Our final game of the year is one that requires appropriate fear and respect, making sure we don't look past it and instead build on our better team play on both ends. Let's stay focused, competitive, and cohesive to solidify our position going forward in 2020.
WHERE: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
WHEN: Tuesday, December 31, 2019, 6pm (CT)
GO SPURS GO!!!
GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
Moderator: G R E Y
GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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G R E Y
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GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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ducler
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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G R E Y
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
What are we running on O here?...?
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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G R E Y
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
Just give the ball to LMA to drive to the rim over and over. Don't need his 3s right now. We do need some cohesion and forward motion - too tentative and hesitant. Need to get at them and impose our game.
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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G R E Y
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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G R E Y
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
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G R E Y
- Senior Mod - Spurs
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 32: SPURS VS. WARRIORS, 31-12-2019, 6PM (CT)
Well better ugly wins where we find our way through than a moral-victory loss, but we're flirting with a game that will be a hard lesson, as this one almost was. I'm REALLY glad it wasn't, but we have some things to work on.
We are not the team to be playing to the level of a competitor's record thinking we can just turn on a switch but we didn't have the right approach, started lackadaisical if not outright tentative.
It made sense for us to drive and kick versus our previous opponent given their strong rim protection, but this team posed no such threat yet there we were out of sync on O, passing without purpose of advancing the play to create good shots, and settled for outside shot after outside shot. Why? This was the team to drive on relentlessly, as a couple of efforts by LMA and Jakob showed. That's what they did on us instead, pick and rolling their way through our defenders as we miscommunicated and fouled time and again to a first quarter double digit deficit.
And so as we started slow we ended up playing to our worst habits: DeMar driving for fouls and either losing the ball in his feet or getting stripped, complaining, and getting a tech while fouling the other way; passing out at the end of the shot clock so someone else takes the long shot to bail us out. On D he wasn't making the requisite effort to stay in front of drivers, got lost in positioning in the key on rebounds, and frankly looked as if he was aiming for the middle of screeners so that he'd hit them hard and not have to fight through the screen. When he's on and has a defensive mindset from the start, he's looking ahead and angling himself to get around the screens to continue defending. Nope. Hit a screen, other guys had to pick up the slack a lot tonight.
Trey and Rudy's O were once again swinging towards inefficiency and we need more from our 4s so as to not overload LMA and alleviate the bigs pressure; Derrick and his missed bunnies were irritating. He needs to finish with more strength than finesse after hard physical drives and get his O game going which has been inefficient the last several games; Lonnie's myopic shot selection too early in the clock when it came from not running the play and not seeing where he could pass it compounded with dumb fouls shows why he's at best a young work-in-progress talent; Bryn flat footed on errant passes losing the ball in his feet, passing the ball in the air, driving and passing to just move the ball rather than advance the play. I'm not feeling well so my patience was thin and I've never sworn at a TV so liberally this season than when Bryn missed those two bunnies under the basket. Just triggered me in this game.
To their credit, DeMar got 3 steals and kept driving. He has a knack for getting to the FT line when we are in the scoring doldrums; Bryn did make his 3s (4-7) when he took spot up shots from passes; Derrick did run our sets with characteristic poise.
Patty mentioned in an interview that Pop has been perhaps holding back in criticism and been more supportive in difficult times this season, but he's still sending a message with playing time: Beli hardly got any; Lonnie got yanked for a dumb shot and foul combination; despite hitting two key shots with under a minute left, DeMar sat for the final shot attempt in regulation, and with 2.5 seconds left, Pop went with Rudy so that gave us tall catch and shot or putback guys in, and I'm perfectly fine with that as it felt as if we maximized his clutch late-game shooting and went with a different approach that gave us other advantages. DJ shot 2-3 in the 1st Q but 1-6 in the remaining three combined and so he sat in the fourth. To his full credit, his energy, tenacious disruptive defense and determination were exactly what we needed in OT. DJ responded very well with a steal, increasing our pace, running to open spots, and hitting his shots. He led the team with 5 assists and made his 3 in a clutch situation, so both big positives. He likes the big moments and does well in them.
Patty led us off the bench again with 18 (including 5-11 from 3). He's been the perfect player for his role this season, playing within himself and using his experience to break down defenses with both outside shooting and drives. Solid facilitator, too, and was really great with his off-ball movement. His dish to Jakob for a huge dunk (again, their chemistry is terrific) is the best of both Patty and Jakob - this is the finishing version of our big man we need.
We didn't shoot amazingly well but decently especially from the 3 (again increasing our attempts to over 30), we kept our turnovers (10) and points off them (9) low while getting 14 points off of theirs, and we won the rebounding (53-44), points in the paint (50-46), and fast break points (24-8) yet we were disconcertingly behind for most of the game and it took overtime to win. To our credit we did keep trimming their lead and kept it close several times, but that takes up a lot of energy against a young hungry team, and we can't always just stroll our way through these games thinking we'll just click suddenly and get it or that the other team will roll over. Give them shots and space to operate and eventually it will pay off and it almost did.
Our P&R defense was once again shaky, especially with allowing drives down the middle of our key so we need to better communicate and read and react to the unfolding play better; we need to better recognize our advantages and not settle for outside shots when we could dominate in other ways and make scoring easier for ourselves, including getting to the FT line more; and we have to get into the mindset of generating our own energy by imposing our game from the start. We have a lot of weapons, and need to take every game seriously.
Patty and Bryn said that the mindset going forward is that of a new season from here on out. Pop wants them fresh and locked in together. Let's hope that a self-imposed scare and the prospect of better positioning has us cohesive and energized for the new year.
NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS
We are not the team to be playing to the level of a competitor's record thinking we can just turn on a switch but we didn't have the right approach, started lackadaisical if not outright tentative.
It made sense for us to drive and kick versus our previous opponent given their strong rim protection, but this team posed no such threat yet there we were out of sync on O, passing without purpose of advancing the play to create good shots, and settled for outside shot after outside shot. Why? This was the team to drive on relentlessly, as a couple of efforts by LMA and Jakob showed. That's what they did on us instead, pick and rolling their way through our defenders as we miscommunicated and fouled time and again to a first quarter double digit deficit.
And so as we started slow we ended up playing to our worst habits: DeMar driving for fouls and either losing the ball in his feet or getting stripped, complaining, and getting a tech while fouling the other way; passing out at the end of the shot clock so someone else takes the long shot to bail us out. On D he wasn't making the requisite effort to stay in front of drivers, got lost in positioning in the key on rebounds, and frankly looked as if he was aiming for the middle of screeners so that he'd hit them hard and not have to fight through the screen. When he's on and has a defensive mindset from the start, he's looking ahead and angling himself to get around the screens to continue defending. Nope. Hit a screen, other guys had to pick up the slack a lot tonight.
Trey and Rudy's O were once again swinging towards inefficiency and we need more from our 4s so as to not overload LMA and alleviate the bigs pressure; Derrick and his missed bunnies were irritating. He needs to finish with more strength than finesse after hard physical drives and get his O game going which has been inefficient the last several games; Lonnie's myopic shot selection too early in the clock when it came from not running the play and not seeing where he could pass it compounded with dumb fouls shows why he's at best a young work-in-progress talent; Bryn flat footed on errant passes losing the ball in his feet, passing the ball in the air, driving and passing to just move the ball rather than advance the play. I'm not feeling well so my patience was thin and I've never sworn at a TV so liberally this season than when Bryn missed those two bunnies under the basket. Just triggered me in this game.
To their credit, DeMar got 3 steals and kept driving. He has a knack for getting to the FT line when we are in the scoring doldrums; Bryn did make his 3s (4-7) when he took spot up shots from passes; Derrick did run our sets with characteristic poise.
Patty mentioned in an interview that Pop has been perhaps holding back in criticism and been more supportive in difficult times this season, but he's still sending a message with playing time: Beli hardly got any; Lonnie got yanked for a dumb shot and foul combination; despite hitting two key shots with under a minute left, DeMar sat for the final shot attempt in regulation, and with 2.5 seconds left, Pop went with Rudy so that gave us tall catch and shot or putback guys in, and I'm perfectly fine with that as it felt as if we maximized his clutch late-game shooting and went with a different approach that gave us other advantages. DJ shot 2-3 in the 1st Q but 1-6 in the remaining three combined and so he sat in the fourth. To his full credit, his energy, tenacious disruptive defense and determination were exactly what we needed in OT. DJ responded very well with a steal, increasing our pace, running to open spots, and hitting his shots. He led the team with 5 assists and made his 3 in a clutch situation, so both big positives. He likes the big moments and does well in them.
Patty led us off the bench again with 18 (including 5-11 from 3). He's been the perfect player for his role this season, playing within himself and using his experience to break down defenses with both outside shooting and drives. Solid facilitator, too, and was really great with his off-ball movement. His dish to Jakob for a huge dunk (again, their chemistry is terrific) is the best of both Patty and Jakob - this is the finishing version of our big man we need.
We didn't shoot amazingly well but decently especially from the 3 (again increasing our attempts to over 30), we kept our turnovers (10) and points off them (9) low while getting 14 points off of theirs, and we won the rebounding (53-44), points in the paint (50-46), and fast break points (24-8) yet we were disconcertingly behind for most of the game and it took overtime to win. To our credit we did keep trimming their lead and kept it close several times, but that takes up a lot of energy against a young hungry team, and we can't always just stroll our way through these games thinking we'll just click suddenly and get it or that the other team will roll over. Give them shots and space to operate and eventually it will pay off and it almost did.
Our P&R defense was once again shaky, especially with allowing drives down the middle of our key so we need to better communicate and read and react to the unfolding play better; we need to better recognize our advantages and not settle for outside shots when we could dominate in other ways and make scoring easier for ourselves, including getting to the FT line more; and we have to get into the mindset of generating our own energy by imposing our game from the start. We have a lot of weapons, and need to take every game seriously.
Patty and Bryn said that the mindset going forward is that of a new season from here on out. Pop wants them fresh and locked in together. Let's hope that a self-imposed scare and the prospect of better positioning has us cohesive and energized for the new year.
NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop