Report Card: San Antonio 92, Dallas 91

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Mar 14, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Gary Neal (14) shoots during the first half against the Dallas Mavericks at the AT

The San Antonio Spurs completed their season sweep against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night at the AT&T Center, defeating them in a close battle 92 to 91.  With the win the Spurs mark an NBA record with their 14th straight 50 win season.

It is the day after the game and you all know what time that means.  Our daily players grades from the game and from the looks of the way they played Thursday night against the Mavericks, all of improved.

PG Corey Joseph | 4 points, 2-of-3 shooting, 2 assists, 13 minutes

Joseph played just 13 minutes due to the scoring that Gary Neal was providing off of the bench. He did score 4 points in the game but only shot the ball 3 times.  Defensively I know he will get better on the P-N-R.  As we stated from the last game, he is a young player and will understand this more and more.

Grade:  C+

SG Danny Green | 8 points, 3-of-9 shooting, 3 assists, 2 steals, 33 minutes

Green played 33 minutes and scored just 8 points.  He will break out and have himself a big game sooner than later.  With Green, we know that it doesn’t matter if he scores big it is the little things that he does on the floor that helps the team win.  He had two steals against the Mavericks and made a mark on the defensive end of the floor.

Grade:  B-

SF Kawhi Leonard | 12 points, 5-of-14 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 33 minutes

He continued his high flying act and had some nice dunks in the game.  When Leonard dunks it gets the crowd involved and the players feed off of that.  He played 33 minutes and had just 12 points.  Though he did not shoot the ball well, rather him take it to the whole then settle for a jump shot, he still does a good job finding his teammates.  He had six rebounds and 3 assists.  He is our top defender and with his wingspan he makes it hard for any defender to get the ball passed him.

Grade:  B+

PF  Tim Duncan | 28 points, 12-of-20 shooting, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 35 minutes

What can you say about Duncan.  He seemed to be rejuvenated during this game and was going to do whatever he could to get this win for San Antonio.  He notched another double-double and played the most minutes he has in months.  He was everywhere and made it hard for the Mavericks to defend him.  He was the leader and everyone fed off of him.

Grade: A+

C Tiago Splitter | 8 points, 3-of-9 shooting, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 31 minutes

He did a great job on the defensive end and was playing physical when on the block.  His 8 points came early in the game.  I don’t look for Splitter to score much points but want to continue to see him play physical and not get pushed around.  He held his ground against Kaman.

Grade:  B

Bench | 32 points, 12-of-29, 12 rebounds, 18 assists, 4 steals

Gary Neal paced the bench and hit some key shots down the stretch for San Antonio.  He finished the game with 16 points, 6-of-13 shooting from the floor, which included 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.  We here at Air Alamo give Neal a hard time because his first thought is to shoot, while Joseph looks to get the ball out of his hands.  You can’t take away though that Neal can shoot and when he is on he is on.  Ginobili continued his poor shooting hitting just two of his nine shots he attempted.  He did have 9 assists and 7 points on the night.

Grade:  A