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Green and Jax were pitiful. TP just disappeared
Mills was great, he's played lately but obviously was good on offence and even played passable defence, late steal was key
Duncan should be an all star
-Yeah it sucks to see the Spurs lose but, damn, this team doesn't give up. I don't know if there's been a Spurs team before where you just know they are going to make a comeback at some point. Now, relying on comebacks isn't the recipe to become a championship team, but they are mentally tough and just keep coming.
-Recently, it looked like Tim Duncan's dream season was sputtering. And then tonight happened. Wow. Duncan played that whole fourth quarter and was in hop-on-my-back-I-ain't-going-out-without-a-fight mode. Honestly, I saw more than five blocks; he just shut down the paint to drivers when he was locked in. Late in the game, Duncan looked like the most energetic player on the court despite his 39 minutes. Very impressive and proof that the dream season is still going strong.
-Physically, Manu Ginobili looked fine. That's good news because it doesn't look like he'll have to "start over" in terms of getting healthy again and should be able to pickup where he left off.
-If Danny Green, Gary Neal and Stephen Jackson play like garbage at the same time, it's difficult to win. Especially with Kawhi Leonard still out.
-Perhaps even more damning was Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili scoring only 29 points on 27 shots.
-Patrick Mills' niche as the instant offense assassin who comes in when the Spurs need to make a run looks like a great fit. He's lacking in some skills but he can fill it up in a hurry.
-Big picture: Losing four out of five is disappointing but even the biggest pessimist has to admit it was influenced by a difficult schedule. I'd say 2-3 was par during this stretch so 1-4 is poor but not unexpected or debilitating to their chances of obtaining the No. 1 seed. The schedule is going to start evening up soon. For the rest of December, the Spurs won't have to leave Texas. In the next six games, if the Spurs can go 5-1 -- which is entirely doable -- they'll be on track to win 59 games ... but that's not even factoring in that their schedule will ease up a bit. So, in other words, things are still going as expected as long as the Spurs take advantage of this upcoming stretch.
Green and Jax were pitiful. TP just disappeared
Mills was great, he's played lately but obviously was good on offence and even played passable defence, late steal was key
Duncan should be an all star
Green/Neal/Diaw/Jack are playing bad, idk why our perimeter players are going to help in the paint when u have DUNCAN AND SPLITTER THERE, in the last 2 games we did give up many wide open 3 pointers. Also Pop rotations are weird, playing Neal/Green/Jack/Bonner/Splitter lineup and Mills/Nando/Manu/Bonner/Diaw did hurt.
I'm very encouraged by Manu's physical condition. On the other hand, I'm worried that he doesn't seem to have a way to break out the slump -- or even worse, just cannot overcome the age. Basically he just can't beat the defense.
I noticed this as well. It's very strange to have either too many ball-handlers or no ball-handlers.
An additional thought:
-Boris Diaw finally looked like a basketball player again late against the Nuggets. When he's actually trying hard the guy is pretty damn good at this sport, honestly speaking.
Sure he can. Manu's biggest problem right now is shot selection. Most of his threes are short (still can get in better shape) and until he adjusts, he needs to drive more.
Pop needs to figure out whats his rotation should look like. It looks like he's experimenting too much.
Didn't really score much (if at all) in that 3rd/4th quarter. Looks more like a facilitator.
But don't you think that his TO's lately are a cause for concern? In the last six games, he has 15 turnovers to 13 assists. For a guy who is known for his passing, he simply can't play like this.
I wish we'd give Nando more minutes. I know Pop treats Parker like his faux French son, but damn, when Parker is in a slump it is a brutal thing to watch.
I'm not sure it's because of poor shape. He never fights for rebounds like this season, and his defense, such as the block on Brewer's cut (called foul). is really aggressive and encouraging. Yet he can't seem to find much success on the drive.
putting up det stat line at 36yo on a b2b is ridiculous. Shame it was wasted on a loss.
loss is on TP. excusable since he's carried the team the last couple of weeks.
Pop continues his tough stretch of coaching. That Green/Neal backcourt to start the 2nd was mind boggling.
Yeah, I'd love to see the extended run of quality Boris had last year again. One gets the impression he's a little bored (purely conjecture, I know). I'm not sure if he's dialed it down most games because its early in the regular season or because he got his contract. But "hungry" Boris needs to return.
That's what Diaw is: a fifth option facilitator. Recently, he was just a guy who jogged aimlessly around the court.
Well, lately he has sucked, so that has been a concern. When he's going right, he's a low mistake player. But when he's in his lazy mode mixed with his hide-from-the-ball mode, he turns into a high mistake player since he's always in a rush to get rid of the ball because he doesn't want any of the responsibility on his shoulders.
Hopefully Diaw can bottle how he played late against the Nuggets and take that forward.
Virtually all of Ginobili's misses are short..barring a physical setback, I'm also encouraged by his progression from earlier in the season..
Adjusting to short misses isn't difficult for a shooter of Ginobili's caliber..his shot selection shouldn't change, he hasn't been one-dimensional..
Tonight De Colo got benched for poor transition defense.
"Patty Mills doesn't really do anything to hurt you, he just hits threes. I mean, he doesn't hurt you, he just scores 3 pointers"
--Nuggets announcers
Diaw sounds like a more talented, slightly more expensive version of Bonner. when he has a decent game people hope it will continue and we'll see it in the playoffs. we'll see.
I'm not looking at the stats, but from memory it seems that he is shooting an inordinate amount of 3's. More of his shots need to come from attacking imo.
How about this one: "Duncan did not get out of the lane once on that possession! He was there for 5 or 6 seconds!" [replay begins] "Okay, there's Duncan in the paint. 1...2...3... he gets out of the lane" [sileeeeeeeeeeeeeeence] "........and then dunks the basketball".
worst announcers I've heard, and I thought everyone was overreacting. He sounded like a stoned homer with a sinus problem.
Lol'd hard at that one.
That's interesting since not every player is held to the same standard - especially over the past couple years.
Yes the schedule was tough, yes the Spurs were missing players, but I'm not big on silver linings or excuses. Losing 4 straight (something the team never did last year until the WCF) is beyond disappointing. I agree with your overall assessment that things can be salvaged, but without the excuses. Just call it poor and move on.
He hasn't played lately. As a scorer, he's done well off the bench.
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