Spurs vs. Nuggets Game 3 - Grades

[SPARKY]

Tony Parker
Parker is having an odd playoff series. I thought he played poorly for large stretches tonight, but he'd respond with some important possessions. He started off the fourth quarter missing his first three shots, but responded with three huge baskets down the stretch. He also deserves props for playing very good defense on Iverson -- even though AI was hitting tough shots. When Duncan and Manu wore down in the fourth, Parker keeping his energy level up was also key. But really, Parker hasn't played as well as he could so far. He can play a lot better ... which I guess is a good sign for the Spurs. Through it all, he led the Spurs in scoring, had only one turnover and is the Spurs' leading scorer on the series.
Grade: C

I was feeling more like a B/B- for TP tonight. He definitely played better than in the first two games.

[kris]

Aaron Stampler, do you realize all you do is find stuff do disagree about?

Worst part about it is you're completely missing the boat.

And Whott - Tony did play good D, but saying AI only got hot in stretches isn't really a big statement. He usually doesn't stay hot the whole game.

[kris]

Pop
Very nicely coached game tonight by Pop. I thought the rotations were right on the money. He kept Ginobili and Horry fresh, playing them a combined 60 minutes even though they were both playing so well. Oh and perhaps Pop was right by limiting Duncan's minutes in Game 2 because at the end of this game, Duncan looked drained after playing 40 minutes. Giving Parker more time on AI seemed to help keep AI from going totally off. He also ran much more 4-Down in the fourth quarter instead of motion, which was something I've been asking for. Running everything through Duncan on the block or isolating Parker and Ginobili is the way to go against Denver because it lessens the defensive impact of Camby. Great adjustments on both ends of the court.
Grade: A

Did you remember to factor in Duncan was in Denver this game? 40 in SA and 40 in Denver are not the same.

Pop gets a B just because I don't like him.

[J.T.]

Tim looked tired after 40 minutes but they needed his defense. Once Denver looked like they were going to threaten the lead, Pop yanked his ass off the bench. Props to the Spurs for also shooting 93% on freethrows, even if Manu took damn near all of them.

[J.T.]

Did you remember to factor in Duncan was in Denver this game? 40 in SA and 40 in Denver are not the same.

Pop gets a B just because I don't like him.

Duncan said in the press conference that after the first few minutes, the al ude really didn't bother him. Take that for whatever you think it's worth, but 40 minutes is a long time when he's been averaging 30 all season. They needed his defense, that's why he played more minutes and it ended up being a smart move. If they can protect their leads more in Game 4, Duncan can get more benchtime.

[Kevin Blackistone]

Subtract defense.


Intelligent.



Shocking

I don't think that was a fair statement. His (aaronstampler) analysis was pretty fair IMO, and although I disagree that Manu looked as aggressive in game 2 as 3 I think his analysis was credible without any "hater" elements to it.

I feel TP scored a B at least due to his defense making Iverson work hard as for everything, and I felt Elson's score should have been a C at best due to his defensive shortcomings, i.e. losing his man under the basket for a couple of easy dunks. A few nice rebounds keep Elson from the D range.

MVP's of the series thus far - Finley and Horry. Without those two taking up the slack this series might be 2-1 Denver or 3-0 Denver.

[WalterBenitez]

Parker was hard to grade. For stretches he was the worst player on the court, but for other stretches he was the best player on the court. His shots in the fourth were huge and his defense was outstanding in stretches. I'll probably watch the game again and see if it should be adjusted, but for now I'll stick with the C.

I do agree, Tony made mistakes or lost the tempo in some plays, but at the next he decided well, many ups and lows; at the end he was the top scorer, fast enough to be caught and real weapon.

I think that's Tony's characteristic he's in that way ... enjoyable when he's on.

Besides Tony, those old boys we have played well those 3s raining where great!, Tim in particular made those FT that usually (you have to accept that) miss.

For me was a good game, I always trend to think that Nuggets lots their head as Karl lost his hair and starts to make hard fouls, not cutting the play, I don't know, but I think that 4-1 is possible

[Obstructed_View]

I felt Elson's score should have been a C at best due to his defensive shortcomings, i.e. losing his man under the basket for a couple of easy dunks. A few nice rebounds keep Elson from the D range.

