Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
It has occurred to me that its just possible the Spurs are better than us.
At least until we mount an epic final 3 minutes fake hustle rush that we took so far that it almost wasn't fake anymore -- Cuz was fouled on a 3pt shot that rolled around and out, and would have been a 4pt play to cut the Spurs lead to 3. Pointless, but would have been amusing.
Link to Boxscore
Starters
Featured Grade
Gay ( D- ) -- So...turdburger, anyone? Rudy killed us tonight by simply never getting into his offensive game. He started out having trouble getting touches, then he badly missed several jumpers and took some questionable shots to go into halftime with an 0-5 line from the floor. There was a moment in the early third quarter when it looked like he might finally get it going - he hit a three (for his first FG) and then the next possession took Leonard to the hole for a layup. Finally, you would have been justified in thinking, we have got our second scorer going. You would have been wrong. Rudy went ice cold again, and got nothing else (outside of a pair of FTs) until hitting a meaningless three in garbage time. If there's a bright side, for the most part Rudy played some decent D. He held Kawhi in check as well as can be expected (a lot of Kawhi's points didn't come on Rudy) and he created a steal as well as picking up two nice blocks in the paint. But that just doesn't make up for us having a gaping hole where our second scorer should be. If Rudy is on his game, maybe we could have stuck around in this one. --Capt.
Cousins ( B+ ) -- had a dumb Cuz moment early in the game, when he quickly picked up 2 fouls on back to back plays and was gone by the mid 1st. But Joerger cleverly reinserted him, and from that point onward Cuz's play and demeanor were impressive, even without any help at times. Tried to inspire, and seemed into the strategy with the coaching staff, including trying to steal it at the end.
Koufos ( D ) -- missed gimme after gimme with the little hook/runner thing. Wasn't set plays, these were open looks off good passes needed to relieve pressure, and he hit none of them.
Afflalo ( C ) -- for some unknown reason came racing out of the gate firing up quick forced shots while screaming "I am AFFLALO!!" Then realized he was in fact Afflalo, and drably faded into nothing. Left on the floor longer than some starters because was at least attempting solid play on defense.
Lawson ( F ) -- weird thing with the player formerly known as Ty Lawson is that his talent seems to actually have drained away right in front of us, during the season. Tonight gave us absolutely nothing but 1 wide open three that led to nothing.
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Bench
Barnes ( B+ ) -- thee was some difficulty spotting Matt in as the Spurs kept on lining up Pau across from him, and that does not work, and did not on several plays inside. But other than that, brought a burst of energy and a diminutive but feisty wingman for Cuz once the starters did not show. Were even running some 2-man stuff with he and Cuz as the offense.
Cauley-Stein ( B- ) -- still plenty of negative moments when he got stripped, or dropped a pass, or got caught standing in space on defense while the Spurs went behind him, but he was alive and active in this one, just looked young and dumb. DC especially did a nice job of setting him up for his patented Willie move -- the flying dunk down an open lane.
Collison ( B- ) -- nothing wildly impressive, except by actually being competent and not Ty Lawson, but worked well with Willie in particular, and guided a bench crew that worked much better together than the starters.
McLemore ( B ) -- had a good first half as maybe our most effective offense player. But grade held down by some just boneheaded mistakes that hurt, especially against a Spurs team that doesn't tolerate those sort of loose plays.
Temple ( B- ) -- was going along looking really solid in his minutes, staying efficient, making good passes...then suddenly unleashed back to back completely idiotic turnovers to join the rest of the bench crew (every bencher notched 2 TOs in this one)
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