El Conclusión: New York Knicks 104, San Antonio Spurs 100

March 17, 9:45 pm — by

San Antonio Spurs 100 FinalRecap | Box Score 104 New York Knicks
Tim Duncan, PF 34 MIN | 6-12 FG | 5-6 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 17 PTS | -7 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 36 MIN | 3-9 FG | 6-8 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 3 TO | 13 PTS | +5 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Tiago Splitter, C 28 MIN | 5-10 FG | 2-2 FT | 13 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | +12 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Tony Parker, PG 38 MIN | 9-20 FG | 3-4 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 21 PTS | -4 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Danny Green, SG 34 MIN | 3-12 FG | 1-1 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | -10 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Jeff Ayres, PF 6 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -5 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Reggie Williams, SF 5 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +2 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Marco Belinelli, SF 30 MIN | 2-5 FG | 7-7 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | -7 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Matt Bonner, C 13 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +6 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Boris Diaw, C 26 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -12 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Patty Mills, PG 6 MIN | 0-5 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 1 PTS | +3 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Cory Joseph, PG 9 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -3 +/-

It was the Knicks.

Kyle Anderson, SF DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | +/-

It was the Knicks.

Gregg Popovich
Don’t question Pop.

One Thing We Saw

  1. Losing to the Bucks Wednesday night would not be ideal with a murders’ row of opponents coming up.
  • GlassofOrangeJuice

    Damn. This game was just………EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW

  • Al

    Well done on the grades. Nothing else needs to be said. Absolutely pathetic performance.

  • Ed Yates

    Not sure how your surprised at this point. The Spurs have, without exception, lost interest and looked like crap every single time we start thinking they’re back. They’re not coming back. “The Spurs aren’t walking through that door!”. Hope we all know what to do w/ our time during the playoffs ’cause we won’t be watching these guys long. 1 and done, whoever they get. Sad to say.

  • TD BestEVER

    Why does POP get an A+, he called most of those GARBAGE plays down the stretch tonight!!!! Our smooth and crisp offense once again slowed down and became stale and stagnant! We played alot of 1 on 1 ball and lost a game late. All we had to do was keep moving the ball and bodies and eek out a win to stay in 5th place while looking to move onto 4th or 3rd but once again bad execution came into play and we couldn’t score a bucket down the stretch or in overtime. This has become the SPURS MO, either playing great or just playing middle of the road and looking bored out there……

  • Ryan McShane

    A few things:
    1. Kyle Anderson should get an I for his DNP
    2. Splitter should have been in in the final minutes of overtime for Duncan - look at their +/- on the night. Lou Amundson had a career high in rebounds because Duncan wasn’t trying.
    3. At least this was on the road?
    4. I am sure the front office in New York didn’t want this win, but Derek Fisher’s guilty pleasure is trying his hardest against the Spurs.
    5. I love Duncan, but games like this and the one where his record-setting >=1 FG streak ended make me fear he sees his own mortality and decides to hang ‘em up.

  • Ryan McShane

    I’ve been eyeing that 3 seed for a while… If the Spurs win this game and the Cavs’…they’re only two losses behind the Blazers and Grizz.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    Popovich is a human being, and last I checked, they still make mistakes. So let me correct your grades for you: Popovich = F. It was the Knicks.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    He forgot to give one person a F.

  • brunostrange

    I think you got Tiago and Pop’s grades confused. Tiago is the only Spur that actually played with effort tonight, and as for Pop, I’m not sure why anyone would decide to play iso-ball for the last five minutes of a game against a team with no interior defense. I know this blog has a “thou shalt not criticize Pop” mantra, but that was boneheaded.

    I happened to be at the game tonight. The Spurs played with no effort for the entire game. The past two weeks may have been a reminder of what this team can be, but the team that played tonight is the team that we’ve seen for most of the season. A team that is out-competed on a regular basis, and a team that plays timidly when the going gets tough. I realize that reading too much into one game is not wise, but the fact is that the team that was on the court tonight resembles the team that we’ve seen most of the season.

