Oof!
A game of two halves: decent first one, very solid defense with good reads, rotations, closeouts. But for rebounds in which we gave up multiple second chance points, it was our D on which our O flowed as we kept pace with them and had the lead at the half on great efficiency. We took six fewer FGA's by half time, but surprisingly took and made more 3s: 6-18 to their 4-11.
The second half: wherein we scored a mere 34 points in total, and only a woeful 15 in the 4TH Q to their 30. Not scoring 30 in any, plus going on a
six minute scoring drought in which we couldn't penetrate the 2-3 zone they implemented so well in the second half. Sure enough, we made only 4-17 from 3, and only 11-3FGA's overall in the entire second half.
Eleven made shots in the entire second half.
We kept passing the ball around the arc, we were pushed into settling for outside, pressured shots, and we fell back to earth rather hard as we then missed open shots as well. They increased their aggressiveness, put us on our heels, and we just... continued to pass around the arc. They doubled ball handlers hard forcing difficult passes or getting turnovers. Our 3 and FG percentages dropped, theirs increased as they got hot in pouring in 3s and drives. Our two-point half-time lead turned into a five point deficit after the 3RD Q and ballooned as they put on the pressure on both ends in the final Q.
Keldon was our most efficient 3 shooter making 2-4, DJ made the most 3s but on an inefficient 3-8, and Derrick even less so on 2-8.
Our bench, reliable to push us ahead for much of the season, is being caught a lot more in games of late. Having two vets on it with our schedule is showing its effects. Patty looks like he could use another game or two off. I appreciate that we have a set nine-man rotation, but when we see that two vets aren't getting it done in multiple games (one or the other or both like in this game where they combined 4-15 overall, 2-10 from 3), and with Lonnie 2-5it's perhaps time to give a few more minutes to players like Devin who is ever reliable defensively and can make the 3 in rhythm. But for every game he had like versus the Suns (so the one, then) he's had a stretch in which he's struggled, too.
So it's not just vets who hit a wall, but a rookie without G-League and Summer League seasoning, which Pop has tried to compensate for with more consistent average rotation minutes than any rookie in not recent memory. So we have vets with consistent minutes who are struggling, and a rookie with consistent minutes who struggled and lost rotation minutes. His April stats have dropped noticeably from February (44.1FG%, 40% from 3) and March (46.3FG%, 43.5% from 3): this month he's averaging 40FG% and 36.8% from 3 and his -6 is the worst of his worst of his young career. Given how we want to win while we're developing, it's not big leap as to which guy's minutes will have a bigger variance as a result. Still, Patty's issue is clearly fatigue. If we can try Devin with more minutes again to keep Patty fresh (in April he's averaging only 1.5 minutes less than his season high 26.1 in February), it hopefully ends up being better for both: more consistency for the one; rest for the other.
Wish we had the same 'problem' with Luka so he could sub in for Rudy consistently, but Luka just doesn't come close to scoring the way Rudy (who is at his second highest monthly minutes average) does even as Luka's defense has been a pleasant surprise. Whether he subs in for DeMar (consistent minutes and consistently team high) or Keldon (fairly consistent, slightly lower minutes than his January high of 31.2), we're not yet at a point where we can get the most of what our players developing players will hopefully have to offer. Luka had come a long way in the G-League, often being the primary scoring option, but man does he still seal up on the Spurs. I wasn't expecting him to blossom like Keldon has, but didn't expect him to keep getting what looks like stage fright or something on O. If his O comes close to coming along like his D has, we're going to have a terrific two-way player whose 6'10" size you can't teach. But until then, we have an under-sized, out-of-position player(s) starting being rotated out for by Rudy.
And so our main four bench players combined for 25 points (Tre and Diop combined for the other 6). Clearly not all of our up and comers are ready for 25 minutes per game, or even 20, but players like Devin and Dieng provide advantages beyond rest minutes.
One of the issues we get caught with is spacing. It was far more noticeable against the opponent's zone D in this game, but we've been making certain decisions like dribbling to the corners with no place to go and caught in traps or across a congested baseline and trying to make passes mid-air throughout the season. When it works it looks like a great kick out after drawing defenders in. When it doesn't, we have too many players in too tight an area and put ourselves in higher risk for turnovers. Our 12.1 TO average in April is the highest since December, but there were only four games played in that month. January's 10.4 TO's per game were our best, and they've been climbing each month ever since.
Devin and Dieng can stretch the floor with their 3 threat, can rebound well, and switch and defend well. We're going to need them to give our sagging bench a boost. We're just not getting the efficiency we need from the players taking all the 3s. Derrick had a terrific previous game, but his efficiency is looking up to respectable after needing some games to get his feet under him. He's now first on the team with 6.8 attempts, but eighth in efficiency at 35%. Keldon averages 2.6 per game and makes 33.8% of them. Devin averages 2.2 per game and makes 40% of them. He's ahead of Patty and Rudy in efficiency, and they actually rank second and third respectively behind him. We're clearly making up for losing LMA's attempts, and for having two starters who don't take them. This makes it easier for defenses to cover the arc against us. Cover two or three Spurs who can take the shot and they don't have to worry about the rest. With Jakob in particular, he simply hardly ever even attempts shots from beyond 10 feet. The occasional DeMar 3 is a feeble echo of a declaration long since disbelieved than an actual threat. A nice surprise when you can get it, but nobody's afraid of him making an impact from there.
And so if we're serious about spacing, breaking down zone D with penetration, having multiple threats from various distances on the floor, all of whom can also defend, giving Devin and Dieng some quality extra minutes per game provides all of these in addition to extra rest to bench players who clearly could use it.
Pop clearly wanted this game, and was clearly disappointed with our second half effort. He doesn't often bring out the stinging 'soft' label, and he all but implied it. We were outhustled for rebounds (44-38 including 9-7 on O), we gave up 14 points on our 11 TO's while getting only 4 on their 8 TO's, were on the wrong end of 11-4 fast break points, and were outscored 40-36 points in the paint. They're a stingy team in this area, giving up only 40 points per game, and we didn't move their D nearly enough to get more points inside, especially when our outside shots cooled off and we couldn't break their zone at half court or through pushing the pace in transition and not letting their D set up. That we took uncharacteristically nearly half of our shots from the arc (35) but attempted only 77FGA's overall attests to our laboured O, especially in the second half. We got imposed on, and we didn't respond with nearly the aggressiveness and execution we needed to finish the game strong. When your team high is 15 points and only three players are in double digits, and a scoring drought of around six minutes, you need an infusion of fresh legs and scoring ability.
We'll likely get that in the next game of this home back-to-back, but we must remember and take the lessons of this one: the intensity with which we play is also an aspect of consistency, along with smart play, and right play, that we need.
NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS
