SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 2: SPURS VS. ROCKETS, 27-10-2023, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Pick your battles, Pop. Don't lose your gasket for a tech.

[G R E Y]

Great post play, Zach!

[G R E Y]

Twice now Wemby gets the D board and quickly taps it out to Devin to get it moving. SMART SMART SMART.

[imagump1313]

Free Throws??

[G R E Y]

Oh Dev...

[G R E Y]

Wow. Completely uncontested layup allowed. Wow.

[G R E Y]

Sochan the one hand FT wonder!

[G R E Y]

ANOTHER open layup allowed. Wow.

[G R E Y]

BUT GREAT PASSING FROM THE INBOUNDS FOR THE FINAL KELDON THUNDER DUNK!!!

RAWR!

[imagump1313]

We tried everything we could to give it back to them. Crazy game.

[G R E Y]

LFG!

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[G R E Y]

OT: SPURS 126 ROCKETS 122

Right then. Right. Then.

We started with a whimper, finished with a bang, RAWR, by doing some right things, then from that change in energy and momentum, ended strong.

Wemby is incredible. Game changer on both ends. He willed us and once again showed something new and spectacular to help get us the W. He has a knack for coming up big in the most important moments, and we did better facilitating them in this game.

The first adjustment was going right to Wemby from the start of the game. He was inefficient and chose outside shots. It is also true that we missed him several times in transition and missed several alley oop chances when he was already set up with his hand up. This too will be rectified with film.

The next adjustment was getting the ball inside more, passing better and more decisively.

We also got to the FT line more: from 3-4 at the half to 7-13 after the 3RD Q to 16-19 after the 4TH Q to 21-28 by the end of OT. Well 7 missed is frankly too low efficiency, but the downhill push and work in the post was a big improvement.

We were behind in rebounds much of the game but finished with 43-43 and 12-11 on O boards - good effort with positioning, timing, and physicality.

Eleven steals, four blocks, and 32 assists (8 each by Tre and Zach) showed good balance as did our bench stepping up with 37-21 points over its counterparts. Tre also led the bench with 6 boards (3 on O ) and 3 steals as well.

Malaki looked much better balancing scoring and passing. He took smart shots from using screens, operating at the elbows, in the deep paint, and one 3.

Cedi and Doug did very well with supportive 3s and off ball movement. Doug was a pure scorer whereas Cedi chipped in a couple of boards and an assist.

I don't know if we played to the level we expected of our opponent but we were far more deliberate to the point of hindrance early in the game. Was the game plan to take outside shots first? We sure played like it was. The thing is, when 3s start falling they tend to cover mistakes. In a way, it's good that they were not falling as it forced us to use other ways to score. It had to come after Pop's timeouts rather than our own running something else but we did it.

Point-Sochan is in nascent stages but Pop's already reining it in with Tre coming in sooner as a 1ST Q sub and finishing the game as well. He styaed with his PG counterpart very well on D, fighting over screens, taking a charge doing so. We need him to run our sets and for his PG vision. It also helped that while Devin and Keldon took their shots, they both passed it to Wemby late in the game; Devin to Keldon to Wemby for the final game-tying right baseline bucket was huge. Both of the more experienced Spurs could have taken a shot; both were open; both made the right good to great play. Wemby's assisted buckets came from Keldon (two), Tre (two), and Devin (one).

So despite us still figuring one another out, we somehow clicked better as the game progressed. As to the former, I think with each game we will get more comfortable and get into our sets more quickly the way we did later in the game.

What spurred a big shift was Wemby's two huge D blocks. He's often the first man down the court in transition and hustles back on D. Just out of the stratosphere talent, timing, and use of physical attributes. He finished with his first double double (21 and 12, the latter team-high as well as team high 5 on O boards), along with 3 blocks, 2 steals, 1 assist, and 7-8FTs.

He did have 4TOs and shot 0-6 from 3 so the passing out of doubles and into too much congestion will get cleaned up, as will the shot selection. Wemby played 26 minutes through four Qs and played all five minutes of OT in which he shot 1-3, 2-2FTs, grabbed 4 boards (2 on O), 1 steal, 1 TO. But the gravity he commands opened up our game for others, even as a decoy on the outside or in transition spreading out on the wings for multiple options to score or be clean up. He's very smart, let alone for a 19-year old rookie. What I love is how competitive he is - look how much this meant to him:

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SO endearing!

And I LOVE how coachable he is, accepting a late game chewing out from Pop and apologizing for his mistake. I love it!

It's important that the rest of the team flow with adjustments as well - Sochan not running point late, Keldon putting the ball in Wemby's hands late, while still using their own strengths: Devin showed more of his driving game (which we needed) and lead us with 25 on 7-13, 3-7 from 3, and game high 8-11FTs along with 3 boards and 2 assists; Keldon made a couple of timely 3s and thunderous dunks after running out in transition, adding 4 boards (2 on O) and 4 assists, this last stat standing out well. Sochan was 4-4FTs with the one-handed shot, including clutch 2-2 in OT while adding 14 points on 5-9 (better touch and finish this game), 5 boards (1 on O), 4 assists, 2 steals. He frankly looked far more comfortable on the wings than at point and it's something to monitor when Graham can return. We didn't need him at point as much this game and his versatility shined.

Defense: Keldon stood out as getting taken advantage of either by not staying with drivers and getting stuck behind them or not rotating properly so that his man had open shots. It's something to keep track of - how the D improves relative to his talking about its importance. Can't expect huge leaps but two games in he's been the guy taken advantage of. He did do well to switch and keep his man in front of him before biting on a fake that resulted in a late clock foul, but he was part of the good team D moment that prevented a shot for nearly the entire possession. There were fewer wide open 3s, fewer over-commitments collapsing in the paint on a single driver but too many open points in transition, especially late. I guess we didn't want to give up any +1s but early clock layups were not the only option.

One game after late game mistakes we worked through errors to set ourselves up to finish where we started - with the ball in Wemby's hands but doing so more quickly and decisively. The errors we're working through as we strive for more consistency and flow cost us 26 points on 18TOs. These will eventually be lower but finding ways to win and showing willingness to do things differently are good signs, as is early acceptance that the path to limitless heights runs through Wemby. We did better playing through and with him as the game progressed and once guys trust that they can still get theirs all the more we'll stabilize and coalesce. Good to get this one.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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I love this so much!

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[imagump1313]

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LMAO. I love how he trolls these idiots with their stupid questions. The eye roll after the Sochan FT question was awesome.

[Baphomet]

Wish I'd stayed up to watch this one. Jaw was on the floor during the 4th Q watching these highlights.

Even besides the Wemby show rolling into town (how good was that double block? and the reverse jam after blowing by his man), I'm happy with KJ and Devin's starts to the season. I've taken issue with Devin's shot selection at times, I dislike how often he would hoist up a quick 3. But I have no complaints with either of them. Zach's shot wasn't falling last night but he wound up with a pretty remarkable statline with 8 assists and 4 steals.

It will take time to come together but I feel encouraged by these first two games.