Post#17 » by G R E Y » Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:43 pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE SPURS AND TO THE REALGM SPURS FAMILY!
You know that scene in Indy 4 when Indy’s in quicksand and in a rescue attempt he gets thrown a snake but has to be talked into grabbing it because of his phobia? That was us tonight, but instead of finding a way to hold on we just moved around a lot, sinking deeper... and deeper... and that’s game.
I thought we did a great job as a team with positioning and contesting on the boards, especially LMA with 11 (5 O, 6 D) and Pau with 10 (3 O, 7D). At least you could tell that there was a concerted effort even if Drummond grabbed a ridiculous 21. We outrebounded them 46-45, and surprisingly, also on the O rebounds, 10-6 (Drummond had 4). We made some quality putbacks on the O rebounds, too. Good hustle.
Kawhi played 28 minutes spread through all quarters, scoring a team-high 18 points (4-11, excellent 8-8FTs), 2 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block. He got to his spots, used screens deftly, and split through defenders. He was great on D, positioning to alter and contest opponents’ shots. I hold my breath every time he ends up on the floor after driving to the hoop or diving for steals, and exhale when he gets up.
LMA was very physical all night, and that exertion on team-high 33 minutes took its toll on the other end. His 15 points on 6-15 were both below his season averages.
You could tell Pop was searching for some combination that could spark the team; every player got minutes by the end of the first half alone. But not even the timely timeouts could help us. The plays were well set up, but our shooting was erratic. Not our usual pattern out of timeouts. There were several 4- or 5-point swing possessions where we missed a shot or turned it over and they hit a 2 or 3. It felt as if we were trying to get energy from our O, and when we didn’t our D suffered, rather than being locked in on D and it springboarding the O.
Bad shot election and execution was contagious. Nobody could get it going, and the few guys who shot decently didn’t get enough shots. The three players with double digit attempts were the only ones who scored in double digits (LMA, Kawhi, and Forbes, whose many clean looks garnered 10 points on 4-12 - frustratingly inconsistent; the other 3 starters combined for as many points as Kawhi. Yikes). Of course, there’s not always a corollary between the two, but on a night when the shooting was poor (we hit 31, below our 36.8 road average), we missed opportunities distributing to guys who keep us going. Green was 2-4 from the 3, but both were in the first Q; Parker and Green, Pau and Manu all had fewer shot attempts than their season average. Patty and Bertans, guys who usually provide instant O, had but two shots between them.
If we were trying to stay in it with the 3, it seemed counter productive not to give Patty, Pau and Bertans more opportunities than the three attempts among them. Every player attempted a 3 except for Davis. Weird. Anyway, 5-26 for 19.2% was simply bad.
Pistons were only 8-24 from the 3, but Kennard (4-5) and Bullock (4-7) torched us, combining for more than our entire team. Should make for an interesting video session.
To their credit, Pistons did well to stay in front of Spurs, close up driving lanes, and force rushed passes that resulted in broken plays, turnovers, and poor shots. These were on top of self-inflicted unforced errors. Should also make for an interesting video session.
Since his return, Parker has a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio; tonight, 2 assists and 3 turnovers. It happens, it’s not about magnifying all the mistakes in this game, but it was indicative of a team-wide incongruity. On D, being a step behind, out of sync, and not communicating on Pistons drives, dunks, Js and 3s really hurt us. Oh to be a fly on the wall of that video session.
The closest we got was a 3 point deficit after a 16-5 run to end the first half. We were in our own way with poor plays for 3 1/2 Qs. That sequence in the 4th Q when our 4 point deficit quickly grew to 9, we proceeded to turn it over four times in two minutes, and were down 15 points. Given that the Pistons were more severely undermanned than we were, we sort of fell on our own sword repeatedly in this one.
Still, we have had one game with a complete roster this year. ONE. Pop always maintains a ‘no excuse’ standard, but acknowledging this reality without self-pity acknowledges that it’s a challenge to have guys in and out of the line-up, to not be able to practice together, and to not be able to get set rotations.
Including this game, we play 9 of the next 11 away (3 on the east coast, 1 home; 3 on the west coast, 1 home; 3 on the east coast – brutal) where we score almost 12 fewer points on 43.6%FG (home: 48%FG), shoot the 3 at 32% (home: 39.4%), and get 4 fewer assists. We need to do a better job asserting our strengths and playing our system as we navigate a roster in flux, all this on a hellish upcoming schedule. Welcome to 2018.
I love this team. GO SPURS!
The Spurs Way
Thinking of you, Pop
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