San Antonio Spurs 97, Los Angeles Clippers 88: Gary Neal, bench key Spurs victory

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Providing compelling visual evidence supporting the legitimacy of +/- statistics, guard Gary Neal stepped in for an injured George HIll and posted a very sound +14. More than just empty numbers, Neal filled up the box score with 16 points, connecting on half of his eight 3-pointers and 6-for-10 overall.

Part of the unit that nearly brought the San Antonio Spurs back against the New Orleans Hornets, Neal appears to be growing comfortable in the San Antonio offense, helping to key a 13-0 run in the first half that broke open a Spurs eight point lead with 10 of his 16 points.

Comfortable stepping behind screens, shooting off the dribble, the catch-and-shoot, or even producing a floater in the lane, Neal would appear to be the combo guard the Spurs thought they previously had in Roger Mason. The development and expansion of Neal’s game should be an interesting watch, as an additional ball handling presence off the bench should allow the Spurs to offset George Hill’s deficiencies in the shot creating department enough to keep Manu Ginobli as a starter.

Beyond San Antonio’s first regular season glimpse at Rookie of the Year favorite Blake Griffin and the debut of Spurs rookie Tiago Splitter, the night was one of many nights this season in which the San Antonio Spurs simply took care of business. A few thoughts and highlights in bullet form:

  • During Tim Duncan’s first preseason game against Charles Barkley, the Hall of Fame mouth was quoted as saying something to the effect of, “I’ve seen the future, and he wears No. 21.” Watching Blake Griffin in the preseason for the first time last year before his injury, I immediately got the same vibe. After posting 17 points and eight rebounds in impressive fashion, I have little reason to change my opinion. Griffin could be a Hall of Famer some day, if his teammates don’t kill him first. The combination of speed, power, and explosive leaping ability immediately reminds of a pre-surgery Amare Stoudemire and pre-“my weight is 20 and 10″ Shawn Kemp. Because of his impressive leaping ability, and his total disregard for his own body in pursuit of a ball, Griffin is easily the most entertaining big man to watch in the NBA. Unfortunately that reckless abandon is both his greatest blessing and curse.Clippers fans cringe at every takeoff, and with good reason. Blake Griffin would run through a brick wall to snatch a basketball. Unfortunately some of his teammates are intent on leading lob passes towards said wall. If Griffin is to have a long career, he’ll have to learn that not every pass is one he should pursue.
  • Richard Jefferson has been consistently good, posting another solid outing with 18 points on 7-11 shooting. The productive, efficient, and — more importantly — aggressive version of Jefferson has been the positive story of this still young season. More than the results, it’s the process by which Jefferson is contributing: attacking the rim, getting to the free throw line, and confidently stepping into shots. There will be more difficult matchups, and nights when the shot is not falling. But the positive attributes he is bringing this season are all things under his control, which speaks well for his chances of sustaining his strong play moving forward.
  • For having scored 19 points and dishing nine assists, Tony Parker had a rough night. Parker had the difficult task of containing Eric Gordon during a stretch or two while Gordon manned the point guard position, struggling to contain dribble penetration on Gordon’s way to 23 points and 11 assists. He was also chased down a couple times in transition and stripped on his way to the basket. Not that it was a terrible night, but if not for those few plays it could have been a great one.
  • Tiago Splitter looked gassed, which should be expected after the long layoff from basketball. Expect another week or two like this before we get a really good glimpse at what he can do. Though watching a Spurs big man catch and dunk in one motion is a sight not seen around these parts in some time.
  • James Anderson looks like a player to appreciate. Through three games, Anderson has shown a defensive mindset and is a dependable 3-point threat. With Richard Jefferson showing life on the defensive end of the court, the Spurs have an unsuspected — not great, but competent — defensive presence on the wing. The Spurs suddenly have the bench they thought they had last year.

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  • Jacques

    Good to see everyone (except Gee) getting an opportunity to play tonight. A little surprised DeJuan only attempted one shot. Hope George Hill is okay. McDyess was great too. Go Spurs.

  • Antonio

    Loving this team’s attitude. Go Spurs!

