El Conclusión: Detroit Pistons 105, San Antonio Spurs 104

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Detroit Pistons 105 FinalRecap | Box Score 104 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 22 MIN | 7-12 FG | 1-2 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 15 PTS | -17

I’m not sure why he played only 22 minutes, as the Spurs don’t play again until Friday. They haven’t played since last Friday, either. The guy’s averaged more than 32 minutes per game this year, which would be the highest since the 2008-09 season. So I get why a break might be in order. But there’s been a lot of time for rest around this game. I dunno, man. I don’t get wh-WAIT a minute… the Spurs were outscored by 17 points while he was on the floor tonight? A team-worst? Man… Andre Drummond is kind of a monster. Duncan did put up 15 and 7 in 22 minutes though?

Tiago Splitter, PF 28 MIN | 4-9 FG | 2-4 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | -10

Honestly, the Spurs’ frontcourt just got beat up. The length of Monroe and the athleticism (and length) of Drummond are just too much to deal with. Tiago was good in the first half, but he did not help the mess that was the third and fourth quarter. Like Duncan, the offense was OK. Actually, he contributed more to a productive offense than Duncan did. But if the two Spurs big men suck defensively without Leonard on the floor, there’s virtually no hope.

Tony Parker, PG 13 MIN | 0-3 FG | 3-4 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 3 PTS | -1

It’s understandable that a coach would want to ease his starting point guard back into action, but Patty Mills and Tim Duncan completely flubbed an inbounds pass that led to that Brandon Jennings run-out and score. Still, Parker didn’t even play in the second half, so dusting him off in that situation would’ve probably been a bad idea. So… well… incomplete.

Danny Green, SG 33 MIN | 5-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 13 PTS | -3

Danny was fine in this game. He was part of some inefficient lineups, but his overall contributions were on par with what he’s done lately. The Spurs were outplayed pretty significantly from the four-minute mark of the second quarter on, so if you played big minutes your numbers probably weren’t looking great. As an individual, Danny was good on both sides of the ball.

Marco Belinelli, SG 23 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | -3

Belinelli has this thing where he puts up good numbers and has his aesthetically pleasing moments offensively, and then his lineup numbers show the Spurs were better on both sides of the ball when he was on the bench. I like Marco. I like the way he fits on this team. But this stuff — which happens all the damn time — is hard to ignore. He’s just such a defensive liability.

Jeff Ayres, PF 17 MIN | 5-8 FG | 6-7 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +16

This was one of the best games I’ve ever seen Jeff play. He had an impact all over the floor against the Pistons. In the 17 minutes he was on the floor, the Spurs outscored the Pistons by 40.4 points per 100 possessions. When he was on the bench, the San Antonio net rating was -20.8. He was scoring, rebounding, defending, and even blocking shots on top of his usual dirty work. But, man, for some reason y’all really dislike a guy who barely makes any NBA money (relatively speaking).

Matt Bonner, PF 8 MIN | 0-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 1 PTS | -7

The king of the plus/minus was … not that tonight. Ooof. Matty had a rough one.

Boris Diaw, PF 22 MIN | 3-5 FG | 3-5 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +16

Boris finally looked like himself again. The production level we’ve come to know wasn’t fully there, but I’m not as worried as some are about the guy; Boris isn’t exactly the “give it 100 percent every single night” types. But the Spurs don’t need THAT guy right now. The guy that showed up tonight will do, though. He was quite good in just 22 minutes.

Patty Mills, PG 21 MIN | 2-10 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | +13

Patty’s still working on that shoulder, but the energy appears to be there. That’s kind of what you’re looking for at this point. Is he in shape? It appears that he is… now we’ve got to see if the shot starts falling. Hell, the Spurs were really good when he was on the floor… except that last possession. Ah, damn, Patty… that’s worthy of a mark-down.

Cory Joseph, PG 27 MIN | 3-4 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | -3

Again, he was not spectacular; but again, when he was on the floor, the Spurs were better. He’s just found such a nice flow and a very confident style of game. He’s making himself some money.

Manu Ginobili, SG 28 MIN | 3-7 FG | 3-4 FT | 3 REB | 8 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 11 PTS | -6

The Manu ride is such a roller-coaster. He had his moments in this one, but was part of those Spurs lineups that just fell apart on the offensive end. I’m not sure how the return of Parker affected things, but as the game moved into the second half, Ginobili and the Spurs really started to get beat up.

