Quick Grades: Spurs at Suns - Nov. 3

[ezau]

The Spurs make-up is transforming from the Big 3 to the fab five of TD, Tony , manu, rj and splitter. If we have any chance of winning another le it's got to come from those 5 guys collectively , we can no longer rely on TD to be a dominant plyer. Our receipe for success will look more like Detriots 5 le team of Billups , hamilton, prince, sheed and big ben

Wow, never thought of the comparison with that Pistons team before. Very good point though

[TMTTRIO]

I wouldn't even give Manu that. So far this season he has been very careless with the ball and bad on defense.

[Brazil]

I am a little worried about TPs offense. His shot looks OFF--when he's willing to even take it--and as a result he has been overdribbling at times to try to get nearer to the basket when the opportunity really isn't there.

His defense was great, but there are simply too many pg's in this league that he won't be able to contain (Paul being one) and he's going to have to offset that.

I'm not worried by TP Offense, he is still right there continuing the 1/2 stat.

In fact I'm very happy with the way he handles this game. He had some trouble with his shoot as a consequence he took only 11 of them letting the hot hand (RJ) shinning and he focused on distributing the ball and chasing Nash on D. His D on the second half was his PO D, I was not used to see that at the beginning of the season. I think he realized Nash was not in a good day and he didn't want to give him a chance to heating up.

For the rest, the big 3 seems to be healthy which is the most important, RJ so far is above expectation and Tiago is going to be key for this team.

[romain.star]

Wow, never thought of the comparison with that Pistons team before. Very good point though

On the paper, it could be kind of similar but IMHO, the mid 00s Pistons' defense was... much, much better and despite Tiago's arrival, I don't think the Spurs can reach that level for an entire post-season

[SenorSpur]

Regarding RJ's performance last night, Buck Harvey asked a great question - something I thought of during the latter 4th quarter. Why didn't RJ's teammates keep feeding him after he hit the first 3 shots? It seemed like they unconsciously drifted back into finding their own offense and forgot that RJ was on a tear.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-a-heat-check/

[Solid D]

Who would have thought that the Spurs could miss 10 FTs, commit 23 TOs, allow 110 points to be scored and still win the game?

The Suns are a tricky team. Perimeter length and quickness. Dragic runnnig the screen/roll more like his mentor, Steve Nash, every day. Bringing help from the corners to the middle on the Spurs screen/rolls. They just lack an interior threat. Warrick has been doing his best this season to be a Stoudemire replacements. He's done a decent job, there.

The difference in this win was RJ and Timmy. Fortunately, Manu resisted temptation to hoist threes from the top. RJ's stroke is pure. He's shooting 66% from the floor so far this season, 53% from the arc. The Spurs had a strong enough will to finish well.

Kudos:
To Parker for his effort to keep engaged with Nash. It's tough to do.
To Anderson for the little things he did. The steal, a couple of good skip passes that were needed with Suns defense. A timely three. Closing-out to his man.
To Splitter for his savvy play in the post and defending the Suns screen/roll offense. He sold a couple of charges - something that McDyess wasn't willing to do last night. For going to the floor to dig-out a 4th quarter turnover.

[mingus]

Well said, tp didnt have that bad of a game 4-11fg, 3-4 ft, 3 boards, 6 assists, played his ass of on d, and had a +10.

With the the advantage pgs have in the league today, he contributed well enough. The win was a team effort. You cant have 20 and 9 every game.

no . but RJ isn't going to have 28 points a game either. Duncan probably isn't going to score 25 every game.

they're giving Parker the open 15-footer and he either isn't taking it or isn't looking for the shot. just saying Parker from 05-08 was shooting that with more confidence and i'd like to see him have th same confidence in it.

[Xylus]

I really wish Jefferson hadn't hit 4 straight threes from the exact same spot, because I really wanted people to talk about Goran Dragic and how he was just butt ing his defenders.

Good game, though. Practically a tie game from start to finish. Great defensive finish by the Spurs.

[EricB]

8 points is a butt ing?

If thats the case WTF did Jefferson do?

