El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 101, Phoenix Suns 74

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San Antonio Spurs 101 Final
Recap | Box Score		 74 Phoenix Suns
Tim Duncan, PF 21 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 10 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | +19 +/-

Tim didn’t need to be much in this one, but he sure did his part as he needed on the second night of a back-to-back. Honestly not sure how to grade this game.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 32 MIN | 9-18 FG | 4-4 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 3 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 22 PTS | +24 +/-

One of the better Kawhi games in recent memory.. but again, how do you grade a game like this?
Tiago Splitter, C 15 MIN | 4-5 FG | 0-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +6 +/-

The starting lineup has started to look like itself again. It’s only been two games, though, so let’s see how things go from here.
Tony Parker, PG 23 MIN | 3-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +17 +/-

Spurs good. Tony bad. Not the kind of bounce-back you’d hope for after last night. Didn’t matter, but this was probably the biggest negative of the night.
Danny Green, SG 25 MIN | 4-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +24 +/-

Good shooting performance. Good defense. One of the non-Parker Spurs who made big contributions tonight.
Marco Belinelli, SF 17 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -1 +/-

Not much of an impact tonight. Didn’t matter.
Aron Baynes, C 20 MIN | 3-3 FG | 6-6 FT | 10 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 12 PTS | +20 +/-

Baynes has been awesome lately. His presence on the offensive glass has been something the San Antonio doesn’t typically get, and just in general, his defense and overall work on the boards has been an important development. He’s actually been one of the solid Spurs during this slump.
Matt Bonner, C 6 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -1 +/-

Hit a three to put the Spurs over 100 points!
Boris Diaw, C 23 MIN | 6-14 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +5 +/-

He continues to look for his shot more often, and it seems to help that the lineups have normalized with Splitter finding his way back among the starters. In all the Tony Parker drama, it’s somewhat lost how much the Spurs need Boris Diaw. He seems to be coming around… at least a little bit.
Patty Mills, PG 22 MIN | 3-10 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 9 PTS | +16 +/-

Active, but still can’t find his shot. As it is with shooters, I’d expect he’ll find it eventually.
Cory Joseph, PG 10 MIN | 2-5 FG | 1-1 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 5 PTS | -11 +/-

When Cory doesn’t do well offensively, you can generally count on the fact he’s made up for it defensively. Five points and three assists in 10 minutes is solid, but the Spurs weren’t good when he was on the court, though it was also garbage time. I have no idea how to grade his performance.
Manu Ginobili, SG 19 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 7 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | +27 +/-

Manu had some moments in this one, not to mention a team-high plus-27 in terms of plus-minus. Some of his drives-pass combos were magical.
Gregg Popovich

Sure?

Three Things We Saw

  1. I don’t know how to grade this performance.
  2. Basically, what this came down to, is the Spurs needed a game like this. It wasn’t pretty offensively, but the defense was locked in. That’s a great sign. You don’t need SportVU to see all the open shots this team missed. That’s been a common theme. If you think that will continue on into the playoffs, then you and I disagree.
  3. There’s still a ton of work to do, but this was an important finish to the trip. Especially on the second night of a back-to-back.
  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    Man, Tony Parker. Ugh…

  • thedrwolff5

    Kawhi is the player we need doing 22/8/3 in 36 min. his D is always excellent. When he puts the O together like the last 2 games…well. There you go. Tony does nothing on O and we blow them off the court. Kawhi needs to be the focus on Offense. It’s the future and its now. Keep shooting Kawhi.

  • brunostrange

    TP doing that TP thing where he follows up a decent game with a bunch of clunkers. Otherwisr good win. Good to see Kawhi dominate, and Tiago finding his legs.

  • Emil E. Matula III

    0 turnovers in the past two games. For a guy that has the ball 15 seconds out of every possession, this is a big improvement. He’s not putting up gaudy scoring numbers, but (at least for these two games) he’s stopped panicking and made smart passes out of trouble.

  • Emil E. Matula III

    0 turnovers for Tony Parker, 0 turnovers for Kawhi Leonard. For the two guys that are going to have the ball in their hands the most out of every offensive possession going forward, that is an extremely crucial stat.

