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Great writeup timvp. No disagreements at all.
San Antonio began their four-game road trip on the right foot with an impressive 111-100 victory in Indiana. The Spurs got out to an early lead and, despite a few hiccups here and there, cruised to a relatively easy victory.
Sure, the Pacers didn't have All-Star Victor Oladipo (or Myles Turner, for that matter), but in their last home game Indiana demolished the Jazz. The Spurs desperately needed a feel-good victory on the road after getting robbed by a whistle (or a lack thereof) last game -- and that's exactly what they got.
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LaMarcus Aldridge
After massively struggling with his shot lately, particularly on the road, LaMarcus Aldridge delivered a vintage performance on Friday night. And, honestly, it could have been even better. Aldridge totaled 33 points on 14-for-25 shooting from the floor but he also inexplicably missed a handful of shots in the first half that were within two feet of the basket. But more important, considering his recent midrange misfires, is the fact that he connected on 5-of-9 shots from outside of the paint. The foundation for his offensive eruption tonight was running the court hard and playing physically in the lane. He was simply too big and too strong for the Pacers to handle. Defensively, he was also solid; he guarded the rim well, moved his feet when defending pick-and-rolls and inhaled nine more defensive boards. Let's hope this all-around masterpiece (outside of his errant first half chip shots) is a performance he can build upon.
Grade: A
Summary: Aldridge was dominant and could have easily gone for 40-plus points.
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DeMar DeRozan
With Aldridge doing a lot of heavy lifting on the offensive end, DeMar DeRozan played more of a facilitating role -- and it worked out. In most cases, I would criticize DeRozan for not being more aggressive but his laid-back approach was appropriate due to the cir stances. Although his scoring wasn't efficient, he handled the ball a lot, made a lot of plays for his teammates and limited his mistakes. On defense, he defended on the ball more than usual and did an admirable job. When the Spurs went small, DeRozan helped by boxing out with uncharacteristic vigor.
Grade: B
Summary: This wasn't a typical DeRozan affair but he adjusted to the situation well.
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Rudy Gay
A healthy Rudy Gay continues to be the X factor for this year's Spurs squad. When he's active and moving well, the good guys look a whole lot better. Against the Pacers, he stuffed the stat sheet: 11 points, 12 rebounds, a team-high seven assists and zero turnovers in 27 minutes of action. Yeah, that's outstanding production. I will say that he missed about three or four other possible passes to open shooters -- but that's being rather picky. Defensively, he was better than usual. His main task was slowing down Thaddeus Young and he did that well. Pulling down a team-high 12 defensive boards was also extremely helpful.
Grade: A
Summary: Gay played really, really well.
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Bryn Forbes
Bryn Forbes played the role of The Closer tonight. In the first four and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, he scored eight points and then assisted on a Gay three-pointer to push San Antonio's lead to 19 points and essentially end the game. Up until that point, he was struggling with his shot but Forbes came out firing in the fourth and it paid off. He did have some negatives: Forbes committed a season-high four turnovers, he had a couple careless fouls and his defense was erratic. But all's well that ends well, right?
Grade: B-
Summary: Forbes was iffy until a well-timed mini explosion in the fourth quarter.
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Dante Cunningham
Dante Cunningham was asked to defend Bojan Bogdanovic and, well, he couldn't. In the first quarter, Bogdanovic got Cunningham in foul trouble within two minutes. The truth is that Cunningham is too slow-footed to defend any player who even moonlights as a small forward on offense. His value on defense relies on hustle, boxing out and defending the mobile power forward types. On Friday night, Cunningham's offense was probably a bit better than usual. He moved with and without the ball confidently and avoided any blatant mistakes.
Grade: C-
Summary: It's tough to accept when your defensive specialist can't defend his man.
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Patty Mills
Patty Mills put together another strong performance. Offensively, he was efficient scoring-wise, aided the team's overall ball movement, brought the ball up the court quickly and remained a constant threat. Defensively, he was flopping too much but he also recorded two of the team's three steals and did a better than usual job at stopping penetration.