[z0sa]

no . but RJ isn't going to have 28 points a game either. Duncan probably isn't going to score 25 every game.

they're giving Parker the open 15-footer and he either isn't taking it or isn't looking for the shot. just saying Parker from 05-08 was shooting that with more confidence and i'd like to see him have th same confidence in it.

Remember in the 07 finals when Parker was banging in 3's? Remember how he was going to start shooting three's in 08?

He doesn't even shoot the midrange jumper often enough, imo. He never even looks for 3's. It is what it is, I suppose. The longer Parker goes without shooting them, the more it seems he is never going to be a great shooter despite all the work he's put in.

[Xylus]

8 points is a butt ing?

If thats the case WTF did Jefferson do?

Dude had 8 assists in 16 minutes, and that was where he did his damage. I read somewhere that the Dragic-led offense was 18 of 28 from the field, while the Nash-led offense was 24 of 64.

[Cessation]

no . but RJ isn't going to have 28 points a game either. Duncan probably isn't going to score 25 every game.

they're giving Parker the open 15-footer and he either isn't taking it or isn't looking for the shot. just saying Parker from 05-08 was shooting that with more confidence and i'd like to see him have th same confidence in it.

I've see all the games this year, and i gotta disagree, parkers confidence in his jumper is fine. He picked his spots and made open jumpers. I think with the scorers this team has taking a 17 footer isnt the best choice, he can do that anytime.

It looks like pop, first of all, wants him to penetrate and take the higher percentage shot inside or kick it out. Also there's a chance to get fouled and get opposing teams bigs in foul trouble, which is much better than taking jumpers, wouldnt you agree?

[CubanMustGo]

Matt Bonner A++++

[Bruno]

During years, there have been talks that Stoudamire was a product of Nash.

This start of the season shows that it wasn't the case and that the one who suffer the most of their split is maybe Nash.

[admiralsnackbar]

I'm not worried by TP Offense, he is still right there continuing the 1/2 stat.

In fact I'm very happy with the way he handles this game. He had some trouble with his shoot as a consequence he took only 11 of them letting the hot hand (RJ) shinning and he focused on distributing the ball and chasing Nash on D. His D on the second half was his PO D, I was not used to see that at the beginning of the season. I think he realized Nash was not in a good day and he didn't want to give him a chance to heating up.

For the rest, the big 3 seems to be healthy which is the most important, RJ so far is above expectation and Tiago is going to be key for this team.

I'd add that most of Tony's offensive problems last night are very likely the result of his hustling his ass off on D. Once he gets back in real game-shape, he'll have more energy to play both sides of the court.

As for why Temple was in over Neal towards the end, I think it probably had to do with Temple's height. Suns are fielding a pretty tall team, and having Temple in meant having somebody who could stay with Nash and potentially rotate to cover taller players. At that point in the game, the only thing that was going to win the game was D -- we had enough offensive weapons on the floor.

[Cessation]

Dude had 8 assists in 16 minutes, and that was where he did his damage. I read somewhere that the Dragic-led offense was 18 of 28 from the field, while the Nash-led offense was 24 of 64.

For sure it looke like dragic was better, every time he touched the ball it seemed hed penetrate or score.

I think the suns made this game tough because they were still riding the confidence they had from sweeping the spurs in playoffs. So next game will be easier for the spurs, I hope, lol.

[admiralsnackbar]

I think the suns made this game tough because they were still riding the confidence they had from sweeping the spurs in playoffs. So next game will be easier for the spurs, I hope, lol.

I hope so, but the Suns remain a match-up nightmare for us in a way a lot of teams won't be. I thought losing Stoudemire would make life a little easier, but it only did so marginally. Suns are really damn tall, and they have great shooters, and are even buying into playing D (save Nash, of course). Taller teams can contain them, but we'll probably continue to struggle against them.

[Spurs Brazil]

Tiago and Anderson were very good, nice to see rookies playing this well so early

TD was a great and RJ with a monster solid game again, props

[Blake]

Duncan 25 pts 17 reb 3 blk, shooting 11-13 FG= A-

team free throws: D+

Pop: nobody played more than 34 minutes, got decent minutes from rooks = A-