Corporate knowledge: Duncan rests, Ford leads before he falls

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With an eye on a 20-point lead over the Denver Nuggets and his mind on the plane ride to Oklahoma City for a game against the Thunder tomorrow afternoon, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich pulled Tim Duncan in the first quarter and left him on the bench for the rest of the half.

Tim Duncan earned himself some rest in helping the Spurs get off to a quick start and a big lead, hitting three of his first five shots and assisting on two other first quarter baskets to account for 10 of the Spurs first 14 points. Along the way Duncan even stepped into the way back machine, pulling a Blake Griffin alley-oop moment over Kia stand-in Timofy Mozgov-only Tim Duncan style. And by Tim Duncan style I mean on his tiptoes while laying it in.

Even as the Nuggets rallied in the second quarter, Duncan stayed on the bench.

“You don’t plan for something like [resting Duncan] ahead of time,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. “You play the game and whatever the game dictates, that’s what you try to do.”

Last night the game, and Denver Nuggets coach George Karl’s small lineups dictated that Duncan play only a shade under 20 minutes. Duncan sat most of the fourth quarter, even with the game in question, appearing only long enough to in the final minutes to throw a nifty pass to Tony Parker to seal the game.

T.J. Ford is a difference maker: George Hill is the better overall player at this point in their careers, but T.J. Ford is the best playmaking backup point guard the San Antonio Spurs have had since the days of Speedy Claxton.

Ford has been quietly leading the second unit to respectability for the first time since Manu Ginobili graced their ranks. The Spurs backup point guard finished with eight points and seven assists on a short night-Ford took a hard spill on a non-call in the first half and played less than 10 second half minutes, but appeared okay afterwards-none bigger than finding Richard Jefferson for a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter after the Spurs forward ran down and blocked a streaking Ty Lawson.

Richard Jefferson, Mr. Dependable: After every practice, without fail, San Antonio Spurs forward works with coaches on his shooting from the corners. For at least five minutes after every workout Jefferson receives passes and shoots over closeout defenders, also alternating one-dribble pull-ups to either hand.

The work paid off late in the fourth quarter when, trapped by Nuggets in the corner, Jefferson reproduced the same one-dribble pull-up he works on everyday. It was one shot in another strong performance for Richard Jefferson (19 points, three assists, one huge block).

“He’s been shooting the ball well, he’s playing aggressively, and he’s got a lot confidence right now,” Popovich said. “He’s been a big part of winning ball games.”

  • Anonymous

    I’m sorry to disappoint you Jesse, it was none other than Danny Green who found Jefferson on that 3 pointer.

  • TDzilla!

    Tank the season? yeah right

  • Anonymous

    George Hill may be a better “guard” than T.J. Ford, but T.J. is a far better PG than George Hill. A fortunate series of unfortunate circumstances has landed Ford on the Spurs. And while many that log on to and/or post on this site may already be familiar with Ford’s existence in this league, I’m not sure all were familiar with his college days at UT. The best college PG in the nation at that time.

    Prior to injury, Ford was putting up Tony Parker type of numbers and in some instances a better PG than Tony. Here’s hoping to a return of prominence for T.J. Ford though such a feat will surely warrant him being gone from this team next season after his one year stint.

  • Tjsmile_1421

    GOOD WIN……BUT THE SPURS STILLL NEED TO IMPROVE THEIR DEFENSE……..AND TP9 IS THE KEY FOR THE SPURS RIGHT NOW……..HE NEED TO RUN AND AGGRESSIVE…….

  • Anonymous

    You’re correct about Tony needing to be aggressive. And… that he was at the end of the Nugget game. If not for Tony’s play at the end of that game, I’m not sure the Spurs win.

    That said…the emergence of Ford back to a similarity of how he played before his injury just may be a way for the Spurs to land a top post player via trade using Parker without diminishing the backcourts ability to perform at a high level all the while vastly improving it’s front court contributions. Hence a better all around team than exists at this time.

    A better and more diverse front court probably would not have allowed the Nuggets to score so easily and thus not needing “heroic” action by Tony at the end of the game to seal the win.

    Not that I think this is a necessity for the Spurs to win or believe its something they have to do, I just think it would vastly improve the Spurs chances to winning more games now that (and hopefully increasingly) T.J. Ford’s climb back to being a prominent PG in this league.

  • Anonymous

    Not yet. Or possibly not at all. I’ve changed my thoughts on that for now. Didn’t bank on green being the defensive monster on the perimeter, but TDbestever makes a good point about getting that dream big now but in a trade possibly for JA. Then the word “tank” will be just a faded afterthought if we do get that dream big sooner than later.

