Tim Duncan
If you looked at the final score, you’d figure that Duncan had a bad game. If you looked at the stat sheet, you’d figure Duncan had a great game. The answer resides somewhere in the middle. The numbers against the Seattle Supersonics look impressive: 39 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and four blocks. But truth be told, Duncan struggled with some of the nuances of the game. His pick-and-roll defense was sub par and he oftentimes held the ball too long on offense. Overall, Duncan must be given his due for battling throughout the game. He needs to clean up a few loose ends, but the effort was there.
GRADE: 85
DECEMBER: 88.4
SEASON: 88.1
Bruce Bowen
After being called a “sissy” by Ray Allen last season, you’d think Bowen would come out ready to defend his honor. Guess again. Bowen got torched for the second time this season at the hands of his nemesis from Seattle. Allen scored 29 points, pulled down four rebounds and handed out three assists, while hitting 9-of-19 from the field, 5-of-9 from downtown and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Bowen, who played a season-high 37 minutes, tallied four points but finished and anemic 1-for-6 from the field. While he did a good job defending Allen in the third quarter, he was manhandled in the other three stanzas.
GRADE: 61
DECEMBER: 82.2
SEASON: 82.6
Rasho Nesterovic
If Nesterovic doesn’t show up for one of these games, the Spurs might want to consider placing his stoic face on the side of a milk carton. Their starting Slovenian center is nowhere to be found. After playing 11 ineffective and unenthusiastic minutes in the first half, Popovich glued Nesterovic to the bench for the second half. It’s tough to figure out what exactly is wrong with him. Is it a lack of confidence? Does he just not care enough to bring the necessary energy? Who knows, but the Spurs desperately need their starting center to show up for a game or two.
GRADE: 60
DECEMBER: 69.4
SEASON: 81.5
Manu Ginobili
Ginobili’s outside shot was falling, but he was unable to finish around the rim. For the game, he was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and only 1-for-9 on two-point attempts. He was in attack mode for most of the night, but his inability to finish at the rim diminished his effectiveness. He had a tough defensive assignment versus the 6-foot-10 Rashard Lewis, but did a pretty good job. Lewis scored 16 points and shot 6-for-11 from the field. Ginobili has had better nights, but this loss isn’t on him. There is a long list to go through before you get down to blaming Ginobili.
GRADE: 83
DECEMBER: 85.8
SEASON: 88.4
Tony Parker
It looked as if Parker had turned the corner, but then reverted into early season form against the Sonics. He had poor shot selection and wasn’t doing a good job of setting up his teammates. When the Spurs got down, he was playing too desperate and not sensible enough. The Spurs need him to be more evenhanded and just keep running the offense. For the game he finished with 16 points, four assists and three steals, while going 6-for-16 from the field, 1-for-6 on threes and 3-for-4 at the line. If there was a silver lining to his performance, it’d be that he played another good game defensively.
GRADE: 76
DECEMBER: 87.8
SEASON: 83.7
Malik Rose
Rose played a season-high 32 minutes and produced at an impressive rate. He recorded 10 points, six rebounds, an assist and a block, while hitting 5-for-9 from the field. Most important though was the energy and fire he brought to the court. He fought the Sonics for every inch and was up inciting the crowd throughout the game. He wanted to win this game and poured every ounce of himself out on the court. He had a couple mistakes here and there, but on the whole he played a very fine game.
GRADE: 91
DECEMBER: 87.4
SEASON: 86.4
Devin Brown
Brown played well, but not up to the recent standards he has set for himself. He completed the game with four points and four rebounds, while hitting 2-of-4 shots. His defense was adequate but could have been better. He lacked a little bit of that liveliness he had been bringing to the games, but it seemed like pretty much everyone was a step slow. Despite not having an overwhelming performance, Popovich must have liked what he saw enough to award him with 20 minutes of playing time.
GRADE: 85
DECEMBER: 90.4
SEASON: 84.1
Beno Udrih
This was not one of Udrih’s better showings of the year. He didn’t make an impact shooting the ball and was even worse at running the offense. He was pressured a lot by Seattle and didn’t get the team into its offensive sets. Also, a number of times he’d drive the lane and pass the ball out when he had an open layup. Scoring at the rim has been a problem so far for Udrih, who is trying to adjust to the athletes of the NBA.
GRADE: 77
DECEMBER: 85
SEASON: 82.4
Robert Horry
Horry brought a lot of oomph to the table, yet had a difficult night converting it into something positive. He finished with three points and three assists, while missing all three of his shots from the field. In a key stretch at the end of the third quarter, he failed to convert a couple shots around the basket that would have cut into the Sonics’ lead and changed the momentum in the game. His rebounding problem also persists, as he grabbed only one rebound in 13 minutes of play.
