SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 22: SPURS AT SUNS, 6-12-2021, 8PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

And now we missed an O board putback dunk by Drew after a transition 3 attempt by Primo. I like the moxie on the kid but don't like transition 3s. Not necessary. I get it in part because we're getting blocked a lot inside, but nothing's stopping us from passing and driving and cutting or trying to get to the FT - SOMETHING.

[imagump1313]

OK, Forbes/Eubanks was cute for 3 minutes, now that's enough unless we are trying to lose

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 70

SUNS 79

We cut a 16-point lead down to 9 with a good solid two-way push towards the end of the Q, get some respectability, and gain some momentum as we finished it on a 8-1 run.

Drew the wrecking ball did his thing, Primo was in great D position for strips and contests, made some sweet passes like the one to Bryn as he got fouled attempting a 3. He does not look out of place at all.

We were 1-3 from 3 in that Q.

Tre needs to be smarter with finishes at the rim.

We have to get our mojo back.

Get clean stops, push in transition, make smart baskets.

[G R E Y]

Like I said - Tre has to figure out other ways with the ball, and passing to Primo trailing in transition for a lay in down the middle after we got the strip and steal is JUST the kind of play we want to see.

I like when Lonnie doesn't over-think it and just let's it fly.

Great job by Tre, Bryn, Primo, Lonnie and Drew.

Great push here so far. Keep it going!

[G R E Y]

Bench got our starters a good big rest, came on strong with good, simple, two-way play, and the starters, energized, are back with pushing the pace, imposing our game, getting stops, and making our shots. Excellent push and comeback. Now for poise, pressure, and points for the rest of the Q by us!

[G R E Y]

Damn DJ patented strip and drive only to get stripped and they hit a 3. Crucial back-to-back plays.

[G R E Y]

Pop ripping the ref with 5.7 seconds left in the game lol

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 104

SUNS 108

TL; DR – part largely self-inflicted; part we held our own versus a team with the best record in the league. They have it for a reason; we have more lessons to learn.

Started with a bang, then with a whimper, then with a flourish that fell short.

We fell short in several categories, any one of which could have changed the outcome, from the six missed FTs in a four-point game on the micro level, to the abysmal 15-point 2ND Q where we forgot how to basketball. It was back to mystifying poor play how we could score less than half of our 33-point 1ST Q output.

It’s only fair to mention we were playing a team without their best O player, but also that they’re still a great D team without him, ranking second in the league with a 104.1 defensive rating. So they made adjustments to force us out of our 1ST Q rhythm. It resulted in five TO’s, and after a hot shooting start in the 1ST Q, we made a whole lot of misses. Some of it was pressure from the opponent, some of it was just regression to below the mean: we made 1-10 from 3 in the 2ND Q after making 5-10 in the 1ST; we made 5-21FGAs in the 2ND Q after making 14-24 in the 1ST. And it’s not that I expected us to shoot 50% or better for the rest of the game. A drop off is one thing, but FGAs dropping down to 23.8% (!) and 10% (!!!) respectively, well, we made it hard on ourselves and easy on our opponent, even with their better D that prevent some of the shots we got in the 1ST Q.

And for all the talk about Lonnie’s issues with consistency (he was once again struggling to find it and once again resorted to the habit of over-complicating his shots with too much movement and flair, finishing with 6 points on 2-6, 2-4 from 3 – good!, along with 1 board, 3 assists, and 1 steal), he was joined by Derrick and Tre as the players with worse O games.

It’s no small coincidence that our winning streak coincided with Derrick averaging over 19PPG on decent efficiency, and his 12 points on 4-12, 1-8 from 3(!), 3-5FT’s, and a team-worst -17. To his credit he kept driving and getting to the FT line, so the assertive version of him was there. It happens. He was 3-4FGAs on his drives in the key, missing the on J at the top of the key. In retrospect, and for future games, do more of what works. Genius, right? But it makes you wonder why we kept at it.

Derrick’s shot chart opposite was Tre’s. He was a glaringly poor 1-8, and 0-1 from 3; most of his shots but one were in the key. He got blocked a couple of times yet he kept driving inside. You have to appreciate the tenacity, but he really should study everything except the a-holeness of CP3’s game. He will pick up more nuances of fakes, getting to open spaces, changing pace, and making shots at the rim versus bigger players.

Again, in consistencies will happen, but the variance with some of our guys is what’s so puzzling.

If fairness to our guys, we only took nine threes in the second half, making 1-3 in the 3RD Q, 4-6 in the 4TH. Doug made three of them (which were the three he made for the game, part of his 5-9, 1-1FT for 14 points output based on terrific shooting and excellent movement, along with 2 boards and 2 steals); Lonnie the fourth one in the final Q. Ironic that even with our 3s push in the final Q, we essentially got outplayed at the one area we’ve relied on most up until late – non-paint 2s:

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And I get the sense that were it not for the bench unit’s strong play in the latter part of the 3RD Q to bring their 16-point lead down to nine, we may not have put the starters back in since we’ve got another game Tuesday. But the great work the bench guys did had a double effect of getting us back into the game and were out there long enough to rest up the starters who picked up where they left off.

Bryn led us with 15 points on sharp 6-13, 1-2 from 3, 2-3FT’s, along with 3 boards, 1 assist and a team-high +15 in 24 minutes. He won’t always get these kinds of minutes, but he deserved them tonight. He was once again a key O contributor for us. He played his role just as we need him to.

