GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 23: SPURS VS. KINGS, 6-12-2019, 7:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

After some much needed rest, we're looking to carry over our great team play and the energy that sustained it. Consistency of focus and response on both ends as well as assertively playing to our strengths will be central to protecting home court. Here's to playing up to our abilities.

WHERE: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

WHEN: Friday, December 6, 2019, 7:30pm (CT)

And in honour of Flashback Friday:


(^ Borrowing a page from Sammy's Good Luck Playbook )

GO SPURS GO!!!

[G R E Y]

Well that's encouraging. We need the extra rim protection. I hope he's ready to run!

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I do hope we get to see more of Metu as he's producing well in Austin and we need speedy, bouncy bigs. He's better at playing within himself (better body control, better footwork, better shot mechanics, better decision making) and can put up some points in addition to his pogo stick rebounding. He's still slightly framed, but has enough strengths to fit with our young group. No word of a call up. Just thinking out loud.

[ducler]

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[G R E Y]

I'm not in love with the stagnant O at the moment. DD drove on the first play, and then we keep settling for outside shots, including LMA who had the mismatch benefit of a much smaller defender on him. We're just trotting along rather than imposing our game at them.

Patty said we have no excuse and have to leave everything on the floor since we have a few days off coming up. This isn't the intensity we need to be bringing.

Best bring in the energy bench and get our transition and drive game going.

[G R E Y]

GET LMA OFF THE FLOOR.

DRIVE AT THEM, SPURS!

[G R E Y]

Our athletic guys are a little too in love with their athleticism right now. Too many cute unnecessary passes like the exchange between DJ and Lonnie earlier and now Lonnie having an open drive and dishes to Jakob and they steal. Just make the decision and follow through with the simple play.

[G R E Y]

Despite the lead, I didn't like the sporadic intensity and lack of focus in the first half.

We need to come out with more competitiveness, get stingy defensively, and get a couple of extra gears going.

[G R E Y]

Settling for outside shots too much here in the third Q.

[G R E Y]

No idea why we're settling for outside shots, saving energy for I don't know what, and not driving at all. Terribly low competitive spirit, not respecting opponents or ourselves.

[G R E Y]

Yeah. Whoever doesn't feel like putting in effort and competing by driving and running back on defense can **** sit. This is a really **** effort, and we need guys who show some compete level and heart.

[G R E Y]

WHAT THE **** DID WE JUST SEE?

We'll take it. But Jesus were we ever generous in too often nonchalant and out of sync play. Lots to clean up.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

What a weird vibe this game had. We started tentative and slow and out of sync, and continued it with our foot half on the gas pedal and half on the brake throughout. I have no idea where the energy and cohesion and effort from Tuesday went, but apparently it stayed there.

It's tough having such a high and then navigating the leveling out to get going again. Sure they're pros, but it's been a grind culminating in four huge swing games - big win, blowout, big close win, big close win. Lots of emotions amidst a hard schedule. So while a couple of days off in between games can be a boon, it can also be like trying to get up in the middle of the night when you're dead tired. We hoped for a rejuvenated group, but got a half awake one.

Adjusting to LMA back in the line-up felt like it was taking longer than it ought to have considering he's been in it for most of the season, but frankly after the downhill style of the previous game, having him back felt as if the team was extra slow tonight. I don't know if it's adjusting to two guys with a half-court game, but it does feel as if we want to transition to a faster pace and are being bottle-necked into the half-court one. It didn't help that we didn't start with imposing our game and settled for outside shots when driving lanes were there for exploiting had we just bothered to run.

Thankfully our energy bench came in and injected some cohesive play, and sure enough we ran, we passed to Jakob inside for easy points and he ended up with I think 8 first Q points. We didn't go to him at all in the second and third Qs. Weird imbalance. Rudy kept us in it as was one of the few who drove and created some energy especially in the first Q. Then he went 1-4 in the second and third Qs combined and didn't play in the 4th or OT. So he got us going, and the baton was passed to other guys to try and keep it going.

I found out after the game that Derrick is still nursing some lingering soreness, and he played like it especially on O. His misses were varied and replete - 3s, Js, missed bunnies on layups. He got a key block, an assist and a steal, but largely stood out for just an off night.

Rudy, Derrick, and Bryn each capped out at around the 20 minute mark of playing time, and while Bryn was 4-8, he was 1-4 from 3. Still, in a game where every point made a difference, that one make was huge. He got an earful from Pop for some bad D and sat, so trying to trade some O for some bad D is getting a far shorter leash. Good.

We had to look to other guys to try and create, and LMA and DeMar got their favourite shots from their favourite places. It's strange to say because we needed everyone's points, but I'm not convinced - and increasingly less so - that we like to watch the J after J from them, this despite each of them getting a double double. They led us in minutes and points, but we also gained leads with at least one of them sitting (often both) and gave up quick runs when they came back in. In fairness, part of the third Q deficit happened when the young unit was in, but that 89-89 tie ballooned to a 98-89 deficit in part on poor LMA defense as drivers got past him, and DeMar errors with the ball on O. I'd have to look at larger sample sizes, but tonight the settling for outside shots too early in the clock when we really need to take advantage of driving inside was frustrating to watch. To their credit LMA got some O boards and putbacks (including a key one late after DeMar's miss that brought us to 98-97), and DeMar shot 3-5 from 3 (including a key one in the fourth Q to tie it up 89-89) plus led us with 7 assists, but they combined for only 4-5 from the FT line.

