SPURS GAME DAY! PRE-SEASON GAME 5: SPURS VS. THUNDER, 13-10-2022, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Primo's got some primetime shine to him. Interesting.

[G R E Y]

Roby's got greasy palms. Lots ot TOs from the ball slipping out of his hands.

[G R E Y]

I like the activity at our basket to contest all the shots.

[G R E Y]

Nice of Pop to give the play call to Romeo... well the results were predictable but yeah... good exeprience for him.

We have Romeo, Sochan, Mal, Roby, Blake in the final minutes.

[G R E Y]

We miss, we get the O board, Sochan... long 2 bah!

[G R E Y]

There's only so many times we can miss O board putbacks at the rim and not let it bite back on the other end. Good tries, active effort. The fundamentals will come.

[G R E Y]

Classy of Daigneault to come shake hands with Pop at center court.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 112 THUNDER 118

We finished the game, the final two and a half minutes or so, with Mal, Blake, Romeo, Sochan, and Roby.

We scored TWO points in the final 3+ minutes. OOF.

Coincidence? I think not. We generated enough chances, both on O and from good D in getting stops and pushing the ball, but we couldn't put it in the basket.

What's worse than our opponent's 28.6% from 3? Our 19.2% from 3. They only made 10, but we only made 5. Oof. We were 1-7 from 3 in the 4TH Q. OOF.

That, compared to their 4-8 from 3 in the 4TH Q pretty much exemplified the contrast.

All game long they were flirting with misses and we kept letting them shoot it. It's just the way of basketball gods or basketball fate or basketball swings. You give a team enough open practice shots, they WILL make them. We on the other hand kept missing them. We allowed too many opens ones. I don't know why that happens, it just does.

Jakob was 4-4 in scoring with 10 boards (3 on O), and again team-high 5 assists (second consecutive game. What?) but he was absolutely schooled by players who had no fear whatsoever of his size and interior presence. I get it, it's pre-season, just stay healthy, go through your reps. Ok. but we better see some **** YOU RIGHT BACK fire once the season starts. He shouldn't be content with younger guys making a name for themselves on him.

Jeremy, bless his heart, was 3-6, 0-2 from 3, and 0-4FTs. Baby steps, right? He was active on the boards with 6 (3 on O), made some nice dishes, attempted others, missed a dunk or two putbacks. I just hopes he stays with the right mindset because he's going to have to take a lot of bitter pills as the rookies will get a lot more playing time with the big club than rookies normally do.

I thought at times we moved the ball very well and at others guys were too tunnel vision looking for their own shot, blind to team mates wide open with ready hands to shoot. At other times we were too unselfish with guys at the cusp of taking an open shot making an extra pass instead that was picked off.

Tre going 1-1 from 3 and Keldon and Devin combining for 1-11 from 3 is not a stat we'll see usually. It happens and they found other ways to score. Keldon's defense continues to impress. It's noticeably better overall with not only his determination to stay with his man but using his body and arms to contest as well. Devin was flying all over the floor going for deflections and contests. Tre's floater is looking more reliable.

They were the three starters in double figures but we were led in scoring by Primo who has shown more flashes of why he was picked where he was. Frankly, he is still a work in progress as a facilitator. You can see what he's trying to do and that it's still something he's thinking of, like it's sort of mechanical, and good defenses will pick that off. Those passes inside to Jakob whether bounce or up high were just a little off and just a little slow. It's come the right read and idea is there.

Really like his determination in driving and in taking the clutch shots. He's got that look back at the guy who defended him or the bench in fron t of which is just scored type of moxie to him and I love it. Good D especially in recovery after a player gets a first step on him. He almost always positions himself to still impact the shot.

Jakob (5) and Primo (4) combining for nine of our 19(!) TOs shows the lack of cohension between them, Jakob's lack of focus and tenacity, and Primo's inexperience in facilitating.

We started with just three TOs in the 1ST Q. And we ended up with allowing 23 points on our 19 TOs to earning six fewer off of theirs.

Also, we missed 9 FTs.

There's points that could have swung the game in our favour right there in either category, even with making but five 3s.

Our points in the paint were 68-54 and we outrebounded them 53-39, including a whopping 17-8 on O boards. But that's a double-edged sword -- we left A LOT of points on the floor with lack of putback fundamentals or whatever we ran and didn't score on after we got the ball for a second chance.

Giving up two even three scoring chances in end of Q situations accumulated, too.

Overall we're still not AS crisp as we can be on O and that's a function of levels of experience as well as reps of guys playing together.

I don't know if it 'means' anything that Romeo was given 16 minutes in this game, including crucial ones in tight game pressure situations, but he's had a lot of opportunities to show his game. Decent on D, not really a creative shot maker, good size, contributes overall here and there, just a guy who doesn't raise the level of play when less experienced guys are on the court with him, but whose game raises a bit when he's on the court with better players. That would normally (and should) be a given, but it doesn't always work out that way. At some point, the raised level of play should come through just with his being in the league longer. Not convinced he has the type of personality to be a dog and get after it, but he may just be quiet and work hard behind the scenes. I don't know. That's the thing about him. He's still sort of an enigma on the court.

Does it 'mean' anything that Joe didn't get a single minute of playing time? He frnakly hasn't deserved it. Romeo at least has stood out even if in disparate moments and aspects of his game. He's done enough to at least merit a second look. But Joe, OOF, mate good luck.

Barlow I believe is on a two-way so he's staying. Romeo's contract is guaranteed. Joe should be playing like his spot is on the line and perhaps it was that pressure that did him in. But at this point, he's had plenty of chances to produce, be the Doug-in-waiting type of guy, but Doug, faults and TOs and wonky handles and poor D and all, is light years ahead. He should be because of how long's he been in the league, but he's translated his bread and butter shot into a career. Joe? Well, no. He's young so he'll get lots of time to hone, still, maybe somehwere where there's less pressure or whatnot, but it would surprise me if it's with us.

So some work to do, some cohesion and reps and sets to go over. Now we rest up, study, practice, and get ready for our 50th Anniversary Season!

And now for some highlights:

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[Phreak50]

We clearly picked Sochan because he sucks and will help us get the number 1 pick.

He is barely an NBA player right now. Let alone w top 10 pick. What a waste.

[mzfk69]

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