Quick Grades: Spurs @ Nuggets - Game 7, 2019 NBA Playoffs (Apr. 27)

[Spurtacular]

In case y’all wanted to meet this trash team at the airport and boo them, here is the tracking details for their flight back home:

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...609Z/KDEN/KSAT

Doubt this is their flight. Why would the Spurs be on Delta? Don't all teams fly private at this point?

[FkLA]

This is true. Nuggets stopped defending White. Mills at least was still being guarded out to the three-point line.

That said, it's certainly debatable whether White should have been given more of a chance or whether the Spurs got as close as they did due to Pop pulling the cord early.

Hyperbole, imo. You'd think they were guarding him like he was Ben Simmons by the sounds of it.

I just rewatched the 3:15 White played in the second half. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with how Denver was guarding him. They were helping off of him to double LMA but it's not like they weren't rotating to him once LMA kicked it out, and they were coming out to the 3 point line.

The play that appeared like they weren't guarding him was when he took that corner three in his second to last offensive possession before he was pulled. In reality, LMA was posting up in the left block, White was in the right corner, Murray went to double, LMA found White, and Jokic was running to make the rotation but Poeltl set a solid screen to get White the open look.

[vavvi]

Thanks for the last grades of the season!

Everyone's debating the bizarre ending and Mills over White.

The truth is the game was lost in the first quarter and mostly because of shot selection and decision making by DDR. Before the game I was afraid that after his hot game 6 he would start game 7 by launching contested 2pt fadeaways one after another and he did exactly that. When your team basically has no 3pt shooting you can't afford getting in the hole.

Kudos to the team for fighting and making it close.
And kudos to Pop for the defensive plan which earns him a passing grade in my eyes.
A special respect to Bryn Forbes whom I criticized all season long and Rudy Gay. They showed up in the Game 7, that's big.

[apalisoc_9]

Issue is you only see miss shots and think the guy is awful. When the reality is that White didn't hit a shot all game and Nuggets were letting him shoot it. LMA and DD had no room. Spurs unable to score off the double was more on White.

Mills was atrocious but it was mostly the right call since it opened up the roll for aldridge. But He still could have done a better Job. I mean the improvements happend only because White was a huge liability on Offense.

So yeah maybe not a bad call on Pop, but that doesnt take away from the fact that mills was still broderlinr atrocious. White was just so bad that anything was an improvement

[vavvi]

Anyway the game was lost after the first pathetic quarter.

Mills was fighting at least, and after all he was on the court for the comeback

Exactly.
1. The game was lost in Q1 because of DDR decisions
2. Mills was fighting out there, and it's just crazy to blame him for this loss by any metric

[monty4329]

Exactly.
1. The game was lost in Q1 because of DDR decisions
2. Mills was fighting out there, and it's just crazy to blame him for this loss by any metric

I think DDR was a cancer the whole season, but this game it was the whole plan that was clearly totally wrong. Or maybe the plan was having 5 players standing, a weak PnR without engaging the helper, and shoot a fadeaway.

On offense he didn't play any worse than the others. And I still hate him, I want him gone to Austin.

White was being eaten alive, and Mills lead the comeback. Haters here don't understand professional basketball, obviously (soem in fact want Hammond as HC )

[FkLA]

and Mills lead the comeback.

[vavvi]

I think DDR was a cancer the whole season, but this game it was the whole plan that was clearly totally wrong. Or maybe the plan was having 5 players standing, a weak PnR without engaging the helper, and shoot a fadeaway.

On offense he didn't play any worse than the others. And I still hate him, I want him gone to Austin.

White was being eaten alive, and Mills lead the comeback. Haters here don't understand professional basketball, obviously (soem in fact want Hammond as HC )

Everybody was bad on offense in Q1 but the ball was in DDR’s hands and he settled for contested 2pt fadeaways instead of going to the basket early. I wouldn’t be so mad at him if he lost the ball at the rim 3 times in a row to start the game but he just settled for a losing shot. In the second half he changed that but it was too late

[RC_Drunkford]

dammit it must be so nice to lose at your job, but still get to go home and sleep in your million dollar house, on a comfortable ass bed.

DeMar still needs prozac to deal with this tough lifestyle

[monty4329]

Everybody was bad on offense in Q1 but the ball was in DDR’s hands and he settled for contested 2pt fadeaways instead of going to the basket early. I wouldn’t be so mad at him if he lost the ball at the rim 3 times in a row to start the game but he just settled for a losing shot. In the second half he changed that but it was too late

Sure thing.
Still, when there is no offensive scheme working, I can't blame him too much, he had to take bad shots. As everybody else. DEN defense was high over the FT line, helping and then collapsing in the paint. Corner 3s were always wide open.