Outside of Jakob (32 minutes) who was a stellar 7-11 for 14 points and grabbing 11 boards (team-high 3 on O) and 2 assists, our back up bigs had a rough time contributing. Thad, once again the first big off the bench, was 1-4, 0-1 from 3, along with 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 1 steal, and Drew was 1-3, 2-2FTs, with 4 rebounds (1 on O) combined for 6 points in eight minutes each.

Drew looked like he had some extra verve and seriousness in his step, maybe trying to prove he can contribute as his position has shifted to third big. Both Thad and Drew were up against a bench big who is huge and mobile and athletic and absolutely made life miserable for us when he was subbed in in the 2ND Q. There are match-ups where Thad and Drew can be effective, and there are ones where we’re at the disadvantage. And while you can’t teach height, we can do a better job boxing out, gang rebound, prevent passes inside, make sure we’re not caught on poor switches with guards alone on their bigs down low.

Rebounding was an aspect of the game we got burned on, with their 49-41 advantage and more crucially 15-9 on O. We also had only 5 fast break points so our transition game was muted and it also stood out that out of their 17TO’s (12 of which were from out steals), we only generated 9 points, some because of unforced errors - travelling, stepping out of bounds, choosing to take a 3 rather than running an actual fast break, and others because we got stripped or blocked. DJ’s patented late game steal and seemingly open layup turned into a block from behind and resulted in a 3 for them instead. A potential one-point deficit turned into a six-point deficit on one five-point flip of a play. Timing and experience. Tre isn’t the only one who will need to look at some more CP3 film. I bet DJ will never forget to get a quick look back and protect the ball going up, making sure it goes in with a dunk. Still, he had a terrific game, leading us with 17 points on 7-12, 2-2 from 3 (maybe we should have had him shoot more of them), 1-2FTs, 6 boards (1 on O), a whopping game-high 14 assists, and 2 steals. But for the 4 TO’s, it was a wonderful game.

And yet there’s a ton to learn.

That one play of a great D stop that failed to materialize in points was emblematic of a central issue for us in this game, and was also a huge momentum shift. Before then, though, we showed something to ourselves in staying with the team with the best record in the league. We have enough versatility on the team to play a variety of ways, even if some get closed up by opponents. DJ still operates predominantly in the mid-range, and Jakob predominantly within 10 feet of the basket, but Keldon is increasingly embracing the 3s and paint shot selection strategy. He was pushing for drives and is one of the few who could to it with sheer physicality. His efficiency, however, was also reflective of how our game went – made all his shots in the 1ST, none in the 2ND, 1-3 in the 3RD, and made his lone shot in the 4TH for 13 points on 4-10, 1-3 from 3, 4-6FT’s (better) along with 6 boards (1 on O) and 1 steal.

I’ve saved the youngest for last not only because everyone gushes over Primo like he’s the baby that did something all humans do but because we see it for the first time it’s like it’s the first time it’s happened. But he really does look far more like he belongs out there than not. There are just somethings you can’t teach and that knack he has for getting into spaces on D resulted in a historic night: the young man had 4 blocks and 3 steals in a single game. He pounced from behind on their C to disrupt an alley oop pass, he jumped up with both hands up just outside the key to prevent a pass inside, he made a no-look side pass to Bryn for a 3, he read the transition play developing and finished the Tre pass deftly at the rim, and after airballing a 3, he cooly sank another attempt. He makes mistakes in the G-League, and is a bit of a TO machine, but each time he’s out there, he impresses with another aspect of his game, and through them all, his uncanny knack for just finding the ball. He’s in his own rhythm, surprises opponents with his length and ability to get stops and make shots, and even at these early stages you can just feel there’s something different about the way he plays. It’s beyond gushing at pro basketball player makes plays he’s supposed to. It’s how he does it and how he carries himself that already stand out. His 6 points on 2-5 (1-3 from 3) along with 2 boards don’t stand out so much as the defensive stats do, and the fact that he played 18 minutes. In other words, Primo was part of the main nine-man unit versus the team with the best record in the league.

We’ve lost both games to this opponent by a combined eight points. That’s both frustrating and encouraging. We fought back from the doldrums and generated our own energy that wound up our play resulting in an 18-5 run to tie the game. That were in the final couple of possessions attests to our resilience and tenacity. I like that we didn’t lie down and let the game go by without trying to win it just because we have another game the next day. On the one hand, they are a team that matches up well with us because they have good bigs who can damage inside, can make 3s, can also create 2s, and have solid D. On the other, we have shown that we are a tough match up for them as well for all those reasons.

We’re not as seasoned, and we’ll take the lessons we need to from this game – box out, get out of doubles sooner (and help one another to do so), finish strong at the rim, and as simple as it sounds, do more of what works rather than pounding away with what doesn’t until there’s more room to try it. We implemented some good habits – strong starts, tough D, strong finishes, but got caught slipping into old poor 2ND and 3RD Q habits, and I guess we got a reminder of what these cost us. Our winning streak has been based on big enough cushions to absorb runs, stay even keeled, and play through mistakes, but our big variances in efficiency, movement, and fundamentals cost us. How we respond will show whether we’ve paid enough and it got enough of our attention. Now the task of a travel-affected back-to-back awaits to prove it.

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

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