Game thoughts: Clippers @ Spurs

[Obstructed_View]

I could have added this to LJ's thread, but I didn't want to.

• Tim Duncan isn't the MVP anymore, but it's pretty clear that there isn't a team in the league that wouldn't jump to have him on the floor. If you make a good play, he's right there, if you make a bad play, he's right there. He makes smart passes, good defensive plays, he's always in position, he's always applying pressure. He is truly the embodiment of the word "fundamental" and a great anchor to have, particularly when surrounded by competent defenders for a change. I fully expect him to be stronger this season despite the grind of the back to backs.
  
  
• ESPN loves to talk about Ricky Rubio, and the commonly heard quote is "He makes amazing passes that you never see anyone else make". Every Spurs fan hears that and shakes their head. Manu does things like that on a nightly basis. This night, picture him with a giant head in "on fire" mode. The old man is still capable of being the best player on the floor, especially when his jumper's falling. He defended all-stars at three positions, frustrating them badly, ran point for a while, making some amazing passes, shot the lights out, and was able to single-handedly squash runs and create momentum with timely plays on both ends of the floor. The best part on this night is that he did all of it without having to sacrifice his body. Let's hope he can continue that through the season. This team is looking pretty dangerous, and a healthy Manu is just as critical to the team's postseason fortunes as he's ever been.
  
  
• Richard Jefferson is every bit as good to start this year as he was last year. He's confident, he's clutch, he's strong going inside and smooth from the outside (snicker). He's clearly very prepared and engaged. Because of that, I hope the Spurs are smart enough to take the first trade that comes up that involves him. Sorry, but I just don't trust him to be there. Maybe the Spurs could rest him the last month of the regular season and hope that he shows up in the playoffs.
  
  
• Kawhi Leonard is exciting. Really. If you don't understand why, you're probably one of those people that thought Michael Finley was really good. Leonard can cheat down into the paint on defense and, unlike Finley, actually get back to his man on the perimeter. The wide open threes Finley gave up by being out of position as often as not made up for any threes he hit on the other end. Smart solid defense, a nose for the ball and the occasional near-spectacular play is really nice to see from him in his second game. That said, Leonard is not Bruce Bowen, as much as I'd like to say I see a resemblance. If you want a defensive comparison of a former Spur, think Dennis Rodman without the insanity, which has the potential to be every bit as good.
  
  
• Speaking of out of position, do I have to talk about Matt Bonner? Yeah, I guess I do. The Spurs would likely have won the game by 45 if not for Bonner. No, that's not hyperbole. He was out of position 4 out of 5 possessions at the end of the first half and suddenly the Clippers were scoring and their shooters had confidence. Next thing you know, a 15 point game is tied. In the second half, Bonner had a disastrous sequence where he committed two defensive 3 second violations and had two or three fouls, a terrible double team and at one point he actually ducked away from a live ball in order to avoid fouling, which allowed his man to score. The guy is an absolute defensive momentum killer and just has no business being on the floor for rotation minutes. In the time I've seen so far this season the Spurs have had almost zero defensive breakdowns that didn't involve Matt Bonner.
  
  
• Now for another request of my Spurfan brethren: Let's not ever use the term "Bonner and Blair" again. Blair has proven he deserves not to be mentioned in the same breath with Bonner. He played Blake Griffin to a standstill as long as the game was in doubt, and he did it on both ends of the floor. We can all thank whatever god we pray to that Antonio McDyess isn't here to up Blair's season. This is DeJuan Blair's starting job to lose, and if he fails, it's completely on him.
  
  
• Tiago Splitter is this good, folks. That's the good news. The bad news is that he was this good when he came into the league, and when he was sitting on the bench last year. Now's the time to realize the difference he would have made had he not been allowed to waste away until game 3 of the playoffs, take a deep breath, and move on. Splitter is solid on both ends of the floor, he has great hands, plays well with everyone and never gives up on a play. If he could only do something about that horrible, horrible, from-the-hip flippy hook thing I'd actually start saving up for a Splitter jersey.
  
  
• TJ Ford is a solid player at this point. There's just no doubt. He handles the ball well, he's a good shooter, he distributes the ball well, he's an excellent individual and team defender, and he's fearless. Aside from a couple of cringeworthy plays he's much better than I expected. He's an outstanding backup and could probably carry the team for a bit if Parker gets banged up. At one point there didn't seem to be much of a gap between Joseph and TJ. It's a chasm now.
  
  
• Tony Parker is showing signs of being Tony Parker again. Seems like it's been a while. His defense is really active and he's running the team well. It was nice of one of the Clippers to smack him in the head and piss him off, because he lit them up after that and blew the game back open. I kind of miss million-mile-an-hour Tony Parker, but that guy always ends up with a sprained ankle. This Tony Parker will do for now, especially if he can go into the postseason healthy and confident.
  
