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Thanks for the writeup LJ
What a strange game. At the end of the day, the Spurs escaped with a 103-100 overtime victory. However, the events leading up to that final score were odd, to say the least.
At first, nothing was going right for San Antonio. They didn't score until nearly four minutes into the game. To make matters worse, Tiago Splitter was forced out of the game early on with a calf strain. Before the Spurs could blink, they were down by 13 points.
The Clippers led by 10 points, 38-28, with six minutes to go in the second quarter when the Spurs began their run. In the next ten minutes and 40 seconds, the Spurs absolutely exploded -- outscoring L.A. 37-12 to take a 15-point lead. But the Clippers came roaring right back, going on a 17-0 run in less than four and a half minutes to take a two-point lead.
The Spurs then got eight straight points from Gary Neal to take a six-point lead -- but in the meantime lost Manu Ginobili to an oblique injury. Both teams traded knockout punches the rest of the way until it appeared as if the Clippers had finally put the Spurs away. But with less than ten seconds remaining, Chris Paul had a bizarre turnover that led to a three-pointer by Neal to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, San Antonio's defense tightened and the Spurs got a pair of huge three-pointers by Neal and Matt Bonner. Finally, following a Chris Paul miss, the Spurs had secured their tenth straight win.
All in all, the win was great. Strange but great. The injuries, though, put a damper on the excitement of the ten-game win streak. Let's hope Ginobili and Splitter can return soon ... and that the Spurs can get No. 11 Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Tim Duncan B
Offensively, Tim Duncan couldn't get anything going. He was impotent on the low block; only one of his five baskets came in the paint. Even when posting up on smaller players, Duncan rarely had any success. However, he finished without a turnover did make good passes on the offensive end -- including a huge one to Neal in the overtime session. Defensively, Duncan was a lot better. While he struggled at times against the pick-and-roll, he defended well individually and quickly rotated to protect the rim. The area where Duncan really shined was on the glass. Amazingly, the 35-year-old has the best defensive rebounding percentage of his career this year and he pulled down a number of huge boards on both ends today.
Tony Parker A+
Sure, Tony Parker didn't always run the smoothest show. He missed some easy shots, forced a couple questionable attempts and bungled a few plays. But overall, given the cir stances, I thought he was fantastic. The Clippers pressured him throughout with various defenders and schemes. Once he got into the lane, he had to deal with their athletic shotblockers. Along the way, he lost his star backcourt partner (Ginobili) and his pick-and-roll sidekick (Splitter) but kept his intensity high and fought for 45 minutes. Limiting the turnovers -- both for himself and the team -- was a key reason why the Spurs were able to come away with the win. Defensively, he did really good work against Randy Foye after Foye erupted in the third quarter. Parker became the first player this season to have back-to-back 30-point, 10-assist games; it's the second time in his career he's accomplished that feat.
Manu Ginobili D
Manu Ginobili never looked right. Defensively, he couldn't stay in front of his man and wasn't getting around screens. On offense, it seemed like he didn't want the ball. As it turns out, Ginobili was dealing with an oblique injury. There's even talk that it was bothering him heading into this game, which would obviously explain his struggles.
Danny Green A
The unsung hero of this game was undoubtedly Danny Green. He defended Chris Paul for the vast majority of the game and did an outstanding job. Green pressured Paul starting in the backcourt and never let up. Although he wasn't always able to stay in front of his man, Green used his length to disrupt the Clippers superstar point guard. Paul's sub par statistical line is a direct result of Green's play on that end. After going through a stretch of uneven defensive play, this was by far the best defense we've seen out of Green in a long time. Offensively, it appears as if his shot is coming around. Over his last four games, he's 52% from the field and 53.3% on three-pointers.
Richard Jefferson D
The good: Richard Jefferson had a block that led to a layup to finally get the Spurs on the board in the first quarter. The bad: basically the rest of his time on the court. Defensively, he spent most of his time watching players drive around him or shoot over him. Even though he played minutes at power forward, Jefferson didn't help on the boards. On offense, he hit an open three in the beginning of the third quarter but that was about it. No drives to the basket or anything else that helped the team.
