48 Minutes of : Game 3 Grades

[BillMc]

http://www.48minutesof .com/el-co...a-kawhis-night

By Trevor Zickgraf

El Conclusion: Game 3 AKA Kawhi’s night

	A Tim Duncan, PF 31 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-2 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | +23 +/-Not needed on offense, brilliant on defense.
	A+ Kawhi Leonard, SF 29 MIN | 13-18 FG | 3-3 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 3 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 32 PTS | +20 +/-I’m running out of words. The midrange was working, then when they tried to take that away he was able to attack the basket. He’s probably a top 10 player in the league now and that’s definitely the case if he consistently can break down a defense like he did tonight.
	B+ Tiago Splitter, C 17 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 2 PTS | +9 +/-Seems to just be playing himself out of the calf injury and he looks fine. Keep doing what he’s doing and please don’t get hurt.
	B Tony Parker, PG 26 MIN | 3-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | +23 +/-Not a great shooting night, but he was aggressive and did a good job getting into the paint. He looked relatively healthy and guys were hitting shots at a better clip.
	A+ Danny Green, SG 29 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 11 PTS | +33 +/-Call it home cooking on offense. He just shoots better in San Antonio. What I’d really like to talk about is his defense on Chris Paul. Paul had shredded the Spurs the first two games and Green did such a good job forcing him left and not giving him a ton of space on that midrange jumper.
	B Jeff Ayres, PF 8 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | 0 +/-No dunk, no A.
	B+ Marco Belinelli, SF 16 MIN | 4-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | -3 +/-Keep shooting, buddy.
	B Aron Baynes, C 7 MIN | 1-2 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -3 +/-It was good to see him out there after hearing he probably wouldn’t play. Hit a couple of nice shots and got a nice shout out from Jeff Van Gundy.
	C+ Matt Bonner, C 16 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PTS | +1 +/-The Red Rocket might be a tad bit rusty. Still, the effort’s there and I’d rather him shoot a ton and miss then not shoot at all.
	A Boris Diaw, C 23 MIN | 5-8 FG | 5-6 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | +18 +/-Aggressive Bobo came out to play. And he’s what I like about what Boris is doing this series: It’s very easy to get intimidated by DeAndre Jordan around the basket. Boris doesn’t get scared. He’s used to being smarter than defenders around the basket, so he’s shown zero fear in this series so far.
	B+ Patty Mills, PG 15 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +7 +/-Not exactly Game 2 Patty, but it looks like his shot is back. Huge news.
	B Cory Joseph, PG 8 MIN | 3-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -3 +/-I’m going to miss CoJo when he gets a nice contract from someone else to be their back up next season.
	B+ Manu Ginobili, SG 17 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 2 PTS | +10 +/-Didn’t need to score but really filled the box score in every other way. And he did it in 17 minutes. Bonus.
	A+ Gregg Popovich Everything worked tonight. Everything.

Three Things We Saw

1. This is pretty much the opposite of what happened in Game 1, so don’t get carried away thinking Game 4 will be another blowout (though it wouldn’t be shocking either, right?)
2. Best part about this game, besides Kawhi’s overall brilliance, was the fact that no one got overtaxed minutes wise.
3. Four points tied Tim Duncan’s career playoff low. Spurs won by 27. That’s fun.

[Silver&Black]

Manu with his best two point performance ever...

Bobo with his best fifteen point performance ever...

And Kawhi

[BillMc]

Manu with his best two point performance ever...

Bobo with his best fifteen point performance ever...

And Kawhi

And probably Tim's best 4 point game ever. His D was unbelievable.

[Silver&Black]

And probably Tim's best 4 point game ever. His D was unbelievable.

True dat...

[will_spurs]

Tim, Tony and Manu combine for 12 points. Spurs win by 27. Looks like the next generation is already here...

[BillMc]

Tiago deserves some props. He's coming off injury yet kept sacrificing his body again and again. And he's got great lateral movement for a 7 footer.