  • thedrwolff

    That game stuck a fork in it. good job Trevor. That sums up every single spurs fans attitude EXACTLY. So disappointing. NO team plays like that when going for a title…no one. NOT ONE guy stood up and said FU. How much do we miss 2003-2011 Manu…try 1-6 in OT and Kawhi shows not even the slightest interest in becoming THAT guy. I think the franchise just died in front of our eyes and the state of disbelief we’ve been in for the last 8 games was our own illusion. We all need to go mourn/frustrated/tip plants in our own way then gather to pay respects.

  • Ryan McShane

    This, and other games this season, have been ones where the ball has been forced into Kawhi’s hands to test him. He is the ball-handler; he is the decision-maker. It could be a coaching strategy. Fly or die trying future-face-of-this-franchise Kawhi Leonard.

  • TD BestEVER

    It’s not just that Kawhi though. Parker’s ISO game was pretty much garbage tonight and TD spends so much time the perimeter setting picks and stuff he is NEVER in a good rebounding spot on the floor when the shot goes up he is always trying to come over the top and tip it to himself. All around failure…..

  • Shew

    I understand why you love Pop but the buck stops with him. At some point you have to hold the coach accountable, and after a season like this its time you start sharing the blame as well as the glory.

  • TD BestEVER

    RANT Time!!!! I’m about to go all 2010 on yall old school people who remember the good old days at the Original 48minofhell.com……….So here’s my player break down of the Spurs roster tonight….Keep in mind no one is perfect but as long as everyone does what they are best at we should still be the best in the NBA.

    TD - Offense looked good tonight (Would have loved for him to have gotten 1 or 2 more POST ups late tonight when the offense wasn’t looking good at all) Defense- LOOKED OLD tonight trying to chase Lou around and keep him off the boards(Not that I’m shocked by this) Grade - OLD

    Kawhi - Offense looked passive and shot was falling. Needs to take it to the whole more when the Jumper isn’t going(I give him a slight pass on the FT’s because he has never been a great FT shooter) Defense - Worst Defense I have seen all year out of him, He HAD ZERO IMPACT on the Defensive END tonight and that’s what he SHOULD always have to hang hat on. Think a combo of Bruce Bowen and Ron Artest. KL has to make an impact but tonight he just got scored on and took to the hole by everybody he guarded…..Grade - Looked High

    Parker - Offense was aggressive early but settled for far too many jumpers late. I mean 21points on 20 shots just isn’t going to cut it. Defense - just bad but he has never really been great so I can’t say I’m surprised….Grade - SMDH 20 shots!!!!!!!!

    Tiago - played well tonight on both ends of the floor BUT got his shot blocked with less that a minute to play in the 4th by 5′ 11″ pg SHANE LARKIN!!!!!!!!! Grade - B minus (Larkin actual height is probably 5’9”)

    Green - Shot was off and Defense didn’t make any stand out plays - Grade E for effort but F for that missed Dunk

    Ayers - Grade F - dude has Dwight Howard touch around the rim (Stone hands anyone)

    R. Willams - Grade F saw nothing in those 5 minutes that made me believe you deserve anything but Garbage time

    Marco - Defense is poor as always but he did get 4 rebs. Offense - shot was ok but go to the line 7 times and made them all. Grade Big fat F - that play was designed for a 3 and you had to step on the line…..

    Bonner - Don’t remember anything he did good or bad, Grade N for Nonexistent

    Diaw - Offense was aggressive but just like Parker when the J isn’t falling needed to attack the rim more. And where was his post game tonight?? Defense never been all that great. Grade - BAD on both ends

    Patty - 0 for 5 - Newest member in the IcyHot frat house- Grade - Some where in Antarctica chilling

    Joseph -Offense Was aggressive just didn’t have it really going today. Defense didn’t make an impact tonight at all that I can remember!! Grade Needs a consistent jumper bad

    Anderson - Grade - when you get DNP is games like this, you are just BAD

    POP - did great until the last 5-6 min of the game when we became the Parker or Kawhi ISO show and failed to get any kind of rhythm going. Defense I have no idea what our pick and roll defense is suppose to look like but I know TD had to try and guard Galloway on the wing on a few occasions which has been seen more and more lately. Grade I hope he is saving his good stuff for the playoffs because this is getting out of hand

    Rant over!!!!!!!!!!

