El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 101, Houston Rockets 95

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Houston Rockets 95 Final
Recap | Box Score		 101 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, C 38 MIN | 7-17 FG | 3-6 FT | 11 REB | 5 AST | 17 PTS | +8

Played a lot of minutes, but he played like the Tim Duncan old… err, young. Missed free throws and all.
Richard Jefferson, SF 37 MIN | 3-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 9 PTS | +3

Didn’t shoot great but made enough plays to stay in the game. He’ll have better nights, but this wasn’t RJ regressing to the disappointing play of old.
DeJuan Blair, F 16 MIN | 4-6 FG | 1-1 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 9 PTS | +1

He pulled up for a jumpshot on the first play of the game without hesitation and knocked it down. That was pretty much the highlight of his night.
Tony Parker, PG 45 MIN | 12-22 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 8 AST | 28 PTS | +13

He needs to just sleep through tomorrow on into Friday. Like RJ, Tony Parker made enough plays for the Spurs tonight.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 38 MIN | 5-12 FG | 1-2 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 11 PTS | +13

Kawhi is a player. He’s got a future for the Spurs.
Matt Bonner, PF 23 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 7 PTS | -1

His help defense looked better, but he’s still not getting a lot of looks on the perimeter.

Daniel Green, G 19 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 5 PTS | 0

An improvement over last night, but he still hasn’t recaptured the magic of last week.
Gary Neal, PG 21 MIN | 3-10 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 7 PTS | -5

Gary looked tired tonight. Several of his shots were as flat as west Texas when leaving his hand.

Tiago Splitter, C 24 MIN | 3-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 8 PTS | -2

Tiago Splitter is a hustle player. He made plenty of those types of plays tonight, though his numbers don’t quite reflect that.
James Anderson, SG 4 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 PTS | 0

I still firmly believe that James will get a chance to recapture a place in the Spurs rotation again this season. It’ll happen.

Five Things We Saw

  1. Pop relied heavily on a lineup of Parker, Leonard, RJ, Tiago and Duncan. I’m guessing that’s what Pop feels is his best defensive lineup that doesn’t take too much away on offense.
  2. I don’t care how old and slow he gets, I love watching Tim Duncan play basketball.
  3. Kawhi Leonard took a deep breath before nailing the free throw that put the Spurs up four late.
  4. It’s games like this that will earn the trust of his teammates for Kawhi Leonard, if they hadn’t already. He’s someone you can count on to make a play.
  5. I don’t know what Pop’s strategy is, long term, this season with the minutes the core guys played the last couple of games. When is the last time Parker played 40+ minutes and Duncan just below 40 in the regular season? This is not sustainable.
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  • Anonymous

    How about EL Game Over?

  • Anonymous

    EL Contusion is fine with me.

  • Anonymous

    Alright you asked for it! Have a nice read. Humorous too.

    http://www.poundingtherock.com/2012/1/12/2698747/media-excursions

  • Bankshot21

    Thanks for showing Timmy some love with the A. The past 2 games go to show what I’ve known for the past 2 years. Given his old pt, Timmy can still play at an all star level. One more thing. Really love what you guys are doing with the site. Keep up the good work. Was curious about whether a retrospective piece would be done for Timmy in lieu of his passing Larry Legend on the all time points scored list.

  • Bushka

    Yeah lets rip apart our guard rotation for some mediocre middle of the road big man to clog up next years salary cap and take us nowhere. Awesome idea.

  • Bushka

    Blairs sitting because Pop loves Defence. He was great against Milwaukee in the crunch offensively, there is no doubt he can score the ball and make great plays.

    Dejaun is an intuitive beast but he is going to be 6-6 forever and he STILL reaches way too much.

  • Bushka

    Tiago is a taller Fab Oberto who can block shots better and plays an excellent complementary game. Thats not a bad thing. He & Blair are very good parts of the puzzle that you can move forward with next year.

    Neither guy is a 36 minute a game player right now I don’t think anyone can really argue that.

  • Bushka

    Tiago changes more shots than Blair and plays much better positional D.
    Dejauns a gambler. He plays passing lanes with his hands not his body.

    Both are really good players who right now give us different looks that are valuable to the team.

    Both are role players. Neither ones going to carry us.

  • TD BestEVER

    You sure sound like one……. Always screaming from him to be bench for TS who will end up giving you the same things

  • TD BestEVER

    Or get a Jason Thompson or someone similar who would be our MOST upside big, and possibly have something on this roster that looks like could lead the team post Duncan/Manu. Or just sit back and watch TP decline with Manu/TD and be stuck with TS, DJB, Green as starters 2 years from now……. No thank you

  • Hobson13

    I’ve made my points about this team taking a step back in the short term to win in the long run. I really get tired of going there. Surely you can’t believe this team will get out of the 2nd round this year. We have too many flaws and too many one dimensional players. We could, however, change that with a few top shelf picks in this draft.

  • Hobson13

    Unfortunately, I think you are probably right. I wouldn’t even mind if we waited until the end of the season to trade Parker. However, if I had to bet, I would say that the Front Office is content to keep Manu, Tony, and Tim on the roster until they either retire or rot. I just don’t see any will to take risks in order to improve the team especially after the RJ trade.

  • Bankshot21

    so Rasheed Wallace wants to come back to the NBA. I know he has 15 seasons under his belt, but at 6’11/7ft and capable of hitting the 3, he would be a better rotation player than Bonner (whom I love on our team). Thoughts anyone?

  • Tyler

    I don’t think it’s a given he’ll be better than Bonner this year. If Rasheed thinks he’s still the Rasheed of old, that’s trouble. He looked pretty bad for the Celtics his last season.

    If he’s willing to take a backseat, play defense first, and take good shots, then it’s possible. Also, from everything I’ve read, he’s a great teammate. Guys apparently love him (odd, I know).

  • Pingback: The long arms of Kawhi Leonard | 48 Minutes of Hell()

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