SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 50: SPURS VS. GRIZZLIES, 26-1-2022, 7:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Lonnie giveth - great D board

Lonnie taketh away - loses ball in his feet and they score 2 the other way

Lonnie giveth again - hits a 3

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 86

GRIZZLIES 94

Another 30+ point Q given up largely on the back of the creative athleticism of their talented PG. That and DJ can't hit the ocean from the side of the boat.

He is 1-10 and Tre is 0-3 so even if we get HALF of what each average we're up in this game. Just sucks, too, that Doug has yet to hit a 3, for instance.

We're 2-10 from 3 in the 3RD Q so the shot that has been bailing us out in this game did not fall in the Q.

We have to get to the FT line more, impose our game more, and make sure we leave nothing in the bag. Bring it all in the final Q.

[imagump1313]

How can McDermott NOT be ready to shoot a three when the ball gets swung to him??? WE ARE PAYING YOU 13 MILLION A YEAR TO SHOOT THREES MAN!!!! We aren't asking for anything else...

[G R E Y]

Another clean drive and open basket, another missed Lonnie bunny. Incredible.

[G R E Y]

LOVING THE SCRAMBLING EFFORT, SPURS!

[imagump1313]

Game getting too close, need a dose of EUBANKS!!!!

[imagump1313]

F### McDermott

[G R E Y]

Well we're getting stops and getting O chances...

[Mirotek]

Exciting game in San Antonio!

[G R E Y]

DREW PUTTING IN THE WORK!

GREAT SUB IN!

[G R E Y]

THREE SECOND CHANCES for them and then they finally score............

[G R E Y]

ANOTHER **** HORRIBLE LATE GAME DJ PASS FOR TO...

[imagump1313]

Murray moment where he needs to recognize that you can't halfass a pass like that in that situation. Then Vassell does the same thing

[imagump1313]

LOL, back into the draft mix!!!

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 110

GRIZZLIES 118

While I can't stand 'good losses' arguments as they're about as valuable to the bottom line reality of Ws and Ls as moral victories, if I had to argue for one, this game has some cause.

First to get the pissy stuff out of the way - I thought that O players jumping into defenders would be curbed this season? It started well and now it seems to have regressed to the previous way these calls were being made. I wonder whether it has something to do with about a third of the NBA refs being out with Covid and G-League refs subbing in (not sure who the refs were tonight, though) but anyway it was a curious pattern in this game.

LOL

Read on Twitter

I wasn't surprised that the ball went to their best player or that they drove and drove and drove. It was their blueprint from the start of the game, and he's a very clutch player this season (ranks third best, I believe their commentators said).

And now for the cliche portion of the write up, we control what we can control. Post-game, Ja said that he really wanted to win the game, and so they went out and won a lot of the 50/50 balls late. Oof. It's true, though. They got a ton of second chance points off of rebounding in our end for a 15-point lead and though we did a great job coming back to even tie the game, once again late they outrebounded us and took their final lead for good on THREE chances in our end on one possession - two O boards that really bounced around a bunch of players until they secured it and hit a 3.

So although we closed the rebounding gap from down 10 over all to 44-39 overall and even 13-12 for us on O boards, it's WHEN their O boards happened - early so that we expended a lot of energy to catch up, and late when we didn't hustle for them enough, as well as not being able to get enough O boards in their end, and it was a huge second chance points difference that was really the main culprit in the game. Pop said post-game we gave up 28 second chance points. TWENTY-EIGHT.

Yes yes YES we are out-bigged at the PF position, so basically any team that has a proper big tandem has an advantage going in, BUT we also DO NOT box out nearly enough, we WATCH balls to opponent hands rather than going TO the ball consistently from the start and end up paying the price later in games. Again, we control what we can, and when that isn't height and bulk, it HAS to be in mentality to absolutely be hound dogs after the ball, it has to be in basic fundamentals of man awareness to box out.

