Quick Grades: Spurs @ Warriors - Round 2, Game 3

[John B]

Why keep going with Tiago?
He ain't doing his rebounding job.
I much rather see Blair getting a chance. He'll outhussle everybody.

No Blair please. We won this game because we didn't play smallball like the first two games. Splitter established the height from the very first rebound. I don't think he played that bad, except for that horrific pass to Green that went all the way to 5th row, and doubling on a 3pt player that caused an and-1 dunk, that got him yanked out by Pops. No. I think we should keep this line-up and continue to impose our height. Diaw did great manhandling his man when he decided to attack the rim. We want more of that.

[John B]

After barely surviving G1 and losing G2, had the impression the Warriors are the better team. Tbh, its good to see Pop make some adjustments and motivate the players. This game on road was very complicated to win, and its good to see the Spurs win. With Tim and Tony playing all-NBA ball, Kawhi being a borderline all-star, Manu still being good and a number of good role players, the Spurs have a shot this season. It's great to see Diaw playing well, hopefully Splitter will show up too at some point. It's also good to see Cory doing well in playoffs too, there is a chance he will be a good player.

It's not really complicated at all. Spurs played Spurs basketball last night like we were playing all season. Playing smallball the first 2 games was partly due to Duncan and Splitter not in their 100%. And our guys had to scramble because of that. Last night our perimeter defense was able to focus and close in on their guys and not allowed open 3's. We could have used Baynes on game two to boxout Bogut or just an interior presence and we could be seating on 3 wins. But that lost woke us up to play playoff style D, which is maybe what we needed after the Laker sweep.

[lil'mo]

Tony Parker A
That first half was epic. Honestly, it was probably a season-saving type of performance. Parker took the air out of the building and refused to let the Warriors sustain momentum. He ran out of gas a bit in the second half but he continued to attack. Very strong game on both ends -- and it couldn't have come at a better time. Let's hope he's healthy and ready to go for

They didn't get to use that gay ass sound level meter nearly as much as they wanted to

[vander]

Hmm, all those good grades + curry not hitting his shots + curry rolling his ankle, and the spurs only win by 10?

[rmt]

It's not really complicated at all. Spurs played Spurs basketball last night like we were playing all season. Playing smallball the first 2 games was partly due to Duncan and Splitter not in their 100%. And our guys had to scramble because of that. Last night our perimeter defense was able to focus and close in on their guys and not allowed open 3's. We could have used Baynes on game two to boxout Bogut or just an interior presence and we could be seating on 3 wins. But that lost woke us up to play playoff style D, which is maybe what we needed after the Laker sweep.

Doesn't this series remind you of SAS vs NOH - Duncan sick the 1st 2 games, plays poorly, comes back. Hopefully the Spurs win again (hopefully not in 7 as vs NOH).

[ginobilized]

Thanks again, Timvp!

That was a classic Spurs style win. It sure was great to see a return to the mean shooting wise for Golden State and some hard-nosed D by the Spurs.
If the Spurs can rally for Sunday, there's a strong chance to break the Warriors back.

[silverblackfan]

Spurs played their game last night and Pop found the right match-ups on defense. It seems that a healthy Tim Duncan IS THE SECRET! Once he started manning the paint with non flu-like speed and agility, the perimeter defense improved a lot. Tiago's size helped along with Diaw playing a pretty nice subs ution pattern.

It will be interesting to see Mark Jackson's adjustment to the excellent D by Green, Leonard, and Joseph. Given that he plays pretty much an 8 man team, he does not have a lot of options. Especially if Curry is hurt and Lee is not recovered.

[Raven]

i love green every day more, he's D is very underrated here because it doesn't stand out much in our system. He's more of a man marker than a team defender but he's improvement is obvious and i'm glad we have him.

[G-Nob]

They didn't get to use that gay ass sound level meter nearly as much as they wanted to

Another dumb ESPN idea that blew up in their face.

Pop has to take Tony off Curry early in the game. Part of the reason he's always gassed in the 4th quarter.

[mingus]

I think Cojo has a chance to be a Lindsey Hunter type player on the defensive end. His foot speed and anticipation were impressive.

Going back to last year I said the biggest reason the Spurs lost to OKC was because Tony Parker wasn't taking mid range shots they were giving him. Last night he showed when he takes them there's literally nothing you can do to guard him. Spurs can tinker and adjust a lot of things but none if it really matters if Tony isn't taking what the defense is giving him.

[Mark in Austin]

It simply came down to the Spurs playing better man on man defense - all you can do against a jumpshooting team that can't be forced baseline. Green on Curry and Kawhi on Thompson was the only logical play Pop had. Thank the basketball gods it worked.

