SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 23: SPURS VS. LAKERS, 13-12-2023, 7PM (CT)

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Devin pick pocket and layup. Sweet!

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Devin HAS to find his 3 shot... don't force the O with the middy Js, just let the O flow from the D.

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Devin hacked on a physical drive, no foul, hauls ass back to deflect the ball from behind and get a steal.

We hit a 3.

12-3 run.

Loving our energy and hustle!

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**** Sochan TROTTING to their corner 3 shooter, NO HAND UP. LAZY D!

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Sochan gets beaten by driver over screen, stuck behind him, gets called for foul as opponent makes J in our paint. He has to fight screens harder.

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Oooooh we trim it to 8 before allowing a mini 4-0 run. Keep pushing!

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We have Branham, Devin, Keldon, Sochan, Wemby in the last 3 and a half minutes... it is 110-101. !

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Branham with a quick stutter step and blows by their behemoth C.

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Wemby 3. We've cut it to 3.

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WHO JUDT **** TURNED THAT OVER FOR THEIR DUNK???????!

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Wemby 3.

WE steal. Branham layup.

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Devin has to make sharper cuts. Wemby will learn from this. Right shot, wrong kick out.

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Branham steals it but momentum pulls him out of bounds after the ball.

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If only those two inbounds **** ups didn't result in buckets...

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4TH Q: SPURS 119 LAKERS 122

WOW. So we DO have fight in us. Good to see and good to know. Game started concerningly, warmed up, and it was one of those where even though we were down 20 it didn't feel like we were out of it.

Highlights - Wemby at the 5 is spectacular:

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He had a spell of games in which he didn't stand out (for him) as much as this, and for all our experimental line-up and position moves, this has clearly already shown to be the best one.

It's a more focused role for Wemby, one in which he can still roam and bring the ball up but also get specific looks in better positions more often. And it re-establishes him as the clear #1 option, a more focused one for the rest of the team as well, as in this position lends to a more focused way for them to find and incorporate him.

He also has an FU Right Back quality about him that I absolutely LOVE. There's dumb mano-a-mano and then there's oh yeah watch this and he proves it with his skills and effort.

Effort. After the game Wemby mentioned that some mistakes or wasted chances are from being a young team, but also followed it up with it doesn't take experience to give effort. BANG. It's very tough not to feel the weight of the accumulated losses, and that may affect legs moving or playing so tentatively as to not want to make mistakes that it leads to mistakes. But effort is also what it will take to play through the mistakes, from fighting harder over or under screens to hustling for the 50/50 balls to being resolute about not getting beaten down court to always getting a hand up in contests after running out hard to do so.

And being selfless for the best of the team. More on this elsewhere.

Keldon drove very well, was physical to get space and finished sweetly off the glass. His Wilder energy was back, especially after throwing up the alley oop to Wemby for another thunderous dunk that made the crowd erupt. He was a stellar 28 on 10-14, 4-4 from 3, 4-4FTs, 5 boards (1 on O), and guess who led us in assists? EIGHT for Keldon.

Whereas both Wemby and Keldon adjusted their shot selection, limiting their 3s to about a quarter or third of their overall shots, 7 of Devin's 15FGAs were from the arc, and he made only 1 from there. So he was 4-8 everywhere else, all in the paint. He started too slow, 1-5, 0-3 from 3, no FTs. It's not his newly signed contract relative to play, it's the mental approach. You can see in his eyes, if one can glean anything by such means, in interviews that his confidence is low. But Keldon looked sad after last game and he came out roaring. And Devin had a better second half himself, so there was a turn in the right direction. Really liked that he made some impactful defensive plays such as the poke and steal and layup. He fought well over screens, and was really quick in reading and adjusting, going under them to stay with his man and prevent an easy drive down the middle. Good full court press, too. But we do still need more from him - stronger start, more impactful defensively from the get go, more energy and assertive play. We need him.

Branham was very smooth and assertive, really nice quick drives, making 8-13, 2-5 from 3, 1-1FT for 19 points, 3 boards, and 1 steal. Good closeouts, pesky defense, tight and active at least, fitting in well beside Devin.

Sochan. *sigh* He was 2-8, 1-3 from 3, 5 boards (3 on O), 3 assists, 2TOs in the first half. Good rebounding, assists, but he took the second highest amount of shots after Wemby in the first 24 minutes. This included 2-6, 1-2 from 3 in the 1ST Q alone. Sure nearly no one except for Zach and Tre was efficient early (Branham was 1-2), but yeah three misses in the restricted paint followed by two misses from the arc made for chances that didn't go to others.

He has issues giving up the ball when he needs to. It sticks in his hands too long. He does well in driving into the paint to draw defenders in and kick out. But he misses open team mates in transition too much, misses passes inside too much, takes shots when team mates are in better position to take them. There's no scenario in which he should be leading in attempts when we have Wemby, Keldon, and Devin, and frankly, Branham, too, all of whom are not only better scorers, but also better ball handlers and decision makers with the ball in their hands. It's his instincts on O. Last season he was more of a high end utility guy, good off ball and made good reads to others, was a willing passer to cutters, made skip or cross court passes. It's just so frustrating. He's trying to be more assertive on O but the blinders and, once again, fit next to Wemby, are bad. Someone must have gotten into his ear because in the second half he only took one shot. From one end to another. Pendulum swing. We need BBIQ and balance from him. And effort.

He's billed as a defensive stopper, and his D instincts are far ahead of those on O. He knows when to help, has a nose for the ball, gets on the court to keep possessions, and so it's puzzling when he doesn't run out hard to contest, or doesn't get a hand up on shots consistently. Like he's got more gears in him, we know because we've seen them, but he's continuing to give up too much space on man D and shots (there's a balance between contesting and not getting driven by, but he's erring too much on not closing gaps). It's there, and then it's not. It's troubling that as a starting four last season he looks so out of sync next to Wemby. More on this elsewhere.

Is it fair to pick on him? Maybe not. But he's back to his natural PF position and this is the longest streak of single digit scoring output games this season. And but for the excellent 50% efficiency game versus the Hawks, you have to go back to a month ago when he had an efficient game. He looks better next to Zach and it just defies logic. Zach has previously played smaller but looked bigger tonight. Sochan looked smaller than his stature. He has to give us more to keep justifying the starting spot.

Pop ran a mostly nine-man unit with Julian filling 6 minutes as the tenth player. He once again didn't score and only shot it twice. That's four consecutive games in which he has not scored. He only has a combined 4FGAs in single digit minutes, but in Pop trying different rotations, or different guys in the starting and bench unit, it's itself an adjustment. Doug struggled. Cedi pitched in. I do like that he continues to be an assertive driver, using his size well.

Tre was more assertive with his drives, good to see. If only his 3 could get more consistent. At least our current starting back court is a threat to spread the floor. Love the guy, but he can't even crack the 30% efficiency mark from the arc which is weird considering his FTs percentage continues to be over 80% (three of four seasons). Anyway, he's a much better finisher at the rim and we need him to continue to find lanes.

I like the familiarity between Zach and Tre; it helps us in the more traditional roles, and they are stabilizing pillars when we switch lineup around. We go small at times when combining certain lineups, but I'd love to see Mamu get his block of minutes now. We seem to be rotating guys for chunks of games, seeing how they fare in different challenges, roles, minutes, and with Bassey out, Zach the backup 5, and Sochan struggling next to Wemby, I'd even love to see Dom next to Wemby for stretches. I get the Cedi-Doug-Julian lineup - spacing and pace and all three don't need the ball their hands for long at all, but yeah Dom's been tearing it up with Austin, and Mamu has the size and hustle and BBIQ to contribute.

Anyway, our bench contributed 24 points, with only Zach getting FTs, 2-2. We made 13-18FTs overall, which hurts considering we lost by 3. But it's a game of accumulating factors, and 17TOs was once again one of them. FFS. These cost us 17 points but we were somehow a +6 in the category. Still, our opponent had 14 steals, and some of them were of the lazy, one handed or telegraphed or low IQ variety. Easy pickings. We have to make it harder for opponents to get the ball.

Some things we did better - took 5 more FGAs; made more 3s; made more FTs; won 10-5 on O boards; we closed the PITP gap to 62-58 against. And our energy actually increased as the game progressed. But some pesky habits reared their heads late, like wonky spacing and TOs, which is why it is crucial that good habits get tightened up. I loved that Pop pulled the entire starting five in favour for a new bench group early in the game. There's mistakes of effort and hustle and mistakes of lack thereof and we were not cohesive and lacked urgency.

Pecking order is important for us. Team-first, D-out are as well. Our D has improved over the last couple of weeks coming into this game:

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And:

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We're more competitive in the 3RD Qs. And we're putting up a better fight late in games. So there are the right ingredients being put together. We just have to keep stirring and serve it hot throughout the game. Very good second half effort. More of that fire throughout.

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