I'm over the whole LMA picking his spots to be aggressive and lead (though if he's still sore and playing through it, then in this game he gets more leeway) and over DeMar's routine of driving and falling, driving and losing the ball, driving and getting blocked, and then mouthing off to the refs, getting a tech, and fouling on the other end. It's just a pattern he sinks to on off nights, and one that needs to get curtailed as soon as it starts rearing its head. If he needs to sit to do so, fine. It won't likely happen as a message, but it's gone from letting off steam to hurting the team so it needs some form of honest addressing.

It was our bench that ran, that got the energy going, that on the whole made things happen. We had four bench guys in double figures compared to two starters. Lonnie and Trey grabbed some boards and Lonnie was decent on D, but they combined for 1-9, so the pressure on other guys to score was all the higher. Patty and DJ really stepped up and were an active tandem that worked well in terms of experience via Patty and defensive intensity from DJ. It was DJ's turn to step up and make some clutch shots tonight and he not only had his outside shot working well enough (except the 3) but most importantly he drove to the basket. Late in the game when we were down 9, they created three straight steals and six quick points. DJ played a season-high 32 minutes, largely played to his strengths, and used these to help keep us in it and pull away in OT. Just terrific effort and execution.

I think DJ and Lonnie are so athletic it's like they psych each other out getting too fancy and then nothing comes from it. Our fast breaks were comically bad in general tonight, but when guys have all this talent, sometimes they try to do to much rather than sticking to fundamentals: pass ahead, lay it in on the open drive or alternatively, don't try and barrel through multiple defenders.

As much as I've been **** on Beli for pretty much the whole season, so it's only fair to give credit where it's due. He was active on defense, staying with drivers by moving his feet, hands up and everything. He moved well without the ball and made a deft backdoor baseline cut for a quick layup on his first point, and hit a clutch game-tying 3 at the end of regulation; great play call by Pop, great execution by the team. He made 4-5 shots, including 3-4 from 3. Really solid overall contribution deserving the minutes tonight.

Jakob was less utilized tonight, but given he played so many minutes in the previous game, perhaps it was with that in mind that Pop went far more to LMA. Jakob, however, was 5-5 from the floor and had 3 blocks. He showed some confidence and determination that I think we could and should use more of.

We just kept making things difficult for ourselves, and when we're not in sync, signs such as front of rim misses, or shortcuts like shots too early in the clock without working to execute the sets or over working them with too many passes or passing up open layups for dishes to covered teammates tend to crop up and accumulate.

So even a 10-point half-time lead felt like shaky ground, especially given how our third Qs have been of late. Sure enough, ugly habits of too many turnovers, O rebounds against, missed shots, settling for outside shots too quick in the shot clock to bail us out all affected us on D and we got caught not running back in transition for their easy points that added up to their taking over the lead.

To our credit, we fought back late in the game once again, and we went on counter runs, but we also kept giving up runs that got us into trouble. We found a way to win, but it depended a lot more on opponents missing shots as much as the good things we did. Looking at our OT shot chart, I thought ESPN made a mistake:



Amazing that we won having made only one J, on only three shot attempts (DeMar's and Patty's missed corner 3s don't show up as they were both fouled and scored from the FT line - DD 2-3, Patty 1-3). Equally amazing was Pop on the sidelines having to tell them to push the ball down the court more. Tends to happen when both LMA and DeMar are on the court. We defer to the half-court mindset, but to our credit we scrambled and fought enough to get the win.

So, yeah. It was that kind of night. We turned it over a lot (17), we were either too passive for misses or aggressive for O fouls, we gave up O boards, and thankfully through all that, our opponents fouled us and missed enough for us to pull through. But these were once games we were finding ways to lose, and so if it takes some lucky bounces for opponent misses in addition to some head's up defense and clutch shooting late in games to pull through like tonight, so be it.

After the game guys looked worn out almost like they lost the game. They know the way they won was as much being graced with fortune as it was some good play among some habits that reared their heads. DJ mentioned that Pop is still working through some line-ups, and I hope that includes inserting Jakob back into the starting unit. I get that Rudy in place of Trey provides more O and spacing, but Jakob and LMA work really well with one another and feeding Jakob down low pays off for us with quick points, and gives us an inside presence for when LMA works more on the outside. Something to consider.

We definitely need to work on switching so our guards don't get caught on mismatches so much, work on not giving up as many rebounds for second chances, and work on generating our own energy from simple plays rather than being jolted into sporadic action because we need to counter punch. We have been getting more defensive stops (10 steals, 5 blocks) and we are shooting the 3 more (32 attempts tonight, again above our average), so there are signs of implementing good changes on both sides.

Now guys can rest up properly and the extra time for a couple practices will be a big benefit so we can get on the right page with one another regardless of line-ups (though some are clearly more optimal than others). Finding ways to win is a good step; improving as we go along to win with some comfort late in games is the next one.