GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 58: SPURS VS. PISTONS, 22-4-2021, 7:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

SEGABA time! If it feels like we've just been here, it's because we have, and here we are again. Rather than look at it as draining, let's look at it as an opportunity to adjust course of our play and give Spurs who don't get as many minutes to step up and shine. Along the way, of course, we cannot overlook the opponent. This is just as important a game as much to playing our way better as to getting the good result.

WHERE: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

WHEN: Thursday, April 22, 2021, 7:30pm (CT)

Earn The Stripes Mode: Young Spurs stepping up to play the Spurs Way.







GO SPURS GO!!!

[G R E Y]

Solid rest moves!

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[imagump1313]

Solid rest moves!

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Taking the Pistons lightly has the potential to get us slapped. They have been playing decent ball lately. They are also in full young guy mode so you never know what you might get. But lackluster effort like the 2nd half last night will turn into a loss.

[G R E Y]

Solid rest moves!

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Taking the Pistons lightly has the potential to get us slapped. They have been playing decent ball lately. They are also in full young guy mode so you never know what you might get. But lackluster effort like the 2nd half last night will turn into a loss.

For sure we have to take them seriously, not just for them as a team, but for us how we play as I mentioned in the game thread starter.

Also, there's the other side of the equation:

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Still, every game counts and hopefully we go full force ahead.

[G R E Y]

WOW! Our G-League development is on the line tonight!

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GO SPURS GO!!!

[G R E Y]

Hopefully this is just an emergency bathroom break:

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[G R E Y]

Hopefully this is just a sudden need for a bathroom break:

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[imagump1313]

FU DeRozan for DNP and FU Tom Osborn for not mentioning he was out.....

[G R E Y]

FU DeRozan for DNP and FU Tom Osborn for not mentioning he was out.....

What? Why? We learned from last time when we got fined for resting three players. Two players out for rest, DeMar is ready, he simply hasn't been given minutes what with all the young guys getting it done.

[imagump1313]

They should make it official then BEFORE the game starts, not at the last second. I lost $20 just because he didn't play and along with few thousand other people on Fanduel who had him in their lineup.

Sorry, I am just soo sick of DeRozan and his stupid face. I can't wait until next year when he is gone

[G R E Y]

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We came along as the game progressed. You can see how far Derrick has come - he enters the game and just instantly becomes the cog that makes things happen. Assertive decisions with the ball be it off dribble shot or smart pass. Just keeps everything moving.

I like the Tre-Hayes matchup. Fun to watch. Tre is a huge pest on D.

Hopefully we get Luka some more shot chances.

Lonnie is a cheetah meets gazelle meets cartoonist who erases his hands just as he gets to the rim. Is there a player with a bigger disproportion of misses to proximity to basket? He is more efficient the farther he is. Just needs the right touch the closer he is after getting to the rim at such a speed.

The reason Keldon ahs risen so quickly is because he's one of those players who wants to take the shot. We need more like that in the sense that at times we're too deferential and gun shy.

Good overall results in every category in the first half.

GO SPURS GO!!!

[G R E Y]

They should make it official then BEFORE the game starts, not at the last second. I lost $20 just because he didn't play and along with few thousand other people on Fanduel who had him in their lineup.

Sorry, I am just soo sick of DeRozan and his stupid face. I can't wait until next year when he is gone

Poor guy - he plays he gets the business; he doesn't play he gets the business! Maybe we can put a mask on his entire face or something lol

I don't know how Fanduel works but I take it it's not just about the team but individual players? At least you know next time to go with a young guy.

[imagump1313]

I don't know how Fanduel works but I take it it's not just about the team but individual players? At least you know next time to go with a young guy.

Yes, its more about individual players than who wins or loses. It makes a game more interesting. Unless a player like DeRozan decides to F--K you and not to play at the very last second when everyone in the world thinks he is playing.

I just wanted to relax and watch the game and hope for the best but 5 seconds in I'm screwed

[G R E Y]

I don't know how Fanduel works but I take it it's not just about the team but individual players? At least you know next time to go with a young guy.

Yes, its more about individual players than who wins or loses. It makes a game more interesting. Unless a player like DeRozan decides to F--K you and not to play at the very last second when everyone in the world thinks he is playing.

I just wanted to relax and watch the game and hope for the best but 5 seconds in I'm screwed

Interesting. Hopefully another Spur puts you over the top next time.

