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love the write-up.. am curious to see how this Blair / splitter situation pans out
The Spurs extended their regular season winning streak to 14 games with a 101-79 victory over the Pacers on Monday night. Other than a lull in the second quarter, it was smooth sailing for San Antonio.
At the end of the first quarter, the Spurs had an eight-point lead. That advantage grew to 20 points halfway through the second stanza. At that point, however, the offense stagnated and the defense relaxed, which allowed the Pacers to go on a 15-4 run heading into intermission.
The good guys kept a double-digit lead for the entire third quarter. With 11 minutes remaining in the game, Paul George hit a jumper to pull the Pacers within 11 points -- but that was as close as Indiana would ever get. The Spurs went on a 10-0 run over a span of less than two minutes to seal the deal.
Tim Duncan
It was another sterling performance from Tim Duncan. On this night, most of his damage came on the defensive end. Going up against All-Star Roy Hibbert, Duncan held him to two points on 1-for-7 shooting by using his strength to keep Indiana’s 7-foot-2 behemoth from gaining quality position on the low-block. Duncan also did great work on the defensive boards. On offense, while he missed a few shots he usually makes, I can’t fault his shot selection or decision making. No turnovers, no fouls and a lot more production in only 26 minutes of work; Duncan’s amazing season continues.
Final Grade: 92
Manu Ginobili
Although Manu Ginobili exhibited some rust and still has a ways to go to get back into basketball shape, his ability to make plays for the bench unit remains invaluable. Whether it’s in transition, pick-and-rolls or other offensive sets, he transforms San Antonio’s bench into a combustible bunch. Tonight, his seven assists in 17 minutes tell the story of just how well Ginobili was distributing. Then again, his four turnovers and 1-for-4 shooting from the field point to the areas he can improve. Let’s hope he stays healthy and regains his rhythm over the next few weeks.
Final Grade: 87
Tony Parker
The Bad: Tony Parker missed a handful of pointblank shots and was a zombie when he reentered the game in the second quarter. The Good: Pretty much everything else. His defense on George Hill was unspectacular yet solid. His passing was crisp and he once again took care of the ball. I like how he pushed the pace and got the Spurs into their offense quickly. Other than the aforementioned second quarter stint, Parker played with purpose and kept his foot on the gas.
Final Grade: 84
Kawhi Leonard
Defensively, Kawhi Leonard was tad too intense. He fell for too many pump fakes and went after too many steals. (Speaking of steals, I counted three steals for Leonard against the Pacers.) While his aggression helped disrupt Indiana’s flow, he would have been even more effective if he dialed it back a little bit. On offense, Leonard had a rough evening. He looked uncomfortable taking his two three-pointers and struggled to create clean looks off the dribble. His offensive game is definitely still a major work in progress. To his credit, Leonard made numerous cuts to the basket away from the ball that were perfectly timed.
Final Grade: 81
Danny Green
Danny Green’s influence was felt on Monday night, even if he seemingly didn’t break a sweat. I don’t think he was especially energetic on defense, however he was fundamentally sound and did good work on the glass. He ran the court hard and didn’t hesitate to take open shots. Green’s jumper looks extremely smooth right now; in fact, half of his misses on the night were dunks. Overall, it’s exciting how Green looks like such a natural for the starting lineup these days.
Final Grade: 86
Boris Diaw
I can’t say enough good things about Boris Diaw’s individual defense. He’s been outstanding this season at locking up his man while also offering timely help when his man is involved in a pick-and-roll. Other than Duncan’s resurgence, I’d rate Diaw as the biggest reason why the D looks better four games into the season. That said, his passiveness everywhere else is getting worrisome. Failing to grab a rebound is simply unacceptable for a starting bigman. On offense, he’s not anywhere close to his potential. An attacking version of Diaw would be a weapon for San Antonio. As it stands, he’s often tiptoeing the line between being adequate and being a liability -- with a few otherworldly passes thrown in to whet the palette.
