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If Pau returns and LaMarcus finds himself, today he was 6/20 FG, we will be fine.
Tough loss to swallow. The Spurs and Grizzlies played a tip and tuck affair on Wednesday night in the AT&T Center. San Antonio took the lead late thanks to a heroic midrange jumper by DeMar DeRozan with less than two second remaining. On the proceeding possession, Rudy Gay got called for a foul that sent Marc Gasol to the line. After Pau's little brother hit both foul shots to give Memphis the lead, LaMarcus Aldridge missed a shot at the buzzer while Gasol avoided getting called for a foul.
The Spurs got unlucky with the late whistles, it's safe to say. However, give the Grizzlies credit. They outplayed the Spurs a majority of the game. In that sense, they deserved the win.
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LaMarcus Aldridge
The bad: LaMarcus Aldridge's outside jumper remains broken. Against the Grizzlies, he was 1-for-8 on jumpers outside of the paint. Even in the paint, Aldridge's touch isn't what we've come to expect. In the last five games, he's shooting 32.4 percent from the floor. For the season, his field goal percentage is now at 40.6 percent. The good: Outside of missed shots, I don't have much to complain about regarding Aldridge's play Wednesday night. He ran the court, he was very physical, he competed defensively in the lane and moved his feet out on the perimeter to the best of his ability. Additionally, Aldridge's passing was better than usual and he went without a turnover in 41 minutes of play.
Grade: B
Summary: Aldridge played really well outside of failing to put the basketball in the hoop.
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DeMar DeRozan
Offensively, I thought DeMar DeRozan was okay-ish. He shot well enough but he was sloppy; too many times he left his feet with nowhere to go. And while that shot with under two seconds remaining was hugely clutch, that was half of the four points he scored in the fourth quarter. The Spurs need him to be more demonstrative late in close games. Defensively, DeRozan wasn't much of a factor. He didn't make plays on that end but he also avoided glaring mistakes.
Grade: B-
Summary: DeRozan had his moments but wasn't much of a game-changer.
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Rudy Gay
Rudy Gay looked a lot better physically compared to how he looked in the last outing in what was a second game of a back-to-back. He had his legs back and could move and jump once more. Offensively, he was really good -- as evident by his 21 points on ten shot attempts and no turnovers in 34 minutes. In hindsight, the Spurs should have gone to Gay much more often than they did. His defense was mostly adequate and his defensive rebounding was very helpful. His foul against Gasol with less than a second remaining was . . . disappointing. While that's almost never called a foul in that situation, Gay should have been more under control when closing out on a known flopper.
Grade: B+
Summary: Gay was quite good but the only thing he'll remember from tonight's game is the foul.
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Bryn Forbes
Entering the game versus Memphis, Bryn Forbes had been sizzling from deep. In the month of November, he'd hit 51.1 percent of his three-pointers. Unfortunately, he experienced some regressing to the mean. To his credit, his misses didn't cause him to hesitate and he had a handful of crafty drives to the bucket. In the three games since switching back to the starting point guard role, Forbes has one turnover in 79 minutes. Defensively against the Grizzlies, Forbes struggled. He gave good effort against Mike Conley but Memphis' star point guard was able to get whatever he wanted against Forbes' D.
Grade: C
Summary: Forbes missed three-pointers and had his hands full on defense.
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Dante Cunningham
After going 5-for-5 from three-point land against the Pelicans, Dante Cunningham started off this game by draining his first two looks from downtown. He also had a couple of his better passes of the season, while also being strong on the backboard once again. That said, I thought his defense was pathetic. He offered little to no help when defending pick-and-rolls and got blown by repeatedly in one-on-one situations. Pop even had to bench him for multiple defensive mistakes. That's not what you want from a player who's playing mostly due to what he can hypothetically bring to the defense.
Grade: C-
Summary: Cunningham's hot shooting continued but his D was abysmal.
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Patty Mills
Impressive. I don't have much to critique when it comes to Patty Mills' play tonight. Defensively, he was really active. It's scary to note but he was probably the team's best perimeter defender against the Grizzlies. He gave up a few layups on overplays but he was at least trying to make things happen on that end. On offense, he had one of his better passing games and was efficient from the field. Mills has had some really bad games this year but he was honestly really, really good on this night.
Grade: A
Summary: Mills was strong in all facets and helped give the Spurs a chance to win.
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Davis Bertans
Davis Bertans returned to the lineup after missing two games with a concussion. I was pleased with how he played. Offensively, he spaced the floor wonderfully, he had a couple great passes and was extremely decisive with all his action. Defensively, he had his best rebounding game of the season and was moving his feet well. It wasn't all good, though: he got overwhelmed in the paint by bigger players and he made a few mistakes rotations-wise.
Grade: B+
Summary: Bertans was the first player off the bench and he responded with a strong outing.
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Marco Belinelli
Wow. Marco Belinelli couldn't have played much worse. Defensively, he was sieve. Multiple Grizzlies easily got around him and to the basket. On offense, there was no playmaking, no energy or anything else of note. Twice the Spurs had 2-for-1 opportunities at the end of quarters and Belinelli thought it was a good idea to chuck two of the worst attempts I've ever seen.
Grade: F+
Summary: Pitiful.
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Derrick White
Um, I guess this a tiny step in the right direction. Derrick White is still shying away from handling the ball and also passed up wide open shots. But, hey, he didn't turn the ball over and played relatively error-free. White had a few good passes and played solid defense. Let's hope that elusive rhythm is right around the corner.
Grade: B-
Summary: White wasn't bad. He wasn't good, either.
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Jakob Poeltl
Jakob Poeltl didn't play much but he did well in his limited minutes. He had a good finish on offense and a well-timed block on defense. After a slow start to the season, he's starting to play with confidence and it's making him much more valuable.