As for DeMar, it looks like the Spurs are a quick study: DeMar DeRozan - DNP-RIGHT QUAD CONTUSION

[G R E Y]

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Is Derrick the Spursiest young guy? I think so. Feels like he has been since we drafted him. Love love LOVE his development and growth both of his confidence and game - assertive in taking his shots including finishing at the rim with physicality and a soft touch, getting to pockets of space for mid range Js, 3s off the dribble and C&S; good balance between that and distributing to others; honing his D instincts with experience so that his uncanny timing to step up and take charges and blocks is sharper through improved ability to read the developing play.

EDIT to add: Here are Derrick's improving numbers:

Spoiler:

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I feel like he's a more calming, reliable presence at PG than DJ, but DJ can also pounce in unexpected ways and that has advantages, too. Right now the one clear thing he does not do as well as DJ is handling the ball. He isn't as sharp or deft with his dribbling. When he's pressed in close spaces he tends to either lose the ball on low dribbles or pick the ball up. The latter protects the possession in the way he knows, but improving this part of his game will help get him out of trouble and keep the movement going. We scramble our way through these more often than not, so it's a good experience.

Derrick led us with 25 points on 8-17, but only 2-8 from 3. Despite his poor 3 shooting, he stepped up to take and make a huge step back 3 from the top of the arc when we were up 89-82 and fighting to get our lead back after a 15-point lead dwindled to but one. I remember thinking nononononono... yeah! Ten point lead, followed by a Derrick drive in which he was fouled and made both FT's (I love that he kept driving to get to the FT line), a Jakob block followed by a big 3 by Keldon quickly put us ahead by 15 again and we didn't look back.

Jakob's FT's are improving. No idea why they were using hack-a-Jak down 15 points with something like four or five minutes left in the game, but he made 3-4 in them so they let that strategy go quickly haha! Good for him. He finished the game 5-6FT's and in April he's averaging 75%! And on the season he's now up to 8.5PPG, 8.1 boards, 1.8 assists, 1.7 blocks in 26.1 minutes per game - all career highs, this when we don't even focus on him on O all that much (though this, too, has improved as he now takes a career high 6.1FGA's per game). He was terrific scoring 17 points on 6-8 as well as grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds (team-high 4 on O). Just limit those bloody missed bunnies, please!

I like that our players contribute in ways that defy their positions- Jakob had 4 assists, second only to Derrick's 8 from the starters; Derrick had 3 blocks, second to Jakob's 4. All but two players had an assist for the team's 28.

Jakob and Drew combined for 7 assists. I love that our bigs are contributing in this way, and while Jakob's growth here has been a nice surprise, Drew's has been as delightful as unexpected. Is he our most efficient finisher now? Eight points on 2-2, 4-6FT's along with 4 boards (2 on O) and 3 assists is another solid contribution. Outside of that, he gets physical down low, keeps his pivot foot planted all the while, boxes out well, rebounds with both hands on the ball, and is showing patience and touch around the rim that I don't think we knew he had when we first signed him. He is consistent in creating space and makes smart decisions. I wonder whether our signing Dieng put a jolt in his competitive juice, but whatever it is, he's been making it near impossible not to play him - something Pop has often said players must to do get minutes. He's making the most of his. Great to see.

Lonnie was a stellar 4-5 from 3 and 6-13FGAs, meaning he was 2-8 from everywhere closer! It just the most bizarre thing - the farther away he is, the more efficient; the closer, less so. Touch and angles at the rim are far less reliable than shooting form away from it. Still, when he's on his game, he's already a game changer with his drives that draw multiple defenders and deft passes inside to our bigs or to the corners, and with his clutch, gutsy 3s.

Keldon had a full game that we've been missing even as he's finding his efficiency: 10 points on 4-12, but he did make 2-3 from 3, pulled down 7 rebounds, stripped opponents of a couple in their hands, along with 2 assists, and 3 steals. Strange that he didn't get to the FT line with all those drives, but that thunderous dunk served notice that we're on our way to getting back more of the guy who electrified our lineup. Physical drive after physical drive with nice touch around the rim. He adds a dimension that no other young Spur has and it has as much to do with his spirit as how he expresses it with his big body on the court.