Considering that he only lost his man once for one dunk (the other time he lost Camby they flubbed the lob), got called for a BS illegal pick for his one turnover and got 4 points, 3 boards, a GREAT block on AI and drew a charge in only 12 minutes, I'm not sure what you expect him to do to earn a B.

[Shelly]

Pop even had that 'sporty' look going on last night.

[thousandth]

Elson: C. Good grade for him, but still making the bone-headed fouls and not playing smart ball. Oh well, he didn't -hurt- us tonight at least.

Elson had cold heart last night.
I like more Horry and Oberto in this series.

[Rick Von Braun]

I have issues with a few of these.


Tim Duncan
Duncan didn't have his greatest game of all-time, but I thought he gave a very good effort. He was dead tired in the fourth quarter and instead of slowing down, he kept doing as much as he could. His determination and will to win were off the charts tonight. Again, didn't play overly great, but I'll take that type of effort every night.
Grade: B+

I'd give Tim a B-, at best. I think he had a poor shooting night, left a lot of shots short and his good work on the offensive boards inflates his rebounding number when really he was pretty weak on the defensive glass, which is more important. I think overall he was more of a defensive force in Game 2, and he had 0 turnovers that night as opposed to three today.


Manu Ginobili
This is the Manu I've been waiting for. He didn't have a fantastic night shooting the basketball, but Manu was Manu tonight. When he's attacking the basket, getting to the free throw line and creating for himself and others, the Spurs are damn hard to beat. If he can bottle up what he did tonight, the Spurs are going to be alright. He had a couple of defensive lapses and forced a few passes, but he more than made up for it with his overall aggressiveness. It was night and day from the first two games to this series.
Grade: A-

See this I don't get. His statline really wasn't all that different from Game 2. His aggressiveness going to the rim in the first half today was no different then the second half last time. I think the main difference is in Game 2 the Nuggets let him finish off some lay-ups and today they decided, " that, we're foulin' his ass." I was a bit disappointed Manu wore down in the 4th and we were lucky that Tony and Horry hit some shots late. I think it's a bit overdramatic to go from giving him a "C" in game 2 to an "A-" in Game 3 when really he didn't play that differently overall. I'd have gone maybe a "B-" at worst in Game 2, and a "B+" at best here.


Tony Parker
Parker is having an odd playoff series. I thought he played poorly for large stretches tonight, but he'd respond with some important possessions. He started off the fourth quarter missing his first three shots, but responded with three huge baskets down the stretch. He also deserves props for playing very good defense on Iverson -- even though AI was hitting tough shots. When Duncan and Manu wore down in the fourth, Parker keeping his energy level up was also key. But really, Parker hasn't played as well as he could so far. He can play a lot better ... which I guess is a good sign for the Spurs. Through it all, he led the Spurs in scoring, had only one turnover and is the Spurs' leading scorer on the series.
Grade: C

This, I think, was harsh. Yeah, he took maybe five or six shots I wish he hadn't, but besides that I think Tony played his best game of the series. He really stepped up for us big time in the 4th and I'm one of those people that weighs the 2nd half more than the 1st. Dude only had the one turnover this time, so that was an improvement. My only concern here is again, for whatever reason, Manu and Tony can't seem to play well simultaneously. The better one plays, the worse the other plays, and it's been like this two straight games now. I'd have given Tony a "B".

Bruce Bowen
Bowen wasn't having too good of a game on either end of the court, but I liked that he kept at it. He wasn't backing down even though he wasn't having near the defensive game he had in Game 2. The Nuggets obviously had the game plan that they'd be physical with Bowen and push him coming off screens and when they had the ball. The refs weren't calling the fouls, so it negated a lot of his defense. But instead of giving up or complaining too much, he kept fighting.
Grade: C-

I think C- might be a bit too generous here. I agree, it's almost cruel asking him to constantly shuttle back and forth between the 2nd and 3rd highest scorers in the league, but IMO, he struggled mightily tonight and the ol' +/- numbers weren't very kind to him... I'd go with a "D".


