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As always, good man.
In the ultimate tale of two halves, San Antonio was able to escape Boston with an 87-86 victory despite a horrific offensive performance in the final two quarters. The win was the team's ninth straight and 15th of their last 17 on the road.
The Spurs were humming along offensively in the first half, leading by as many as 17 points. Their 32 points in the second period capped off a 59-48 half and the Spurs looked very much like a team that had averaged 108.6 points in their previous 14 outings.
And then the second half began.
Give a lot of credit to the Celtics, who are one of the best two or three defensive teams in the entire league when they're clicking, but San Antonio also played a large role in their offensive struggles. The ball-movement was spotty and never crisp, the shot selection was poor, and any type of aggression was rare. The result was an unconscionably ugly 28-point second half.
Amazingly, the offensive meltdown didn't cost the Spurs the game. Their defense stiffened, they controlled the boards and the good guys hit a few timely shots at the end to escape.
On one hand, I don't like seeing a Spurs squad that relies so heavily on offense go so cold. But on the other hand, these are the kind of games a team has to win in the playoffs in order to be the last ones standing. If you can't win ugly, you can't win championships.
Tim Duncan B-
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, Tim Duncan didn't look very good physically. His mobility was limited and it was a chore for him to run up and down the court. Despite his limitations, his effort was off the charts -- especially on the glass. The Spurs winning the rebounding battle 53-39 is the main reason why the won the game and that advantage was largely due to Duncan. When he wasn't grabbing caroms himself, he was stubbornly boxing out to create room for one of his teammates to come down the board. Defensively, I thought he was solid and got better as the game progressed. While he wasn't showing on jumpers early, he picked it up late -- including the game-winning stop on Paul Pierce's jumper at the buzzer. In the paint, Duncan was doing fine work protecting the rim. Offensively, he wasn't moving well enough to get himself many good looks and he compounding his problems by taking ill-advised attempts. But he hit a key shot late and was one of the few players on the team who didn't seem to be afflicted with offensive ADHD at halftime.
Manu Ginobili F+
Manu Ginobili has had a great season but, wow, was he ever bad tonight. His five turnovers don't even begin to tell the story about how sloppy he was with the ball. When he wasn't turning the ball over, his lazy, looping passes were putting his teammates in horrible positions. For whatever reason, Ginobili refused to turn the corner when he had the ball and instead made poor decision after poor decision. Defensively, he wasn't nearly as bad as he was on offense … but he was still bad. Outside of short bursts of energy, he was a non-factor on that end as well. I gave him that plus because he hit a shot in the fourth quarter and had a key offensive rebound. But really, I don't know if it's possible for Manu Ginobili to play worse.
Tony Parker D
Out of the gates, Tony Parker was playing really well. He was attacking relentlessly and produced a number of scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. The Celtics began the game with a lot of juice but Parker matched it and then some. Unfortunately, as the game went along, Parker got progressively worse. In the final two quarters, he was awful. He ran the show with no purpose and never attempted to right the ship; Parker seemed content to allow his team to sink. Defensively, he was average. He stuck to the gameplan well but had a few breakdowns that led to easy hoops for Boston. Near the end of the game, Parker appeared to hurt his arm in a fall and sat out the final two and a half minutes. As of this writing, it's not yet known whether he was injured or held out for precautionary purposes.
Danny Green B+
The great thing about Danny Green tonight is that he competed. The Celtics can be an intimidating bunch at times but Green just kept at it. He took some questionable shots on offense and took some questionable gambles on defense but he did it all with unabashed confidence -- and the Spurs needed that on this night when they were teetering on the brink of mental implosion in the second half. Offensively he never blinked and just kept shooting. Defensively, he was great at times and his hustle was exemplary. He also gave great effort on the boards throughout.
Kawhi Leonard C
Kawhi Leonard wasn't moving with his typical explosiveness. I'm not quite ready to say he's hit the rookie wall but it should be noted that he has only 13 points and six rebounds in the last three games over a span of 61 minutes. Against the Celtics, he did nothing offensively. He was passive and failed to move to open spots. The timing on his cuts to the basket was poor, which is a rarity for him. Leonard's defense wasn't very good early but he saved his night by playing outstanding defense in the second half. He had a few issues with screens but when isolated against, he did fantastic work.
DeJuan Blair A-
I didn't think DeJuan Blair played that well when I watched the game live but after watching the replay, I changed my mind. Blair did just about all that could be expected out of him. Defensively, he was matched up against Brandon Bass and Blair held him without a basket. Offensively, he brought a lot of energy and finished very well in the paint. The imagination he illustrated when scoring amongst the trees was impressive. Best of all, Blair ran the court better than he has all season; he routinely beat everyone up the court both ways. The one negative about his night was a lack of rebounding. All four of Boston's offensive rebounds came with Blair on the court.