  • andy

    honestly, little tipsy, but judging from the the lines, you’ve got to be excited about the depth we have at 1-3 now. really happy jefferson’s put it together, and we have 2 emerging threats in anderson and neal. anderson’s commitment to defense (and the fact that he never quits on a play, flying in to get a block or steal) speaks to how nba-ready he is. i know this game was only against the clips, but i love it. can’t wait til we see splitter catch up.

  • Jim Henderson

    Neal was amazing. Sixteen points in 20 minutes, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 6-10 FG, 4-8 3-pointers. Are you kidding me! How the FO ever found & plucked this guy out of obscurity is simply incredible. This is the spark-plug scorer off the bench that we’ve been missing. And he can create his own shot off the dribble. If his game-winner in Mexico City during the preseason is any indication, we may have found ourselves the steal of the year.

    I think we’ve only scratched the surface on Anderson. He’s a slow-burner, and yet has already shown some flashes of his future. By the end of the year, he may indeed end up confirming what some have called the steal of the draft. He and Neal seem to work well together off the bench as well.

    RJ was great again tonight. This looks to be the guy we thought we were getting last year. He’s now had three straight games where he made his presence felt. I hope this remains a consistent pattern throughout the year. In all facets I see improvement, except I’d like him to hit the boards a bit more. Go RJ!

    Nice to see Splitter finally get some action. Cool that he got his first two points in the books with a slam. I can tell he’ll be a good fit on the team once he gets a little more time after the month layoff.

    Great block by Temple!

    Dice can still rebound, pulling down 10 big one’s in 22 minutes.

    Blair’s in an awful funk. I look forward to him busting out sometime soon. It’s important to stick with him and continue to show confidence in him at this stage. He did have a nice block, and a sweet touch pass through the lane to Duncan for a lay-up.

    Overall, the “D” showed some improvement (gave up less than 90 points on 46% FG, & 30% from three), but we still have a long way to go in that department. Our rebounding is also still not where it needs to be. We better be ready to defend on Wednesday against the Suns. They can still shoot/score the ball. We may use some “small ball” in that contest since Phoenix has one of the smaller teams in the league.

    I feel bad for GHill. Hope he’s recovering well, and won’t have to miss any games.

  • rob

    If Neal keeps this up…does he make a statement to eventually starting? His game would certainly benefit the starting unit with the Spurs penetration/kick out style of offense. Ginobili being used as the leader of the second unit and facilitating with Hill, Anderson and Splitter?

    Blair is definately in a rut. But being given starter minutes in only his second year of action might take some time for him to adjust. Then again…Duncan is noticeably slower on his rotations on D and not as athletic as he used to be. Both him and Blair on the court at the same time hasn’t proven to be a very formidable starting front court so far this early.

    Gotta love Anderson’s commitment to defense. The more he plays the better he’s going to get. I think the team will eventually have it’s solid b/u to Jefferson as the season wears on. And speaking of Jefferson…he’s already played better in these first 3 games than he played in the first half of the season last year. Hope this trend continues.

    Still (and hopefully soon) the team will get better at it’s pick and roll defense. It’s their achiles heal and the obvious plan of attack by opposing teams if they don’t improve in that area.

  • Tim in Surrey

    rob

    “If Neal keeps this up…does he make a statement to eventually starting? His game would certainly benefit the starting unit with the Spurs penetration/kick out style of offense. Ginobili being used as the leader of the second unit and facilitating with Hill, Anderson and Splitter?”

    I doubt it. Neal seems like a perfect fit as a leader of the second unit. He fits almost ideally into a LONG tradition of hot-shooting combo guards who come off the bench and cause matchup problems-frequently on championship squads (Freddie Brown for the Sonics, Vinnie Johnson of the Pistons, our own Steve Kerr, etc.). He’s a pretty good ballhandler and defensive player, but he’d be badly overmatched against stronger SGs (Kobe, Wade, Evans, Roy, etc.) and isn’t a good enough passer to play the point. But against other teams’ benches, he’s clearly very dangerous. If he and James Anderson keep playing like this, our opponents’ assistant coaches are going to have some long nights.

