SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT)

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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#21 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:22 am

Quicker pace to start the final Q. I hope we have enough juice and will to stay physical, make the necessary hard rotations and close outs. We're doing better getting our own switches for DJ to be taking advantage of. We need to make sure we're keeping them out of our key.
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#22 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:25 am

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd that's what happens when Derrick is trapped in late clock situations...
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#23 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:25 am

Not sure I trust Keldon in this situation.
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#24 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:28 am

**** HELL, DERRICK! LOOOOOOOOK WHERE YOU'RE PASSING NOT WHERE YOU EXPECT JAKOB TO BE!!!

JAKOB, BE READY WITH HANDS UP FOR THE PASS!!!
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#25 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:34 am

HOLD ONTO THE **** BALL WHEN WE REBOUND IT, DAMN IT!!!
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#26 » by imagump1313 » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:49 am

LMAO!! Worst possible play to end the game and Boston blew it harder than we did.

Have to hand it to Murray. He made a couple poor decisions but really played well and led the team.
No idea what Pop was drawing up for that last inbounds with no one coming to the ball 2 TIMES!!! And having BRYN FORBES on the floor. LOL
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#27 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:56 am

I don't even...
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#28 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 3:10 am

imagump1313 wrote:LMAO!! Worst possible play to end the game and Boston blew it harder than we did.

Have to hand it to Murray. He made a couple poor decisions but really played well and led the team.
No idea what Pop was drawing up for that last inbounds with no one coming to the ball 2 TIMES!!! And having BRYN FORBES on the floor. LOL

I mean, I'm SURE that's NOT what Pop drew up both times.

We're bad at these, no question. At least Derrick called a timeout. Jock flat out made a great pass, just to the wrong team. **** hell, man :lol:

You could see Diop up right getting open and Jock missed him, and Bryn coming late to the ball so that's on him. He was out there for potential FTs. It's fine as we were on O. But Jock absolutely threw it to the worst area of the court, and the worst player who was their top scorer. We were graced with a good bounce which sort of takes the bitterness out of the Pistons game bounce for me.

Poor Pop was rubbing his forehead with both hands as time expired lol
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#29 » by G R E Y » Thu Jan 6, 2022 5:45 am

4TH Q: SPURS 99

CELTICS 97

PHEW!!!

So we sort of fell and stumbled backwards across the finish line, but they all count. This one for our first win of 2022!

DJ is the undisputed leader of our team. What a comeback performance leading us in points (22 on 11-21, 0-2 from 3) and assists (game high 12) along with 9 boards (2 on O), and team high 3 steals. One of them was the patented poke out and drive for a layup - love that play.

Derrick forced his way to a decent scoring game of 17 on 7-17, 3-7 from 3 with 4 boards (2 on O), 2 assists, and 2 blocks. Most importantly, his defense late in the game was crucial in getting stops with stepping up to take a charge - timing and positioning are uncanny - and then playing incredible man D to force a shot clock violation, each on their two best players. He's better in this more manageable role where he's not overwhelmed with the task of leading the team, shouldering the responsibility of assisting, scoring, initiating the O, and scoring. He's a terrific complementary player to DJ, and it seems like this is his optimal role

Our back court did combine for 7 of our 17 TOs but luckily they only generated 8 points off of them; we got 10 off of their 8 TOs. It was just not a clean, crisp game in terms of ball protection as there were lots of bobbled balls, missed bunnies, O boards, and 50/50 balls.

In a close game, the adage of every play counts is magnified, so kudos to Jakob who dove for the ball, Derrick, too, and to DJ for saving the ball out of bounds in a jump ball situation that went to Keita who grabbed it with his Inspector Gadget arms and passed to a smart Devin who was watching the play develop and already started moving away from the action to the right corner where there was uncontested space. Ball saved. Kudos to Bryn for that hard close out that forced them to take an extra dribble rather than be able to shoot and it resulted in another shot clock violation. Kudos to our shot blocks, our deflection of passes, our rebounds, and better rotations.

Rebounds were close on O, 13-12 for them, which is far better than last night's result. Jakob led us with a game-high 14 boards (2 on O, though he had some that he punched out that landed in team mates' hands) and after a rough first half, he bounced back for 8 points on 4-7, and one each of assist, steal, and block for a team-high +5. He fought hard to keep balls alive, to finish at the rim off the glass, and got his shot working again.

Our bigs outscored theirs 18-10. Not exactly a powerhouse output, but like our team as a whole, emblematic of the effort it takes to get the job done. We may have gotten bodied down low and actually given up more points in the paint than scored -- 48-40 -- but we still managed to run our sets well enough to get the ball to our bigs or get putbacks from our misses. Keita was wonderful in that regard, grabbing a team-high 4 O boards and some putbacks from them as well. He made 3-6 for 6 points along with 2 assists, and a steal. His lone TO was when he grabbed an O board but was surrounded by three defenders and fell out of bounds before finding a team mate to pass it to (again, let's help one another out, gents, and come to the ball). He's a quietly solid defender and has a sneaky crafty touch around the rim. One of those important glue guys we like to have in our overall collective toolkit. Why did we let Metu go and sign Keita? He's the perfect example of how far defense and attitude can take a second rounder.

Jock was the only big off the bench we used tonight. Interesting, because Drew had the better game yesterday, and Thad was a DNP once again. Jock was 2-2, 1-1 from 3, and 1-1FT for 6 points, but those bench high 3 TOs, including that crucial inbounds pass to the opponent OOF!