Luka had an interesting half time video giving us a look into his life and progress as a Spur in our development program, how it compares to his time in Europe, etc. He mentioned a lot of playing time there, and how in the G-League it was similar in that sense. He took a leap scoring in the GL, but it and the confidence he showed have yet to transfer. Just a lot of missed bunnies on drives. I do like that he's taking his shot, that he drives, and his passes off the drives are very good. We've yet to see his O at the confident and consistent level his D is.

Devin played 24 minutes but was an inefficient 1-5, 0-2 from 3. He and Rudy played the same number of minutes, but to whatever extent Devin (or just about anyone else) shared court time with Rudy, it was a black hole experience. At least Jakob passed to Luka for his one finish on a fast break, reciprocating a nice dish Luka made to Jakob. And even though Rudy has a clear scorer role, it shouldn't be a ball hog one. He's being ISO Rudy so much more to the detriment of team mates; his tunnel vision is icing others out of even getting to touch the ball. Someone needs to tell him to pass the bloody ball, not take contested fadeaways with team mates open, or 3s so early in the clock. It's bad shot selection, poor game management, and just flat out myopic. He led the bench in scoring with 14 points but it was on 5-13, 2-4 from 3, 2-2FTs.

Jakob goes out of his way to include others. Rudy could use that reminder - badly. Poor Devin took some contested shots in part, I think, because he so barely touched the ball that he just had to make something with it. Playing with Rudy makes others around him fight for scraps. It's a trickle effect - one guy hogs the ball, others then try to score when they finally get a slither of a chance. All that movement off ball by Devin and others, waiting to get the ball, for naught.

Only Rudy, Devin, and Luka had one assist. Everyone else on the team had more. Even Drew had 3 assists! Read the room, Rudy! Not for nothing, but after starting the 4TH Q 0-3, I'm glad Rudy was subbed out for Keldon at 9:25 and we didn't see him the rest of the night. Better flow after that without unnecessary deferring to the vet, or without the vet unnecessarily sucking the air out of the room with his shoot around. Moving forward...

Diop showed a nicer O game than I thought he had. He is assertive, has good range, and nice finish at the rim. He's already shown a more polished game on both ends than Metu has his entire time here. He's also showing the kind of O finishing that I hope Luka can at least get to sooner rather than later.

Tre is a pest on defense. He's undersized in height and weight, gets bumped into and tossed around a lot out there, and once he gets stronger, could learn from Patty about how a small guy can body up bigger players. He made some nice shots on drives and that left corner 3, and was a very solid distributor with 5 assists. He'll have to learn how to use his body and find ways of finishing at the rim with his size - what worked in the GL isn't as successful against bigger, stronger, faster, more experienced opponents - but he has the tools and desire to improve. Love his tenacity and hustle.

I feel bad for Q sometimes. Tre has clearly jumped him in the rotation even with less experience. They play together, too, but I wonder about Q's role on the team in the future.

Speaking of roles on the team, Trey has been out with that ankle injury for quite a while. I wonder if that is the ankle that told his agents to let it be publicly known that he would like a change of scenery at the trade deadline? Wow has he ever fallen out of the depth chart. He's an actual PF who started almost all of last season and we instead are using two, undersized non-PFs at the 4 with Rudy subbing in. Speaks volumes. Wow.

I love our transition game. Thought we'd see more of it in this game (only 6 fast break points), but at times with Derrick out we looked out of sorts and didn't have a guy step up to take on the go-to guy role. Perhaps Rudy overcompensates at that when he goes in, but other guys have to step up. With us resting DJ and Patty (much needed) and DeMar out for what was a totally legitimate DNP (much needed as well), this gave us a glimpse into where the lesser used young guys are in their development and comfort level on the bigger stage. Hopefully we see Devin and Dieng not just get minutes but get used more so they're part of rotations and it's more seamless. I get using nine-man rotations, but it would be nice to get the flexibility they can provide woven into the collective productivity.

We've taken a positive turn overall, and it has in large part been due to our defense improving:

Spoiler:

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Our 2ND Q's continue to be the best defensively and with 31 points this one was our best on O tonight as well. We had 12 steals in this game, but gave up 20 points on our 10TO's while getting 22 from their 18TO's. Some missed chances there, but considering we had lineups we've never used before and it taking us a while to get going, we plugged in the right combinations for the most part that got the job done on both ends and kept another opponent to under 100 points.

How this end holds up from now on will be central to our goal. Splitting these two games is some measure of success, one we need to continue on the foundation of our D and efficient scoring as we head on the road for a final strong push in the regular season. We're hitting a good stride at just the right time.