[pookenstein]

Tiago deserves some props. He's coming off injury yet kept sacrificing his body again and again. And he's got great lateral movement for a 7 footer.

When he and Blake bumped knees, Griffin hobbled around for a few possesions, but Tiago played on like nothing happened. Loved that.

[BillMc]

When he and Blake bumped knees, Griffin hobbled around for a few possesions, but Tiago played on like nothing happened. Loved that.

Agreed!

[Fireball]

Tiago deserves some props. He's coming off injury yet kept sacrificing his body again and again. And he's got great lateral movement for a 7 footer.

Tiago was playing very physical and that, as always, is what hurts Griffin most ... hopefully Tiago at least stays in this shape. More rest is not likely possible because the other playoff series will be over soon.

[Chinook]

A+ Danny Green, SG 29 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 11 PTS | +33 +/-Call it home cooking on offense. He just shoots better in San Antonio. What I’d really like to talk about is his defense on Chris Paul. Paul had shredded the Spurs the first two games and Green did such a good job forcing him left and not giving him a ton of space on that midrange jumper.

See, this is what I was talking about DPG21920 . In Game Two, Danny made three threes on 75-percent shooting. In Game Three, Danny made three threes on 50-percent shooting. He shot better in Game Two, but we're still seeing folks acting like he Danny shot better at home so far.

[littlecoyotecoin]

Tiago deserves some props. He's coming off injury yet kept sacrificing his body again and again. And he's got great lateral movement for a 7 footer.

When he and Blake bumped knees, Griffin hobbled around for a few possesions, but Tiago played on like nothing happened. Loved that.

Key piece. Hope we can keep him patched up. It is a good time to bump all those threads where people were saying how soft he is and is not worth 8-9 million a year.

[DPG21920]

See, this is what I was talking about DPG21920 . In Game Two, Danny made three threes on 75-percent shooting. In Game Three, Danny made three threes on 50-percent shooting. He shot better in Game Two, but we're still seeing folks acting like he Danny shot better at home so far.

I got you - it is a funny phenomenon. I think Danny's GM1 shooting combined with his poor 2PT shooting altered people's perception of things. Either way, when Danny is playing like he has in the last two games, he's a boss.

[DPG21920]

Also, what a staggering stat that the Spurs big 3 scored 12 combined points and they beat the abo e sh*t out of the Clippers. There was no way in the past the Spurs could survive that offensive output and not only win, but destroy a legit playoff opponent.

Eyeball test, I for one didn't even recoginze they had scored so little. The game just felt like everyone scored except for that stretch where the Spurs went cold for about 5 minutes in the 2nd quarter. Tim's defense was just so incredible too. Parker, even though he started out shooting a little too much for my liking, looked a of a lot better in terms of speed/movement.

Also, how amazing is Kawhi? I was thinking after GM1 that his evolution on offense (like Pop) said would be to handle doubles in the low block. I was thinking down the road and the dude downloads a program to handle double teams a lot better in just two games.

Danny is a rock star. He absolutely stifled CP and it won't even be discussed in a major way. That's Danny.

How dumb is Doc? Spurs got great looks in GM1&2, but Clips played some serious pressure defense. So what does Doc do? He relaxes the pressure, plays more straight up and gets absolutely shredded with even better looks. Maybe he was forced into doing that because the high pressure was just too taxing, but what a mistake. If the Spurs managed good looks even under intense pressure/trapping, you saw the result if you lay off.

[Seventyniner]

See, this is what I was talking about DPG21920 . In Game Two, Danny made three threes on 75-percent shooting. In Game Three, Danny made three threes on 50-percent shooting. He shot better in Game Two, but we're still seeing folks acting like he Danny shot better at home so far.

To be fair, 3/6 > 4/11. But you're right that the fact that he shot better in game 2 than game 3 seems to be overlooked.

