They lost, but to be honest, I’m just … not bothered about it. Kawhi coming off illness, an early game after NYE for a one game road trip. Just not a big deal for me, don’t think it’s that bad a loss. The bright spots were Aldridge looking better and better, and, uh, maybe Green’s three point shooting and Simmons’ defense?
Most of the game was uninteresting to watch and I didn’t write anything down, so these are my suspect grades. These are more GAME THOUGHTS than GAME GRADES, though I’ve included those for people who are into them. I won’t defend them, use your own grades, you probably watched closer than I did.
L. Aldridge – 43 min, 12-17, 27 pts, 13 rb, 3 bl = A-
Hard to argue against him being the player of the game. +18 in 43 minutes, he wasn’t the problem. Looked spry on defense getting the 3 blocks, hit the boards and made his shots giving Parker assist numbers. Maybe he really is dumping his Whataburger weight. Should have had even more touches.
K. Leonard – 28 min, 3-12, 13pts = D+
He looked like someone recovering from illness. He hit a big shot late, and made 6-7 free throws, but he was just off most of the night. Only starter with a negative +/- at -7. Wasn’t his night, leaving the court very early in the first, and it just never got going.
P. Gasol – 38 min, 6-10, 18 pts, 9 rbs = D+
6 for 10, and was mostly good on offense when he wasn’t falling down like Terry Porter. But that defense = STANK. His nonchalant garbage and zero rim protection really bugs me. And of course, little boxing out. So I will knock him down for it gradewise. And how does he get so many minutes from Pop? 33 in regulation for a non defender like him? At his age?
In the offseason, I didn’t think he could be any worse than Duncan’s hobbled OKC series self with the two bum knees. Obviously, much worse than Duncan with the one good knee, but I thought after that second knee injury with how slow Duncan had become and how weakened he was without the lower body stability, that Pau could be that at least. But I think I was wrong. Pau would have been smashed by Adams and Kanter just like Duncan on the boards, and worse in space.
T. Parker – 32 min, 10-18, 22pts, 6 ast = B
Yes, he made some questionable calls at the end, but as someone who would like him to retire, he did have a serviceable game. Not great. But Parker seems to be having a mini-bounce back. Probably a ‘dead fat cat bounce’.
D. Green – 31 min, 3-8, 9 pts, 6 rb, 3 ast = C
Can’t say I remember too much about him this game. Hit some threes, yes, that was good. Defense … ehh, don’t know how much to blame him. Might have to rewatch. Probably won’t.
D. Lee – 18 min, 4-9, 8 points = D-
Some fortunate buckets get him above failing. I know everyone on ST seems to love him, and he’s been better on offense than I expected for sure, but good Lord is his defense pure trash. And has been. And will be. He sure can give up what he gets. I think he’s the one who got Hardaway going when Lee decided to leave him open at the top of the three point line so that Lee could rush below the free throw line to box out nobody. And of course his lack of understanding that Milsapp shoots threes. He’s just bad there. He was -15 for a reason.
And on offense he really bugs me with how he thinks he’s a lot better than he is. I don’t like when he decides to be Magic and wants to bring the ball up and make plays, though he didn’t do that in this game that I recall. What really irks me is that ever since Bertans did two alley-oop passes to Dedmon for dunks, Lee has decided that he can do it too (he can’t). “Hey guise, watch me! I can do that too!” And I think they’ve mostly been busted plays with turnovers or Spurs fouls.
D. Dedmon – 6 min = D/incomplete
He wasn’t good when he was out there, but that whole lineup was in a funk. Dedmon gets the blame when Lee poops out a Parker/Mills crappy-oop I guess. Probably could have played in the second, Pop just seems to have it in for the athletes I guess.
P. Mils – 21 min, 2-8, 5 pts, 3 ast = D+
This is the kind of game that makes me cringe about paying a 29 year old Mills. He’s just not that great when he’s not hitting, and his defense was poor this game. Maybe I’m judging too harshly for that 1st half sequence of Mills covering Korver, then trying to hand him off to Manu who was further away? And had a guy?
After he starts slowing down and his pestering quickness fades, is his defense going to be more of the same as tonight? He still has problems running an offence, can’t even throw a lob pass to a wide open super athlete like Simmons. A soon to be 30 year old missing shots and getting abused on defense, maybe putting on some fat as he ages … haven’t we done that enough with Parker? Double digits for Mills … ehhhh.