Grade: Inc.
Summary: Poeltl was fine.
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Pop
I had a few areas of disagreement with Pop: 1) Aldridge played too much. Why not give Poeltl more minutes, especially with Aldridge struggling from the floor so much? 2) The coaching staff should have called more plays for Gay. 3) This looked like a game where extended minutes for Bertans could have made things a lot easier on offense. 4) It's difficult to justify having DeRozan inbounding the ball on that final play when he's the clutchest player on the team.
Grade: C-
Summary: Pop had some head-scratchers.
Looking ahead: The Spurs head out on a four-game road trip that starts with a back-to-back in Indiana and Milwaukee. Considering they're now under .500 at 8-9, this is obviously a dangerous time for the good guys.
A 2-2 road trip would be a success but it won't be easy.
If Pau returns and LaMarcus finds himself, today he was 6/20 FG, we will be fine.
Memphis has a good team, and it's good to see us being compe ive against them especially without our second and third offensive options not shooting the ball that well.
Pau Gasol
Talking to yourself.
Thanks for the grades Timvp. I don't agree on Mills' A grade. His defense on pnr is abyssmal, in particular the last shot that Conley made behind Gasol. Mills practically gave up without much of reaching, that gave Griz the lead. In the past Pops would yank him for going behind a known shooter. When is LW4 coming back? Any chance we play Moore some defense? Anything to have a different look at D.
This loss hurt. It was winnable and we deserved it by hanging in there. They took Conley punches. We couldnt hit 3's. We gave them only 4 offensive rebounds. And in the last 1.2 secs, refs just take it away.
Thanks for the grades!
Usually I agree with most of your grades but C for Forbes is way too generous. I thought he was abysmal on defense and doesn't deserve more than a D. There was a telling episode back in the 3rd: after Conley routinely destroyed Forbes 2 or 3 times in a row the next defensive possession Forbes was like "okay I'm taking Kyle Anderson this time, I got him" (while messing team's defensive transition pathing, by the way); naturally the Griz threw the ball to Kyle and he slowly went from 3pt line to the basket and scored with no pressure from Forbes whatsoever. Back in the day Pop used to bench role players for the rest of the game for such defensive lapses but here he put Forbes back in to end the regulation!!
Refs were really bad and nervous. But I thought Forbes defense or rather the total lack of it was an important factor of this loss.
Forbes continues to get graded way better than he deserved, smh. And it's not a plus that he's not hesitating. He's too much of a ing chucker.
I am still so dirty on those calls. The NBA just made it clear that it will reward non basketball plays, Ie a foul on a floor, than a shooting foul.
defensive sieves on the pnr as Forbes Belli and Mills kill this team in every game
I don't think White is shying away from the ball, I think Pop took it from him. Pop's put him off he ball.
He is shying from taking open shots, but that's because he doesn't have a green light. If he misses any shot he knows Pop can pull him immediately and he's experienced it enough to worry about it
Marco and Mills have green lights galore. They can in any game take awful shots and be scoreless for 20 minutes and still get to play in a crunch time. White can't shoot his way out of a slump because he'll get benched
Rudy Gay did not commit a foul. A defensive player commits a foul only when he "initiates the contact."
Gay did not initiate the contact on that play. Gasol did. Look at Gasol step toward Rudy with his left foot.
You can see Gasol's left foot moving forward as the contact occurs. Gasol also dropped his shoulder and leaned toward Rudy.
No foul on Rudy. The refs made a call that is contrary to the official NBA rules.
Mere contact is not a foul on the defender. The defender must also be the one who initiated the contact.
Too bad the Spurs don't really have another option as far as backup wings go, because Belinelli has been pretty damn bad this season.
Should include a grade for the refs. God I hate them.
It still hurts
We was robbed! Gay wasn't a foul. Gasol definitely fouled Aldridge by landing underneath his feet.
Honestly, both shouldn't be called.
Good to see it only took a few games for DWhite to be completely neutered while Bryn gets the greenest light in the league and is assigned to guard Mike Conley.
Can't beat that coaching baby
Guys played well. Lamarcus still inconsistent and that hurts the team the most.
Yeah Marco was bad but not as bad as depicted here.
We dont have any decent bigmen. We are lucky Conley shot like or this is easily a 25 point loss
Well put, Derrick obviously has to get over himself like Bryn and Marco have...
Pretty sure, Pop had the biggest smile on his face watching Bryn get lit the up Conley time and time again, like a proud grandpa....
Shame that Pop won't get the Jerry Sloan treatment tbh
If pigs fly and my wife transforms into Gisele, I will be fine.
That was certainly a foul on Gasol, since LMA jumped straight up, and Gasol initiated the contact. No question about it. Gasol fouled him.
Any time a defensive player runs into a shooter who's in the air, the way Gasol ran into Aldridge, it has to be called a foul, because it's dangerous. For that, the time on the clock doesn't matter a bit. You let defenders hit shooters who are airborne, you're going to get hard falls off balance, and heads hitting the floor. Cir stances like time on the clock don't matter, it's gotta be called, every time. It's a safety issue.
Gay definitely fouled Gasol. You want to argue about the heave from Aldridge, that’s one thing and a legit controversy. The previous play Gay definitely left his feet and definitely fouls Gasol. It’s easy to call since Gay was so wild on his close out.
It's the Zaza gambit, that the league was supposed to police more closely.
That is mistaken. Gasol initiated the contact when he stepped into Gay. Look at his feet. It was not a foul on Rudy. Just bumping together is not enough to make it a foul on the defender, at least not under the rules.
Thanks timvp, and Happy Thanksgiving!
I only have to disagree about LMA. Whatever else he does, I wouldn't give him better than a C unless he shoots better. Scoring is basic to his job.
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