SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT KNICKS, 4-1-2023, 6:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

REALLY REALLY don't like Keldon hero ball.

Team mates don't **** touch the ball at all late in games.

RUN THE DAMN PLAYS. KEEP THE BALL MOVING. He's just making it easier to defend us.

[G R E Y]

Terrific two man effort by Sochan and Collins.

[G R E Y]

Bad decision by Tre to drive there. Too many big defenders, not enough space. We should have kept moving it.

[imagump1313]

Thank you JRich!!

[G R E Y]

Yeah I had to switch to the Knicks broadcast for a bit and they were right in that Keldon was giving Brunson way too much space on D.

[imagump1313]

God the Knicks suck......

[G R E Y]

EXCELLENT, SOUND DEFENSE!

SOCHAN DID NOT BITE ON THE PUMP FAKE.

WE DOUBLED WELL.

POP RIPPING REFS FOR THE MISSED DOUBLE DRIBBLE.

Pop timeout. Great chance...

[G R E Y]

I predict a Doug 3...

[G R E Y]

**** HELL, SOCHAN!!!!!!! DUMB DUMB DUMB...

[G R E Y]

Oh wait... we did not have any timeouts left...

**** HELL, SPURS!!! WORK HARDER TO GET **** OPEN. DON'T LEAVE THE INBOUNDER ON AN ISLAND. Another inbounds **** up...FFS FFS FFS

[imagump1313]

Great job Fournier. You suck ass.......

[G R E Y]

lmao we have a chance!

p.s. Looks like we DID have a timeout to burn earlier... Sochan should have called it.

[G R E Y]

Doug should have touched it... Or Collins... Doug was RIGHT THERE TO KELDON'S RIGHT WIIIIIIDE OPEN. A QUICK ZIP PASS OVER BUT NO. TUNNEL VISION BALL HOG.

[imagump1313]

That was a really weak final play....... I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

[G R E Y]

When you win three Qs and lose the game...

[imagump1313]

On the bright side, Detroit won tonight so this loss turns out to be HUGE for us. Keep em coming!!!!!!

[G R E Y]

On the bright side, Detroit won tonight so this loss turns out to be HUGE for us. Keep em coming!!!!!!

Actually really happy for them, not just for us because of their win. They played better and deserved it. Didn't like Klay's dance after he tied the game. Poetic justice that the team with the best home record loses to the team with the worst overall record... on an end of game 3. Life, sport life, that is, is funny.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 114 KNICKS 117

Patterns. We rank last in 1ST and 4TH Q points differential per Dan Weiss in tonight’s broadcast. True to form, we lost the first Q by 10 and despite winning the following three, some late mistakes courtesy of our familiar nemesis, the inbounds play, had us three points short by the end of the game.

I did love the fight back after initially getting 39 scored on us. We were running in quicksand for much of the 1ST Q, allowed bodies and pace into us, had 4TOs. And then we pushed back with physicality, kept driving at them, kept moving it. Along the way, we improved our efficiency from just over 41% to 50% while holding them from at just under 52% to under 48% the rest of the way. Down 10, 7, 5 after each of the first three Qs… what could’ve been.

We’re at our best when we involve everyone’s strengths. Our starters struggled for much of the game but our bench came through once again, outscoring theirs 62-20. We had five Spurs in double figures; three were from the bench. They also made eight of our 11 3s. JRich was all kinds of excellent. He looks to have climbed out of his at times flat play and leveled up to the energizing two-way player he was earlier in the season. He drove, he dunked, he had an O board putback dunk (who IS this guy?!), he used screens to get to his pet top of key spot, and he hounded his counterparts as best he could, even the bigger players he got switched on. JRich was decisive and quick, making a statement in each of the these NY games.

Fellow vet Doug did Doug things: ran well off ball, drove to the basket for floaters and layups (he made 3-4 in the key) and made 2-3 from 3 and 3-4FTs. He finished with 15 points along with2 boards, 1 steal, and 1 block.

Joining them with excellent games was Collins who shot perfectly from the field, scoring 16 on 6-6, 2-2 from 3, and 2-4FTs (almost perfect!). He also grabbed 3 boards (1 on O) and had 3 assists. Collins got two fouls in the 1ST Q and finished with three, so at least he avoided the late, over-zealous, ill-timed 4TH Q mistake. That meltdown happened elsewhere hahaha…

Stanley chipped in 8 points in 14 minutes on 3-5, 3-5 from 3 along with 2 boards and 3 assists. Big body, tough defense, assertive O, all within our schemes. He stands out with how well he fits and does his job and not through doing anything outside of it. It’s refreshing even if you can’t really blame players looking to get a foothold in the league again.

Our rookies had rough O games. Malaki struggled through 1-7, 0-3 from 3. He didn’t take any shots in the 3RD Q, and his lone make was in the 2ND. Long O night. It happens. It’s how he bounces back from it. That’s most important for a rookie who gets consistent minutes now. His MPG have increased by five minutes in each of the last three months. Twenty-five minutes per game is an incredible opportunity. His efficiency has dropped no slightly larger volume, but the game has clearly slowed down for him, he is far more confident using screens and finding open spots, better at managing pressure when he brings the ball up to initiate O. His shot selection in this game was strictly at the rim of the key and at the arc, so while it does depend on opportunity, creating more three-level chances in each game is what we want to see more of with the minutes he’s getting. Making sure he sticks with his man on D and makes the right reads on switches will keep him in games when his shot’s not falling. I’d say one things at a time, but this season is really all in every game. Love his game already and it’s fun to see him grow.