Grade: A-
Summary: Mills is starting to string together positive outings.
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Marco Belinelli
Marco Belinelli still isn't shooting straight but there were signs of improvement in Indiana. He was in attack-mode on offense but didn't solely rely on a happy trigger finger. Instead, he looked to pass early and often, which helped promote team-wide unselfishness. Defensively, he was average. Belinelli is going to have to start shooting better to truly reach his potential but this outing was at least a step in the right direction.
Grade: C+
Summary: Belinelli isn't making shots right now but he found other ways to help tonight.
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Jakob Poeltl
The good: Jakob Poeltl continues to look more and more confident. When he moves freely and without thinking too much, he's quite mobile and can get up and down the floor fast. That aspect was valuable tonight in transition defense. Offensively, he actually looked decent next to Aldridge for the first time this season. He even authored a couple nice Pau Gasol-esque high-low passes. The bad: His positioning when defending pick-and-rolls left a lot to be desired. He struggled to hold his ground when the Pacers got physical, which made it difficult for him to come down with defensive rebounds.
Grade: B-
Summary: Poeltl is improving.
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Davis Bertans
Davis Bertans is another player who appears to be rounding into form and finding his niche in this year's team. Offensively, he didn't hesitate; when he had an inch of space, he fired away. Bertans also made a couple plays off the dribble and looked comfortable doing so. Defensively, he made mistakes but I thought he gave better than usual effort when boxing out.
Grade: B
Summary: Bertans spaced the floor on offense, didn't get totally obliterated on defense.
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Derrick White
Derrick White continues to do a whole lot of nothing on offense. It's good that he has cut down on his mistakes but he needs to rev up his aggression-o-meter if he's to have any impact on that end. Right now, he doesn't look comfortable dribbling or shooting. Defensively, he made a few plays including drawing a charge in transition and challenging a couple shot attempts.
Grade: C+
Summary: Hopefully White has a confidence-boosting performance soon. He desperately needs one.
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Pop
I thought Pop was too conservative and ended up playing Aldridge and DeRozan too many minutes. While, yes, blowing this victory by playing the bench too much would have really hurt, it never really seemed like the Pacers were primed to make much of a run. As it turned out, the Spurs now have a nearly impossible game tomorrow night in Milwaukee after Aldridge and DeRozan both logged 37 minutes. On the other hand, I liked that Pop rested Gay adequately, found extra minutes for Poeltl and sat Cunningham when he struggled. Pop drawing up multiple plays for Forbes in the fourth quarter also paid off handsomely.
Grade: C-
Summary: Pop didn't want to risk losing this game at all.
Looking ahead: This was a good win. The defense was stout and Aldridge hopefully busted out of his prolonged slump. Saturday night in Milwaukee is going to be really challenging but the Spurs have a chance if their new Big Three can carry forward the level of production we witnessed tonight.
Great writeup timvp. No disagreements at all
Appreciate these post games analysis. Probably the only reason I kept coming back to this site.
thanks as always....agree on all, except the fact that we can't be too proud of a win against a team lacking his two main players.Tomorrow is gonna be different, also because Milwaukee is is coming from an unexpected loss against the Suns...
the Spurs need all the possible wins, so that was a great result, but without Turner and Oladipo, that does not mean anything in terms of team evolution (spurs were demolished at home by this team healthy), I don't give a about the Jazz, so that's it, today will really be a real test.
Thanks for the grades, I agree with you on those. Look at real +/- and you see what the real problem of this team is: the bench. The starting line up is ok and can keep up with most of the league, but our bench is horrendous. Also Cory Joseph was killing us unless Derrick White defended him. The problem is White is now in Pop's dog house cause Pop loves his military pecking order. I hope he can take some of Belinelli's minutes in the future
Good write-up, i feel like we are on the verge of improving quite a bit. I also think that Pop's coaching has been much better this year, given the challenging situation. Derrick white is basically an end of first round rookie, we can't expect much of him, but somehow i still do.
