El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 114, Denver Nuggets 99

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San Antonio Spurs 114 Final
Recap | Box Score		 99 Denver Nuggets
Tim Duncan, C 29 MIN | 6-13 FG | 6-9 FT | 9 REB | 3 AST | 18 PTS | +18

Pop probably didn’t want Duncan to play as many minutes as he did in the second half, but 29 is still a good number. Especially with Duncan having six days off because he’s missing his first All-Star Weekend.
Richard Jefferson, SF 35 MIN | 5-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 17 PTS | +10

5-7 3-point field goals. Offensively, that’s all you need to know.
DeJuan Blair, F 35 MIN | 12-21 FG | 4-4 FT | 12 REB | 3 AST | 28 PTS | +3

I don’t know if I’d call this the best game of DeJuan Blair’s career, I still think that 20-20 game against the Thunder a couple years ago was better, but this was still a career night for Blair.
Tony Parker, PG 35 MIN | 5-11 FG | 4-4 FT | 1 REB | 12 AST | 16 PTS | +12

5-11 shooting isn’t great, but 16 points on 11 shots is solid. 12 assists is great.
Daniel Green, G 38 MIN | 6-12 FG | 3-4 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 16 PTS | +20

Green spent a lot of time tonight on Andre Miller and Aaron Afflalo, Denver’s two biggest offensive threats. He did an admirable job. Would’ve been nice if he shot better than 20% from 3.
Matt Bonner, PF 25 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 12 PTS | +3

Shot 4-8 in the game, all from 3. That’s so Matt Bonner. I actually thought Matty played some decent 1-on-1 defense on Al Harrington tonight. He stayed in front of Harrington, Bonner’s just not explosive enough to do anything other than try and bother the shooter in those cases.
Gary Neal, PG 17 MIN | 1-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 3 PTS | +5

Three points on seven shots, not efficiency’s finest hour.

James Anderson, SG 19 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 PTS | -1

I wondered in our postgame show if this was a showcase game for James Anderson trade partners. If so, the Spurs would be lucky to get a second round pick for James.
Eric Dawson, F 2 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS | 0

Not enough time to really register. I’d be mildly interested to see how Dawson develops if he wasn’t already 27 years old. As a result, I think he’ll be lucky to score another 10 day contract.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 2 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS | +7

Apparently he left the game with tightness in his calves. Probably from jumping so much on Tuesday night in Portland.
Cory Joseph, G 3 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 2 PTS | -2

Cory got called for a foul when he got knocked 10 feet away out of bounds and he kicked his leg out on his way to the basket supports. Yup.

Three Things We Saw

  1. I’m starting to get curious whose minutes will get cut when TJ Ford comes back to the lineup. We still haven’t solved the riddle of a healthy Manu, and here I am wondering about TJ Ford’s minutes.
  2. With the way the Spurs started out this season on the road, did you honestly expect them to finish 8-1 on the Rodeo Road Trip?
  3. No more West coast games, please. I don’t like staying up this late during the week. Get off my lawn.
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  • theghostofjh

    Not very appreciative are you, for what Blair provides for this team for less than a million per year. And I hope you get your wish too. He deserves to be appreciated more by fans and coaching staff alike.

  • theghostofjh

    Blair doesn’t go for steals to “pad his stats”. That’s silly. He does it because he’s good at it. He just needs to be more selective, and continue to work harder on his position “D”. Blair’s a good and willing passer, but again, he still needs to work on being more patient and selective with his shot selection down low. One of the problems is he doesn’t get enough touches on the low block, and he’s been inclined to rush his shot too much because his height disadvantage worries him too much. He still needs to work on his footwork, pump fakes, and using his body more to create space on his shot, and then always make the move/shot with confidence.

  • Hobson13

    48MOH team, could you guys put together an “El Conclusion” article and grade each player for the first half of the season? It’s just a suggestion, but perhaps that would give us something new to argue about…

  • LPspursFan

    dude, with all due respect, it’s not like there’s a whole lot of difference between 22 and 28 minutes for athletes at this level…Tiago has played professionally for years. he’s a veteran. don’t worry, come playoff time, Tiago will be ready to play as many mpg as we need

  • Brian

    why are you blaming pop? lol Tiago didn’t play much last season due to injury and ordinarily you don’t just put him int he line up cause of his size. Antonio played good D on randolph but he was hot out of his mind. making turn around fadeaway 18 footers with hand in his face. Pop has always done a fine job of preparing our team, half of our championship you can argue we weren’t the best team, but we ended up winning cause of tactical advantage.

  • Brian

    ok here’s your playoff reality….
    Realistically the Spurs will make it to WCF, I don’t think besides the Mavs (when nowitzki is hot) and thunder anyone else can beat a healthy Spurs. Now at the point 4,5 guys have to play consistently well for the Spurs to have a shot, we don’t have a Superstar anymore (unless one of the Big 3 gets hot), so margin of error is small.
    Look at the either contenders: Thunder, Heat, and Bulls. They have legitimate superstars at the top of their games like Duncan a few years back. Noone should be “getting” duncan a 5th ring, he gets paid more than everyone else he should play like it if he really wants another ring. If he can’t sustain that level, then he won’t get one. Stop acting like everyone else is his babysitter.

  • Titletown99030507d

    Oh yes there is if your playing those 28 minutes night in and night out. They do make a difference.

  • Bry

    I agree completely. Underpaid rotation players are a HUGE luxury. Giving or sending them away is one of the WORST things a front-office can do. Judging by their numbers, Bonner and Blair are both underpaid, which creates money available this summer to make some free-agent noise. To put it in perspective, RJ makes almost ten times what Blair makes, and almost triple what Bonner makes. If a guy is not performing up to standard you reduce his minutes or adjust his role. You don’t throw him away (or hope he gets a huge offer from an opposing team and walks). That makes no sense.

  • Titletown99030507d

    TD Blair is way younger than Splitter and has more time to take advantage of the NBA. Splitter already has had a career in another pro league. Splitter only has a good 3-4 years left where as Blair has 7-8 years left in the NBA maybe more as you feel. A top ten for Splitter FG% he’s 5th in the league and I don’t count the first 8 they only have under 7 FGA total for the season. Start looking at Tyson Chandler and go down. 5th. That’s not bad and it could probably be better if he stays healthy and gets more playing time. Either way they both need to play a lot if Bonner starts clanging the rim and turns into winter shoes 2.0 in the playoffs. But if they all play very well it will all be dependent on the match ups. I’m sure they’ll run with Blair if they have small ball series and go with Tiago if they need someone to against the bigger front court teams. Either way if they all play well we have a good chance to go far.

  • Deeds130

    I caught some of that and was surprised to get Chuck’s pick. Last year he was down on the Spurs win they were tearing through the league… Kenny Smith was all about SA, but Chuck picked DAL early on and picked them in every series.

    SA has an outside chance, but there are no clear favorites. OKC is still a bit green, and LAL has a great chance behind their strong defense.

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