El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 85, Orlando Magic 83

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San Antonio Spurs 85 Final
Recap | Box Score		 83 Orlando Magic
Tim Duncan, C 36 MIN | 6-13 FG | 5-8 FT | 10 REB | 2 AST | 17 PTS | +1

Duncan played as well as one could expect on a back-to-back, it’s just a shame he had to play so many minutes.

Richard Jefferson, SF 38 MIN | 4-10 FG | 2-5 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 11 PTS | +6

Jefferson hit a clutch shot near the end of regulation and played well enough on defense to justify 38 minutes of action.

DeJuan Blair, F 17 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | -4

Blair collected three personal fouls in 17 minutes of action, which, one assumes, accounts for his low minutes. Offensively, Blair is developing good chemistry with Tony Parker on the high screen and roll. Popovich should have given Blair more burn.

Tony Parker, PG 44 MIN | 12-23 FG | 1-1 FT | 7 REB | 9 AST | 25 PTS | +1

Tony Parker carried the Spurs in the 4th quarter. Offensively, he was a one man show. His statline says it all. Game ball to Parker.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 24 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 2 PTS | -4

Kawhi Leonard only played 24 minutes, his lowest total since becoming a starter. And, all told, he probably didn’t deserve many more. It was a ho hum night for the promising rookie.

Matt Bonner, PF 20 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 4 PTS | +6

Bonner didn’t make any threes and only grabbed 1 board in the 20 minutes—which raises the question, why did he play 20 minutes?
Daniel Green, G 38 MIN | 0-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 2 PTS | +2

Green couldn’t get anything to fall on offense, although he gave good effort on defense and boarded well. But he nearly cost the Spurs the game with an addle-brained foul in overtime and he was way out of position on a post-timeout Spurs set that resulted in a turnover.

Gary Neal, PG 22 MIN | 1-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 3 PTS | +3

Neal struggled all night before hitting a big shot when the Spurs needed a big shot.

Tiago Splitter, C 18 MIN | 5-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 10 PTS | -2

Tiago dominated a stretch of the 2nd quarter and was rewarded with limited playing time. I’m not sure what he could have done better to merit more playing time. But I’d like to know.
Cory Joseph, G 9 MIN | 1-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 3 PTS | +1

He played well enough to allow Parker a chance to rest in the first half. Under normal circumstances, Joseph would be in Austin. Good marks for his effort.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Popovich is the most passionate person in the Spurs organization right now. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.
  2. The Spurs looked tired all night but finally grabbed a road victory. It wasn’t a conversation starting victory, but I’ll take it.
  3. Comical moment: Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard simultaneously complaining to refs about an out of bounds call. They’re both wonderful players, but it would be nice to see each player spend less time talking to the officials.
  4. Parker was visibly upset with Jefferson during two overtime possessions. It’s unclear what Jefferson did, but Parker barked at him more than once.
  5. Danny Green played 38 minutes. Popovich preferred him to Kawhi Leonard this game.
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  • DorieStreet

    Whose going to babysit him off the court?

  • DorieStreet

    RC and Pop will have to sit down with Beasley and have a long talk if the trigger is pulled on this move.

  • grego

    Now is the best time, when minutes are available. He can make mistakes and not worry about being benched too badly (unless it’s a really bad mistake), like playing out of the system.

  • grego

    The schedules should get a little bit better, and hopefully health will be around for most teams as well.

  • grego

    Well the assumption would be Manu is back, and Green is playing a much more compacted role with his minutes played. Green is usually best when his minutes are under 20. When his minutes get 30+, his flaws begin to show.

    Spurs will need the youngins during this post season, even with a healthy big 3.

  • Deeds130

    NOT interested!

  • Bob

    He’s not that great a rebounder for a power forward.

  • Anonymous

    I could understand the selfish part if somebody was shooting better. But there wasn’t anybody else on the perimeter who was shooting better.

    As far as “understanding basketball”…I do know that any team will rely on a player who develops the hot hand in scoring…(especially in a low scoring affair)…Parker went 7 for 7 in the 4th. He developed the hot hand at the time and thus was the player with the green light to keep shooting.

  • Anonymous

    He’s that bad?

  • Anonymous

    I know the money doesn’t work in this trade but who would you rather have Bonner or Beasley?

  • Tyler

    No one said TP is a volume shooter. I said he’s a high % shooter.

    And on a night when no one could hit perimeter shots, you want the ball in your best player’s hands (best player on offense that is). And in the second half, TP carried this team to a much needed road win.

  • DorieStreet

    Falls way short of many NBAers’ transgressions /troubles. But minus TP’s wireless dalliance with an ex-teammate’s ex, the guys wearing the silver and black have comported themselves well for the last decade or so. Acquiring Beasley would raise some eyebrows locally.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Beasley

  • DorieStreet

    If we can’t get his teammate (Kevin Love)-Beasley hands down.
    Only one year of college ball; starting his 4th season in the league—has missed only 14 games total in the previous 3.
    Beasley just turned 23 eleven days ago, so he has much room to improve his game.
    Can he follow Zach Randolph’s path- go from talented but troubled forward to making the All-NBA team as a Spur?

  • Bushka

    Mate you said that Parker was selfish then followed up with.

    “He took 23 shots last night to score 25 points. I promise you, everybody on our team not named Joseph/Anderson would score 25 points on 23 attempts”
    Which is where we pointed out that he hit more than half of his 23 shots and still managed to throw out 9 assists.
    I’d also like to point out the ridiculous nature of your second claim. There are very few guys on the spurs capable of creating open looks for themselves and shooting better than 50%.

    Nobody said he was a volume shooter.

