El Conclusión: Miami Heat 105, San Antonio Spurs 100

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San Antonio Spurs 100 Final
Recap | Box Score		 105 Miami Heat
Matt Bonner, PF 30 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 10 REB | 1 AST | 10 PTS | 0

His ability to space the floor was valuable on a team reliant more on its system than individual shot creators. It keeps the passing and driving lanes just a little cleaner, which makes all the difference in the world. Was tough on the boards as well.

Tiago Splitter, PF 30 MIN | 7-12 FG | 4-6 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 18 PTS | -5

Anchored the Spurs admirably, providing some low post looks in addition to his usual pick and roll work. Contested shots and battled Bosh and the Heat on the boards late.

Boris Diaw, C 38 MIN | 5-7 FG | 1-2 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 12 PTS | -17

LeBron James without the athleticism? Or conditioning? Not quite, but it was a fun joke to make on Twitter and DDL. Diaw did a little bit of everything and moved his feet well when tasked the impossible task of keeping with LeBron.

Nando de Colo, PG 34 MIN | 4-8 FG | 5-6 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 15 PTS | -4

It was perhaps a shaky start, notably passing up a layup opportunity for a kick out on a three-pointer. But at some point in the night De Colo actually presented himself as a threat to do something other than passing, which he will need to do to be a viable rotation player in this league.

Patrick Mills, PG 24 MIN | 3-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 7 PTS | -16

Loved the energy, even if it was a rough night from the field.

DeJuan Blair, C 18 MIN | 3-7 FG | 0-1 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -2

Still a little upset he botched a beautiful De Colo pass.

Gary Neal, PG 32 MIN | 7-20 FG | 4-4 FT | 4 REB | 7 AST | 20 PTS | +5

An atrocious final few minutes offset what otherwise would have been a big night for Neal and a credible point guard performance. The shot selection at the end was just bad, though it’s hard to blame a player who shouldn’t be asked to play that role in the first place. I trust Neal in the clutch, just not with the ball in his hands for more than a second.

Cory Joseph, PG 15 MIN | 1-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 3 PTS | +5

Still struggles to do point guard things at times.

James Anderson, SG 20 MIN | 2-2 FG | 4-5 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 9 PTS | +9

Where did that come from? The nice reverse layup, the confident stroke, getting to the free throw line. This was the James Anderson we thought we were getting.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Most of the discussion will be about Popovich sending his four top players home and the sanctions David Stern promised in retaliation for it. But so far as cheating the game? The truth is the Spurs real draw is Popovich himself. The Spurs played beautiful basketball in one of the more entertaining games of the year.
  2. The thing about the Spurs resting players is that against most teams, even against the Spurs second unit, opponents’ starters will still have to log heavy minutes most nights to prevent their bench from getting trounced. It’s an advantage during the regular season, but less of a factor in a seven game series against a team as talented as the Heat.
  3. Not so much an observation but a question: what would Stern had done if the Spurs won?
  4. The Spurs left some nice De Colo passes off the score board tonight. It was a shame. Regardless of who sits, extended De Colo time is a treat. Either via his glorious passing or glorious turnovers, both teams win.
  5. Chalk it up to small sample size, but this could be a good audition for James Anderson should the Spurs ever choose to shop Stephen Jackson’s big contract. Regardless, the Spurs could use depth on the wings right now.

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  • Bruno

    Great game, very proud of the bench, they played hard.

    But i didn’t understand why Pop didn’t call a timeout when the Heat was 103-100 with 13 seconds left.

  • samhl

    anderson has good size for a wing player and can play sf or sg positions , plus he is young . but the question is about his shot. last year his shots were not falling and that affected his confidence. If he can shoot the 3 and play tough D i would rather we keep him and ship one of the guards we have like 4 pgs on the team. i would like to see the young guys play more minutes this early in the season (green, splitter, blair, diaw, neal ,kawai, de colo, mills) and give big 3 less minutes till late in the season. that way some those guys will be useful in the playoffs when it really matters.
    I liked seeing Diaw defend athletic forwards like lebron and i think he did a good job , lebron took a lot of tough shot tonight, i would like to see him defend players like carmelo , lebron and durant who r very long for their position and play pf position in small lineups. Hopefully, Diaw would lose some weight by the end of the season, i remember him when he played for the suns , and he is still 30 years old, i hate lazy professional athletes , for the kind of money they make i would work out all day .

  • STIJL

    One game is a small sample size, but if Anderson can prove to repeat or maintain this type of production, he’ll shore up depth at SF position. Maybe even give the Spurs ammunition via trade to land a potential front line improvement.