GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 47: SPURS VS. JAZZ, 29-1-2020, 7:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Our final game in January is one of the last two at home before we embark on our annual RRT. This opponent will bookend the whole journey so it will be interesting to look back at this series of games. Until then, we have the tough task at hand of playing our best for the whole game undermanned. That's how it goes sometimes. It's next man up, so let's rally and show some underdog fight.

WHERE: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

WHEN: Wednesday, January 29, 2020, 7:30pm (CT)

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GO SPURS GO!!!

[G R E Y]

Hmm...

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[imagump1313]

Hmm...

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Maybe we are FINALLY tanking or trading someone....

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Hmm...

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Maybe we are FINALLY tanking or trading someone....

??? I mean, no offense to LMA, but it's a finger sprain. If this were the playoffs, I think he'd be playing. Just saying...

p.s. Nice to see what Metu can give us. I hope we see some of KJ, too.

[imagump1313]

??? I mean, no offense to LMA, but it's a finger sprain. If this were the playoffs, I think he'd be playing. Just saying...

p.s. Nice to see what Metu can give us. I hope we see some of KJ, too.

Yeah, its not like we need to win a game or anything

Either he is really hurt or we have given up on this season.
And the latter is perfectly fine which is what I was saying.

[G R E Y]

Hmm, well I have to say that after a bit of a shaky start, our O is moving so well and we are getting a lot of open shots from the flow of our O and this with only 4-12 from 3 for us.

They have a 6-0 O board advantage (5 from their C for his 10 total), as well as 18-26FTs, 12 for their C. He also has three fouls, so we should target him on drives to get him into foul trouble.

We only have 4 turnovers, so ball protection looks good so far.

[G R E Y]

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This game, like this season so far, was unexpected. If someone said beforehand that we'd shoot 25% from 3, give up 46(!) FTs, 12-4 O boards and 120 points all while missing LMA, the win would have seemed hard to fathom. Yet here we are, undermanned, having scored 37 in the 1st Q and on our way to 127 overall against a very good defensive team.

We looked far more in sync without LMA in this game compared to the previous one. The ball moved really well and we got a lot of open looks from the movement and balanced scoring. Our 3s weren't falling at a good rate, and even though theirs was, it was our 2s from just about everywhere that propelled us. DeMar led the way with a season-high 38 (11-19, 16-19FTs) plus 5 boards and 5 assists, and though we actually have a poor record when he scores over 30 points this season, I think the balanced team effort rather than him having to take over because others weren't contributing nearly as much as we needed pushed us over the top. It's interesting that even without LMA out at the arc as a threat to open up the floor, DeMar and the team worked really well together to create space and keep their D off balance. By the end of the 1st Q, every Spur scored.

Our movement was evident in both the 23 assists (15 at the half) and also where they came from: joining DeMar with 5 was Jakob, and he and Rudy combined for 9 in our front court; DJ (4) and Derrick combined for 6; one each for Beli, Bryn, and Lonnie.

Joining DeMar with a good game was DJ who kept getting his elbow Js - nice shooting stroke, confident shot for 7-10, 2-2FTs. He didn't push for errant drives and took what the defense gave him. To his credit, his J is now reliable and his one drive he completed was a sweet move followed by fundamentals off the glass. Combining these with his actively disruptive defense was one of those complete games that makes him so tantalizing as a developing player.

Our other starters combined for 19 points. Jakob (2-2) and Trey (3-6, 4 boards) were really efficient an impressed with Jakob's off-ball movement, weak side cuts, finishes with the ball, and boxing out for a team-high 8 boards (2 on O). Assertive Trey with quick decisions, getting to good spots besides the 3, and finishing strong at the rim were good to see.

Bryn. Needs his own paragraph. He had a good 1st Q (3-4) and 4-7, 1-3 from 3 overall, so not abysmal on O but not enough to offset the D. Is it wrong that one of the most memorable and enjoyable moments was seeing Pop snap at him on the sidelines for (another) missed defensive assignment? I don't even recall what it was specifically - allowing a 3 not contested well enough? fighting over a screen then foul the shooter? DJ pushing him out of the key and into a proper defensive assignment (a moment now shared widely as a .gif on twitter)? - but it was cathartic.

