SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 18: SPURS AT LAKERS, 20-11-2022, 9:30PM (CT)

[Phreak50]

4-20 against one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Ouch.

The players should be ashamed and apologise for making Brett Brown look bad.

[G R E Y]

Good Lord Barlow is really bad. He is someone who needs G-League....

Today he looked like the guy who wasn't drafted. Yesterday he was really good. Such is the way with really young guys we're developing. Malaki needs G-League time, too.

That hitch in his shot is awful. Not an NBA shot at all. Somebody fix that.....

Honestly hadn't noticed. There were... so so many other things that went awry tonight I think I'm in shock and missed it somehow.

[imagump1313]

Today he looked like the guy who wasn't drafted. Yesterday he was really good. Such is the way with really young guys we're developing. Malaki needs G-League time, too.

That hitch in his shot is awful. Not an NBA shot at all. Somebody fix that.....

Honestly hadn't noticed. There were... so so many other things that went awry tonight I think I'm in shock and missed it somehow.

First time I've really watched him play with us so maybe thats why he stuck out. He doesn't seem to be very athletic either.

[G R E Y]

That hitch in his shot is awful. Not an NBA shot at all. Somebody fix that.....

Honestly hadn't noticed. There were... so so many other things that went awry tonight I think I'm in shock and missed it somehow.

First time I've really watched him play with us so maybe thats why he stuck out. He doesn't seem to be very athletic either.

It's so funny how we got the exact opposite impressions lol although if all I had to go by was tonight's game, including that one intance where he and Hall bumped into each other on the baseline O inbound and nearly turned it over I'd have likely had a similar thought.

[imagump1313]

Honestly hadn't noticed. There were... so so many other things that went awry tonight I think I'm in shock and missed it somehow.

First time I've really watched him play with us so maybe thats why he stuck out. He doesn't seem to be very athletic either.

It's so funny how we got the exact opposite impressions lol although if all I had to go by was tonight's game, including that one intance where he and Hall bumped into each other on the baseline O inbound and nearly turned it over I'd have likely had a similar thought.

I've seen highlights of him before, just never watched him in real-time. I'm not condemning him for tonight. He has decent size. IMO he looks like a kid playing with men right now. He needs some work.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 92 LAKERS 123

First and foremost, I hope Pop is ok.

Suddenly basketball is back in proper context: it is just a game.

No point in belabouring the outcome.

Poor shooting from everywhere: 41-105FGs for 39%, 7-34 from 3 for 20.6%, 3-10FTs. We took twenty more shots overall. Over 100 shots; under 100 points.

Not as crisp rotations, not as fluid movement, guys playing dispirited, less energy, perhaps running on fumes combined with mental and physical fatigue.

On the one hand, it shows how much we need all our players healthy and contributing to have us playing like we did when we started the season 5-2. On the other, it shows how fragile our levels are; take away some support, and its taxing nature affects the whole team.

And it's not only Tre's two back ups, hard enough as it is. It's that we've been without a key starter in each of the last three games, for instance. So our synergy and team balance are affected.

It's easy to say oh stay competitive even though that's the challenge and that's what we must learn - keep trying. Every point counts. Every defensive play counts. But the fifth game in seven nights, on another back-to-back took its emotional and physical toll, and it didn't help that Pop, still the most competitive man on the team, was suddenly unable to helm the team tonight.

Without Jakob anchoring us on both ends, things spun out of control quickly. We continued to allow wide open 3s. It's been opposite of what's needed - miscommunications about who was to guard which player resulted in two Spurs covering one opponent without purpose leaving others open. We just made it really easy for them to keep practicing their 3s and they ended up making five more on the same 34 shots as us.

We kept fouling, home calls notwithstanding, and while some of it was facing a talented big, part of it was last resort stops because of earlier mistakes.

Of course this was the one game we didn't turn it over a lot, only 10 this game on which we lost only 11 points, a stat where we were actually +7. Unfortunately we were in the minus almost everywhere else.

We were outrebounded 54-44 but we had a big 13-5 O board advantage that we didn't make the most of. Lots of missed bunnies here and elsewhere.

Oppositeville was endemic: we missed shots we normally make, we didn't talk on D, JRich was abysmally myopic with his PG court vision, consistently looking off open team mates who bothered to move into position, hands at the ready, even calling for the ball, yet there he was taking his shot versus at least one if not two defenders instead.

If he's not going to play the way we need him to play he does not serve a fundamental purpose for us - to help instill good habits. It's shocking how selfish he is in a facilitating role. He's the O initiator and the O stops moving as we are forced to stand around and watch him dribble the **** out of the ball, waste the clock away, and watch him shoot.

He was much better as off ball SG. As back up PG - worst default option, it turns out, but we literally have no one else as Hall isn't that guy at this point - brings out the worst tendencies in JRich. Sorry but it's true.

Keldon has been a shell of himself, sort of a guy running around looking for who stole his mojo. Maybe he's still not 100% healthy? But this is not the guy who has started games bulldozing through opponents, whose spirit infused the team, around whom we've rallied. Fatigue, mounting losses, pressure to perform to get us out of them have taken their toll. This is new territory for him. Leadership has many facets. Getting through this difficult stage together is one of them.

Tre tries hard all the time but his limitations - some with his game which are fixable, some with his stature which are not - are magnified when he's the sole PG and the pressure is on him to do so much of what used to be distributed among more players.

Devin is wonderful. Love his game on both ends.

Sochan has tendencies he'll learn to improve. One is protecting the ball on drives and finishes. As much as he can dunk on opponents, he also tends to get blocked because he exposes the ball too soon, or doesn't adjust his shot to put it higher off the glass, or be more aware of who is behind him and adjust accordingly. He can use his body better to shield the ball and lay it in with his off hand or use the rim to protect the ball in reverse drives where possible or learn to finish with various heights and angles off the rim. And he still has a weird hitch on his 3s release, on top of which his elbow is way out to the side in the shooting motion.

G-League call ups need G-League reps.

We need a reset. Leave the weight of this road trip behind. Rest. Start with fundamentals. Trust them and each other.

[G R E Y]

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

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[G R E Y]

POST-GAME INTERVIEWS

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You can see Brett's a good guy, moderating his concern for Pop, and providing a level approach to our young team reeling right now. We have a good foundation. We need to keep sight of that.