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Great grades! This was my favorite win so far. To start out like that and just keep 'pounding the rock' was classic. White and LMA should take a bow! A wonderful night of basketball and a great warm-up for Thursday!
"Get it." Damn right!
Last time out, the Spurs had a quality win out on the road against the Clippers. Tonight, the good guys backed it up with a 120-111 victory over the Celtics in the Alamo City.
Things didn't start out swimmingly for San Antonio. The Spurs offense sputtered for much of the first half, as they scored only 46 points in the first two quarters -- including a paltry 17 points in the opening period.
At halftime, Pop reportedly tore into his team. Whatever the head coach said was apparently well-received because the Spurs exploded in the third quarter to the tune of 46 points. That's the most San Antonio has scored in a quarter in over 25 years.
During the 46-point outburst, the Spurs went on a 16-0 run to put them up by 14 points with three minutes remaining in the third. San Antonio entered the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead and the Celtics were never able to make a serious run; whenever Boston would get any type of momentum and trim the deficit to eight or nine points, the Spurs almost always respond with a timely three-pointer.
There's no way to put it other than to say this was another great win against a formidable opponent. The Spurs couldn't buy a bucket early, kept at it, kept chipping away at the rock and were eventually rewarded with a hot shooting streak that blew the doors off of the AT&T Center.
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LaMarcus Aldridge
Beast. This might have been LaMarcus Aldridge's most impressive game of the season, all things considered. He started off the game missing his first seven attempts from the field, including numerous easy looks. But instead of putting his head down, he upped his physicality and tenacity to put together a remarkable showing. Aldridge hit 13 of his final 16 shots from the field, passed the ball well, rebounded with vigor and defended the paint as stingily as he has all season. Once he got going, it didn't matter what type of defense the Celtics threw at him -- Aldridge was simply too determined to be denied. Let's hope he has more games like this as the season progresses.
Grade: A+
Summary: This was one of Aldridge's best games.
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DeMar DeRozan
This was a tale of two halves for DeMar DeRozan. In the first half, it looked like he was distracted by the next game on the schedule. The Celtics aggressive defense was suffocating him and DeRozan was wilting without putting up too much of a fight. He shot attempts were feeble and he was missing wide open teammates left and right. After Pop's stern talking to at half, DeRozan flipped a switch. He suddenly started playing with a mean streak. In the second half, he was taking the ball to the hole with ferocity and broke Boston's D. If he wasn't able to finish at the rim, DeRozan was busying handing out one of his eight second half assists. With the Celtics loading up the strongside with defenders, his ability to find three-point shooters on the weakside was key (six of DeRozan's ten assists led to three-pointers). Defensively, he was active and did reasonably well in one-on-one situations. His rebounding was again a plus.
Grade: B-
Summary: DeRozan overcame a poor first half to post a dominant showing in the second half.
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Bryn Forbes
With Rudy Gay out with an injured wrist and the rotation shortened, Bryn Forbes ended up playing a game-high and season-high 38 minutes. He did what we've come to expect: put points on the board (this was his seventh straight game in double-digits), space the floor with his shooting (also his seventh straight game with at least two three-pointers), play hard and compete on defense. While the effort was there on D, Forbes had trouble against penetration and he had a few mental mistakes along the way ... but he played pretty well,overall.
Grade: B
Summary: Forbes was rock solid.
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Derrick White
Wow. Derrick White came out with an attacking mentality on offense with the idea of making Kyrie Irving work on defense. After scoring nine points in the first half to help keep the offense afloat, White scored San Antonio's first seven points of the second half to help spark the 46-point quarter. Most of his scoring came off the drive, as he flashed a really good touch in the paint. Over the last eight games, White is averaging 10 points per game on 53.4% shooting from the floor, 38.9% shooting from three-point land and 84.6% shooting at the line. In addition to his career-high 22 points, the second year guard out of Colorado continues to impress with his court vision and passing. But, really, where White makes the most difference is on defense. He has an extremely high basketball IQ on the defensive end and is deceptively quick and explosive off of his feet. On this night, he made life difficult for Irving. Very difficult. White switched off on to a variety of other players and usually did well for himself. I'd already classify him as a good defensive player on the NBA level ... and he's just starting to scratch the surface of his potential. (It looked like White rolled his ankle in the second half but he was able to keep playing -- let's hope, really hope, he's okay.)
Grade: A+
Summary: Was it a coming out party for White? That's fair to say.
