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Obligatory full-game highlight vid:
Overview:
Well, I had to go into work at 3a.m. to get off in time to watch this game. But if you looked at the first seven or so minutes of the game, you’d have thought that it was the Spurs who didn’t get any rest. It began a lot like the first Utah game where the Silver and Black were down big thanks to a combination of poor defense and hot shooting. I was praying that the bench would come in and trim the gap, but until Thomas went out for his first rest, there was no such luck.
Bertans’ defensive energy eventually started the shift that would bring the team from 14 down to eventually take the lead in the third. Once Kawhi and Danny got going on that end, it was pretty much game over for the Celtics, but they did their jobs on O anyway.
Here’s the box score:
Spurs
STARTERS MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS L. AldridgePF 32 4-12 0-0 2-4 3 1 4 4 0 1 0 2 +7 10 K. LeonardSF 35 8-18 3-7 6-6 2 8 10 4 0 2 2 1 -2 25 P. GasolC 17 0-5 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 2 0 1 2 1 -9 0 T. ParkerPG 24 3-7 0-0 1-1 0 2 2 4 1 0 2 2 +8 7 D. GreenSG 32 3-4 3-4 2-2 0 7 7 2 0 4 1 1 +7 11 BENCH MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS D. LeePF 18 6-9 0-0 3-3 7 5 12 3 0 0 2 0 +0 15 D. BertansSF 23 6-8 3-5 0-0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 +8 15 P. MillsPG 24 6-8 2-3 5-5 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 2 -2 19 M. GinobiliSG 22 0-6 0-4 3-4 1 1 2 2 0 0 2 2 +5 3 J. SimmonsSG 13 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 1 +8 4 TEAM 38-81 11-24 22-25 13 32 45 24 4 8 16 12 109 46.9% 45.8% 88.0%
Grades:
LaMarcus Aldridge – B-minus: This was a strange game for him. On one hand, he didn’t score efficiently, didn’t rebound well and only has one defensive stat. But his plus-seven was not anomalous. He competed well in the trenches, as his three offensive boards suggest. He made a couple of really smart passes and used his gravity to generate offense for others. And he had a couple of deflections that did not go down on the box score along with some GREAT perimeter defense toward the end. This is almost the LMA I want to see every game. Just a bit more scoring, especially in mismatches.
Kawhi Leonard – A-minus: The box-score stats are more than fine. 25/10/4 with two blocks ended up being great for my fantasy team. The grade got docked because 1) I hope Kawhi averages around this much and 2) He wasn’t great for stretches defensively. He had his moments, and that combined with his fourth-quarter surge is why this is higher than a B. All in all, this was a perfectly acceptable MVP-caliber outing.
Pau Gasol – C: I’m not nearly as annoyed with Gasol today as some Spurs fans may be. He didn’t score, which could have been a killer if not for Bertans. But I thought he played well enough. This just wasn’t his game, and I’m glad Pop recognized that. Pau sort of lost his cool, with Sean called “fire” but I thought was just sort of reckless. Hope Pau is ready for the Wizards tomorrow, because that main guys didn’t play usual B2B minutes.
Tony Parker – C-plus: As I said during my last grades thread, I lifted my standard on what a typical Parker performance would look like. So this gets a C+ despite redeeming qualities. He continues to know how to play defense, but he just isn’t physically able to do it all the time. He gave up two and-1s on nearly back-to-back possessions. He got lost on switches a couple of times. He certainly did some good things in the half-court, though. His scoring wasn’t horrible. But it’s disheartening to see some of his misses. Hope this is one of his worse games and not one of his better ones.
Danny Green – B-plus: It wasn’t great defensively, though it wasn’t as horrible as the scoring by the Celtics’ perimeter guys would suggest. He was at the center of a couple of miscommunication errors in the first half that led to open Boston players. He also got beat on a cut that interrupted good defense on Horford. But you don’t block (at least) four shots and not have some good D, and I had that. He and Kawhi were great once they went into LnL mode. The offense for Danny was great, obviously. Hope that continues, because the team is just on another level when they don’t have to choose between Danny’s D and another guard’s scoring.
Great time to have both members of Wingstop on my FBB team.
David Lee – A-minus: The statline is and A-plus for sure. You could tell the dude was motivated, and the way he attacked the boards was beyond impressive. So why is this an A-? Defense wasn’t great. There’s no way you can have that stat and mostly play with another big who had Bertans’ line and get up with just a zero plus-minus. Lee was caught in no man’s land too, not contesting at the rim and not running Jerebko and Olynik off the line. It was the glass-cannon performance we had assumed we’d see out of David a lot more.
