El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 107, Sacramento Kings 96
 |
Tim Duncan, PF 29 MIN | 4-13 FG | 4-6 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +11 +/-
Less than stellar in this one in terms of shooting, but did get a few critical buckets when the Spurs were slogging through the mud for much of the first three quarters. Rebound numbers were down because Tiago Splitter was finally back in the starting lineup gobbling them up, which was nice to see. But Timmy was solid as ever. |
|
 |
Kawhi Leonard, SF 36 MIN | 7-14 FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 17 PTS | +6 +/-
He’s still having these moments where he makes a confident move and beats his man, but then he hesitates when he gets into the paint. All part of the learning process, but those little blips are reflections of the way things are going in general for the Spurs’ offense right now. He’s got to be more authoritative in his role. But that’s nitpicking. Overall, Kawhi was good tonight. |
|
 |
Tiago Splitter, C 24 MIN | 2-8 FG | 2-3 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | 0 +/-
Fantastic defense from Splitter after being reinserted into the starting lineup. They’re still running far too many post-ups for him and not nearly enough pick-and-rolls, but that’s a product of, you guessed it, the crappy offense the Spurs have been playing. Things just looked better with him alongside the other starters, though… that’s the big takeaway. I still don’t like all those post-ups though. |
|
 |
Tony Parker, PG 30 MIN | 7-16 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 19 PTS | +9 +/-
He lives! Y’all know I haven’t overreacted to the Parker mess. Hell, some of y’all yell at me for even asking to give him a little more time. We’re nowhere near out of the woods here, but Parker came to life a bit tonight. And the best part about it was that he found a rhythm in the fourth quarter; he didn’t get hot to start the game and then fade as his legs got tired. It’s very promising. He’s been saying for a while that he’s past the injury, and that this stuff is mental. Only time will tell if he’s right, but we got a glimpse of the old TP tonight, and not old TP. But it was only a glimpse. The first three quarters were basically awful. Let’s see what happens tomorrow on the second night of a back-to-back. |
|
 |
Danny Green, SG 12 MIN | 2-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 4 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 8 PTS | +6 +/-
Couldn’t stay on the court due to foul trouble, but he made the most of his time on it. Green hit a couple of big 3s and managed four steals in just 12 minutes. That’s an efficient use of time. Unfortunately, we’ve got to mark him down for all those fouls, otherwise, he had a nice night. |
|
 |
Marco Belinelli, SF 27 MIN | 1-6 FG | 5-5 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | +9 +/-
Not a great night… and with Green’s foul trouble, he sure had a chance to pitch in. But 27 minutes of Belinelli defense is probably a bit too much anyway. He did get to the line a little tonight, which is always good when nothing else is going well. |
|
 |
Aron Baynes, C 18 MIN | 1-3 FG | 6-6 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +2 +/-
I really like him in this role — as an active bench player. With Tiago back in the starting lineup, Baynes was back with the reserves. And while he wasn’t all that impressive offensively, his energy and activity around the basket, both on defense and on the offensive glass, really helps. The guy has really started to find a niche on this team despite all the Spurs’ struggles. Oh, and he’s a really good free-throw shooter. |
|
 |
Boris Diaw, C 20 MIN | 3-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 7 PTS | +14 +/-
The stat line doesn’t look like much, but Boris was aggressive. One of the things that’s been missing this season has been Diaw exploiting all those mismatches he sees in the post with that second unit. Tonight he looked to be attacking more than he has in recent weeks. It wasn’t all pretty, but it had an effect. The Spurs were really good when he was on the floor tonight. You’ve got to think it’s going to come together for him at some point. |
|
 |
Patty Mills, PG 8 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -2 +/-
Mills has been off. I mean, everybody has been off, but San Antonio needs its spark plug. He hit a couple of shots when the game was close, and until the fourth quarter, the Spurs needed every point they could muster. |
|
 |
Cory Joseph, PG 12 MIN | 0-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -6 +/-
Had an early impact on the defensive side of the ball when he entered in place of Parker midway through the first quarter, but other than that, not much to see here. |
|
 |
Manu Ginobili, SG 20 MIN | 6-10 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +16 +/-
It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had a nice Manu game. The assist category might be empty, but man the Spurs needed his scoring. |
|
 |
Gregg Popovich I’m all for Pop sticking Splitter back in the starting lineup. I’m also all for him sticking with Parker through all of this. The fact they continue to roll with him tells me he isn’t injured, and Pop knows how critical he is to this team. It paid off in the fourth quarter. |
|
Two Things We Saw
- No need to get ahead of ourselves, but you’ve got to like what you saw tonight. The first three quarters were ugly yet again, but the fourth looked like Spurs basketball. Will that rhythm stick? Who the hell knows. But for one night, it was there, and this team will take any win it can get right now.
- There was a moment in the fourth quarter, about halfway through, when Parker found his way into the paint and got that burst to the rim we haven’t seen in ages. All it took was one layup, and he looked like a different dude over the next five minutes. We’ve still got to see it consistently, but this whole thing seems much more mental than the angry “Tony is done” crowd likes to think. Really curious to see how it goes tomorrow.
Pingback: Spurs pick up much needed win in Sacramento()