El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 107, Oklahoma City Thunder 96

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Oklahoma City Thunder 96 Final

Recap | Box Score

 107 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, C 30 MIN | 5-16 FG | 3-3 FT | 15 REB | 3 AST | 13 PTS | +24
Duncan never found his offense, but I love the pride he’s shown this season, especially in this game. After having a handful of shots blocked or altered by the Thunder’s interior defense in the first half, Duncan went hard at the hoop in the second half and was fouled on a couple strong plays at the rim. Defensively, he played well and controlled the glass the entire game. The old Tim Duncan has at least one thing in common with the young Tim Duncan. Neither player gets enough respect.
Richard Jefferson, SF 33 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 9 PTS | +15
Offensively, Jefferson quietly connected on three three point baskets. Defensively, he held his own against a team that typically gives the Spurs fits. Nothing spectacular, but a solid performance from RJ.
DeJuan Blair, F 22 MIN | 1-3 FG | 3-4 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 5 PTS | +11
When DeJuan Blair was a rookie he had a monster game against the Thunder. That seems like such a long time ago. It was certainly before the emergence of Serge Ibaka and the arrival of Kendrick Perkins. Tonight, he stunk. Blair contributed almost nothing to the offense and was mistake prone and over-matched on defense.
Tony Parker, PG 39 MIN | 16-29 FG | 10-12 FT | 3 REB | 9 AST | 42 PTS | +20
Let me add ++++++ to that A. This was Tony Parker playing like Tony Parker plays when Tony Parker is an All-Star. A special night for Parker, who coupled a huge scoring outburst with the historic accomplishment of becoming the Spurs’ all-time leader in assists. Lost in all that is Parker’s defense. He bothered Westbrook the entire game and came up with a pair of timely steals. Tonight Parker gave us the best individual performance by any Spur this season.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 31 MIN | 5-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 15 PTS | +15
Leonard gave the Spurs a gigantic lift in the first half by knocking down a couple threes. But his fifteen points and six boards are not nearly as impressive as his five assists. Leonard is still rough around the edges, but his overall game could eventual challenge for an All Star appearance.
Matt Bonner, PF 19 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS | +3
Poor Matt Bonner. He was fouled (obviously fouled, I should add) on a non-call dunk attempt in the first half. Had Bonner connected on that wicked, New Hampshire-style two-handed tomahawk, I might have been tempted to give him an A. As it stands, Matt Bonner made a trio of threes. That’s enough for a B-.
Daniel Green, G 26 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -3
Not one of Danny Green’s better performances. His game was undone tonight by a series of mental errors and questionable decisions. Despite all this, Pop stuck with him. This tells us more about Green’s place in the rotation than this game tells us about Green’s skill set.
Gary Neal, PG 20 MIN | 1-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 3 PTS | -13
His shooting numbers say it all.
Tiago Splitter, C 17 MIN | 1-5 FG | 3-4 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 5 PTS | -9
Splitter never got going on offense. But his defense, rebounding, and screen setting were once again superb.

Three Things We Saw

  1. The Spurs were getting buried in the first quarter before Popovich called an early, stop-the-bleeding timeout. He didn’t make any changes to his lineup, but the Spurs came out of the timeout to storm ahead on the scoreboard. From that run forward, the Spurs never relinquished the lead. It would be fun to study the tape to see what changes, if any, Popovich made during that timeout.
  2. How long before one of our readers makes the argument that the best part of Parker’s big game is that it increased his trade value? Not too long, methinks. But before we arrive at that sadly inevitable discussion, let’s say it’s great to see Parker claim the Spurs’ all-time assist record on a pass to Tim Duncan. Poetically appropriate.
  3. So the Spurs didn’t slump to .500 this past week. Mea culpa.

Related posts:

  1. El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 93, New Orleans Hornets 81
  2. El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 99, Houston Rockets 91
  3. El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 83, Memphis Grizzles 73
  4. El Conclusión: Dallas Mavericks 101, San Antonio Spurs 100
  5. El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 89, Memphis Grizzlies 84
← Older Comments
  • Anonymous

    The intention of this blog or any blog is to get reader interest and by the looks of it I would say they are pretty damn successful in that aspect. Don’t you think?

  • Anonymous

    But your missing the point here, If we get all of that out during the game then we know where we stand come…
    “El Conclusión”

  • http://twitter.com/nudityJ nudityjfandango

    At one point you suggested one of a trio of Mareese Speights, Anthony Randolph, and Brandon Wright + a young unproven PG prospect fot TP.

