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Kawhi F+
Belinelli C-
Im guessing you didn't watch the game...
In lieu of seeing that Timvp no longer posts around here, I'll fill in for a game:
Tim Duncan
In the first half Duncan looked spry and capable, doing a decent job of protecting the rim and scoring a few buckets. The second half was a different story with Timmy going basically silent, leaving any backcourt work to Tiago Splitter.
Grade: D+
Tony Parker
Parker's jumpshot was good and his drives were working quite well during the first and second quarters. Unfortunately, like so many others he simply disappeared in the third. Worse still was Parker's defense, and it truly was atrocious. Whether it was Harris or Calderon, Parker showed that he was capable of being slow to his man at every possible opportunity. Parker essentially played decent offense for one half of the contest - everything else was poor.
Grade: D-
Manu Ginobili
One of the few Spurs to have a good showing, he basically kept the team viable for three quarters. A hot hand kept the three pointers raining in, and though he had six turnovers, several of these were due to teammates not following the script. Good defensive contests meant that Ginobili was about as efficient as a player can be in the minutes he received, minus the missed free throws.
Grade: B+
Kawhi Leonard
You could point to a few goals he scored in the second half. You could point to a few defensive plays to which he contributed. Most of these would, however, have taken place in garbage time, and were essentially meaningless. During any point that could possibly be considered a contest, Kawhi was a warm body on the floor. He will desperately need to improve his play in future games, and needs to regain the intensity necessary for he and so many other players.
Grade: F+
Danny Green
A few buckets were not worth the poor defense Green showed tonights. Like so many others, Green simply did not contribute anything meaningful to the game. He didn't close out on shooters, he didn't rebound, he didn't spread the floor with the threat of threes. I guess you could give him the gift that he didn't do much to hurt the team.
Grade: F+
Tiago Splitter
Splitter did fairly well tonight, in that he was able to play effective defense against Nowizki in the first half. Using his size and a surprising intelligence, he was able to get a hand in the face of so many jumpers without leaving himself vulnerable to bogus fouls. At the same time, he was good on the boards while playing with Duncan, though overwhelmed without the Hall of Famer on the floor.
Grade: C+
Boris Diaw
Again, it was as if so many players were simply going through the motions... and Boris Diaw was no exception. Slow movements, lackluster aggression, and poor execution was a distressing sign of apathy that plagued Diaw and others. While on the court, Diaw was there; and that is about all one can say.
Grade: D
Patty Mills
His shooting continued to be atrocious, his offensive playmaking was disruptive rather than helpful, and defensively he allowed Dallas to do whatever the their guards wanted. At least he was able to identify Ginobili as a player to pass the ball to. If these descriptions seem overly harsh, that's because this was an overly poor showing by the team. Mills must improve or the Spurs will be greatly disadvantaged every time Parker needs to rest. As opposed to Leonard though, at least he was willing to shoot, even if poorly.
Grade: D-
Marco Belinelli
His stats don't look too bad. His play was a different story. Marco hit a few shots, he attempted a few drives, but at each important point during the game, he managed to play small. Belinelli pulled one of those tricks where he somehow contributed to the score without contributing at all to a possible win. It is amazing to see how poorly the bench is playing thus far in the series, their ranged shots becoming a farce, and Marco is no slouch in helping the cause.
Grade: C-
Corey Joseph
In his brief stint on the floor, Joseph did well enough. What else is there to say?
Grade: C+
Popovich
God only knows what he could have done to convince so many that lethargy is a poor strategy. When Parker places such terrible defense, Leonard and Green disappear, and most of the bench plays like a Timberwolves D-League squad, what more is there to do? The Mavs didn't play all that well, yet they scored at will. Why? The defense was just disgusting; the rebounding horrendous. With little aggression there, and he coaching professional, grown men, I don't know what Popovich can do except shot the film tomorrow and remind these veterans what it takes to win a playoff series. Maybe he could have gone to Ginobili sooner in the third... that's all I've got.
Grade: B-
The others didn't play enough to warrant a grade. I know it's not Timvp's, but hey, it's what you've got.
Kawhi F+
Belinelli C-
Im guessing you didn't watch the game...
Pop: F
nice writeup
Marco having a C-.
-31
Can't recall seeing a plus-minus that bad all season.
Everyone except manu should get a F-
Thanks Blue-Lightning!!
Well, he said in other thread "I can't watch the game" So...
Agree. Hard to believe but the X-factor for these games is Carlisle's defensive schemes.
Thanks for the grades!
Is F+ even a grade?
Belinelli deserves a 0. Just a complete statue on defense.
Spurs meant to lose this game.. part of the plan
Its pointless attempting to place any sort of value on this team as a whole, or individually by player.