Stephen Jackson A-
I absolutely loved what Stephen Jackson gave the team tonight. When the Celtics were using their physicality to push around the Spurs, it was Jackson who stepped up and pushed back. His toughness -- both mentally and physically -- was a leading reason why the Spurs survived. Offensively, while he missed his shots, his selection was superb. Whenever he had a mismatch, he attempted to take advantage. When the Spurs were sputtering, he was one of the few players running anything that resembled an offensive set. On defense, Jackson was far and away the best player on the Spurs. One-on-one, he was nearly flawless. His hedges on pick-and-roll sets flustered the Celtics. Jackson's help defense was always on time -- and sometimes even ahead of time. He also rebounded well and came up with a huge steal with two and half minutes remaining in the game. While Jackson needs to start hitting his shots again (he's only 4-for-17 in the last three contests), the rest of his game is at a high level right now.
Matt Bonner A-
Give the man some credit. Matt Bonner gets criticized for not rebounding and not hitting shots in tight ballgames. Tonight, he rebounded the ball extremely well and hit what ended up being the game-winner from 16-feet with 46 seconds remaining. His hoop at the shot clock buzzer put the Spurs up by four points and the Celtics would only score again on a Ray Allen three-pointer. In addition to his work on the defensive glass, Bonner prevailed on the defensive end even though the Celtics made it a point to attack him. Offensively, he did well. He got the yips a bit in the second half -- but so did just about everyone else.
Gary Neal B-
Gary Neal had some epic lows and some memorable highs. To begin the affair, Neal made his mark by playing horrendous defense. He personally allowed Avery Bradley to get rolling. After a particularly egregious defensive miscue when he let Bradley cut backdoor unabated, Pop actually sent Patty Mills to check into the game. However, Neal hit a three-pointer on the subsequent offensive possession so Pop let him stay in the game -- and it turned out to be a great decision. In the second quarter alone, Neal accounted for 18 points and spearheaded a 19-2 run over the course of four minutes. The second half saw Neal play passable defense but really bad offense. To begin the fourth quarter, he had three turnovers and a horribly selected three-pointer. But then, with the game hanging in the balance, Neal did what Spurs fans have come to expect when he dropped a three-pointer with two minutes remaining that turned a two-point deficit into a one-point lead. And San Antonio never trailed again.
Tiago Splitter B
First of all, you can't complain about the per-minute production. Tiago Splitter was involved in seemingly every play during his 14 minutes on the court. In the first half, his pick-and-roll game was thriving. The Celtics defended it better in the second half and didn't allow Splitter nearly as much room. The Brazilian adjusted and went to the low block, where he showed off a few quality post-up moves. But he too played a role in the second half fuglitude. A couple times, he allowed the Celtics to get away with switching a small off on him by passing the ball. In those cir stances, Splitter has to learn how to use his size to his advantage. Defensively, outside of a few poor decision in which he attempted to do too much, Splitter was above average. In addition to defending the rim, he also pulled down a number of contested boards.
Pop D
Honestly, it just didn't feel like Pop ever had command of his troops. He tried pushing buttons in the second half ... but nothing worked. He literally never found a combination that showed any amount of cohesion in the final two quarters, which is a rarity for Pop. I thought playing Duncan 34 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back when he wasn't moving well was much reckless. I also think Jackson should have played more and that he should have given Boris Diaw a look in the second half, especially because the ball-movement had stopped and that's Diaw's specialty. To Pop's credit, I thought he was crazy to send Bonner into the game at the end but that ended up being the right call. And Pop having the sense to keep trotting out Ginobili despite the struggles paid off with a couple key plays at the end.
Last edited by timvp; 04-05-2012 at 12:23 AM.
As always, good man.
Also, Manu's worst game of his career?
LJ,
In the entry for Bonner - "16-feet with 46 minutes remaining.".. Pls correct.
Freudian I'm sure.Matt Bonner A-
Give the man some credit. Matt Bonner gets criticized for not rebounding and not hitting shots in tight ballgames. Tonight, he rebounded the ball extremely well and hit what ended up being the game-winner from 16-feet with 46 minutes remaining. His hoop at the shot clock buzzer put the Spurs up by four points and the Celtics would only score again on a Ray Allen three-pointer. In addition to his work on the defensive glass, Bonner prevailed on the defensive end even though the Celtics made it a point to attack him. Offensively, he did well. He got the yips a bit in the second half -- but so did just about everyone else.
B- for Neal?wow, too generous LJ.
Is it annoying that Tiagos minutes are the biggest eye sore every night?
Now that, was a fun game to watch. Sure it wasn't dominant or flashy like the Cavaliers game, but this is a fantastic game for the Spurs to build on. Great learning experience going up against such an elite defensive oriented team. Our offense really suffered and stalled in the 2nd half and almost led to our defeat. Luckily for us, they're horrible on offense, below average rebounding team, and have no bench. We did a great job capitalizing on their weaknesses by out rebounding them by 14 and applying enough pressure to force Boston to play a 6 man rotation.
Some negatives:
Bonner - I didn't gain an inch of confidence despite his final shot. In the 2nd half, Bonner was 0-4 from 3pt line and made some gigantic mistakes in the 4th. Thankfully, it wasn't ALL bad - but if Ginobili didn't beast an offensive rebound, proceed to throw his body into 3 Boston defenders and find a wide open Bonner from 15 ft, I would have lost all faith in Matty.