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Jakob Poeltl
Jakob Poeltl was moved in to the starting lineup in place of the injured Gay. His offense rebounding was a strength, per usual. He boxed out well on the defensive glass. His passing was outstanding, as evident by his career-high-tying five assists. Interestingly, he was actually playing power forward with Aldridge remaining at center. That resulted in Poeltl having to defend Marcus Morris. That was a challenge, to say the least, because the big Austrian isn't accustomed to wading into the deep water out on the perimeter. That said, he appeared to be capable at times. He moved his feet well enough and appeared coordinated enough that playing Poeltl at power forward is something the coaching staff should continue to experiment with. Against the Celtics, it didn't work defensively and the offense with two bigs continues to be really ugly (it didn't help that Poeltl was missing bunnies) for the most part. But, again, I believe it's worth the experimentation.
Grade: C+
Summary: Poeltl struggled but exhibited some promise.
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Davis Bertans
Davis Bertans was letting it fly. That turned out to be a very good idea. When he had daylight, Bertans let it fly. When he didn't have daylight, Bertans sometimes still let it fly by utilizing his high, quick release. After missing seven straight three-pointers over the course of three games, Bertans snapped out of the cold streak by hitting five of his final six three-point attempts against the Celtics. In addition to his three-point shooting, Bertans attacked off the dribble with a moderate amount of success. Defensively and on the boards, he was better than usual. However, he had a couple bad fouls and missed a couple rotations.
Grade: A-
Summary: Bertans raining it down from three-point land was key.
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Marco Belinelli
Marco Belinelli played with more energy than usual today. I wouldn't say he played good defense but he wasn't quite the sieve he usually is on that end. On offense, he hit only one of his four field goal attempts but still aided the cause by getting to the line in addition to making plays with his movement and his passes (Belinelli was actually the only bench player to go to the line or tally an assist). This is proof that he can still be a positive even when his shots aren't falling as long as he plays hard and has sane shot-selection.
Grade: B-
Summary: Belinelli helped out.
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Patty Mills
Well, it's good that Patty Mills scored in double-figures for the first time in nine games. But for the most part, I didn't think Mills was helpful. He was timid when handling the ball against pressure, he wasn't making plays (yet still turned it over twice), his clock management was poor and his energy on the defensive end was iffy at best. What saved his evening was a five and a half minute stretch beginning near the end of the third quarter that saw him score all 11 of his points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field, including 3-for-3 from deep. The Spurs still need Mills to play better for longer stretches -- this is the second straight game Mills was sub par outside of a small window.
Grade: C+
Summary: Mills wasn't good and then got hot.
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Pau Gasol
Welcome back, Pau Gasol. The Spaniard played his first game since Nov. 4 against the Magic. The team's best rebounder got right back to it. But other than his work on the glass, I wasn't impressed. Gasol was glacially slow on help defense and labored when changing ends of the court. Disappointingly, I also witnessed some bad body language when Gasol felt like he wasn't getting adequate touches. He needs to realize that the bench no longer need to rely on him quarterbacking the team from the top of the key. All that said, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since this was his return after a long break and it's not surprising that the 38-year-old was out of rhythm and stiffer than usual.
Grade: Inc.
Summary: Gasol was back in silver and black.
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Dante Cunningham
I flinched when Dante Cunningham was called upon ... but he did well. He brought some muscle to the defensive glass, ran the court hard and was generally playing like an enforcer during his short stint.
Grade: Inc.
Summary: Cunningham wasn't friendly.
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Pop
This was a strangely coached game. Going with Poeltl at power forward was ... interesting ... but it didn't really work (although I appreciate the attempt). Putting Gasol back in the rotation didn't help matters but give Pop credit for going away from it in the second half. I didn't love Cunningham getting important second half minutes but it ended up working out okay. I liked that Pop leaned on Bertans but I thought White should have played more. Going with a lineup of Mills, Forbes, Belinelli, Cunningham and Poeltl in the fourth quarter was brave but I could die a happy Spurs fan if I don't see that fivesome on the court during meaningful minutes again.
Grade: B-
Summary: Pop was in an experimental mode tonight.
Looking ahead: It's the game we've all been waiting for.
Get it.
Great grades! This was my favorite win so far. To start out like that and just keep 'pounding the rock' was classic. White and LMA should take a bow! A wonderful night of basketball and a great warm-up for Thursday!
"Get it." Damn right!
Thanks Timvp! Agree with everything you said. Hope White's ankle will be ok.
Just on Gasol body language when he didn't get touches. I saw it too but not under the same light. Gasol was displeased with Forbes and imo deservingly so. Forbes came off a 3pt curl and let it fly when Gasol was in great post position with an easy, risk free entry pass. It was not a good shot and Forbes clanked it. Gasol was not in rebounding position and Gasol let Forbes know that he had to make the entry pass.
