SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 17: SPURS VS. HAWKS, 24-11-2021, 7:30PM (CT)

[imagump1313]

You can see the difference between the two teams. Every time the Hawks have a spot up three they are firing. Almost every offensive possession for us looks like a hockey game. No one seems to have a plan or intent to score. Its like a constant mistake....

[imagump1313]

Even Vassell now.....

He has the human statue Gallinari guarding him 5 feet off the line and he wont shoot it.

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 83

HAWKS 103

Third consecutive end of Q shot given up. I think they may all have been 3s, too.

Second consecutive Q of giving up 38 points.

Our confidence is broken. But we've got no **** you fight either.

Lonnie great man D to stay with their driver and contest for their miss, and proceeds to step out of bounds on the very next play.

Devin goes to the locker room after skying for a rebound on D.

We literally have nobody who knows how to make a post move. Maybe Thad some. Jakob could have had so many more points had he just not been so tentative and bad down low when contested. He fades away from contact and misses bunnies.

We can't exchange baskets with them. Energy increase is first. Stops are second. Making all our shots after that.

[G R E Y]

HEY CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE - Bryn called for the switch on D so that he wasn't stuck on their big down low and we ended up forcing a shot clock violation just now.

[G R E Y]

Some bull **** calls against us tonight. It's not the difference maker, but we're getting punked in our own building.

[G R E Y]

Well we went on a 7-0 run, per our pattern looked good making a push, then a TO, some one and done shots and misses, and some D miscues like nobody picking up their C even though two Spurs were on either side of him for a dunk, and too many open 3s given up and their lead has ballooned again.

Young is getting whatever he wants because we don't have one guy shadowing him and preventing the ball from getting into his hands, allowing drives, and not preventing the ball from getting back into his hands, allowing outside shots. Oof.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 106

HAWKS 124

We made three 3s in the 3RD Q, and one in the 4TH Q. So 8-18 in the first half; 4-14 in the second. And correspondingly, after the 2ND Q high of 31 points our scoring output decreased in each of the final two Qs. Giving up two Qs of 38 points each - our 2ND and 3RD, the worst ones per our pattern so far this season - was at the core of what's emblematic about our play in the middle Qs.

You could just feeeel the confidence seeping out of us with each miss. And with Doug and then Devin out it was up to Bryn and... Bryn to keep making shots consistently. This is the benefit of having a player who has one role and just does it. And thank goodness for Bryn because with his scoring our bench output was 45 points; the other six Spurs bench players combined for 22 points. Oof.

It's absolutely BRUTAL that right now we have ONE big - Doug - who makes 3s, let alone takes them. Not Jakob, not Thad, not Drew (though he attempted one tonight, bless him, and then went after his own rebound and got the putback), Jock who shot a couple (nice to see him back) and then Zach when he gets back. So yeah, one out of four main bigs rotation players has to be gameplanned for. I guess that's why we tried going after Lauri in the DD deal. At least that would have helped stretch the floor for us, but this is also why it's harder for Doug to get open, too. Stick with him and force others in our line-up to make it. They know it won't be a big, so that leaves only three other players to worry about. It's always a disadvantage for us unless and until we get another big who can take the pressure off and help stretch the floor to keep defenses more honest.

I like that we fought hard to go over screens, and when our switches were going they were going well. But we gave up far too many open shots and drives on D miscommunications and I wonder what that's about. We were better at this earlier in the season. Like at least this was something we could rely on to keep us in games.

One thing we went away from that we did in previous seasons is sticking one defender on their star player to try and prevent the ball from going into his hands, and when he did get the ball, shadow him the entire time he had it, and when he passed the ball, stick to him to try and prevent him getting it back again. A lot of the time Derrick was assigned with this task, or the DJ-Derrick double tandem. We've barely done that if at all this season. Not on Luka, not on Young like in times past. They just had too much time and room to do what they do best and they did it.

Look it was a better effort but a worse result versus a team that can shoot lights out. We put up 100 to their 88 shots making only two fewer baskets; we put up 33 3s to their 26 making only one fewer basket, but the FTs killed us tonight: 22-24 for them versus 8-10 for us. Figures on a night we actually shoot a good percentage from the charity stripe we can't get enough calls to get more of them. I thought we got punked on some phantom calls but we also weren't the aggressors enough to drive with the requisite physicality to make the refs accidentally blow it at least lol

Pop ran a tight eight-man rotation, but with two starters (Diop and Derrick) combining for nine points, and with two of the three bench players (Devin and Lonnie) not coming through on O, we were hard pressed to stay with a team that runs its plays smoothly and has a lot of O weapons. Thad's a great vet, but he's not a leaper. Jakob isn't either for that matter, even though he has nimble feet, actually. I bring it up because I can't remember the last time we ran an alley oop for a dunk. It's nice to have that in the toolkit. I think if we use Jock and Zach more, and Drew can do it, too, we can add something to the mix.

