After the smoke came and enveloped the basketball parquet chasingthe spurs off Mexico, the only one clearthing to me was that the spurs after the trip startedto play worse and worse.
They cannot beat any significant opponent /loses to Indy, Clips, OKC, Rockets/ and even winsagainst the NBA not-so-good teams are not convincing.
They hit the absolute low with the disgusting loss to theHouston Rockets which coach Pop called simply embarrassing outing. So here we go! A soft card played by our coachwhich always had a role in Spurs mentality to level the game up ... in spursgreat years. No so much now IMO.
Now after 2 days off, a rescue win in Dallas our team meetsthe Kings from Sacramento California hoping to get on the tracks to betterplay. I can’t see no tracks going to the NBA Finals after what I saw against ateam that the spurs are 103-54 all-time record but maybe I'm wrong. You might probably be happy with our guys performance.
To begin the game the spurs looked concentrated and got theexpected lead just to screw things up later having gigantic problems againstone of the worst defensive teams in NBA /only Phily and Jazz are worse/. I justwas shaking my head in off in some situation I saw there. No stellar D, no ofense no nothing at one point. Only heroics from Argentinian and daggers fromFrench saved the spurs honor in AlamoCity. The Final score 112-104 and much needed win in the Wester Conferencecolumn.
TIM DUNCAN – 17 pts ; 13 rebs on 8/17 shooting
To start the game Timmy looked active as offensively and defensively. In my opinion he did a very good job on the boards as it was highly needed against Sacto frontcourt. He got bit careless sometimes though with the ball and rushed shots also hesitated passes. He had a nice bounce pass to Elliott but refs knew Sean wasno longer with the team, so they marked turnover to Duncans stats. In the second half and especially late in thegame he did great job against one of the best bigs in the game in Cousins, hecontested him big time and was able to secure rebounds. Delivered when itmattered. Strong performance for Timmay - he gets B grade.
TONY PARKER 22pts; 7 ast; 0 TO; 9/14 Fgs
As good as this game looked for Parker on box scores and atthe end of the game I still think he have long way to go. He had flashydrive ins and passes. He hit thosedeadly shots in the 4th to close the game , a 3pointer on a 108-102 with 50 seconds left and again a two pointer with 23 secs on a clock to make it 110:104 clinching victory.But early in the game he looked little lost without playmaking concept and hesometimes hurried too much to make something happened. Of course when he got loose it was fun to watch asalways but my concern is his lack of controlling the spurs offense along withbad defense. I thought we were 25 years back somewhere in 3rd quarter and that Thomas is not Isaiah but Isiah. For sake of Bruce Bowen, Tony could not do anything to stop hisopponent from doing damage and the Kings were on top. Tony was losing position on almost every occasion and Thomas beat him quite badly in a stretch. Tony luckily responded with offense of his own but if he keeps his poor play we stand no chanceagainst better compe ion that's why even after those big shots I give him B+ grade
MANU GINOBILI 28pts; 2 stls on 9/16 fgs
What can I say? That was vintage Ginobili! He was making greatplays all game long. If it was not a great pass it was slashing, cutting andmaking plays and scoring with spectacular way. He single handily kept the spurs in the game wheneverybody else just fold. He had only one turnover and I thought he played verysmart basketball game /except for maybe few ‘too much’ actions he is knownfor/. He was going for steals was aggressive he was all over the place and had no mistakes. His timely plays earns him an A grade in my eyes.
DANNY GREEN 1/6 3ptsand 3/10 overall
His %'s says all about Green performance that night. I was pissed lookinghow limited this guy is. He was suppose to make some progress after last yearbut he plays worse IMO and trying to do things he simply can’t do. Layups finishes and good midrange game - he has non of it, not to the extend I want him to have. If the teamsgonna run him of his /few/ spots he is worthless because I don't know if he cancompensate the offense with his defense. Although his D was not bad, he could hold his opponent, also hegrabbed 5 easy rebounds but to me that's not what you want from our starter/ IMOPop just switched him to the bench for a while to see how he can manage withthe 2nd unit/. You want him to make that open shots and make defenders pay for closing out. Keep the ball moving would not do any harm as well.
Only his defense and him keep playing preventing me form giving him an F, he gets D+
KAWHI LEONARD 5pts 2/6 fgs
His outing last night says the story about him and why I lostpatience with him. Well it’s November, it’s December not persuading me at this point. Two months into the season I was trying toconvince myself he will shake things up and produce the way we thought hewould. He's not. He is limited on offense. We saw how he tries to force things and fails time and time again. How the he was unable to finish that fast break? he missed shots and had bad selection not only in shots but decision making is not on the level of a Sf le contender.
Every game I watch I seehim in pain, his torment to make plays are painful to me as well. He has notalent in that regard. He has no flow on offense that he can change forquick 15 pts for example. He cannot beat his man to an easy buckets with his athleticism. Most people can say 'buthis D is good enough to save his ass'. Well not exactly. Gay had some success losing him to get position to score. As for an elite defender he used to be called /and still is/ that was not-so-good performance to say least. To his luck he made those little things that made other play so D+ vs Sacto is okay considering that I see
NO KILLER INSTINCT!
and
TIAGO SPLITTER 11pts 8 rebs on 5/6 in 27 min.
