SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 21: SPURS VS. BULLS, 8-12-2023, 7:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Very nice high low pin point pass Zach to Wemby.

[G R E Y]

Two minutes left in the 3RD Q. We are down 15 points in this Q with a deficit of 4 points. Around now is the time when we put things together.

[G R E Y]

AGAIN we waited TOO LONG for Wemby to pass the ball bringing it up. We had guys turning their heads back waiting for the pass ahead... waiting... waiting...

Need quicker better passes.

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 83 BULLS 87

We lost another 3RD Q, this time 35-20, giving up the most points so far and scoring the fewest. Now do everything opposite of this Q.

Start strong. Push the pace. Drive and get to the FT line. Defend better. BOX OUT. Keep hands on the ball. PLAY TOGETHER WITH ENERGY.

We are only 13-15FTs and are putting them to the line to often. We have to make sure we play simple, smart, hard effort basketball.

[G R E Y]

Wemby doubled, great cut by Tre into the paint, great patience and pass by Wemby. Terrific off glass finish by Tre. Better energy, smarts, and finish by us.

[G R E Y]

Sochan gets a 3 on him on a weak contest. Sochan WEAK TELEGRAPHED ONE HANDED BOUNCE PASS ATTEMPT TO WEMBY WHICH GOT EASILY PICKED OFF. **** HELL, GUY... ENERGY OR **** SIT.

[imagump1313]

LMAO!
Caruso "I hurt my ankle boss"
Trainer grabs ankle and starts moving and squeezing it
Caruso 'NO, my other ankle!!"
Trainer grabs other ankle and moves/squeezes it.......

[imagump1313]

I get a working stream for 5 minutes and one of the first things I see is a BOUNCE PASS to Wemby that gets easily taken......

I don't even know if I want League Pass anymore.......

[G R E Y]

WHY ARE WE SETTLING FOR 3S??!

**** DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE AT THEM!!!!

[G R E Y]

Second chance points against. BOX THE **** OUT.

[G R E Y]

Keldon right there for a prime view of a driver layup right on him.

[G R E Y]

Bad D, bad passes, bad TOs, bad boxing out, bad second chance points against. Bad timing for all of that.

[G R E Y]

Holy ****. Pop calls a play to Tre. Tre relays it. Wemby gets to his spot. Sochan AGAIN in that space and Wemby with his hands up like WTF are we running (aka WTF is this guy doing in my space again). SIT SOCHAN.

[G R E Y]

Losing the hustle plays now, too.

[G R E Y]

SPURS 112 BULLS 121

Really thought we'd get this one. It's clear we can put good Qs together. We do it enough in the first halves of games.

But another 3RD Q -- -15 this time -- did us in.

We get momentum, we do right things in terms of getting points in the paint and ball protection, and then we go away from the very things that get us leads. So it's a mental approach. Not sure what it's going to take, but at this point I'd rather we **** up the other three Qs *just* to see a GOOD 3RD Q. Sure teams adjust, but the Jekyll/Hyde first and second halves continue regardless of who we play. We just played the best team in the West very well and **** the bed in the final 24 minutes. Tonight, it was 63-52 for us in the first half; 69-49 against us in the second half.

And not only do we not protect the ball well enough but we also go away from the very things that get us good points. We had 22 attempts from 3 in the first half, and while we finished with 42 attempts from the arc (so the rate of 3s was pretty much consistent), in the first half we made 11-22 but in the second, only 6-20. Again, recognition of available shots both from an individual shot selection standpoint as well as looking around to see which team mates have better shots needs work.

Hard to criticize a generational talent doing generational things - Wemby led us with 21 points on 8-20, 0-4 from 3, 5-6FTs, along with career high 20 rebounds (team high 7 on O), along with 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks, to only 2TOs. Still, there are things he could do better. Several times when he brought up the ball he held onto it too long, dribbling too much beyond the point when team mates were more open and it slowed our O down, allowing the D to get set and missing easier chances to score, particularly from drives, especially important in the second half when the 3 wasn't falling. Shot selection continues to be hit and miss for Wemby. He had chances in the post versus much smaller defenders and chose either a fadeaway J or passing out. Of course there were also times when he used crafty spins to counter defender physicality with speed to good effect. But it's still about recognition and reads and patience and seeing others open as well. But a 21/20/4/4 is a crazy stat line. Loved also how he learned from previous plays on him when he bit on fakes to later stand his ground and time the blocks and recovery of the ball much better. For a first time outing at the C, Wemby did very well.

