El Conclusion: Parker, Spurs front line come up big

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San Antonio Spurs 118 FinalRecap | Box Score 103 Portland Trail Blazers
Tim Duncan, PF 40 MIN | 8-18 FG | 3-3 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 19 PTS | +8
Not as sharp on D as he had been the first couple of games, but when Portland was trying to make one final run, Duncan was there to force the door shut. There was a tip-in on Danny Green’s floater, a turnaround jumper, an outlet to Kawhi Leonard for an And-1. He was great.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 29 MIN | 4-10 FG | 7-7 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +3
This kind of reminded me of Finals Kawhi. The jumper wasn’t totally falling (though he did have a couple of nice shots), but he was all over the boards, getting to the free throw line, etc. Played bigger than his position.

Tiago Splitter, C 26 MIN | 4-4 FG | 1-1 FT | 7 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | -5
Great job defending LaMarcus Aldridge again. Did a great job moving on the pick and roll. I don’t know what else to say except he’s playing the best basketball of his career right now.

Tony Parker, PG 35 MIN | 12-20 FG | 3-3 FT | 2 REB | 6 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 29 PTS | +2
Also might be playing the best basketball of his career.

Danny Green, SG 20 MIN | 2-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | -2
Good defense, hit a couple of three-pointers, took a couple of awful shots. So overall your standard Danny Green game.

Boris Diaw, PF 23 MIN | 4-6 FG | 1-1 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 9 PTS | +22
Forget what the box score is showing… He was a +22 plus/minus tonight. That’s insane. He was in attack mode when Robin Lopez was on him and he was in attack mode when Dorell Wright was on him. Love aggressive Bobo.

Patty Mills, PG 12 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | +15
Lots of energy. Even saw the super small line up with him and Parker in the backcourt. That was fun to see.

Manu Ginobili, SG 29 MIN | 2-8 FG | 10-10 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | +24
A +24 plus/minus, which is also insane considering he made only two baskets and had some really dumb passes. But overall he did a good job of getting to the free throw line and finding open teammates.

Marco Belinelli, SG 16 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | +5
Staying aggressive, but not forcing anything. He also had some nice defensive moments, which is always a bonus.

Gregg Popovich

Was just really smart about making sure they found whoever Damian Lillard was guarding and had them handle the ball, even if that meant putting Patty in with Parker.

  • Bussman

    +24 plus/minus in Ginobili’s case is the diference in the 3rd and 4th quarter when the Blazers were getting close and the Spurs were extended their lead…

    He has an awful box score today, but the Spurs win this game with Manu on the floor.

  • Bussman

    I forgot… In the 1st quarter, he entered the game with the Spurs up by 1. When he was the Spurs lead by 16.

  • lvmainman

    Great job by the Spurs. Perfect from the FT line. The designed play to get Patty Mills the corner 3 via Diaw in the post on the 1st possession of the 4th qtr. Limiting the turnovers. The lookahead by Duncan after turnovers to Kawhi and Ginobili in the 4th qtr for scores. Great job.

  • DorieStreet

    Two straight games with less than 10 TOs. Remarkable job at the line. Everyone is contributing in multiple ways on the court.

  • wannabe_fake_tough_guy

    Kind of harsh grade for Manu, if a B is harsh. Yes, he had a bad shooting night, I think 10-10 on FTs makes up for that, not to mention assists, hockey assists, etc. I think he was focused and aggressive, just like we needed him to be. His shot just wasn’t falling. Those 2 crappy traveling calls and the T took him out of his game for a bit. Props to him for recovering.