  • Anonymous

    He’ll probably stay but we will be stacked with PG’s if DeColo continues his improvement overseas and they bring up. He had a slump but later brought his game back up to a very respectable level. That would give us TP, TJ, CJ,and ND. Wow T-wolves 2.0

  • Anonymous

    Little soon to be talking about it but I’m getting pretty excited about what we have now and If the draft and stash Spurs in DeColo and Richards and Hanga raise their level of play and we get that dream big people are asking for in a trade this season this team will not even blink going into next season providing Timmy hangs around to mentor and rub off some of that Championship presence.

  • Colin

    I still don’t get all this talk about a “dream big.” Where do you guys think of this stuff?

  • grego

    Nando will never be a Spur. Joseph is only a Sophomore in college at the moment. He still has time.

  • Anonymous

    TDbestever seems to think we can pull it off in a trade.

  • Anonymous

    Then your FO needs to stop drafting overseas players.

  • Anonymous

    Is that your opinion or do you have inside information? What I thought.

  • MG20TD21

    that’s good to hear. a little positive thinking on this board is what is needed.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t mind the Spurs drafting imports, as long as they actually import them.

  • Bushka

    Yeah stop drafting those overseas players like…Manu..and Tiago…and Tony Parker…

    just freaking stop it.

    Overseas players already on a contract with a professional team are great second round investments. If they show promise its a win, if not you have invested very little.

    Europe is where we got Gary Neal as well by the way.

  • Tim in Surrey

    I still think that Davis Bertans is by far our best overseas prospect. But he’s a good bit further away. Right now, I doubt that he’ll develop into a true big man although he’s so young it’s hard to project how he’ll develop physically. But he seems more out of the Toni Kukoc/Dirk Nowitzki school of stretch fours (although unlikely to reach that level of excellence). I still think the only way we’re getting a dream big man is through the draft. (Note: Festus Ezeli is an intelligent, long, athletic, and hard-working Nigerian who didn’t play organized basketball until his first year in college. Sounds like a “Dream” big man to me! And unless he leads Vanderbilt to the Final Four, he should be available in the middle of the first round.)

  • Anonymous

    I haven’t seen another Manu or Tony come down the pipeline in almost 10 years from overseas. And in regards to Gary Neal he’s 27 going on 28 and it took him all of 5 years to get on board somewhere
    (here) in the NBA . If you’ve read some posts in the last 6 months people around here are talking about foreign players that can come in here right after they’re drafted and contribute. That hasn’t happened since Manu or Tony came to the team. We are talking about drafting players and using them straight away like Anderson and Leonard. I know they are higher draft picks than these foreigners but at the same time instead of waiting 4- 5 years or never for an overseas player people we are suggesting to get a college kid they can sample right away.

  • Anonymous

    See that’s the point several people are trying to make at this point in regards to the FO strategy. When will we see Bertans 3-4 years from now? We need him now but is he ready? No . Same for Richards he has a great outside shot but can’t defend a lick right now in a Swedish league. Somebody here even thinks DeColo isn’t ever coming to the NBA because he’s not not good enough. Last time I checked he was playing fairly well in one of the best Leagues outside the NBA. You know the one where the Gasols, Manu, and Tony have played for. And we don’t know if Bertans is Bonner 2.0 if he ever makes it to the NBA. I am all for good overseas talent but only if they can try them out when they’re drafted not 5 years later. We don’t have time for that the way this FO is rebuilding on the fly.

  • Bushka

    I see your point. My idea is that i’d rather have a 2nd round pick sit in Europe and get better without any pain to the franchise.

    The development league is ideally suited to picking up 2nd rounders and guys who have paid their dues. Playing the numbers is way smarter.

    If we’ve been doing it as long as we have the fruit is now on the vine so to speak. Just keep picking what works up and leaving the rest to mature.

    I think people thinking that getting a second rounder on the roster immediately is a good thing need to look at just how ridiculously small the second round success rate is, even smaller if you consider how many of them stick and figure it all out with the team that gave them their rookie contract.

    Theres an absolute cubic arseload of talented second rounders scattered throughout the states that the Spurs cycle through every year.
    Bring em in. Give them a 5 day contract send them down to the torros farm through high quality prospects and see what rises to the surface. We already do this. We identify talent as well as if not better than any other team in the NBA.

    Stashing in Europe is just part of that farm system.