Coaching staff to blame, everything else was just a consequence of a bad gameplan. 34 points in the first half, in 2019? Fire the whole staff.

[quentin_compson]

Ugh, that was one of the ugliest games of basketball I have ever seen. I don't know if we should be mad at the Spurs for the atrocious basketball they played for most of the night or laud them for not quitting and actually mounting a comeback. Probably a little bit of both. Sometimes I really wonder what the Pop is thinking, though. I know White was terrible but going with Mills who has been one of the worst players in the series on either team? And this blunder at the end was really, really embarrassing.
As for LMA, I feel that he was battling so hard defensively that he hadn't enough energy left on the offensive end and therefore was settling for bad jumpers too often.

[polandprzem]

This is true. Nuggets stopped defending White. Mills at least was still being guarded out to the three-point line.

That said, it's certainly debatable whether White should have been given more of a chance or whether the Spurs got as close as they did due to Pop pulling the cord early.

He was done tbh. Was not looking much explosive out there. His first such a long season and he paid for it.
Also it would be nice if he copied some of Chris paul moves.... And I do wonder which role he is gonna play next year.

[baseline bum]

Aldridge and the way people treat him in San Antonio, just goes to show you how spoiled the franchise Fanbase is. You guys are too used to having Tim Duncan and David Robinson around. Because he is a really good player that has played very very well in San Antonio. He is what he is. He’s not some great player going to lead you to championships. But as is he is a borderline Hall of Famer. His numbers are always very very steady.

And he quit on the season when it wasn't over.

[sananspursfan21]

I’m thinking Patty had a flight to Cabo in the morning and was ready to be done. Thanks for the grades! It’s hard to take any playoff loss but I take a little solace in the fact that our guy’s inconsistency would have reared its head against the next team anyway. This year’s rendition of the Spurs were just incapable of being consistent. Some games literally played like a championship contender and others like a candidate for Zion. We’re fortunate enough last night was so close because it was another showing of the team that got whooped by the Suns

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

Mills had to play. White just wasn't getting it done from both ends. Nuggets were just sagging off him. It was the right move to put Mills in. I felt Mills got a little unlucky on defense and got called for some fouls that should not have been.

100 % truth.

Folks on here don't wanna hear this though. White played bad tonight and eventhough White is the better player the fact of the matter is the team came back with Mills in the game. He helped spacing on offense, made good passes and fought hard to get over screens on defense. They blew it at the end of the game but the way things were going with White in was looking like it was gonna be a blow out.

I'm excited about how this team is gonna look next season and I truly think they will be much better barring injuries

[jjktkk]

Thank you timvp for your grades and analysis all season. I'm proud of this team for not quitting in game 7. That said, this is a flawed roster. Going forward, I have a hard time seeing LA and DDR carrying this team deep in the playoffs.

[Crazymaddopeyo]

A really season all-around tbh. I'm sure it's "Spoiled Spur Fan" and all that....

But I probably would have been happier if they were a lottery team that tried hard and got better...

Instead, it was just a team full of idiots that blew every opportunity that was handed to them...favorable seeding, 2-1 lead, Denver ting the bed in Game 7.....

I'm hoping against hope that tonight was Pop's final game and he retires from coaching and running the organization...

Sure, they'll be tier in the regular season and might miss the playoffs but I'd rather that than being right about every single predictable dumb thing he does in the playoffs....

Thanks for the memories and you had a really good run when being carried by greats like Timmy and Manu, but time to walk away old man....like you always say....it's just basketball.

God, the whining is unbearable.

[tholdren]

Terrible grades. Gay was terrible enough on the defensive side of the ball and the ball handling and low iq 3s. Coaching was also a failure.v

[GreekSpursfan]

Pop gets a B from me. When your best defender is a first year player and needs a change of pants every 10 seconds and he is your starting pg which means for those who forget what pg means, everything start from him offensively, of course the team will look like crap in the beginning of the game and the 1st quarter was basically the reason we lost this game.
For those who actually played bball and know the game from the inside, this was the best job in Pop's career and for the whole season i give him an A+ as a coach. As a POBO i give him a C because Uncle Dennis had something to do with that.

[phxspurfan]

Didn’t watch the game had better things to do. C’est la vie, spurs were lucky to make it to a game 7 this season against any seed in the West, especially the 2. The team has been too inconsistent to be much of anything this year. Massive roster adjustments are needed to keep this team compe ive. But what’s crazy is next year many teams will look very different.

