El Conclusion: San Antonio Spurs 101, New Orleans Pelicans 95

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San Antonio Spurs 101 Final
Recap | Box Score		 95 New Orleans Pelicans
Tim Duncan, PF Shot Chart 26 MIN | 7-14 FG | 4-7 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 18 PTS | +6

I’ll preface these grades tonight right off the bat by saying that I didn’t take any notes on tonight’s game, so this is going all off of memory. NOW. Duncan’s line looks good, but this seemed like a eternally frustrating game for Big Fun, culminating with him fouling out with over six minutes left in the game. Considering the numbers he put up before then, however, and I’ll lean towards Duncan playing well despite the frustration.
Jeff Ayres, PF Shot Chart 17 MIN | 1-1 FG | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | +5

Ayres had a couple of nice plays in this game, but they were few and far between. He played to his average number of minutes post-Tiago Splitter injury and put up pre-Tiago injury points. Not the greatest metric of his performance, I know, just something I noticed.

Kawhi Leonard, SF Shot Chart 33 MIN | 4-6 FG | 4-4 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | +10

This is one of those games where the impression I was left with watching Leonard play was far greater than what his box score reflects. It was nice to seem him hit a big corner 3 late in the game. He also had a very nice steal and Manu Ginobili-esque behind the back hand-off (now that I try and write it out, I don’t know what you call that) for a layup.
Tony Parker, PG Shot Chart 36 MIN | 9-15 FG | 9-10 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 27 PTS | +17

Still holstering that discussion on those minutes from last season and the summer piling up on Tony and becoming too much.
Manu Ginobili, SG Shot Chart 25 MIN | 4-9 FG | 6-6 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 14 PTS | -2

He’s back. Unfortunately, he done gone and lost his shot, it seems. Ginobili’s shooting under 12 percent from 3 (2-for-17) in his last four appearances. (Someone on Twitter pointed it out, but the games aren’t quite correct. Credit due, however.) I’m kind of shocked to see Manu’s assists so low.
Aron Baynes, PF Shot Chart 9 MIN | 0-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -11

Aron Baynes took a dribble step-back against Alexis Ajinca. This feels like a good time to remind you that Baynes is on an unguaranteed deal for next season.
Matt Bonner, PF Shot Chart 16 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | +11

Not much to say about a standard Matt Bonner game. He had a blocked shot. And that was awesome.
Boris Diaw, PF Shot Chart 22 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 0 PTS | -5

Surprisingly poor line for Boris, after I wrote about him at the Daily Dime and everything.
Cory Joseph, PG Shot Chart 15 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | -4

With Danny Green out for the next four weeks or so, Joseph did see an increase in minutes, even with Ginobili back. I saw some nice things from CoJo, I thought he did well to play off the ball when he was in the game with Patty Mills.
Patty Mills, PG Shot Chart 12 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -11

Some nights we’re going to have a party with the #PattyMillsShotCount and some nights we’re not…
Marco Belinelli, SG Shot Chart 30 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +14

Every light Marco Belinelli sees is a green one.
Gregg Popovich

Poor management of game situations leaving Duncan on the floor with five fouls and plenty of time to go, or THE CIA-EST WAY TO GET DUNCAN SOME REST? You decide.

One Thing We Saw

  1. Pierre the Pelican. Everything after that was blinding fear.
  • SAJKinBigD

    Umm. That is a creepy, CREEPY mascot! Looks like something from Waxwork meets Killer Clowns from Outer Space!

  • rj

    I think baynes took that shot with the clock winding down. he didn’t look as lost on offense and corralled some rebounds in traffic, but he was a little late to stop some of new orleans’ guards attacking the rim. c seems like a decent grade.
    I thought ayres played exceptionally well. he did a superb job defending Anthony davis late in the third (I think it was the third). he was able to force him baseline when davis attempted to take him off the dribble and take some perimeter jumpers, but by then he was out of rhythm.
    why didn’t monty take advantage of matt bonner? any one of new orleans’ bigs could have blown by im at any point. strange.
    anyone see bellineli’s 3 from the French quarter? that was some spicy gumbo.
    maybe new Orleans will see a slight uptick in attendance courtside when they rid themselves of pierre.

  • ThatBigGuy

    The Spurs had every right to lose this game: injuries to two starters, second game of a back-to-back, opposing player dominating (Davis with 22/11/2), Spurs’ bench getting outscored, and Timmy fouling out with 6 minutes left to go. Instead of throwing in the towel, they just out-executed the Pellies down the stretch.

    When the season gets ho-hum, the Spurs never forget to show up for work every night. In that light, this is simply a great win.

  • Francesco Grigori Di Bene

    beli b- ?

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    This one’s even worse: http://twitpic.com/ds72o6

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    Just think of it like Whose Line Is It Anyway, “where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.”

  • SAJKinBigD

    “Hey, Anthonee! Want a basketball?”