Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Lakers - Round 1, Game 3

[itsamanuthree]

I really expected to see Manu getting a B or something. I'm really glad to see Timvp is an intelligent person who's able to look beyond stats, because I thought Manu was looking great. The game didn't demand much from him, but he was very sharp passing and reading his teammates and opponents, stealing the ball, and made all good unselfish decisions.

I hope he can keep doing just that. Even if he doens't take many shots, I know it's because he deemed the team didn't need him to, and that would be a good sign. When needed to score, I'm sure he will be up to the challenge.

On the other hand, I was happy to see Parker drive his defenders mad again. I think he got a little bit greedy, or blind, whatever, after half time though, for instance trying to dribble past 3 or 4 guys, and lossing the ball, of course. It's a good thing it happened now though, so Pop can start giving him a good talk about it before we face a tougher opponent.

[freetiago]

Popovich is far from an A tbh
some of the defensive plans should have been adjusted
Gasol isnt worthy of a double team
they should be showing him as much respect as they show Kendrick Perkins tbh
not doubling him and freeing up the Lakers one dimensional 3 point shooters

and he also thinks he can around in the playoffs
that 2nd quarter lineup which he let play for around 6 minutes
something like joseph/neal/green/bonner/blair
save that for the 2nd half once theyre down by 30
not when you have a 15 point lead in the first
dont give them an opportunity to make it close

[Legacy]

Thanks for the grades, timvp.

... Hoping Tiago has a speedy recovery.

[Chinook]

I thought Green played well. It's not very often that he can be as aggressive as he was and finish 5-7 with no turnovers. Everything was working for him in the second half. I know that's mainly because of who was guarding him, but that was kind of the point. Green needed a glorified practice like this to get his rhythm back -- which is why I think Pop kept him in for as long as he did in the fourth. I thought this was the best game he played since the regular-season game against the Lakers. His defense was good, and his mid-range game was nice to see.

[ElNono]

The impression I got about Green is that he couldn't shot for when the team actually needed it, but started hitting when the team was already up 20+... which is really the story of Matty's playoff life before this series.

[letmk]

Other than Neal, who doesn't fit with the offense for the whole night, I don't think anybody else plays bad, including Splitter and Green.

From grading wise, Tony deserves B+ with too many TOs. But I'm even more encouraged by his movement and his versatile attacking approaches than after game 2.

Tim is simply amazing, and no words can describe how lucky Spurs fans are. For that lob, I was wondering if Green just saw a open cut and didn't think much, or he really saw it was Tim and still trusted Tim can catch and dunk it. It's totally unexpected, thus so exciting.

[wildbill2u]

Green was adequate in garbage time. Until then he sucked. If he gained some confidence in his shot, well and good. Otherwise he really isn't worthy of starting but we'd have to plug Manu in there and that would hurt the second unit. We just have to hope he'll come around.

[Bruno]

Lakers aren't a good matchup for Green. They just don't have a classical SG to put Green on. Not having that well defined task defensively push him to step outside his offensive role.

[Chinook]

The impression I got about Green is that he couldn't shot for when the team actually needed it, but started hitting when the team was already up 20+... which is really the story of Matty's playoff life before this series.

I don't know if that evaluation is fair. Green only missed two shots, so that well within the margin of error. Both came with the Spurs up by 10. His makes were when the Spurs were up by 12, 10, 16, 21 and 26. He definitely got a few of his points in garbage time, but most of the game was garbage time, so that's not surprising.

Green got his first three rebounds when the Spurs were up by less than 14 (including the first two when the Spurs were up by less than five), and he got his first two assists when the game was within seven (the other two in garbage time).

That's not even mentioning that Morris and Goudelock did almost nothing when Green was in the game until garbage time. Danny definitely earned his plus-minus -- he was leading the team in that category until the final run.

[EVAY]

Parker said today in an interview that his vision was blurred after getting hit in the eye last night, and that during and after the game he was a bit light-headed. He said the vision was still blurry today, but that the docs said that it should be fine by tomorrow.

Let's hope he is right.