A lot of it also has to do with decisions we make late in games, like DJ trying to 'thread the needle' with passes and ending up tying us up with balls into team mate shins who are surrounded by at least two opponents. He still gets weird tunnel vision with these at times, like there's more space than there really is but hopefully with some film it will stick in his head that there are other plays to make, not stubbornly try the hardest slimmest of margins pass into the key. We spread the floor for a reason. With Keldon having two defenders draped on him, clearly another team mate was open.

Ja also mentioned in that post-game interview that last season they were bad at closing close games, that the experience helped them grow to being one of the best at closing close games this season. Something for us to take in and learn from as we are third worst in close game situations with a 38% efficiency in those situations.

They outscored us 62-50 points in the paint as a result of their drives and second chance points, and so we had to keep up our outside shooting but whereas we were 7-21 from 3 in the first half, we were only 2-16 from 3 in the second half, making 0-6 from the arc in the 4TH Q.

Like gump said, Doug is very streaky and although we do appreciate his off ball movement and his finishing at the rim, when he's signed for spreading the floor and he goes 0-4 from 3, it's tough for us to keep pace. It didn't help that from the starters only Keldon hit a 3 at a solid rate, making 4-9, and Lonnie was the best bench 3s shooter making 2-5. Everyone else struggled from the arc, and all the more so as the game progressed.

It's a wonder, then, that we came back to tie the game. A lot of it had to do with our bench contributing well again. We have the best scoring bench in the league, and once again they outscored the opponent's 38-20. Devin led the team with 20 on 8-16 although only 1-7 from 3. Still, he showed new ways of scoring, like these quicker fakes and curl drives and in the key he now finishes with his left hand on terrific touch, too. He was mainly an off ball threat (just 4 boards, 1 on O on the stat sheet) and did a great job varying his shots from the arc to mid range floaters in the paint to drives to the rim.

Lonnie missed some bunnies again - it's SUCH a weird trait, like HOW?! - but he nevertheless scored 12 on 4-8, 2-5 from 3, 2-2FTs, with 1 rebound and 3 assists. You could see him looking to make the extra pass and he did well to keep the ball going. You can also tell that the misses are getting to him based on the body language after misses now, but he IS fighting through it to contribute in other ways, and his D was overall solid once again even if his help D at times was lacking.

Jock's home/away splits from the arc continue to baffle. His spreading the floor for us didn't work, but Drew the wrecking ball was impactful in both grabbing rebounds and getting putbacks. They each had 4 boards, with Jock getting 1 on O and Drew 3 on O. They combined for 6 points on 3-7.

Tre's a work in progress. One game he shows out well on O, another he disappears: 0-3 tonight. This is the growing pains part of a developing team. Sure you wish to see a player build off a great game, but positive consistency is the mark of next level play and Tre's still finding it. I still have SL Tre in my mind and his sky-high confidence to make things happen so I hope that he pushes his way into a role with some better consistency in contribution.

So Drew played only 4 minutes but was third on the bench in scoring. Oof.

I guess with Lonnie scoring at a decent clip we didn't get to see Primo play and that's too bad. It was one of those too close games to put in a very green player. Joe and Primo will get their chances, though it's clear that even though Pop expanded the line-up to ten players on the SEGABABA (well, nine really given that Drew played only 4 minutes, but still, he was the one who got them) we go with the young guys who have some experience under their belts.

Starters. DJ had a triple double but frankly it wasn't a clean game. A late game surge to score was terrific for us but there were a whole lot of misses in the first half that left a lot of points on the court. It happens. But the poor passing decisions in close game situations really needs work. He's improved in a lot of areas in passing, but it feels at times like there's a false sense of security or confidence rather than situational awareness in these TOs at most inopportune times.

Our baseline inbounds plays were stolen a couple of times as well so it's something we must make sure we clean up. Details.

DJ and Derrick each had 3 TOs for nearly half of the team's 13 on which we gave up 14 points, earning 12 off of their 13TOs.

