El Conclusión: New Orleans Pelicans 100, San Antonio Spurs 99

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New Orleans Pelicans 100 Final
Recap | Box Score		 99 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 33 MIN | 3-10 FG | 5-6 FT | 10 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 11 PTS | -1

The Pelicans are difficult to deal with for Timmy. Asik has always been a struggle for him when attacking offensively, and Davis has become a nightmare. He really needs Tiago back and ready to go…but for now, a huge level of responsibility for Duncan is difficult to deal with.
Boris Diaw, PF 32 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 3 TO | 6 PTS | +5

Boris had his moments, but between the size of Davis and Asik and the floor-spreading ability of Ryan Anderson, there was a lot to account for here. Bobo wasn’t quite able to make the sort of impact that would’ve been necessary for the Spurs to overcome the Pelicans in this one.
Kawhi Leonard, SF 37 MIN | 5-13 FG | 4-6 FT | 14 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 14 PTS | +2

This was probably Kawhi’s best game this season. The shot still isn’t quite there, but he’s done a good job of finding teammates out of increasingly demanding situations. The next step of his development is not only manufacturing baskets on his own, but setting others up to score. He’s been pretty good in that regard. As the Spurs find their health, this will open up. Tonight, he was a monster on the glass and was his regularly solid self defensively.

Tony Parker, PG 34 MIN | 11-18 FG | 6-6 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 5 TO | 28 PTS | -3

Maybe his best game as a scorer. The Spurs’ offense looks a little different right now (a bit less guard-oriented), and Parker isn’t going at full-speed, but he was very good.
Danny Green, SG 33 MIN | 5-8 FG | 3-3 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +1

Most of Danny’s damage came early on, when he was hitting threes from everywhere. New Orleans latched onto him as the night went on, but he remained effective in the other aspects of his game.
Aron Baynes, PF 16 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-2 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | +1

Popovich has put a lot of pressure on Baynes with Tiago out. This is a good thing at this point of the season. But in the final moments, Pop elected to take Duncan out and put Baynes on Anthony Davis, and the Brow scored the eventual winning basket. All part of the learning process, and not a better time for it to happen. The Big Banger is just a step slow right now.
Jeff Ayres, PF 1 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +1

Not enough here to grade.
Austin Daye, SF 14 MIN | 0-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 0 PTS | -8

For all the little things Daye shows here and there, it will always come back to his shooting. That’s where he’s most valuable. He hasn’t found his mark at all this season.
Cory Joseph, PG 16 MIN | 1-7 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -5

Cory did not shoot well in this one, but Popovich trusted him to run the show late in the fourth quarter. His effort and the pressure he applied helped bring the Spurs to the point of a potential winning effort, but it wasn’t quite enough. Still, Cojo was solid. I’m not sure he’ll be a Spur after this season with Parker and Mills under contract, but he’ll have a job somewhere. He’s enjoyable to watch.
Manu Ginobili, SG 27 MIN | 6-11 FG | 3-4 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 17 PTS | +2

Manu helped in the scoring department, but, as I said earlier, this offense doesn’t look the same. He did his job, however…it’s just going to look a little different going forward.
Gregg Popovich

He’s still mixing and matching. You shouldn’t take the coach’s grade seriously right now.

Five Things We Saw

  1. This team misses Tiago and Belinelli. It’s finally, FINALLY, become common knowledge that Splitter is an excellent defender, and his offensive touch is a big deal, too.
  2. New Orleans is a difficult matchup for the Spurs when the Pelicans are healthy. Jrue Holiday is super talented and a little too big for Parker, and the Evans/Gordon combo is complicated to deal with. And that’s before we talk about Anthony Davis…
  3. The Spurs are fine. The Western Conference is spiking right now, which is a bit of a concern early on, but San Antonio is still finding its way on both sides of the ball. I’m preaching patience here.
  4. I’ve already mentioned it, but the offense looks different right now. The pace is slower, and it’s less guard-oriented so far. Whatever they’re working on is not the same thing as what we’ve become accustomed to. Just let it breathe a bit.
  5. My theory here: the Ettore Messina effect is taking hold. This team will look different as the year goes on. Parker and Ginobili will be relied upon to score more than they will to distribute, and the bigs will have more overall responsibility. Let’s watch and find out, but early on, this is what I’m seeing.


  • Manu Ginobili Jr.

    Well I find your theory about the change in guard play interesting. You’re certainly right that Tony and Manu, compared to last year, are doing more scoring and less distributing so far. However, I think it’s because teams are playing the Spurs differently. Teams so far are not trying to trap Tony and Manu or collapse the defense on them when they penetrate, so they need to score themselves It’s kind of like the Dallas series last year. What happens when you collapse your defense on Tony or Manu? A role player hits a 3 in your eye. Danny scored well last night, but it was mostly from flukey situations that the Spurs can’t rely on. I said all summer that the Spurs didn’t play that badly in the Dallas series, it was just that Dallas defended in a smart way. Last year it was about team, this year, it will be about Tony and Manu (at least on offense). That’s my bold prediction.

    Hopefully someone sees this comment, because it took forever to type.

  • Jordan Hedge

    Another thing that seems to be affecting the Spurs offense is the inability to hit the 3 ball consistently. Teams are funneling guards into the lane to contend with their shot blockers while staying with good 3 point shooters outside. Guys like Kawhi, Joseph, Daye, and Diaw right now are really struggling to hit 3’s, so teams don’t have to respet it as much. That in turn makes it harder for the Spurs to scoe inside. It’s pretty obvious they miss Mills, Splitter, ad Belnelli right now. But to Tynan’s other point-I agree it’s hard to read too much into what is happening right now. The Spurs are missing guys, and Pop likes to experiment with linups, offense, etc. The problem is falling too far behind the West while all of this experimentation takes place. Spurs will be fine, but how much will they need to be making up by year end to be in a good spot in the standings?

  • DorieStreet

    Fans are too concerned way too early about falling behind. GSW is on top at 5-0, Spurs sit in 10th place at 2-3—ONLY 3 GAMES BEHIND.
    I suggest fans circle Dec. 6th on their calendars. That’s the 20th game for the Spurs-and the 1st quarter in for the 2014-15 season. Let’s see where the team is then.

  • DorieStreet

    You and Tynan (his 5th observation) see the same transition of offense. I hope the emphasis on Manu to score more is tempered with him maintaining his shooting stroke, and not so much cutting and slashing to the hoop (pick and choose his spots). Ginobili’s coming off that stress injury.

  • Matthew R Tynan

    Thanks for the comments, folks. And just to be clear, here’s what I’m getting at http://www.48minutesofhell.com/ettore-messina-and-the-constant-system-of-change … The offense just looks a little different at the moment. Manu and Tony will have their days where we see a bunch of assists, but so far this team appears to be going inside-out with the bigs much more often.

  • RonJohn

    The Spurs are missing guys

    But you’ll always be missing some guys. If not these three, then some other bunch. The only important questions are, “How many of my Big 6 are out, and how long will they be out?”

  • Kawhi Leonard

    we need a Conclusion for the clips game! its getting past my bedtime