[ceperez]

Didn’t watch the game had better things to do. C’est la vie, spurs were lucky to make it to a game 7 this season against any seed in the West, especially the 2. The team has been too inconsistent to be much of anything this year. Massive roster adjustments are needed to keep this team compe ive. But what’s crazy is next year many teams will look very different.

With the number of free agents out there, there's a ton of opportunities to remake many teams.

We can about DeRozan, but Spurs had few options in trading away Leonard. Spurs at least got Poetl and a 1st round draft pick.

The team was poorly constructed in its lack of defensive stoppers. Those stoppers were Cunningham and Pondexter, two players past their prime.

[John B]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. Agree on some. But too generous on some. Pop should’ve gotten an F. He should’ve called time outs the first few minutes of the game when Spurs we’re settling and not playing aggressive. He should’ve put White back to defend for obvious reasons. Down 2, Aldridge should’ve switched on Murray and lockdown defense. Down 4, we could’ve fouled and played the odds, making Nuggets earn in freethrows. Pop looked like he pulled the white flag too early, looking pass the series. No urgency, no high expectations from the guys. Watching the Clips had more hunger, with less talent.

Aldridge settled offensively early and let Jokic bullyballed him in the 1st half. Pop should’ve drawn plays for him to catch on the move, catch deep and drive. Still I like his rebounding towards the end. But again, sorry to say, not an Alpha.

Demar fought in the 2nd half. I feel he just wasn’t successful in the first. Hopefully he works on his outside shooting in the summer, and also improve on defense. I think he really would like to prove himself that the trade was not lopsided. I’m still rooting for him. I think he is an alpha but limited skills, coz I see him fighting to the rim when shots were not falling, unlike Aldridge, limited skills especially in today’s basketball. Something to work on this summer.

Whatever Pop said to White after the 36 points game didn’t help. Coming in the series, the kid was full of confidence then something Pop said and he started going away from the moment and finally getting benched in the 4th. Wrong move imo. I feel White has the swagger, poise beyond his years but Pop coached him too much. I think Pop should’ve let him play, his way. The kid fought through everything before getting to this point. He’s a fighter and Pop didn’t let him to fight, over protective. I hope Pop doesn’t make him fight the starting position with DJ this summer. The kid earned the starting PG. Let DJ prove himself. Play them both, position-less basketball.

Gay was terrific. I called it. Nuggets had no answer for him. I really hope he comes back. I feel bad if he opted to ringchase. But Spurs would be much better next season.

Forbes was outstanding. He earned not getting moved next season over Beli and even Mills. The kid was not scared of the moment. He showed it in Michigan, he showed it last night. But starting position? I feel Spurs need to go back playing the defensive leader. But let’s see.

Poeltl has a very bright future with the Spurs. But they need to develop him before he goes seeking greener pastures. He has excellent rebounding, rim protection, soft touches around the rim. He could drive, pass. He needs some postup moves, and some polishing on 8 footers. The kid could be great. He has the basketball IQ, the motor and the fight.

Lonnie will be a significant player next season, over Mills, Beli. He has the explosiveness and body to defend. Spurs finally would not have defensive liability because of him and Murray. I look forward to seeing him playing more minutes significantly next season.

Bertans, DMo can stay. The rest, ship out or get traded if possible. Please don’t play loyalty card on Mills. But if ever, play him 3rd unit, no more than 12 minutes.

I hope this season left a bad welt on PATFO’s face that our boys got outplayed, rolled over by a much athletic team, and address this summer. No more short, no defense lineups. Defense still wins the game over 3 point shooters come playoffs especially. 2 1st round picks, or package to get that elusive athletic SF. Another big to stay with Jokic. I look forward to this summer.

It was a of a roller coaster this season, much different to what Spurs fans are normally accustomed to. I enjoyed it. I was hoping Spurs advanced more, especially against Portland without Kanter and Nucik. But never mind.

Thanks Timvp and all you es for the ride

[phxspurfan]

With the number of free agents out there, there's a ton of opportunities to remake many teams.

We can about DeRozan, but Spurs had few options in trading away Leonard. Spurs at least got Poetl and a 1st round draft pick.

I called the Kawhi bull back when the 2017-2018 season began. It was clear he was basically holding out by January or so when the doctors medically cleared him yet he sat out more. But the smoke was there in the fall before that. Who trains the entire offseason and then mysteriously misses all of training camp and multiple months with “soreness”?

