SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 41: SPURS AT GRIZZLIES, 9-1-2023, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Malaki two erratic passes to Sochan for a TO the first time which went off Jeremy's knee, then a too high and far high low pass that luckily gets tipped out by our opponent.

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 92 GRIZZLIES 97

Hey we won the Q 31-25!

Good push in transition, good movement, good job getting more fouls - we are 8-10FTs in the game so far.

Sochan (only 2-11)- put the orange ball through the round rim.

We finished the Q on an 11-4 run so the momentum is in our favour. Keep pushing it!

We MUST run back on D, box out, and keep pushing in transition. Get clean, physical stops, create good to great made shots.

[G R E Y]

We get a steal, we get a Romeo J!

[G R E Y]

WEEEEEEE!!! Great movement for a JRich 3! Followed by a steal and transition JRich basket and the lead!

7-1 start to the 4TH Q!

[G R E Y]

Loving the D to O effort, Spurs!!!

[G R E Y]

Malaki once again **** up the P&R D coverage and Jakob was left on an island in the key.

[G R E Y]

Great pass Doug to Jakob for 2.

[G R E Y]

What a bull **** call on Sochan on the FT line...

[G R E Y]

Tre vs. bro fake shake and bake floater!

[G R E Y]

Yeah but Tre was fouled on the drive...

[G R E Y]

Careless couple of minutes since it was tied.

[G R E Y]

Rare that Jakob gets stripped. He has to HOLD ONTO the ball better.

And now JRich throws it away.

Comedy of errors once we got a lead and got some fouls called on us when they were taking FTs in our end.

[G R E Y]

"One to shoot aaaaaand... called for traveling" *sigh*

We are not making great decisions late in the game and late in the clock.

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Tough dumb TOs lol

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Collins O board. Collins bad pass out TO...

[imagump1313]

That goodness I don't have to be around every second to make sure we keep focus. GG Spurs!!

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 113 GRIZZLIES 121

At the halfway point of the season, we find ourselves progressing well given the conditions, challenges, and purpose we are seeking to achieve.

The conditions are Pop coaching the youngest group of his NBA career, a team comprised of half new players, and three new starters, one of whom is a rookie, while incorporating two other rookies and some G-League players.

The changing conditions also apply to the coaching bench, where we’ve had significant changes especially to lead assistant in each of the last few years. The lone constants now are Pop and Will Sevening. Mitch Johnson joined the front bench in the 2019-2020 season, and he’s our longest serving member from among the newest listed additions to it, Darius Songaila (started in 2020), and Matt Nielsen (2021). Filling in for two long-tenured vacated positions is Brett Brown, a seasoned coach, experienced in the path we’re undertaking, and one of Pop’s best friends. The experience of teaching young players and familiarity on and off the court make him an important boost.

The challenges are inherent and extrinsic, self evident and unpredictable. We are a young, inexperienced team, and both have been affected by outside factors and still can be in the future. We’ve lost our starters for 35 games collectively. We’ve only had our starting five of Tre, Devin, Keldon, Sochan, and Jakob for 18 games so far! We lost a building block sixth man a mere four games into the season, and one of our rookies to injury after only two games. We’ve had multiple starting lineups and multiple players in and out of the available pool. We have three vets on the roster -- Doug, JRich, and Dieng. Our longest tenured Spur is Jakob. All that, and per our broadcast team, this collection of mostly inexperienced, sometimes injured, always eager to learn and prove themselves players has only two fewer wins than last season’s team after 41 games.

Throughout it all our purpose remains the same, control what we can, develop, instill foundations on which long careers and career success – and thus, team success – are built. So far this season, our D is last in the league. There’s no hiding it. If we were anything respectable it would be a minor miracle. We’re also last in +/- with -8.5 per game. We’re tied for 27th in TO’s with 15.8 per game and 27th as well with opponent points off of them at 19.1. We’re 28th in second chance points given up with 14.8 per game. We’re 22nd in opponent fast break points against us with 14.6 per game. And we’re 28th in opponent points in the paint with 55.1 per game.

And yet, two games fewer than last season. How? Well, Pop has once again altered our style of play to best cater to player strengths. Put another way, player strengths come out best in our more egalitarian, team-focused, movement-oriented way of playing. And so we rank third in assists per game with 27.1, 7th in O boards with 12, 5th in FGAs with 91. We’re 6th in assisted FG’s. And although after our long losing streak we stopped favouring attempting so many 3s so we’re now 21st at 31.7, we rank 1st in assisted made 3s at 94.1%. Movement, pace, sharing. We’re doing some things well.

What has been challenging throughout is consistency – in starts, in finishes, in competing throughout. Every play counts. To these ends, we were missing two starters, our top two scorers, and once again made one of the top teams in the league earn it. We had six Spurs in double figures, with everyone but Sochan and Tre scoring efficiently, though everyone who played scored.

This was the first time that Tre and his brother faced each other as starters in their pro careers. Perhaps Tre had too much adrenaline because of the moment but he struggled to find his game. He was getting the chances he normally creates couldn’t hit them especially in the 1ST Q. He settled in the 2ND Q making 3-5, hitting three in the key and missing his two 3s attempts and 2-3 (1-2 in the key, 1-1 from 3) in the 3RD.

