Game Thoughts: Spurs vs. Timberwolves Dec. 23

[timvp]

Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the San Antonio Spurs were hoping for an easy victory against a team that had lost 12 straight games. While the Spurs were able to get the win, the T’Wolves made it a tougher than expected contest. It took almost the entire 48 minutes to end Minnesota’s hope.

With the Spurs up by five points with five and a half minutes to go in the game, Tony Parker took over. He scored eight of the final ten points and tallied an assist on the other basket as he lead San Antonio down the stretch in their 99-93 victory.

The star for the T’Wolves against the Spurs was once again Al Jefferson. With either Tim Duncan or Kurt Thomas on him all night, he displayed an ever-growing repertoire of post moves. He scored 28 points on Tuesday night and is averaging 29 points per game against the Spurs so far this year in three meetings.

While this game wasn’t as easy as the Spurs would have preferred, it was still a decent enough performance. They responded well to Minnesota’s energy and made plays when needed. Considering it was the second night of a back-to-back, the Spurs did a good job of not letting fatigue be an issue.

Tim Duncan

34 minutes, 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, four blocks, two steals
9-for-20 from the field, 1-for-1 at the line

Tim Duncan didn’t have a very good game. He stuffed the stat sheet but his performance on the court left a lot to be desired. His defense, specifically, wasn’t very good at all. He let Jefferson torture him with ball fakes and lost that one-on-one matchup more often than not. His help defense was also usually late to arrive. Offensively he was better but his lack of physicality on that end of the court led to 20 field goal attempts and only one free throw. He did do a fine job of passing the ball and only having one turnover in this herky-jerky affair.
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Manu Ginobili

20 minutes, eight points, two assists, three turnovers
2-for-7 from the field, 1-for-3 on three-pointers, 3-for-4 at the line

Manu Ginobili actually didn’t play that poorly, despite what his stats may suggest. On defense, he was very active and his double-teaming was extremely aggressive. He missed a few easy shots offensively but I like the fact that he attacked the rim more than usual. His only real negative aspect was his offensive decision-making, as he had three turnovers in only 20 minutes. All that said, the big story on the night was Ginobili’s health. He wasn’t moving all that well and could be seen grabbing at his surgically repaired ankle in the fourth quarter. During the game he seemed to be limping a little bit and also had trouble stopping when moving at full speed. Hopefully this was just a step in the recovery process but it was scary to watch.
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Tony Parker

36 minutes, 36 points, eight assists, four rebounds, three turnovers
13-for-17 from the field, 10-for-12 at the line

Since coming back from his ankle injury, Tony Parker has been horrible in the second night of back-to-back sets. Against the T’Wolves, it is safe to say that he wasn’t horrible. Offensively, he sliced Minnesota’s defense and created a number of easy shots for himself and his teammates. Parker also drained 6-of-8 jumpers from the perimeter. On defense, Parker was equally as active and applied pressure on that end for most of the night. Since his forgettable game against the Magic, Parker is averaging 26 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds while shooting 60.4% from the field and 87.5% from the line.
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Michael Finley

30 minutes, 13 points, six rebounds
4-for-9 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers, 4-for-5 at the line

Michael Finley had a streaky game. After hitting his first four shots from the field, he misfired on his final five attempts. The good news is that he helped out by pulling down six rebounds and getting to the charity stripe five times. His trips to the line were surprising, especially considering that he had gotten to the line just two times in his last 13 games – a span of 341 minutes. It should also be noted that Finley’s shooting percentage fading near the end of the game is nothing new. In fourth quarters this season, he’s averaging 2.4 points and shooting 41.7% from the field despite playing more minutes in the final period than any quarter other than the first. Both in terms of scoring a shooting, Finley has been worst in the final stanza so far this season.
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Matt Bonner

25 minutes, two points, three rebounds
1-for-2 from the field, 0-for-1 on three-pointers

Matt Bonner had by far his most invisible game since being inserted into the starting lineup. On offense, he shot only twice in 25 minutes. Defensively, Bonner was slow rotating to protect the rim and had only two defensive rebounds. Overall, he seemed to be lacking energy on both ends. While it’s acceptable for Bonner to have a game in which his energy is lower than usual, his rebounding is beginning to be worrisome. In his last four games, he’s averaging just 5.3 rebounds per 40 minutes – a number totally unacceptable for a starting bigman. On the season, he’s actually rebounding less per minute than he did in his first two years in San Antonio. If he wants to hold onto the starting center gig, he needs to hit the boards more consistently.
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Roger Mason, Jr.

32 minutes, 12 points, two rebounds
5-for-10 from the field, 2-for-5 on three-pointers

On offense, Roger Mason, Jr. had a solid outing. He helped space the floor and knocked down shots when the T’Wolves rotated off of him. Defense, however, was a different story. Pop twice called timeouts due to defensive mistakes by Mason – who was mostly responsible for the 26 points Randy Foye scored. The good news is that Pop kept sending Mason back onto the court, which allowed him to play the most minutes he’s seen since Nov. 28 against the Grizzlies.
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Bruce Bowen

21 minutes, three points, three rebounds
1-for-4 from the field, 1-for-2 on three-pointers

Bruce Bowen spent a lot of his time on the court trying to slow down Foye. He also was matched up against Rashad McCants and took him completely out of the game. Bowen on offense had only his third sub-50% shooting game of the month. A funny note is that Bowen has had five consecutive games in which he’s shot 1-for-2 from three-point range.
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Kurt Thomas

14 minutes, four points, one rebound
2-for-4 from the field

After a pair of very good games, Kurt Thomas laid an egg against Minnesota. His defense on the low block was poor and his team defense was nothing to write home about. Thomas also only grabbed one rebound in 14 minutes – easily his worst rebounding game of December. The good news is that he was a positive factor on the offensive end and blocked a shot for the fifth consecutive contest.
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George Hill

12 minutes, two points, three assists, two rebounds
1-for-4 from the field, 0-for-2 at the line

George Hill played his best basketball of the night on the defensive side of the court. His one-on-one defense was good and he made a number of very good rotations – including one that led to a blocked shot against T’Wolves rookie bigman Kevin Love. On the offensive end, Hill was aggressive but he didn’t get much done. In his last five contests, Hill is 6-for-19 from the field and is averaging just 4.2 points per game in that span.
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Anthony Tolliver

11 minutes, one rebound
0-for-1 from the field

With Bonner and Thomas not helping much on the defensive end, Pop turned to Anthony Tolliver for some energy. Tolliver actually played well on defense and was easily the most active bigman in terms of help defense. On offense, Tolliver was quiet - which isn’t a trait we don't see too often out of him. Tolliver at the very least typically jacks up a few misses from three-point land when given minutes.
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Ime Udoka

four minutes

The only thing Ime Udoka did in his four minutes of action was tally a single personal foul. Pop gave him his minutes in the first half but Udoka didn’t take much advantage. Instead, the Spurs were outscored by five points with him on the court.
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Gregg Popovich


I thought Pop did a good job with his rotations. He limited the minutes of the Big Three as best he could in a somewhat close game. Giving Mason extended minutes was a good decision – as was going with Tolliver when the Spurs needed an energy boost. I didn’t agree with Pop calling fourth quarter plays for Finley and it seems like the Udoka cameos only have negative results as of late.
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Offense

The offense good – especially in the first and third quarters. For the game, the Spurs shot 48.7% from the field, connected on 5-of-13 three-pointers and got to the line 24 times. The 19 assists were a solid number, especially when compared to the eight turnovers. Over the last 17 games, the Spurs have scored more than 95 points in each of their 13 wins. In their four losses, they’ve scored 84 or fewer points.

Defense

The Spurs had success defensively when they forced Minnesota to play halfcourt offense and when they kept the ball away from Jefferson. The transition defense on the whole was poor, allowing the T’Wolves to score 23 fast break points. The Spurs also allowed the T’Wolves to get to the line 32 times – a lot of which were created by Jefferson in the low block. Overall, the rest of the stats actually look pretty good. Minnesota shot 42.7% from the field and hit just 4-of-15 three-pointers. The rebounding was a bit disappointing, with the T’Wolves holding a 38-35 advantage.

Drive to Five

Sweeping the home and home back-to-back was a decent accomplishment. However, the Christmas game against the Phoenix Suns is where all eyes will now be focused. The Spurs have lost their last two games against quality opponents and they also dropped the season opener to the Suns. A win on Christmas will help the confidence of the Spurs and would leave the players, coaches and fans of the Suns feeling depressed.

Time to grinch.

Believe.

[YODA]

Always a good read...

Ive noticed Tims D a little too...Seems a bit lazy, or maybe he just pacing himself for the seaon. Some games, he tends to take alot more shots from outside with few drives. I still think he is just pacing himself for later...I hope...

Bonner, as you said , was slow rotating, but to me, he always seems slow rotating, but im not a bonner guy. His outside shooting does help take away him D inside on the other end, but on D, we need rebounding and good help D. Thats what will help come playoff time. I worry if we do any real damage with him as a key point on D. I just worry alot about Bonner. versus some weak teams with no front line, I think he works great, but versus quality big men??,,,,sheesh

One note on Mason or Hill, Id like to see either have a few games where they gets 20+ points. I think that would be great for their confidence and great to know we have other weapons who can get hot. Kinda hoping they would force feed them some games. We all know they can do it, but with Manu and tony back, I kinda think they not quite as aggressive or confident as when they played prior to them coming back.

[team-work]

Thanks for the recap, especially for the sacrificing of Christmas time to write it.

Merry Christmas to all on the forum!

[SpursFanFirst]

I didn't even realize a game was being played Tuesday night.

Thanks for the recap, Timvp, and Merry Christmas to you and Kori.

[Spurs Brazil]

Ime Udoka

four minutes

The only thing Ime Udoka did in his four minutes of action was tally a single personal foul. Pop gave him his minutes in the first half but Udoka didn’t take much advantage. Instead, the Spurs were outscored by five points with him on the court.

Great read timvp

Ime play 5-8 minutes and his +/- stats are awful. Do you have any explanation why Ime is playing so bad?

I thought he'd be better this season. Now he knows the system the defense but he's worst in every aspect of the game.

[Flux451]

THanks for the effort and read!

Yeah, Ime looks like he isn't having any fun with his minutes. Always looks pissed on and off bench. I know he is usually deadpan, but not like this.

I have always looked at him, in the Spurs system, as a distinctive component that can only work a certain way. Right now they are a different team then last year and he doesn't really fit in. It looks like he is having to create his own shot more this year too. I don't even really see a need for him. I bet he gets traded in Feb.

I sure liked the guy though. If he could only improve his game right away.

One thing that scared me about this game was the fact that we looked like a good team out there but we couldn't put this team away. When we are playing decent we should be able to put sub par teams away early. I know it is DEc, but I hope the winter looks better for us.

[ducks]

Since his forgettable game against the Magic, Parker is averaging 26 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds while shooting 60.4% from the field and 87.5% from the line.