Tag: Matt Bonner

Game rewind: Baby steps leading to better Spurs defense

One of the biggest concerns that Gregg Popovich had throughout the early part of the season was his struggling defense.

At one point, Popovich ripped his current players for the worst defensive effort during his coaching tenure.

And that might have been the case when the Spurs were singed for 58.2 percent in an earlier loss to Miami, 50.6 percent and 55.7 percent in losses to Houston and 50.6 percent to lowly New Orleans. That game might have been the low point as they allowed the Hornets to top 100 points for the first time all season in a narrow two-point victory.

Since that game, the Spurs have played noticeably better. Only one team has topped 100 points during the last six games. The Spurs have limited opponents to an average of 86 points and 43.2 field goal shooting after permitting an average of 96.4 points and 46.3 percent in the first 18 games of the season.

And the Spurs’ defense in their most recent game against New Orleans was much improved as they held the Hornets to 44.6 shooting in an impressive 93-81 victory Thursday night at the ATT Center.

San Antonio was particularly strong in the fourth quarter, limiting the Hornets to 13 points and 28.6 percent. Both totals ranked among their best this  season in fourth-quarter defense.

“I think we had a great run as our defense stepped up a little bit,” Spurs forward Tiago Splitter said. 

It’s ben a nice run. But the Spurs will be tested against an Oklahoma City team that ranks among the top three teams offensively in scoring and field-goal percentage.

It will be a truer test for San Antonio’s defense than any previous game in the recent surge.

Among the highlights of the victory over the Hornets include the following.

Game analysis: The Spurs finally broke away in the fourth quarter after a gritty start against an undermanned New Orleans team missing its top two scoring threats in Jarrett Jack and Eric Gordon.

Where the game was won: The Spurs blew the game open with a 14-2 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter. It started on Gary Neal’s 3-pointer to close the third quarter and also included four points and three assists from Tony Parker — one a behind-the-back pass to Matt Bonner for a clutch 3-pointer to cap the run.

Closing it out: The Spurs defense punctuated the victory by limiting New Orleans without a point for more than five minutes at the end of the game. After Trevor Ariza’s 3-pointer pulled the Hornets within 84-77  with 6:01 left, they missed their next eight shots with two turnovers before Carl Landry hit a jumper to pull them to 93-79 with 43.4 seconds left.

Player of the game I: We again saw Tim Duncan inside more, resulting in more shots around the basket en route to game-high totals of 19 points and nine rebounds. Unlike his season-best 28-point effort against the Hornets on Jan. 23, Duncan was a beast in the paint.

Player of the game II: Parker notched 18 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished off seven assists. He scored only two points in the first half, but finished with a flourish with eight points and four assists in the fourth quarter.

Player of the game III: Landry kept New Orleans close  for most of the game with 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting, although he was limited to only two points in the fourth quarter.  

Most unsung: Splitter’s work with Parker was critical in the fourth quarter. It helped him score seven of his 16 points in the quarter to help put the game away as they abused New Orleans’ defense with a steady dose of pick-and-roll plays.

Did you notice I: The Spurs had surprising difficulty running their offense, picking up two 24-second violations and nearly picking up another one. They had difficulty at times getting a shot up quickly in the possession and at times resulted for poor choices at the end of the possession.

Did you notice II: Like in the past several games, the Spurs’ lineup in crunch time late in the fourth quarter has Duncan and Splitter playing together. They were together for a closing 8-0 spurt that put the game away.  

Stat of the game:  After missing 14 of their first 15 3-pointers, the Spurs finished by hitting three of  their last four 3-point shots.

Stat of the game II: The Spurs limited New Orleans to 13 points in the fourth quarter. It was the lowest total this season for the Spurs except for 12 points allowed at Minnesota on Jan. 2.

Stat of the game III: New Orleans was limited to 28.6 percent in the fourth quarter, enduring scoring droughts of 3:19 and 5:18 during the quarter.

Stat of the game IV: New Orleans starting forwards Ariza and Jason Smith clanked through a combined 4 for 21 shooting night and were limited to 11 points.

Stat of the game V: Since going 0 for 2 Jan. 5 against Dallas, Splitter has hit 69.7 percent from  the field over his last 17 games. He was 7 for 9 against New Orleans Thursday night.

Weird stat of the game: Before the fourth quarter, the largest lead for either team was four points.

Not a good sign: DeJuan Blair missed several easy jumpers as he went 1 for 6 from the field and scored only three points. He’s averaging 3.6 points and shooting 33.3 percent in his last five games.

Best plus/minus scores: Splitter was plus-13, and Duncan, Neal and Danny Green all were plus-11.

Worst plus/minus scores: James Anderson and Kawhi Leonard were the only Spurs were minus-4 — the only Spurs with negative scores.

Quote of the game: ”He was wicked spry,” Bonner , on the recent athleticism exhibited by 35-year-old Tim Duncan.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs will meet Oklahoma City, the NBA team with the best record, Saturday night at the ATT Center. They then embark for the Rodeo Road Trip with starting games Monday night in Memphis and Wednesday in Philadelphia. New Orleans travels Saturday to Detroit before home games Monday against Sacramento, Wedneday against Chicago and Feb. 10 against Portland.

