SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 33: SPURS VS. JAZZ, 26-12-2022, 7PM (CT)

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But yeah Devin absolutely undressed their big with the stutter step and drive and pretty finish.

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Ok. Just over two minutes left.

End of Q BBIQ, clean smart defending and poise scoring, Spurs.

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Collins misses both FTs FFs

Sochan fouls a 3s shooter FFS FFS FFS

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Sean's right. Sochan didn't run the clock and instead tried scoring against two defenders.

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Collins fouls out. FFS.

Collins and late game O fouls are like **** peanut butter and jam.

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Thank goodness for Tre and his PG skills and leadership.

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Pop motioning for Sochan to come and set the screen.

We get the switch.

Tre extra gear on the drive. Pretty layup OFF THE GLASS.

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That was a quality baseline inbound dunk by them. We got outexecuted there.

BUT we inbounded quickly and well to Devin who gets fouled.

[imagump1313]

Effing bull **** guys....WTF are we doing?

And again, when does the damn rodeo trip start? Seems like we've played 482 home games and 2 road games........

[G R E Y]

Effing bull **** guys....WTF are we doing?

And again, when does the damn rodeo trip start? Seems like we've played 482 home games and 2 road games........

lmao road trip tomorrow!

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 126 JAZZ 122

Well a much better overall effort for just long enough to stay ahead till the end of the game.

Four 30+ point Qs is a terrific, consistent O result. We protected the end of Q situations much better this game, maintaining our leads throughout with some counter punching. We gave ourselves enough of a cushion to withstand a late 4TH Q run.

We were up 14 with 2:36 left; then we allowed a 3, fouled a 3 for three FT’s, and fouled again (1-2) for a 10-0 run in just over the next two minutes and hanging on to a four-point lead. While bleeding points where we have vulnerabilities – the arc and foul line, we were also stuck at 121 points for just about two minutes, not scoring again until 34.1 seconds left. Tre’s late game heroics with two fantastic drives - amazing speed, guts, and clutch execution putting us up two possessions each time.

This was one of the rare games we won when the opponent won at the arc; Jazz made 13-43 to our 6-18, a big 21-point advantage. However, per Bruno Passos, the Spurs rank 30th in points allowed in the paint at 56.1. We poured in 74-52 points in the paint. A clash of game plans and execution, and but for some late game blips, we did a solid job pushing through the pressure of a strong run and staying ahead with the game on the line. In retrospect, the blips challenged us and having that experience is big for a young team. The next step is ensuring we don’t get into the wilting late patterns to begin with, but this is a positive step.

We did great work getting to the FT line but made 24-34; we also put them to the line 31-37. We were within one attempt of one another after three Qs, 24-23FTAs in our favour. In the 4TH Q we made 6-10; they made 12-14. They used the tried and true get to the FT line, get points with the clock stopped. Defending more cleanly late to limit FT chances is a point of improvement to look to.

Although we allowed some open 3s, you could at least see a more concerted effort to contest them when we rotated properly. Pop subbed Sochan out at one point after he left a 3 open. They had a long chat on the sideline before Sochan sat while Diop was in for six minutes. Some of our guys still didn’t contest well consistently – no arms up on shots, no arms out on drives, but it looked like we were better with both in the second half. There was more purposeful attention to D for more of the game overall.

At times we still got caught with all of our players in the key on their drive and kick outs and nobody running out to contest. It’s equal parts comical and frustrating. But in this game it was more apparent how several breakdowns occurred. Pop ran a tight nine-man rotation with Malaki being the first man subbing in. Interesting change, that, along with Romeo and Jrich getting DNPs. Malaki got lost on several switches, at times resulting with two Spurs covering the roller, at times not knowing who to pick up on screens, but also at least picking someone up at the perimeter, even if late and leaving too much space. One guy’s mistake dominoes into team D breakdowns. He improved as the game progressed with effort in moving his feet to stay with his man, arms out. Our contests at the rim – 8 blocks! - were solid, some from TO’s that we ran back on D well to make up for the error. In the paint and just outside of it, our bigs didn’t sag as much. Being up on their counterparts more meant there was less space given and less space to cover on contests. Good adjustment and hustle.