And so because of our poor shooting in too long stretches, and some miscommunications on D, the scoring gap increased despite our runs. They had eight players in double figures to our four. And thank goodness for Bryn and his team-leading 23 points because that gap would have been even bigger. But like if we could have JUST GOTTEN TEN POINTS each from Derrick, Devin, and Lonnie. It's not inconceivable that they each get at least that many. Just... uuugh...

Maybe some hypnotherapy or something. Chip needs to work his magic again.

I did like that DJ took and made more 3s, and on a night where he was on, of course Derrick missed most of his shots from just about everywhere. What IS IT with these guys and particularly with Derrick's touch? Does he need an eye exam? Not trying to be mean but it just looks like he's aiming a little off to where the basket actually is. DJ was terrific especially early with his decisions with the ball, making the extra pass, making 3s off the dribble (he actually led us with 4-7 from the arc) but settled into his pet shots as the game progressed. It's hard to fault him actually when we needed some quick baskets and few around him had it going.

I recall seeing past practice footage of Jakob working with Timmy on some post moves. What the **** happened to that? It's an absolutely undeveloped part of his game. I know he's more of a face-up big, but holy **** we need him to have some go-to moves down there. Even opposing SFs make post moves when they get mismatches on us. For someone who isn't spreading the floor for us, he sure is leaving a lot of points on the floor in other ways, and this on a night when he missed A LOT of bunnies and still got 15/10, including 3-4FTs.

I get why Diop was there for D purposes, and he has a nice drive and touch around the rim, it's just tonight he was 1-5. I hope Doug is back for the next game, and if not that Thad starts. It seems to calm us down on both ends. Drew wasn't much better at 2-5, but he was active on the boards.

It was clear we went to Devin early and often to be that scoring spark and after making his first shot, an off the dribble 3, he missed everything else. Sophomore peaks and valleys. Loved him on D and I really hope he's ok.

Lonnie struggled badly but credit to him defensively for fighting over screens, for staying with drivers and being physical on them, for getting his hands up on contests, reading the play and stepping up with help D on the baseline, for skying for rebounds, for driving and finding open teammates. His drive and kick and P&R (with Jock) plays were on point. THIS is the Lonnie I hope to see more of - when he's not scoring, he's engaged and contributing in other ways.

Keldon was efficient 50% from 3 (2-4) and 6-13 overall for 15 points but second only to Derrick's team worst -26 with a -22 of his own. He just has that hands at his sides habit when opponents shoot time and again after getting beat on the dribble (cross-overs not drives) and doesn't bother to cover the space gap when they have an open shot. I forget sometimes how young he is.

We actually not only tied with them for 44 rebounds but got 15 O boards to their 8, got 27 assists, 10-8 steals for them, and 5-4 blocks for them as well. But our 12 TOs led to TWENTY-ONE points for them, so combine that with the FTs and that's game.

Really though, an opponent should not be getting 124 points off of only 88 shots. They shot 51.1FG%, 46.2% from 3, and 91.7% FTs. We rolled out the red carpet down the middle for them - a cardinal sin in Pop's eyes, and allowed timely floaters and 3s. Far too many of their 3s were uncontested because we got confused on D. Either it's because Diop is new to the starting group and it's making for some mistakes, or there's a more fundamental issue:

Yes:

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Ironic but the talk's at least correct:

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Well someone has to step up. The leader, perhaps, but DJ can't do it by himself. There's been a lot of travails we've dealt with and it's affected a consistent starting group, but the misses on O are definitely affecting us on D. We MUST FIGURE IT OUT:

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The pattern of poor 2ND Qs followed by worst 3RD Qs is definitely something to address as well. We keep playing catch up not only because of our O but also because of our D now and it's like those falling elevator dreams where we know what's coming but feel helpless to stop it. But avoiding those ruts IS within our control as is getting ourselves out of slumps. It feels overwhelming right now, but there are also a lot of guys who wanted this very thing and now it's time to grow through adversity. We know we can do it because we've done it before. We're still not a complete team health-wise, and we're still learning how to play our best on both ends. Throughout it all, we absolutely must remain resolute to keep fighting, to keep pushing through as we figure out better ways of playing (good start tonight on O at least with all the 3s AND looking for them), and to stay together.

[Phreak50]

Bates Diop is barely a rotation guy, let alone a starter.

White took his money and laughed all the way to the bank. He'd barely make a 12 man roster on most other teams the way he has played this year.

I said before the season started we were a 15-20 win team and this has become more evident.

We just need to make sure we aren't wasting development time and stop giving guys like Keita and Forbes pointless minutes.