4TH Q: SPURS 117
HORNETS 123
Well *sigh* a four game losing streak through a tepid start, some dumb mistakes, poor patterns repeating, but also some light with good individual play and hustle.
Mostly I feel bad for Pop as we struggle to regain a competitive foothold.
My sense is that there's a post-trade, post-RRT, AND post-All Star and break fatigue that has set in and we have been riding on some great individual play that was not as sustainable in the long run.
Sluggish start (though better than the previous game) which foretold the type of game it would be if we allowed it: exchanging shots. And so it was at the end as it was in the beginning.
We kept exchanging baskets throughout the 4TH Q until about four and a half minutes left during which we were outscored 10-6 and could never catch them again despite getting to within a basket several times in the Q.
Along the way, were were an abysmal 0-10 from 3 in the 4TH Q, and they picked up their drive game and we picked up our foul game. By the end of the 3RD Q they were 9-15FTs and finished 23-29. So they went 14-14FTs in the 4TH Q alone! That is close to our 16-20FTs for the entire game! And there are the two factors that did us in on O.
3s and drives on a team that moves the ball like we do is a mirror of where we are when we play well.
But like when we had two ISO, half-court dominant vets we had to cater to, all it takes is one or two players who look to score outside of our system and it all falls apart.
My sense is that guys not names DJ or Keldon don't really want to pass the ball to Lonnie. I know I criticize him a lot and so it may be my bias, but man he got looked off noticeably in this game. A few games in and the bench players are already sick of being not involved on O when the black hole gets the ball.
His shot selection was poor tonight, too. Only two drives, both misses at the rim, and the rest either 3s or long Js. For an uber athletic player, he needs to drive more; in this game, we all needed to. And when Lonnie wasn't making his shots, it exposed the rest of his game as... not contributing a whole lot else. He had but one steal and no other registered plays. And his 18 minutes reflected his one way contribution.
Doug is the starter version of Lonnie too often than I care to admit but am going to do more. Eight points on 2-7, 1-5 from 3, 3-3FTs is just not enough. I appreciate the 4 rebounds (1 on O) and one each of assist and steal, but we signed him for 3s and and off ball movement for some layups. He's tarting to blow the latter and isn't hitting the former at the clip we expect. We had more Spurs making 3s in this game but he hardly helped and we frankly need him to be the sharp shooter we signed him to be.
Primo led the bench with 25 minutes, and he earned them. He played well on both ends, switching well, getting the right angles on drivers with his hands up, scoring 10 on 4-7, 2-5 from 3, but crucially he led the team with an impressive 4 O boards out of his 6, and got 2 assists. That one lay in O board on a timely jump was one of those plays worthy of commentators gushing. He was active and smart overall, and engaged throughout his time; he kept talking to team mates and Pop to know where to be and what to do.
He did get caught on a cut late in the game (like a lot of Spurs did), and he had this to say about it:
I like it. I also like that he was out there in a close tense road game late in the 4TH to finish it out. Huge learning experience for him, and you can tell that he's a rhythm player who takes in what he needs to do better (gone are the shots outside of our system, and in come the D and O awareness) and he chooses to take his own shot better. His instincts are really good. Just needs experience. And who would have had Pop giving a green 19-year old rookie end of game minutes just a few years ago?! Amazing adaptation to give what the team needs.
Also showing more of his game was Zach who looked more engaged, more bouncy, and more coordinated. That he hit a 3 for us was terrific, too. Good for him in that it builds his confidence - nice form and got his feet under him for the extra power, and the team's confidence in him, too. I hope we look to him more for that shot. His help D stood out well. He pivoted his body and covered A LOT of ground on several contests at the rim. I liked his work on the boards, too, where he got a game high 10 (2 on O) along with 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks in addition to 5 points on 2-3, 1-1 from 3. He showed more moxie, good screens (just has to make sure he's set consistently), good awareness, and passing. Really nice supportive effort for Jakob, but not just rest minutes but also helping on both ends.
Keldon had a career high 33 on 14-24, 4-10 from 3, 1-2FTs (surprisingly low, hopefully he can get this up), with 8 boards (starter high3 on O) and 2 assists. He showed some terrific new O moves, some good patience, and great balance between taking outside shots, driving, and passing. Pop praised him for his two way play but I still think he bails out on screens when he gets caught on them. There were a few plays where he just pushed into the screener instead of working to get AROUND them and then he rotated out to the wrong player. He tends to just go into the key after getting stuck on a screen and then doesn't read the live play well to get out to the right open opponent. It's not the effort, can't fault it, just something he has to get better at recognizing on the D end as well as anticipating screens better.
Devin is terrific at anticipating screens. Just has a knack for it. Part of it is coming from a great D college program, and part of it is BBIQ and the way he moves with his body type. He's more lithe and feline. Keldon's more compact and wide and the way he moves innately doesn't lend itself to as easy movement around screens. But it's a change that can be made with body angles and first of all LOOKING to where the screen is coming from beforehand as Devin does. It all starts from there. And what with how Keldon has adjusted on his drives from pure bully ball to developing a Euro step and sweet finishing at the rim it shows promise in his D body and mind adjustment as well.