  
• James Anderson is doing the same things he did last year before he got banged up, and it all starts with his energy. He's got amazingly quick feet, almost too quick sometimes, as his trip to his backside early on against the Clippers can attest. He's loaded with confidence, he plays hard, he communicates, he handles the ball well, and he's really smart. He always seems aware of the situation and the clock. When this kid's jumper starts falling, watch out.
  
  
• The Spurs have two other members who have contributed this season, Mo and Flo. They've come out with good momentum to start games, to answer runs, and most importantly, coming out of halftime. They play very well as a team and have taken advantage of their opponents with their flow on both the offensive and defensive ends, and they've been able to win whether their threes are dropping or not. Pop has done a surprising job of allowing the guys to play together without overthinking it, although I think the Spurs are going to run some risks of wearing down if he insists on putting starters back in during the fourth quarter of a 20 point game.

To paraphrase something credited to Pop by Sean Elliott last night, your defense doesn't always have to be great, but it always has to be there. The Spurs' defense has always been there thus far, and that's a huge change from much of the last several years. I hear Pop talking about defense and I'm actually starting to believe him again. I hope this keeps up.

[TDMVPDPOY]

[*]Tiago Splitter is this good, folks. That's the good news. The bad news is that he was this good when he came into the league, and when he was sitting on the bench last year. Now's the time to realize the difference he would have made had he not been allowed to waste away until game 3 of the playoffs, take a deep breath, and move on. Splitter is solid on both ends of the floor, he has great hands, plays well with everyone and never gives up on a play. If he could only do something about that horrible, horrible, from-the-hip flippy hook thing I'd actually start saving up for a Splitter jersey.

He was already good last season as shown in the minutes he got in the regular season, he held his own against the bigs of the league...too bad pop didnt play him that much against the grizz series, when he got time he showed defensively he can contain or defend the grizz bigs...

so far his off to a good start this season

i just wish blair would learn something from splitter, even though they have mismatches or size against them when defending, whats important is position and active hands for steals, swatting the ball or just arms up waving distracting is good enough...we dont expect DPOY of defense, just effort shown is whats needed and no dumb tic tac fouls


the younger players on the team, we dont expect them to play to their ceilings/draft no./contracts, but at least play above the level of the players they were chosen to replace b4 them replicating the same numbers....

[Fireball]

Great analysis ... thanks

Agree with most of it, but I am not that high on Ford ... I really would love to see Joseph getting some minutes before Gary Neal returns ...

[Obstructed_View]

Great analysis ... thanks

Agree with most of it, but I am not that high on Ford ... I really would love to see Joseph getting some minutes before Gary Neal returns ...

I wasn't high on Ford at all, but he's been solid. That said, I think it's essential that the Spurs have three point guards who can earn floor time. It's a failure if the Spurs picked a point guard in the first round only to hide him until garbage time or send him to Austin. The point guard selected one spot above him is contributing (and thriving) for the team everyone is picking to win the championship.

[Old School 44]

Nice write-up. The thing about Ford and Joseph is they are true point guards. Guards with great handles. With them, we don't have to worry about them tripping over the ball as they dribble up the court, like Mason, Bogans and even George Hill. On this team, they don't need to be scorers, just minimize turnovers and make good decisions with the ball.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Excellent analysis Obstructed, I hope we see more of these from you after each game

I agree with you on Bonner, I honestly thought he was single handedly derailing the Spurs. People keep talking about the Spurs needing a 5th big, but honestly, they still need a fourth big, because anything more than 8-10 minutes a game for Bonner is way way too much, even in a compressed season.

You said you want RJ traded asap, do you feel the same way about Blair? I like that he's trying to use post moves now instead of just throwing soft stuff up there under the rim.

[The_Worlds_finest]

Thanks for the write it. good read.

[Obstructed_View]

You said you want RJ traded asap, do you feel the same way about Blair? I like that he's trying to use post moves now instead of just throwing soft stuff up there under the rim.

Blair has talent. Blair has really really long arms. Blair is really really strong. Blair is 68-22 as a starter for this team. Blair is 22 years old. Blair should probably have two 30-20 games on his resume. The decision to replace Blair in the starting lineup last year was disastrous. Yes, Blair didn't handle it well, but that doesn't change what it was.

The truth is, there is probably nothing anyone would offer for Blair that would be more help to this team than Blair is. If the Spurs were loaded with bigs, I might be willing to trade him for someone like Batum or if you were to throw him in to make salaries match if you traded RJ for an all-star level big. There simply aren't as many warts on Blair's game as many of us think, so long as he's in shape.

[SA210]

The defense is key. With defense, i have hope.

[Interrohater]

I have to agree with everything that you've said. I have been really impressed with rj and tj both. Dj has also gotten me out of my seat in these last two games. I hate to say it, but these last two games have actually made me hopeful. We crushed the guys who took us out last year and this years new wunderkind team with what seemed like ease. It's still too early to tell, but they're looking good man, real good.