M. Ginobili – 21 min, 2-5, 10 pts, 3ast, 2st = B-
I might be soft on ol’ Manu here. Had some nice drives. I’d have to do a rewatch. Maybe he was worse, I don’t know.
J. Simmons – 19 min, 0-2, 0 pts = B-
Didn’t score, but still a +3. When he doesn’t have to fight through screens he is just a good defender. Love it. Missed his threes, but at least he took them. Played with heart and hustle. For some reason Pop didn’t bring him in the entire first quarter electing to go with Anderson instead. Typical Pop, athlete makes athletic plays and has a good game, get punished for it the next game. Happens with him and Dedmon all the time.
K. Anderson – 8 min, 0-0, 0 pts = C
Clucked around like usual, with some deflections and okay defense. Typical offense I expect from him, which is nothing.
Pop = C-?
Don’t know what happened to make him overplay guys like Gasol and not bring in Simmons before the second quarter. But you can’t win ‘em all.
Thanks a lot for this review objective.I missed this game... I think I am bothered by the loss despite not seeing the game bc I saw in the game thread that there was a failure to grab some rebounds late and Gasol was getting ate alive apparently... I didn't see it... so I have my imagination to go by... but I have seen it b4 (Clippers game... Felton going off on Gasol high PnR repeatedly is the most recent and memorable...)
Last edited by SAGirl; 01-02-2017 at 12:08 AM.
Not getting fooled by empty numbers there .
Thanks for the grades!
After the last two games, some guys here posted that the Spurs are stacked and have enough on offense without Kawhi because role players were making their shots...
But that happened against two non-playoffs teams.
Then compe ion elevates and it seems like they aren't that reliable, Atlanta bench outscored SA second unit 13-0 at some moment of the first half.
Neither Green, Patty, Manu, Simms, Pau, looked that good tonight like in the two previous games...So the narrative about our role players can score consistently against decent teams is wrong-headed.
It was sad to watch him tonight...Jabari Young from SAEN said Kawhi shouldn't have played, he didn't see the need that Kawhi to travel with that illness.
If Pop removed Kawhi's post ups from Spurs' playbook this season, he should do the same with the stomach bugs from Kawhi OS.
Last edited by YGWHI; 01-02-2017 at 02:11 AM.
Good writeup, tbh... At times it looked like ATL wanted it way more than we did and we were right there till the end. That's why I'm also not really bothered. A couple of lucky bounces and that game is ours. Onto the next.
Agreed.plus that crazy illegal screen on Manu to tie the game and the and 1 they took away from LMA.
Wasn't meant to be. On to the next
Pretty much....and still we were an in and out basket away from the win. That shot of Kawhi's was everything but in...ugh!
Tim struggled to score last year. Even before that December injury, he just had trouble finishing. Gasol is more of a scoring threat than Tim was - but if you look at the actual numbers, not as much better as you might think. Mostly, he's putting up shots a little more often than Tim did last year, and I think Tim did that on purpose.
But I agree with you. Defensively, I don't think Pau is as good as Tim, even after the injury and with no knees. I am getting really damned sick of him standing still while reachable rebounds get away. I commented on one during the game thread where he could have gotten a rebound without much effort at all. He stood rooted to the floor, and put out no effort at all. That would have been bad enough, if he had been trying to get back on defense. But he didn't do that either.
I watch him at times, when he's not part of a play, and he just stands. No thought of crashing the boards, or even of trying to put a body on someone and box out. Not releasing when the shot goes up, to get back on D. He just takes the play off and rests. I'm not crazy about miscues, obviously, but I really have no patience with lazy. He's only playing 26 minutes per game, so he's got no excuse for being tired. His FTA's are way down, so he's not being nearly as aggressive on offense. And he's shooting damn near two 3P's per game, so he's spending way too much time out on the perimeter for my liking. He ought to at least have the energy to make a move towards the rebounds that don't bounce directly to him.
I wasn't a fan of some of Pop's decisions tonight, either. I particularly didn't like him taking Simmons out late in the third, when he had been playing pretty good defense. (One of the few Spurs to do that.) Same with OT, when he pulled Simmons on the Hawk's last inbounds play.
When the Spurs needed a bucket at the end of regulation, Pop went to Kawhi. Makes sense, since he's the best player on the team. Kawhi created a good look, and the shot looked like it was all the way down before popping out. I would have liked to see Pop go right back to Kawhi in the OT. I think he would have gotten some to fall, if he'd gotten to take shots. Pop obviously didn't think so. But on the last shot of OT, they needed one shot, and Pop went to Kawhi again. That time I wish he had drawn up a play to get Kawhi a good look at a 3 to win the game, instead of taking all that contact to try and tie. The refs aren't ever going to blow that whistle. But if Kawhi is the go-to guy for the last shot, why not earlier in OT.