Our back court were two of four starters in double figures, six Spurs in total. DJ's 16/10 (4 on O)/11 was on inefficient 5-17, 0-3 from 3 but a solid 6-7FTs. He did get two steals, but got caught for some reach ins with other attempts, and was a team worst -15. But he was also responsible for guarding a tough opponent who lit us up for 41 points on 28(!) attempts.

He and Derrick got the bulk of the duties, and Derrick contributed 14 points on 5-10, 2-6 from 3, 2-2FTs, along with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. A solid night and did well to keep driving to the rim and made 3-4 in the paint.

Keldon (18 on terrific 7-16, 4-9 from 3, with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block) had a good all around game in terms of efficiency and contributing beyond scoring.

Jakob was perfect from the field scoring 18 on 8-8 and 2-4FTs. Good to see him improving from the FT line. He was averaging a career low abysmal inefficiency from the charity stripe, and after another slow start it seems to be clicking for him. The away commentators were talking about his weird shut-put like FT form where he takes his left hand off the ball and just shoots with his right. I've long said this is a weird method, and still think it is but I wonder if the thinking is well this is how he takes his pop-a-shot Js in the key and Chip wants him to stay consistent? I don't know. It seems like he'd have better left-right control of the shot, but it's not like unorthodox shots don't work for other players. I guess it's a matter of consistency, but you have to wonder whether that motion actually fights against getting there faster.

Anyway, Jakob is our best big and is actively more assertive on O, looking to score on drives and post ups in addition to P&Rs and O board putbacks. Point being, he's not just a points-from-clean up duty player anymore, and it's great to see his O game expanding. That he consistently contributes on D with 7 boards (tied for team high 4 on O), tied for second on the team with Derrick for 5 assists, got 2 steals, and made 4 monster blocks. He's SO good at staying with drivers and positioning himself just behind them and time his jump and swat. Plus his help D is terrific as well. He frankly often does double duty of two bigs down low and given his expanded role in going against starting bigs and scoring more now, too, he's really made an impressive leap this season, likely second only to DJ's.

I thought this was an interesting quote post-game from Pop, and although he didn't name names, it aligns with gump's frustration with Doug and mine too often with Lonnie (tonight being an exception, bunnies notwithstanding):

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I'd say that DJ and Jakob have been our best, most consistent two-way players this season. Each has nearly doubled production in scoring, rebounding, and assists. And while all our players are scoring above their career averages, it's also a function of more minutes and FGAs. It's telling that Pop is calling for more than just PPG which is almost a given with more chances to score, but for consistency in that area along with other contributions. At this point in the season, the hope is that more guys step up more consistently.

It's wonderful and deserves pointing out that Keldon went from abysmal from the 3 to start the season, to Mariah Carey releasing a new Christmas album and then Keldon flipping a switch to now being the third most efficient player from the arc in the league. Plus it also stands out that the ball no longer sticks exclusively in his hands. He does actually pass it along and it keeps moving. He came on strong last season to earn his way to the starting group.

But this is Doug's first season as starter in his career and that's an adjustment for him. Last season he averaged a career high in PPG and FGAs as well as FG efficiency at 53.2% although this season he's averaging a career high in 3s attempts in 5.2 per game and much better efficiency than last season at 41.5%. Perhaps it's that he's now a marked man as 'the' 3s shooter opponents have to stop so they stick to him more. His FG efficiency has dropped almost 8%, and his FT efficiency has dropped 11%. So it's like playing with some equalizer levels and getting the right balance with him in the starting line up.

Derrick is up in PPG to 14.2 from 11.5 for his career, but is also actually a drop from last season's 15.4 on almost the same FGAs per game. Interesting. We've waited all this time for Derrick and DJ to be our back court, and Derrick was averaging career highs coming off the bench, but that's also with several other main scorers getting more attention.

