Okay, I'm going to try and do this nicely. Look for the place where I said that a single block turned Griffin to jelly, and the Spurs never doubled him again. If you want to argue with me about what I said, fine. Don't argue with me about things I didn't say.
There were plays where Tiago had Griffin one-on-one in the low post. If you've watched Griffin play, they were situations where he usually takes the ball up. Instead he looked hesitant, and eventually kicked the ball back outside. I think it was because Splitter had been successful earlier in the game. You may disagree, and that's fine.
I never said that Splitter owns Griffin, or that the Spurs will never double him again. Just that Splitter has good footwork, and is strong enough to body up on an opposing big. I think he did a good enough job to force Griffin to give some respect.
It doesn't have to be all or nothing.
Is that a good thing?Gary Neal got a lot of publicity after last game. Instead of giving into the hype and featuring Neal on national television, Pop humbles Neal by keeping him on the bench and reinforcing the fact that he's a role player.
Classic Pop.
I believe the reason had more to do with the clippers length-rather than anything else.Gary Neal got a lot of publicity after last game. Instead of giving into the hype and featuring Neal on national television, Pop humbles Neal by keeping him on the bench and reinforcing the fact that he's a role player.
Classic Pop.
IF- Pop was sending some head-game message to Neal...well that would be Pop's dumbest move since he played with Mason's head...
Neal goes 5 for 7 on threes and gets benched....kinda asking for trouble if Pop keeps this up.
I'm more and more impressed with after every game this season. He has effectively pulled his head out of his ass when I had thought it was so far up his ass that it could never be removed after last year. He looks very confident. Shooting the ball very well, making very good and quick decisions et al.
As much as I hated him last year, he has turned it around completely this year.
Then there is DeJuan Blair. I dont know whats happened this year, whether its losing too much weight or hooking up with this new chick or what, something is off and I have no clue what.
Its also going to be interesting to see how Pop integrates Bonner back into the lineup. I'd suspect he will cut Antonio's minutes some (which makes sense), but who else will lose minutes, especially if Splitter see's his time increase, which you would think would happen also.
Pop is going to have some decisions to make. Glad I'm not having to make that one.
I wasn't talking about touches, I was talking about playing time. 11 total minutes? How many touches can you get if you play 11 minutes, what kind of sample can you judge based on 11 minutes, if the player shot well. He wasn't THAT bad that he only got 11 minute for being bad, heck Bonner gets more minutes than that and he is strictly a situational player at best.
Has anyone noticed how TP has taken more of a playmaking role this season? I've never seen him deliberately look to create so much offense for others. Instead of completely looking for his own offense, he's now looking guys on the break and setting teammates up more often, in the half-court offense. Thus his assist totals are way up this year. That over-the-shoulder pass to Blair, as he broke down the defense at the rim, was a thing a beauty.
He's also taking reasonably good care of the basketball and he's playing the passing lanes like a man possessed. He's really evolving into more of an all-around point guard.
The change in Parker is remarkable. The increase in assists is more than just teammates making shots. He is distributing the ball better than he ever has.
The number of steals he is getting may be more of a surprise. The 5 steals that he got against Houston saved the game for us. He's averaged about 1 steal per game for his career. He's getting 2.3 per game for the first part of the season. That's an impressive number.
Tony has always been a very good PG, but this is an impressive step up. If he can keep this up (and cut down just a little on the turnovers) they will have to start mentioning him on the short list with the best PG's in the league.
Edit: BTW - Spurs are 2nd in the league for Assists/Game. They are 4th in the league for Steals/Game. And 5th in Blocks/game (not that that has anything to do with Parker).
Last edited by GSH; 11-11-2010 at 02:11 PM.
The Anderson, Neal minutes argument, as of last night the spurs had 6 guys on the roster who are naturally shooting guards, Manu, Hill, Anderson, Gee, Temple, and Neal in no particular order. (you can argue Gee is a 3 naturally but he is a work in progress slasher at either) Though a few of them can pick up minutes at either PG or SF those are a bit match-up determined, and is probably a big part of why Temple was let go. This is why you only see limited amounts of rookies, Anderson and Neal on any given night, and its hard to have two rookies on the floor at the same time especially in the back-court, more so if you look at possible combinations with spurs personal of the other 3 positions
I personally would have kept Temple and waived Gee (Temple has shown a cool head in play-off and late season games, and in my opinion has a higher ceiling and more versatility) as of today Gee has the body that can defend more NBA small forwards and that is where the spurs are the thinest.
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