Gregg Popovich
Look, if you want to criticize the fact that I never change his grade, I don’t care. I will almost always accept his reasons for anything he’s done, basketball-related or no, because he knows far more about the game and the inner workings of his team than I ever will. If you vehemently disagree with something he does in a game, I’d love to know what it is that you think you know.

Two Things We Saw

  1. The Spurs were once up 54-36 with four minutes remaining in the first half; from there, the Pistons went on a 46-25 run over the next 16 minutes.
  2. I dunno… weird game. We’ll have more tomorrow. That was a bad loss. Free throws, miscues, turnovers… all of it. Crappy. This really looked like one of those games the Spurs would run away with. The strange season continues.
  • Graham

    Team collectively couldn’t put this one away. Team seems to lack that fire they had last year and it’s starting to show, letting these highly uncharacteristic lapses in execution cost them time and again.

    Let’s hope they get themselves fixed this month. Now’s the time to do it

  • brunostrange

    The “I’d love to know what it is that you think you know” line is silly. It’s basically saying, “yeah, well, could you do better?” In which case, why award any grades at all to anyone? Could you do better than Duncan or Boris?

    Popovich is one of the all-time great coaches, but he’s not immune to laying an egg here and there. He is human, after all. Some very bizarre, and frankly misguided, decisions by him in this game (really, it’s not a sin to point this out). It’s almost as though he was randomly putting in different line-ups just for the hell of it. I’m all for experimentation, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that currently SA is the seventh seed in the west, just a half-game ahead of the eighth seed team.

    I’m not ready to say the sky is falling, but it’s clear there is something just not clicking in San Antonio this season. Yes, December was a gauntlet, especially so for a team riddled with key injuries. There’s been a lack of consistency in the effort and communication department that is starting to get worrisome, however.

  • merkin

    It’s comical the way the Spurs have lost some of these games.

  • Manu Ginobili Jr.

    I think people are overreacting. I would pick the spurs over any team in a 7 game series, even without homecourt advantage. Perhaps that is naive, but when we have played good teams with all our main guys playing, we have looked good. In fact, I think we are undefeated in those games.

    As far as the grades go, I think you were a bit too kind to Splitter and too harsh to Manu. I thought Splitter was absolutely terrible. He didn’t rebound, defend, or play offense. He was absolutely abused by Monroe and Drummond. It’s fine if they outperform you, but at keep it competitive. He was 4-9, but he should have been better. He kept getting great passes from Manu and I think a couple from Joseph but I don’t think he converted a single one where he got fouled or had to deal with some contact. As for Manu, I think it’s unfair to say he was “part of those spurs lineups that fell apart.” In the first half, his lineups did great. In the 2nd half, they didn’t, but that was the case for all of the Spurs lineups in that half.

  • Manu Ginobili Jr.

    I know, I was actually genuinely laughing after this one. I thought it was pretty funny, especially because I was thinking “wow, this is exactly what happened against Alba Berlin” when Jennings put up that shot.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    I wouldn’t dare pick them over Golden State as of today. Maybe in May when everyone is healthy hopefully, but they’d get their doors blown off right now.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    Interesting observation: 10 Spurs attempted free throws in this game, with 9 of them missing at least one. I’m always confused over why a team so married to the fundamentals of basketball collectively struggle at one of the most fundamental things you can do on a basketball court: Make a free throw.

  • duckduckfoose

    People complaining about this team must not remember how we comically blew leads in after the championship between 2007-2009

  • fkj74

    That was a pitiful dsplay. Hope we play better with more consistency sooner or these season will be lost. Pop gets a F. He stopped using the platoon system which had worked well. He had cold Duncan throw in the inbound pass . Guys practise your free throw shooting..that was pitiful. Go Spurs!

  • Graham

    Well sure not today, the team’s in shambles and has major injury issues. What’s being said is fully healthy we’d beat Golden State hands down. Hell earlier this year when GOLDEN STATE was healthy we pantsed them on a SEGABABA in THEIR gym when we were only down Splitter.

    Just let this team get healthy before we go jumping off cliffs.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    How can you say, “hands down?” I love the Spurs as much as anyone on this blog but come on now. A completely healthy Spurs team would have their hands full with Golden State right now. The team we beat in the playoffs a couple years back had no Iguodala, no Draymond Green, no Speights. Additionally, Steph, Klay, and Barnes are all better than they were last time around.