Final Grade: 77
DeJuan Blair
After playing 11 total minutes in the first three games of the season, DeJuan Blair was given 29 minutes of court time and took full advantage of the opportunity. To begin the game, though, he was bad. He was rushing everything and couldn’t corral a rebound to save his life. However, Pop stuck with him and Blair responded with his best performance in a long while. After his early struggles, his shot selection was excellent and his passing was fantastic. It’s easy to forget that when Blair is at his best, his passing ability is one of his biggest strengths. That fact was on display tonight. Defensively, he didn’t make too many mistakes. He’s never going to be a monster on that end but he remained mentally engaged and his physicality was a blessing versus the burly Pacers team. His rebounding helped put the game away and the cherry on top of his performance was the zero in the turnover column.
Final Grade: 93
Stephen Jackson
Last game, I didn’t think Stephen Jackson was aggressive enough on offense. Tonight, I thought he found a perfect balance. He pushed the envelope just enough to become a consistent playmaker without stepping on any toes. When both Jackson and Ginobili are attacking, I believe that San Antonio has the best bench in the NBA hands down. On Monday, Jackson was particularly effective in the post. Whenever the Pacers tried to put someone smaller on him, he immediately exploited the mismatch. Defensively, Jackson showed that he’s still quick enough to stay in front of the athletic youngsters the Pacers have on the perimeter.
Final Grade: 88
Gary Neal
When Gary Neal plays like he did tonight, it’s difficult to ever imagine him not being part of the rotation. Playing backup point guard the entire time, he was magnificent. Instead of coming up the court and mindlessly gunning away, he ran sets and wisely picked his spots to try to score. The pace at which he played was impeccable and he utilized all the talent around him. Perhaps just as exciting as his offense was his defense. It is becoming safe to say that he’s made notable strides on that end of the court from last season. Neal hasn’t been a problem on defense this season. That’s saying a whole lot for a player who was arguably the worst point guard defender in the entire NBA last season.
Final Grade: 97
Matt Bonner
Matt Bonner is trending in the right direction. Against the Pacers, he resembled the player he was last year during the regular season. On offense, his movements were precise and he took shots when he was open. Defensively, he was in the right spots at the right times and wasn’t shy about being physical when laying the lumber was necessary. It’s concerning that Bonner didn’t have a rebound tonight and only has two rebounds in 53 minutes this season. That said, I thought his effort on the glass versus Indiana was a step in the right direction.
Final Grade: 87
Tiago Splitter
For this game, at least, Tiago Splitter was demoted to the fifth bigman role. When he finally entered the game in garbage time, he did well. He threw his body around, aggressively went after rebounds and was more demonstrative in his movements. We’ll see if that’s enough to regain his spot in the rotation.
Final Grade: Inc.
Nando De Colo
When Nando De Colo enters the game, it’s a good idea to ready the DVR because you’ll want to take second and third looks at his passes. He had a couple more remarkable passes in his garbage time tonight.
Final Grade: Inc.
Patrick Mills
Decent pressure on defense. Didn’t do much of offense. Patrick Mills is going to have to start playing better in his cameos if he wants to give Pop reason to give him extended minutes.
Final Grade: Inc.
Pop
Even though Blair ended up playing well, I don't agree with Splitter being benched. Splitter is too good and has too much potential to not be a part of the rotation day in and day out. Other than that, I didn't have much of an issue with Pop's coaching. I liked that he allowed Neal to play the whole game at one position. Winning against a playoff team without playing anyone more than 30 minutes is impressive. Tonight, the trio of Blair, Bonner and Neal did well. But going forward, I hope that Pop doesn't think that's an acceptable alignment.
Final Grade: 83
Offense
The rhythm on offense was uneven at times tonight but the end result was better than satisfactory. A total of 76 of the 101 points were either scored in the paint or on three-pointers. In addition to those two areas, the Spurs also passed the ball well (25 assists) while avoid errors (eight turnovers). The Spurs didn’t get to the line enough (13 attempts) but otherwise everything else was okay.
Final Grade: 88
Defense
Very nice. Holding the Pacers (or any team, for that matter) to 79 points on 34.2% shooting is a job well done. Forcing 19 turnovers, allowing only 11 assists and limiting them to only 24 points in the paint were all great accomplishments. The only blemish on D was rebounding. Grabbing only 34 of the 51 available defensive rebounds is alarming.
Final Grade: 94
Overall
The Pacers were missing Danny Granger and didn’t play well in their previous three games, so the win by the Spurs wasn’t a surprise. However, the defense was superb and the Spurs did well to make short work of the overmatched opponent. Can’t complain.
