El Conclusion: Solid second half as Spurs take down Celtics

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San Antonio Spurs 111 FinalRecap | Box Score 89 Boston Celtics
Tim Duncan, PF 25 MIN | 4-12 FG | 6-6 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 14 PTS | +14

Man did he miss a bunch of bunnies. But he played some nice defense in there and really he wasn’t needed in the second half because Aron Baynes started recking things.

Boris Diaw, PF 25 MIN | 5-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 15 PTS | +8

Pretty much kept the Spurs in the game in the first half when everyone else was asleep. Bobo likes brunch time games obviously.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 30 MIN | 5-9 FG | 1-1 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | +28

Efficient, good defense, couple of cool Kawhi type plays. Didn’t blow me away. We’ll get back to this below.

Tony Parker, PG 31 MIN | 3-10 FG | 3-4 FT | 2 REB | 9 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 9 PTS | +11

The shooting was blah, but everything else was cool. I actually like these Tony games because he doesn’t really force anything.

Danny Green, SG 35 MIN | 7-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 18 PTS | +15

Getting back into his groove. Shot the ball great, the defense has always been there. It helped Sunday that Boston doesn’t have what I’d call “well rounded offensive players.”

Aron Baynes, PF 19 MIN | 5-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | +5

We had a Baynes smash, a Baynes “I’m a giant so I’m just going to stand here” screen and a Baynes 3.

Jeff Ayres, PF 4 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +3

Postered Olynyk. Take that Canada! (except you, CoJo)

Matt Bonner, PF 21 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +10

Always trying to impress in front of the New Hampshire faithful that treks over to Boston.

Kyle Anderson, SF 4 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +3

I didn’t see enough here.

Austin Daye, SF 4 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | +4

Or here.

Cory Joseph, PG 17 MIN | 3-7 FG | 2-3 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | +7

Kind of went at Avery Bradley every chance he got. Most guys don’t do that to Avery Bradley.

Marco Belinelli, SG 7 MIN | 2-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | -1

The perfect shooting saved his ass here, because he was terrible in every other facet.

Manu Ginobili, SG 18 MIN | 2-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 5 TO | 7 PTS | +3

Reeled off some important points in the second half but really didn’t have it tonight.

Gregg Popovich
Glad to have him back for the road trip. Was happy to see him pull the plug on guys like Belinelli early. Good times.

One Thing We Saw

  1. So this was really ugly in the first half, and in times like that it would’ve been good to see Kawhi be more aggressive in getting his own buckets. I think we’re at a point now where he gets looked to for making that kind of impact. However, it’s important not to be too critical because the Spurs offense doesn’t totally call for anyone to just “take over.” So we now know Kawhi is capable of taking over, but we also have to understand he’s still the third of fourth option on the court most days. Basically, 12 points, 6 rebounds and awesome defense was enough in the past, but now, you want to see more game to game (but also understand this isn’t going to happen every game). If you’re confused, that’s fine. I probably just confused myself.
  • birdie

    Surely you saw enough of Tony to score.

  • Will

    What’s the point of this grading exercise if you’re going to be lazy, Trevor?

  • Trevor Zickgraf

    Oh damn… That’s an A- for Tony.

  • td4life

    Let me help you out regarding Kawhi’s offense. There are two possibilities:
    A) This is a transition year between the Big 3 and the Future of the Spurs franchise. There’s no need to pretend TD and Manu have retired, and they are still great players, so right now there’s a Big 4. And as you stated, the Spurs offense means anyone can lead the team in scoring any night. There will always be some Danny Green nights here and there, and Aggressive Diaw is always a good thing for this team. So Kawhi is just being a good Spur.

    B) Leonard is not a natural go-to guy. it’s his temperament to let the game come to him, and his default instinct is to defers to the Big 3 out of respect. He’s just not hard-wired to attack on every possession, or maybe his confidence isn’t dialed all the way to eleven like your prototypical scorer, your alpha dog, your heat-check player, your Monta Ellis, Patty Mills, Carmelo Anthony, or whatever. Even on a team with Pau Gasol, Jimmy Butler is averaging 22 ppg. But Jimmy Butler is hard-wired to be stuck in overdrive all the time. That’s not Kawhi.
    Either way, it might be the coaching. Pop has asked for consistency, to show that he can bring it like an all-star every night. But we also know that the whole organization is playing the long season as a steady grind. Get better every day, but stay healthy and make sure you are ready to be at your best in the playoffs. Pop has really pushed Kawhi in the playoffs, and we can be sure he will do it again when necessary. Right now it’s early and Pop is calling plays for him, but he isn’t screaming at Kawhi to be assertive because it just isn’t necessary right now. 82 games is a lot, and then you need 16 wins after that.

  • fk74

    Good points and Kawahi is still growing into his game. Go Spurs!

  • Tim in Surrey

    +28, Dude. In a game only won by 22. That’s really all you need to know. +20-freakin’-8.

  • brunostrange

    Agree completely. Though we’re seeing more Kawhi post-ups this season than we did last season, the Spurs offense isn’t wired to run through one guy - at least not with Timmy, Manu and Tony in the picture. Leonard is clearly the future of the franchise (and it’s not a stretch to consider him in the ‘best wing defender in the league’ conversation), but putting the team on his shoulders is going to require a smooth transition. I think SA is handling it the right way - gradually calling more plays for him without disrupting their bread-and-butter motion offense.