Game Grades: Spurs V.S Grizz

[look_at_g_shred]

Overview: The Spurs coming into this game won its last 9 out of 13 games with their most recent victory coming against the Clippers Saturday night. The Grizzlies had just come off a road win against the Pistons. The Spurs this year have a better road record than at home and were looking to push their win streak to two in a row. These two teams met twice already this season with the Spurs winning the first two. Needless to say, it's always a great match-up when these two meet.
Tony Parker: We can all see that Parker has looked out of it lately. He seems real timid when he plays, like he doesn't want to exert much energy and tonight was no different. He had no mojo. He wasn't mobile, he wasn't looking to penetrate and kick. Even down the stretch he was just planted in the corner. There was a play late in the 3rd or maybe in the 4th, where he had an open lane, he took it and converted, but he looked slow and lazy. He did however have enough energy to have is infamous "hero ball" moment though so that's always a good sign right? But most of all Tony wasn't much of a leader tonight. He finished with 10 points and 6 dimes. Decent outing. Grade : B-

Tim Duncan: What more is to say of the ageless wonder. 37 years young and playing unbelievable. Pretty much out of his mind right now. Tim from the start looked fresh and sprightly ready to go. A good sign for us Spurs fans. He was active on the glass, blocking shots, post game was there, jumper was there. It was his night for sure. He even put the team on his back when they almost let the game go. Perfect night for this guy. He finished with 24 points 17 boards 4 assists and 2 blocks. Grade : A+

Manu: Manu was manu tonight. Made passes, made plays, turned it over (1), and made the game winning shot. However he was in there when the collapse happened which affects his grade. Manu looked good as he has of late which is good. Not much more to say but he finished with 9 points 6 assists and 2 steals. Grade : B

Danny Green : What surprised me about Danny tonight was that he was dribbling more than he usually does. He was penetrating and finding open guys. That was pretty cool. Sure if he try's against a better defense team it might end up differently, but still cool to see he wasn't settling for being a statue out there. He was active on the glass and the passing lanes. Not much behind the arc, but got to the line for an and 1 opportunity. What more can you ask from your "scrub". He finished with 7 points 3 steals and 6 boards.Grade : B+

Kawhi : The aztec looked as good as he has all season. You know when they guy makes more than one three, he's locked in. Great defensively like we are accustomed to seeing, but it's the other side of the coin tonight where he was better. 7 of 9 shooting for 17 points. Also throw in 6 boards with 2 steals. If Kawhi can play like this every game we'll be better than last year. I thought he could've been better on the glass and easily gotten a dub-dub, but i'm just nitpicking. Grade : A

Marco : From the start he was looking to get his shot up and he did. He was on his offensive game in this one. Defensively, not so much. He was in the game when the collapse happened, and even had a turnover which led to Memphis tying up the game. I almost want to call Marco a chucker, but I don't think he is as bad as Neal was. Shot selection can be a little iffy sometimes, but we all knew that coming into the season. Although you can't complain with 19 points, you can argue he was the main reason Memphis came back. Grade: B-

Ayres : Ahh Ayers. You never know what your going to get with this guy, and sometimes has you scratching your head as to why we signed this guy. Nonetheless, he's put in the starting line-up as the starting center filling in for Splitter because as pop put it "cut from the same cloth". Anyway the guy had a decent outing one would say. Held his ground even if it wasn't much. Ayres was Ayres. Setting screens, running the floor, and cleaning up the glass. He did however take part in Randolph's 17 points. He finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds. I'm hoping Ayres defends the rim better going foward. That's all i can ask for. Grade: C+

Mills: Like always, when the Spurs need a spark, they get it from Patty. Active defensively and on offense. Business as usual. Move along, nothing to see here. He finished with 11 points. Grade B+

Diaw: Diaw as of late has been regressing to the Boris we know. Passive and un-aggressive. He did have a ballsy drive late in the game to tie it up. For that, he gets a pass. I'm hoping he picks up his aggression soon. The "other" frenchman finish with 11 points. Grade: B-

Bonner: +7

CJ: INC

Baynes: INC

Pop:Didn't do anything too crazy. Had his rotations and stuck with it. Although some might like to blame Pop for the meltdown, it wasn't his fault at all, and he let the team get themselves out of the hole they put themselves in. Grade : A

Synopsis: Spurs were in control for pretty much the whole game. They looked good on offense and defense. They were able to get whatever they wanted. Then for some reason fell asleep and let the Grizz come back from double digits and send it into overtime. In overtime, it was back and forth for both teams, but justice prevailed as Manu hit the game winner and sealed the game.