Now, who to put beside him as the big? Sochan stood out as bad with the ball on O. He played the 1 on D, but operated like he was the 1 on O at times even though he was the 4. For some reason, it clicked for him to be more off ball next to Zach at 5, but when he played next to Wemby, he kept driving or moving into his space,and it wasn't like he was running a big to big P&R. It happened often enough that at one point late in the game Wemby had his hands up in puzzlement about what was going on on O with Sochn running into his space. I read that as a Sochan mistake though to be honest I wasn't sure what we were running on that sequence, but you could see the frustration.

Sochan on ball MUST be about recognition of SPACE and chances for others FIRST, then his own. He is a good player with a good defensive skillset, but it is far ahead of his O (even though, kudos to him for improved FT and 3s efficiency). He did do well driving and then dishing out to others, but for some reason kept getting into Wemby's space. He finished with 6 on 2-6, 0-2 from 3, 3 boards, 4 assists (nice). With his size and now playing more 4 (Pop said he wants to explore this starting five some more), I hope he gets to the rim more too. More energy creation is what we need from him. Better defense from him tonight in terms of tighter space and good, timely contests, but the team high 5TOs (nearly half of the team's 12 in total) were from the decisions with the ball and poor recognition and execution (one-handed telegraphed bounce passes to Wemby - like, why?!). Credit to him on D where he was closer to his man in the post and managed to block or deflect DD at least twice on timely vertical contests. His foot movement was quicker guarding their PG as well. Some switches were unnecessary, and sagging off a PG who passes out only to allow the ball back too easily has to be recognized as an opportunity to be a further pest in preventing passes, but the assignments on D were overall well executed. You can tell he takes pride in it and gets up for the task.

Part of our recognition is going with the hot hand. For once Branham was in his best bag, making 3-3 in the first half on nice screen use for middy Js, drives with pretty finishes off glass, and in rhythm 3s. He goes 0-3 in the second and I thought (hoped) he would get more looks. But where he faltered (or where we didn't find/look for him enough) we did it far better with Tre who finished with essentially starter minutes with 28, fifth highest, and with fourth highest FGAs, and with finishing all four Qs. I really like this adjustment. He was terrific scoring a season best 18 points on 6-7, 2-2 from 3, 4-4FTs, along with team high 9 assists, 5 boards, 1 steal, to only 1TO.

Wemby was otherworldly for the most part, Keldon was terrific on O scoring 20 on very solid 6-11, but shockingly ALL his attempts were from the 3. It's a very good result fro the arc, but he's one of our most impactful drivers because of his physicality and now ability to finish at the rim. He was 4-6 in the first half and 2-5 in the second, but considering we struggled from the arc in the second half and needed points in other ways, he is one of the players we look to to mix things up, to change our momentum and energy. We needed that, especially in the 3RD, so hopefully he gets to recognizing these opportunities and necessities more. The 2-2FTs attests to it as well. We need more points with the clock stopped, some breathers, the steps in changing our path when we need to get points the lunch pail way. Defensively, Keldon stood out as getting back doored a lot. Again. Not sure what it'll take at this point, but like Wemby said, all it takes is that one guy to mess up and it sets the rest of the team into scrambled fits. This isn't al on Keldon, and our team dn man D has on the whole been better these last couple of games, but nevertheless these need improving from him.

And while two of our top three players stepped up, we truly need all three of our best players playing their best and Devin had an off night. It happens. He struggled mightily with only 11 on a tough 4-15 (second highest FGAs for us), and a woeful 1-7 from 3, 2-3FTs. The shot distribution also needed to be better. We're not a team that is of the taking half our shots from the arc variety. We had Tre and Cedi pressuring their D on drives but we needed more from that from Devin as well. He has gotten stronger so as to better absorb the contact, and when he did drive he did just that to good effect, just not enough of it. He got 5 assists, 2 boards, and 1 steal, but the 3TOs were of the wild mid-air pass variety, and when he's not scoring we do need him to make more of a defensive impact.

