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Thanks Timvp for the grades
Tim Duncan B+
Duncan didn't have to break much of a sweat out there. He defended adequately, utilized his touches well and, most importantly, was moving around fluidly. As the Spurs enter the second round, their foundation looks strong.
Manu Ginobili B
Though he missed his three-pointers this game, I thought Ginobili looked pretty darn good otherwise. That throwdown after blowing by Howard tells me the Argentine is feeling good. I liked the sharpness of his passes and his aggressiveness on defense is leading to plays going the other way.
Tony Parker A
The best news of the entire series at the end is arguably Parker's health. He was gimpy entering the series but now he's pushing 85-90% health. Tonight, he really attacked the Lakers and did so without turning the ball over at all. I also thought his D was much improved over last game.
Kawhi Leonard B
On offense, it seemed like Leonard wasn't quite in rhythm. However, it's difficult to argue too much with his statistics. D he was solid even if there wasn't anyone for him to really key in on. His help was good but could have been better.
Danny Green B
He came out really aggressive on both ends -- and that was great to see. He didn't hesitate and was able to get going early. He eventually went through some struggles on O but to his credit he kept his defensive intensity elevated all night long.
Aron Baynes A
Starting in place of Splitter so that the bench rotation could stay intact, Baynes did about as good as could have been suspected. His size, strength and athleticism was on full display when he was defending Howard. It actually turned out to be Baynes who was the one tossing Howard around. His offense needs work but he has good instincts, the form on his jumper is smooth and he's explosive around the rim. All in all, he looks like an exciting prospect going forward.
Matt Bonner B-
While this was definitely Bonner's worst game of the series, he wasn't too horrible. He got in trouble early by not bringing the necessary level of physicality -- but corrected that as the night progressed. He didn't knock down as many shots but Bonner remained in attack-mode and continuously moved to open spots. If he can keep playing as well as he did against the Lakers as the postseason goes along, San Antonio's second unit is much deadlier.
Gary Neal B+
Better. His shot-selection wasn't great but, hey, he hit a couple difficult ones so it was mostly forgiven. His improvements were elsewhere. When he looked to pass, he was very good about finding the open man. His attention to detail on D was also much better, as was his energy on that end.
Cory Joseph A
I don't even know what to say anymore about this kid. He played a virtually flawless series as the backup point guard. He gives the Spurs exactly what they need behind Parker. His tenacity, pushing of the pace and constant liveliness are invaluable traits for a player in his role. He was also very physical this series, which was an added bonus. Great job.
DeJuan Blair A-
Blair also had a strong series, all things considered. His touch around the rim is very good right now. He didn't force many bad shots and his passing was excellent. Where he really made a difference was running the court. He routinely beat their bigs down to the other end and it resulted in handfuls of clean looks. His D is never going to even be average but his activity helped camouflage some of his deficiencies.
Tracy McGrady Inc.
His quick hands and long arms helped him do good things on D. On offense, I was pretty shocked that he ran point guard even though he was on the court with De Colo and Mills. I knew he was capable but I didn't think he'd be playing PG right out of the box.
Patrick Mills Inc.
Masterful towel waving throughout.
Nando De Colo Inc.
Looks to have slipped way down the rotation. How things have played out, I think it's the right call.
Pop B+
I am extremely paranoid about injuries right now so, personally, I wanted Pop to find even more rest for the star players. But outside of that quibble, Pop shined everywhere else. Starting Baynes turned out to be a genius move in retrospect. It flustered Howard on one end and on the other end they had no idea what to do with the big Australian. Good move. Good game. Good sweep.
Thanks Timvp for the grades
sweeping the Lakers is always great, and it was awesome to see Baynes really flustering Dwight
Thanks for the grades!
Cojo and Manu make Me feel like the spurs picked-up two ringers for playoffs
It's highly refreshing to see the Spurs playing with energy for 48 minutes. There are no lulls as we've seen in previous years. From top to bottom, everyone shows up to play and they simply don't take any plays off. Given the depth and the ever-improving health, that's a really great sign.
