Tim Duncan B-
Productivity-wise, it's difficult to be too upset with him. He was the main force in the controlling of the boards, defended the rim well, passed it well and his decision-making was fine. Where he struggled was energy-wise. He wasn't moving with much purpose -- especially in terms of his D outside of the paint.
Tony Parker D+
The Heat sent a ton of pressure at him the entire night. Whenever he ran any sort of play, he was trapped and harassed. That said, he simply didn't respond well. His passes weren't crisp and he wasn't making plays despite the open teammates. Most worrisome, he didn't look healthy; he hobbled all night.
Kawhi Leonard A-
The lone bright spot. Defensively, he was by far the most intense player on the team. He really gave great effort when chasing his man around screens and through traffic. On O, he exhibited an improved ability to penetrate to the rim off the dribble. Without him the Spurs get blown out tonight.
Danny Green C-
Too many mistakes on D. He got lost much too often -- and even had trouble staying in front of his man. On O, he was woeful within the three-point line. Outside of the line, he wasn't a whole lot better. All in all, he played too rushed and too skittish throughout the game.
Tiago Splitter C+
His stats looks acceptable but it was a below average performance. He let the Heat get away with putting smaller defenders on him. He wasn't physical in the immediate basket area on either end. He did some good things but his value plummets when he stops taking advantage of his size.
Boris Diaw C+
The Heat were sending help off of him and yet he shot only twice in 19 minutes. He simply wasn't aggressive enough and allowed Miami to double-team without any consequences. Add in a dollop of sloppiness and it negated whatever positives he registered in the rebounding and assisting columns.
Gary Neal C
His shot-selection wasn't horrible -- but he should have been more cautious considering he's still not in game shape yet. The passing that was so good last outing was MIA tonight. Add in below average defense and this was a definite step in the wrong direction.
Stephen Jackson B+
When the Spurs were swirling the commode, he was able to spark the team with a series of positive plays. His aggression going toward the basket was commendable and he tossed in a three-pointer for good measure. Defensively, he was nothing special. Overall, though, he helped give S.A. a chance.
Nando De Colo C
With Ginobili sidelined, the Spurs needed him to step up into a larger playmaking role. That didn't happen at all. Instead, he remained passive and rarely pushed the issue. He helped a little bit with his youthful exuberance but he let the team down by failing to create shots for himself or others.
Matt Bonner C+
With the squad struggling to score, he got a shot to try to spread the floor. It didn't happen as he failed to register a shot attempt in eight minutes. I thought he passed up a shot or two during his stint on the court. On D, I can't complain. His rotations out on the perimeter were very timely.
Pop D+
With Ginobili out, the bench looked out of sorts -- and Pop didn't help matters much. The playcalls with the bench on the court were bland. The Spurs never adjusted to all the pressure the Heat were showing Parker. To top it off, the buttons he pushed (going with Bonner, for example) didn't help.
Spot on. Don't understand why Jack didn't get more minutes.
While disheartening, I saw this loss coming from a mile away. The team has been playing bad for a month now and I see no real upward trend approaching. At least Leonard continues to impress.
good grade for TP. i thought he was going to get B- treatment tonight. that was a taste of playoff Parker.
IIRC, wasn't Nando getting us back into it at the end? I wish he would've stayed out longer tbh.
Pop should have replaced green with SJax and the spurs would have won...
Pop never adjusted to the hard traps all night long...just kept calling the same plays all night and the double-teams and traps kept throwing off the spurs offense.
Oh well, just one game...been a tough stretch and the spurs need a little break in the schedule to recuperate.
Thank you Timvp for the quick grades
burn the tape
Pop took SJax out when he was rolling and then he took Kawhi out when he had the matchup against Battier.
At least the Heat don't have any useful tape, the Spurs didn't really do anything well tonight.
They won't get a break, this kicked off a 4 games in 5 nights for them and Memphis tomorrow and OKC coming up. They will not get a break in the schedule this week.
Right on with the grades. This team, though talented enough, seems to have a severe iden y crisis and I don't remember too many of those that win the last game of the playoffs. Time will tell. Thanks.
Leonard has been impressive. He has so much potential.
Right. I meant after this stretch of games...
Maybe, just maybe that was the strategy...just let me live in this denial for a bit.
The only person who can stop Leonard right now is Leonard. He makes mistakes but he learns from them and finds ways to contribute. Even if the season ends in disappointment, the future is bright with him.
Parker was a major disappointment.
the heat trapped Tp and closed out on our 3 point shooters hard...they know thats the blue print on how to give the spurs ...also why the is danny so weak fighting through screens, old ass ray allen took him to the wood shed
I hope they can win one of those games against OKC or Memphis, if not the #1 seed is all but gone. I hope they can pull it off.
silver lining, I like that
Miami is good at denying the post entry pass with the swarming help and trapping pick and rolls
the Spurs lack of offense outside pick and roll will hurt them if theyre lucky enough to play Miami in the finals
only positive to take away is that SA still had no trouble generating open 3s but they just couldnt knock them down
like the 2011 Spurs tbh
pre all star break le contenders and fell off a cliff post all star break once Duncan hurt his ankle
this time Duncan isnt hurt and theyve been able to lucky out a few close games they lost in 2011
I disagree with the take on TD passing well. He made 3 awful passes that lead to points for the Heat and they came at bad times. After the second time, he acknowledged it and pointed at himself for it...so I was disappointed in seeing him make another terrible pass later in the game.
Bonner passed up on a wide open shot and everybody got mad at him! WTF?
The #1 seed is fools gold - it won't mean that much if Pop can't outcoach ty coaches and cannot make adjustments. The playoffs are all about adjustments and if Pop throwing Tiago under the bus tonight and playing Bonner is any indication of Pop's state of mind - the spurs are ed anyway.
Spurs really aren't playing that great for over a month. They won't get out of the WC if they aren't significantly better.
i know it's cliche after a loss to give up on the team. I'm not doing that this year. I do hope we tank next year for the Wiggins/Parker sweepstakes. But that only happens if we flame out in the playoffs.
I liked how Kawhi played tonight, was able to beat Battier on off dribble and get easy baskets, should have gone to that more even if to just draw a defender and get better looks for other players slashing or sitting at the 3 point line etc. Kudos to Jax for actually coaching up Nando while Pop just sat there with his arms crossed dreaming about wine and cheese.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
