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Too nice to Timmy.
Quick Grades: Spurs vs. Nuggets
Going into the fourth quarter, the nine-game Spurs winning streak appeared to be heading to an end. The Nuggets were getting into the lane at will and also knocking down their three-pointers. The fourth quarter, however, was a different story. San Antonio switched to a zone defense that totally flummoxed Denver. As a result, the Spurs turned a nine-point deficit into a 109-103 victory to become proud owners of a double digit winning streak.
Tim Duncan B-
Tim Duncan did most of his damage on the defensive end. He played good position defense and also rotated well. His O wasn't nearly as impressive as he struggled to gain position, although a lack of touches wasn't exactly helping him.
Manu Ginobili B
Nuggets fans won't be wishing Manu Ginobili a Merry Christmas. For the second straight contest, Ginobili played a key role in a come from behind victory. After scoring well to begin the game, Ginobili disappeared ... until the fourth quarter. Playing the first seven and a half minutes of the final stanza without the other two members of the Big 3, Ginobili led the Spurs to a 19-10 run to tie the game. Defensively, the Argentine star was horrible but he did enough right at the other end to lead the Spurs to yet another win.
Tony Parker D
If Ginobili's defense was horrible, Tony Parker's defense can be described with an even worse adjective. He gave up more drives to the basket in this game than he has in the last two weeks. His scoring wasn't much better. After hitting his first three shots, Parker missed eight of his final ten attempts. In the final three quarters, he had only one field goal. The only thing that kept him from getting an F were his nine assists.
Richard Jefferson B+
Richard Jefferson had a streaky game on both ends but there were stretches where he kept the Spurs close. His aggression level remained good throughout, although he had a high number of mistakes on the defensive end. To help fade those defensive mistakes, Jefferson had a momentous blocked shot to help neuter Denver's will late in the game.
DeJuan Blair C+
Though DeJuan Blair didn't do much right, it was good to see him start rebounding well again. Foul trouble kept him passive for the majority of the night.
Gary Neal A+
Once again, Gary Neal picked up the slack for the injured George Hill. He scored 22 points for the second straight game -- this time mostly due to his three-point stroke. Neal hit a three-pointer halfway through the fourth that gave the Spurs their first lead of the quarter. With about two minutes remaining, he hit another three that pushed a one point lead into a four point advantage. On defense, Neal wasn't very good but he was better than any other Spurs guard.
Matt Bonner B+
Matt Bonner scored eight key points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of three-pointers early in the fourth quarter that quickly slashed Denver's lead. Bonner didn't help much on the boards or down low but his perimeter defense was outstanding. That was especially true when he was caught on smalls during the time the Spurs were in their zone defense.
Tiago Splitter A
Scoring 12 points and pulling down nine rebounds in 21 minutes is obviously very good production out of the rookie center out of Brazil. I liked that Tiago Splitter stuck his nose right into the middle of this physical contest from the beginning. His defense was good, especially on the post. The only thing that kept him from an A+ were the few would-be rebounds that inexplicably bounced off his hands.
Chris Quinn B+
Offensively, Chris Quinn played exactly how the Spurs want him to play. He made a few plays, knocked down an open look and took care of the basketball. For the second straight game, he led the team in plus/minus. In his last 27 minutes, he has a plus/minus of +33. Against the Nuggets, he would have been even more effective if his defense wasn't so poor. He couldn't keep a Nuggets guard in front of his to save his life. To his credit, he did decent work once the Spurs switched to zone.
Too nice to Timmy.
Tony Parker D
If Ginobili's defense was horrible, Tony Parker's defense can be described with an even worse adjective. He gave up more drives to the basket in this game than he has in the last two weeks. His scoring wasn't much better. After hitting his first three shots, Parker missed eight of his final ten attempts. In the final three quarters, he had only one field goal. The only thing that kept him from getting an F were his nine assists.
Thats a really harsh grade considering he drove to the basket aggressively and got 9 assists. Denver's gaurds are stacked this year, and they definitely played with energy and passion today.
blair had a game due to early foul trouble imo...nene was gettin all these dodgy fouls early in the game out of nowhere
Timmy deserves a D or an F.
I was at the game and all me and my brother n law kept talking about, besides the next to us, was how bad Tim looked.
It looked like something was bothering him, sick maybe? Whatever it was he looked sluggish from the start. He did snag some clutch rebounds at the end though
Slightly harsh grades considering the Spurs won.. but staying true to expectations rather than outcomes.
Free Tiago!
LMAO Ducks
I'd give Tiago a lower grade, simply bc alot of those rebounds were defensive that landed in his hands and everyone else just ran down the floor.
Splitter flubbed contested rebounds in his vicinity so many times it made me cringe.
