Olympic recap, quarterfinals

The Spurs’ Olympic contingent took a huge hit in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, with only Manu Ginobili advancing to the semifinals. (His “reward?” The opportunity to play, and possibly lose, to the United States for the third time in a month.) Patty Mills at least went down shooting, while Tony Parker and his French teammates simply went down in a meek loss to Spain.

Patty Mills: 26 points (9 for 20 shooting), 6 rebounds, 2 assists in to the United States. Mills did what he’s done for most of the Olympics – carry an Australian squad lacking its only elite international player. Against a different team, it might have made a difference. Against the U.S.A., all it did was delay the inevitable. It was impressive nonetheless, capping another strong Olympics for Mills and propelling him into his first full season in San Antonio with some momentum.

Manu Ginobili: 16 points (5 for 11 shooting), 8 rebounds, 3 assists in over Brazil. Ginobili has had better games in these Olympics. But he was still hugely impactful, doing a little bit of everything while playing 36 of a total 40 minutes. (His best play, a 360 spin move followed by a tomahawk dunk after being fouled on the floor, didn’t even count!) It’s entertaining in general to watch Manu hurtle across the court, but never more than when suiting up for his native land. The way he, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni play off of one another is a thing of beauty.

Tiago Splitter: 6 points (2 for 5 shooting), 4 rebounds, 4 assists in Brazil’s 82-77 loss to Argentina. Splitter had some nifty moments, most surprisingly with a series of deft passes. But he didn’t do nearly enough in a game Brazil was starving for anything of note to support Leandro Barbosa and Marcelinho, who combined for 22 points apiece.

Tony Parker: 15 points (6 for 20 shooting), 6 rebounds, 1 assist in to Spain. As Parker went, so did France, withering down the stretch in the face of Spain’s steady, methodical play. The beginning of the end came early in the fourth, when Parker blew a layup that would have given Les Bleus a five-point lead. They instead scored a paltry two points over the next seven minutes, a stretch in which Parker was powerless to avert another painful loss to Spain.

Boris Diaw: 15 points (6 for 11 shooting), 8 rebounds, 5 assists. The full Boris Diaw Experience in a single game. He was the best player on the court during the first half, at which point he was on pace for a triple double. But he went from homeless man’s Magic Johnson to regular homeless man in the second, registering five points, two rebounds and no assists over the final two quarters as France threw away a prime opportunity to avenge its loss to Spain in the 2011 EuroBasket final.

Nando De Colo: 2 points (0 for 3 shooting), 2 rebounds. De Colo has been inconsistent throughout the Olympics, but he still managed to show flashes of competence and potential in most of his games. Not so against Spain, amassing as many turnovers and personal fouls as points. France doesn’t expect or need him to be great, but even average would have been a huge help.

TP, Neal among the NBA’s non-dunkers

Tony Parker gets as many layups as almost any player in the NBA.

Despite all those trips  at the rim, the Spurs’ 6-foot-2 point guard was among a group of NBA players without a dunk  last season.

The Warriors-themed blog Golden State of Mind went through all of the NBA’s play by plays from last  season to collect information about .  It had several Spurs among the top and bottom in those categories.

Parker was second in the league behind Leandro Barbosa among players with the most layup attempts per 100 possessions. Parker attempted 9.23 layups per 100 possessions and hit an astounding 65.78 percent of them to lead all guards in field-goal layup percentage.

But Parker also was among 30 players who never made a dunk shot last season. Gary Neal also made that list. It was a predictable  type of  small players, but also included some surprises like Rip Hamilton and DeShawn Stevenson.

No Spurs ranked among the NBA’s top 30 dunkers. That list was topped by DeAndre Jordan (4.45 dunk attempts per 100 possessions), Dwight Howard (4.21), Blake Griffin (4.04), JaVale McGee (3.82) and Tyson Chandler (3.48).

Among other Spurs, DeJuan Blair was 13th in layups (7.87 per 100 possessions). Matt Bonner ranked seventh from the bottom in layups at 222nd in the league (0.95).

Blair was also eighth in tip-in attempts (1.38 per 100 possessions), but he also converted only 43.48 percent which ranked among the lower totals in the league. Marcus Camby led the league in tip-in attempts (2.01 per 100 possessions).

No Spurs ranked among the top 25 in hook shot attempts, which was led by Andrew Bogut (7.93 per 100 possessions).

It’s an interesting list that breaks down shooting attempts in an understandable manner, providing a clearer picture of some of the league’s rim-rattlers and hook shooters.