Things we did better again included team and man D overall though there were spurts where we need to lock in better, like when we lead, or when we are not scoring and need to stop runs against. Part of that is ball security. We were badly, and I mean BADLY outrebounded 56-44 and that's because we gave up a whopping 24-10 O boards. That's a **** ton of second chance points. You could tell early that we just were not positioning well to get the boards, and boxing out badly (or not at all) hurt us badly. Zach was fighting a bigger guy much of the night but couldn't get the right angles on him. But it wasn't just him. All our players were pretty much in passive spaces, spaces where they didn't get to a man or put them in a position to come to the ball first. Time and again opponents zipped by us from behind to get the ball. So, positioning, spacial awareness, and hustle.

Only two Spurs ended registering an O board - Wemby with 7, and Zach with 3. So four other starters didn't get any, and five other bench players didn't either. This has nothing to do with getting out talented. Just a matter of awareness, head on a swivel, and picking up a man. And hustle.

Speaking of which, after the game, Sean said we were lackadaisical coming into the 3RD, which I actually disagree with. I've mentioned this before, but it's like those falling elevator dreams where you know what's going to happen when you get into that elevator, yet you can't stop yourself from getting in, pushing that button, and increasing dread setting in the closer you got to your designated floor before the **** thing whooshed down. I think we play down to certain patterns still, and the mindset - right now of a dread, a fear of making mistakes, of self-fulfilling prophecy - is still clearly an issue for us. So yes the tentativeness and lack of energy is what it looks like but the reason I think is different. I think we care very much and dread **** up the good we do to build leads, and in fear of giving them up we give them up.

Regardless, this mentality, or mental approach to the 3RD Q must change. We have done well in other areas like the aforementioned team D and limiting TOs - only 12 in this game which cost us 14 points (-7 in the category) so a change in pattern in terms of number if not in points against. Some are easily fixable as several were pokes from behind as we brought up the ball too long, some form being mindful not to one hand low passes. But the 3RD Q woes MUST be countered with hustle hustle hustle. We tend to freeze and that has to be altered into all out push against. We tend to be on our heels and that has to be changed to pushing forward at opponents and with greater physicality. I'd rather we make mistakes from energy than tentativeness. Each Spur has to decide that they will run after every loose ball, every rebound, push the ball every chance we get, get more physical. Teams are making adjustments, but it's really nothing insurmountable in terms of schemes beyond our abilities to figure out. It's mental adjustment above all else. Make sure we outplay/outhustle/outphysical anyone we are facing. Harder to do with the weight of this streak, but that, too, is part of the mentality shift. It's just basketball. It's changing things within our control, starting with hustle.

The rebounding and scoring chances pretty much reversed our respective strength and weakness. We rank fourth in FGAs to their last place number of attempts per game yet they ended up taking 102 shots to our 83. And although we made four more 3s, the made eight more shots overall. We put up 41FGAs in the first half and 42 in the second, but the very high first half efficiency wasn't there.

Even though we had a double digit lead in the first half, the patterns of O boards against and many more shot attempts began back in the 1ST Q and continued throughout the game. Our efficiency waned but the number of chances and types of shots didn't, putting pressure on D, whereas giving up extra chances averaged out better; volume overcame efficiency.

Our bench showed well once again, outscoring theirs 46-32. Pop ran a mostly nine-man unit, with Julian chipping in 6 minutes. I like Zach coming off the bench. He seems a bit worn and doesn't have the same bounce or energy as before versus starters. He started 26 games last season, most (if not all) after we traded Jakob and he did well enough but he's getting to about that volume already this season and with Wemby emerging (and us trying him in different scenarios) and Zach struggling to score of late, the shift to backup 5 for now made sense. He scored 12 on 4-5, 2-2 from 3, 2-3FTs, 9 boards (3 on O), 4 assists, 1 steal.

Too bad neither Bassey nor Mamu got minutes given our rebounding woes and need for more ball movement at the 4, but it's also hard to complain about 35 assists with everyone but Julian registering at least 1. Still, there were times when decisions with the ball stuttered movement and space and we have some players who could help with that.

I did like the two guard-SF-PF-C lineup change for tonight. It was clearly impactful even though it had barely been used before tonight, even though it had some early spacing issues. This was not a problem tonight.

Finishing second halves better, starting with a resolute focus on the 3RD Q in particular, is our next step. Simply put, it's in our hands to improve. There's no magical mystery about effort, about the mental approach to effort, and things like recognizing which shots are not falling, which moments we need to stop the clock through more drives and getting to the FT line, picking up a man and getting better positioning on rebounds are all doables we can control.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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