El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 116, Minnesota Timberwolves 100

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Minnesota Timberwolves 100 Final

Recap | Box Score

 116 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, C 24 MIN | 9-19 FG | 3-6 FT | 15 REB | 4 AST | 21 PTS | +13Kevin Love might be the best power forward in the NBA today. Tonight Duncan reminded him that power forwards, as a group, were a little better in his day.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 38 MIN | 6-10 FG | 3-4 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 16 PTS | +12Kawhi Leonard is feeling a little more comfortable pushing the ball off of his rebounds and no longer picks up the ball at the first sign of a defender. This makes the Spurs fast break far more dynamic. Also, had one beauty of a spin move off his dribble along the baseline tonight.
DeJuan Blair, F 20 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS | +6Treated the game like the Rookie Challenge, complete with an amazing-in-and-out dribble on a fast break layup and a terrible lob pass. In his defense, at times the Timberwolves treated it as such too.
Tony Parker, PG 10 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 6 AST | 2 PTS | +8Six assists in 10 minutes. As much as I’d love to credit Parker, that was just completely terrible defense. Parker’s hamstring tightened up and he sat out the majority of the game as a precaution. He wasn’t needed.
Daniel Green, G 29 MIN | 4-9 FG | 6-6 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 14 PTS | +7Danny Green is on another run of impressive games, putting together scoring by doing a little bit of everything. And still playing energetic defense.
Stephen Jackson, SG 22 MIN | 6-9 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 16 PTS | +5Remember when people were talking about this trade in purely financial terms. Tonight’s effort should dispel that talk. Stephen Jackson is a better player. That terrible three-point shooting percentage? It goes up exponentially when you’re getting the kind of wide open looks he never got at Milwaukee.
Manu Ginobili, SG 25 MIN | 4-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 8 AST | 9 PTS | +10Had a Manu-esque drive in the second half, made some nice passes. This was an easy game.
Gary Neal, PG 28 MIN | 7-15 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 16 PTS | +11Looked a little annoyed with Barea at times, got a couple shots in. Managed four steals.
Tiago Splitter, C 22 MIN | 4-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 7 REB | 5 AST | 11 PTS | +14Five assists! The Timberwolves were completely undersized tonight, Splitter took advantage.
James Anderson, SG 17 MIN | 2-4 FG | 3-3 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 7 PTS | -2This was the aggressive James Anderson we saw in training camp.
Eric Dawson, F 4 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | -4Three rebounds in four minutes.

Five Things We Saw

  1. The first quarter was laughably bad for Minnesota. Tim Duncan led the slowest fast break alley-oop pass in NBA history to Danny Green in a stretch that saw the Spurs get four consecutive looks at the basket.
  2. Before the game Rick Adelman completely through Darko under the bus, stating he’s done nothing for the coaching staff to trust him and was out of shape, not putting in any extra work.
  3. Stephen Jackson….JOY!
  4. There were plenty of bow ties in the AT&T Center, none more distinguished than Bruce Bowen’s.
  5. Should the Spurs add Boris Diaw in the next few days they will have as deep and versatile and offensive roster as any I have seen. While defensively they’re not the juggernaut we’ve seen in the past, they do care about it.
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  • Titletown99030507d

    Diaw can shoot compared to Blair.

  • Titletown99030507d

    He said thought not fact. Blair is neither of those mentioned and I’m sure he knows that.

  • Titletown99030507d

    His true value hmm about 10 minutes a game. Preferably in trash time with a big lead.

  • Titletown99030507d

    Please ghost, really!

  • TD BestEVER

    If you are gonna stay with rational thinking conversations - I’m gonna go in a different direction……..

  • TD BestEVER

    The point of my post is that he has been BETTER. So if you thought Blair would put up those numbers and he surpasses them……why are you so angry??????????

    It must be really hard to argue Both sides of a debate and still keep a straight face…… i think many here should have gone into politics and made themselves a small fortune…….

