Grades: Spurs vs. Warriors - Jan. 4

[urunobili]

lol Bonner B. C- at the most...

[Brutalis]

Duncan's tech in the 3rd was dumb . For that ref to pretend there was no contact and have the nerve is amazing .

[lefty]

Bonner playing better than usual, lately


Is he feeling the pressure from Kawhi/Green, etc ?

[Nathan89]

My brain almost imploded when Splitter was posting up on Charles Jenkins, got to use a couple power dribbles against the rookie point guard and then passed it back out. That might have been the softest moment in Spurs history.

I didn't get to watch the game.

[Manufan909]

Bonner playing better than usual, lately


Is he feeling the pressure from Kawhi/Green, etc ?

You mean Blair/Splitter, etc, right? Kawhi and RJ being the etc, of course.

[Killakobe81]

I felt like I watched Neal pass on a couple of defensive plays that he normally would have gone after. If he's a little tenative coming back from an operation, it would be understandable. I, for one, was really happy to see him back on the floor.

One of my favorite moments was Danny Green out in front on a fast break, settling in for that corner 3 and begging for the ball. Ford couldn't get it to him, but you could see he that Green really wanted the shot. That's a guy you want to feed. It made me think about Ime Udoka, and all the times he looked like a kid in class, hoping that the teacher didn't call on him. There is all the difference in the world between the two. Tonight Green looked like a guy who believes he belongs, and has been looking for a chance to prove it.

Bonner was 1-3 from the 3-point line. The two that missed were stroked, and just a hair off. If those balls drop, he would have earned an A in my book. He didn't do anything great, but he didn't get victimized. If the grades are expectation-based, then he played up to expectation. I would take those 16 minutes from him any night. Unfortunately, we won't be playing Golden State every night.

I always thought Rasho was a eunuch. Tiago looked like a kinder, gentler Rasho. Echhh.

I have to admit I really Like Green, it maybe early but it looks like with neal last year and Green this year you guys have really upgraded your bench.

[Pauleta14]

An enjoyable hard fought win that I look forward to re-watching on my DVR.

With Manu out for a bit Tony will be able to have a larger leadership role, hopefully he cleans up his game as the season wears on. Even though people will endlessly complain about his play he shot just under 50% on his field goals, 78% on his FTs (above his career average, yes it's a small sample rate but bottom line is it's still above his career average), his assist to turnover ratio was also better than his career average. He may have made some mistakes here and there but Tony played lights out, by the way he has one less turnover than Manu for the season with an extra game under his belt yet I don't hear anybody constantly complaining about Manu's mistakes. Manu was able to make it up offensively but at the same time the big three have always claimed to let whoever is on fire to continue to be on fire. It's not like one of the other two (Tony and Tim in this case and notwithstanding Tim's decline) to disagree and force their will on the team to make sure they get force fed into a Kobe night - all those feeds eventually start falling and numbers average out at the end of the night. I can see that people would be disappointed that Tony was not on fire to start the season because of his playing time in France but unfortunately Manu was hotter; that's no reason to give Tony a hard time for not making Manu get out of the driver seat.

I look forward to more hard fought wins like this to give our young team more character.

+1

Good post, I agree, but .... Welcome to SpursTalk !!

Even in his best season, TP received daily hate on this forum, even from the non-haters...

Feel free to take TP's defense, but I bet you'll soon be tired...

BTW, to "Brazil", who apparently is taking "ducks"'s role these days..

[Pauleta14]

Bonner playing better than usual, lately


Is he feeling the pressure from Kawhi/Green, etc ?

No, it's just the regular season, even when he's good, it doesn't mean anything...

[Dex]

No, it's just the regular season, even when he's good, it doesn't mean anything...

Pretty much.

Bonner playing well now is a double-edged sword because it just gets him entrenched in the rotation so that, come playoff time, he'll have plenty of minutes to disappoint us.

[Blake]

Bonner playing better than usual, lately


Is he feeling the pressure from Kawhi/Green, etc ?

I thought the consensus among Bonner haters is that he wilts under pressure

[cd98]

I give this team an F. We need to be tanking, not winning. Yesterday was the perfect chance to blow the game, and instead we mount a comeback and win. Are we playing the Mavs? Hopefully we can stink against them.

[HarlemHeat37]

Let's wait a few games before anointing Green, tbh..

*ahem* Garrett Temple hype..

[Dex]

Tony Parker C-
On the positive side, Parker hit some big shots down the stretch and continues to distribute well (8 assists). However, I didn't like any other aspect of his game tonight. He just didn't seem engaged; Parker had countless mental mistakes on both ends. He had no control over the tempo and he seemed to second guessed his every move. Defensively, he was getting torched by Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. Parker definitely caught a break when Curry left when yet another ankle injury. All that said, give Parker some credit for doing enough late in the fourth to help the Spurs get the W.

What do you think Tony's deal is? Is he just out of game shape? Maybe suffering from a nagging injury? Going through a slump? Or do you really think he is just losing a step?

We've seen cases before where a leg or foot injury has made Parker seem glaringly average, and his current struggles remind me of that. It's like he just doesn't have that burst of speed to get out on the break or get around defenders. Couple that with occasional games where his jumper won't fall (which could also be because he doesn't have his legs under him), and Tony becomes pretty easily neutralized. However, he does show the occasional flash, which really makes me wonder if it's just something mental, or if he just can't bring it all the time for whatever reason.

I'm sincerely hoping he is just slumping or his body is not 100% right now, because if this is the Tony Parker that the Spurs can expect going forward, their chances probably go from about slim to none, especially without Manu.

[024]

people are a little harsh on parker. without him, the spurs don't have anyone to close the game. the entire game hinges on him able to make plays the last five minutes and he delivered this game. green can play all the great defense he wants and jefferson can drain all the open 3 pointers he likes but the spurs needed a play maker at the end and that was tony parker.

[analyzed]

Actually I don't see Green's emergence to happen at the expense of Kawhi, but rather the player at risk of being put out of the rotation is Anderson. Let's be clear the reason Kawhi was benched in the 2nd half had to do much more with RJ playing 38 minutes rather than Green playing. Green is a two guard not a SF like Kawhi and RJ.

As to Parker with Manu out he more than ever has to take the role of "closer".
The thing with Parker that I can't pinpoint is as long as he has been playing and although he leads the team in assist. His decision making leaves a lot to be desired considering his expereince. Sean Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Lu ck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_ pointed out something interesting which was common situation when Manu was absent a year or to ago. Which is the offense becomes stagnat without good ball movement. I see what he is saying, it's just something you don't see in the box scores with Tony assist avg over Manu. Stragely it's Manu who provides that ball movement and quaterbacking

[objective]

Great that Ford had a good game, hope he keeps it up. There were still those moments from him I didn't like, but they were fewer than the other games.

I'm still not worried about Anderson. play-wise. I haven't rewatched the game, but to my memory he wasn't passing up shots even though he was missing, something Spurs shooters through the years have been guilty of.

It's great the Green stepped up, but I want more Leonard. This all just means that I'm even more convinced that the Spurs were wrong to not amnesty RJ and just go with the youth. I don't care how many shots RJ hits this regular season, the Spurs longterm will be better off with more minutes going to the youth than to him.