G A M E D A Y: Warriors (5-3) at Spurs (4-3)

[-Sammy-]

WHEN: Nov 2, 2017, 7PM Central
WHERE: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
TV: TNT (national broadcast)
LINE: TBD

Good news/bad news: The Spurs get an extra day off to head home and recover from a lousy road trip in which they went 1-and-3. However, their guest Thursday night is a kind-of-okay Warriors team that's coming off a 28-point trouncing of the Clippers.

Lauvergne and Gino remain day-to-day for the good guys, who will be facing a Ws squad with no reported injuries. We could certainly use Leonard for this one, but let's hope that Aldridge bounces back from a poor showing in Boston and that Murray and Paul keep showing us something.



(Yeah, I know the graphic will be outdated when the game tips off; we'll live.)

[inDe_eD]

I think we'll be competitive-ish in this one, but we aren't winning the game. Good defense for us would be holding
the warriors to like 105-110 points. There's no way we score 110, even though the warriors defense is playing as bad as our offense.

[Nolan]

Need to bring it for this. We've had a couple disappointing performances in a row and we need to get back on track.

We need to get back to dominating the glass and controlling the paint.

[imagump1313]

I don't have high hopes for this one after the last 3 games. Plus its a National TV game and we NEVER play well during the regular season on National TV (With the exception of the opening night game against the Warriors last year) so I will be totally shocked if this game is even close.

[Nolan]

I don't have high hopes for this one after the last 3 games. Plus its a National TV game and we NEVER play well during the regular season on National TV (With the exception of the opening night game against the Warriors last year) so I will be totally shocked if this game is even close.

A blowout wouldn't shock me either but the Warriors haven't exactly been lighting the world on fire either.

[imagump1313]

Keys to staying competitive in this game IMO:

Aldridge needs to be steady throughout. We need points to keep up with their scoring so Aldridge will need 25+
Danny Green needs to hit some open threes. He's been a tiny bit more consistent this year but still misses way too many wide open shots
Rudy Gay needs to get buckets. Like I said earlier, we need to score a lot regardless of how well we defend. I think Gay will be a mismatch for them when Kwahi is in the lineup but not soo much tonight.
Murray needs to step it up. He has been invisible for 3 games. Not acceptable if he wants to start.
As usual, if we can keep Durant from going crazy we can be in the game.

[ducler]

[popfan]

I'm most concerned about the final scores of the past three games:

@Orlando L, 114-87
@Indiana L, 97-94
@Boston L, 108,94

We're giving up too much and scoring less than is typical for a Spurs team. Even if we lose tonight, I'd be pleased if we scored more than 94 and kept the highest scoring team in the NBA under 100. If we get hammered by another winning team, then we'll be staring into the face of mediocrity (4-4), which I haven't had to do as a Spurs fan in 20 years. Let's hope not. Go Spurs.

[G R E Y]

Need to bring it for this. We've had a couple disappointing performances in a row and we need to get back on track.

We need to get back to dominating the glass and controlling the paint.

When GSW took the lead, but it was still close, Spurs went away from this strategy and started shooting and missing jumpers with one guy fighting for O rebs. One thing I've noticed so far this season (in the games I've watched) is that the fight in this area gets taken out of them, like they're conceding the game if it's out of reach. At some earlier point it's not, and you have to keep fighting for it. Not sure why they went away from what was working for them. You can't always have twin towers in the whole game, but having one guy on the glass when so many jumpers are being taken doesn't make much sense either.

I loved the energy and intention they came out with. Not surprised at the result, but hopefully the young/new guys are locking into the Spurs system for a more cohesive effort down the road.

[Nolan]

We came out on fire in this one, but the Warriors are just too damn talented and without Kawhi we just couldn't hang with them for 3 more quarters. It was a winnable game, we did make some mistakes that let the Warriors back in but in the end the final score wasn't all that surprising.

Things I was a fan of:

LMA - Came out strong and for the most part finished strong as well. He man handled the Warriors in the paint and did a good job handling the doubles that the Warriors eventually started throwing his way.

Anderson - Really stepped it up in this one. Got to rim at will, made some great passes and was excellent on the defensive end. I liked that Pops used him more as the primary ball handler in the 3rd but I question the timing of that decision. Kyle just slows the game down so much and we needed speed and off the ball movement down the stretch.

The bad stuff:

Manu - Seemed like every decision he made last night was the wrong one.

Pau - He got some buckets and made a couple great cuts to the rim but he looked super slow and had zero lift. A guy with his size and length should not be getting blocked at the rim as much as he has been this year.

Everything after the midway point of the 2nd quarter - The intensity we started the game with just disappeared, passes got sloppy and once again we failed to adjust to the changes the Warriors made.

[popfan]

I also loved our start. We were not going down without a fight.

The Spurs had a nice lead of 10 with 2-3 minutes left in the half. Then we went to Gay for points on multiple possessions which the Warriors seemed to recognize. Manu is typically impressive at the end of quarters but we went to Gay instead. We ended the half up by just 5 and the slide in scoring continued in the second half.

It was a tough loss. Not because it was the Warriors. It was a home loss and our fourth straight loss. Perhaps the young guys need further development to reverse the trend.

Thanks for the breakdown.

We came out on fire in this one, but the Warriors are just too damn talented and without Kawhi we just couldn't hang with them for 3 more quarters. It was a winnable game, we did make some mistakes that let the Warriors back in but in the end the final score wasn't all that surprising.

Things I was a fan of:

LMA - Came out strong and for the most part finished strong as well. He man handled the Warriors in the paint and did a good job handling the doubles that the Warriors eventually started throwing his way.

Anderson - Really stepped it up in this one. Got to rim at will, made some great passes and was excellent on the defensive end. I liked that Pops used him more as the primary ball handler in the 3rd but I question the timing of that decision. Kyle just slows the game down so much and we needed speed and off the ball movement down the stretch.

The bad stuff:

Manu - Seemed like every decision he made last night was the wrong one.

Pau - He got some buckets and made a couple great cuts to the rim but he looked super slow and had zero lift. A guy with his size and length should not be getting blocked at the rim as much as he has been this year.

Everything after the midway point of the 2nd quarter - The intensity we started the game with just disappeared, passes got sloppy and once again we failed to adjust to the changes the Warriors made.