  • Sam

    I wonder what Jim would have to say about the current situation of the Spurs and the dilemma that once started as Blair vs. Splitter but is now Blair vs. Bonner.

  • theghostofjh

    Compared to Splitter as well.

  • theghostofjh

    The team’s 80-25 in Blair’s last 105 starts. That’s hardly being “forced”.

  • theghostofjh

    Whatever stirs your drink ……

  • theghostofjh

    You’re one of the clueless I see …

  • theghostofjh

    He would probably say that all three of them are fighting for minutes when it should be just two of them.

  • theghostofjh

    Really? What would our record be in the last 105 games if Blair didn’t start? Do you really think it would be better than 80-25?! I doubt it.

    Why not start Bonner? Have Blair sub in for Bonner, and then sub Splitter in for Duncan and bring Bonner back etc. There’s no definitive reason to have Blair start unless it makes our starting unit better, which it does.

    You and others can sleight Blair all you want. It makes you all look foolish.

  • STIJL

    He’s a good passer as well. The key will be being in shape to help. His peak production was his first year with Charlotte. He’s declined ever since and never has been a prolific rebounder. Which don’t know how that serves in a positive role if he were to come off the bench with Splitter being Splitter isn’t the most prolific rebounder either.

    At this stage of unknown…could he be rejuvenated to playing like the Diaw of 3 years ago or be physically degraded to the point of no return and be nothing more than a body on the bench.

    Here’s hoping (if he joins the Spurs) to becoming the Diaw of old instead of an old looking Diaw.

  • Bry

    I have to support theghost on this one. I’m pretty tired of hearing how Blair can’t put the ball in the basket, and gets a lot of his rebounds off his own tips. Then how the heck is he shooting 52% ?! It’s one or the other. It can’t be both. Blair shoots at a high percentage, rebounds well despite being paired with one of the best rebounders in NBA history and has played well this season. He’s got his flaws, but he obviously has talent and obviously contributes to the Spurs winning over the past couple of seasons. I supported playing Dice heavy minutes in the playoffs last year; but I was wrong. Dice played quite poorly and Blair and/or Splitter surely would have done better against Memphis. It’s a bit strange when people go ballistic on a Spur just because they are imperfect.

  • Bry

    The problem is that the Spurs don’t really need any more offense. At full strength there isn’t a team in the league that can stop them. What they need is defense. I’m all for getting Diaw just to have another big at our disposal, and if he can shoot outside then hopefully he’ll take some Bonner minutes. But, defense is what is lacking.

  • Daniel T

    His shooting % on tips is .444 Go to Blair’s game log, pick a few games where he has a number of offensive rebounds, look at the play-by-play, and you’ll generally find that a fair number of his offensive rebounds don’t turn into points, and there will be times with multiple offensive rebounds in the same possession or simply him picking up his own blocked shot. A defensive rebound will generally end a scoring opportunity for the opponent. An offensive rebound’s main value would be that it continues the possession and leads to a score. It is not that Blair’s offensive rebounds have little value, but it is overstated when the “rebound” is just an un-aimed tip that had little chance of going in and is recovered by the opponent.

  • theghostofjh

    Yes, solid post.

  • theghostofjh

    Every now and then the sounds of reason ring clear on this blog. Nice job.

  • theghostofjh

    To be counted as an offensive rebound it has to be considered a “controlled” tip. And anyway, what is your point? That Blair’s offensive rebounds don’t lead to as high of a conversion as others in the league with similarly high offensive rebound rates? So what?! So he and the team don’t convert at the same rate as Noah and the Bulls? So what?!

    Create a list of all the power forwards in the NBA based on offensive rebound rate, creating extra possessions/shot attempts/conversions, and the get back to me. For example, a player getting 2 offensive rebounds per game where the extra possession results in 2 points 50% of the time is a more valuable offensive rebounder than a guy that gets one offensive rebound per game where the extra possession results in 2 points 75% of the time.

    I have a feeling that Blair will be at least in the top fifth in the NBA. And I’ll take that any day of the week.

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