Game Thoughts: Spurs 101 - Pelicans 95

[benefactor]

Thanks man. Very nice recap.

[wildchild]

Nice read! Thanks ElNono!

The Coach



Pop: It was a night of mad scientist for Pop. He had to shuffle the lineups again, and figure out a way to conserve energies to have some energy left for the entire evening. I thought he did a good job. He stretched out the bench play as much as possible on both halves to rest legs, and pushed the right buttons at the right time to come up with the win. On the to-do list is to get Kawhi more involved on offense on nights like these, as noted above. B

My take on Leonard is that his role is to be a lockdown defender. I don't think he'll ever be a consistent scorer on offense. He'll have his ups and downs but as long as he does his best to shutdown the opponents best player on offense, he's doing his job.

Well, Leonard isn't Bruce.
Bowen was all defense, Leonard is an all-around player on both ends of the floor. You know, "He (Kawhi Leonard) is a lot better than Bruce Bowen. Bruce Bowen couldn’t dribble and couldn’t pass. He shot 3s in the corner and he played good D, he played great D. So we want Kawhi to match Bruce's great D first and foremost, but after that he's a much better offensive player." Pop said

He has improved a post fadeaway, post game, mid range shoot, passing, he deserves more opportunities but Pop isn't calling plays -often- for him and he won't because Spurs game is more about Tony running p&r with Timmy, the offensive role for wing is shoot 3s.
The system won't recreate and Pop doesn't show flexibility.

I've said repeatedly (sorry to insist) Leonard's a versatile scorer but underused.
Sad, because like ElNono said before, he could exploit post matchup vs Harden, Dudley, Thompson (in playoffs) where Leonard has the clear advantage.

[urunobili]

Can we have a gif of Manu's crunch block at the end of the game? good grade's but that key play on it's own should make him earn a B- IMO

[jeebus]

Difficult to gauge Baynes because we only see glimpses... Today, he was mostly in a lineup with Joseph, Mills, Ayres and Belli... not much going on there, that's why he was a net negative. I would be much more interested to see how he looks next to Duncan, for example, as we saw against the Lakers last playoffs.

tbh he was kind of out of sync with the others. when all you get is garbage minutes or DNPs over the past few weeks, you won't look as good as the others getting regular minutes. The Turd Towers shouldn't be on the floor together because neither Boner or Errors can defend the inside nor have some sort of semblance of an inside game. monkeyballing off passes from one of the guards does not count.

[elbamba]

Nice take. I thought Cory played better than a D grade. He was agressive on defense, did not force offense and offered some energy on a night where it was lacking. I would have given him a B-. Other than that I agree with the rest of the takes. First team to 30 and well on the way to another 50+ win season.

[Splits]

Thanks EN, great writeup, lots of color for those of us that missed the game.

[Brazil]

Good read EN, spot on imho

[superbigtime]

Thanks for the grades and the nice Marco clip. Cory stinks but a D is a fail and he didn't fail IMO.

[Chinook]

Thanks, Nono.

This was a big game for Leonard. He needed to show he could defend small two-guards after letting Ellis torch him. He's one step closer to being a lockdown defender. I thought he did a much better job at contesting shots last night. He's usually more of a ball-denial guy. Perhaps he's been taking some pointers from Green

Cory's going to be essential against OKC and Portland coming up. He may even start at the two. Either he or De Colo should so the bench can go back to how it used to be.

Gotta loves Ayres. He's a jump shot away from being a starter. Whenever he and Chip figure that out, the Spurs rotation gets that much stronger.

[EVAY]

Thanks for the grades, EN. Well written and good observations.


Appreciate you doing it.

[wildbill2u]

Game was won in the last 2 minutes by old vets Parker and Ginobilli taking over and using their experience on defense and offense to salt the game away. Spurs forced a bunch of NO turnovers in the last few minutes.

Looking at the points and other stats I think Manu deserved a much better grade.

[Pauleta14]

Thanks ElNono, great wite up!

[Spursfanfromafar]

Thanks, Nono.

This was a big game for Leonard. He needed to show he could defend small two-guards after letting Ellis torch him. He's one step closer to being a lockdown defender. I thought he did a much better job at contesting shots last night. He's usually more of a ball-denial guy. Perhaps he's been taking some pointers from Green

Cory's going to be essential against OKC and Portland coming up. He may even start at the two. Either he or De Colo should so the bench can go back to how it used to be.

Gotta loves Ayres. He's a jump shot away from being a starter. Whenever he and Chip figure that out, the Spurs rotation gets that much stronger.

Good point about Ayres. He seems to be purposefully bottling up his weird jump-shot and is not using that as a weapon at all. Must be Chip is helping him figure that one out and has asked him to avoid shooting it till he perfects the remedy.

[ElNono]

About Corey, I'm sure there's going to be disagreement. The issue I have with him is that I think he needs to take the "next step".. find his niche. Green was in the same boat last season and eventually his 3 point shot broke out. He found his niche.

I look at Corey, and he does a lot of things, some good, some not so good, but he doesn't do anything exceptionally well, not even for stretches.

For a point guard, he doesn't have a solid shot, he doesn't have court vision, his defense is good but not lock-down... he just doesn't have that something he excels at that would get him more minutes.

Patty was very similar, but he worked hard on his game over the summer, and you can see the fruits of that work. Corey just looks the same, IMO.

[ElNono]

Oh, and thanks everyone for the kind words.

[Baam]

About Corey, I'm sure there's going to be disagreement. The issue I have with him is that I think he needs to take the "next step".. find his niche. Green was in the same boat last season and eventually his 3 point shot broke out. He found his niche.

I look at Corey, and he does a lot of things, some good, some not so good, but he doesn't do anything exceptionally well, not even for stretches.

For a point guard, he doesn't have a solid shot, he doesn't have court vision, his defense is good but not lock-down... he just doesn't have that something he excels at that would get him more minutes.

Patty was very similar, but he worked hard on his game over the summer, and you can see the fruits of that work. Corey just looks the same, IMO.

I don't believe in Cojo but Mills is getting torched left and right, from Reggie Jackson to Austin Rivers... Once again we're going into the POs with a pretty bad backup PG... Whoever gets chosen won't make the shortened rotation anyway...

Beli is playing well but he makes the rotations an headache because of his ty D, can really play with Manu defensively, didn't work when he started either...

Beli + Bonner for JR Smith tbh...

[spurs10]

Oh, and thanks everyone for the kind words.

Well, it's an excellent writeup. This is the kind of thing that makes ST a pleasure to have discovered. Thank all of you that have taken the time to do Game Thoughts and share your insights to the game. Tony, Tim, and Kawhi were ballin' the jack and Beli was high energy. The clip of La Bomba was so nice I had to show it to my wife. I asked her how much time was on the clock. She answered, same as you, "three seconds!" Glad someone in our house is paying attention! A good, scrappy, "savvy" game! Thanks!

[benefactor]

Baam

[Chinook]

Good point about Ayres. He seems to be purposefully bottling up his weird jump-shot and is not using that as a weapon at all. Must be Chip is helping him figure that one out and has asked him to avoid shooting it till he perfects the remedy.

He was developing a corner three last season, so it's definitely weird that he's so unreliable right now. I have to think Chip has broken down hia shot and is trying to rebuild it. The thing is, it's going to have to be REALLY good for it to be a weapon thia season. He's almost always the fifth option on offense, and having him take a low-percentage mid-range shot would be horrible for the offense until he shows he can make it consistently. Especially since he's a talented passer and has no trouble making the correct read when he catches the ball, he doesn't have to shoot it.

He also doesn't have terrible hands like some folks think. He has average hands for a big. The Spurs have just been blessed to have elite catching bigs like Duncan, Splitter, Diaw and even Blair. The others need to learn to give Ayres typical big passes (high, so smalls can't get to them) instead of pocket passes and bounce passes.

[Chinook]

About Corey, I'm sure there's going to be disagreement. The issue I have with him is that I think he needs to take the "next step".. find his niche. Green was in the same boat last season and eventually his 3 point shot broke out. He found his niche.

I look at Corey, and he does a lot of things, some good, some not so good, but he doesn't do anything exceptionally well, not even for stretches.

For a point guard, he doesn't have a solid shot, he doesn't have court vision, his defense is good but not lock-down... he just doesn't have that something he excels at that would get him more minutes.

Patty was very similar, but he worked hard on his game over the summer, and you can see the fruits of that work. Corey just looks the same, IMO.

I think it's that the Spurs don't want to make him a niche player. He has potential as a shooter, driver, passer (yes) and a defender. He doesn't do anything really well, as you said, but he can do it all decently. That's more than Mills, Green and Beli can say right now. I don't think the D-league is helping him, because he really needs to learn NBA speed and the tendencies of the big club's actual players.

It also doesn't help him to play with two play-handlers, as he isn't suited to just be a shooter. Honestly, I think they need to run Parker's sets for him and let him grow an an actual point guard in the Spurs system, not as just a short, shooting role-player like they usually trot out with the second unit.

[TheGoldStandard]

Great writeup, the grades were pretty much how I felt about the game. Parker is starting to shine again, 27 points and 7 assists, great play down the stretch. Manu looked solid for being off for a week and not touching the court till Saturday.

Really looking forward to Friday's game with Portland. I have this sneaking su ion some kind of trade will go down soon. Tomorrow is a potential day.

[spurs10]

Great writeup, the grades were pretty much how I felt about the game. Parker is starting to shine again, 27 points and 7 assists, great play down the stretch. Manu looked solid for being off for a week and not touching the court till Saturday.

Really looking forward to Friday's game with Portland. I have this sneaking su ion some kind of trade will go down soon. Tomorrow is a potential day.

I wonder if having two starters out will have an effect on the trade possibilities much. Wish we were playing Blazers full strength. A good game from Boris, Manu, and Beli will be needed!

[BacktoBasics]

Good grades, gotta love the ferrari

All this insight and I bet you took more time trying to find the right pic to add.

[Mikeanaro]

All this insight and I bet you took more time trying to find the right pic to add.

Wait, I have more content here, this is deep and touching like reading Nietzsche while taking a dump...


Keep bugging me, I don´t give 2 s about you

[look_at_g_shred]

^