Injuries: Manu Ginobili missed his 19th game (Spurs record 12-7) after undergoing surgery for a fractured fifth left metacarpal.  T.J. Ford missed his 14th game (Spurs record 9-5) with a torn left hamstring. New Orleans played without leading scorers Gordon (right knee contusion) and Jack (sore knee).

Ginobili’s injury hasn’t broken Spurs’ resolve

MINNEAPOLIS — As the Spurs’ charter flight lifted off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport late on the night of Jan. 2, uncertainty was in the air.

In the back of the team plane, All-Star guard Manu Ginobili sat with his newly broken left hand in a splint. His fifth metacarpal had been fractured in a 106-96 loss to Minnesota hours earlier. A timetable for his return was unknown.

Meanwhile, the remaining Spurs braced for unseen turbulence ahead.

“Very pensive,” is how forward Matt Bonner described that flight back to Texas. “Obviously, there was that kind of unknown question mark.”

Tonight at the Target Center, the Spurs return to the scene of the incident for a rematch with the fast-rising Timberwolves. The nosedive many expected in light of Ginobili’s latest injury hasn’t happened yet.

The Spurs are 9-5 since Ginobili went on the inactive list after swiping a little too vigorously at Minnesota’s Anthony Tolliver.

Though their status in the standings remains a day-to-day, win-to-win proposition, they left home for Minnesota and the start of a rugged three-game road trip in first place in the Southwest Division and third in the Western Conference.

“We have confidence in each other, confidence in our coaching staff and our system,” Bonner said. “It was just a matter of having other people step up.”

What the Spurs (12-7) couldn’t have known as they left Minnesota broken and beaten earlier this month was that 24-year-old swingman Danny Green was a bona fide NBA rotation player.

That second-year center Tiago Splitter was a burgeoning playmaker on the Spurs’ second unit. That Kawhi Leonard, a 20-year-old rookie a month into his NBA career, could make an impact doing the unenviable — starting for Ginobili.

Yes, the whole thing still feels fragile, as if stitched together with bailing wire, and the Spurs could be one bad road trip away from a tailspin. But for now, they have survived the first three weeks with Ginobili in a sport coat.

Three down, and perhaps just three more weeks to go.

“I don’t know why, but I always thought things were going to work out,” said Green, a third-year forward who has been the surprise of the Spurs’ season so far. “We have a good team here, a pretty good foundation. When one guy goes down, another guy steps in.”

Point guard Tony Parker recalls a sense of urgency in the wake of Ginobili’s injury.

“We didn’t panic,” Parker said, before chuckling. “I’m not going to say I knew Danny Green was going to play like that, but we didn’t panic.”

Coach Gregg Popovich credits All-Star forward Tim Duncan, the team’s captain and, at 35, its oldest player, for helping keep the Spurs’ season together after Ginobili went down.

Bonner agrees.

“We all feed off his leadership and consistency,” Bonner said.

It is a role Duncan can fill even on nights his shot isn’t falling, or when Popovich is limiting his minutes.

“I’m still a big part of this team,” Duncan said. “I want to be a leader on and off the floor. I want Pop and the rest of the guys to count on me to do that.”

That’s not to say the Spurs don’t miss Ginobili. They do, especially on the road when the degree of difficulty gets exponentially higher.

Including a pair of road losses with Ginobili on the floor, the Spurs are 2-6 away from the ATT Center this season.

“Not having Manu is huge,” Popovich said. “He gives everybody a lot of confidence, especially on the road when things are not going well. Manu seems to have a knack for scoring at those times, or doing something else to change momentum.”

Though the future is still very much up in the air until Ginobili is back in uniform, the Spurs tonight hope to demonstrate how far they’ve come since last leaving Minnesota.

“I didn’t have any doubts,” Green said. “I figured we’d be fine. Everybody else doubted us, but I didn’t have any.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

What the Spurs and Hawks said after the game

Here, thanks to the folks in the Spurs’ media services office, is a sampling of some of the post-game comments from both locker rooms after the Spurs’ 105-83 victory over Atlanta. 

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

(How impressive was the lift from the bench?)

“Our bench was fantastic.  A number of people came into the game and played good solid basketball, both at the defensive and offensive ends.  I was really pleased with the bench.”

(On Matt Bonner…)

“When Matt makes shots like that, it certainly helps offensively and he was on tonight.”

(On Cory Joseph…)

“I was really pleased with Cory’s aggressiveness.  He didn’t play tentatively, as if he was trying to learn about the league or anything like that.  He just played basketball in a very aggressive manner and that was great to see.”

(On the defensive effort of Tiago Splitter …)

“It was no different than any other night.  What you see Tiago do, you’ve seen him do every single night that he plays.  That’s what makes him special.”

(On a nightly basis, what are you looking for out of DeJuan Blair?)

“Just to be a player who compliments Timmy and Tony.  That’s what they all do.  Everybody is a role player, complimentary player around those guys right now.  Everybody has the same job to know their roles and play it.  I think all those guys are getting a lot of experience and getting better at it.”