[EVAY]

The thing I liked best about what Pop did in this game was how he changed the minutes played by the big three (well, along with starting Splitter and playing Diaw more than in game 2). Rather than his normal rotation of having Tim and Tony play all of one quarter and then rest for half or more of the next, he pulled Tony off and on more frequently, giving him short rests and then putting him back in. I think this kept Tony from getting exhausted and losing his effectiveness at the end of a quarter and also kept the Warriors unable to figure exactly when he was going to be in and when he wasn't it. It thought it was just a great great move. Hope he keeps it up. He also put Duncan back in in the 4th earlier than usual, and it kept GS from gaining momentum after Splitters disastrous first two minutes of two turnovers followed immediately by a foul on the other end.

Pop being really really flexible. wow!!

[thOOdee]

They didn't get to use that gay ass sound level meter nearly as much as they wanted to

damn...that was annoying.

[BlackSilver]

Tiago Splitter D+
I was happy to see Splitter in the starting lineup again … but the Spurs need more from him than he supplied tonight. Overall, he was just too soft. He was particularly pliable when he was involved in a battle for a contested rebounds. He was bad at holding his position and just generally played weakly. Hopefully Pop keeps going with Splitter but the Brazilian needs to start showing some semblance of a backbone.

Disagree on Tiago's grade. Yes, he could've done a lot of things better, but his biggest contributions were how he set picks in the Pick and Roll and how he correctly spaced the floor. You could tell Tony was glad to have him back because suddenly the starters felt comfortable. That and the fact that GS had to start a big and they were all exposed by Tony when he kept waving off TD and calling Tiago over for the PnR.

The other thing I really liked was Diaw's play. Actually, there was one sequence where he did the PnR with TD that was just beautiful. His ball handling and shooting have no answer in GS.

Also, I'm as big a Manu fan as anyone, but that was a turd performance.

[pgardn]

That was towards timvp . I mean Neal got a B grade actually for what?
He did not contribute much.


btw. I need to watch this game again tbh

Yes it was.

For what he did not do.
He did not dribble the ball wildly at times. Neal did not experience a complete blow by.

So as you stated, which I believe is an excellent observation, Parker is effective in bursts, he can't be made to go long periods of time against this group. Neal gets a B as a body.

[polandprzem]

Yes it was.

For what he did not do.
He did not dribble the ball wildly at times. Neal did not experience a complete blow by.

So as you stated, which I believe is an excellent observation, Parker is effective in bursts, he can't be made to go long periods of time against this group. Neal gets a B as a body.

hITTING 3 TREY WOULD MAKE A GRADE A+ then? huh

[dbreiden83080]

I thought Tim's D was amazing last night. He moved so well on his rotations challenged at the rim and as usual grabbed big rebounds. 37 years old folks.. Amazing..

[BackHome]

Splitter stunk up the place and he played worse then any D-League player come out and throwing the ball five feet over a players hands...Geez...Would rather give Baynes a chance at breaking some breast bones out there with some crushing picks.

[bklynspursfan]

[Budkin]

They show a few Green infographics on the tube and suddenly he's the next Bruce Bowen.

Not Bowen level but damn you can tell he worked his ass off in practice and it showed. Very proud of the guy.

[carina_gino20]

I agree that Tiago played too soft this game but before the game, he had only played 9 mins in this series. He's shown before that he's a quick learner. I hope Pop doesn't over-analyze this. Tiago should be given another chance. Pop needs to go to TD, Tiago, and Diaw. BonBon should see time this series only to hack Bogut.

[EricB]

Why keep going with Tiago?
He ain't doing his rebounding job.
I much rather see Blair getting a chance. He'll outhussle everybody.

No, just no. No. God. No.

[pgardn]

hITTING 3 TREY WOULD MAKE A GRADE A+ then? huh

Yeah I guess.

What if he actually played good D and stole the ball from Curry?
The grading scale would have to change. Give him an alpha + ...

[DMFG]

Curry probably manages to roll his ankle laying in bed.

[SenorSpur]

Great writeup! Couldn't agree more with the grades - especially as they pertain to both Splitter and Bonner.

Tiago was beyond soft. He was directly responsible for several of the additional offensive rebounds the Warriors got because he fails seek out an opposing body and box their ass out. For a bigman, this fundamental should be as natural brushing one's teeth in the morning.

As for Bonner, there isn't much else to add. When a big man with a torn hip-flexor is kicking your ass all over the court, in a very short span, then you know you're a wus. I agree that he shouldn't see the court anymore this series. I wish Pop would call Baynes' number. With his willingness to bang and be aggressive, at least, he would help the Spurs limit the Warriors to one shot.

I'd be remiss not to mention the absolute scorchng performance by Parker.