El Conclusion: Pacers hammer Spurs until the last five minutes

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Indiana Pacers 111 Final

Recap | Box Score

 100 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 26 MIN | 3-10 FG | 4-4 FT | 6 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | -18
The shooting wasn’t awesome, but he was going up against Roy Hibbert, so that was always a possibility. What I liked is that he went right at Hibbert a lot and he had four assists in 26 minutes, so he was fine overall.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 37 MIN | 8-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 18 PTS | -25
One of the few bright spots to this game. He was extra aggressive on offense, quick to get out in transition and even made half his 3-point attempts.
Tiago Splitter, C 8 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | +6
You know why he gets an A+? Because everything went to Hell once he left with a calf injury. The Spurs cannot beat the Pacers without Splitter. It’s too easy for Hibbert or David West to bully any other Spurs big man besides Duncan.
Tony Parker, PG 26 MIN | 6-14 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | -18
Things started off well and then they didn’t. Then he sat. The end.
Danny Green, SG 17 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -16
His shot is missing right now. It’ll probably fix itself, but it wasn’t there tonight and he didn’t do anything to slow the Pacers’ perimeter guys after the first quarter.
Aron Baynes, PF 6 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +16
I’m not entirely sure what I should’ve expected from Baynes. He was definitely overmatched, but I also imagine him playing wasn’t totally in the plans.
Jeff Ayres, PF 9 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 0 PTS | -6
He was going to get a C+ for having a ton of energy, but then he blew a wide open lay up. C.
Matt Bonner, PF 20 MIN | 3-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -7
Played great tonight. Made a few shots early, even drove the lane for a trademark Red Mamba floater. He also was part of that awesome run at the end of game and did a great job defending the inbounds pass and doubling the ball handler. Fun game for Matty B.
Boris Diaw, PF 26 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 6 PTS | -13
He couldn’t hit an outside shot and was really outmatched by West. This is why he and Splitter are the perfect balance for one another. When one is overmatched Pop can go to the other. This time Pop didn’t have that option.
Patty Mills, PG 21 MIN | 3-9 FG | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 6 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | +9
I love watching this guy play. He was all over the place at the end of this game and it was incredibly entertaining. I’m still not sure he should be getting back up minutes over Cory Joseph, but he’s such a fun spark guy.
Cory Joseph, PG 6 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +13
He gets a B solely because he got an offensive rebound with Hibbert in the area and then finished a baby hook over Hibbert. FREE CORY JOSEPH.
Manu Ginobili, SG 19 MIN | 6-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +5
May have had the best game of any Spur tonight. He was literally the only Spur bench player having a good game before that five minute fourth quarter stretch where they looked like a crazy March Madness underdog.
Marco Belinelli, SG 19 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 9 PTS | -1
That was pretty uninspiring performance on his part. It’s fine, the entire team seem uninspired once the Pacers started raining 3s and ridiculous long 2s. His high-percentage shooting continues, though.
Gregg Popovich
The offense got pretty sloppy in the second quarter and Pop let it go a little bit longer than normal. Might’ve helped Indiana get back in the game or I’m just looking for someone to blame for that crappy second quarter.
  • Dusty

    You seriously prefer Cory Joseph over Patty Mills? I’m not going to get technical here and break down the stats but Patty Mills looks to be far superior. Cory Joseph is a much worse shooter than Mills and looks to just be trying to tread water and not screw up when he’s in the game.

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  • fkj74

    I am starting to worry over how we are doing vs the elite teams. Anyone else? Go Spurs!

  • rj

    agreed. I know its still early, but we’ve lost to Houston, okc, and Indiana.

  • rj

    we need to beat some good teams.
    my concern is manu defending the small forward position in the second unit.
    spurs got exposed against okc as they were able to employ Jeremy lamb and reggie Jackson as their athletic sparks off the bench. now lets not go nuts here. neither player are vying for 6th man of the year, but our lack of athleticism off the bench could be problematic.
    does the malcom Thomas signing have anything to do with this problem? I know he won’t sniff any court time outside of a monumentous blow out, but his athleticism and defensive potential were obviously worth the minor investment, although he is projected to be a pf.
    I’ve been following blogs too long to suggest throwing a young, unproven talent into the rotation or bidding for trades this early in the season.
    just sayin’

  • rj

    and how bad was mahinmi last night? ian foul-on-mimi

  • Titletown99030507d

    As far as Splitter’s grade “I rest my case”. But I’ll say more. Too bad that calf injury has to creep in now when he practically played 82 games last season without a hitch. I keep saying after TD Splitter is the best they have in the front court and it showed when he left. That’s why I get so pissed when pop pulls him when he’s on his way to a double double or a great game. Maybe if he played a lot of minutes his body would be used to the grind instead the inconsistent minutes from game to game is what’s confusing his body. I sure wish pop would play him at 25-30 minutes every game he’s not 37 years old gheeeeezzzz! That injury is because of lack of playing time. Yes I want him to play the whole damn game. And stop experimenting with the small ball (Diaw) this dude thinks he’s Step Curry now because of the green light he got from Pop. Bad mistake I don’t want to see this dude putting up 9 attempts posting up or from the perimeter (unless he’s wide open from the arc) in a game that’s why we have Tony,TD,Manu, Belli, Green,and Kawhi, and maybe Mills for that. With the increase of minutes that pop has rewarded him and don’t know why? his rebounding as big playing that many minutes isn’t much to get excited about. I know if Splitter played 30 minutes he’d be double figures in rebounding and probably pts as well. But hey let’s beat em with “SMAAALLL BAALLL”. Good luck with that.