El Conclusion: Tiago, Duncan spectacular in Game 5 win

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Dallas Mavericks 103 Final

Recap | Box Score

 109 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 38 MIN | 7-16 FG | 2-4 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +14Not an awesome first quarter, but he was great in the final three. He’s struggled with Samuel Dalembert’s length, but eventually the Spurs figured out Dallas couldn’t stop a pick and roll if Pop and Ime Udoka were running it. Duncan’s rim protection has also been an overlooked plus from him this series.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 35 MIN | 6-10 FG | 2-3 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | +13Was a lot more aggressive looking for his own shot. Earlier in the series, he seemed to let whatever was going on offensively effect what he was doing defensively. He just wasn’t all over the place like he normally is. He seems to have shaken that funk so far.

Tiago Splitter, C 32 MIN | 7-10 FG | 3-6 FT | 12 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 17 PTS | +9Tiago Stockton as Chris Webber called him during the broadcast. Probably looked a little more like Webb’s old teammate Vlade Divac with the display he put on in the fourth quarter. First he was the one rolling to the basket on pick and rolls and then he started firing passes to wings on the give and go. Tiago’s been the second or third best Spur in this series.

Tony Parker, PG 38 MIN | 9-23 FG | 4-4 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 23 PTS | +3He was awesome in the first quarter, getting to the rim, hitting the mid-range jumpers, etc. He slowed down throughout the game, but between a tweaked ankle and being on zero sleep thanks to his fiance having a kid and all. The most important part was he stayed aggressive.

Danny Green, SG 16 MIN | 2-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | +12Good bounce back game for Danny. Hit both his three-pointers, picked up some big blocks. He doesn’t need to be awesome, he just doesn’t need to be invisible.

Matt Bonner, PF 3 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +5The random minutes have been, well, random. But the Mavs are still sticking a defender on him, which is keeping the paint open, so good work?

Boris Diaw, PF 22 MIN | 2-4 FG | 4-4 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -15There were times where he looked unsure of what he wanted to do. Then he’d either find someone underneath the basket or score on his own. It was infuriating and awesome at the same time. He’s also struggling on defense with this team. No one is an ideal match up for him to guard.

Patty Mills, PG 16 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +1Never stops working, but the shot isn’t there right now. Guessing it’ll come back.

Manu Ginobili, SG 30 MIN | 6-14 FG | 4-6 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 19 PTS | -1Another all-around good game. The Mavs have no answer for the pick and roll. Pocket passes for everyone!

Marco Belinelli, SG 11 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -11Four shot attempts is tied for his second most this series. It’s not all his fault, he usually has a defender glued to him. He still isn’t playing good defense either. Let’s move on.

Gregg Popovich
Liked to rotation choices today. Also liked his sideline interview with Jaime Maggio.

One Thing We Saw

  1. The Spurs survived the Vince Carter game. 28 points on 7-8 three-point attempts. He was awesome. I’m likely to push for the Vince Carter to Spurs this summer. You’ve been warned.
  • The Kawhiet Storm

    Solid win. Tiago played like a beast. This, to me, was the most Spurs like win we have had this series. We weathered the punches and finished the quarters strong. Ginobili is like that girlfriend who cheats on you but who’s Dad is a former pro player, has a sweet lake house, with jet skis, is a sexual dynamo and Has hot friends she invites into the sack. And has a go kart. In other words, he will either make your life a rap video or completely kick your nuts into your heart. One more game.

  • Titletown99030507d

    Tiaaagooo! Just give him the minutes pop and he’ll do the rest. Like I’ve been saying for 3 years play the man big minutes already. That experimenting rotations with Ayers and Baines left Tiago in left field scratching his head. Just let him goooo!

  • SJ

    hahahahahahahah dead.

  • Graham

    Relax man, This just happens to be a great matchup for him. He’s earnin that paycheck, but let’s not act like he’s turning into Hakeem or something.

    Still, agree this was a great game and a great series so far for Tiago. Even when he fades to the background when we play teams like Miami or Houston, We need to remember he’s here for the Dallas’ and Portlands of the world.

