SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 22: SPURS VS. BULLS, 5-12-2024, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Remember when we were only down 7 before Collins got subbed back in?

Good times...

[G R E Y]

Two Zach blocks.

Good rim protection.

[G R E Y]

We have Zach, Sochan, KJ, CP3 and I missed who...

Now it's CBass, Mamu, Sidy, Blake, Branham.

Down 17

Missed opportunity

*sigh*

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 124 BULLS 139

There are bad wins and good losses but this was a bad loss.

When you score 124 even in today's high powered O you should win.

Giving up 139 points in regular time, not OT, giving up four 30+ points Qs to a team that averages 118.9 but that ranks 27th in D is BAD bad, even with Wemby out.

We had a new starting five and it looked like a group that hadn't played together.

KJ was all kinds of wonderful and led us with an efficient 28 but we didn't get the efficient assertive game from whoever is supposed to emerge as our true second star. I assume right now that's Dev and though he was inefficient he was defensively sound and effective, step by step pulling us towards a positive change. But he didn't have nearly enough help nearly enough consistently.

I liked how we went after foul troubled opponents to get to the FT line but we shot well below our 5th best FT average.

I liked how we didn't settle for the 3, made cuts and made good passes to utilize more movement but then gave up 17-37 from 3.

Was Mamu injured? What justifies his mere 6 minutes?

Zach got some quality minutes and stepped up on O and some on D. Got bodied a whole lot. Not his fault he has no lift or supple movements in those ankles anymore. Just isn't playing with the same intense leave it all out on the court FU intensity.

Sochan with our lone double double, 16 points and game high 14 boards, including game 6 on O. Got bodied, too, though. So did CBass.

Side note: WTF is with Sochan's weird bent in three places 3s motion? Is this what he and Jimmy have been working on all summer? He's at career worsts 23% from 3 (career low 1.6 attempts per game) and 63.3%FTs (career high 4.1 attempts per game).

We need a hulk back up big.

Julian did his part. Looks like his game is expanding on both ends, makes more of his layups, but -20 passes the eye test.

Castle was once again woefully inefficient but led us with 8-10FTs.

We got to the FT line a whopping 39 times but only made 28.

I've complained about us spamming 3s but this game we went too far the other way, making only 8 on only 28 attempts.

We got out rebounded 50-41 but won the O board battle 15-11.

We only had 10TOs to their 17 and got 33 points off them but allowing 45% from 3 on many more attempts was too much to overcome.

We made them look like world champs of old.

We may have hit a dry spell in efficiency and we may have been without our best player but we didn't do nearly enough defensively, including basic things like running back with enough effort to pressure their shooting. Too many easy shots inside and out.

We looked like a team that couldn't figure things out anymore and picking our spots to give more effort didn't help. Nothing stops us from trying hard all the bloody time. And we don't. Another poor first half. Better in the 3RD Q, but got bested once again in the final Q.

In a way I'm glad our lax first half efforts are coming back to bite us now. In a way I'm glad the new line ups look rusty now. There's lots of time left in the season to fix them but the mindset and the effort of stepping up have to be there. This is where Pop does best, the shift in gears and approach. We should not be getting outworked like we have been the last couple of games. We should have non-negotiables like effort and D.

Back to the drawing board.