  • Bushka

    If the other guys on the spurs could do it then he’d have a redundant skill set.
    It’s a skill. He has a skill that suits the spurs system.
    Mate you’ve suggest trading him for Speights, Anthony Randolph, and Brandon Wright in the past.
    You have said he has no vision, is selfish etc.

    Now he doesnt create his own shot?

  • Bob

    Pop will use any excuse to not play Splitter. If someone is one of your best players you don’t try to find excuses to not play them.

  • Bushka

    So now your whining because Tony hit better than 50% of his FG attempts and thats just not a good thing.

    Everyone else on the night couldn’t hit the water if they were thrown out of a boat.
    But TP sucks because he managed to carry the offencive load when Pop asked him to.

    Are you ever happy.

  • Bob

    You might question his decision making but Westbrook is a better scorer and passer than Parker.

  • Bushka

    An article on Russel Westbrook becoming a pass first PG has what to do with this?

    And just for the record westbrooks still burning up the pass first assist ratio with a wopping 19% of possessions ending in an assist, good for ….88th in the leauge.

    TP is at 27.8% possessions ending in an assist good for 35th in the league.

    TPs usage rate is at 27% even with Manu on the sidelines he is not using the ball as much as westbrook.

    Westbrooks at 30% playing WITH Kevin Durant probably the BEST scorer in the entire league.

    What point is it that your trying to make here?

    That TP Plays within himself in a system oriented role?

  • Bushka

    An article on Russel Westbrook becoming a pass first PG has what to do with this?

    And just for the record westbrooks still burning up the pass first assist ratio with a wopping 19% of possessions ending in an assist, good for ….88th in the leauge.

    TP is at 27.8% possessions ending in an assist good for 35th in the league.

    TPs usage rate is at 27% even with Manu on the sidelines he is not using the ball as much as westbrook.

    Westbrooks at 30% playing WITH Kevin Durant probably the BEST scorer in the entire league.

    What point is it that your trying to make here?

    That TP Plays within himself in a system oriented role?

  • Bob

    Pop needs to get Bonner in the game and run a couple of plays for him to hit 3’s or have somebody post up so he can use Bonner’s spacing. It makes it easier on Bonner because he knows exactly where and when he’s going to get his shots.

    But just leaving him on the floor because he spaces the floor is just stupid. I don’t think there’s any NBA coach that can defend Pop’s use of Bonner. The best they might say is that Pop is forced to use him because they don’t have any choice.

  • Bob

    Pop needs to get Bonner in the game and run a couple of plays for him to hit 3’s or have somebody post up so he can use Bonner’s spacing. It makes it easier on Bonner because he knows exactly where and when he’s going to get his shots.

    But just leaving him on the floor because he spaces the floor is just stupid. I don’t think there’s any NBA coach that can defend Pop’s use of Bonner. The best they might say is that Pop is forced to use him because they don’t have any choice.

  • Bob

    Pop has to balance getting rest with getting minutes and experience for players that will actually make a difference at playoff time. With the weak frontcourt there’s no way the Spurs will be able to make any noise in the playoffs without giving Splitter 28+ minutes.

  • Bob

    Pop has to balance getting rest with getting minutes and experience for players that will actually make a difference at playoff time. With the weak frontcourt there’s no way the Spurs will be able to make any noise in the playoffs without giving Splitter 28+ minutes.

  • Bushka

    I can’t for the life of me imagine Beasley playing for Pop.
    Can anyone? High volume low efficiencey tweener who only plays D when he is scoring in bunchs?

  • Bob

    Exactly. It’s great he’s getting minutes to be comfortable now than in a playoff series.

  • Bob

    Exactly. It’s great he’s getting minutes to be comfortable now than in a playoff series.

  • Bushka

    Yeah but Randolphs game was never the thing in doubt it was his character. Randolph always rebounded like a 6-10 vacuum cleaner.
    Beasley has a PER of 7.4…The league average is 15.

    Thats not a misprint. He has a PER of 7.4. A true shooting % of .421.

    He is the epitome of high volume to get stats with no real passing or defensive value to speak of, and average rebounding at the PF slot or slightly above average at the SF slot.

    Theres a reason he got punted out of town in Miami.

  • Bushka

    Yeah but Randolphs game was never the thing in doubt it was his character. Randolph always rebounded like a 6-10 vacuum cleaner.
    Beasley has a PER of 7.4…The league average is 15.

    Thats not a misprint. He has a PER of 7.4. A true shooting % of .421.

    He is the epitome of high volume to get stats with no real passing or defensive value to speak of, and average rebounding at the PF slot or slightly above average at the SF slot.

    Theres a reason he got punted out of town in Miami.

  • Deeds130

    I want neither one, for the same reason… they take up cap space that limits our ability to construct a roster splinted to winning, defensive basketball. Beasely would be undersized at the 4, and is not only poor at shooting 3’s, he’s an inefficient scorer. We’re already trying to make DB work, and DB is a solid, level-headed worker. I can’t bet on Beasely getting his head right, grabbing a hard hat, and dedicating himself to being a bench player (his role should be akin to an Al Harrington). Z-Bo was always a solid 20-10 beast from day 1, Bease has not shown himself in that mold at all… Bad comparison.

    I would say whichever one (Bonner or Bease) has the shorter contract, but it would just be a salary dump (and maybe that’s okay). In the meantime, Bonner knows the system, is also a level-headed worker and therefor can help Tiago and the rest of the guys learn, but I wouldn’t say no go dumping him for a late 1st rounder.

    We don’t want to contract the kind of talent that condemns us to mediocrity, while eating up salary and hamstrings our flexibility to go after a better fit.

  • Deeds130

    “splinting to winning” should be “suited to winning”
    Grrrrrr, autocorrect. #*&%!

  • Bob

    It’s kind of weird he hasn’t been able to rebound in the NBA as well as college. That’s the one stats that usually translates.

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