El Conclusion: Lots of good as the Spurs advance

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Portland Trail Blazers 82 Final

Recap | Box Score

 104 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 36 MIN | 6-13 FG | 4-6 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 16 PTS | +17
Solid all-around night. Didn’t force a ton, helped stop a couple of Portland runs. He also saw some time on LaMarcus Aldridge in the second half and forced him into some tough shots.

Kawhi Leonard, SF 35 MIN | 9-15 FG | 1-2 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 5 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 22 PTS | +23
Man oh man. He was everywhere tonight. Had two highlight fast break dunks. He made his outside shots and really looked comfortable stepping up once they knew Parker wasn’t coming back.

Tiago Splitter, C 28 MIN | 1-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 7 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | +8
Seven assists?! Didn’t even realize that happened. He made everything difficult for LaMarcus Aldridge.

Tony Parker, PG 10 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | 0
Looks like his hamstring is OK. He’s got close to a week to get it better.

Danny Green, SG 35 MIN | 9-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 22 PTS | +23
The pull up 3′s were working, the stand still 3′s were working and the mid-range game was working. If I were building the perfect Danny Green game, this would’ve been it.

Aron Baynes, PF 7 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +9
Baynes Smash.

Matt Bonner, PF 3 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +3
#LetBonnerSteal

Boris Diaw, PF 20 MIN | 2-8 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | +5
Shot eight times in 20 minutes. That’s the aggressiveness he’ll need next round regardless of who they play. He struggles guarding Aldridge, but won’t see anyone like that in the WCF.

Patty Mills, PG 26 MIN | 8-17 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 18 PTS | +17
He took a couple of ill-advised shots, but overall he was awesome filling in for Parker. He gave Portland a completely different look they weren’t able to adapt to. They kept going under screens and he kept pulling up and taking open shots.

Manu Ginobili, SG 19 MIN | 4-11 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 9 PTS | -2
We can talk about his shot struggling, which is definitely a concern, but he’s still the Spurs second best ball handler and toughest competitor. I think the rest is going to do him wonders for next round.

Marco Belinelli, SG 15 MIN | 1-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +3
Shot didn’t fall, but he was aggressive looking for it. All you can ask from him.

Two Things We Saw

  1. Really tough to overstate how good Kawhi was this game. Aggressive, smart play. If Oklahoma City holds on, watching him guard Kevin Durant is going to be awesome. I think he’ll also be able to do work in the post against whoever is guarding him.
  2. I imagine five days off will help Tony Parker get right. There’s no travel involved for him until late next week. Getting that rest is going to be key because he’s going to need to be at a Games 1-3 of this series level for the Spurs to win next round.
  • Gomezd

    Kawhi laughs…. whoah. And man whoever came with that sugar K nickname smh

  • Nima K.

    Nickname was from Shaq!

  • Andre_in_SanDiego

    You are giving Manu an A, you must have been watching a totally different game.

  • lvmainman

    Ginobili an A? Are you kidding me? He had a negative +/- of -2, in 19 minutes played, in a game the Spurs won by 22 pts!!!

    Ginobili looked shaky driving to the basket, barely making the 2 layups he had. Ginobili looked shaky on pull-up 3 point shots. Ginobili looked hesitant to drive to the hoop. He was good on defense rebounding and getting that 1 steal, but man, Ginobili just looked unsure of himself. No way he deserves an A.

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  • NYC

    Remember when he was drafted people said Kawhi might become a borderline all star?
    Borderline? All star??
    I’ll be shocked if this guy doesn’t make an all-NBA second team at the very least.

  • NYC

    “He gave Portland a completely different look they weren’t able to adapt to.”

    I’m surprised by that. Didn’t Portland draft Mills? If anyone, shouldn’t they know of what he is capable?

  • Tim in Surrey

    Different GM, different coach, different teammates (for the most part).

  • Rick Ashford

    Actually, with a newborn infant in the house, Tony might be getting more rest if he was on the road. ;)

  • Rick Ashford

    Different Patty, too. He’s much better than he was at Portland.

  • samhl

    they have too much length on this team and they are athletic on the wings and it bothers manu at his age, he doesn’t have the speed plus he looks tired. they have 2 mobile big guys and batum was guarding him after tony left. but i think he played good in first half and was aggressive but in second half his shot didn’t fall , I watched the game and it was all open jump shots and 3 point shots were open too , they just didn’t fall. it happens lets hope other series goes to game 7 and we get clippers because i think we match better vs them , since their def. isn’t that great.