I don't usually about Pop's decisions, but tonight I thought he blew some calls.
Wasted a dominant effort by LA on both ends. Put the clamps on Milsap too who only got going when Lee& Paul gaurded him.
Pau's defense is usually a step too late when he not emulating a traffic cone. Sometimes he shocks you wiht a odd block when using that length of his. The defense he laid out there towards the end however was really bad. Looking tired, old & not offering any sort of help to his teammates. He couldnt even put his hands up in the end.
That jus cant go un-noticed by pop.
Thanks for the grades.
Thanks for the grades.
Agree on Patty. Love the guy, but he's too small and too dependent on quickness to age well. If we do keep him (which I'd like), I'd think it'd be 3 years max. 2 years would be better but I'm sure he wouldn't take that.
I blame Pop and Anderson for this loss.
Pop for inexplicably playing Anderson ahead of Simmons in the 1st quarter and early 2nd and compounding matters by having him do so alongside Lee and Dedmon, while defending Korver. He was a destructive force: predictably passing up open 3s, dribbling aimlessly and failing to negotiate a screen. The game turned during this stretch and the foolish five wing rotation led to Green barely playing in the 1st half.
I'm sick of Pop feeling the need to squeeze Anderson in here and there within' every handful of games, as if he's above being a non rotation player.
Typical Pop logic: young "black" guy has a good game, so that automatically means he might get a big head and needs to be taken down a peg.
Old shtick
Didn't even see the game, yet stillOld shtick.
Rule number 1 of not watching a basketball game and commenting on it. Don't tell everyone you didn't watch it.
Lol As there was so much game still to be played and it even went into OT... it looks like a stick, sounds like a shtick... oh wait! It's a shtick!Didn't even see the game, yet still
Plenty else to blame... but blame the shtick...
You didn't watch, therefore your opinion is irrelevant and given your school girl crush on him, biased too.
Unbeknownst to you, games can be lost at all kinds of different stages and in all kinds of different ways, no matter the end result. This one had the makings of a typical Spurs-Hawks game, until the script was flipped during his appearance and the Hawks acquired the requisite confidence, which carried them throughout.
Rule number 1 of not watching a basketball game and commenting on it. Don't tell everyone you didn't watch it.
Ah...well really
No interest in taking this further.... many guys here noticed a lot of different things... including OP mentioning horrible defense by Lee, Kawhi looking sick, Pau failing to play well on defense and boarding like he should, etc. I saw a shtick and called it... you are so intent on being right all the time that you don't acknowledge your own biases... probably the last I will say about it bc I know you will want to have the last say per par and I will leave you to it.
Last edited by SAGirl; 01-02-2017 at 08:57 PM.
Kyle didn't have a good game, and he still got a big head. Your logic doesn't work.
With five rings and still currently having a good record, wheres your proof of it being a bad thing? But thats beside the point, if you think Pops is racist youre mad. If Pops is taking head strong black guys out of the line up when they start doing well its because he knows team play trumps individual play, or thinks it at least and whose to argue? With proof that is.
As for Simmons vs Anderson, other than replacing Kawhi with Anderson, I would dare to say Simmons has been getting more minutes. The reason it was Anderson to replace Kawhi and not Simmons is because Simmons is instant energy that Pops can plug here and there while Anderson needs time to get revved up. He needs some minutes to get a feel for his teammates and the opposing team before he gets that magic going.
good stuff objective tbh... I liked your thoughts a lot
in particular:
Great grades objective.
On the money, especially with the Mills, Anderson, Pau, and Simmons.
Anderson the past 5 games: in 15 minutes per game: 1.2 points 3 rebounds on 21% shooting and 0% from three.
Not to mention, he doesn't provide any spacing and was a reason the PnR with the second unit wasn't working optimally during his stint in the 1st half.
Dude is a headscratcher tbh.... He is 23 y/o and actually regressed in his third year when you compare with his second year... how the is possible tbh ? Per 36, his ppg are down by 40%, blk, stl, rebounds stable, apg is down by 30%... Drtg, PER, VORP, W/S by 48, BPM are worst... shooting is also worst... I mean WTF
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