After a classic "Burn-the-tape" victory over an over-matched Knicks squad, the Spurs traveled to Philadelphia to take on a scrappy 76ers unit and one of the leagues top offenses. The young 6ers team can already claim early season victories over both the Bulls and Heat, and most expected a closer contest last night. With the Spurs coming off a back-to-back, Duncan rested and watched the machine that is the Spurs system, run roughshod over a well-coached and athletic squad.
Player & Coach Grades
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Tony Parker
Tony came out of the gates looking to get the offense in gear, and once he sized up MCW, had no problem getting to the paint the rest of the night. On offense, his ability to probe the defense for an opening was on full display as he got to his hot zones on the court repeatedly and made the 76ers pay for giving him an inch of space on his jumpers. When he wasn't swishing his jumper, he was slicing his way to the bucket, and looking like the quickest player on the court. He topped off his scoring with several beautifully executed passes into the post and to shooters on the wings. His effort on defense is slowly ticking up and he was able to put together a solid night against a very good PG in MCW, contributing to a 2-11 night from the field.
Final Grade: A+
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Manu Ginobili
After a streak that saw him shoot 3-23 from downtown (almost all wide open shots) over the last 5 games, Manu Ginobili was able to right the ship and sink both of his 3-Point shots. In limited action (13 minutes), Ginobili played the role of spot-up shooter and wasn't tasked with creating on the offensive end. He was passable on D, getting left behind a couple of times by quicker opponents, but was able to hold his own.
Final Grade: B+
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Danny Green
Reminding all of us that it is unwise to question his game during one of his patented droughts, Danny Green added to his reputation as one of the leagues streakiest shooters. For the second straight game, the opposing team continued to leave him open and for the second straight game he made them pay for it. Starting 4-4 from long distance, and only missing a contested 30ft turnaround jumper at the buzzer to end the first half. The box score only credits him with 1 steal on the evening, but DG ended a number of 76ers possessions with deflected passes that turned into easy points on the other end of the floor. If the Spurs are getting back to The Finals, this is the player Danny Green will have to be.
Final Grade: A+
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Tiago Splitter
A glance at the box score would tell you this was a solid night for Tiago Splitter, but it was really much more. While it is now apparent that he will never be a particular strong finisher at the rim, Splitter was able to get his shots off and find the bottom of the net more often than not. His interior passing was as crisp as it has been during his best moments in the league, and on defense, he was a difference maker guarding the paint when the 76ers found their way to the bucket. While he did struggle adjusting to stepping out and defending Hawes at the 3 point line, the rest of his game was solid to say the least. Had a certain teammate not missed 4 dunks and a layup at the bucket, you would've been looking at a 11-6-5 night from the Brazilian.
Final Grade: A
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Jeff Ayres
Tasked with being the first big off of the bench, Jeff Ayers played a magnificent game on the defensive side of the ball. I kept finding myself impressed with his ability to stay vertical and challenge shots in the paint, and also with his energy on the boards. On offense, things could not have started smoother. In the first half, Ayers was decisive every time he touched the ball and wasn't letting the ball stick in his hands any longer than it needed to and had some magnificent interior passes that paid off in easy buckets for Tiago. I couldn't have been more pleased with his aggressiveness on both sides of the ball...and that's when it happened. He went up strong to slam home a dunk and missed, then he went up strong to slam home a dunk and missed, then he went up strong to slam home a dunk and missed, then he went up strong to slam home a dunk and...are you seeing a pattern here? I'm almost positive the league has never seen someone blow 4 open dunks, and my bet is that you wont see it again. Had he just utilized what they call a "layup" Ayers would've finished with 14-6-2...but he didn't and instead finished with 6 points on 9 shots.
Final Grade: D+ for the dunks, B+ without the dunks.
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Boris Diaw
Boris Diaw did a lot of Boris Diaw things last night. The great passing and shooting we've come to expect were on display, as well as some good work on the glass. On defense, he looked a step slow against Thad Young but was still able to compete and come in with a decent game. Five turnovers on the night put a damper on the performance, but outside of that it was a good night.
Final Grade: B-
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Patrick Mills
Patty Mills continues to be a blur on the court. His energy level and effort on the defensive end forced the 76ers to speed up their offense to a pace they were uncomfortable playing at, and it resulted in multiple turnovers and fast break points during Mills' 20 minutes on the floor. On the other side of the ball, he's been a faster version of Gary Neal, only with the ability to pass and you know...play point guard. He's also got one of the quickest releases I've ever seen, so much so that Manu and Tony even had to look at each other and give a "not bad" face after a midrange jumper of Mills' splashed the net late in the game.
Final Grade: A+
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Kawhi Leonard
Another night at the office for The Hand. His box scores are increasingly reminding me of AK47's early years in the league, and his knack for disrupting the passing lanes is unrivaled. Surprisingly, he struggled with Evan Turner and wasn't able to stop him getting to his spots on the court in the first half. Things ticked up in the 3rd quarter and Kawhi really locked in on both ends of the court, after a first half that saw several of his drives to the hoop end in clumsy fashion, KL found his groove and was able to finish at the hoop and also convert on a Bowen (corner 3).