Also, LOL@snicker

[Obstructed_View]

BTW, thanks to everyone that took the time to read the post. Nice to check back and have stuff to talk about.

[Fireball]

It's still too early to tell, but they're looking good man, real good.

Thats why I am really eager for tonights game ... back-to-back game on the road against fresh Rockets ... a team the Spurs always have trouble with. I really would like to see Timmy only play 20 minutes and Tiago 30+

[bigfan]

When you live out of town and dont get to see the games its nice to read good game coverage from TIMVP and now Obstructed-View.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Thats why I am really eager for tonights game ... back-to-back game on the road against fresh Rockets ... a team the Spurs always have trouble with. I really would like to see Timmy only play 20 minutes and Tiago 30+

i want to see splitter shut scola down....win/lose the scola threads is going to open on here....

[Imp23]

Great break down on the players. I'm not the biggest RJ fan but his shot looks really good. Last yr it was improved but this yr. I would give Bonner an A+ for really finding his way to the bench.

[Interrohater]

Great break down on the players. I'm not the biggest RJ fan but his shot looks really good. Last yr it was improved but this yr. I would give Bonner an A+ for really finding his way to the bench.

[Fireball]

i want to see splitter shut scola down....win/lose the scola threads is going to open on here....

I have faith in Tiago, but I fear the Scolas, Aldridges and Nowitzkis of this world will still be the worst frontcourt matchups. In the preseason games Splitter seldomly was matched up against Scola. Blair definitely did not do a good job in the game at Houston ...

[FlAVaK]

Thanks for the writeup!

This is DeJuan Blair's starting job to lose, and if he fails, it's completely on him.

"I try to read them," Blair said. "They're very athletic. They jump high. I jump a little bit, but I'm undersized, so I just try to read them. Just look for schemes to get around the taller defenders. I watch a lot of Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, try to get a low shot. But I'm doing great with what I'm doing."

Hopefully he continues...

[TDMVPDPOY]

I have faith in Tiago, but I fear the Scolas, Aldridges and Nowitzkis of this world will still be the worst frontcourt matchups. In the preseason games Splitter seldomly was matched up against Scola. Blair definitely did not do a good job in the game at Houston ...

not afraid of his inside game, i think the spurs big can hold him check there, its the mid range jumper that he always kills us with...

[Obstructed_View]

I have faith in Tiago, but I fear the Scolas, Aldridges and Nowitzkis of this world will still be the worst frontcourt matchups. In the preseason games Splitter seldomly was matched up against Scola. Blair definitely did not do a good job in the game at Houston ...

The fact is, the Scolas, Aldridges and Nowitzkis of the world are bad matchups for everyone. This is the NBA, and you're not going to stop the greatest players in the world every single night. Sometimes it's good enough just to slow them down. Bruce Bowen wasn't always shutting guys down, but if he could hold a guy to 30 points on 35 shots, that was a good night.

Blair is in a different gear for the regular season, as is the rest of the team. I'll be really interested in seeing the difference in tonight's game from the two preseason ones.

[DMC]

I think Pop reinserted the starters late for conditioning reasons. Sure they have a tight schedule, but they have to play it and that means they have to be in shape for it. But I did cringe a bit too wondering why it's worth the risk of an injury from a pissed off Clipper retaliation play.

Good writeup though. Enjoyed it, especially the snicker part lol.

[Fireball]

I think Pop reinserted the starters late for conditioning reasons. Sure they have a tight schedule, but they have to play it and that means they have to be in shape for it. But I did cringe a bit too wondering why it's worth the risk of an injury from a pissed off Clipper retaliation play.

I think it works both ways because the bench players are not in perfect shape either and cannot play extended minutes without a break yet ...

[AFBlue]

I wouldn't characterize Splitter's offense as "solid" or Ford's defense (team or individual) as "excellent"...but the overall assessment is on point.

I knew the team would flow well offensively, but I've been impressed with the focus and intensity on defense...especially by the role players that will be counted on for it in Splitter and Leonard. It's hard to NOT be excited about the early returns from this group...hope they can keep it up!

[AFBlue]

I wouldn't characterize Splitter's offense as "solid" or Ford's defense (team or individual) as "excellent"...but the overall assessment is on point.

I knew the team would flow well offensively, but I've been impressed with the focus and intensity on defense...especially by the role players that will be counted on for it in Splitter and Leonard. It's hard to NOT be excited about the early returns from this group...hope they can keep it up!

[sasffl]

TJ reminds me of Claxton from '03. RJ gets good shooting touch when teaming with backups.With Anderson and Leonard, our backup swingmans are athletic. Bonner sucks. Spurs need to sign the 5th big man to replace Bonner