(This is a very good Atlanta team and you pretty much shut them down for most of the game. What do you attribute that too?)

“It’s just one night in the NBA and we played, expect for that period in the first half. We played real solid defense, we rebounded well, we executed and made shots.  We played better than they played tonight, but it’s just one night in the NBA.  We’ve had our nights where we haven’t played well also.”

San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner:

(On his hot shooting touch…)

“I had the first couple to go down. It always makes things easier. My teammates did a good job of finding me when I was open, moved the ball, and got good shots. “

(On Spurs sharing the ball with 29 assists…)

“That’s what we focus on, offense. Do not hold the ball. Either you attack or move it and get the defense on their heels and get great shots.”

(Was the Spurs bench a big factor?)

“I think so. We came out a little stagnant in the third quarter and Coach Pop got really mad and made some quick substitutions, so we knew we had to come in with energy to get things back on track and luckily it worked out for us.”

(On third quarter positive play…)

“Half of the time I am not looking at the scoreboard in the third quarter but the ball was going in. It was not any one individual. I think it was a team effort. Everybody was executing, setting good picks, attacking and finding the open man.”

(On team defense holding the Hawks…)

“Well, defense is always the key. It is great to share the ball and get a lot of assists and shots. Not every night the ball is going to be going in like that and that is where the defense comes in and keeps us in games. Tonight we played great defense and made a lot of shots.”

(On Cory Joseph…)

“He looked really comfortable out there and did a good job leading us into sets and getting us in the right spots and also on defense.”

 (Is Cory Joseph growing up a little bit?)

“Tonight he did, hopefully he can keep it going.”

San Antonio Spurs center DeJuan Blair:

(On playing a great Hawks team)

“We beat a great team and we played great. Pop got after us over the first half. So we came out after half and got out there and did a great job.”

(On understanding Popovich messages by calling timeouts…)

“Yes, of course we do. It’s a quick season and we want to get through and go. We can’t be half playing.”

(On keeping Tim Duncan rested…)

“We just have to keep playing hard and try to give the big man as much time off as possible. I know we want him out there, but we need him for the long run.”

Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew:

 (On the Spurs shooting tonight…)

“They shot the ball extremely well tonight, but we had some defensive breakdowns that allowed them to really get some good looks at the three. We climbed back in it right before the end of the first half. All the things that we talked about that we needed to do at a defensive standpoint; we didn’t get it done. We had multiple defensive breakdowns. When you allow them to get going particularly at the three, you are asking for trouble. We just didn’t do a good job at defending the three.”

(How uncharacteristic of your team is that?)

“In most cases, we do a good job at defending the three. It just seemed time and time again, we just kept losing people for whatever reason. At the same time you have to tip your hat to the Spurs. I thought the things that they ran; the things that they exploited, it got them going. Matt Bonner hit three threes in the third quarter. It’s just something we talked about prior to the game. Making sure we didn’t lose him, but we did time and time again. He knocked down some big three’s. It’s just one of those games, they outplayed us. If you look at that stat sheet, they beat us in just about every category. If you allow a team to shoot 51 percent on you from the field you’re not going to win many ball games, so we just have be better.”

(On the nice effort from Jeff Teague tonight…)

“Jeff has really been playing well for us all year. He was able to match speed for speed with (Tony) Parker. He got in the paint a few times and shot some nice floaters. I was very encouraged by Kirk’s performance tonight. I thought he would come back a little more winded. He played with a nice rhythm and his shot looked good. We’re just really pleased that he is back and hopefully there are no setbacks with his shoulder. In moving forward, we will learn from this game and get ready for the next one.”

Hawks forward Josh Smith:

(On the Spurs’ play in the second half…)

“They went on a run.  We were unable to score the basketball. This is a good team where whenever you allow Tony Parker to get in the paint and Tim Duncan is getting involved, they’re a hard team to beat.”

(On Matt Bonner’s play…)

“Somebody’s going to step up. No matter who it is, everybody is a professional. Matt Bonner’s a stroker. They have good sets with the pick and roll play. They had us confused on the pick and rolls. Any kind of step-in, they were finding him with his quick release tonight.”

(On playing against the Spurs defensively…)

“They’re very simple. Simple on offense, but they never stop moving. You really can’t get relaxed and they make you help, and when we were helping on the defensive end, they were finding guys on the perimeter and they just made the right play.”

(On the Spurs’ defensive adjustments in the second half…)

“I just think that we got a little stagnant on the offensive end. The ball stayed on one side of the floor. When you’re playing against a great (team), no matter how old or whatever people say they are, they’re a smart team. They play great defensively as a team. You have to make the ball move from side to side against this team and when we got stagnant on the offensive end. We were in low shot clock situations where we had to take shots that we really didn’t want to take.”

Hawks guard Kirk Hinrich:

(On what did the Spurs do well on defense…)

“They stopped the ball when guys got in there (the lane), they played with confidence, they were aggressive and we just got outplayed tonight.”

(On what was different in the second half…)

“They just shot the ball well all night and especially in the second half. They are a smart, veteran team and they took advantage of our mistakes.”