Chicago Bulls vs. San Antonio Spurs: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Tony Parker scored a season-high 32 points, Kawhi Leonard added 20 and the San Antonio Spurs handled the Chicago Bulls, 116-105, at the AT&T Center Sunday afternoon for their fifth straight win.
The Spurs got the victory despite Tim Duncan not making a field goal for the first time in his NBA career.
San Antonio was all business right from the start.
After the Bulls got out to a 4-2 lead, the Spurs ripped off an 11-0 run and did not look back from there. The game was never tied again, nor was Chicago ever even able to make it a one-possession affair.
By halftime, San Antonio was up 57-39. The Bulls made a couple of runs in the second half, trimming the deficit to eight twice, but both times, the Spurs quickly rebounded and put Chicago back in a double-digit hole.
Pau Gasol led the Bulls with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Aaron Brooks scored 22.
San Antonio shot 49 percent and forced Chicago to 22 turnovers. Fifteen of those were Spurs steals, which helped lead to a season-high 35 fast-break points for San Antonio.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich gave the lion's share to Leonard defensively, per Paul Garcia of Project Spurs:
Leonard had three steals.
| Joakim Noah | B |
| Pau Gasol | A |
| Nikola Mirotic | B+ |
| Mike Dunleavy | B- |
| Aaron Brooks | B- |
| Rest of Team | B- |
| Tim Duncan | D |
| Tony Parker | A+ |
| Manu Ginobili | A- |
| Kawhi Leonard | B+ |
| Danny Green | B |
| Rest of Team | B+ |
Chicago Bulls
Joakim Noah: B
Joakim Noah had a solid afternoon.
The big man approached a double-double despite scoring only four points. He grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out nine assists, making some great interior passes and going 2014 Noah by bringing the ball up the floor off of rebounds on occasion.
The downside is that Noah did commit five turnovers, as he tried to force some passes into tight windows that the Spurs picked off.
Pau Gasol: A
Pau Gasol was quite easily the best Bulls player on the court in the loss.
The Spaniard scored 23 points off 9-of-16 shooting, going to work in the post and making hook shots, turnaround jumpers, etc. He did miss a few open mid-range jumpers, but it's hard to fault him for those misses given how great he was down low.
Gasol added 15 rebounds and two blocks. He also went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Nikola Mirotic: B+
Nikola Mirotic continues to make a living at the free-throw line.
Two games after going 14-of-16 from the charity stripe, Mirotic went 9-of-9 against the Spurs. He did a great job putting the ball on the floor, getting to the rim and drawing contact.
The rookie scored 19 points and is continuing to grow before our eyes, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor.
The only gripe with his performance against San Antonio is the fact that he had four turnovers. He tried to force the issue at times and made some sloppy passes.
Mike Dunleavy: B-
Mike Dunleavy ran into some early foul trouble, so he wasn't able to get into a consistent rhythm. Still, he was hardly terrible.
The long forward shot 3-of-5 from the floor, knocking down a pair of three-pointers. He also made all four of his free-throw attempts.
Dunleavy scored 12 points in 25 minutes.
Aaron Brooks: B-
The good news for Aaron Brooks is that he busted out of his offensive slump, scoring 22 points off 7-of-12 shooting. He hit some nice floaters, got to the free-throw line (7-of-8) and showed a touch that just has not been there of late.
The bad news is that he essentially gave it all back defensively.
Brooks simply could not keep Tony Parker in front of him, as the Spurs guard torched Brooks in the pick-and-roll and on drives. Brooks is not known for his defense, but the display he put forth Sunday afternoon was absolutely brutal.
Rest of Team: B-
How about Nazr Mohammed giving the Bulls some solid minutes off the bench?
Mohammed had eight points in this one, making all four of his shots. He even made a little jumper in the lane after doing a jab step.
E'Twaun Moore made some nice drives to the hoop and finished with eight points off 4-of-6 shooting.
Kirk Hinrich recorded six points, four rebounds and four assists, but he went only 2-of-6 from the field and committed a couple of very poor turnovers in his 22 minutes.
Doug McDermott was pretty awful, going 1-of-5 and looking lost on both ends.
San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan: D
For the first time in his NBA career, Tim Duncan did not register a field goal Sunday afternoon. Yes. I mean it.
Duncan went 0-of-8 from the floor, misfiring on a number of mid-range jumpers. He scored three points from the free-throw line, but that was it.
That being said, Duncan was dominant defensively, serving as an excellent rim deterrent. He also made some great passes out of the post to find shooters. For that, he avoids a failing grade.
Duncan contributed eight rebounds and three assists.
Tony Parker: A+
Is it fair to say Parker is back?
The Frenchman had his most spectacular outing of the season against the Bulls, pouring in a season-high 32 points off 13-of-19 shooting.
Parker lived in the paint, abusing Brooks and whoever dared to try to defend him. He made difficult layups, he stroked mid-range jumpers, put defenders in the spin cycle and played the passing lanes.
Leonard was thoroughly impressed with Parker's performance, per Garcia:
His most dominant stretch came during the third quarter, when he single-handedly held off a Chicago rally by scoring 15 straight Spurs points. Tom Thibodeau basically said that Parker was the key to the game, per Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs:
This was vintage Parker, and it was downright scary.
Manu Ginobili: A-
Manu Ginobili was terrific off the pine.
The Argentinian scored 16 points off 5-of-8 shooting, making some aggressive drives to the rack and going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Ginobili was also great defensively, wreaking havoc with Chicago's passing game by ripping passes out of players' hands. He collected three steals.
Manu also grabbed four rebounds in 25 minutes.
Kawhi Leonard: B+
For the first time in his career, Leonard has scored 20 points in four straight games.
He went only 9-of-20 from the floor to score his 20 against the Bulls, but it really didn't feel like that. He buried mid-range jumpers at will, threw down some vicious dunks in transition and played the passing lanes like a free safety, recording three steals.
Leonard harassed whomever he defended, making life miserable for the Chicago wings out on the perimeter.
Check out what he did to Dunleavy in the fourth quarter, per J.R. Wilco of Pounding The Rock:
The wonderkid was also solid on the glass, hauling in eight rebounds in a game-high 39 minutes.
Danny Green: B
Teams still have not learned to not leave Danny Green open.
The sharpshooting guard went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, all three of the makes being clean looks. Of course, the Spurs' brilliant floor spacing helps, but still...leaving Green open?
Green scored 11 points and added three boards.
Rest of Team: B+
Patty Mills was terrific off the bench.
Mills resembled his 2014 Finals self, scoring 15 points off 6-of-9 shooting. He made three of his four long-range tries, utilizing picks and fakes to get himself good looks. All of that came in 16 minutes.
Marco Belinelli gave San Antonio some good minutes too.
While he went only 1-of-4 from the floor, he made some spectacular passes, including a beautiful cross-court dish which led to a Mills three to put the Spurs up 11 in the fourth quarter and end a Bulls run. Belinelli finished with five points and three dimes.
What's Next?
Things don't get any easier for the Bulls, as they will head home to host the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night at 8 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the Spurs will host the Toronto Raptors Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET in search of some payback. The Raptors beat San Antonio in Toronto a few weeks ago.
