter with no success either. IMO the plan all along was to let Jackson shoot. He's a poor 3 point shooter. Yesterday he made the shots. Sometimes you tip your hat and move on. Lamb is actually the better shooter and he wasn't as sharp yesterday.
Thanks for the grades
I can't disagree more with that.
Maybe the plan was to let Jackson take perimeter shot but they also let him drive at will. Half of his hots were at the rim and he also had drives that resulted in paint scored by his teammates.
Spurs defensive troubles weren't just the result of a game plan. It was Spurs perimeter repeatedly losing their defensive matchups against Westbrook and Jackson. No paint defense behind them wasn't helping too. Ginobili and Belinelli struggled the most but Green and Parker weren't good against them.
If Spurs allowed 113 points with a 40 points quarter, it's because some players played a ty defense. It isn't the result of Thunder being in a great day.
Good grades, also i'm happy people finally see the problem that is our perimeter D and are starting to face the fact that the issue cannot be evaded by making shots.
With good teams you pick your poison. This isn't news. Tony didn't even bother to put his hand up when Westbrook was shooting because that's what you want, and Westbrook has a track record of falling in love with his jumper and having bad shooting nights. Last night he made them.
Reggie Jackson is a sub 30% 3 point shooter. Last night he made them. Fisher is a corpse, last night he was making ridiculous shots.
There were clearly more breakdowns than that, and the Spurs should be able to focus on that if they end up playing the Thunder for all the marbles, but I thought the gameplan was what you expect against the Thunder.
Some nights, teams will outshoot their averages though (including us) and there's not a lot you can do about it. But that's why we watch the games.
Also worth noting is that while the bench dug the hole in the 2nd quarter, it was also the bench that brought us back into the game in the 2nd half.
What a refreshing reality recap.
Thank you.
Have no idea why not only Mills but other Spurs and other teams playing Fraud Fisher allow this .
It's like the only shot he can hit. Why hand it to him?
Didn't watch the game but did Cojo ever guard Jackson? Was it effective? I don't like Mills guarding him at all.
Funny how literally every game against OKC since 2011, some punk makes shots against us that they're not supposed to
Manu's defense was probably the most frustrating part of the game. It was Hardenesque. Sometimes, i think the guy just has ADD. No discipline at all.
Thank you Bruno!
We've done pretty good regardless, tbh. IIRC, the Thunder are 1-6 in their last 7 trips to the AT&T center, including last night's game.
Great post. IMO Green is too high, he was making the same mistakes Manu was making and on top of that wasn't good on offense at all.
I actually saw some good things out of last nights game
mostly the teams ability to penetrate against their defense
the problem was the shot blockers once they got inside
OKC would usually have 2 guys fly up to block the shot and SA would still try to finish it above
when that happens they just have to make a simple handoff to the big and get the dunk
the problem when that happened though was that once the big caught it they would start throwing pump fakes which allowed Ibaka to recover and block the shot again
this might be the only team Errors could play decently against since he would be wide open and all he has to do is throw it down hard
problem is he cant catch a ball tbh...
Thank you for the grades! Also, the tip on the NBA boxscore site.
I heard two people on the radio say someone near the FreethrOklahoma bench was blowing a whistle just before Tiago bricked his FT's. Said it sounded like a refs whistle, but was only intended to throw Tiago off (no pun intended). Not that he needed any help.
On a lot of Thunder's wide-open 3s it seemed like all five guys were sagging into the paint on a penetration. What's a guy like Belinelli defensively gonna do down there on a penetration? Was it feasible to have our guards stick to their perimeter players more & let our 2 or 3 guys cover the help defense instead of 4 or 5 guys in the paint on every penetration?
Pretty high grades in my opinion. Spurs didn't come out to play from the beginning, which bit them in the end when they tried their best to come back.
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