SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 12: SPURS VS. MAVS, 12-11-2021, 7:30PM (CT)

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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 12: SPURS VS. MAVS, 12-11-2021, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#21 » by G R E Y » Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:30 am

That was nice and simple - DJ drives Devin goes out to the corner, pass, shot, 3.

Or Keldon using screen to get a top of key J.

We don't need to overcook it.
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 12: SPURS VS. MAVS, 12-11-2021, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#22 » by G R E Y » Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:36 am

7-0 run by us :)

Simple plays, using screens and finding the open teammate on the weak side. Where was this all game?
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 12: SPURS VS. MAVS, 12-11-2021, 7:30PM (CT) 

Post#23 » by G R E Y » Sat Nov 13, 2021 8:06 am

4TH Q: SPURS 109

MAVS 123

Hey we won a Q! and had two with 30+ points. *sigh* but they won three Qs and scored 30+ points in each.

We made 13 3s and had 30 assists, the latter more in keeping with our game the former pleasing because it's coming along, both the makes as well as the attempts with 30. We need to keep working on our FTs: 14-20 wouldn't have made a difference tonight, but in terms of details to improve, this one needs a more concerted effort.

We finally made more simple shots and you have to wonder why we didn't try these earlier on. Part of it is guys not being open, but the variety of shots we were making last game we weren't making in this one.

And we had plenty of chances early but with those early missed bunnies accruing, you sort of had the feeling that it wouldn't take much for us to break. You could just feel it. We went up early and then once they started scoring they never looked back.

We were up against a team with two unicorns, one who is 7'3" and without our THREE tallest players well... it didn't help that Thad and at times Drew kept getting switched onto Doncic on the perimeter. Alley oop - dunk. P&R - dunk. High-low pass when we had a guard on that C lol - dunk. On top of that he hit some ridiculously long 3s.

So that was a weakness we could have mitigated if we were disciplined about the switches both down low and at the perimeter.

I didn't like the game plan on D for this game on Doncic. Time and again he was allowed to trot up the court with the ball in his hands completely uncontested. Last season we had someone shadowing him throughout the game and with, for example, Derrick shadowing him, we at least made it more difficult for him operate. We should have not allowed him to get the ball in his hands so easily, have it in his hands so often, and get it back so easily. He carved us up. The bigs can't get the ball inside to themselves, so given the huge size disparity, if we couldn't grow a foot during the game, then we could have at least tried to make the passers work harder. Doncic had 15 of their 30 assists. Oof. He and Porz combined for 64 of their 123 points. Oof.

The other factor was that we only had 86FGAs to their 100. That's 16 extra chances, and several of them came from their 10-3 O board advantage. They made five more 3s but also took 15 more (a lot of those misses were in the 4TH Q when the game was all but decided).

Bryn giveth, Bryn taketh away: 5 points, 4TOs. Maddening. We were down to ten players so it's not surprising he played 17 minutes, but Jesus do I ever hate watching him dribble. You just know when he gets past a certain time limit threshold with the ball in his hands something dumb is coming. Sure enough a cross court pass on a turnaround when he didn't first check if his team mate was open was picked off for a dunk. True Devin should have come to the ball more or positioned himself back towards the center so as to help Bryn. And it's all well and good that Bryn slammed his hand on the seat for the error. But then he did it again later lol Bryn, mate, you just move to get open and shoot, thanks.

Lonnie. He's stronger so his drives are more physical, but how long do we have to wait for his reading of the game and BBIQ grows as his build has, that it's close to the level of his athleticism? He's still more athlete than basketball player if you know what I mean. And I love the young man, he's very kind and soulful, but his habits out there especially when under pressure are largely the same as when he came into the league.

I'm writing about him after Bryn because like Sparty, I don't trust the ball in his hands especially when he initiates the O (less so when he receives the ball in motion). Lonnie with ball slows the whole thing down, probes with a couple of forward dribbles that don't threaten to beat his man, then pulls back out - tick tock tick tock which benefits the opponent - and then more often than not doesn't do something constructive with it. Too much time on the perimeter and then he either drives and misses (true, sometimes he also gets fouled as he was second highest 3-4FTs tonight) or sometimes dishes inside. But it's just clunky and indecisive with the ball in his hands making decisions. I don't recall the last time he made a cross court pass or to a back door cutter. He's been on the receiving end so well done moving without the ball, but I really thought his reads and decision making would be farther along by now.

He had 10 points but it took 11FGAs to get them. Of those, only two were attempts at the rim (both missed). Now, he's arguably our most athletically gifted Spur. And yet there's still an inverse proportion of misses relative to basket proximity. I haven't looked it up this season, but the eye test says that like last season, the closer Lonnie is to the basket the lower his efficiency is. Last season he ranked last in makes at the rim percentage. Isn't that bizarre? He's so athletically gifted but seems to have brick hands when he gets to the basket. His makes were two long 2s and one 3. He was 1-6 from 3 in 24 minutes, this on a night when Doug was 4-5 from 3 in 24 minutes. Time and situation. Lonnie either under or over-cooks it. I get it, we're trying to get him to expand his game. At some point, though, we should let him excel more with what he's good at more - off ball work. I don't know how much more he has as lead O initiator. I guess games like this you let him operate to see if he uses a new tool. Credit to Lonnie for the 7 boards. They were hard to come by in this one when the opponent decided to get into our key.

