SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 1: SPURS VS. HORNETS, 19-10-2022, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

OOF 6-point swing. We whiff on a 3. Tre gets the airball O reb. Pulls it out for a missed 3. They hit a 3. OOF.

Pop timeout.

You can tell he's being super patient and encouraging, but sort the competitive spirit is bubbling underneath. Took it out on the refs so far. So far lol

[imagump1313]

I did forget how horrible it is watching streams though

[G R E Y]

Just past the half way point of the final Q and we have... 11 points...

[imagump1313]

OMG WHY DO THEY HAVE GORDON HEYWARD ON THE FLOOR NOW????? The guy is a walking injury and you are using him in garbage time???

They are tanking worse than we are!!!!

[G R E Y]

We miss a dunk. They get a dunk.

Game summary.

[G R E Y]

Terrific pass, movement by Romeo and then finish at the rim.

[imagump1313]

Remember when people would go nuts when Primo got in the game? Good times

[G R E Y]

Another Dieng 3 blessedly brings us to the 100 point mark. And under the 30-point deficit. Development goals.

[imagump1313]

Cant stress enough how big of a game this was for us. We did what we had to do.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 102 HORNETS 129

Over to you, Pop, for the game summary:

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*nodding along*

Well, we were stuck at 11 for the longest time in that final frame, so to end up with our second highest scoring output of 27 is something. Blessings abound.

But we also gave up four 30+ point Qs and regardless of rebuilding, it's not the standard.

Tre said that a big factor for improvement was getting off to a good start. Yes, we were on our tentative heels from the beginning of the game, telegraphing passes for TOs, taking too long to decide what to do with the ball, settling for 3s, and most egregiously, porous D for too much of the night, especially in the first half, and especially in end of Q situations.

It's not even that they played a clean game. Both teams had 15 TOs, were close in blocks and steals, tied in O boards, and very even in trips to the charity stripe, but you can tell which team is more seasoned in terms of playing together, running their sets, confidence...

We actually ended up leaping them in FGAs 99-94 but our poor efficiency across the board - 40.4%, 20.6% from 3(!), 71.4%FTs assured that we had to work extra hard on both ends just to get some points and by the latter third of the 3RD Q were ran out of gas playing catch up.

Given that we made two 3s in the 1ST Q, making 7-34 means we hit a mere five 3s for the rest of the game. OOF OOF OOF. Like we've had players making seven 3s in a game, let alone the whole team. So only four Spurs - two starters, and two on the bench - ended with the total made 3s.

I like, though, that the majority of those who played actually attempted them. We WERE actually getting good looks, and we did take more than our previous average. But Devin (0-8) and Primo (0-3), JRich (0-3, 0 points) and Collins (0-2) was just an all around G to C 3s miss-a-thon. It happens. Hopefully not too many nights longer.

Really if you look at the final stats (and of course some are affected by the score disparity so by the end of games the team up big makes mistakes to bridge the gap) they were closer than at the biginning of the game. Despite our woeful 3s shooting we found ways to score, be it in transition, fast break, in the paint, etc.

Keldon led us with a double double (20/11), but what I loved were his 4 assists (well above his average) and two steals. Some handles issues (as with a lot of our players for some reason), but his dedication to move the ball and be defensively impactful stood out.

Primo led us with 26 bench minutes and led the team with 5 assists. He's faster and makes more compact movements, even if some are still deiberate. He made some pretty moves that didn't going through the basket but you can see the talent and creativity. More reps with guys he'll play more with will help. Really like how he drove and was second on the team with trips to the FT line, finishing with 4-4. Really like his game.

Vet Doug did Doug things. He's a scoring spark off the bench. Great role for him.

Vet Dieng did his thing as well with a 3 and some rebounds.

Vet JRich was a big disapointment. I don't criticize young guys for mistakes - it's what they're there to learn from - but to see JRich trot the bal up the court as the D got back and settled when we had advantages on the run was frustrating, and it's only game one. He was in Sunday stroll mode, and was on the wrong path. Check in, man. Maybe he's just wainting to get traded, but he has to show teams why they should trade for him, and he has to lead by example, dare I say as Doug is.

I like Zach, he led us with 4 blocks, that's half of the team's total, but I do wonder at times about Jock 'shoot the piss out of it' Landale. I understand we had to trade someone to make the numbers match, and for the purposes of developing other guys, Landale's in a better situation for him and for us, but there's a sandpaper element to him that I've always liked, back from when I'd hoped we could bring him over from Australia. Happy for him.

The point isn't to disparege Collins, but that we miss a certain sandpaperness to our collective grit. Keldon has it, but in a nice sort of way. Collins once had it but he's getting his feet under him. It'll eb a while before Sochan can show more of it as he's barely gotten his feet wet in the NBA.

Looking at our roster, we're terribly nice, but need to be a bit more abrasive. Certainly a lot more competitive. And we did a better job of that in the second half.

I did like that Sochan had 7 rebounds (2 on O) which was third highest on the team, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He's smart. You can see it. Quick outlet passes, switchable, disrupts shots when staying with his man. Is athletic and has they body type to put on some good strength.

Tre's more confident with his floater, penetration, 3s. All things we wanted to see from him.

Devin can't hang his head when his shot's not falling. I get the frustration, but impacting the game in other ways has to be channeled when the shot is not falling.

Jakob breezed his way to 14 and 9 (team high 4 on O) but frankly got muscled inside a lot, got blocked (!) and got beaten on too many plays. There's a laissez faire aspect to his game that, as a vet, needs another gear. It's not often you see him hovering around the team average -10 mark. But most of our bigs got exploited inside. Our rotations and help (or over help at times) will be addressed in film. Nice touch with passes (he's all the more important for us now) and a little farther from the rim.

Overall, we need more reps together. A reality check versus even a depleted but more seasoned team was ultimately good provided we learn what we need to from it.

We also need to read and respond with more ferocity. I don't mind mistakes (from rookies and young guys - none of that from the vets, gents!) though I'd rather they be from too much energy than from being too tentative.

And now we go on the road to embark on our first back-to-back of the season. Rest up, buckle up, on to the next one.

We finish where we started:

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Discipline of resilience and a good sense of humour will serve everyone well this season.

[G R E Y]

A couple of interesting stats from yesterday's game:

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Well Jakob is the anchor and has grown in this role for us. We start with simple sets and he's most familiar with them so it makes sense. Big improvement from when he got here.

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And Primo's nowhere near his finished form yet.

EDIT to add:

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