The game has started and Demarcus Cousins as the main maninside was doing damage early on but I think Tiago made fairly good job on defense/lost spor few times tough/ to make him work. He /Tiago/was fighting for position like a Brazilian lion! Contested shots and overallwas very active esp. early in the gamewhere it seemed like Kings wanted to establish themselves down low. He was veryefficient on offense and even made a great pass to TD where Timmay simply screwhis frontcourt fellow missing the shot and not letting him be on thegame highlights. Shame. B grade will do it for now.
BORIS DIAW 14 pts 7ast 6 rebs
This guy is the only bright spot when it comes to stabilityon the bench. He played high IQ game. Always in good positions to rebound andmake a play. His passing was great, and his production in 24 minutes is awesome. B+
MARCO BELINELLI
Spurs wanted to made him go. He had his chances but failedagain as a starter. He was 2 of 11 and that says it all when it comes to a guythat is a shooter. He tried to push himself though and maybe that was a badidea. Let the game come to you Marco. Damn in times where the spurs are lackingon Sg position it’s not funny when you are a spurs fan watching another playernot rising to occasion or at least play the potential. His off screen plays are good but he must be more efficient to save his job. C- for the Italian
PATY MILLS
Made no impact what-so-ever. He did not provide any punch[0/2] from the field and gave 12 minutes of nothing. Wasn’t bad on D and wastrying to be pesky but from a player that is backup PG that’s not enough. he needs to put a stamp on hisoutings, otherwise there is no point in him playing point.
C
ARON BAYNES
When he comes in and starts entertainment you laugh at firstbut then you realize it’s not funny, you become sad with a feeling of wastedfloor space. You then know that he only got there because Ayers is in the Greggsdoghouse. You scream WTF?! We have no backup center but still floor space istaken away. What to expect though. The guy tried to do his best, had reboundhere and there, set some nice screens and even made a basket. Big Banger gets aC+ for not making many mistakes.
Overall I did not like what I saw. The old big 3 had to win the game on their own getting absolutely no help from the others. Playing against such bad defensive squad that worrisome.
The Spurs let Sacramento to grab 9 more rebounds then their average. And the sad thing was the spurs could not secure the rebound on one possession multiple times.
Popovich probably made a good move with Baynes as he wants to test him over Ayers now. But IMO Bonner should be there as well, esp when Patty, Danny, Kawhi, Marco could not make a shot. He did though assigned best defenders on hot Kings guys. As Danny got some Isaiah and Timmay got some Cousins.
All in all win is a win
next is Brooklyn! Wooohooo!
polandprzem D- for a bad English and being late even though he tried to do it as quick as possible
peace
Last edited by polandprzem; 12-30-2013 at 06:48 PM.
Thanks for the grades and thoughts polandprzem!! I think you saw the same game as I did. Yes the Big 3 pulled us through in the end, but it wasn't a confidence builder. Boris continued to play hard and Manu was playing like he meant it, so it wasn't all for naught. Go Spurs!!! I thought the grade for Diaw could be higher and the same for polandprzem! Happy New Year!
Last edited by spurs10; 12-30-2013 at 05:12 PM.
Thank you
Jen coo ya! Or, dziękuję!
Dziękuję
Good grades
I agree, Spurs have been playing terrible since Mexico. IMO they should tank, trade the Big 3, fire Pop, move to Seattle, etc.
Thanks!
Great write up and great read imo. But Manu deserves an A+++ for a nice throwback performance.
Thanks!
I thought Marco played like shat, tbh...
Thank you for the grades. More than the English, it is the content that matters. IT is nice to read a wider perspective from so many different fans on the game grades. Happy New Year!
thank you for the grades, but cmon, how can green get a worse grade than belinelli when he both shoots better, defends faaaaaar better and the team makes a run when he plays.. green was +11 while belinelli was like -3, i mean wtf.
Thanks!
Mainly because I expect more from Green then from Marco. I expect him to defend better then Marco and I expect him to shoot better then Marco and 1/6 for a crucial 3 point threat the spurs need from specific spots he was non-factor. Also I'm pissed he got worse this season.
awesome grades, funny to read. don't mind the broken english, much appreciated. i love reading game grades, no one here in my town to share my thoughts after a game. i'm the lone fan
thanks for the write-up. Got a good chuckle out of the Duncan/Sean play.
It was good to see some fire from this team when it mattered. Hopefully when they face the better teams of the west they will show the same fire. Sacramento US on the way up, good core players.
Great grades, except for this one:
You're way too harsh with him. He delivers with his fun and sharp analysis. He is just a great ST poster.
That was an awesome write up considering English isn't even your main language.
este
good read.
If he will fix some mistakes I might consider giving him more then this
THX Bruno
Nice to see users picking up from timvp
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