SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 5: SPURS AT WOLVES, 26-10-2022, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Doug with the +1 to bring it down to single digits. Nice drive. Well done.

[G R E Y]

Dieng in. Dieng O board.

[G R E Y]

Doug DHO drive is so pretty. Great example for the younger players of the benefit of cardio and off ball movement.

[G R E Y]

Another O board, another missed bunny at the rim... uuugh...

[G R E Y]

Classy of Minny to hold up on their final possession.

[imagump1313]

About time Pop got us some DNP - (Webenyama)'s to stop this overachieving crap........ We are already 3 games behind Orlando

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 122 WOLVES 134

If you told me we made 16-36 from 3, 20-22FTs, and 43-94FGs for 122 points, I'd have placed a bet on our winning the game.

Alas, we allowed 20 3s on scorching 58.8% from the arc, and 65% from the field overall.

Some messy play with errant TOs and missed bunnies at the rim, some overdribbling, slower decisions with the ball due to two keys guys being out, and it's a learning process of other guys gelling together.

We did win the rebounding battle 40-30, and shockingly 12-0 on O boards - I don't think I've ever seen that before, especially with a huge front court - but they did make way more of their shots so there were fewer to be had on the O end.

Jakob was one of two Spurs with a double double, 10 boards (5 on O), both game highs, and 12 points on 5-8, 2-4FTs, and was tied with Zach for second best 5 assists. He got blocked (seriously, how? You're seven feet tall. Jump) and got dunked on but we were a tad late on some alley oops and P&R coverage. He got left out there to defend a couple of players a few times.

Sochan had another double digit scoring game which is nice. Really assertive, looking for his shot whether identifying the open lane or being given too much space to take the 3. Assertive either way.

Only one rebound, but registered one each of a steal, assist, and block.

I've noticed he has a weird hitch in his shot, just near the top right before his release. It's a strange hiccup that hopefully he learns to shoot through. It'll make his release faster.

But he can guard 1-5, switches well, runs the floor like a gazelle, and now is starting to force teams to be honest on D on him outside of the paint.

Tre was actually second on the team with 7 rebounds (2 on O), had 3 assists, and a steal, but he struggled to score, netting 13 on 3-12, 1-3 from 3, and a team high 6-6FTs. Being reliable there is a big, impressive lift for us, as is his consistency in getting to the line.

JRich stepped in for Devin and led us with 10 assists along with efficient 11 points on 4-8, 3-6 from 3, to go along with 3 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. Solid solid all around game. Perhaps not used to him dribbling and looking for his shot so much, but Devin is so crisp and efficient with his possessions already that almost anyone stands out by comparison.

Keldon, dubbed the 'flamethrower' by opponent commentators, had himself an impressive night. Another game, another new wrinkle or three in how he gets to the rim and how he scores. He led us with 27 on 9-20, 5-10 from 3, 4-4FTs (much better this game), along with 4 boards and 3 assists.

So the whole starting lineup was in double figures, and they were joined by Doug's bench high 19 points (6-13, 4-8 from 3, 3-3FTs) plus 2 baords and 3 assists in 24 minutes.

Diop who hasn't played a lot stepped up and in 15 minutes chipped in 15 points on 6-9, 3-3FTs, 4 boards (1 on O), 1 assist, 1 steal. He's so streaky. At times he cant make a basket and in this game we got the coordinated driving version. It's not easy to stay ready and come in and contribute and he did just that. Good spark. I did think he over dribbled and missed some passes in looking for his shot, but it's a matter of cohesion and finding his rhythm.

Romeo didn't score a lot, and missed those now patented off the backboard and rim wrongly angled shots, but he was flat out wonderful on man D, using his body physicality and angles with arms up to be an absolute pest forcing many passes out to take the heat off.

Zach has an all around game as his coordination returns. He's always good for stats across the board. He led the bench with 5 assists as I mentioned earlier, also had 4 boards (2 on O) and a steal to go along with chipping in 7 on 2-4, 1-2 from 3, 2-2FTs. He did well to post up, fight for position, just doesn't finish with consistent angles. Sort of erratic in the last bit, which hopefully will come with time. He's come a long way.

Roby and Dieng rounded out our minutes.

Some things to clean up - TOs: 16 cost us 22 points. We also got it stolen 9 times so there were some telegraphed passes that got picked off.

We had a LOT of O board scoring chances that we left on the court with missed bunnies.

We did have 35 assists which is terrific and shows our team-oriented game regardless of who plays. I LOVE our team game, on both ends.

I also liked that we came out strong in the second half after getting down 15 in the first 24 minutes. We cut it down to signel digits several times but couldn't stop the bleeding from 3 and eventually we got done in by alley oops inside as well.

Some things to clean up also are attention to fundamentals like we don't want Jakob dribbling the full court and passing late when we already had guys set up on the wings; we have to help bigs who bring up the ball like when Diop got stripped in our end as he was bringing up the ball; we have to communicate and be more careful with the back door cuts; we have to contest the arc.

It's rare that a team makes 20 and when it does it covers many faults. As I said, when we score 122 on a given night and with our team D, I like our chances, especially when we have a full team.

Good fight. Solid three game winning streak coming into this one. Good lessons to take to the next series of games at home. An important strentch of seven of the next eight to establish a stronghold and be a tough place to play.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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