Final Grade: 91
love the write-up.. am curious to see how this Blair / splitter situation pans out
Good to see Blair showing signs of life. Too bad he's still 6'6.
Not that this game demonstrated it like the previous games... but man.. watching Tim so far this season gives me flashbacks to 2005-2008.. not the absolute prime version but sort of an end of prime version.. instantly makes me go to a happy placeand then sad when i realise we only have a couple more years of it.
It's simply incredible how Timmy produces playing only 26 minutes.
It looks like Neal is still the most reliable partner to play with Manu in the 2nd unit. The only problem is that he can't play without Manu.
Blair was a nice surprise, but I won't get my expectations too high. Hopefully SA increases his value in order to get at least a 1st round pick for him.
thanks TIMVP ... what I dislike about Pop is that out of nowhere he plays DB for 29 minutes ... when was the last time Tiago had the chance to play 29 minutes ... Tiago hat 5 points and 4 rebounds and a block in only six minutes ... I know it was only garbage time, but Pop never lets Tiago play 25+ minutes
He's trying to trade Blair and wanted to showcase him, there's no other explanation.
I don't know ... not many trades do happen this early in the season ... showcasing him now only means Pop thinks Blair will be out of shape again in January *lol*
The bench was pretty exceptional. While I don't think the Iron curtain is sustainable, it was good to see effort. Neal and Blair were the standouts(Relative to expectations), but Manu and S-Jax attacked well, Bonner moved intelligently(There was a notable hard foul after Blair got caught gambling) and his steal was amazing. I also thought Splitter showed good energy. While as a singular play a soft block to a team mate is a better play, I liked that he seemed to get angry and just swatted it away. Good sign that he's playing with some emotion. Nando's passing was also exciting, his vision is really good.
Having Manu and Jack in next to help really helps Neal, as he doesn't have the pressure of making plays, as those two can break down the defense, and Neal can be a secondary playmaker, and his shooting helps. If he can use his size against the opposing back up to defend, that's good.
Great write-up as usual!
However a personal opinion would be to stop using these these number grades out of 100, as I don't think they add any value to your writing.. You should go back to letter grades, or maybe even better just use a simple scale of 0-10 while using .5 increments (10, 9.5, 9, etc...) I think simple is better and these "93" and "87" aren't that insightful.
Good thing that Pop stayed with Blair after his first couple of possessions were so bad. DeJuan more than made up for it after that. I agree, though, that Tiago should play more. Neal is one heck of a shooter, and today, he found a nearly perfect balance between trying to score and being in the rhythm of the game and allowing others to touch the ball before he pulls up.
I kind of want to see De Colo and Neal with extended minutes together in the backcourt sometime, I just worry about the defense if/when that happens. If Neal remembers that he can pass the ball it would be rather interesting.
Neal is a scorer. He's not that great at much else. Spurs should let him focus on that part of his game to get the most out of him.
I'm not sure I'd play a 7' center who gets 5 rebounds, a blk, and gets 5 pts in six minutes only 6 minutes. Splitter usually turns in a pretty good stat card when he plays. Like anyone else, he needs time on court to get into shape and get his rhythm.
"whet the palette" -- I'm imaging an artist sharpening the edges of his palette
thanks LJ
I read it
that's it
Would be nice to have a vid of Nando's passing.
I really like the addition of the line graphs of the score. It makes it really easy to find the best defensive stretches for the Spurs. I wonder if stats are kept for how long a defense holds a team scoreless-for a whole game, from game to game/week to week. month to month, or versus specific opponents. Might be an interesting defensive stat.
Having Splitter as the last big off the bench will NEVER make sense. I don't mind seeing Blair get some PT, he SHOULD get it. Tha man who should be limited in minutes is clearly Matt B-b-b-bonner.
Gary Neal is MONEY $$$$$.
Maybe Splitt had some health issues or Pop is trying to use different lineups ?
Haven't seen the game
Either play Splitter or ing trade him. He's too valuable to be sitting on the bench doing nothing. At least a trade will bring back some solid pieces that might be able to contribute.
Yeah, or maybe the match ups provided an opportunity for Pop to "showcase" Blair to interested parties.
January 21, 2012 31:33
The only other time was December 26. 2011 32:54
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