Overall, as the game progressed, we did better in switching through screen to the right guys more quickly. As much as some of the errors stood out, guys talking and figuring out faster where to be was noticeable, too.

At the beginning of the season, Keldon stated that defensive improvement was a responsibility he was taking on but it’s been spotty to negligible at times. He got beat on drives, he left too much space on 3s contests, he didn’t even get an arm out to contest. He, Devin, and Tre talk about leadership for the next young group, and there’s no better way than modeling it. Devin and Tre are more fundamentally sound defensively and use these skills to good effect in each game. Keldon is still inconsistent with basic defensive techniques, but most of all, he’s not always consistent with his hustle on that end, and if nothing else, that’s definitely something he can control.

Keldon has made improvements and tweaks throughout his young career, and his good D stood out well early in the season so I’m not concerned that he will figure it out. Another adjustment he’s made on O is this:

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Keldon’s led us with eight 3s attempted per game this season, and with this adjustment he’s still tops the Spurs at 7.4 attempts per game though his efficiency has also dropped to 34.6%. Not long after he broke the consecutive made 3s record it’s been noticeable that he’s starting with a driving game rather than from outside-in. It uses more of his strengths. He at times tends to over dribble in bringing up the ball with team mates having their hands up for passes that don’t come, but he’s getting better at making those loop cross court passes to the weak side. But when he does have the ball, Keldon needs to work on his handles as his dribble tends to be too high and a bit loose which gets picked off at times. He scored 21 with bulldozing into the paint on 9-21, 0-2 from 3, 3-4FTs with 3 boards, 5 assists (terrific), and 2 steals (also solid).

Devin’s handles show improvements in breaking down his man off his dribble. He is better at it than Keldon now. He led us with 24 on 8-22, 2-7, 6-9FT’s, along with 6 boards, tied for career high 8 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. What a stat line. Whereas Keldon operated almost exclusively in the paint, Devin was a three-level scorer, getting paint points, in the mid range with crafty space creation with his handles and use of screens, and at the arc. And though his D was solid this game with contributions in several ways, there’s been a shift in focusing more on his O and his D hasn’t been *as* stingy as it has been in terms of shadow man D coverage. His BBIQ and reads allow him to get to the right spots and pounce on his steals chances, but a bit too much space on contests and staying with his man more are welcome features we’d love to see more consistently. We have to do a better job helping him, too. He got switched on their huge talented PF a couple of times and the help D came late when the post up move was already being made.

Jakob looked more comfortable moving in this game and we finally used him in transition to pass to as the trailer down the middle more than we had since he’s returned. He scored a seemingly easy 16 on 6-6, 4-5FTs (AWESOME!) team high 9 boards (2 on O), 2 assists, 2 steals, and 4 BLOCKS. We put him in the right spots at the right times to take advantage of his speed and touch. He’s quietly huge for us on both ends. Low maintenance, high rewards.

His front court mate Sochan was a bit loose in his 3s coverage (though after the discussion with Pop he flat out ran and jumped after those corner 3s. Excellent response). His floating, read and response game is valuable already and as he grows in experience it’ll sharpen to be a Swiss Army knife. He’s already shown multiple utilities in bringing up the ball, making good passes, running the floor, switching to guard the ball handlers at the perimeter or bigs elsewhere. He chipped in 6 on 3-8 (again, slightly loose on these, some easy misses that should be helped with using the glass consistently), 5 boards (1 on O), 3 assists, and 1 steal.
Although we don’t really have that one go-to scorer and are a team most reliant on a multi-pronged attack, Tre is emerging as a clutch shot creator and maker. He scored 11 points on 5-10, none more important than the final two drives late in the game that kept us ahead. The shortest player on the court with the biggest buckets. Guts, gear, great finishes against bigger players at the rim. He also made1-1 from 3, and got 5 boards, 5 assists, and 1 steal. He’s a leader at the PG who understands time and score, is able to keep his wits about him and his dribble (an improvement – he used to pick it up to soon under pressure) and ran the clock well to pounce at the right time left.