We had good momentum coming into the 4TH Q, trimming our double digit deficit to five with 12 minutes left. On the strength of an 11-1 run in the first three minutes or so to take a five-point lead and maintained a lead until about the halfway point of the Q and then things fell apart in the final six minutes with increasing speed and blunders. We only scored four points in that time. Four points in six minutes in which we also committed five fouls and 4TOs. Oof. Lots to learn from, particularly closing games. Lots to learn along the way to it.

Sochan, bless his heart, tried dunking on a terrific defender and shot blocker on his way to 2-11, 1-3 from 3, 2-2FTs, 5 boards (team high 3 on O), 2 assists, 2 steals. Good D, but 1-8 in the key, including 1-6 in the restricted area, three of which were blocks by the same defender. I like the kinds of shots he was taking, not how he was finishing them.

Jakob was ever reliable with 13 on 6-10, 1-2FTs (improving, good!) and led us with 7 boards (2 on O) along with 2 assists, and 2 steals. Foul issues (he finished with four) likely affected some defensive decisions, which drives to stop and how, and that affected our ability to get stops in the paint. Collins, Doug, and Stanley also had four fouls each,; we were getting exploited inside and out.

Diop (10 on 4-7, 2-3 from 3) and Romeo (13 on 6-11, 0-3 from 3, 1-1FTs) played well in for Keldon and Devin. We could stand to get more of other contributions from Diop like boards, etc., though good plays don’t always show up on the stat sheet. Romeo had 5 boards (2 on O), 4 assists, and 1 block, solidifying himself as a staunch defender and a rebounder who has a knack for finding the ball, especially on O.

That four of five starters got to the FT line was a good, balanced result; three of five bench players did as well. Everyone on the bench shot it well with JRich (16 on 6-12, 2-2FTs) and Malaki (12 on 5-11)in double figure attempts and Collins (9) almost there, they collectively put up 42 of our 97 FGAs and scored 52 of our 113 points, including 7 of our 11 3s, led by JRich and Malaki making two each on 6 and 5 attempts, respectively. JRich led us with 5 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals for a solid, dependable all around two-way game. He’s been driving to the basket a lot more of late and in this game he made 4-5 in the paint, with all four made baskets in the restricted area. Really nice adjustment from him to be more assertive and add his driving game to his shot selection.

Malaki, no the other hand, mostly operated in the mid range and at the arc. His quick reads in taking advantage of what defenses give him, quick use of screens to create space, and quick shots are giving us a glimpse of the absolute bucket getter he’s growing into.

Stanley always does something useful ever time he plays and in 19 minutes he chipped in 6 on 2-4, 1-2 from 3, 1-2FTs, 3 boards, and 4 assists. He’s been a physical and assertive defensive presence, and a very good stabilizing force for our bench.

Vet stability continued on into Doug who scored 9 on 3-6, 1-3 from 3, 2-2FTs along with 5 boards and 2 assists. Along with his 3s and off ball movement, a big skill is staying within himself and being ever reliable in his strengths. While we want young guys to grow their games, there’s also a lot to be said for being a star in your role without complaint, and Doug is just that.

Collins also scored 9 on 4-9, 1-3 from 3 along with 6 boards (including a team high 4 on O), 2 assists, and 2 steals. Opponent broadcasters increasingly comment on his all around game, nice touch around the rim as well a bit of a nasty streak that is just on the right side of the invisible respect line. He seems to be a foul magnet, though, and he has to find the right balance between getting stops and doing so cleanly. Sometimes calls don’t go your way; other times, they’re ill-timed pushes or reach ins or moving screens that need some better discipline.

Back to Tre for a moment. He led us with 18 points, 7 assists, and 5-5FTs along with the 4 boards he grabbed, so despite the late game unraveling in which he and we looked like the bizarro world version of the team that did so much right for so much of the game. But in totality, Tre kept finding ways to contribute, kept getting others involved, and kept us in it. Until we got ourselves out of it.

Our old nemesis, TO’s, climbed up to 14 by the end of the game and we lost 14 points on those and we were -5 in fast break points. Where we lost the game (in addition to those final six minutes) was the accumulated fouls throughout the game. They were 20-35 to our 14-16, so while it’s encouraging that we made the most of our chances, we neither generated enough nor did we stop fouling to give them too many. They had more misses than we had makes. They had more makes than we had attempts. But 35 chances is far too many, regardless of which foul(s) went one way or another. We actually rank 8th in opponent FTAs at 22.8 per game, so this was way out of our normal rate. Something for the film room.

So while we rank last in first and last Q point differential, and those final six minutes show why and how much we have to learn, the first three and a half Qs are also showing how we are coming together, finding ways to help one another be better. If we can be proud of anything, it’s that and that our compete level is better now for longer stretches than it was earlier in the season. Having lots to improve is expected of a young, developing team; showing some grit and resoluteness when we face teams with better records almost every game is the fun part of watching us grow. On to the second half of the season.

[G R E Y]

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

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POST-GAME INTERVIEWS

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How is this even possible?! Amazing.

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