In a variety of ways, the team and its players tread unbroken soil. no NBA team has ever been dominant for this long, and no team with a veteran multiple le winning core has faced a completely new and extremely daunting task of overcoming the demons of last June while simultaneously embarking on what will probably be their last best chance at winning it all again. Indeed, due to the market size, city location, and spending habits of the ownership, and despite SA's unbelievable fortune since the late 70's, there's no reason one should assume the Spurs will win a le with a different group anytime soon.
The Big 3 and Pop, for the first time in many years, dont have all the answers. They dont know from experience alone the perfect things to say to their teammates, eachother, and even themselves. There's doubt, fear, uncertainty. There's Kawhi and others, poignantly aware of their future as THE future. Theyre wrestling with their own egos, walking a tightrope between fulfillment of their future potential vs the success of today's team.
Grades are useless. Criticism pointless. Prediction meaningless. Enjoy the wins no matter how ugly, focus only on the silver linings, take a leap of faith for one of history's legendary runs and enjoy the fact we will ride into the sunset of an era still believing we might win it all one last time.
Last edited by z0sa; 04-24-2014 at 02:56 AM.
Manu gets an A+ because everyone else on the team gets an F.
KY's play was easily the most disappointing. We could put it down to growing pains but he's been through all this before. The scary part he didn't adjust or learn from his mistakes on D as the game wore on. His offense was worse, of the selfish kind one on one , none from the system.
His head just wasn't in the game.
Everyone should get an F except Manu, and he shouldn't get an A. His turnovers were a big contributor to the problem. Tim Duncan was playing well, and I think his final statline was 4/5 or something. He just didn't get touches. Everyone else was a ghost out there. Invisible on both sides of the court.
Pop should get a Z for his performance. Just pitiful. The fact that Jeff Ayers got important minutes, and some of the other lineups Pop put out there, it was nightmarish...
That said, we still win in five. We had the best road record in the league during the RS, and the mavs werent that great of a home team. So we should take both games in Dallas.
Marco and Belinelli should be graded on a curve. I'm not sure what you're expecting from scrubs.
Pop continues to manage the team likes it's the regular season.... crappy rotations and Ayers getting playoff minutes. Pop deserves a D at best.
Everyone was graded on their potentiality. It's why Leonard gets an F while Belinelli gets a higher grade... Leonard is expected to be a major contributor while Belinelli is a nice addition if he gets anything going for us.
Pop should get an F then.
Seems that this loss is less about DAL "figuring the Spurs out" and more about the fact that almost everyone on the Spurs was cold as ice. Not too worried about the series.
This I just cant figure out! I mean Aryers...come on man! Is it because of a habbit now? I know the Spurs are old but this is the playoffs and you should be playing your best out their. If the goal is to try to keep them fresh for the chip series then that might not even happen. At this stage of the season you rest when you either are on summer vacation or have the chip.
Yes I know this is the first round but it still is the playoffs where every play and every minute tends to count.
As I said in the original grades, I'm just not sure what Pop could do... his veteran starters were turning the ball over in record numbers. Ginobili throws a pass to Diaw on a play designed for Boris to cut to the basket, and instead Diaw romps over to the corner for no reason. People are complaining about Popovich playing some of the scrubs too much, but honestly, when your normal rotation is playing like it doesn't matter (see: third quarter), then what are you supposed to do? I think Ginobili should have come in at the 9:00 mark of the third, when he saw how things were going... but what else is there? You can't move guys' defensive assignments when none of them are playing defense on anybody. Ginobili played defense, Duncan played defense, and Splitter played defense. I don't know what the was wrong with Parker. When you couple Parker letting his guy take wide-open jumpers with turnover-after-turnover, it's not really in the coach's hands anymore.
IMHO.
I think someone had a -39 at one point this season, I can't remember who it was off the top of my head though.
-31
Can't recall seeing a plus-minus that bad all season.
F to everyone but Manu. All of those lazy s came to a picnic party.
Everyone with F but Manu but even Manu should be getting to much if a high grade
The bench production could be a probem going forward because Dallas is shredding them on offense but, there is no excuse for a veteran laden team to come out and play like they did coming off two days rest. There shouldn't even be a minutes restriction when your playing one game in five days.
I know Green has been pretty underwhelming thus far, but the answer isn't to give some of his minutes to Belinelli who looks like a deer in headlights on defense. If Mills can't knock down shots, the Spurs will have to go with CoJo for short stints and come back with Parker on shorter rest. It's not like these two issues didn't come up in the regular season. Most turned a blind eye and now the major deficits and cause for concern during the RS for two of the most prominent role players off the bench are rearing its ugly head.
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