Sochan had his worst O game of the season, and coupled with a late-game error, it was far more about lessons than execution. He was 0-3 in the first half, and took no shots in the second. He finished with only 1 board which came on O, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and 2TOs, and while all matter and impact the final outcome, the glaring one on the inbounds play after we played great D and forced a shot clock TO stung.

It was good of Pop to take the blame off of Sochan’s shoulders in the post-game interview, and of Keldon to take responsibility for the botched play. Frankly, we actually did have a timeout to use and Sochan’s not using it was on him. We have to be clear what our options are in these situations. But it’s not all on Sochan. The players on the court have not done well to get open in several previous opportunities. We’re not crisp in getting around or away from players, don’t angle properly to get space and give a good target for the inbounder, don’t move nearly fast enough to get open in the first place. It’s frankly just a hot mess of getting imposed upon, all the more so in pressure situations. We get caught on screens, we are not physical or quick enough to get away from contesting positions and extended arms of defenders, and we don’t hold our ground well when we do. Pop brought up that we have to be better at holding onto the ball – hard cuts, movement, and grip. That was the other part missing. Each guy has to take ownership of it.

Sochan and Keldon were the lone Spurs who played at least 30 minutes. While Sochan was all over the place in a good way on D, disruptive, physical, Keldon was a disruptive and physical presence on O. He led us with 26 on 7-16, 2-6 from 3, and a game high 10-12FTs along with 7 boards, and 2 assists. He had a big second half come back after scoring only 7 points on 1-5, 0-2 from 3, but solid 5-7FTs in the first. While Keldon was strictly key and 3-focused in scoring (though he took what almost looked like non-paint mid range Js just at the key line), he was once again exhibiting the tunnel vision that ignored open team mates as he drove into multiple defenders. I just don’t like it, especially as we’re at our best when we move and share the ball. Keldon-ball fosters the opposite, namely guys standing around resigned to watching Keldon. In pressure situations, the more Spurs involved and taking on responsibility the more we’ll learn from them. Of course, developing a mid range game will help, too.

I did like Keldon’s aggression and appreciate the return to physicality in moving opponents on drives as well as the touch in finishes at the rim. But the erratic glass use where he just throws the ball up as if the point was to get the foul and the finish was secondary. Maybe it’s too critical to expect a good angle glass finish while absorbing physicality with speed, but other Spurs manage, so hopefully Keldon becomes more consistent with it.

He was one of three Spurs who took double digit FGAs, along with JRich and Tre. He was 0-4 from 3, so in all his other shots he was 6-11, and also made 2-2FTs for 14 points. Oddly he missed 4 of 6 restricted area drives (he was blocked once). But he made 4-4 in the non-restricted paint. He grabbed 4 boards (1 on O) and led us with 6 assists, and registered one steal. I love his change of speeds on drives, using it to get by bigger defenders with increasing confidence. Great use of screens, much better handles, poise under pressure, looking for and finding his team mates.

We had 25 assists (a couple behind our 3rd best 27 per game) and shot well with 50% from the fiels, and 39.3% from 3 on 11-28, and even shot 80%FT’s, making 21-26. Where we could have done better was in the shot distribution among our players. Three starters combined for 12 FGAs. Sochan struggled 0-3 but not getting him any chances in the second half was on us. Jakob was only 2-4 for the whole game, and with 2-2FTs was underutilized with 6 points. He was ever reliable with rim protection, leading us with 8 boards (2 on O), and had one each of an assist (low for him given how we use him as an O anchor for DHOs, high low passes or bounce passes to cutters), steal, and block. So our front court combined for 6 points on 8FGAs. We need to do a better job keeping them involved and getting them the ball when they’re open which connects back to my points about Keldon not even seeing other team mates in too many O possessions. I appreciate him trying to make things happen, but we clearly can’t afford to shut others out. That leaves us with Romeo who only played 13 minutes in which he made 2-4, 1-2 from 3, 2-2FTs for 7 points, 3 boards – all on O – and 1 assist in three Qs. He got bowled over on a foul call and didn’t end up playing in the 4TH Q.

Our end of Q patterns were harbingers of the final play in the 4TH. Tre made and end of 1ST Q floater to bring us to within 10, then we allowed an 8-0 to finish the half, and ended the 3RD by allowing a mini 4-0 run. So the final inbounds play when we had a chance to at least tie was a detail-filled, pressure situation we aren’t consistently executing. We do well with O baseline inbounds, so not sure why the sideline ones keep being an issue for us. Sochan the rookie shouldered a big responsibility with being the inbounder and frankly the rest of the more experienced Spurs receiving the prospective pass should have been a better help. It was a big learning experience, one that hopefully is filed in the ‘never again’ slot of memory.

Our patterns with respect to end of Q details and inbounds plays need work, as does boxing out (we lost the rebounding battle 47-38 as well as14-9 on O boards), and limiting second chance points (we had 12 fewer FGAs overall). It’s all part of a young team figuring out how to play under pressure, how to put everything together – and how to do it together.

[G R E Y]

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

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(While we await Devin's return...)

[G R E Y]

POST-GAME INTERVIEWS

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