Francisco Elson
Hey, not bad by the big Dutchman. Didn't play overly well, but at least didn't hurt the Spurs too much. In this matchup, that's about the most you can ask. Decent production, hit his first two shots of the series and stayed within himself. He's a placeholder for Horry and Oberto at this point, but at least today he held his place and didn't hurt the Spurs in his minutes.
Grade: B

Well, if you want to get technical about it, he hurt us a lot more in Game 3 (-7) than Game 2 (+1) in about the same number of minutes. He hit a couple of pretty jumpers today, but I don't think he had much of an interior presence defensively. "C-."

Michael Finley
Finley is having a monster playoff run so far. Not only is he knocking down shots, he's playing the best defense of his life. Without his overall confidence out there, the Spurs would be in trouble. He's rebounding now after getting none in Game 1 and is playing about as smart as I've ever seen him play. Can't really complain about anything he's doing out there.
Grade: A-

Like Duncan, I think Finley was overall a bit better in Game 2. He had a couple of painful sequences where he held the ball, and held it some more, and then some more, and then cast an ugly no-chance fadeaway. He wasn't alone by any means. Tim, Manu, Tony, even Robert all launched a few no chance prayers. I just think Robert was a bit of a ball stopper in some stretches. Either catch and shoot or catch and pass. "B+"


Brent Barry
Barry had a nice steal in his five minutes. He never really got an open look but his defense was pretty solid. This isn't the series for him, but it's good that he's not a liability in his few minutes on the court.
Grade: B

I think "Inc." would be more appropriate here. Five minutes isn't enough to do anything. I'd like to see him play more and possibly take advantage of one of Denver's crappy wing players on defense. In a perfect world Pop would've played both Fin and Bruce five minutes less and Brent ten minutes more.


Fabricio Oberto
Didn't quite have a Game 2 like performance, but I thought he was good. His post defense was very good and continues to play smart, winning basketball. He didn't have much of an impact on the stat sheet, but he was solid and contributed to the win.
Grade: B

I think you have to hold him somewhat accountable for not getting a single defensive rebound in 10 minutes. Najera, Neno and Melo all got offensive boards on his watch. "C".

Robert Horry
What can you say about this guy? He looks like the worst player in the league during the regular season and then comes out and might have been the best player on the court. His basketball IQ is so off the charts it's scary. Amazing game for Horry, with too many big plays to even begin to mention them. Hopefully he can keep this up.
Grade: A+

No arguments here, he was our best player tonight. Coulda used play like this last year against Dallas.


Jacque Vaughn
Vaughn did a better job of not shooting today. In the first two games, I thought he looked for his shot too much. This game he finished with zero field goal attempts. That's about the right amount of shots you want him taking. Defensively he wasn't great, but did a pretty good job. As long as he can come in and run the show for a few minutes while playing rugged defense, that should be enough.
Grade: B-

This was by far my favorite paragraph of your whole post. Very funny. Mainly what I like about Jacque Vaughn is when he's in there he usually just passes it to Manu and gets the out of the way. When he's out there sans Manu, that's a very, very bad idea, as we discovered in the 4th quarter. Really, neither Tony nor Tim should ever be put in the position of playing "naked" (without one of the other big two) ever again because neither has had much experience with it during the year. Manu is the only one who's been asked to do it on a daily basis so he's more comfortable with it. Seeing Tim by himself was just ing weird.


Pop
Very nicely coached game tonight by Pop. I thought the rotations were right on the money. He kept Ginobili and Horry fresh, playing them a combined 60 minutes even though they were both playing so well. Oh and perhaps Pop was right by limiting Duncan's minutes in Game 2 because at the end of this game, Duncan looked drained after playing 40 minutes. Giving Parker more time on AI seemed to help keep AI from going totally off. He also ran much more 4-Down in the fourth quarter instead of motion, which was something I've been asking for. Running everything through Duncan on the block or isolating Parker and Ginobili is the way to go against Denver because it lessens the defensive impact of Camby. Great adjustments on both ends of the court.
Grade: A

I'm afraid I can't quite go that high for Pop. He should have played Brent more (as a team we haven't had a minus sequence this series with Barry out there) and Bowen less when he was struggling out there. I also think he let Tony get a bit too carried away shooting the ball and could have pulled those reins a bit. As a team we probably took 15 ugly, no chance out of rhythm shots between Tim-Horry-Manu-Tony-Finley and that's at least 8 too many. He might have stressed ball movement more. Defensively I think we could have mixed it up better, thrown up the occasional double on Melo, and packed the lane better. Gave up too many dunks and easy put backs. I'd go with a "B" for Pop.