DeJuan Blair B-
In the first few minutes, DeJuan Blair was awful. His play earned him a quick benching. But once he came back in, I thought Blair played a lot better. He was more assertive and more physical on the offensive end. In addition to his scoring, he also made a couple good passes out of the low block. Defensively, after the slow start, he was actually pretty darn good. Out of everyone on the team, he probably did the best work against Blake Griffin. Unfortunately, a lot of his good defense went for naught because he wasn't pulling down any defensive boards. With Splitter out, Blair will have a chance to prove he's a capable bigman in the NBA. Honestly, it's been a while since he's looked capable.
Matt Bonner B
Speaking of slow starts, Griffin had Matt Bonner s -shocked after the first handful of times Bonner attempted to defend Griffin. At first, the only thing Bonner did was pull up a front row seat to watch the Blake Griffin one-man dunk contest. But then Bonner eventually got the hang of it. By the end of the game, he was actually defending Griffin surprisingly well. Bonner also did a good job on the defensive glass and remained more active than usual on that end. Offensively, Bonner made the Clippers pay when they forgot about him. His three-pointer with two minutes remaining in overtime was one of the biggest shots he's hit all season. Expect Bonner to start and play a lot of minutes for as long as Splitter is sidelined with the calf strain.
Gary Neal B
In a strange game, Gary Neal was the strangest player. He was 0-for-6 on two-pointers ... but was 5-for-8 on three-pointers. He fumbled the ball away when the Spurs had a chance to tie late in the fourth … but found redemption with a three-pointer at the end of regulation when Paul accidentally threw the ball to him. He hit a gigantic three-pointer with 25 seconds remaining in overtime to put the Spurs up by three points … but then missed two free throws with eight seconds left -- either of which would have ended the game. On both sides of the court, Neal was an adventure. He seemed to be either doing something really good or really bad at any given moment. But at the end of the day, the 17 points he scored were huge and he hit enough momentous shots to classify his game as a success.
Kawhi Leonard B+
When Splitter left, Kawhi Leonard was forced into playing long stretches at power forward for the first time this season. For a young rookie, I thought he handled the sudden change of his role rather well. He defended the post with strength and didn't back down when challenged. In the fourth quarter and overtime, Pop used Leonard to defend pick-and-rolls and he mostly did very good work. However, Leonard did struggle in two areas: rebounding on the defensive end and shooting from the outside. Other than that, though, the 20-year-old did about as much as the Spurs could have fairly expected.
Tiago Splitter Inc.
Tiago Splitter has a history of calf strains so this latest injury is worrisome. If history is a guide, the backup center will miss at least a couple weeks. Hopefully he can get completely healthy and then get back to doing what he's been doing.
Pop A
The Spurs had multiple chances to fold yet they kept scratching and clawing. Pop did a great job of keeping the team focused at the task at hand while ignoring the fallen teammates. His decision to put Green on Paul was the coaching maneuver of the game. Starting Bonner in the second half worked out very well. Using Leonard as his defensive ace late in the game was another good decision. Giving Neal extended time ended up being smart. Honestly, I can't even nitpick this coaching performance; he did just about all he could to help the Spurs get the victory.
Thanks for the writeup LJ
Side note: Parker looked like he had been crying in the post game interview about Manu being out again.It's like he thought he was finally get his partner (and some relief) back and then was deflated to lose him again.
Oh yeah, but those two hate each other.
thanks
Lost in the shuffle was Neal's three after Blake Griffin's fast break dunk, Clips had a ton of momentum up until that shot
Spurs' Team Defense A+
I had to listen to a lot of the game on the radio. But when the Spurs started out 0-for-everything, it was amazing that the score didn't get completely out of hand. But it was a direct result of getting a lot of defensive stops. I got to see the end on television, and the defense was a real team effort. In that regard, maybe the best I've seen all year. That shot clock violation that the Spurs caused near the close was a true work of art. Holding the Clippers to 40.4% for the game was, too.