The other amazing thing is that the stupid turnovers the Spurs made through the last two or three weeks of the season have completely gone away. I hope it has more to do with the Spurs than the caliber of the defense they were playing against. I hope they don't get an easy ride into OKC and then have a rude awakening as they suddenly face a team that can cut their offense off at the top of the circle.
Baynes haters becoming believers tbh
and it sounds like you believe Bonner will keep playing even as Diaw returns
not sure how i feel about that
i think Blair can play as a decent 4th big vs the other teams extremely weak frontcourts going forward
hes stopped mopping around and blowing up weight wise and plays hard
2nd best offensive big on the Spurs
C'mon he shoulda got at least a B for the furious towel waving. That's being a bit harsh.
Thanks as usual for the quick grades!
Aron Baynes， way to go! proud of u!
Blair is letting out his pent up anger from sitting out the last two playoffs... and it's paying off... hope both him and Bonner keep it up.
Nice!
Aron Baynes stat of the night: +15 in 16 minutes
It was a non game from the start. They played hard for the first half, and once the lead was at 20, the foot was taken off the gas.
I though Cory was fantastic. He attacked and the Lakers guards had no answer. While it's not the strongest of compe ion, good to see him get where he wanted and then look to create for others. He penetrated, then looked for shooters on the perimeter or a big in the lane where there should be an option.
I agree with Kawhi looking a bit off offensively. He started 1-6, then made his last four(Including that 3 in a corner where he had time to sit down and construct a mechanism to propel the ball into the hoop). Effort was strong throughout though.
First 9 points came from Green and Barnes. That was unexpected.
T-Mac definitely still has vision. He won't play much, and there's still a bit of rust, but that vision won't go away.
Was at the game. Kawhi and Green looked to be asleep, but Kawhi's hands got him some steals. Green just looks terrible offensively, especially when he puts the ball on the floor. Timmy wasn't too aggressive either, but you could tell he was saving it.
Manu looked sharp in all regards except shooting. Looks great.
Gary looked alive, was really hard on himself for his turnovers. Moves really well on both ends which was good to see.
Blair, Baynes, and Bonner put up 100% effort down low. The amount of physicality needed to guard Howard is straight up ridiculous, and flat out dangerous in person. Great job by those guys.
T-Mac was playing against bums, but his length is ridiculous. I think he can help against Curry if his movement is right. You see his teammates constantly in his ear on every possession making sure he's in the right spot.
Parker and Joseph = dat speed. Tony looks flat out 100% IMO, and CJ is just perfect. Fearless and confident, all we want from a back up PG.
Ridiculous how much these guys have to remember during the game. Pop gave about 20 different hand signals and never used the same one twice, and everyone knew exactly where to be. Such a treat to watch this team, especially up close. First time in a lower section seeing them.
Spurs got a playoff training camp thanks to the Lakers.
Nice grading from timvp.
Now the spurs just have to rest up and plan for GS.
GS offence is good but they will have trouble defending our offence also.
Id like to read some of your thoughts going forward, how you see the team's and tean's chances in general of making to WCF
Come on timvp, us new guys need way more spurs banter than that
funny because the biggest baynes doubters were the aussies
Baynes is looking like he could be a good defensive big going forward and any offense is a plus. When on Howard tonight, he did well
Odd, I reckon he's had great potential since I saw him at olympics
TMac definitely gives us another look since you can put the ball in his hands and let him run the offense like Manu. Baynes defense was impressive. He pretty much completely flustered Howard. He drew an offensive foul and the play Howard drew the tech on was probably also another offensive foul. I don't think Howard scored on him at all.
Fluke showing. He still needs 2 more years at least to learn the system from the bench. Spurs should resign Blair fir 2 more years until Aaron gets over himself and can make the correct rotation at least 99.9% of the time.
I did say he could, not he will
Aron Baynes, almost. ALMOST makes you question keeping Splitter around.
The chump is soooooo pissed the spurs are doing well.
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