Final Grade: A-
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Marco Belinelli
From the way he played last night, I'm guessing he asked the 76ers if they "wanted something long and thick to eat." and they must have replied with a resounding "Yes please!" The season was off to a somewhat rough start for our newest flashy Euro, unfamiliarity with the Spurs offense was leading to a lot of bad spacing and out-of-rhythm jumpshots but the Italian seems to be finding his niche in the system. He was able to knock down a couple of open 3s, and more impressively made some superb passes where he passed up good shots to get his teammates great ones, the Spurs System Mantra. He was solid on D, and was putting in work on the defensive glass. I counted at least 3 rebounds that should have been second-chance opportunities for the 76ers, but JellyBelly was there to bang with the big boys and snatch them away. It's hard to contain my excitement thinking of the lineups Pop will be able to throw at teams with Patty, Manu, and Marco all being able to create off of the bench, where last year we were really limited to Manu and Neal, and Neal was only getting himself shots for the most part.
Final Grade: A+
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The Garbage Time Team
With the game winding down, Cory Joseph, Nando De Colo, and Aron Baynes saw a few minutes. CoJo came in and handled the ball relatively well. On that point, does it look to anyone else like he worked on his handles over the summer? Last year his dribbling motion and movement with the ball was a little...jerky? Nando ran around a bit with TP so he could miss a couple of open 3s before knocking one down, and Baynes checked in to grab a couple of boards in 3 minutes. Of the three, only Baynes will see increased action in the near future, the 76ers are a much speedier team on the front line and there wasn't any real bangers to throw Baynes at last night.
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Pop
I'm always happy when Pop sits one or all of the big 3 and the Spurs eek out a win, even happier when they blowout a decent team on the road. Pop knew coming in that the 76ers possessed great speed, and distributed his minutes to players that would best neutralize that advantage. Sitting Baynes was the right call, and giving Ayers big minutes was best course of action due to his quickness moving around the court. Not much of anything to even nitpick at.
Final Grade: A+
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Offense
Spurs basketball was on full display last night. The team started slowly out of the gates, but quickly doubled their point total in the closing 3 minutes of the first quarter when Marco and Patty checked in. Time after time, players made the unselfish pass and set up teammates for wide open looks on 3's (Marco, KL, Mills, and Green all hit open corner 3s), uncontested layups, and dunks. What a difference a few days makes, this doesn't resemble the same team that faced the Warriors on last Friday night. I'm also not sure if Ayers and Tiago have been attending the "Boris Diaw School of Passing In The Lane" but I don't recall witnessing a front line in the NBA move the ball quite this well since the Sacramento Kings were trotting out Divac and Webber.
Final Grade: A+
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Defense
Coming into the game, the 76ers boasted the leagues number #7 ranked offense and the Spurs put the clamps on them. While Evan Turner was able to have his way with Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard in regards to getting to the paint, the teams help defense was outstanding. Tiago Splitter and Jeff Ayers were magnificent staying vertical and challenging shots by Turner and MCW at the rim, and equally as impressive cleaning up the boards. On a night where the anchor of the teams defense was in street clothes, the Spurs were able to plug in pieces and not skip a beat.
Final Grade: A+
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Game in a Nuts
With 8 minutes left in the 3rd and the 76ers still competing, MCW blew by Tony Parker on the perimeter and went to slam home the Dunk of the Year on Jeff Ayers, but had MCW done his homework, he would have known that the Dunking Curse put on Ayers is contagious and that his attempt would also go caroming off of the rim. This promptly lead to a 10-2 run by Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard in which they both nailed open threes made possible by the penetration of Tony Parker and KL hit a beautiful midrange jumper that ushered in garbage time.
Final Grade: A+
Last edited by TacoCabanaFajitas; 11-12-2013 at 07:20 PM.
thanks
Why still doing the TacoCabanaFajitas thing?
the wut
Much more detailed and interesting to read than timvp's game thoughts. Thanks for doing this, man.
Is there a video of the 4 missed dunks somewhere?
How dare you.
I'm sure there will be a gif sometime, after the 2nd one I was hoping he would miss one more just so I could see the bench reaction.
The fact that there's someone out there who also provides us with decent game thoughts hould serve as motivation for timvp to come back, tbh.
Thanks for posting these fajita.
Timvp is in a dark place. My guess is hes still stuck in the bad part of Miami...which is basically the whole city except South Beach.
Taco picking up like the Spurs tbh
Thanks, TCF!
A very good breakdown. It seems to me like the Spurs as a team are focused on rebounding better. The two who seemed the most improved are Splitter and Green. I hope this continues.
tbh I never thought of it that way. It's actually a lot more enjoyable watching the game and taking notes with writing this stuff in mind. Normally I just yell at the TV and my wife about missed rotations and sloppy passing.
For every time that I see Ayres actually try and stop penetration I see 4 times that he just watches the play go by. I saw him do the 'stay vertical' thing once. You could tell when Splitter came out in terms of the interior defense.
I didn't see too much of that last night, I'll have to keep an eye out next game. I tallied up 4-5 instances of him contesting shots and doing a great job of it without fouling
Thanks for the thoughts.
why doesn't timvp just post on his main account, tbh?
Quite possibly the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me
While I don't tally the totals, I pay close attention to Ayers interior defense. It's not difficult when you just have to look under the rim. I do recall him challenging one shot like you said and I was stunned because it was the first time. Most times he isn't even in the play at all. Like I said he watches from outside the key. I have the game on DVR and will try and rewatch it. I may very well have just missed what you are talking about.
And Patty?
Patty's rebounding hasn't popped off the screen to me yet, not surprising if he does do well on the boards with the amount of hustle he plays with
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