Spurs improve to 27-8

Thanks and Go Spurs Go!

[rjv]

Marco : From the start he was looking to get his shot up and he did. He was on his offensive game in this one. Defensively, not so much. He was in the game when the collapse happened, and even had a turnover which led to Memphis tying up the game. I almost want to call Marco a chucker, but I don't think he is as bad as Neal was. Shot selection can be a little iffy sometimes, but we all knew that coming into the season. Although you can't complain with 19 points, you can argue he was the main reason Memphis came back. Grade: B-

and pop seemed to agree as marco made no appearance in OT

[ego]

Duncan A + : with 5 TO ???

[look_at_g_shred]

Duncan A + : with 5 TO ???

GOAT gets a pass. Plus he was the best player out there last night.. So he gets the best grade.

[superbigtime]

Beli was practically assaulted when he was picked right before Conley nailed that consecutive 3. Refs swallowed their whistles.

[TJastal]

Thanks for the grades.

Que up the butthurt "Fools gold Mills got lucky again, he's gonna flop in the playoffs" type comments.

[Horse]

How do you not get a call when the other team is trying to foul you? Especially when they punch marco in the nose.

[Mikeanaro]

I don´t get it, you gave Porky B-=40min 5-12fg, 0-2 3pointers , 0-0 Freethrows, -4 on +/-, 3 Turnovers and 10 points, on the other hand
Mills B+=12min 3-4fg, 1-1 3pointers, 4-4 Freethrows, +6 on +/-, 0 Turnovers and 11 points-
How can you say nothing to see here? Scoring wise Patty is worlds apart from Porky, but he will never get the chance here, shure go to play there make 15 points in 15 minutes, NOW GO TO BENCH!

[Hoops Czar]

It's pretty obvious after last nights game that Pop has absolutely no confidence in Baynes. He can't even crack the rotation with Splitter sidelined. Ayres basically did nothing in 22 minutes of action and it still didn't prompt Pop to make a switch. I guess he doesn't want to hurt Boylen's feelings so he'll continue to throw "useless" out there.

I'm not a huge +/- guy, but Leonards + 17 was by far and away the worst of any Spurs player on the court. Maybe it was due to player pairings.

Make all the Beli/Neal comparisons you want but the Spurs never relied on Neal's offense as much as they have Belinelli's this year. When Neal's defense dragged the team down in the postseason, Pop would just sit him and the offense rarely missed a beat. This year, the team is so reliant on Beli's offense that they almost can't afford to take him out of late game situations and this will only be a bigger cause of concern in the postseason.

Danny Green has regressed to the point where he can no longer hit wide open shots and his overrated defense isn't helping his cause either.

[Dex]

[Budkin]

How do you not get a call when the other team is trying to foul you? Especially when they punch marco in the nose.

That was ridiculous.

[weeks]

GOAT gets a pass. Plus he was the best player out there last night.. So he gets the best grade.

basketball grades are definitely on a curve

[ace3g]

Foreshadowing of what would happen later in the game.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

I actually recall a couple of decent, defensive possessions from Errors. My perception of him has increased from borderline D-leaguer to borderline 5th big.

[jeebus]

I actually recall a couple of decent, defensive possessions from Errors. My perception of him has increased from borderline D-leaguer to borderline 5th big.

2014 Randolph is not 2011 Randolph; Blair could guard this Randolph.

And averaging a couple of average defensive possessions per game pretty much means D league 15th man material.

[look_at_g_shred]

Thanks for all the responses.

[wildchild]

Thanks look_at_g_shred!

Beli was practically assaulted when he was picked right before Conley nailed that consecutive 3. Refs swallowed their whistles.

I'm not sure. Marco was horrible on D last quarter, embarrassing defensive sequence last 2 minutes. Bad turnovers, stupidly fouled Conley, Johnson stolen the ball from him.
I don't know if Pop realizes how better we're on defense with Leonard and Green on the wing over Parker-Belli-Leonard.

[Em-City]

I give you an F for formatting

[DPG21920]

I give you an F for formatting

tbh

[look_at_g_shred]

I give you an F for formatting

:

[spursfaninla]

nice grades. thanks.

[Seventyniner]

Bonner's grade should always be his +/-. Great job.

[skulls138]

I like this game from Manu because when he couldnt score he tried to make it up in the other ways and he almost won it for us once and then finally won it for us the second time around.

[heyheymymy]

great work tbh g shred

[HI-FI]

for doing the grades.