GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 14: SPURS AT MAVERICKS, 18-11-2019, 7:30pm (CT)

[G R E Y]

Our journey of finding the path to playing the right way for the whole game continues tonight on a blessedly short first of four travels. Rediscovering our collective chemistry, resilience, focus, and poise are the keys to executing our system on both ends for a positive result.

WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

WHEN: Monday, November 18, 2019, 7:30pm (CT)

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GO SPURS GO!!!

[ducler]

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[G R E Y]

I'm crushing some special herbs in the mortar and pestle, creating potions and chanting incantations. Anything to help us.

[imagump1313]

I'm watching this game reluctantly because I'm afraid we are about to get beat down by like 20-30 points tonight. Mavs have been waiting for this a long time..

[G R E Y]

We won the second Q and got it down to 10 at the half with a great O game by DeMar, LMA back to doing hustle work down low. We are driving as I've been asking for a looooong time. Much better effort.

The big difference are the 3s, 30-9 in points.

I hope Trey gets taken out of the starting line-up for the second half and Jakob is inserted into it.

Pretty amazing to bring it down to within 10 considering none of Trey (0-2), Dejounte (0-5), and Rudy (0-5) have scored.

We are trying really hard. That much is clear and deserves the credit. Keep fighting through, get to the FT line, and stay resilient!

[G R E Y]

Right. So we bring it to within 5 in the 3rd Q. Then we proceed to have a Monty Pythonesque one minute of play - ONE MINUTE in which Derrick falls twice - and they are up 15 at the end of it.

Hard when there's hardly any margin for error, and we make three of them and they're so costly.

BUT...

Here we are fighting well in the fourth in the midst of Beli-itis affecting Beli and spreading to Rudy and Jakob. Tall players should just dunk the ball. Seriously, just dunk it.

And we hustle our way back to within 10 again.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

Well we're at the 'what we did well despite...' part of the season.

I'm well proud of how we played overall tonight, how we fought and persevered.

First, there's this:

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Yes, and yes.

I would like to reiterate my stance that Trey in the starting line-up is causing all sorts of slightly-off-itis despite his generally good rebounding, etc. Trey had only 11 minutes, and was the only player who didn't score. I think - hope - we are seeing a turn towards either Rudy or Jakob (more likely) being inserted into the starting line-up. That we have now put Jakob in with the starting unit in the second half of the second game in a row has to mean something, right? Yes.

DeMarre with some minutes and terrific defense and 3s - 3 and D from the 3 and D guy we signed - was great to see. He gave us exactly what we need: good defense, quick hands, and a 3. All this at the drop of a hat after sitting patiently on the bench for a long while, and in he goes and proves himself. Awesome. Total pro.

LMA had a much better night with getting positioning down low for O rebounds, posting up for his patented curl drives in the key, and actually had eight shots in the key, missing only two, with seven shots outside the paint, where he was... 1-7 oof. His lift is not what it sde to be, though now and again he gets up for blocks. That may also be a function of vet experience and timing, but it's what you get at times with a 34-year-old starting big, I think.

Rudy had the topsy-turvies, too. He had a bagel in the first half and finished 4-10 overall. To his credit he kept trying to make things happen tonight.

I've read that with older players consistency tends to be what wavers, and we have seen that with LMA and Rudy this season. LMA did get it together as the season progressed last year, but he has had only one double double (I think) this season and Rudy shot the 3 at a higher percentage last season. Perhaps it's a function of the team's (more so starting unit) consistency issues. Just some things to look out for.

The Jekyll-Hyde was also the case for Beli who was 2-4 in the first half - promising! And then he went 0-4 in the second. Jesus Christ. I mean, Jesus. Christ.

Good thing I had a glass (one of those oversized ones) of a really nice Merlot, because... well, you know. I swear I think we're showcasing him.

Dejounte also started too slow not scoring in the first half, and then his J started falling (mechanics look great), and that opened up chances for his drives. He still needs work in distributing as a PG. Managing the game and dishing well is still an aspect of his game that needs to catch up to his defense and outside shot. I have faith it will come in time because he has improved other aspects of his game, but we must be patient and remember that this is his first full season as a starting PG.

Patty had an off O game, but he's been our most consistent player all season so he gets no blame tonight. He's stepped up time and again this season when other guys didn't have it; it was their turn to reciprocate tonight.

Bryn did what Bryn does and though he started a bit slow, he kept pushing through and shot up to his average which is better than last season.

Yes, we started giving up a lead again, but what we did do well in the first Q was driving more, especially by DeMar. He completely unequivocally put the team on his back for the whole game, driving, dishing, rebounding, scoring relentlessly: 36 points on 14-20, 8-8FTs, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal. And more importantly, he was a really good man defender tonight, staying in front of ball handlers, moving his feet, hands out, stripping balls, contesting shots. Just an incredible effort and leadership. I said in the Rotation Thread that he needs to not have the ball in his hands, but tonight was one of those nights in which neither Dejounte nor Derrick had 'it' early. Beside the first play in which Derrick drove for a layup, he was simply lacklustre. Not sure what is up with him, but he has not had a last good couple of games. Ebb and flow of the season. Cue DeMar and he handled the hell out of it, made mostly good decisions and was aggressive all might. Can't say enough about his focus and assertiveness all night.

We put up 96 to their 84 shots, had a 48-41 rebound advantage (including 17-9 on O boards), we had only 9 turnovers to their 13 (which we converted to a 14-8 points advantage). They were better at fast break points 16-7, whereas we outscored them 50-34 in points in the paint. We outscored them 72-50 in all two-pointers, they scored 2 more FT points, whereas they outscored us 51-24 on 3s. We shot 8-24 from 3 whereas they went berserk from the 3 to the tune of 17-41. One thing I've noticed is that the bigs sag too much on shooters and keep not closing the gaps when closing out. They have to be closer even with the risk of being driven by; better to give up a 2 or have help behind you than give up the 3. We have to contest the 3s better, plain and simple.

So, somethings to improve: better defensive starts in terms of expecting and executing 3 closeouts; making sure we don't keep getting caught on D in unfavourable mismatches and looking to get some to exploit our own; better offensive starts in which we assert and impose our game rather than counter punch; late game focus and execution so we do not turn the ball over either through errant passes or brain cramps when inbounding (5 second violation on Rudy); make sure we make bunnies - we missed so many that all things being equal had we made all of these alone on layups and O rebound putbacks the score would have been in our favour. Of course, all plays lead to the outcome, so it doesn't do to isolate any one aspect, but man, our bigs have to put the ball back into the hoop with both hands or dunks; on O, more diversity in plays with some better big synergy, some high low plays, alley oops, etc. Finally, taking and making more 3s would certainly help. We are below last season's average in terms of attempts and makes and with DeMarre playing more, we can improve both.

Except for the one blow out, we have been in all the other games during this streak. All the guys are aware of the larger pattern of slower starts and playing catch up the rest of the game, of making mental mistakes late. But even though we still had those errors, neither was as bad as in previous games. And we did many things well on defense - help D, rotations, rebounding, but there is yet work to do. Putting together the effort we did tonight but starting strong will go a long way to getting the results we want. We are right there. We need to stay strong and together.