Good commentary by both timvp and aaron. I think I am leaning towards aaronstampler grades and opinions.

[florige]

Tim Duncan
Duncan didn't have his greatest game of all-time, but I thought he gave a very good effort. He was dead tired in the fourth quarter and instead of slowing down, he kept doing as much as he could. His determination and will to win were off the charts tonight. Again, didn't play overly great, but I'll take that type of effort every night.
Grade: B+


Manu Ginobili
This is the Manu I've been waiting for. He didn't have a fantastic night shooting the basketball, but Manu was Manu tonight. When he's attacking the basket, getting to the free throw line and creating for himself and others, the Spurs are damn hard to beat. If he can bottle up what he did tonight, the Spurs are going to be alright. He had a couple of defensive lapses and forced a few passes, but he more than made up for it with his overall aggressiveness. It was night and day from the first two games to this series.
Grade: A-


Tony Parker
Parker is having an odd playoff series. I thought he played poorly for large stretches tonight, but he'd respond with some important possessions. He started off the fourth quarter missing his first three shots, but responded with three huge baskets down the stretch. He also deserves props for playing very good defense on Iverson -- even though AI was hitting tough shots. When Duncan and Manu wore down in the fourth, Parker keeping his energy level up was also key. But really, Parker hasn't played as well as he could so far. He can play a lot better ... which I guess is a good sign for the Spurs. Through it all, he led the Spurs in scoring, had only one turnover and is the Spurs' leading scorer on the series.
Grade: C


Bruce Bowen
Bowen wasn't having too good of a game on either end of the court, but I liked that he kept at it. He wasn't backing down even though he wasn't having near the defensive game he had in Game 2. The Nuggets obviously had the game plan that they'd be physical with Bowen and push him coming off screens and when they had the ball. The refs weren't calling the fouls, so it negated a lot of his defense. But instead of giving up or complaining too much, he kept fighting.
Grade: C-


Francisco Elson
Hey, not bad by the big Dutchman. Didn't play overly well, but at least didn't hurt the Spurs too much. In this matchup, that's about the most you can ask. Decent production, hit his first two shots of the series and stayed within himself. He's a placeholder for Horry and Oberto at this point, but at least today he held his place and didn't hurt the Spurs in his minutes.
Grade: B


Michael Finley
Finley is having a monster playoff run so far. Not only is he knocking down shots, he's playing the best defense of his life. Without his overall confidence out there, the Spurs would be in trouble. He's rebounding now after getting none in Game 1 and is playing about as smart as I've ever seen him play. Can't really complain about anything he's doing out there.
Grade: A-


Brent Barry
Barry had a nice steal in his five minutes. He never really got an open look but his defense was pretty solid. This isn't the series for him, but it's good that he's not a liability in his few minutes on the court.
Grade: B


Fabricio Oberto
Didn't quite have a Game 2 like performance, but I thought he was good. His post defense was very good and continues to play smart, winning basketball. He didn't have much of an impact on the stat sheet, but he was solid and contributed to the win.
Grade: B


Robert Horry
What can you say about this guy? He looks like the worst player in the league during the regular season and then comes out and might have been the best player on the court. His basketball IQ is so off the charts it's scary. Amazing game for Horry, with too many big plays to even begin to mention them. Hopefully he can keep this up.
Grade: A+


Jacque Vaughn
Vaughn did a better job of not shooting today. In the first two games, I thought he looked for his shot too much. This game he finished with zero field goal attempts. That's about the right amount of shots you want him taking. Defensively he wasn't great, but did a pretty good job. As long as he can come in and run the show for a few minutes while playing rugged defense, that should be enough.
Grade: B-


