GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT)

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GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#1 » by G R E Y » Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:42 pm

It feels good to return home after good play. To continue it, we have to stay the course and do what has gotten us here. Team first. Defense first. Movement and poise and hustle throughout. To protect home court, we have to keep pushing forward with these as our core and build on them with closing out 3s, protecting the ball, limiting runs, and keeping our O flowing - most of all, executing with a vigilant, resilient, and competitive spirit.

WHERE: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

WHEN: Friday, January 24, 2020, 7:30pm (CT)

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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#2 » by ducler » Fri Jan 24, 2020 8:56 pm

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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#3 » by G R E Y » Sat Jan 25, 2020 4:21 am

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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#4 » by -Sammy- » Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:45 am

I didn't get to see of listen to the game tonight, so I'm catching up now.

Tough loss; that 2Q looks like it was a nightmare. Another team breaks its long losing streak in San Antonio.

Patty missed three FG attempts in the final minute... 2-of-11 on the night. Brutal.

I'll be interested in seeing who Pop was putting on Booker tonight.

This one hurts since Memphis won tonight; that 8th-seed keeps bouncing around.

Onward and upward; let's break the red-hot champs' six-game win-streak on Sunday. Go Spurs!
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#5 » by imagump1313 » Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:00 am

We have lost too many games to too many crap teams.IDK for sure but I think every team we would be fighting against for that 8th spot has the tie-breaker because we have been destroyed by all of them.

Playoffs wont make a difference getting swept by the Lakers anyway. I'm rooting for trades. This team honestly has no future if they expect it to be Murray and Walker. Trades, trades, trades please.
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Re: GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 44: SPURS VS. SUNS, 24-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#6 » by G R E Y » Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:43 am

TL;DR - 18-0 run against in the 2nd Q and that's game.

Well, not quite. True we never did get our lead back after that, but there were several things along the way that led to the final result. It had to do with porous defense in that bad stretch, and rather than regrouping we made unforced errors that they scored on which just compounded our shooting woes from really out of sync O.

DeMar had a big O game and led us in scoring with 30 on very efficient 10-15, also team-hgh 10-11FTs, and tied with Trey for team-high 8 rebounds, tied for team-high 4 assists. Yet I can't help but see the -7 and acknowledge it passed the eye test because his defense was at times best termed lacking and disinterested. Their back court is hard to handle, but he got driven by a lot and was behind the driver to no further effect, no contesting, no blocking, just standing there watching. Closing out effort was lacking, too, and the turnovers didn't help either.

Still, on a night when we couldn't find a way to put the ball through the hoop he did his part on that end. Just about the only one joining him was LMA, but after a 32-point performance, he only had 11 attempts, hitting 6 (plus 1-2 from 3 and 3-4FTs) for 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Most of his attempts were outside the paint, and though they have a strong big presence, their C was also in foul trouble so there were missed opportunities to get the ball inside and try to foul him out. We have a better record when LMA hits the 20-point mark, so it's a pity that we couldn't get him more chances to score.

And we needed him to because DJ, Bryn, and Trey combined for 16 points on 7-22, 2-10 from 3, 0-1FTs. OOF. Trey did have 8 boards, team-best 3 on O, but that's about it. DJ did well to guard his part of their back court, but he had an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers. Bryn did get his hands up on shot contests, but staying with either of their back court tandem proved difficult.

Derrick led the bench in scoring with 13, and he was the only other Spur in double figures in addition to our main two. He was only 2-5 and 0-2 from 3, but he got to the FT line 9-11. Great effort driving with intent. His defensive prowess was evident all night, and his 3 steals and 4 blocks - including one from behind the shooter that was reminiscent of Manu magic - was balanced with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. A very good all around performance, and he tried to make things happen despite his shots not going in. Lonnie had 9 points on 3-6 and 3-3FTs. He's been doing well trying to play within our system, moving to the right spaces, running the sets while being solid defensively and trying to be that jolt of unpredictable energy, though the last couple of games he's had a hard time getting that emphatic dunk that gets a crowd going and enlivens the team.

I very rarely complain about fouls, but he clearly got hit on a drive, and there were some strange non-calls for us and very light ones against. Still, we got to the FT line 12 times more. Given that four of their five starters were in foul trouble, we could have exploited that more. And in a four-point game, missing five FTs stands out all the more.

The rest of the bench ranged from struggling mightily (Patty) to not being able to really get going (Rudy) to not having enough shots to do so (Jakob).

We made only 78 attempts for the game, and that has to be close to a season low. Making only 33 of them didn't help. We also didn't reach our 30 attempts on 3s, and made a woeful 5-25. Hard to win with those numbers. I understand incorporating Rudy more now that he's back from illness, but things were really working well with Beli and our small ball line-ups because they're mobile and get shots off quickly. Rudy operates as an ISO scorer, and that not only took up more time but he missed in the effort. I thought we could have used Beli more than the 3 minutes he played, especially given that he has been making clutch 3s late in games for us.

I like Rudy a lot and think we need his style of play as it adds another dimension to our O with his build and skill set, but frankly he's been struggling for a while now - his numbers are less efficient across the board compared to last season (lower FG%, 3% dropped from 40% to 33%, his rebounds and assists are both lower; FT% is up), and his last 10 games have dipped in some areas (39FG%), while increasing a bit in others (36.4% from 3) with a slightly lower PPG. We're paying him $14M guaranteed for it. His value in relation to his contract is not all about O contributions, but to whatever extent it is, we frankly do need more from him.

We had Bryn and Patty out there late for the 3s since we needed one and they along with LMA were just about the only Spurs to have made one. Unlike in the 2nd Q when we just tuned out of playing any semblance of D and they made cuts, drives, dunks, putbacks, Js, points in transition, 3s, you name it, we didn't get rebounds, didn't run back on D, didn't rotate well, didn't close out. Just a bizarre breakdown of play from which we had to make a comeback and that we did with better rotations and closeouts, and we had 9 steals and 8 blocks overall with several deflections along the way. But we missed 6 of 7 shots in just under three minutes of the game, and between DeMar's FTs with 2:50 left to Patty's FT with 19 seconds in the game, these were an impressive variety that included 3s, layups from steals, Js.

On nights like these, it's the little details and 1% plays that make an even bigger difference: Sean mentioned LMA not popping out on an inbound play to attempt a 3 late in the game; once again we missed bunnies; we drove to the basket with an open lane only to kick out for a lower percentage shot; we had as many turnovers as they did (half of which came in the critical 2nd Q) but we gave up 23 points on our 14; we were not positionally aware of rebound trajectory (again, long shots, long rebounds); we did not box out for their putbacks - all of these were too loose. Both teams had 10 O boards, but it's at critical moments in the game that they made the most of theirs. Five of their 10 O boards came in the 4th Q. Smarts, details, and hustle, and of course shot execution hurt us tonight.

I don't like the pattern of giving up runs because we go on scoring droughts but it was compounded tonight with unraveling defensively during that stretch. We tightened up the D to come back from a 15-point deficit, but the detail plays added up. In a make or miss game, so did the missed shots. I did like the come back and the defense, especially from Derrick and LMA. Getting back to a more movement-oriented O while keeping it simple by taking the shots we have before us should help us make more. The 1% plays are for video to go over and determination to improve. We know what we need to do to regroup and move forward. We have it within us to do it.

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