  • Mô

    I think you’re a bit severe with Boris, 8 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, no turnovers in 22 minutes, looked good to me, especially in the second quarter when he was quite aggressive, and I think we need it that way!

  • Mike Smith

    This Bonner man crush is ridiculous. Zeros across the board but gets the same grade as Bobo because Dallas never left him open. Bonner is getting the Scalabrini effect. High praise just for getting in the game.

  • David Donnel

    I think Bobo deserves at least a B- for those 6 assists, ball movement is at a premium in this series and in general due to the nature of the offense.

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  • wannabe_fake_tough_guy

    Agree 100%! And he’s lobbying to get Carter signed in the off-season. Couple of good outings won’t make me forget how Vinsanity tanked on his contract and team, and won’t make me forget he’s a (soon to be) 38 year old 1-way player.

  • wannabe_fake_tough_guy

    The 48MOH grading app must still have that glitch ; - )

  • Joseph Dooley

    Green: 2 threes, 2 blocks, 2 steals. That’ll do.

  • Titletown99030507d

    I’d like more in the 3 department. Kinda like how he was doing in the regular season. There’s no excuse for any of those sharp shooters to just stop their production just because the regular season is done and over with.

  • Titletown99030507d

    Did I say he was Hakeem? Try digesting what I write. More minutes less bench for the sake of experimentation. He can go more than 20 min. Timmy goes 30 min (reg season) when the game is out of reach. And he’s the old one. Scratch your head on that. There were many a time pop pulled Tiago right on the brink of his DD. Well it’s probably goes back to the fact Buford picked him. Sorry Pop you have to play him now. All that experimenting with Ayers , Daye, and Baynes didn’t do Tiago any good. I don’t care what anybody says but Tiago is moving into another level of play. But they have to play him.

  • Graham

    …or maybe all that ‘experimentation’ was simply Pop preparing for a doomsday scenario if one of the 3 rotation bigs got hurt, plus managing a notoriously injury prone Splitter to minimize injury risk.

    Given what we saw in-season, and given what we are seeing in the Playoffs, I think Pop managed it perfectly, though I doubt you’d admit that.

  • 3Chord

    Totally agree. He was a beast early in the game and set the tempo nicely. Leading team in assists seems above average to me.

  • 3Chord

    Thumbs up to Chris Webber’s in-game commentary. He’s got a great understanding of the Spurs style of play. One of the few TV announcers who manages to call games evenly, drop relevant game knowledge AND brings great energy to the games.

  • camnpat

    I am not too fond of his delivery, but he is way above any of the annoying people ABC puts on their broadcasts.

    With that said, I agree on the even handed approach he takes.

  • camnpat

    And let’s not forget Boris has done a good job on Dirk when Splitter is off the floor, while the few instances Bonner has defended him weren’t good.

  • ali

    So our starting PF struggles for 3 qrt and gets n A-, and our back-up pF leads the team in assists and 0 turnover and gets a C?????
    Green does absolutely nothing wrong, was all over the place on D and gets a B-?

    are you trying to have a prefect curve? you seem like my college professors randomly assigning grade just to have a curve.

  • interxavier

    It’ll be interesting to see how the Spurs will move on as a team after Tim and Manu officially retires in the near future. For my two cents, I believe the next big three will be Tiago, Kawhi, and Tony/Patty. Splitter has the skills to slide to a 4, which leaves us on a mission to find the right player for the 5. This may sound out of the blue but maybe Roy Hibbert (assuming he wants to leave Indiana during a troublesome late-season) could be our man.

  • LukeDawg

    Ha best 4 sentences I’ve read all week.

  • LukeDawg

    Tiago had been just tremendous and i expect we will see his minute totals continue to climb this series and next (especially if the spurs draw Portland). But when teams insist on playing large quantities of small ball, it will always be difficult to get him his usual minutes. To Pop’s credit, he has tried staying big like Indiana does, but until he learns to capitalize against opposing shooting guards (such as vince carter or even Derek Fisher), his inclusion as a 2nd big against those lineups will continue to result in causing more harm than good I’m afraid.