El Conclusión: Spurs fall in Portland

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San Antonio Spurs 95 FinalRecap | Box Score 108 Portland Trail Blazers
Boris Diaw, PF 36 MIN | 4-9 FG | 1-3 FT | 4 REB | 9 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | -7
With both Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter out, Diaw was great creating for his own and others. The one minus about tonight, was LaMarcus Aldridge just cooked him the post. He does that to plenty of great defenders and again, the Spurs two best post defenders were missing, so overall a very solid night for Bobo.

Aron Baynes, PF 32 MIN | 6-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 15 PTS | +1
Was the recipient from at least a couple of really nice dimes from Diaw and others and he used his size to take up plenty of space in the paint (in a good way).

Kawhi Leonard, SF 33 MIN | 7-18 FG | 7-8 FT | 9 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 21 PTS | -5
His ability to create his own shot continues to grow, but what’s really stood out to me this season is that he doesn’t have tunnel vision anymore. He sees the floor so much better this season and that’s such a big development.

Cory Joseph, PG 37 MIN | 5-10 FG | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 12 PTS | -2
He was good offensively, but what really stood out to me was how much he made Damian Lillard work when he was defending him (Danny Green and Kawhi both took turns guarding him). He worked really hard in the post against Wes Matthews, though Matthews definitely used his size to get some buckets. Anyways, another solid night from #ContractYearCory.

Danny Green, SG 30 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | 0
Very much your typical Danny Green game. Two plays were a lot of fun though. First, he was defending Lillard and got caught in a screen. Lillard looked like he had an open look for a layup and Green recovered to block that layup. Next play, disaster averted… twice. Green receives an outlet pass, tries to side step Damian Lillard, who knocked the ball loose, but Green recovered and managed to get the layup attempt up. Meanwhile, Joel Freeland comes streaking down the court but alas, it was a goaltend. It was the ultimate Danny Green transition layup.

Jeff Ayres, PF 16 MIN | 2-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -14
He looked fine, but he’s jus a little undersized against that giant Portland frontline.

Matt Bonner, PF 6 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +1
#FreeMattBonner #LetBonnerShoot #LetBonnerCook

Kyle Anderson, SF 20 MIN | 6-7 FG | 3-5 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | -15
Let’s not call it a breakout game, because he’s just as likely to get a DNP-CD next game as he is get 20 minutes of run, but he looked great Monday night. He got into the paint, he worked smaller defenders in the post. It was one of the first times we saw him do some of the things that made him so good at UCLA. He wasn’t just standing in the corner or somewhere else on the perimeter waiting to swing the ball or take an open shot. Hopefullly it’s something we’ll see a little more of, even if it’s just in small spurts, but really, it was just good to see he can do it against NBA levels starters and reserves.

Austin Daye, SF 7 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -7
Keep chucking, Austin.

Marco Belinelli, SG 23 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -17
Quite the ho-hum game for Marco. Shot wasn’t falling, but he was still getting some open looks.

Gregg Popovich
Team stayed competitive most of the night, but they were clearly out gunned. Overall though, not a bad effort for a team on a second night of a back to back.

One Thing We Saw

  1. These games are important for guys like Aron Baynes, who again, logged big minutes against a team the Spurs could see in the playoffs. Still, what does everyone think of the Spurs effectively giving these games away in a loaded Western Conference? I suppose it’s fine now, in December, but what happens if they’re having to push in the second half of the season to secure home court advantage? Then again, the coaching staff might care less about home court then we do.
  • fkj74

    The problem, possibily, is losing to bad teams. This seems mental and falling behind in stadings may give us an edge we need mentaly for the trophy push.. Good game from the rook. Go Spurs

  • Tyler

    In regards to seeding, it doesn’t really matter if they’re not healthy. Priority #1 is getting Parker right. Without his ability to adequately threaten the defense, SA’s offense isn’t going to be at the ping-pong, pass happy level it needs to be to beat elite defenses and survive three grueling rounds in the West.

    Truthfully, IMO the strength of the West really shouldn’t be a factor in how Pop goes about coaching this group. They’ve got a number of issues - injuries, offense, odd rotations - that need to be addressed before they start worrying about seeding.

  • Jordan Hedge

    While it’s frustrating to see the Spurs “give away” games like this, I did not have a problem with Pop resting his guys in this one. I think you’ll see the guys who aren’t injured play more of the back to backs as this month goes on, especially the ones where there is less travel involved. The bigger issue as mentioned below is “giving away’ games to the likes of Utah and LA.

    I think there are just a lot of things that aren’t going right for the Spurs at the moment. Guys have nagging injuries. A number of the guys are having “down” shooting years, which is hurting their offense in multiple ways. Teams are not respecting the perimeter shots as much cause guys like Leonard, Diaw, Joseph, Manu are shooting relatively poorly. Add in that it seems like every game they go up against some guy having a super hot shooting night (Nick Young and Teletovic come to mind) and it’s a little surprising they are even as good as they have been. I think you will see the team really click in the second half of the year, but they need to stay in a decent position until then standings wise.

  • Mike Smith

    Hey, El Conclusion has taken a few nights off in December. Let’s hope you pick things up as the season moves forward.

  • fkj74

    Cojo is shooting ok. Leonard is passing up too many 3’s and taking long 2’s bad choice. I think the losng to bad teams is mental. Go Spurs!