  • Spurs fan in Australia

    Even though Parker didn’t shoot great, isn’t it good that he kept shooting?

    I mean I would rather see him stay aggressive and attack than miss a few shots and go passive.

    Also. I like how Leonard has played the last two games.

  • Kenner311

    It seems like he’s also done a much better job at handling the ball all around including getting into the paint before everyone else is able to swarm around him. His shots aren’t falling right now, but as you pointed out he’s not a liability on the court by turning the ball over.

  • Jwill1919

    Cojo was horrible. I’ve never seen someone drive into the middle of the paint without even remotely intending to look at the rim. I saw him dribble from one end of the floor to the other right above the restricted area with not even a look at scoring. Just dribbling across the floor. IF I was a defender, I’d sag off 8 feet and let him dribble with his head down the entire posession.

  • Dapimp Ofdayear

    Your standards are really low for Tony Parker, former Finals MVP, NBA All Star (as recently as last season, mind you).

  • Emil E. Matula III

    Nope, sometimes when your game is off, you have to focus and take care of the most basic thing first.

    Points for a point guard, even in the NBA, are icing. The primary responsibility of any point guard in any stage of basketball is set the offense and run the play without turning the ball over.

    0 turnovers +17. A bad shooting night, but otherwise efficient.

  • Emil E. Matula III

    I haven’t been able to see these past two games, so I don’t know if Pop is using a specific player as a safety valve when Parker gets in trouble, or if Parker is just making quicker decisions to get rid of the ball before he gets trapped inside. Either way, two games without a turnover is an encouraging sign.

  • Emil E. Matula III

    A lot of his troubles have come when the shot is not falling and he gets frustrated and tries to do too much. Then he gets trapped inside, and has to make a gamble pass instead of making good, calculated decisions.

    If the Spurs clean up the turnovers, rebounding (which having Tiago back in the starting lineup allows us to do) and the defense, then the shots will start falling again.

  • TD BestEVER

    I think this is a perfect example of the Spurs not needing TP to get quality shots. We shot poorly but had great looks all night.
    As far as TP struggles, I have always said its not about the production as much as it is about him dominating the ball and in this game he didn’t. He would use one or two screens and make a pass. We have several players who can get to the rim on this team now, Manu, Green, KL, Diaw, CJ, even Marco, and Mills can dribble it once or twice and get to the rim. So as long as we aren’t turning it over and the ball is moving, somebody will make a play for the Spurs. Even our bigs are good passers of the ball off the PnR. So we have many options that we can take a TP struggling as with his shot as long as it doesn’t carry over to other parts of his game as well.

  • Ginobili137

    hmm I don’t think that is true. I think Manu has the ball more than Leonard does. Manu only has one TO in the last two games combined, so he is taking good care of the ball. I agree that it is an important stat.

  • hoopsaf

    Tony did absolutely nothing — didn’t score, didn’t penetrate, didn’t create. And yet Spurs blew out an OK Suns team.

    Pop was being political when he said that Spurs need Tony of the past, because he didn’t want to put too much pressure on the young guns (Kawhi, DG).

    But it’s pretty obvious by now that for Spurs to have a chance in the playoffs, they need Kawhi and DG to step up and not be the passive recepients of passes from Tony/Manu.

    I’m beginning to see this from Kawhi in particular. I think he really struggled to ‘share/defer’ to Tony/Manu. But he’s beginning to be aggressive with an attitude — hell with these old guys, I’m shooting this myself or making a play. That’s what Spurs need.

  • spurs10

    I think Pop probably said as much ‘if you see a shot take it.’ Glad he protected the ball.

  • thedrwolff

    You mean when we were up by 34…in the fourth qtr…and the orders are to run the clock every possession/run the offense? ummmm….yeah.

  • Tyler

    PHX was pretty bad. Given their level of play, I doubt they would have beaten many teams. Both teams probably throw this tape away and don’t look back. Not much to learn from this one.

  • Dwight David

    Can we say “Contract Year Aron” now? The kid is making himself some serious $$$. What team couldn’t use a reserve big man who hustles, rebounds, defends, AND hits free throws?