Hope that Tony got an earful because he's playing Jameer Nelson tomorrow who has had Tony's number for a while. Can't have a night like tonight against him.
i see he has a weakness in his rebounding, he gets good positioning down low, but he goes up fkn soft and when he grabs it, he doesnt protect it, he does the outlet pass to quick cause he doesnt wanna get hacked...
i would like to see more of 1on1 plays from him instead of the pick and roll...lol when he backed down on birdman on one of his baskets, lol birdman just backed off a little bit and both fell
yeah manu can suck all night in the final 7 seconds do 2 things well and get a a-
game was pathetic when he was tryin to draw fouls on weak ass lame layup attempts, didnt help either when billups was doing the same on the other end....
how did manu lead the spurs to another win?
neal lead the spurs to the win
defensive end as in tryin to draw a charge foul on nene, that was the worst diving ive seen from td...
Those two things are usually what makes the Spurs win
Manu deserves a B+ just for destroying Afflalo on that behind the back step back in the 4th.
gino played like horse in the final 3 quarters, the first quarter his shots lacked something but they just kept on going into the rim...
neal and bonner did most of the damage which kept us into the game...they basically killed the nuggets momentum when they were up 6-7pts....
rj and splitter benefited from team play looking out for the open man for the easy basket. RJ didnt force the issue tonight with his offense when it didnt go in, as for splitter he had his best game so far tonight, too bad pop is going to bench his ass next game and make up some lame excuse his fatigue, talk about momentum killer.
Manu played like in the first 3 quarters but made up for it in the 4th. Parker just played like overall. Accept it.
Manu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Parker
Deal with it.
I was at the game tonight, and noticed some things that might not have stood out as much on television.
As a unit, I would give them about a C for the night, which seems wrong since they won the game. But there were a number of plays on each end of the floor where it looked like guys just didn't know where they were supposed to be on the court. On the defensive end you would see three different players switching places, pointing, pushing, and signalling. It was pretty disjointed on the offensive end at times, too. (Watching Tony and RJ cutting across the lane in the same direction at the same time, and then turning and tangling with each other was just bizarre.) Matt Bonner got hung out to dry, holding the ball out on the perimeter with the clock winding down, and his teammates just milling around watching. Say what you want about him dribbling to the basket, he really didn't have much choice.
I know it's early in the season still, but I don't remember them looking this... what, confused? It reminded me, at times, of a pre-season game with a lot of new players on the roster. I felt like we won a number of earlier games by playing well as a unit. Tonight we won because of a heavy dose of Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter.
The other thing that was more troubling than usual was just how weak we were in the middle. We got outscored 46-36 in the paint, but it was worse than that. The points we did get in the middle were almost exclusively speed and/or finesse, not power. There were guys camped in our passing lanes at times because the Nuggets knew we weren't going to try to go to work down low. There was some serious disrespect going on.
That's not supposed to be gloom and doom - just making observations. There were still a lot of good things to be seen:
Gary Neal deserves a whole thread. His confidence is growing visibly from game to game, and he's starting to feel it on the defensive end now. He'd slip right into the starting lineups of a number of teams around the league.
Splitter looked good in his second trip to the floor. He tried to suck out some calls against Nene early, and the refs weren't buying. He's still not sure where to be at times, but tonight he recoverd quicker and got back into plays. He needs some work on his hands, though. He loses too many balls after he initially controls the rebound.
Matt Bonner deserves every bit of his B+ for this game. Those two 3-pointers in the beginning of the 4th were absolutely what turned the momentum. And even though he didn't pull down a lot of boards, he did something that just about no one else was doing - he boxed out and allowed his teammates to get the rebounds. (I take that back, Neal and Quinn boxed out nicely on a couple of plays. Go figure.) He was also disruptive on defense for a stretch that really helped us get back into the game.
Quinn played solidly again. I think he got victimized on defense a few times by some outrageous moving screens. I know the refs can't catch everything, but that was a little too much. There's nothing you can do when you're giving up that much size and the other guy gets to play fullback.
I saw James Anderson shooting tonight, which was good news. It made me start thinking about having him back in the lineup, and how many players we have who deserve minutes. (B'bye Ime.) Other than Quinn, we don't have anybody I think of as deep bench - and Quinn is no slouch. I don't think Pop is going to be able to shorten his rotation down in the playoffs as much he has in previous years.
The Spurs won a game that the Nuggets really, really wanted. They were missing Melo, but Billups was back, and he was huge. KMart being back helped them too. It was a game the Spurs could have easily lost, and they owned the 4th quarter, which is usually what counts.
TP had probably his worst game of the season. I was unimpressed with his decision making on both ends. Seemed that there was something wrong with his handles as well, I noticed he slipped a couple of times and lost his dribble more than once. Also, his inexplicable decision (twice that I saw) to leave Bonner isolated at the top of the key.
Manu gambled a couple of times on cross-court passes and this game it seemed that he didn't have much explosion going to the basket. There were a couple of times he seemed to get caught. He (along with TP) was just bad in the 3rd.
Blair was on defense.
The bench trio of Quinn/Neal/Splitter should get credit for this game.
Damn, I was too busy paying attention to TP's bricks and poor D that I didnt even realize he had 9 assists....
Nice post. Good insight.
Nice write up.
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