With Manu, Rudy, and Kawhi still out and LMA joining them in a rare but well deserved night off, we had to share the offensive load and defensive responsibility all the more, and share we did.
We may have played one of the few teams with worse injury issues than ours, but at past the half-way point of the season, no game can be taken for granted. It’s unbecoming to dwell on the lopsided score against a depleted opponent, but it did give us an opportunity to decrease starter minutes and distribute them among the whole team, and we saw more of players who usually play less.
At the half, we had one player in double figures, and finished the game with eight for the third time this season, including the pleasant surprise of Joffrey who got 10 bench points on excellent 5-6 shooting, 8 rebounds, an assist and a block in 19 minutes. Lauvergne’s been a bit maligned in his limited minutes this year, but he’s been persevering through some nagging injuries, and had a good showing. I like that patient fake shot and spin under the basket he uses to make opponents react, create space for himself, and shoot an uncontested baby hook. Love his aggressive rebounding effort as well.
Bryn shot 3-10FGs, but was 2-4 from 3, and most importantly, hit 6-6FTs which was excellent because he bizarrely averages only 54.5% from the charity stripe this season. His 2 steals were matched by 2 from Patty, who was an efficient 5-10, 3-7 from 3 and 2-2FTs for 15 points. The bench was led by Tony’s 12 points (5-12, 2-3FTs) and 4 assists. Tony has been thriving in the new role so far, bringing an experienced presence, and a different pace to constructing scoring opportunities.
Murray’s well rounded play showed an improving game management. There are times when he needs to better recognize where the ball should go, such as when Pau had a mismatch against a smaller defender in the key yet Murray passed to another player at the arc instead. But in other instances he’s shown impressive court vision; he drove down to the baseline and got three defenders to drop down to contest at which point he passed it out to an open Patty at the arc. When Danny was shooting FTs, Pop subbed Murray out to refine and instill what he ought to do; I love the in-game teaching, and that Murray seems to be absorbing it. It’s trial and results by fire, but the energy Murray brings to the starting role has been a positive on the whole thus far. He got a career-high 7 assists, 4 rebounds, and 11 points (4-9, 1-1 from 3, 2-2FTs).
It was Pau who once again led the team in assists with 9 to add to his 15 rebounds (4 O, 11 D), and 14 points (4-9, 6-8FTs). He got his tenth double double of the year, second only to LMA. The numbers, great though they are, don’t fully convey all the things Pau does that help us, like tapping out O rebound balls to maintain possessions, running the floor to give us options on offense, establishing great positioning on both sides of the ball, etc. LMA has been central to our success, but Pau has been no less important, if less heralded, for his great play.
Danny, our other vet in the starting line-up, found his offensive game for 14 points (4-7, 2-4 from 3, 4-4FTs), even though it’s the defensive stats that he looks at first to gauge his impact. To that end, he also provided 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks for another substantial, complete game. While Kyle’s shot was off (2-7, 1-2 from 3 for 5 points), he also found other ways to help the team with 3 rebounds, an assist, 2 blocks, and a team-high 4 steals. It would be good if he could get to the FT line a bit more, but that’s also a function of what gets called by the refs. He’s consistently great at those poke from behind steals, though. It seems like he gets one every game. Like Kyle’s shot, Bertans’s 3 wasn’t falling, but he nevertheless showed more of his developing game on both ends. He drove for a powerful dunk, and also got a putback dunk off of Bryn’s miss on the offensive end, and once again provided very good help D, contested shots well by staying in front of his man using quick hands and feet, as well as good anticipation and awareness.
We kept it simple with passing quickly and moving to open spaces, cycling it until open shots or lanes for drives presented themselves. Our movement on O forced some off-the-ball fouls, while our movement on D forced shot shot clock violations. We had 29 assists to 14 turnovers, and got 20 points off of their 18 turnovers. It was good to see the younger Spurs playing so cohesively within our system on both ends. The guys were all plugged in and rooting for each other, resulting in more revived play.
We’ve had to deal with a lot of changes forced on us through weird happenstances this season, but one change by choice has been Pop’s noticeably different approach to refs. He went from raging on the sidelines and leading the league in coach techs and ejections early in the season, to airing his grievances to the refs at the beginning of timeouts, and making his case more calmly (for him
) between whistles on the sidelines. In a time when tensions between players and refs are at an all-time high, a respectful approach can only stand out in a good way.
Noteworthy individual and team achievements:
We are now 7-4 in the second game of a back-to-back.
I love this team. GO SPURS!
The trend of