I'm sure Bonner had enough up and down during the game to earn a B. But it sounded like it was him and Green that kept things afloat in the early going. And I also agree that he came up with some really good plays near the end to help put a cap on it. I'd take this Bonner in the playoffs, in a heartbeat.
Chris Paul on the game-changing turnover:
"Probably the worst play I've been a part of since I've been in the NBA."
Take that, you little .
Thanks for the write-up Timvp.
Wow, I can't believe not one Clipper recorded a block. I bet as a team they average around 10 BPG.
More of this coming up?Side note: Parker looked like he had been crying in the post game interview about Manu being out again.
Oh yeah, but those two hate each other.
link?Side note: Parker looked like he had been crying in the post game interview about Manu being out again.
Oh yeah, but those two hate each other.
I saw it on TV, but I'm guessing it might be on Spurs.com later. Parker had really red eyes like he had been crying
Keep in mind that I have only seen the replays, but the defence that Kawhi played on Chris Paul (?) on his end of overtime 3 pointer was pretty damn impressive...
And the balls of Neal! He never ceases to amaze me. The "steal" and the step back to the 3 point line was impressive to me.
Great Writeup as always, LJ.
We need to look at the result. And for those two game-changing 3-points alone, I think Neal deserves a B+. But this is a toss-up though. What I really disagree is about Blair, or the comparison to RJ to some extent.
To me RJ didn't do much in this game or in many previous games, but for whatever reason, it doesn't look like he was abused individually or drag down the whole team much. He simply does not help the team much either. I'm not trying to
On the other hand, whenever Blair was on the court, especially when he is not playing with Tim covering his ass, he gives up the whole paint to the opponents, either by his own man or the guards from outside, either directly or giving second chance to the opponents.
Maybe this is because RJ is a SF and Blair is a center/big man, anyways, RJ is at worst useless, at best eating some minutes, which we might be able to live with it as along as we ignore his salary, but Blair is a big liability to the team and we have to address that issue. When I watch the games, I always wish we could fast-forward the time Blair was playing --- that shows how nervous/worried I feel with him on the court.
The Staples Center gasped when Paul threw away that pass, then about a second or two later, Neal intercepts and pops the 3-ball, whatever air was left in the place was gone. The entire arena gasped again. Me and the other Spurs fans in the vicinity were howling with glee.Chris Paul on the game-changing turnover:
"Probably the worst play I've been a part of since I've been in the NBA."
Take that, you little .
The Spurs were/are considering getting rid of Jefferson, so they need to forget about completely hurting his feelings and bench him.
Ginobili - Neal - Anderson
Leonard - Green - Jefferson
Looks good to me (as soon as Manu can start).
It's a perverse world we live in when Manu gets injured, and not only am I more alarmed but also more concerned over an injury to a bench player instead of Manu.
Or he smoked a bowl to celebrate.I saw it on TV, but I'm guessing it might be on Spurs.com later. Parker had really red eyes like he had been crying
Confession time. I turned the game off after Neal fumbled the inbound.
Thanks, LJ. Sincerely.
Haven't been able to watch the games at all this year, great to have these writeups.
They are replaying it right now on FSSW, if you feel like staying up or DVRing it to catch what you missed.
30-point, 10-assist games for the Spurs in the last 25 years:
Tony Parker - 13
Alvin Robertson - 6
David Robinson - 2
Manu Ginobili - 1
Rod Strickland - 1
Frank Brickowski - 1
I'm not sure what's most surprising: Manu only having one, Duncan having none or Frank Brickowski being on the list
Of the 11 non-Parker 30-point, 10-assist games, only one was on the road.
On the other hand, 10 of Parker's 13 such games were on the road
no timmy no!!!!
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