Pop
Very nicely coached game tonight by Pop. I thought the rotations were right on the money. He kept Ginobili and Horry fresh, playing them a combined 60 minutes even though they were both playing so well. Oh and perhaps Pop was right by limiting Duncan's minutes in Game 2 because at the end of this game, Duncan looked drained after playing 40 minutes. Giving Parker more time on AI seemed to help keep AI from going totally off. He also ran much more 4-Down in the fourth quarter instead of motion, which was something I've been asking for. Running everything through Duncan on the block or isolating Parker and Ginobili is the way to go against Denver because it lessens the defensive impact of Camby. Great adjustments on both ends of the court.
Grade: A

MAN!! Somebody give this guy (or Gal) a job a the San Antonio newspaper! Not sure what you guys newspaper is.

[DarrinS]

Tim Duncan -- 5 blocks. Bump his grade up to A-.



Our old-timers are kicking ass. Mad props to Fin dawg and Horry.

[Cry Havoc]

Guys, when you respond you don't have to quote Timvp. It takes an obscene amount of space up on the page.

[wildbill2u]

I think the individual grades are open to questions because people grade on different scales and look for different things.

But what about the team grade. This is a team sport. I give them a B+/A-. The team didn't play a great game but they played within their team concept and strategy in a road game at high al ude. A very good effort that produced a win.

[2centsworth]

My question is Tony suppossed to shoot as much as he does?

[T Park]

Hes encouraged to yes when hes open.

hes also shown that when he scores more, this team wins.

As proven last night.

[timvp]

My question is Tony suppossed to shoot as much as he does?

When he's being guarded by Carmelo Anthony, it doesn't make much sense for him to pass the ball.

[2centsworth]

Then I think Tony played the game Pop wanted him to play, so he can't be graded that low.

[gilmor]

Tony will get better as years go on.. While Tim and Manu have already reached their peak.. Tony's A game will be so much bigger in the future.. Believe it..

[Cry Havoc]

I think Parker is evolving into a nice combo shoot-pass guard. He still looks for the shot first, but his passing is getting a little better. He's so good on the first-step dribble that he really hasn't felt the need to develop his game until now, but it's getting there.

The reason I give Parker a "B": If he plays D on Iverson like he did in Game 3, we win this series in 5, no questions asked.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

When he's being guarded by Carmelo Anthony, it doesn't make much sense for him to pass the ball.

Tim basically said in the postgame, that he was surprised at that stupid coaching move....

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

I think Parker is evolving into a nice combo shoot-pass guard. He still looks for the shot first, but his passing is getting a little better. He's so good on the first-step dribble that he really hasn't felt the need to develop his game until now, but it's getting there.

The reason I give Parker a "B": If he plays D on Iverson like he did in Game 3, we win this series in 5, no questions asked.

I agree his D was much improved from that horrible game 1 defense (where both he and Timmy were just playing follow the leader to the basket ) . He was terrible there.

He finally adjusted, I noticed and stayed on him.

[aaronstampler]

Hes encouraged to yes when hes open.

hes also shown that when he scores more, this team wins.

As proven last night.

So when he scores 19 it = a 6 point loss but when he scores 21 it = a 6 point win?

Funny math there, TPark.


I don't think scoring 21 points on 23 shots is something to celebrate or be proud of. We're not winning these games because Tony's improved any offensively between the 1st game and now...


It's the defense, stupid. He's playing better defense.

[timvp]

The Spurs improved to 9-0 all-time in the playoffs when Manu Ginobili attempts at least ten free throws and dishes out at least five assists. As I said, when Manu is playing that aggressive yet smart style of basketball, the Spurs are pretty damn hard to beat.

The Spurs also improved to 13-1 all-time in the playoffs when Tony Parker makes at least ten field goals. The Spurs are simply tough to beat when Parker is in attack mode and is shooting a lot.

Game 3 was almost a perfect illustration of the Spurs All-Star guards at their best in terms of what it takes for the Spurs to win playoff games.