Davis Bertans – A: Wasn’t I just saying he’s not above Prime Bonner yet? Well, he still isn’t, but if this kind of game ever becomes a B-level performance, then he will be by a good distance. He shot lights out and played great defenses for stretches. He only got docked because he needs to rebound better and contain better on the perimeter. He’s a four in the NBA, and Pop needs to get him physically ready to play that position. So Davis should bulk up unless they don’t think his knee can take it. You can keep this offensive game while adding the bulk to play the four against legit compe ion, and you have quite the player on your hands.
Patty Mills – B-plus: So Mills was great offensively and somewhat poor defensively outside of a fantastic effort to deflect as baseline pass during the comeback. He was physically overmatched against everyone but Thomas, but IT got him with quickness and moves. I didn’t think Patty was doing a lot wrong. He was just sort of ineffective. He’s not nearly as good at switching on bigger players as Parker is. Tempted to do A- due to the game-sealing shot. But he also forced that scenario by giving IT a three, so it is what it is.
Manu Ginobili – C-plus: I don’t want to say he was garbage. He was plus-five in large part because he was able to effectively be that fifth player in the Spurs’ small-ball lineup. Dude still competes defensively, and unless he’s forced on a great scorer, he’s not a liability there. But Manu has also never met a ball he couldn’t throw away. It was a mixed bag that as mostly not good. But he didn’t hurt the team too badly.
Jonathon Simmons – B-minus: I’m still being optimistic that this isn’t what Simmons is going to be like on an average game, but for having the smallest role out of the rotation players, this wasn’t a bad outing. His D on Bradley was aggressive, and his hard runs on the break opened up the floor for scores. He shot 50 percent and had two assists with only one TO (which he made up for with a steal of his own). When someone like Bertans and Mills is going off on the bench, the Spurs will be fine with “solid” Simmons.
Obligatory full-game highlight vid:
Thanks Chinook!!
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Thanks for the grades Chin, but how can Pau 0 points and -9 +/- get the same letter grade as Tony who was +8? Seems like giving Pau the benefit of the doubt while holding TP to a high standard.
Thanks Chinook. I missed most of the game so nice to read this.
C and C-plus are different grades. Anyway, Pau was relatively harmless in his minutes, I thought. It just wasn't his game. Tony was giving up And-1s and letting Bradley get open dunks. That hurt him. Definitely holding Tony to a higher standard, though, as I said in my paragraph about him.
Thanks for the write up, I hope you can continue doing these when you can for us out of town fans that don't get the Spurs on tv.
You're very welcome, but we have a whole group of volunteer writers (most of whom do a better job at this than I do) who've got your back. If for some reason you have the ability to watch a game and want to contribute a thread like this yourself, just let me know, and I'll get you on the schedule.
Just caught the condensed version.
I'm under the impression that the offense in general has been looking better, while the defense needs improvements. I hope this team continues going up. Love that Bertans is playing with energy, shooting without fear, and dunking.
10 minute highlights are perfect for these november non conference games.
Pau Was an F. So you dont score - which is your only ability? - then AT LEAST REBOUND.... dude is bad.
Thanks for the write-up my dude
The small lineup looked pretty good against the Celts.
Patty, Manu, Danny, Kawhi, Aldridge closing it out with major help from Lee and Bertans the last 1/3 of the game.
Missed the game, thanks Chinook!
Solid contribution from Fathead, too. Don't forget that.
Good write up!
i Rather have Davis Bertans as a backup SF to Kawhi
Thanks for the grades man
Too bad I missed the game. It seems like we have Boston's number for such a long time. I can't even remember last time they beat SA tbh. As far as I remember, I don't think SA lost against Boston with Leonard on the roster. Last L I remember was during the dark Jefferson era when Boston still had Doc, KG, Pierce and Allen.
thanks
Thanks for the grades OP.
Great job at the grades!!
Good call on LMAs passing. Hes better than I thought he was.
And IIRC, Parker missed 4 free throws in a row in the final minutes.
Bertrans will eventually be fine on D. He's athletic but doesn't have quick footwork so he needs to keep a little more space between him the the offensive player. I still thinks he adjusting to the speed of NBA players. He's over committing on close outs and hedges so guys are blowing right past him, but he'll figure it out.
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