    From what little he was able to show, I though Tiago looked really good. I think Tiago, Blair, Anderson, Neal, and Temple will all be more and more effective as the season goes on. Add in Jefferson’s obvious improvement and it is really exciting to see how many young, effective players Pop and RC have been able to add to the team over the last 13 months-without sacrificing Tim, Tony, Manu, George, a bunch of draft picks, or a bunch of cap space. And not only that, these are all players who really fit the Spurs’ culture. You hear people talk about rebuilding while still winning, but it very rarely happens. This, however, is a GM performance worthy of Red Auerbach or Jerry West.

  • bduran

    “Neal’s game should be an interesting watch, as an additional ball handling presence off the bench should allow the Spurs to offset George Hill’s deficiencies in the shot creating department enough to keep Manu Ginobli as a starter”

    This is exciting. Hill is great depth at guard but he needs help and Neal, even if he comes down a bit and i’m betting he will, seems like just the guy.

    Our bench was great. Our starters looked off despite finishing with solid stats. Jefferson, Manu, and Parker all looked like they had a lot of rust on the break. Lots of mishandled balls. I’m sure that’ll get start playing better as they get back into the swing of things.

    After seeing Blair for the first time this year, I’m less worried. He was still solid on the glass. He didn’t try to force things at the basket and made an amazing pass to TD. He just looks young and a bit lost at times. He’ll get it together as he adjusts to his new role, although it may take a little while. I don’t think sophmore slumps are that uncommon.

  • zainn

    I think everyone forgot about the fragrant foul on george hill in the first half (i think). I hope he’s okay. And splitter looked somewhat cnfused but I’m sure he will learn our rotations faster than RJ did last season. I hope he dosent have an RJ first year curse.

  • Tyler

    Neal reminds me of Ben Gordon a little. Same build and game.

    If RJ keeps being aggressive, his extension could start to look like a pretty good value. It’s early though.

    I thought Splitter, in the few times he had to defend the PnR, did a pretty good job of staying with and containing the ball handler. He forced Gordon into a tough runner that he missed on one possession.

    The one thing that struck me was this: the Clippers are a very young, athletic team (Eric Gordon and Griffin epitomize the word “explosiveness”), yet I never got the sense the Spurs were out-athleted at any point last night. In the last few years, normally you would have to chalk a few plays up to the Spurs being too old and slow. Last night though, I felt we were just as quick to loose balls and we won just as many 50/50 balls as the Clips.

    And comparing this year’s team to 2 or 3 seasons ago, the upgrade in overall talent and athleticism is striking. Our ceiling as a team is far and away higher than it’s been since 2007. Kudos to the FO.

  • MacedonianSpursFan

    The only bad thing about the game are G.Hill’s injury and Eric Gordon’s dunks!!Maaannnn he posterized Timmy.But overall great game,especially on the offense.The bench was excellent(G.Neal!),and of course our biggest weakness is D.We must work on that.But,looking forward for some Phoenix butt kicking :)GO SPURS GOOOO!!!

  • junierizzle

    I know it’s only the Clippers but a win is a win.

    So far after 3 games:

    -The Big 3 are doing their thing.
    -RJ appears to “get it”
    -Mcdeezy is still Mcdeezy
    -Neal and Anderson are hitting 3s.

    The most important thing??
    NEal and Anderson are hitting 3s. The Spurs always had guys that could hit a 3.
    THey didn’t have that last year.

    The Spurs are going to go as far as Neal and Anderson’s shooting takes them.

    I was great to finally see TIAGO. I had visions of him getting dunks from a MANU assist. That’s exactly how he got his first NBA points. I’ll take it as a good sign.

    The negative is of course the Defense. I think it’s still early and guys just aren’t keyed in yet on playing good D. You really have to focus to play good D. Gaurds are still getting to the cup too easily. Hopefully TIAGO will earn more minutes and help out Duncan. TIAGO still has to get used to playing in the NBA.

    Let’s see how they look at THANKSGIVING.

  • Tyler

    I was at the game last night… interesting to see the Spurs at Staples Center but NOT playing the Lakers. The arena was half empty and quiet, but a good 40% of the fans were there for the Spurs.

    Some thoughts:

    -Tiago Splitter looked really nervous and unsure. Duncan directed him to a spot several times on out of bounds plays. It’ll be interesting to see if he can settle down and figures things out or if he needs a year in the system like RJ. Splitter seemed confused and tenative in the offensive sets until Manu got on the floor… could be the same effect we saw with Blair last season.