[SpursFan86]

See, this is what I was talking about DPG21920 . In Game Two, Danny made three threes on 75-percent shooting. In Game Three, Danny made three threes on 50-percent shooting. He shot better in Game Two, but we're still seeing folks acting like he Danny shot better at home so far.

I think it's just because of how bad (shooting-wise) he was in Game 1. He didn't just have a typical off night...he was 2/11 from the field and 1/7 from 3. And it is pretty amazing looking at his home/road splits over the season...he shot 47% from 3 at home, and 35% on the road. I haven't taken the time to compare that with other guys around the league, but I have to imagine that's a much larger disparity than you'd expect.

But yeah, he was great in Game 2 as well. Even when he's not hitting his 3s, he still needs playing time. His defense alone warrants him getting substantial playing time.

[Marcus Bryant]

Grade? Kawhi taught the damn class.

[SpursFan86]

Also, what a staggering stat that the Spurs big 3 scored 12 combined points and they beat the abo e sh*t out of the Clippers. There was no way in the past the Spurs could survive that offensive output and not only win, but destroy a legit playoff opponent.

Eyeball test, I for one didn't even recoginze they had scored so little. The game just felt like everyone scored except for that stretch where the Spurs went cold for about 5 minutes in the 2nd quarter. Tim's defense was just so incredible too. Parker, even though he started out shooting a little too much for my liking, looked a of a lot better in terms of speed/movement.

Also, how amazing is Kawhi? I was thinking after GM1 that his evolution on offense (like Pop) said would be to handle doubles in the low block. I was thinking down the road and the dude downloads a program to handle double teams a lot better in just two games.

Danny is a rock star. He absolutely stifled CP and it won't even be discussed in a major way. That's Danny.

How dumb is Doc? Spurs got great looks in GM1&2, but Clips played some serious pressure defense. So what does Doc do? He relaxes the pressure, plays more straight up and gets absolutely shredded with even better looks. Maybe he was forced into doing that because the high pressure was just too taxing, but what a mistake. If the Spurs managed good looks even under intense pressure/trapping, you saw the result if you lay off.

Yeah the offense seemed like it was clicking, and it was (in terms of ball movement and getting good looks), but the ending outcome on that end wasn't too special. We only had 3 players in double figures, and Kawhi was the only guy with more than 15 points.

It's not too surprising that Kawhi handled doubles much better. I think he had the ability and IQ to do it before Game 1, but it just caught them off guard. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team double Kawhi off the bat like that so consistently. I imagine having an extra day off between Games 1 and 2 also helped.

I know Parker is no longer the driving force of this team, but if you told me we'd be up 2-1 in the series with Parker averaging 5 ppg and 3 apg, I wouldn't have believed you. On one hand it sucks that he's struggling so much, but on the other, it's encouraging that we're still winning. We still have lots of room for improvement. Only shooting 34% from deep this series, and that's not a result of LAC playing great perimeter defense. Spurs have just had trouble hitting shots.

[Dex]

Tim, Tony and Manu combine for 12 points. Spurs win by 27. Looks like the next generation is already here...

[LoneStarState'sPride]

When he and Blake bumped knees, Griffin hobbled around for a few possesions, but Tiago played on like nothing happened. Loved that.

Tiago will break BG before this series is over. Mentally and physically.

[FkLA]

Also, what a staggering stat that the Spurs big 3 scored 12 combined points and they beat the abo e sh*t out of the Clippers. There was no way in the past the Spurs could survive that offensive output and not only win, but destroy a legit playoff opponent.

Why is that some kind of phenomenom? Maybe not 12, but pretty sure the Spurs destroyed plenty of teams during the dominant stretch of the winning streak with quiet nights from the Big 3.

When Kawhi gets fed and Enrique plays the Prigioni role good things happen tbh.

[will_spurs]

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[Dex]

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It's been a busy weekend!

Let's go for that third X today!