El Conclusión: Spurs 95, Pacers 93

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San Antonio Spurs 95 FinalRecap | Box Score 93 Indiana Pacers
Tim Duncan, PF 30 MIN | 7-13 FG | 1-1 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 5 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | +6 +/-
The defense was off the charts and look, he’s not going to have a great offensive night when Roy Hibbert is primarily defending him, so the 15 points was a treat and the one man run he went on in the second quarter was a big help for an offense that had cooled significantly from a scorching first quarter.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 31 MIN | 4-12 FG | 1-1 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | 0 +/-
Not a great night offensively, but he did contribute to the play of the night, taking the ball from the top of the key and find Marco Belinelli for the the game winning shot. We’ve seen iso plays from the Spurs before, but not ones featuring Kawhi. And he made a great pass! Huge progress.

Matt Bonner, C 12 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +3 +/-
Certainly not the most effective night for the Mamba. The offense was fine with him in there, but he just didn’t do anything.

Tony Parker, PG 30 MIN | 7-17 FG | 5-5 FT | 1 REB | 6 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 19 PTS | +6 +/-
Wasn’t the most effective in the second and third quarters, but he started strong and was really good to close the fourth quarter. He’s slowly rounding back into form. Even got to the free throw line tonight.

Danny Green, SG 33 MIN | 2-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | +3 +/-
The shooting has been dreadful lately, but his rebounding and defense were excellent. Still, he’s gotta start hitting some shots for the Spurs offense to get rolling. Icy/Hot indeed.

Marco Belinelli, SF 26 MIN | 4-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | -3 +/-
Hit some big shots, did some playmaking in Ginobili’s absence. However, man was his defense bad. No helping the helper, late on rotations, etc. But if he’s hitting half his 3’s and 66% of this shots overall I guess you overlook that stuff.

Aron Baynes, C 13 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +11 +/-
Got to finish the game with the starters, which was a plus for him and he really did a great job of not getting bullied by the David West. Related: You wouldn’t believe the amount of “Bane” images we have in the 48 Minutes of Hell picture bank. We do like to have fun with this guy.

Boris Diaw, C 27 MIN | 2-7 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -11 +/-
He’s been mostly awful this season. Field goal percentage is down, three-point shooting, rebounding, PER. It’s all down. Come back to us Contract Year Boris.

Tiago Splitter, C 14 MIN | 3-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | -7 +/-
Another solid night. Was able to take old Spanish league teammate Luis Scola in the post a few times. I’m not totally sure why he’s not in the starting line-up. Probably Pop playing with rotations, or resting him. We’ll see where it goes as the road trip continues.

Patty Mills, PG 18 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | -4 +/-
Eh, not great shooting numbers. Not sure a Patty, Marco and Danny Green wing line up is effective. Not enough penetration there. Feels like you could’ve subbed in CoJo.

Cory Joseph, PG 6 MIN | 2-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +6 +/-
Speaking of, really gave the Spurs a big spark in limited minutes. I feel like they have to find more minutes for him, but that just proves really tough with everyone healthy.

Gregg Popovich
Congrats to Pop. 1,000 wins with one franchise. Truly one of the all-time greats.

Two Things We Saw

  1. The offense, ranked 12th in efficiency in the league, is so hit and miss. If they 3-point shooting isn’t there, the offense sputters. It’s an offense built on rhythm and continuity, so patience. Again, the road trip when they usually figure this stuff out.
  2. Rodeo Road Trip update: 1-1, seven games remaining. Next up: Wednesday at the Detroit Pistons.
  • Air Bonner

    Congrats Pop. Halfway to 2000 wins!

  • Poopovich

    Oh you XD

  • robgor57

    Abot Belinelli, from Espn recap of the game:

    Marco Belinelli
    hit the go-ahead field goal with 2.1 seconds left to give the Spurs the
    win. He’s 5-for-10 on potential go-ahead shots since he entered the NBA
    in 2007.

    Only 2 players have a better field-goal percentage on potential go-ahead
    shots than Belinelli in that span (min. 10 FGA).

    Not enough?

  • merkin

    Maybe Beli will be opposite of what he was last season. Had a great reg. season and, minus a couple of big shots in the playoffs, was nearly nonexistent. This season looking like a poor reg. season, maybe he’ll round in to shape come playoffs, cuz, despite pulling trucks with his teeth, he came into the season out of shape. Lord, knows the Spurs are gonna need him if Manu keeps playing the way he’s been playing.

  • Derek

    Not what I was hoping for in terms of a final score, but I’ll take a win after the Raptors game.
    Thanks much, everyone, for these El Conclusions-great work!

  • Carlo Duroni

    Pop celebrates his 1000th win with a Tech. How could’ve you guessed it?

  • Suave Groove

    Pop 1000!

    If the Spurs destroy Detroit on Wednesday (after what happened last time in San Antonio), we will confirm that the team is playing w/ an ON/OFF switch.

  • DorieStreet

    Congrats to Pop for the milestone win.

    After their modest, but much ballyhooed, 7-game win streak to end 2014-start 2015, the Pistons have gone 8-9 over the last month. And in those games that team has been all over the map: 2 games @ the Raptors - a 3-pt win and 4-pt loss; have beaten the 76ers by 18 and lost to them by 20; a 3-pt loss to the Hawks and a 13-pt win over the Rockets, but lost to the Timberwolves at home by 11 this past Sunday.
    And with that win in SA under their belt, I don’t see them rolling over against the Spurs, whom in 2014-15 have rarely shown a start-to-finish effort that epitomizes the name of this fan blog.