Post#7 » by G R E Y » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:48 am
Well. What the **** was that? We were looking up to see the bottom of lackadaisical and listless. I penciled in this west coast trip as at least 2-1, and it looks as if the Spurs did too. We paid the price for not respecting our opponents and ourselves and not playing the right way. The Lakers ran, took it to us early and often, and deserved to win based on effort, execution, and resilience.
Where to begin? We had only 76FGAs, and that’s as much a function of Lakers getting their hands on our passes so we couldn’t put up prospective shots as it is of our pace. Outside of Pau's low FG% (9 points, 4-14, but with a team-high 12 rebounds, and once again a tie for team-high 5 assists), our starters had decent to good shooting and game contributions: LMA once again led the way with 20 (6-15, 1-1 from 3, excellent 7-8FTs, with 4 rebounds, an assist and a block); Bryn has strung together some nice shooting games in the starting line-up lately, this time getting 18 points (7-12, 4-7 from 3, but his FT woes continue – 0-2, and pitched in a rebound and 2 steals); Murray, our only player with a double double (his third this year), got 14 points (7-14) and 11 rebounds, to go along with 5 assists, 3 steals and a block; Kyle chipped in 6 points on 3-5 shooting, and also secured 7 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
Then again, Nance got as many points as our entire bench – 14! Manu scored 8 (3-5) and had 4 assists; Mills had 5 assists and 3 rebounds, but missed all his shots; Bertans had just 2FGAs (missed both) after a record high in points the previous game. It’s mystifying how he didn’t get more shot attempts. And it went downhill from there.
The Lakers hit 3s, got putbacks, O rebounds (we have a hard time with really athletic, quick, bouncy bigs - who doesn’t - but especially so in this game) and layup after layup from our turnovers. Speaking of which, we actually turned it over out of three consecutive Pop timeouts. That has to be some kind of record. You know it's bad when Pop told them he didn’t care so much about the turnovers as about their not playing the right way, win or lose; he had a litany of mistakes to pick from, and went right for the heart of the matter... and it fell on deaf ears. Uuugh...
We had 21 assists and 21 turnovers – seven in the fourth quarter alone - from which the Lakers got 32 points. Yikes. But it was that kind of night. We were too tentative after too many missed shots, didn’t move well without the ball, didn’t move the ball with confidence or purpose to advance a play, didn’t really run steady sequences of plays, and didn’t keep up with them when they ran in transition. We telegraphed passes for 15(!) Lakers steals, crossed our feet when we stopped dribbling, and often put up shots early in the clock. All game long it was one Lakers run after another. We did have a 15-3 run of our own in the third, but continued to make the same mistakes in the final 12 minutes that plagued us all game.
About the only good salvaged was the starters getting out of the game a little early when it became clear that the win was beyond reach for us. There are many reasons for this outcome, but we need only look to one to get back on track: execute our system. Can’t forget the humble pie, can’t dwell on it. How we respond is key.
They made it hard to like most facets of this game, but I still love this team. GO SPURS!
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
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