    That right there illustrates that between the way you think of the game and the way I think of the game there is an enormous divide. Because i see every one of those players as a massive bust or a low end project at best.
    You have a different point of view. Don’t freak the hell out about it. We’re all spurs fans right?

  • Anonymous

    Therefore we can reiterate the main points on
    “El Conclusión” (love that heading) and no one would have any qualms about their posts because we would again know where we stand . But except for the fantasy trades. That’s another can of worms.

  • Anonymous

    Nothing to do with my Spurs but Kevin Love is punk and a coward for
    INTENTIONALLY stepping on Scola’s face. He stared right at him and did the dirty and didn’t even get a call or get thrown out. Wonder if it was someone else would they have called it and gotten thrown out?

    http://youtu.be/yCbDnPDBff4

  • Tyler

    Yep….

  • Bankshot21

    So now the reigning mvp is becoming a cancer? Puhlease.

  • TD BestEVER

    Only high scholl kids with pimply faces still use “Haterade”. lmao

  • TD BestEVER

    I put this together while watching the game today……. let me know what you think!!!!!!!!!!

    Tony Parker - Score efficiently - needs to keep others involved with his passing
    17-20 points/7-9 assists - less than 3 TO’s

    RJ - Take and make 3′s - Has to take shots when they are there - will have some 5-7 point games

    KL - Play hard nose D and rebound - will get points within the offense

    DJB - Play Smart/don’t force bad shots - No reaching and giving up easy baskets on D, Rebound, will score within the offense like RJ/Bonner

    TD - Score efficiently (12-15 ppg 8-10rebounds 1.5 blocks) Rebound well, defend the Rim

    Bonner - see RJ only a little less scoring

    Danny Green - play hard nose D - take care of the ball, play within himself/help 2nd unit get into the offense

    Neal - score efficiently (8-12ppg 45%) take care of the ball - get 2nd unit into base offense

    Splitter - Be efficient on offense(take care of the ball) Rebound / Solid D

    James Anderson - make some shots, play solid D

    Corey Joseph - Take care of ball/set up offense

    1st notice that we really only have 3 REAL SCORING OPTIONS right now. Neal, TP. TD are the only players that get plays really run for them consistently. So they are the only players that you can expect an offensive contribution from nightly. Everyone else will be in the 5-15 ppg range depending on how they shoot on a given night.

    2nd - ALL guards have to play smart PNR Defense. Basically knowing when to go under or over the pick. Over on shooters(Nash/KD/Jet) and under for slashers(Rondo/Westbrooke/Wade/LBJ). And the bigs have to either Hedge or trap accordingly

    3rd - playing solid D is expected of everybody - but if you get routinely beaten while playing your solid D, it should cost you in your performance review. All players should be reasonably expected to defend their position if they want to play significant minutes. And as a part of this, the players should make the adjustments when another player is lighting them up.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah this was a total punk move and fair play to Scola, he just played it down after the game. Worst thing about it, Love came out after the game and said he didn’t mean it, ‘his face just happened to be in the way’ was something along the lines of what he said.

  • DorieStreet

    I am just talking about making better decisions on the court. He is the go-to guy for the team-but not every possession requires him to take the shot.

  • Anonymous

    So if your efficient on offense but have 3 turnovers how to do you grade it? Splitter is effecient on offense but in his last game had several TO’s. So how do you grade him? And as for Danny green when he’s playing great hard nose D and makes his 3′s but what about when he’s continues to miss and keeps shooting or going into the lane when there’s nothing wasting precious scoring opportunities for others (like taking it down low in the block when he’s on the court with Splitter) but still playing well on D. How is that graded? All the expectations you listed seem reasonable but when it comes to giving players grades there are several areas in everybody’s game that need to be accounted for as a whole but how is that graded? It’s pretty much subjective in my opinion. Which is more important pts, D, TO’s, blocks, assists, etc? I see your point but in order to get a direct reflection of grades there would have to be a grading scale for each category in the box score and then factor in the dreaded +/-. I don’t know if the guys (48MOH) are statisticians but I think this is intended to be generalized and soley the opinion of the 48MOH crew. Just my thought. But I see your angle none the less.

  • TD BestEVER

    I added 4-6 above to try and answer some of your questions………. And after each game I will try and submitt my grades on each player. My grades will be based on what I have wriiten above.

  • Anonymous

    Poor Matt Bonner, indeed! Thanks for the reply, I was able to check it out. LOL.

  • Colin

    You’re trying too hard man…….

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