He was either damaged goods or a prima donna who wanted to sit out. Either way, that was when we could have gotten way more in a trade than DeMar. I still contend we could have gotten something like Lillard and McCollum back then if the Spurs had made some calls, before Kawhi turned the franchise into a laughing stock.

[tholdren]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. Agree on some. But too generous on some. Pop should’ve gotten an F. He should’ve called time outs the first few minutes of the game when Spurs we’re settling and not playing aggressive. He should’ve put White back to defend for obvious reasons. Down 2, Aldridge should’ve switched on Murray and lockdown defense. Down 4, we could’ve fouled and played the odds, making Nuggets earn in freethrows. Pop looked like he pulled the white flag too early, looking pass the series. No urgency, no high expectations from the guys. Watching the Clips had more hunger, with less talent.

Aldridge settled offensively early and let Jokic bullyballed him in the 1st half. Pop should’ve drawn plays for him to catch on the move, catch deep and drive. Still I like his rebounding towards the end. But again, sorry to say, not an Alpha.

Demar fought in the 2nd half. I feel he just wasn’t successful in the first. Hopefully he works on his outside shooting in the summer, and also improve on defense. I think he really would like to prove himself that the trade was not lopsided. I’m still rooting for him. I think he is an alpha but limited skills, coz I see him fighting to the rim when shots were not falling, unlike Aldridge, limited skills especially in today’s basketball. Something to work on this summer.

Whatever Pop said to White after the 36 points game didn’t help. Coming in the series, the kid was full of confidence then something Pop said and he started getting away from the moment and finally getting benched in the 4th. Wrong move imo. I feel White has the swagger, poise beyond his years but Pop coached him too much. I think Pop should’ve let him play, his way. The kid fought through everything before getting to this point. He’s a fighter and Pop didn’t let him to fight, over protective. I hope Pop doesn’t make him fight the starting position with DJ this summer. The kid earned the starting PG. Let DJ prove himself. Play them both, position-less basketball.

Gay was terrific. I called it. Nuggets had no answer for him. I really hope he comes back. I feel bad if he opted to ringchase. But Spurs would be much better next season.

Forbes was outstanding. He earned not getting moved next season over Beli and even Mills. The kid was not scared of the moment. He showed it in Michigan, he showed it last night. But starting position? I feel Spurs need to go back playing the defensive leader. But let’s see.

Poeltl has a very bright future with the Spurs. But they need to develop him before he goes seeking greener pastures. He has excellent rebounding, rim protection, soft touches around the rim. He could drive, pass. He needs some postup moves, and some polishing on 8 footers. The kid could be great. He has the bball, the motor and the fight.

Lonnie will be a significant player next season, over Mills, Beli. He has the explosiveness and body to defend. Spurs finally would not have defensive liability because of him and Murray. I look forward to seeing him playing more minutes significantly next season.

Bertans, DMo can stay. The rest, ship out or get traded if possible. Please don’t play loyalty card on Mills. But if ever, play him 3rd unit, no more than 12 minutes.

I hope this season left a bad welt on PATFO’s face that our boys got outplayed, rolled over by a much athletic team, and address this summer. No more short, no defense lineups. Defense still wins the game over 3 point shooters come playoffs especially. 2 1st round picks, or package to get that elusive athletic SF. Another big to stay with Jokic. I look forward to this summer.

It was a of a roller coaster this season, much different to what Spurs fans are normally accustomed to. I enjoyed it. I was hoping Spurs advanced more, especially against Portland without Kanter and Nucik. But never mind.

Thanks Timvp and all you es for the ride

How was gay great? He finally did what he should have beem doing the whole series, points in paint, but he gives up as many if not more because he cant defend the post or perimeter then gives up about a billion second chance points.
Hes Pau Gasol reincarnate

[John B]

How was gay great? He finally did what he should have beem doing the whole series, points in paint, but he gives up as many if not more because he cant defend the post or perimeter then gives up about a billion second chance points.
Hes Pau Gasol reincarnate

No man. Gay had 21 points playing off the bench. What else can you ask for? This lost was on Pop not pushing the right buttons, bad subs utions, not calling timeouts early, and at the last minutes. This lost was on Aldridge settling, not playing aggressive, not making Jokic play both sides of the court and maybe getting him fouled. But referees also tbh didn’t call some of those and let Jokic pushed, slap Forbes in the face, moving picks, moving his hips, holding on picks. Referees let Jokic did whatever he want, but Aldridge should’ve fought harder. Lost was on Mills, Beli not hitting anything, no defense yet playing heavy minutes, but again on Pop letting it happen.