Report Card: San Antonio Spurs 104 vs Utah Jazz 97

Mar 22, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) celebrates a score with guard Danny Green (4) during the second half against the Utah Jazz at the AT

As staff writer Ian Dougherty put it, this is probably one of the ugliest games of the year for the Spurs.  That is of course putting it lightly, because we here at Air Alamo are respectful and know we have younger readers…….yeah right.

The Utah Jazz put up a fight as they took the Spurs to overtime with Marvin Williams hitting a shot in regulation while, Ginobili decided to visit the first row as he flew by Williams to hit the three instead of closing out.

Kawhi Leonard played really well scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, as well as going 3-of-4 from three point.  One of his threes’ he hit in the game became a huge one as he hit it from the left corner to put the the Spurs up one with a minute left.  But then the defensive meltdown of Ginobili happened.

As we have done the past few games, lets just right into the game grades:

PG Tony Parker | 22 points, 8-of-13 shooting, 5 assists, 2 rebounds

In his first game back from injury, Parker looked like his old self and not feeling any effects from the ankle that sidelined him.  Parker played 36 minutes and as he has done all year long, took the game over when he needed too.  I was surprised that he did play as many minutes as he did, but again, he looked sharp in his return.

GRADE:  A

SG Danny Green | 15 points, 6-of-9 shooting, 3-of-6 three pointers, 2 assists, 1 rebound

Green had that breakout game on the offensive end that he has been lacking as of late.  He finished with 15 points and nailed 3 three-pointers.  He did great defending Randy Foye as he held him to just 8 points on the night.

GRADE: B+

SF Kawhi Leonard | 21 points, 9-of-14 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals

Mar 22, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) drives around Utah Jazz guard Alec Burks (10) during the first half at the AT

Leonard as he has been doing all year long came to play against the Jazz.  He scored 21 points and also continued his domination rebounding the ball as well.  He has the energy that the Spurs need and they too feed off of him.  There was one dunk in the game that I wish he would of connected on and that was when he went into the lane in the 3rd quarter and went up left handed but it hit the back.  He is the future of the team.  He did a great job on Hayward as he limited him to just 5 points on the night, 2-of-10 shooting.

GRADE:  A

PF Tiago Splitter | 5 points, 2-of-9 shooting, 10 rebounds, 3 assists

This game Splitter on the offensive end was doing some things that I could quite understand why.  He would drive into the lane and fade left but trying to still shoot with his right.  He just looked awkward to me.  He did this a couple of times.  He needs to go straight up and not needing to worry if he is going to get contact.  He shot the ball poorly missing seven of his nine attempts.  He did grab 10 rebounds and had 3 assists.  Credit should go to Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap for disrupting Splitter on the offensive end.

GRADE:  C

C Tim Duncan | 19 points, 4-of-13 shooting, 11-of-13 free throws, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks

Continuing his solid play, Duncan notched another double-double. Though he did not do much from the floor, he made 11 of his 13 attempts at the foul line.  He did a fair job against the bigs of the Jazz.  Duncan, again, was being Duncan.

GRADE: A

Bench | 22 points, 10-of-26 shooting, 8 rebounds, 8 assists

Not the greatest of output from the bench, on the scoring side.  A game ago they scored over 40+ and this game they could not seem to hit anything they put up.  A combined 22 points, Boris Diaw led the bench scoring with 6 points.  Manu Ginobili finished with 5 and the talk of the game was not his performance on the offensive side of the ball but his position towards the end of regulation.  Need a much better outing from this group.

GRADE:  D+