I guess he's being pushed to expand his game, and like a couple of years ago when he was learning the sets and looked mechanical doing it, his handling the ball longer than passing it quickly on to others is laboured. Those jab steps only to pass it anyway or picking up his dribble when closed in on are patterns that need improvement. He's a poor ball handler, lacking creativity and intuitive response to adjust to defensive pressure. It may not be his primary responsibility, but in examining his expanding role (or at least what Spurs hope to get more of), he's currently wasting clock when handling the ball in ways mentioned. It may be too critical, but my frustrations with his incomplete game when he's not hitting his bread and butter are spilling over into irrelevant irritations: his posture bugs me. Ok. Two paragraphs.

Our bench was a terrific boost once again. Love it when we've got a one-two punch going. We outscored them 54-40 with four Spurs in double figures led by Patty's 18 on 5-11, 3-9 from 3, 5-5FTs. Rudy got to his spots for his shots, but he and Chip need to spend some time on his 3s (actually our PFs combined 0-8 from 8 oof). Still, 4-7 along with 4 assists and bench-high 7 boards combined for the more full overall contribution that counts as a bounce back.

I loved Derrick's assertive and smart shot selection be it physical drives or off dribble 3. As always, his ever steady defensive presence and stepping into another charge taken in the 3rd Q when we were up 10. Aggressive Derrick is great Derrick. So good to see him taking his shots more. It feels like he is growing more comfortable looking for his shot more and that confidence is paying off.

When Lonnie finished off the glass he scored; when he didn't, he missed. Good stroke at the FT line and good defense. Nice to see Mezie getting some minutes and looking like he could fill in well in them - made his shot, grabbed a couple of boards, gave our other bigs some times to rest.

Beli has a finesse game and a knack for those timely shots that shift games in our favour now that he's found his shot. His footwork at the arc, effective fake, and quick, compact release are automatic. And while we were outrebounded and outscored, it's when we got both that affected the game and Beli was key to both. He made a clutch 3 in the 4th Q to pull us ahead by 8 with under five minutes left, and grabbed a key O board with around 23 seconds left to maintain our possession, force them to foul, send DeMar to the FT line, and make it a three-possession game. And I can't stress this enough - it was good to see him instead of Bryn out there in key moments at the end of the game for us.

I liked our strategy of making sure their C didn't get any easy baskets and we hacked him down low time and again, punishing him for each attempt. It contributed to their 46 FT attempts, but they made 'only' 32. We made 27-30, both big numbers for us and we needed them considering our 3s were not falling. With LMA out, starters combined for 1-7, so our bench came through hitting 7 on still low percentages but we did hit our 30 attempts mark which seems to be a good indicator for us. On the other end, we also targeted him for fouls and we did well to get 3 in the first half, and his fourth early in the second half which took him out of his rhythm and out of the game.

I thought we left some shots on the floor because we didn't finish them driving vertically hard at the rim and instead pulling up short for missed floaters, but that was less an issue in this game because we shot so well (56.1%FG). We moved well and enough of our guys drove that we got the foul calls, but we do tend to settle for finesse plays too much at times when we could take advantage of driving harder. I think we shosed better discipline in not kicking out out of habit but more from purpose.

They run some nice sets and when they can spread the floor for those cross court passes it really gets defenses off balance, but we did well overall to rotate and switch and be active defensively for five steals and two blocks. It also helped that we protected the ball well and only turned it over nine times, and only gave up a stingy three points on them.

Good game management helped us stay ahead for most of the game. Whenever they made a quick 4-6 point run, Pop called a timeout to regroup and reset our defense and guys responded well. In a post-game interview Pop said, "We made adjustments and we had guys that were on the same page where usually if we make a lot of adjustments there's a couple of guys that are not in the same arena." Hahaha! Oof it's true, though. I think the rotations in the 4th Q helped to that end as well.

Overall a solid team-wide and team-centric win led by DeMar and solid support all around him. That we poured in 127 (and 70 at the half!) on a good defensive team without one of our top two scorers shows what we can achieve when we move well and help on D and pass it crisply and make quick decisions with the ball to be unpredictable and with multiple scoring threats, difficult for defenses to handle.

I'm proud of how we played in this game, showing more of what we can achieve when we play on both ends together as we did in this game. It was also good to see some smiles again.

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

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