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Timvp must have been baking cookies and petting puppies while doing the grades. This isn't the JV Spurs where we hand out brownie points for running the court well, hustling or just showing up in uniform. I suppose Stephen Jackson gets an average grade for being Stephen Jackson because his performance was anything but average. De Colo gets an A- for knocking down a couple of wide open shots because the opponent doesn't respect him. Forget about the fact that he's suppose to be in the running for backup pg and did nothing to improve his chances... 1 assist in 24 minutes. Blair gets a C+ for his 0 contributions on the court in 7 minutes of forgettable basketball. Outside of Duncan and Leonard, all the grades are too high.
The most troubling part about last night's game was the defense continues to regress as the season presses on. Tony Parker is a terrific defender but the heart & soul of this defense is and always has been Tim Duncan. Unfortunately, he can't play 48 minutes per game in the playoffs and the bench has been beyond awful on the D-side of the court. I keep waiting for that game that lights a fire under the Spurs asses. I thought that game was Phoenix, but then the Portland game happened, followed by the T-wolves, then a couple of nail biters at home against bad teams (Dallas and Cleveland). TP or no TP, the Spurs shouldn't be this bad defensively and it's starting to look more and more like they're more of a pretender than contender unless the team as a whole decides to play on two ends of the court. It probably hasn't helped matters that 67 games into the season, Pop still hasn't settled on a rotation.