  • DorieStreet

    Yeah, that lost last week doesn’t look so “good” now…..as I recall about half the fans posted as such.
    Spurs are 1-6 in OT games. The six teams above them (yes, the Spurs have slid back into the 7th spot) in the west are a combined 20-4.

  • RawJa

    Popovich gets an F! He GAVE this game away. We’re rolling up 13 with almost 9 minutes left in the 3rd and he takes Tiago out. By the time he’s back in the game (almost 12 effing minutes later!) we’ve given up the entire lead. Under 24 seconds to play, Pop pulls him AGAIN and guess what?? They score at the rim. But it doesn’t stop there! Our 38 year old PF plays the ENTIRE overtime and Tiago doesn’t touch the freaking court. LOOK at his +/- numbers. Pop gets a friggin F.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    They shouldn’t have brought the exact same team back. A still-in-his-prime, somewhat accomplished veteran (or two), hungry and desperate for a ring would have added a much need dose of intensity, desire, and focus to a bored-looking, tired team.

  • Graham

    something something trap game something something playing down to the competition something something ‘pathetic’ something something time to panic something something.

    In all seriousness a sneaky good loss for Pop to lay into the team for being a little too full of themselves and a reminder they can’t take nights off. Let’s see how they respond tomorrow. With the Thunder on the verge of imploding I think 7th is still our floor. Let’s see how badly this team wants the higher seed.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    LOL good stuff!

  • RawJa

    No. Doubt. Not sure that Tiago deserves an F for kicking ass and then inexplicably getting pulled AGAIN.

  • DorieStreet

    I thought LOSING TO THE CAVALIERS IN OVERTIME last week was the “SNEAKY GOOD LOSS”……and as far as seeding goes—-the 7th spot may be our ceiling.

  • Graham

    Looking at the standings………..I respectfully disagree. Houston barely ducked a bad loss as well, and Memphis was not so lucky. You really think Dallas turned the corner and is out of reach? The Clippers too, for that matter?

    Bad loss is bad, but it’s only 1 in the L column still and notching a win where we weren’t expecting can cancel it out. Let’s say we win tomorrow in Milwaukee. How would we react if we won tonight but lost tomorrow?

    Like Matt Tynan said. Give this team the benefit of the doubt. I think the 5 seed is still a plenty realistic goal.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    Giving the benefit of the doubt is one thing, and they’ve certainly earned it to a degree. But you can’t ask nervous fans to ignore disturbing, season-long negative trends, either.

  • Graham

    Sure it’s fine to be nervous, but I’m simply saying not to over-react. We’ve been struggling through injuries and motivation issues and are comfortably in the 7 spot in a historically brutal west still, tied in the loss colum with the 5th seed. It could be a LOT worse.

  • DorieStreet

    Check the standings, Graham. All of the cotending west teams have been going at a 6-4 /7-3 pace since the beginning of January. No one is going to just start losing in bn

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    Okay so what’s your personal ceiling for the Spurs then this season? What are you happy with? One series win? A conference final’s trip for the fourth straight season?

  • Graham

    Isn’t that the point? We are on that pace too now and it’s neck and neck. This loss isn’t in a vacuum, those teams have lost games they had no business losing too. 7 is floor 5 is ceiling seems perfectly reasonable

  • Graham

    Ceiling? Second title run. Floor? Tough first round loss that goes 7. I’d be satisfied with a tough loss in 2nd round to eventual champs from the west I suppose, or hell even a first round one of we somehow draw Memphis.

  • esdub

    A lot of well deserved negative comments for the Spurs on this one, I am going to put forward one positive one. This is the loss the team needed to have. After a recent run of good form and that big game vs the Cavs last week, it appeared that the team took the night off tonight and didn’t take care of business. This game will remind them that while they had seemingly turned the corner and got their game back, there is still work to be done and have to put forward the effort every night to get the results they want.
    Moving on, next up - Bucks in Milwaukee…

  • filemon

    I will be satisfied with 50 wins. But im not so sure we will be there.