Neal - I feel the same way about Neal as I feel about Bonner. He didn't help his cause with his final 3 pt dagger because he was just so detrimental overall.
Manu - Pretty much a piss poor performance from him the entire night. The good news is that he showed up in the crunch time.
Some positives:
Jackson - Defense, rebounding, swagger, intensity, playmaking, and a pinch of offense.
Splitter - Extremely productive once again. 8 pts and 6 rebounds in just 14 minutes. But his defense on KG and in general was what really stood out to me. Unfortunately, Splitter made a crucial defensive error that led to his benching.
It seems like it, but really he has one or two of these every year where he's just never into it mentally or physically.
Game 3 of the Finals in 2007, Game 4 at Sacramento in 2006 are a couple of postseason examples, but I think a couple years ago he had an 0-for-8 against OKC and then saved the ball from going out of bounds on the last play of the game for RJ of all people to make the game-winning shot.
He probably should've sat out tonight. It's like he was somewhere else, mentally.
Manu had made a postgame comment a week or two ago saying that he was deliberately looking to play more of a "facilitator" role as opposed to having a more scoring-centric role going forward, and I thought this might work against him if he became too passive on the offensive end. He needs to just take what's given to him and not deliberately look to pass more and/or score less.
We need him to look to drive to the basket off the P&R to build up and maintain his reputation as a scoring threat for his P&R play to work.
I thought Boston did a good job overplaying the "pass" on the P&R when Ginobili tried to run it in the second half, and I thought Ginobili's passiveness to look for his own shot (or drive) and his (over)eagerness to always look for the pass on the roll even if it wasn't there played to the team's detriment.
And TBH, Pop's D is also a little too high imo.
He deserved an F.
He needs to get over himself.
Thanks for the grades and writeup Tim.
Thanks as always timvp.
But I agree with TriggeredExcellence.
Tbh, I put "seconds" but the ST software autocorrected it to "minutes" since I was talking about Bonner.
Thanks for the grades. Great read, blah blah blah.
But c'mon now. We only had an 11 point lead at the half and hung on to win our 9th straight against the 2nd hottest team in the league. 15/17 on the road and 26/31 overall. And the coach gets a D? The fact that we even have 13 players who are healthy and can contribute/start is an accomplishment of its own. Our defense only gave up 38 pts in the 2nd half while nothing was falling on offense. You can't just suggest Pop "should have given Boris Diaw a look in the second half" and expect a double-digit win. Pop can't shoot the ball. The offense was horrible. But the two goats, Bonner and Neal, both avenged themselves in the end. Pop deserves a B- at worst
Thanks for the grades LJ, always enjoy the hard work you put into this.
Especially after having to miss the game.
It's a little disheartening to see Diaw with a DNP.
Is he going to be the George Hill of this years playoffs?
Didn't see the game but damn, that's bad.Manu Ginobili F+
Manu Ginobili has had a great season but, wow, was he ever bad tonight. His five turnovers don't even begin to tell the story about how sloppy he was with the ball. When he wasn't turning the ball over, his lazy, looping passes were putting his teammates in horrible positions. For whatever reason, Ginobili refused to turn the corner when he had the ball and instead made poor decision after poor decision. Defensively, he wasn't nearly as bad as he was on offense … but he was still bad. Outside of short bursts of energy, he was a non-factor on that end as well. I gave him that plus because he hit a shot in the fourth quarter and had a key offensive rebound. But really, I don't know if it's possible for Manu Ginobili to play worse.
YES! This!
Tbh, I put "seconds" but the ST software autocorrected it to "minutes" since I was talking about Bonner.
Awful game from Manu. Better now than in the playoffs though.
Thanks for the writeup.
Great Writeup as always, LJ.
I was extremely happy with the comeback after Celtics finally went up by 83-81. I thought the Spurs would wilt after. Instead, they make plays to go back on front. So even if Pierce made the final shot, I would be happy with our team effort.
I also noticed Splitter passing a few shots down low when backing down smaller guards. To be honest, the passing itself is good, like one leading to a 3-pointer open shot by Bonner (He missed it). But when you are 2-feet away from the basket and is defended by a guard, you took the hook-shot or whatever shot.
Can't give Bonner too much credit for boarding, IMO. He was playing against midgets for the most part.
Accurate grades. I love Manu, but I was yelling at the TV to get him out of the game. A first. Ever. He was just determined and angry, but still playing dumb. Pretty rare bad night for Manu.
Thank goodness for Jackson. After KL was getting pushed around by Pierce, Jackson came off the bench and settle him down. Tough nosed player and really paid off tonight.
Second half was a disaster, but hopefully Pop can look at the tape and find some options when the other team gets really physical in the play offs.
Manu did manage to muscle that last rebound, attack and draw 3 defenders before somehow snaking the ball to Bonner for the game winner.
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