El Conclusion: Spurs gut out big road win in Los Angeles
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Matt Bonner, PF 23 MIN | 2-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | -2 He was totally overmatched tonight. His shot was off all night. Having said that, I kind of liked the way he played. The defense wasn’t all bad and he kept shooting. If at least the threat of him shooting isn’t there, he’s useless on the court. |
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Tim Duncan, PF 36 MIN | 6-14 FG | 6-8 FT | 11 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 18 PTS | +7 Second game in a row he’s played against a front line that gives him fits and he looked much better tonight. He didn’t force a ton and man was that outlet to Kawhi a thing of beauty. |
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Kawhi Leonard, SF 37 MIN | 10-18 FG | 5-5 FT | 10 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 26 PTS | +9 “Who didn’t Kawhi strip?” Great question, Brent Barry. The box score only credited him for three steals, but he basically made it tough for anyone around him to dribble all night. The jump shot was finally working. We figured it’d take a few games. A couple of poeple noticed this, but he also is doing a much better job finding the open man when he’s driving to the hole. |
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Tony Parker, PG 34 MIN | 3-13 FG | 7-9 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | 0 I didn’t think he was very good for the bulk of the night. But in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs needed a couple of buckets, he scored four straight. He also did a really good job of getting the Clippers in foul trouble, which was key down the stretch. |
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Danny Green, SG 25 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 2 PTS | -14 IcyHot is mostly icy right now. It’ll turn around, it always does with him. Until then, he’ll keep playing good to great defense. He’s fine. |
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Aron Baynes, PF 12 MIN | 3-4 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | -3 Nice night from the Baynger playing against guys clearly more talented than him. He’s doing all the dirty stuff he’s supposed to be doing and it’s going to serve him well when he doesn’t have to defend starters. |
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Boris Diaw, PF 25 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +6 This “A” is really for his fourth quarter play. He was fine the rest of the night, but he played amazing defense in the fourth and made some big shots. Did you ever in your life think he’d pick off a lob to DeAndre Jordan? |
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Kyle Anderson, SF 7 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +3 Got some early run, but didn’t do a ton. Didn’t look completely lost trying to chase J.J. Reddick around, so that’s a plus. |
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Cory Joseph, PG 16 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +4 Really good defense tonight and he spent of ton of his time chasing Chris Paul around. Just needs that jump shot to fall and he’s going to be really good this season. |
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Manu Ginobili, SG 25 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-4 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | +10 Missing those final two free throws aside, I thought Manu had a really nice game. Nothing explosive, nothing overly fancy, but it’s one of those game where if this is the Manu you get all season, you’re in good shape. |
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Gregg Popovich Best thing he could’ve done was keep Manu and Tony on the bench until late in the fourth. The Clippers announcers made note of this: The Clippers guards looked tired at the end of the game and Parker and Ginobili especially looked like they had a little something extra. We’ll see what he does against Golden State tomorrow night. Do Duncan, Parker and Ginobili all sit? |
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Two Things We Saw
- The Clippers don’t have the best wing talent and they started two guards, Jamal Crawford and J.J. Reddick tonight, but something to note is that Kawhi Leonard got double teamed several times in the post. He was able to pass out of those double teams, though he seemed caught off guard that the double happened in the first place. Is that going to happen more? Will Kawhi get quicker at passing out of the post? His improved passing when driving to the hole suggests he can get become a good post passer, but we won’t know until it happens more often.
- Again, the three-point shooting has been a bugaboo for the Spurs. They shot just 10 percent tonight and are shooting just 31.5 percent on the season. It’s not just a shots aren’t falling thing. They need Marco Belinelli back. We can write off Patty Mills for the time being. They know he’s not coming back and have adjusted. Losing Belinelli on top of that is what’s really hurting.
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