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Pop's going to have the team and Jock in particular practice like 500 inbounds plays tomorrow :lol:

Seriously, we really need to work on these. Either the inbounder isn't seeing team mates well enough (Keita was open to Jock's right) or the guys aren't coming to the ball hard enough after a first hard cut (**** Bryn again). I thought we could use Diop in those situations at times, too. He has those long arms and steady demeanour to give it a whirl.

Bryn, well, his defense overall continues to puzzle. Why he CONTINUES to go with the driver to the big and stay there as he blocks the big from rotating out on the shooter, and then Bryn's brain is like heyyyyyyyyyyy legs, maybe I'm the one who should run out to that guy who's all alone with the ball. Christ Almighty, I just can't...

He sucked on O again, making only 2-8, 1-4 from 3, but he did make 3-3FTs, so collectively made just enough shots to help us get the 99 points. I can't stand when he brings up the ball and thinks he can ball handle. Just give the ball up to a team mate, guy, you're not that guy. When he catches and shoots or fakes and drives for floaters, job well done. But that's it. None of this initiating O business.

Our X factor tonight was Devin. In the second consecutive game, he's been making a strong two-way impact. He got into passing lanes for deflections, got 2 steals, 6 rebounds - these aren't the fall into your hands with no one around kind, but the get into the right space at the right time to get them away from opponent hands kind. And along with them, he made 7-14 even if only 2-7 from 3, and 1-1FT -- the ONLY starter to even get an FT attempt. He's so good at getting to his open pockets of space and getting a straight up J off of two feet, nice and high and with a high release, too. He made his 3s with more confidence at the end of Qs, though you can see that at the end of games he still needs more confidence for those to be automatic. I absolutely LOVE when he asserts himself and looks for space to drive through and was terrific in doing that in this game with floaters down the middle, drives to the basket, and that fantastic thunderous dunk!

Kind of ridiculous that we had only 5FTAs, but luckily we made all of them.

I don't like the Tre-Derrick-Bryn line-up. I just don't. Nobody can handle the ball competently enough, it's super small, and Bryn thinks he's the vet lead holding onto the ball way longer than necessary, Tre can't reliably make shots (1-3, 0-1 from 3 with 1 board, assist, steal in 9 minutes) nor does he really dish as well as I'd hoped. He and Lonnie out there is one thing; he and Bryn and Derrick is another, even if the latter two can hit 3s. It's too small, and the roles aren't comfortably defined. Neither, for that matter, are their games. I thought Tre would be a better, smarter floor general but he's not really making the take charge impact I thought he would.

How close was the game? Well we tied the 1ST Q, lost the final one by one point, and won the middle two by a combined three points. They outscored us by 3 points at the FT line, we had one more made 3 than they did, but we also had two extra made FGs, 42-40. And sometimes it takes missed bunnies from the opponent and some friendly away rims for good bounces that went our way. But we also appeased the basketball gods, I believe, with enough good hustle plays for loose balls, good effort on running out to contest, getting good switches in our favour, and just fighting our way through enough to keep pushing back when down, get our lead back, and to keep it when the tension rose and the crowd really got into it late in the game. Can't say we didn't get lucky on the last two plays, but we were also very good on the couple of plays before that to prevent them from scoring. It all adds up. All of it.

We need to curb our TOs, though luckily we didn't end up paying for them as much tonight, and we need to find ways to get to the FT line more, though luckily we didn't foul as much either. We looked more cohesive with DJ back, no question, and I like Devin in the 3 role, though we look more comfortable with our regular starters, ie/ Doug. I wonder if Keldon being moved one position over to the 4 has been affecting him? Anyway, I'm really pleased with our effort especially considering it's the second of a back-to-back, and on a travel day no less. We found ways to get enough stops even if it meant some kind rim bounces that went our way for their missed bunnies.

I like our compete level far better, and it's good to see that we kept finding ways to make plays on both ends. Most importantly, we were willing to keep fighting for it. And while it started with DJ on the court, it started with Pop on the sidelines. He wasn't having any of our **** and with less than a minute into the game he saw enough in three consecutive plays to call a timeout. You can tell he was holding in his frustration with dumb, unforced TOs and weak plays early and called a time out. It set the tone. Devin's dunk set the tone. DJ's poke steal and layup set the tone, our hustle for loose balls, and stepping up to make big defensive stops and shots throughout. We just never dipped below a certain level of play and held on. Sometimes it's what it takes. You generate your own luck enough there's momentum for some unexpected luck that goes your way. We needed it, we sought it, and we got it.

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

Our GOAT! :clap: :clap: :clap:

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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#30 » by Phreak50 » Thu Jan 6, 2022 9:19 am

I feel sorry for Boston fans. A few years back they had assets to add around Brown and Tatum and screwed it up big time with Ainge's greed.

Now they have two still, potential superstars and absolutely suck as a team.
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Re: SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 38: SPURS AT CELTICS, 5-1-2022, 6:30PM (CT) 

Post#31 » by imagump1313 » Thu Jan 6, 2022 2:06 pm

Phreak50 wrote:I feel sorry for Boston fans. A few years back they had assets to add around Brown and Tatum and screwed it up big time with Ainge's greed.

Now they have two still, potential superstars and absolutely suck as a team.


Brown and Tatum have to shoulder some of the blame because some players have mentioned that both of them are more about getting their own numbers than about actually winning. I thought Udoka replacing Stevens would have fixed some of that but it seems to actually gotten worse with him as coach.

100% agree that Ainge got a little cocky after fleecing Philadelphia in the draft. What good are all the draft picks he was hoarding when he did next to nothing with them? I really wanted either Brown or Tatum or both before Leonard was traded to Toronto.

The Irving trade and the Kemba Walker trade really sent that franchise back light years from where they could have been. Oh well, sucks for them LOL :lol: :lol:

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