I think peak Derrick was the Denver series, increasingly farther away in the rear view mirror, and again, this was with other dominant scorers around him who got defensive attention, followed by peak scoring Derrick from the bubble where he averaged around 18PPG. Although I don't expect him to be at that level, he's only a couple hundred thousand dollars under DJ as second in the team in salary at over $15M this season, and his rebounding is at the same rate, his 2s efficiency has increased to 51.4% (up from 48.6% from last season) but his 3s have regressed badly to a career low 29.5% (down from 34.6% last season and 36.6% the season before). His assists are up 2.1 more per game at 5.6 and his steals are at a career high 1.1 per game as well.

But it is interesting that we keep drafting guards with our higher picks...

One of them is 2/3 Devin who in his second year has made noticeable strides in his game. Although his FT % is down 5%, everything else from PPG, 3s efficiency, rebounds, assists, FG% and 3s% are all up from his rookie season. He's also fifth in the team in MPG, so clearly Pop is responding to his expanding his game and challenging him to do it all the more. We're using him at the 3 74% of the time, but at 6'6" (I think he's taller in shoes which is what counts - that's how players go up against one another), and with his more off ball game I do wonder if he'll ever be used as more of a guard like he was in college (as listed). We are trying him more with on ball responsibilities in spot minutes, and we did have him run the team in SL, so it'll be interesting to see how his game develops, and who on the team that impacts most.

With Zach as the main unknown right now, I still wonder if once he's more acclimated whether he ends up starting. It would put Doug back to his most used position as a bench SF. He's been used as PF the past three years (including this season) but Zach starting would give us a true bigs combo, and one of whom can stretch the floor.

With Devin showing increasingly well and Primo in the system, that leaves Lonnie as the odd man out right now. He's struggling to find his touch but is at career lows in FG% and 3s %. He's such a terrific person, and you can see both that the misses get to him and that he is trying hard to contribute in other ways. He's playing like he knows it, and like a guy who is playing for his second contract.

I really wish he can find his stroke, and that he finds his niche in the line up after being tried in a lot of different roles (which arguably can affect a player's consistency). Still, with more options soon available to the team, it will be interesting to see which player forces his way to more playing time so much so that he makes Pop look like an idiot for not playing him, as Pop likes to say.

I can see Devin doing it right now, but even with him, outside of DJ and Jakob, we do need more guys to step up more consistently. It's part of our development short and long term, but we're also 50 games in and the hope that players like Derrick and Lonnie who have been here long enough to know the system and a vet like Doug could give us a bit more consistency, and this is from a fan who loves all three of them, especially Derrick. He's the one who takes the most pulverizing pound for pound as he bravely steps up to take charges and drives with physicality. (Jakob takes the bulk heavy duty loads, too, of course.) These are terrific contributions, but fair or not, we need more O and ball protection consistency.

But whether the push from upcoming players happens this season or within the next one or two, except for three starters positions of DJ, Jakob, and arguably Keldon, there are positions to fight for both in the starting group and on the bench, even as each player brings a slightly different element with his respective game, and it's great to have depth in each position. Devin has already worked his way to first player off the bench and fifth in MPG on the team. I do think Lonnie as second only to DJ in usage % has to change. He's being given every opportunity to show O impact and get plenty of time with the ball for reps, but the consistency just isn't there again and we should frankly look to distribute that usage better elsewhere. Ideally you want as little a drop off from starters to bench as possible, and even with our slight starters imbalance (better though it is from last season), we already have the best bench in the league in terms of PPG.

That said, consistency at this stage of the season has to be a bigger focus. And that's not only individually, but team wide in terms of our mental approach to the game in starting strong, in boxing out to grab more rebounds, in hustling for 50/50 balls more, and in imposing our game more. We're at a point now where we can reasonably expect to raise our level of play and expect better from ourselves, one another, and have it show in our results, even in a developing year.

I really like the fight we showed despite our mistakes and I'm looking forward to seeing which players make a push to raise their floors and that of the team, even as the team pushes to raise our floor going forward.