Devin on the other hand is making the most of his summer work. Great movement off ball, has a couple of moves to create space and get to his open spots and when he does he is textbook fundamentals - two foot stop jump perfectly balanced, high release shot. J. Love him in the open court on fast breaks, too. He led us with 5-6FTs and led us in scoring with an efficient 20 points. He is far better in using his BBIQ to seep into his instincts and read and react to developing plays on either end. That's not to disparage Lonnie's BBIQ, I just think he over thinks things and makes them way more complicated than they need to be. Just strip it down to essentials and stay there, Lonnie. Devin has built from the essentials and now is building on that foundation. Fun to watch.

Drew (5-7) and DJ (7-14) were solid and worked for their shots, making them within themselves and between them. I like that DJ can run the P&R much better now, makes those bounce pocket passes and has good chemistry with all the bigs. Keldon was inefficient again with 5-14, and surprisingly 3-6 from 3 (so he was 2-8 everywhere else oof) and 2-2FTs (surprisingly low given how much he drove). He was 0-5 in the restricted circle, and 2-8 in the paint. Tough night versus huge bigs inside and him driving into at least a couple of them several times. Maybe develop a spin fadeaway? Floater? Something else in the key in addition to barreling through and Euro step. He led us with 9 rebounds with is goof for him and a bit damning for the team.

A lot of our 38 D boards were of the no opponent around variety and some we fought for, too. But we did a poor job finding guys to box out and boxing out and so the 11 O boards we gave up were not only because of their height but our effort in fundamentals rebound work - positioning, reads of man and ball, and hustle.

Derrick registered no rebounds which I find suspicious. I could have sworn he brought up the ball a few times from their misses but he might have received the ball from someone else's punch out and so none were officially attested to him. Some things don't show up on stat lines. Others that do, like trends from one game to the next, show where a player is at. Derrick was only 2-5, 1-2 from 3 for 5 points. His FGAs have decreased from one game to the next the last several games, and had second fewest attempts on the team. So if he's not going to take up shot attempts to get out of his funk and not try to score, he has to help more in other areas. So the no rebounds is surprising, but he and Thad led us with 5 assists each. He was actively looking for teammates in good spots whether inside or passing back out. Better vision in this game.

DJ did what he could in pushing the pace and the tempo but we just weren't responding with enough tenacity for long enough. He has a knack for being that guy who can get a basket when we need one, who can create some energy when we're in a lull, but not enough guys responded often enough. Our back court tandem combined for 20 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 1-4 from 3, 1-2FTs.

Drew (5-7, 2-3FTs) and Thad (4-7, 1-3FTs) did what they could and were efficient for their parts on O. They were the only two players who got O boards, but also combined for 8 assists. We're expanding the team game of all our players - necessary, yes because we need the whole team contributing, but also fun to have our bigs in on the facilitating game again.

We're a team that doesn't have the go-to scorer (yet) and so we rely on the collective to raise the floor and ceiling. It's the effort, hustle, attention, and adherence to fundamentals that gets it done for us. So much of that was missing in this game.

We didn't execute the O gameplan to whatever extent it's always team-first as our strength. Doug the sharp shooter was our best 3 scorer yet had only 7FGAs yet still led us with 4 made 3s on 5 attempts. He had as many attempts as Drew, and that feels like maximizing more of Drew's strengths and nowhere near enough of Doug's.

Devin was 6-11, 3-6 from 3, played the second most minutes (30) after DJ (31), and Keldon was third (29) yet the latter two each had 14FGAs. DJ was efficient, so no problem there except he looked for and took his chances more readily than identifying those of other hot hands. We can do a better job of recognizing the hot hands and maximizing them. And it's not the first time that we've not maximized both of these two players in particular. Strange.

So neither the D nor the O was optimized despite our limitations on both and having only 10 available players. It just felt early on that the missed bunnies were both an indication of a softer approach to the game as well as a built-in excuse for wavering quickly and giving the game away. We missed some early shots and tended to make things more complicated than they needed to be in creating more shots.

Mostly though the approach just felt like we came in with an barely veiled 'oh well that's it they're on the run we feared they'd go on so what's the use' and got on our heels and shell shocked rather early and easily.

I guess we're going to not always be consistent and go through some growing pains and that's acceptable. What isn't are bad habits that we carry over individually and as a team, habits that ignore fundamentals, habits that ignore team play, habits that certain players have yet to rid themselves of (these are related to BBIQ and subsequent choices some players make - or more like the revert to).

I liked that post-game Devin expressed his frustration at the lack of consistency carrying over from wins. He said that it seems like we get complacent, and I agree but would add that we acted like this one was a loss too soon. In addition to figuring things out collectively, and in addition to DJ being recognized as the leader, and in addition to having a couple of vet voices, while we have a great group of guys in terms of pleasant, coachable character, we also need more voices in game to call one another out. To that end, Devin now showing frustration in a couple of post-game interviews now and not just deferring to players who are older or who've been here longer is a good thing. I like his drive and no-excuse approach. It feels bad to lose and that tends to wake us up but we're not doing enough to carry the good play over to the following game.

It's tougher without a go-to scorer, no doubt. And guys are getting used to bigger roles and bigger responsibilities - this is what they wanted, and they're learning how much harder it is to be the focal point on both ends rather than finding the guy who will finish. Part of that bigger role and responsibility is a mental approach to each game. We tend to have a defeatist one versus unicorn talent and allow it to affect the effort and smarts we put into playing against them. It's one thing to lose, another to look like you can't find a way to figure out something different when you were doing different things just the game before. More poise, more voices, more getting at one another to hold each other accountable. A little less nice to the opponent, a lot more **** you we're taking this game. Let's see how we respond.
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