4TH Q: SPURS 104
RAPTORS 129
Well it was all but decided after their final run when we chipped away their 19-point lead down to 10 and then they got 3 after 3 on drives and kicks and extra passes.
They made 18 3s on 44 attempts.That's almost half of shots from the arc. Ugly basketball, but a team does what we allow, and 3s and FTs were the death by a thousand shots.
We looked out of sync and slow after the first Q and allowing three 30+ point Qs is indicative of both our lack of cohesion and energy and the points we subsequently allowed.
Jakob led us with 19 points on solid 9-13 but that he led us in scoring and tied for tops on the team in attempts indicates the types of shots we generated, and didn't. He also led us with 12 boards, 4 on O, tied with Diop for team high.
Derrick was more passive on O making only 3-7, 1-4 from 3, but drove well and made 5-5FTs for his efforts. We got 27 assists which is terrific, but didn't generate nearly enough O, and Derrick got only two of them. Just not good from a lead guard.
Jakob didn't have much help on O. He Devin, Joe, and Primo were pretty much the only Spurs who had efficient nights. Devin looked assertive early and sort of dropped off as the game progressed, but was good for 6-13, team high 3-7 from 3 for 15 points, and helped with 2 boards and 3 assists.
Primo flexed early with a missed dunk attempt, but I loved the vision in finding the open lane and the moxie to try it. He settled in with some crafty drives and made 3s, finishing with 15 points as well on 4-10, 2-6 from 3 and a terrific 5-6FTs. That he contributed 5 boards (2 on O), 4 assists, and 2 blocks for what was our most well rounded performance. It was a good showing for his family in the stands. I actually trusted him with the ball more than Tre (more on him in a bit).
Joe is often the unheralded draft pick but has been showing his development well in the recent games he's played. He's far more assertive on drives, taking his 3s without hesitation, and finishing both well. He'll need to fill out his frame, but did well to stay with drivers. He just looks more comfortable with the pace of the NBA game now and more locked in on performing his role. He scored 13 points on bench efficiency best 5-8, 3-5 from 3, while getting one each of a rebound, assist, and steal.
Jock looked like he got bounced around a lot and couldn't find his rhythm (1-6, 0-2 from 3) so it was wrecking ball Drew who made more of an impact. He made his hook shots, posted up well, made 3-3, got 5 boards and a steal.
Bryn was disappointing with his on-ball decisions and misses and turnovers and defense. Four points in 21 minutes on 2-5, 0-3 from 3 prompts the "You had ONE job, Bryn!" sentiment again. He's trying to do too much but he's best just in catch and shoot situations or fake and runners. That's it, not ball handling, not deciding who gets the ball from him at the top of the half court, not making bad passes or fouling and whatnot.
Keldon. Oof. He's fallen off HARD. Needs to listen to more Mariah Carey or something. Maybe he's heartbroken or hit a wall but Jesus this is the worst stretch of basketball from him since he emerged to push himself onto the starting group. Doesn't look like he knows what to do with the ball, isn't finishing well at all at the rim - not the right angles off the glass when he's using the glass, worse body control in drives, missed all of his 3s. He finished with 6 points, SIX, on woeful 3-13, 0-5 from 3, NO FTs, though he got 4 boards (1 on O), 4 assists - an area of his game that has been underdeveloped, so good to see, and a steal.
Keldon also got a team-high 3 TOs, part of a terrible 20TOs, something we needed to improve on from the last game but got worse. In fact, the starters got 11 of those so it was far from a clean effort. We were not led well by Tre, plain and simple. He was able to use his size to his advantage in SL well, but it's just not coming together at this level right now. He's not a 3s threat (0-1) so we had two starters that were not threats from distance, a huge disadvantage. So we had to find other advantages. Tre got a team-high 4 assists, but was a terrible 2-9, 0-1 from 3, 1-1FTs for 5 points. So two starters combined for 9 points on 5-22, 0-6 from 3. Jesus.
Maybe Keldon is missing his Klutch pals DJ and Lonnie so maybe he's not getting his pet shots from pet spots, although his shot chart indicates the usual 3s and paint attempts with a whole lot of misses from everywhere but two in the restricted paint. He led us in minutes (28) and disappointment.
Pop was direct about it:
?s=20
And then he left. Oof.
He's prime candidate for getting replaced in from the starting line-up right now.
It just goes to show how important DJ is for us, how we click with our sets and transition with Doug who provides 3s and drives, with Lonnie who when on is an X factor off the bench.
But whatever his issues, as a team we didn't hustle well past the 1ST Q, 13 of our 20TOs were from their steals, and we kept giving up second chance points on their O boards when we weren't fouling them or not rotating out for their uncontested 3s. Our largest lead was way back in the 1ST Q and it was our highest scoring Q with 29. Not enough cohesion on O; not nearly enough effort on D. We keep making dumb unforced errors like bouncing the ball too low into team mate shins, one handed passes, passes into a too congested key with their defender fronting our big inside, not helping the doubled player, not boxing out not boxing out not boxing out. It's like we were on the back end of a back to back. Hopefully we look like more of a team that knows how to play our two-way game and has a killer instinct. We plateaued in this department during our losing streak and sorely need to bring up our game at least a couple of levels and find our will to compete far better.