Good.
yeah, it’s the game we’ve been waiting for.
I'm just back from the club. Go Spurs go. Thanks timvp. every other team on the league. Especially Leonard, who isn't a team but him anyways.
Spurs can don't make the playoffs or whatsoever.
This season is a success if Spurs can beat Nephew 2 out of 2. But I am only afraid that he sat out for both games.
For me White's current surge started with the Houston game.
For one, the three games before against PHI, MIN, and ORL were just uncompe ive blowouts that were basically over at halftime.
Secondly, Houston was the first game of a current 5 game streak of at least one made three pointer. Before that he had only 2 makes in 10 games, shooting 13% over there 10 games. In the current 5 game streak he's shooting 50% from 3.
Third, the Houston game is where I thought his defense went from good/above average to really, really good. He seriously interrupted Harden's flow and his playmaking until the very end when the stepbacks happened. I said in the game thread that night and still believe that if he had his minutes matched to Harden the Spurs win that game.
After that his defense has been very good and he's had to defend the best the other team's had to offer. The Houston game was also the start of a 5 game streak of at least 2 combined steals/blocks per game.
-Two games in a row of Aldridge 2017/18 and Spurs look scary;
-White three good all around games in a row, but for the first time he looked like the best pg / sg of the team, was like Manu Ginobili on court today;
-Bertans doing what Bertans does.
Agreed, Nephew.
Great grades timvp. Don't usually post in them but I do read them. Really glad to have you back doing them; just not the same when anyone else does it.
Gordon Hayward A+
Looks like Chandler Parsons. I don't like the Celtics but hopefully he can recover from that injury.
Thanks for putting down the bubbly long enough to put this together.
Timvp I think you had to give Pop a break. Gay was out and Cunningham filling in at PF is not consider good thus Pop had to try using different lineup. Probably he wanted to keep the Bertans, Mills and Bellineli lineup together. If Gay is not back on 3 Jan, I struggle to see a good starting 5 against the Raptors.
Beli should get at least a B+ just for slapping Kyrie
Gracias TJ y Feliz Año Nuevo.
I can't disagree with these grades. It was a good win. Despite a poor first half, the Spurs kept themselves in the game with their defense. Super excited about White's game lately. I will be honest and say I didn't expect him to be this good. I had hope, but didn't expect it.
Hey TimVP, thanks for the grades. I read every single one and it’s the equivalent of having dessert after a nice dinner to read this after games. Very good work
Never in my wildest dreams did I think White would be this good defensively. His instincts and his ability to anticipate the players next move is off the charts for someone whose been defending NBA players for less than a year. He went 8-9 last night and Brad Stevens didn’t say a thing about his offense but touched on his defense.
"Defensively, I thought he was great. He provided a good presence on whoever he was guarding, and from watching him getting ready for this game, you could tell that it's typical. He has made great strides as a second-year player."
Yeah I don't really have a problem with Gasol trying to tell the young guys to make the right play. He's been in the league long enough and accomplished enough I think any player respects something like that he's say.
Pau yelling at Bryn during the 2nd quarter cuz he didn't get the ball....while I appreciate the sentiment of yelling at Forbes, I really hope the Spurs can move Pau for a 3/D wing by the deadline.
I doubt any GM would move a real 3&D guy for Gasol.
I'd move any combo of Beli, Forbes, Pau and one of the picks for Otto Porter (+ fillers like Dante, QPon) . Washington should be having a fire sale soon and I don't think it'll take that much to get him, probably just 3 out of 4 of those guys.
Not sure about salary wise but i'd do that deal in a heartbeat.
Sound like you had yourself a good time last night
#BeatNephew
Thanks Timvp. I sincerely hope Pops, and also White, realized what this kid is capable of and keep pushing him, to be the 3rd option especially if Gay is not playing well. What a revelation. This version of “Kidd” is going to be a star. Yes it’s Kidd I see on this guy, big guard who has excellent court vision, a defensive catalyst and especially real smooth demeanor, attacking where he can be most effective in the game. He needs to realize as a point guard, he owns this team, he’s a general placing people as his extension how to beat the other team. I’m that excited about this Spurs version of Kidd.
If Toronto MVP Kyle Lowry doesn't play, I like the Spurs chances tbh. It'd be such a Nephew/Dennis move for them to skip out on the Spurs game though, they'd absolutely get flamed by every single media outlet if it happened though so I think he plays.
That was exactly what I thought in the moment as well.
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