I loved that all of our bench players got to the FT line, combining for 11-16. We had a strong paint presence from starters to bench, though both groups made three 3s. Malaki had his best scoring pro game with 20 on 7-11, 2-4 from 3, 4-4FTs, all excellent in terms of getting into right spaces, playing within himself, shot selection, and decisiveness. He operated in the restricted area on drives, and his mid range shots were just around the paint, along with his arc shots. He’s flashing three-level scoring potential. His shot looks quicker somehow, but maybe that’s a factor of being more comfortable and confident. While Romeo would have been the better defender, Malaki is already the better scorer and we needed every point. It feels like he’s growing before our eyes, raising his floor the last handful of games. He also chipped in 2 boards (1 on O), 2 assists, and 1 steal. I really like his twitchy athleticism. He’s quick in stopping, changing directions, using a herky jerky style to keep defenders off kilter. It’s tricky to guard. He’s getting some chances to bring up the ball and initiate the O as well, so we’re getting more versatility from the point of attack onward.

Doug fought his way to 14 on 5-10, 1-4 from 3, 3-3FTs, 1 board, 1 assist using his movement to drive and cut off ball and keep defenses focused on his whereabouts. He’s so hard to keep up with. It also shows the young guys that when your bread and butter shot isn’t working you can use flat out hustle and BBIQ to contribute in other ways on O. He’s a defensive sieve, frankly, so the O contributions that keep him on the floor.

Collins is back to his back up C role and his nasty style gives us some sandpaper to an otherwise more slash and finesse style. We have some big bodies with the Johnsons, and Sochan has some edge to his game, but Collins defies his physique and gets his nose into it. He’s such a solid back up to Jakob and did great work on both ends. He scored 10 on 4-4, only 2-6FTs (he averages 70%; it happens), bench high 7 boards (2 on O), and a block.

Our bigs had tough assignments with stretch bigs and bulk bigs on the other end and held their own. It’s curious that Pop sat three bigs in Roby, Dieng, and Bassey, and KBD played 6 fill-in minutes. But we also have to consider situation of being in the game and a matter of how well we’re executing the game plan as well as this being the first of a back-to-back.

With respect to our points in the paint, we tried a lot of those bounce passes through the key to bigs and these had some up and down results. They need practice. Each player is able to pick passes up at different heights. Also, many passes had too much zip for the cutters to receive cleanly; some passes were attempted through too congested a space. So the idea and attempts gave us a different look, though we need some seasoning to curb the TO’s from some of these passes that didn’t make their targets at times. At other times we tried to pass over their hulking bigs but we were too close to them so some adjustments in timing and space will come with experience, too.

We had 27 assists to 14 TO’s, several from those bounce passes to bigs or back door cutters that didn’t quite make it to their targets. The number is lower than our average (16.1 per game, 27th) but we gave up 21 points on these so these need work. We also had several steals that we didn’t make the most of so we need to try and close those opportunities. We also got clobbered on O boards 16-6 so boxing out fundamentals, timing, and hustle to protect our end and limit second chance points needs some film and practice reminders.

To be honest, I always like beating coaches who were once in our system, especially their first games back, especially when it feels like they low-key want to crush us. Plenty of season left to regress to the mean even as we try to raise it, but I’m glad we got this one. And with attendance 89% for this game we had solid fan support and gave them a great game to cheer for.

[G R E Y]

NOTEWORTHY ACHIVEMENTS

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Career-high 20 points for Malaki!

[G R E Y]

HIGHLIGHTS

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POST-GAME INTERVIEWS

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