    -Maybe Blair would be better coming off the bench as a change of pace once Splitter gets up to speed. These first few games he’s looked overmatched inside against the other teams’ starting bigs.

    -Jefferson looks worlds better than he did last year. Really aggressive and comfortable in the offense.

    -Duncan couldn’t seem to figure out where the double-team was coming from the whole night. Not sure what was going on.

    -In any situation that allows it, the Spurs should be playing Temple over Simmons. Simmons looks like this year’s version of Bogans but Temple’s athleticism at least provides a spark.

  • ThatBigGuy

    After the game, Neal was the player of the game and had a sit down with Bill and Sean. They asked him how he was playing so much so soon. His response was something like this: “Well, they brought me in this summer because I can shoot, but I was told that if I wanted to make the roster and get PT, I needed to play solid D. So I’ve been focusing on playing D as well as I possibly can every I see the court.” This Neal guy is the real deal. How does the FO find these guys?

    @Tyler
    Simmons and Temple are completely different players. Simmons is 230lbs and Temple is 190lbs. They’ll never be competing for minutes. Besides, last night, Simmons guarded Griffin. No way any coach would even entertain the notion of putting Temple on Griffin.

    It was interesting to note that even though I thought Griffin abused Simmons, Pop gave Simmons a back pat when he came back to the bench. Too me, it looked more like a “good job” rather than a “well, at least you tried” back pat. I’m thinking Simmons is well liked by the coaching staff and will get opportunities to prove himself as an enforcer-type defender. The guy is quite a beast physically.

  • lvmainman

    Gary Neal reminds me of a Vinny “microwave” Johnson. Making open 3’s, a contested, shot clock winding down 3 made, a pull up jumper in transition, and a floater! Wow!

    Anderson has definitely giving defensive effort and making 3’s.

    Blair should not start anymore. He guarded Griffin in the 1st half and Griffing went off. He guarded Kaman in the 2nd half and Kaman went off. Blair is just to small. When Splitter gets acclimated, he should start for defensive purposes because Blair has been abused.

    Loved the way Pop is managing minutes with Ginobili missing the last 9 minutes of the game and taking Duncan out for the last 4 minutes of the game. Letting the young guys and newbies get minutes on the floor.

  • Tyler

    @Tyler

    I was here first…..

  • Hobson13

    “Neal would appear to be the combo guard the Spurs thought they previously had in Roger Mason.”

    This is exactly what I was thinking a bit earlier today. He looks very similar to what RMJ did in his first year with the Spurs. However, I think Neal is a bit better ball handler than RMJ was.

    I agree with all your points. RJ is much improved and Tony looks healthy. If we had played a smarter and more focused game against NO, we would be sitting at 3-0 right now. Even though Duncan and Blair haven’t looked all that great, our perimeter/bench players are making up for our poorer interior scoring.

    In all honesty, if I had to guess before the season started, I never would have thought Anderson and especially Neal would have seen so much playing time and been such a positive impact this early in the season. Neal is a straight up shooter that we desperately need and Anderson seems to be a promising defender and another good perimeter shooter. Both (but especially Anderson) will only get better as the season progresses.

    If Blair could get his game on track, it would greatly improve this team. I agree with the previous poster who claimed Blair is in a terrible funk. After a rocking preseason, he shot the ball very badly in the first two games (4-19 in FGA) and then took only 1 shot in 20 minutes last night. That, to me, says he lost a bit of confidence after the NO game. He needs to slow down, relax, and pound people with that 6’6″ 270 lb. frame. With the work he put in during the offseason, he’s poised for a breakout year, but I think he’s trying too hard. Relax there big fella and let the game come to you.

    All in all, this team is very promising/intriguing. It will be interesting to see what this team can be in another 15-20 games from now.

  • SEANB

    G.Neal reminds me of ben gordon and i said that a month ago (HAHA) James Anderson is being cool and just letting the game come to him by hitting shots when open on wing. But he going to explode at sometime to make us go WOW!! Give Tiago a few weeks when he is in game shape to see what he produces. I really like our bench,we have alot scorers and there seem to be some chemistry with both rooks in NEAL and ANDERSON jelling with starters.