GRADE: 77
DECEMBER: 83.5
SEASON: 83.5
Brent Barry
Playing against his former teammates, Barry did next to nothing. After playing six minutes in the first half and hardly contributing anything other than substandard defense, Barry didn’t get off the pine in the second half. In addition to not hitting shots, he’s obviously not comfortable out on the court. The Spurs need him to find his rhythm and start to contribute so that these types of losses are few and far between.
GRADE: 76
DECEMBER: 73.2
SEASON: 86.4
TimVP, I know you are abxiously awaiting my grading of your grades...I'm sorry to disappoint you, but today I am just too heartbroken to think back on that game.
I do have a suggestion though...You should add another category to your grades:
Coaching.
I would normally never think of questioning someone who has more basketball knowledge than I could ever think about having, but after reading these grades for all this time, I just have to ask--do you grade Devin Brown on the curve? I will give you that he has shown flashes of absolute brilliance this year, but I thought he was atrocious last night. I was screaming at Pop to pull him out--and he gets an 85? Just the three turnovers alone (one I believe was the first play he made) should have brought his grade down. And when an "energy player" doesn't bring energy, he should be yanked.
I know this will piss off Whottt, but when we reduced the 20 pt deficit to 4, late in the third, Horry had the chance to cut it down to two in the precise moment the momentum had clearly shifted towards the Spurs. Horry cut to the hoop, caugt a nice pass (from TD?), prepared to dunk the daylights out of the SEA defenders . . . and the ball slipped off his hand.
I don't know if we had won the game had Horry made the play, but that dunk would've had a double impact: get us within one shot of taking the lead and the psicological impact it would have had on the players and on the fans.
In any case, I do not blame this loss on Horry. No way.
Interesting, my scorecard had this entry:
Radoslav Nesterovic
GRADE: 0
MB, you should know very well the only reason Rasho has been playing worse lately, is because he's been playing less minutes. And he's been playing less minutes for what other reason than because Pop has been trying to raise his vaule so when the offseason comes, he will be the best trade bait they can make out of him.
He's been playing less minutes because that is what he deserves.
Pretty tough to argue with that assessment.
I'm also not sure I can agree that Devin Brown played at a high rate last night. I thought Devin got a lot of minutes because Pop was looking for a 2nd quarter spark, and then had to spell Manu and Bowen in the second half. Mostly, I thought Devin looked overmatched for large portions of last night's game.
Just keep it up smeagol...you've been warned, next time...lava city if you get my drift.
I know that. I'm not stupid. I was making fun out of someone who asserts players play less because their GM/coach wants to raise their trade vaule. Which could only be attributed to someone who probably IS stupid. Someone who wouldn't understand sarcasm either.
My, touchy aren't we?
I never said that Rose was benched to improve his trade value. Hence the reason your lame attempt at sarcasm failed.
Your backpaddling is funny by itself. If this site offered more than 15 pages of threads I would go and find the thread where you, against all reason, kept reasserting that. There are many people that where there so you're not fooling anyone.
Anyway, just out of curiousity, why did Rose get benched then?
No backpeddling here since my argument was that the pressure Rose was receiving from both within and without the organization was indeed negatively affecting his play. For those of us who have been paying attention that indeed was reported to have been the case within the last couple of months.
Have the Spurs wanted to move him because of his contract irrespective of his play? Sure. Perhaps someone like yourself believes that they haven't for the last couple of years but anyone who has been paying attention knows that the Spurs have wanted to move him for budgetary reasons.
Now that you can't misrepresent my views any longer without looking like an even greater fool, accept the fact that your precious Rasho is stinking it up and stop trying to change the subject.
Thank you.
Timvp, are expecting Bruce to stop Allen from hitting his FTs?Bruce Bowen
After being called a “sissy” by Ray Allen last season, you’d think Bowen would come out ready to defend his honor. Guess again. Bowen got torched for the second time this season at the hands of his nemesis from Seattle. Allen scored 29 points, pulled down four rebounds and handed out three assists, while hitting 9-of-19 from the field, 5-of-9 from downtown and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Bowen, who played a season-high 37 minutes, tallied four points but finished and anemic 1-for-6 from the field. While he did a good job defending Allen in the third quarter, he was manhandled in the other three stanzas.
GRADE: 61
DECEMBER: 82.2
SEASON: 82.6
I guess that Bowen is being a bit too cautious with that new hand check rule and off the ball contact rule on the perimeter.