Impeessive?
Did Oladipo even play?
Thanks for the grades Timvp. It was a much needed win and hopefully a morale booster for the guys. Can Eubanks not play defense at all and give LMA mich needed rest especially on the first leg of b2b? Likewise White for Demar?
Last 3 games have been wins for the spurs do that's a good sign hopefully. Obviously one was stolen but we are left being compe ive.
Safe to say as Lamarcus goes so so the Spurs?
Thought the same.
Yes. Because he gets fed a lot and if he's just lazily chucks the ball the entire team's percentage goes down the drain.
Makes sense to have DeRozan, Bertans, Gay, Aldridge.
Bertans should never be the 4.
Poeltl A+
We really desperately need a couple of actual small forwards. We have no-one who has that combination of mobility, size and skills. It kills out line-ups. Not sure what we can do to fix it until the offseason...
Thanx for the grades!!..they were very welcome!!...
Trade LMA for Davis. Pelicans get a big to replace Davis since he's leaving. Spurs get a nice rental and hope he decides to stay after helping us win a ship
In all seriousness this was a much needed win, but I'm not reading too much into it since they didn't have Oladipo. If they somehow pull off a win tonight and LMA plays close to how he played last night then I'll be impressed. We all know how Milwaukee is like the Bermuda Triangle to the Spurs though so I'm not holding my breath.
A win is a win. Spurs need to win winnable games at the end of the day. LMA needs to feel those shots are sinking, more touches on Demar to create, drawup open shots for Forbes, Bertans, guards fighting through pnr, switches on bigs contest, closeouts. These take time and a W at the end of the day if Spurs do these help, Oladipo or not. Keep pounding the rock!
Gotta take any win. I am sure the Grizzlies aren't turning down that game the refs gifted them (and admitted they blew that call).
Was a lucky confidence booster last night. Indiana is a good team but without Oladipo and Turner they theoretically should've had no shot but they have a winning culture their now and some good support players. Ultimately, unless Aldridge starts playing more consistently this team is going no where.
If the Spurs lost this game, Pop may have even been on the hot seat (via the media).Pop
I thought Pop was too conservative and ended up playing Aldridge and DeRozan too many minutes. While, yes, blowing this victory by playing the bench too much would have really hurt, it never really seemed like the Pacers were primed to make much of a run. As it turned out, the Spurs now have a nearly impossible game tomorrow night in Milwaukee after Aldridge and DeRozan both logged 37 minutes. On the other hand, I liked that Pop rested Gay adequately, found extra minutes for Poeltl and sat Cunningham when he struggled. Pop drawing up multiple plays for Forbes in the fourth quarter also paid off handsomely.
Grade: C-
Summary: Pop didn't want to risk losing this game at all.
Looking ahead: This was a good win. The defense was stout and Aldridge hopefully busted out of his prolonged slump. Saturday night in Milwaukee is going to be really challenging but the Spurs have a chance if their new Big Three can carry forward the level of production we witnessed tonight.
There are not going to be many "gimme" games for this team, so any win is going to be valuable and probably hardfought. Pop knows that he has to use whatever star power he has to win as many games as possible, so he will have to keep using DDR and LMA as workhorses, carrying the load with more minutes than Spurs fans are used to seeing. Remember that the standard minutes per game for starters used to be 30-35 average while the Spurs were the first and only team resting starters and cutting their minutes, even in important games.
I don't think Pop should get criticized for having our stars play big minutes. He has no choice. Look at the roster and we just don't have the players on the bench who can really play acceptable minutes in rotation right now. If we have to have Belinelli play minutes for his ability as a passer or defense, we have a player who can't pull his weight right now. If Pop somehow gets this team into the playoffs and past the first round, he should be coach of the year.
Really? What media? Bc Pop is on the hot seat all the time lately...
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