El Conclusión: Memphis Grizzlies 95, San Antonio Spurs 87

Fell one point shy of tying Karl Malone in career double-doubles, which is a bummer. But it’ll happen soon enough. Timmy didn’t have his best game, as he had issues Gasol’s size and length all night. That gigantic dude will do that to everybody at some point. But a sort of damning number in this one: The Spurs were 7.8 points better than the Grizz per 100 possessions when Duncan was on the bench, and even with his more obvious offensive problems, he didn’t make a big mark defensively either. Frustrating night for the Big Fundamental.

Tiago was fine on the defensive end tonight, but man he was bad offensively. He’s improved a little bit in terms of his post-up abilities, but that doesn’t mean he should be trying to put shots up every single time Jon Leuer’s on his hip. Splitter was on nearly a 14-shot-per-36-minute pace. His normal pace: 10 shots per 36 minutes. It just felt like he was forcing it in one-on-one situations. Just work within the flow of the offense and things will be fine, man. He had the best defensive night of any Spur, but it’s like his offense was forcing Pop to stick him to the bench — that and the fact the Grizz were staying smallish with Zach Randolph out of the lineup. He only played 12 minutes, and that’s not entirely his fault.

The 18 points are nice, but overall this wasn’t one of his best nights. Really, this wasn’t a great night for most Spurs. Everything seemed mostly discombobulated, and as the starting point guard, he’s got something to do with that. When he was on the floor, the Spurs were outscored by more than 11 points per 100 possessions and played at a snail-like pace of 90.86; when he was on the bench, San Antonio outscored Memphis by a net rating of nearly six points and played at its fastest pace of the night. It’s just one of those things where Cory made some plays and hit some shots to keep the team in the game, but he did not run the show very well. He’s been good lately, though. Everybody has their nights, especially young players.

Another sort of misleading stat line here, though he deserves better grade consideration by virtue of the fact he was the only Spur putting the ball in the basket at all in the first half. Still, I’m torn, because of this number: The Spurs were 25.1 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the bench than they were when he was on the floor. TWENTY-FIVE-POINT-ONE! While he was making shots, his defense is just SUCH a liability. Marco is not a guy who will be playing 35 minutes a night in the long run, and that’s the main reason. Keep him in for long stretches of time, especially if Kawhi Leonard isn’t by his side, and he’ll be a leaky area of the defense all night long.

The last time these teams played, Danny lit the Grizz up on both sides of the floor. That wasn’t the case tonight, sticking with the theme of the evening. But he keeps showing these flashes on the offensive end, where he’s able to take defenders off the dribble, change directions, and finish around the rim in a variety of ways. We keep bringing this up, but this guy’s going to get PAID next summer. And he deserves it. This wasn’t his best performance offensively, but one thing didn’t change: When Danny Green is on the floor, the Spurs are better than their opponent on a nightly basis. That was once again the case tonight.

Look, I know there are some big Baynes fans who read this site, and I’m sorry to be the guy to consistently point this out, but he can be really rough to watch. The Spurs’ offense was atrocious when he was on the floor tonight. I’m not putting any blame on him, either, by the way. He’s a replacement player (at best) who’s come a long way in only three years, and it’s not like he’s a big negative as a player. But he can be so clumsy, his touch around the basket can be brutal, and he’s a fouling machine. He played just six minutes tonight, but man, they were forgettable.

When the Spurs went small with Jeff Ayres as the center in the fourth quarter, they began scoring at will. Ayres, who, unlike Baynes, I will always cape for, for some reason, just ran around screening and maintaining space for a trio of guards and a small forward masquerading as a power forward. During his 13 minutes of action, the Spurs scored at will and played respectable defense. The problem came when the Memphis bigs began to target him on the defensive end as the game got close. I liked the way he played tonight, even if it wasn’t all that involved in terms of handling the ball. But it’s not like Spurs fans want him doing that anyway.

He’s developed an off-the-dribble game that’s super efficient when defenders close out on him at the 3-point line. He seems to have a super-nice floater on a nightly basis. Matty was once again really nice-looking in the +/- department, and he helped spread the floor. But he only had two shot opportunities in 19 minutes. Obviously that’s not really his fault, but you’d like to get more than that. Still, that means defenders are sticking to him while he’s spreading the floor. That is important.

What is going on with you, Boris? He was a DNP on Christmas, played just 25 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back in New Orleans, just 20 minutes two nights later, and only 11 minutes of really rough-looking ball tonight. I don’t have much else on this. Is anyone else noticing anything I’m not? I thought he was OK defensively against Memphis, but his efficiency on offense has dropped, and he just seemed extra ornery while on the floor tonight. I don’t even feel like putting a grade here, because I don’t know what’s going on.

I’m liking this kid more and more. His playing time is totally inconsistent, as you’d expect, but when he plays he seems to leave two or three moments on the floor where you think, “whoa, this guy is skilled.” He was part of that small-ball group that brought the Spurs back into the game in the fourth quarter, and he made a few dazzlingly Slo-Mo plays that leave you wanting more. I kind of think, as the season goes on, we’ll get more. He still has a long way to go defensively, but the smarts are there. The Spurs got a steal with the 30th overall pick.

It looks like Pop has moved on from Daye, going with Anderson first almost regularly.

On one hand, you love that Patty’s coming out firing away; on the other, SOOOOOMETIMES you want him to just tone it down a notch until he finds his comfort zone again. Still, the Spurs’ offense was good when he was in the game — fast, flowing, energetic. That shot will start falling eventually, but until it does, there will be ups and downs. His presence alone makes it all worth it, though. Good to have him back. ….. but c’mon, Patty…. take a deeeeeeep breath sometimes.

Rough night for Manu. Pop pulled the plug pretty early, and I’m guessing that was in an effort to prepare for mañana as much as it was because things just weren’t going well with him in the game. This wasn’t even a good +/- night for him. The Ginobili Experience these days can be up and down…tonight he just didn’t seem to have his legs at all.

I can’t imagine what it has to be like juggling lineups right now. I have no issues whatsoever here. Why would I?