TIMVP,60 for Rasho you are being to kind.
Rasho played bad. If your going to suck at least suck with conviction and heart. I didn't like it when Horry bobbled those 2 or 3 trips to the basket but atleast he made the effort.
My main question after this game is this: Are the Spurs now a running team or a half court team? They always seem to do better when they run. They always look glued to the floor in the half court set.
First of all, you have been saying over and over that the reason Malik was playing badly was because he wasn't in the rotation, refuting that he wasn't in the rotation because he was playing badly. Saying something different now is what i mean by backpaddling.
And as for what you have just written, well that makes perfect sense. Give someone a big contract, and then try desperately to move him because of budgetary reasons. Anyway the 'why was Malik benched' discussion have been long dead. By some budgetary miracle the Spurs have a ton of cap space this now and the pressure on Malik to perform has stopped and he has been playing well.
I am more curious as to what goes on inside your little head when you employ the Rasho bashing into full gear. If i am a fan of a player, it won't stop me from admiting his shortcomings (yes, Rasho has been playing pretty badly lately), and if i dont like another player or i felt he was a threat to a player i liked (something tells me you don't like him because you have a hard on for Rose to start) i will still give him credit if he plays well. You on the other hand, have gone to bizzare lenghts to discredit any kind of positive quality a player you dislike has. When Rasho was doing well and people were praising him for his play, you kept on complaining about him, and about things that didn't even have any relations to the game. Now, though, when he's in a slump, you're like an ape on steroids, starting thread after thread about how he sucks, how he needs to be traded, who he needs to be traded for etc. I can't quite understand how a person gets into that frame of mind.
I said over and over that for the Spurs to be successful Rose must be a part of the rotation because they are sorely lacking a physical presence when Rasho and Horry are the other two primary bigs in the rotation opposite Duncan.
Well it did happen. If you dispute that then you should think twice before you start telling me what I do and do not understand.And as for what you have just written, well that makes perfect sense. Give someone a big contract, and then try desperately to move him because of budgetary reasons.
Do you recall when Rose was signed to his contract? It wasn't 2003, it was 2002. Why is that significant? I'll let you try to figure that out.
Actually, the pressure is still there since the Spurs signed Ginobili and Parker to those deals.Anyway the 'why was Malik benched' discussion have been long dead. By some budgetary miracle the Spurs have a ton of cap space this now and the pressure on Malik to perform has stopped and he has been playing well.
That's because Rasho has not been playing as he should. Perhaps in your little head he has but he still has yet to establish himself forcefully in the paint. He's teetered at times on the edge of tolerability but his game remains soft, uninspired, and flat out disappointing.I am more curious as to what goes on inside your little head when you employ the Rasho bashing into full gear. If i am a fan of a player, it won't stop me from admiting his shortcomings (yes, Rasho has been playing pretty badly lately), and if i dont like another player or i felt he was a threat to a player i liked (something tells me you don't like him because you have a hard on for Rose to start) i will still give him credit if he plays well. You on the other hand, have gone to bizzare lenghts to discredit any kind of positive quality a player you dislike has. When Rasho was doing well and people were praising him for his play, you kept on complaining about him, and about things that didn't even have any relations to the game. Now, though, when he's in a slump, you're like an ape on steroids, starting thread after thread about how he sucks, how he needs to be traded, who he needs to be traded for etc. I can't quite understand how a person gets into that frame of mind.
Given the standard established by some members of this forum for what you can criticize about a big's game, Rasho has earned the criticism he has received from me and others. If you can't handle that, tough. And stop misrepresenting my views.
Thank you.
Pop talks about that on the Pop Show.he oftentimes held the ball too long on offense
http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/w.../pop2_1207.mp3
"Pop talks about that on the Pop Show."
Great!! There IS a pink elephant in the room, in plain sight. It's an old habit of Tim's. We'll see how successfully he can break it.
next, somebody ask Pop about Tim + kneepads.
I thought people would like to know that the Spurs/Duncan are working on the problem.
"I thought people would like to know that the Spurs/Duncan are working on the problem."
Admiitting it is the first step. But, damn, we aren't dealing with TD of 1996 vintage, learning the ropes. 8,9 years into the NBA, he's well into his prime. I find it kind of late for him to be having trouble how to handle collapsing defenses, how to read the floor, so that he can do something with ball, anything, in under half the shot clock.
Whatever, I'm really looking forward to him NOT freezing the offense.
Yeah if that Duncan guy would just step up once in a while and do something.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
