SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 25: SPURS VS. NUGGETS, 11-12-2021, 7:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Do we want to contest... something... ANYTHING here? Just getting out-everythinged right now. Don't like the effort and focus AT ALL.

[G R E Y]

18-0 run, continuing from the end of the 2ND Q to being the 3RD.

[G R E Y]

Make that a 15-1 run for a 30-point deficit.

Well if we don't care why should I? Not going to sweat it any longer.

[G R E Y]

Pop puts subs in. Sean:"Let's see if they can make it interesting." Bless him!

[G R E Y]

Bill: "And a timeout Denver. Probably tired of scoring." You can hear in his voice he's holding back laughing at that one.

[imagump1313]

That last offensive trip was Spurs Basketball 2021

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 74

NUGGETS 103

Well **** lol

Jokic 18, Spurs 18 this Q. It that a real stat? Holy Moly...

Outshot, outrebounded, outchanced.

Let's just keep it clean for the rest of the game and get lesser used players some good reps.

[G R E Y]

It is half way through the 4TH Q and we've already outscored our entire 3RD Q output 19-18. True it's our bench versus theirs, but still, tender mercies and positives

[G R E Y]

So they needed to bring their star C back out? lol ok...

EDIT: They brought back their starters after our 16-0 run. Good that we had it in us to make that push...

[imagump1313]

That was the longest 12 minutes of Spurs basketball I've ever watched.

Agreed, no idea why Malone put Jokic back out there.

[G R E Y]

Read on Twitter

OOF! Zen Pop takes a night off in favour of pissed off Pop. Good. We need this.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 112

NUGGETS 127

Well they opened a can of whoop ass, hit us where we hurt - at the arc and in the paint and on the boards.

As per our pattern when we don't play well, it was our middle two Qs where the damage was done. We were absolutely obliterated from the arc 20-47 (well above their average of 12.5 makes per game at 34.6% efficiency) to 10-27 (their bench made one more 3 than our entire team); absolutely obliterated in points off TOs (we gave up 28 points off of our 17TOs and got 13 from their 11) and lost the points in the paint battle 52-46. And our transition game was completely mitigated. They outpaced us once again, and in being more efficient, heaped on the points, taking 93-89FGAs, and making 47-41. We did well to get to the FT line and even got their C agitated for two 1ST Q fouls and a tech, but he finished the game with only 3 fouls and we ended up making only 20-29FTs, another bad pattern reemerging. Add to that just some mind-numbingly bad decisions with giving up mismatches in the paint with our guards on their bigs, with not running out to contest their 3s - the shot they kept taking and making and killing us with. We won the rebounding challenge tonight, but it felt like we kept getting killed with second chance points on every O board they got.

Our starters ranged fro,m -15 to -35 (oof to OOF) and none of them managed to even get in double digit FGA attempts by the time Pop subbed them out for good in the 3RD Q. Until then, Keldon looked terrific in his return scoring 14 points in 5-7, 3-3 from 3, 1-2FTs, with 4 boards and 1 assist. Our back court combined for 16 points on 3-9 each, combined for 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 7 of our 17 TOs. They got 9 steals to our 4 (so several of our TOs were simply unforced). Jakob was only 2-4, 2-5FTs (Christ this is abysmal - like a career low 32.5%, which is almost TWENTY PERCENT LOWER than his abysmal 51.3% career average.) He's improved greatly in just about every other category but this one which is proportionately worse. He only got 2 boards, both on O, and 4 assists, which is good. He was neutralized on the boards which worked to their favour. Their C, in turn, grabbed a whopping 17 boards, 2 on O, so the C work on the boards was a big difference. He outrebounded our entire front court 17 to 12 (in addition to Jakob, there was Thad with 6, team-high 4 on O; Drew with 3, 1 on O, Doug with 1). Speaking of Doug, he was neutralized for 0-3 and one board in 17 minutes of play.

Some positives: when Pop went with the bench, they rewarded him with a 16-0 run that forced their coach to put starters back in. We pushed a 30+ point deficit to a less embarrassing 15-point one, but truly the game was decided on their 9-0 run to finish the 2ND Q and 15-1 run to start the 3RD Q. Just bad patterns rearing their ugly heads collectively. We were playing a team intent on revenge and it put its best game together from just about everywhere so credit to them, but we didn't show nearly enough energy, focus, hustle, and desire to make it look like we wanted or believed we could come back. At least not nearly enough from enough starters.

Instead, the bench showed what they could in the extra time they were given. Tre looked solid with 12 points on solid 5-8, 2-2FTs, team- and career-high 9 rebounds (3 on O), and tying a career-high with 5 assists all for a team-high +19. He's growing more confident and overall made good decisions on both sides of the court.

Bryn didn't play in the first half, but was part of the group Pop put in. He played 20 minutes and took a team-high 13 shots. He's certainly not shy, is he? He made 6 of them, including 3-6 from 3, 1-1FTs, had one O board, and 1 assist. Then again, Bryn's still prone to gems like this:

Read on Twitter

Hahahaha! On the one hand, you can't judge all of a player's contributions based on one play, on the other, it's emblematic of his decisions sometimes. He and Lonnie were both culprits, the latter with once again stepping out of bounds, and then traveling. Jesus.

But Lonnie's also now had two double-digit scoring games in a row which is a good sign in the midst of an otherwise poor game by the team. He scored a team-high 16 points on efficient 5-9, 1-4 from 3, and a team-high 5-5FTs. He talked about being a lot more aggressive and driving more to the basket but he had only one attempt and make in the paint. He also made all but one of his shots on the right side, none on the left. Made shots are made shots, but he went away from the aggressive drives and made more of his outside shots in the first three Qs he took shots.

Devin was a quiet 15 points on solid 5-10, 2-5 from 3, 3-5FTs, along with 5 boards (1 on O), and 4 assists in 23 minutes. A good showing in his second game back.

The previous game's starter Diop chipped in 10 points on efficient 4-7, 1-2 from 3 (another game in which he took a couple of shots from the arc - good), along with 4 boards (2 on O). He outscored three starters (like five bench players did. Oof.)

Drew had an off O game, scoring 1-2, got 3 boards (1 on O), dished 2 assists, and got 2 blocks. We just didn't get nearly enough from most of our bigs. Except Thad. It was good to see Thad playing again, and in his 19 minutes he had an all around game of 7 points on 3-8, 1-2FTs, 6 boards (team-high 4 on O), with 4 assists, and 1 steal. A good broad contribution that has to stand out well to teams looking around for a vet PF.

None of our players played more than 23 minutes, which is a good discipline from the coaches because we have another game tomorrow. Based on Pop's post-game comments, we'll see if we're smarting enough to show it with completely opposite hustle and response to tonight's game.