  • wannabe_fake_tough_guy

    Man, I LOVE Kawhi…when he’s on. Too many games this year (OK, maybe just 3-4) where it looks like he phoned it in, just going through the motions. Too many times where he get’s sphincteritis: missing FTs that could ice a game; the post-up to “nowhere”; hesitancy when primary ball-handler; etc. And a new one tonight: it seemed like he was in it for maybe 10-15% of the defensive plays. YES, everyone’s entitled to a stinker. But I’m not sure if he’s ready to be “The Man”…yet. You just have to know that RC is prepping a “Kawhi minus one” mixtape to play for his agent.

    All you dudes wanting to have a go at me for being “too hard” on Kawhi…well this was nothing to what he heard from Pop last night. Trust me on that.

  • Comrade747

    Love these grades

  • Ryan McShane

    I only caught the last 10 game-minutes. But based on the number of times Tim Duncan has gotten around 3 rebounds for a full game recently, that sounds about right. And Parker seems to only turn it on when he wants to. I hope that’s the case. I just don’t have the same feeling about this year’s team that I had about the last three teams. Here’s to free agency…

    Bill SImmons just said in his trade value column that Portland should be really scared of the Spurs stealing Aldridge.

  • Ryan McShane

    I feel like Pop should put a little more faith in his bench in close games when his starters are tired. It’s that Mavs series from 2009 all over again… I remember Tony Parker carried the team with 30+ points and had chased JJ Barea around all night… but his legs were gone and he missed shots. Cory Joseph, I’m sure, dreams of playing in these moments.

  • brunostrange

    I don’t think Aldridge is going anywhere. He’s on a team that is clearly ascendant, why would he want to leave that? (that, and the fact that the has stated that he’s not leaving Portland). The Aldridge and Gasol talk that has been going around this season is, in my opinion, media-generated buzz, and little else. Both of those guys are in really good situations (though I suppose if MEM were to bow out in the first round of the playoffs, that may change things).

    While we’re on the subject of nice-to-have free agents, though, I wouldn’t be too surprised if SA made a run at Kevin Love. He does not fit into CLE’s system, and by all accounts is unhappy there. I think he’d fit in very well in SA, teamed up with Tony and Kawhi.

    Of course this is all just speculation and wish-lists. Having said that, I imagine Manu will hang it up after this year, and though I love Timmy, he’s finally starting to look old out there a lot of the time. I would not be too surprised if he decided to call it a career after this season.

  • Ray Briggs II

    When I clicked on the article I was thinking ‘I hope everyone got an F’ and then I was rewarded. What a terrible game.

  • TD BestEVER

    The bottom line is everyone could have played better but if this is TONY PARKERS and KAWHI team they have to get us over the hump last night…….

    We shouldn’t have to talk about TD rebounding or mills/Greens shooting….or where was Tiago…..none of that matters if our closers didn’t blow the save last night to use a baseball reference

  • Ryan McShane

    Just quoting Bill Simmons. I don’t think either of those guys would come here either, but it’s a nice thought, isn’t it? I don’t see Ginobili coming back as a player, but definitely as a coach. I wouldn’t be opposed to him coming back on a minimum salary! And Tim Duncan on a minimum salary too. *crosses fingers*… No, the Spurs need another athletic wing/forward, especially if Green leaves. I think that’s probably priority number one after they sign Kawhi to however many years they can snag him for at the pre-TV max. Splitter and a focused Diaw (if such a thing existed outside of 2014) is not that bad of a starting line-up and Baynes has shown great improvement this season. The Spurs are most susceptible to teams with two or more hyper-athletic guards/forwards.

  • brunostrange

    Agree that athleticism will be a big need this off-season, and I too imagine there’s a decent chance Green leaves. I assume a club out there will throw money at him, and you can’t blame a guy like Green - who will likely be at the highest market value of his career this summer - for wanting to cash in. I do hope SA finds a way to keep him, though.

    As for Manu, though it’d be nice to see him on the Spurs’ sidelines, he’s stated repeatedly his desire to go back home and become involved with Argentinian basketball in some respect.