SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 21: SPURS VS. LAKERS, 26-11-2022, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

We have Tre, Devin, Keldon, Roby, and Bassey in.

[G R E Y]

Keldon hit twice on two drives. No call.

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James talking **** after the way he's played all year LOL.

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Keldon hit twice on two drives. No call.

Johnson has to learn to read the room i'm afraid. Against this team and the way they are calling fouls tonight he needs to understand he isn't getting those calls and adjust.

[G R E Y]

Tre on LBJ should never happen. We can't allow that.

[G R E Y]

KJ 3. Finally.

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THERE'S MY BOY McDERMOTT!!! THANKS BUDDY!

[G R E Y]

Keldon hit twice on two drives. No call.

Johnson has to learn to read the room i'm afraid. Against this team and the way they are calling fouls tonight he needs to understand he isn't getting those calls and adjust.

Yeah but nobody from us was getting any calls.

Molloy can go **** himself.

[imagump1313]

YES! Another almost perfect game! Way to go guys! Just well enough to lose!

Can't say enough about McDermott and how he kept us on the right side of the score down the stretch. Well played!! We jumped ahead of them by 2 games!

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 138 LAKERS 143

When you score 138, our season high, you frankly should win. But,

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Being without our starting front court, our best big sub, and then the other big sub out, well WTF can you do? No rim protection, absolutely pathetic whistle disparity - and this is something I rarely complain about, and here we are.

We allowed four Qs with 30+ points, the lowest being 33. So obviously our D needs work but we were without our steady D front court. It's no excuse, but a realistic factor.

My W prediction because their C was out was quickly responded to by the basketball gods. Lesson learned. But also, **** Molloy and the rest of tonight's crew.

We shot 50% from the field on 53-105, 48.6% from 3 on 18-37, and 70% FTs on 14-20 yet it was not enough.

We allowed 58% from the field, 51.5% from the field, and ... wait for it... 32-37FTs Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure

What hurt us defensively was really poor mixups on rotations on their drive and kicks. We over collapsed, had too many guys in the paint and guys not rotating out to contest 3s. We allowed them to get too comfortable too early and too often.

We also allowed drives down the middle which is cardinal sin #1 for Pop so these will surely be in the film.

We were aslo too soft in the first half when it came to drives of our own and when we did, we had poor angles off the glass or didn't use it all together, leaving a lot of points on the floor.

But we did some good things, too, and in a developing season we have to keep focused on these first and foremost.

Our shooting (33 assists on aforementioned efficiency) and rebounding - 47-39, 17-3 on O boards, were terrific.

We had only 10TOs all game which has to be a record low. We were a +14 in points off TOs.

Keldon (10-28, 3-9 from 3, 3-5FTs) and Devin (6-16, 4-9 from 3, 4-4FTs) struggled through rough efficiency to be first and third in scoring for us, with Tre being terrific again with 23 on 9-13, 0-1 from 3, 5-7FTs. Each played high 30 in minutes.

Pop played Romeo and Doug mid-20s minutes, and rounded it out with minutes in the teens by Malaki, Roby, who fouled out, and Collins, who got ejected. Bassey played only two minutes. The latter's a bit of a surprise but he's been a bit less energetic and impactful, and it was important to get Collins reps in his return, and then see what Roby can contribute. Both were terrific. All our terrific bigs were knocked out of the game one way or another. Weird turn of events.

With a super depleted line-up, our bench came through for 52 points led by Doug's 15. We had three bench players in double figures (Collins and Roby joined him, each making 4-6, 2-3 from 3 with the former adding 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks) and everyone who played scored (excluding Bassey who got the filler minutes). Even Romeo 3-3, 1-1 from 3, 3 boards two of which were on O, 1 steal, 1 block) and Malaki (3-4, 2-3 from 3, 1 board, 2 assists) had efficient nights. I loved the fight.

Just last game I said Tre isn't really a starting PG. But here he is a day later showing improvement acorss the board:

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Tre led us with assists; Keldon led us in scoring and rebounds (10); Jakob and Collins led us with 4 O boards each; Collins led the bench with 8 boards overall. When Keldon was struggling to score, he still rebounded, he pushed the ball ahead well and got 3 assists, as well as 2 steals, and 1 block. It's more often the case that Devin gets the stats across the board (and tonight he got 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal).

It was good to see Romeo drive and finish with physicality. Also good to see him run out to the wings and make a 3. Good initiative, spacing, and confidence. It was terrific to see Malaki move off ball to open spaces well, and to finally make his shots. He, like Romeo, didn't hesitate. The more we can get them comfortable to do this the better they and we will be off long-term.

Malaki has a weird shot. It's sort of a push from around below his face with a very flat arc. It's a hard shot that either goes in or doesn't have as good a chance to bounce in because of a hard rattle around the rim. It's the anti-Devin in terms of release point and anti-Keldon in terms of arc. He'll have to work on his mechanics to get a higher release point and more arc so that a contested shot has a better chance of not being blocked. But for now, his movement and shot making are an improvement.

Our bench guys moved the ball a bit better, quicker, and there was more flow. Overall, the harder the challenge, the better and tougher we all played. We had every reason to lie down and give up but we adjusted with each of Jakob, Sochan, Collins, Roby not being able to continue.

Loved the fight and the resilience. Loved everyone's post-game comments, including Keldon's gratitude for the coaches and team mates having faith in him.

We have to keep taking the good from our play - better shooting, better compete level, better cohesion among more team mates, while working to improve our D. We have some time off to rest up, heal, and practice to re-establish our D fundamentals. It has to start there.

[G R E Y]

POST-GAME INTERVIEWS

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[imagump1313]

Friendly FYI:

We are now in the top 4 (12.5% chance) at Victor). Top 3 would be ideal (14%) but my goal for the season was top 4 at best.
THE SHIP IS CRUISING ALONG NICELY! WELL DONE ONE AND ALL!

[will]

Well, that was actually a very fun game.

Tre Jones looks a bit more comfortable.

Not sure what is going on with Keldon. Defenses around the league have done a great job adjusting to him.