SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 37: SPURS AT NETS, 2-1-2023, 6:30PM (CT)

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Malaki nice cut and finish from Dieng's pass...

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Roby has two O board possessions. Twice looks to nobody else and takes his shots. Twice misses.

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Well when you lose four Qs, you lose the game.

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Post-game, Sean, Michelle, and Dan talking about high scoring games by other players in the league. They're guessing what the new highs in points will be. MB says, "69". Dan - "I'm going to leave that one alone, Michelle."

Like WTF is going on with our broadcast professionalism?

Dan lowkey mocks her drinking last game and now this (and it's not that the guess itself didn't set it up, either).

It's just so bad and unprofessional. I like bawdy jokes in context. This isn't it. I don't need high school basement commentary. This trio isn't the best sum of its parts.

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Anyway, lots to work to do for the guys who actually played...

[imagump1313]

Couldn't watch 1 second of the game tonight but, great job by everyone involved!!

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4TH Q: SPURS 103 NETS 139

We were down after the first, second, and third Qs, culminating in, well, having fewer points by the end of the game than our opponents did after three Qs.

Game whooshed by both with us getting our asses kicked in transition and everywhere else, really, and the list of things we did poorly growing.

Let’s see: We allowed more FG’s on fewer attempts for almost 20% better efficiency, more 3s on fewer attempts for more than double the efficiency percentage, more FT’s on fewer attempts for almost 20% better efficiency. Four 30+ point Q’s allowed.

We had 18TOs which cost us 24 points.

A positive was the 15-7 O board advantage.

Everyone outside of Keldon and JRich was in various degrees of inefficiency.

Doug was uncharacteristically the lone Spur without a point. Not sure if anything happened to him but he didn’t play in the final Q and only played 9 minutes in the first three Q’s combined.

Romeo suddenly became a dunker. Did we know he had hops? Well he dunked four times, I think.

We had only four Spurs in double figures, two starters, and two from the bench. Keldon led us with 22 on 7-13. 2-6 from 3, team high 6-7FTs, 4 boards, and 1 assist. He operated mostly on the right side, making shots in the paint, non-paint 2s, and 3s as well as the FT line. Seeing three level scoring was at least a positive.

Devin returned and was mostly a jump shooter, scoring from the mid range and arc, though inefficiently. He scored 14 on 5-13, 3-7 from 3, 1-2FTs, with 2 boards, and 3 assists.

Tre led us with 7 assists and 2 steals, and added 1 board, though he had a hard time scoring with only 6 on 3-8, 0-3 from 3. He got smothered a lot and could find the seams he normally does.

They outblocked us 7-4, most of which came against our bigs. Jakob was uncharacteristically inefficient scoring only 6 on 3-8, 0-1FT. He actually got blocked at the rim. It’s a bit frustrating when so much of his comfortable operating zone is finesse. And yet we’re so dependent on what he provides on D, he’s so important to anchoring our D that it almost seems unfair to critique his game. Pop must have laid into us at half time as we were down 27-18 in total rebounds. Jakob had 4 at the half, 1 on O. He did end up leading all players with 11 boards, and all players with 6 on O. Add the two assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, and you wonder where we’d be in this game without him. (And I’d still love it if he dunked more).

Sochan chipped in 5 on 2-4, 0-1 from 3, 1-1FT, along with 3 boards (1 on O), 1 assist, and 1 steal. He had one standout defensive possession guarding KD in the low left side that was textbook in sticking with him, not biting on the fake, and closing in to contest for a miss. Then he got blocked on a drive again. He left the ball exposed up high again. On KD. Welcome to the league, young man. All of Sochan’s attempts were in the 1ST Q. Still, a starter best -13. He was too quiet the rest of the way. A rare quiet game that we hope he bounces back from with a sparkly burst.

Side note: Keldon and Sochan, the gap-toothed bros, gel so well off the court. It’s a bit weird that they look off one another in games. It’s not a ‘thing’, like some unspoken tension between them, just something I’ve noticed in recent games and will keep track of. Anyway, missed chances on quicker passes will hopefully be something we go over. We were rushed a lot and our passes weren’t as crisp and true and confident. The ones between Keldon and Sochan were just a microcosm of that as our 13 steals against attest (all but two Spurs registered at least one).

Our bench poured in 50 but was still outscored by 7. Again, that kind of night. JRich led us with 11 points, Dieng with 4 assists, Malaki in minutes (26) and attempts (10, tied with Collins; both made 4); he was also one of three bench players to make a 3 (1-4) and got 3 boards and 2 assists. He was also a bench low -21. Somehow Collins was blocked twice in the restricted area, once by a C, the other by a PG. Love what Collins brings but our starting and backup Cs don’t always play above the rim and it’s frustrating when the two tallest players on the team don’t do what they can and ought to.

Roby got some minutes and looked like he hadn’t touched a game ball in a while, twice looking off team mates and zeroing in on the basket, missing both times. It’s tough when you’ve lost your previous more consistent role (at least for now) but being ready is part of the challenge, and executing correctly when called upon is the other. Stanley and Dieng excel in both.

We were overwhelmed by a talented, experienced, multi-threat scoring machine which also caught us in transition D. We were too soft, too slow, too tentative, and too inexperienced. These are two teams on different levels because they’re on different ends of a readiness and expectation spectrum; this is what facing a contender is like. I wonder what coaches focus on in film after games like this. Re-watch the whole game? Control what we can with our physicality and effort and work through the details of fundamentals from there. On to the next one with that in mind.

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NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

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POST-GAME INTERVIEWS

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Keldon Johnson perfectly summed up what transpired Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“We started off slow, and they came out rolling from the jump until the end of the game,” the Spurs forward said.

https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/Spurs-Nets-Irving-Durant-17692042.php#photo-23328682

Said Johnson, “They got going off our turnovers early and were disruptive.”

“They are a tough team, super-talented and playing great,” Spurs guard Josh Richardson said. “We kind of tip-toe into games at times, and that got us today...We have to cut those lulls out and stop spotting teams.”

https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/Triple-take-Nets-139-Spurs-103-17690684.php#photo-23327157