Jakob was 4-8 which is actually low for him (but did well with 3-5FTs). , missing several bunnies with his refusal to dunk. I will never understand this. It's not only the higher percentage shot, but it shifts energy, something we can use more of especially in this post AS break streak of games. Uncharacteristically he only got 5 boards (1 on O) but also contributed 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. He just wasn't his intense self. He got driven into a lot, and bodied and pushed back time and again by guards. And he did better in the second half in getting rebounding position, but he also got bodied rather badly by his counterpart down low. Just not a great night in keeping his space tonight.
DJ had a good statistical game, but to phreak's prescient point, he didn't actually have a good game. Not great energy to start, turned it over on drives into multiple defenders. And gump is right that teams are adjusting to DJ's pet shots. Still, his effort and decisions were off in this game. He was better in the second half, got to the FT line a team high 7-8. He was just 1-1 in the first half in our 7-10FTs overall in the first 24 minutes.
Still he turned it around and at least tried more to get 25 on low 9-21, poor 0-3 from 3, starter high 9 boards (1 on O) and 10 assists and 3 steals. A near triple double but it wasn't the impactful enough kind.
Devin is adapting to the new role better on both ends. Like I said before, he's one of the best screen slippers and it helps him to stay with drivers and then make the correct switches as well. But like most of his team mates at the perimeter, he too got beaten on some first steps. We ran out at them just a step late when they got the ball and they were already in the forward motion and we just couldn't adjust the motion. Devin did well to at least keep the drivers to the outside with his body angles and then was good at contesting from behind. Loved that block from behind and strip of the ball hustle early in the game. I like that he's looking to score more, and that it's a balance of his textbook elbow Js, drives, and 3s. Consistency comes with growth from experience and he's showing steady effort on D even with the learning curve on the first step issue. 14 points on 6-13, 2-6 from 3, 4 boards (1 on O), and 2 blocks. No FTs, no assists. Some things to work on.
Our back court combining for 2-9 is - once again - a big deficiency. Compared to the opponent back court which combined for 10-17 from 3! and considering we made 11 all game (on 37 attempts) and it made for a lot of missed opportunities.The number of attempts is good, as is the fact that nine out of ten Spurs attempted one (Jakob, of course did not). But three Spurs didn't make one, three more made only one, two Spurs made two, and Keldon led us with four.
Our bench back court combined for 1-5 from 3 (Tre and Lonnie) or 2-6 from 3 (Tre and Primo). The point being that Tre was 0-1 from 3 - again another PG that isn't a threat from the arc. And with Lonnie running hot and cold from there, Pop gave Primo a shot and he responded with 2-5.
Tre was a hound on D staying with his man on and off ball, switched well, and ran the team well, too. He chipped in 6 points on 2-5, 2-2FTs, along with 4 boards and 7 assists. Solid all around performance.
Still, we lost the 3s points by 15. Add to it that the TOs were almost even but we gave up 17-7 in transition on them and we bled points on both ends.
And we keep giving up big runs after working hard on both ends to get a lead. That 8-0 run in the final minute of the 3RD Q was emblematic of the game as a whole and of our patterns of late. It underlies an issue that has been manifesting in various ways: we're not focused and hungry and pick our spots of when we pick up our level of play. At least in this game we showed more competitive play, but we're of balance and it's starting to show in various ways.
Maybe it's the pressure of making the play-in, a goal several Spurs have mentioned. Maybe it's the grind of the final stretch. But we've come down from the initial trade high and our team D has plummeted. We're giving up over 120PPG. Not good. The change to the starters is one side of it although Devin has more or less held his own. He's not the passer that Derrick is - yet - so who we get the ball to maybe a factor even though we're still getting a high number of assists (28).
The trade has caused a bigger imbalance to the bench even though Derrick's departure has opened up more chances for our other guards. But with Devin moving to the starting five, Tre having a steeper learning curve, Primo just getting more consistent minutes up from G-League, and Lonnie doing Lonnie, and with Drew who knew our system well and was fully healthy out and Zach getting his game rhythm back while still acclimating to our system and our entire bench is still adjusting. We once again got outscored 39-26, this from a team that was once the highest scoring in the league. Add to that Lonnie taking a disproportionate number of shots that doesn't involve other players enough and we have a bench in flux with players adjusting to both bigger roles, adjusting to one another, and adjusting to getting their shots within our system when there's a contract negotiation looming.
And so it puts extra pressure on the starters to do more of what was more balanced through the team. So it seems like the ripple effects of several effects are intersecting - the trade and its consequences, the RRT, the AS break, and the final push which is also a grind - and we're going to have to reset, adjust, and keep developing a chemistry that we worked hard to build for the first three quarters of the season.
Long view, we're prioritizing minutes for the youth coming up while selling high to get the most of a player whose position is stocked. Eventually it's a win win, but to get there on court, it is a steeper climb to build that chemistry, trust, and knowledge of one another's tendencies.
We're about to have a long home game stretch and that should help to regroup us with no travel for a long while. We can sleep in our own beds, get some practices in, and hopefully take in the instruction that is surely coming. We've had a collective Teflon mind in terms of stopping our patterns of poor play and it seems we've hit a ceiling in energy and focus that's causing such inconsistencies and lapses.
Last stretch of the season. Let's regroup and take full advantage of the home stand to solidify our foundations and get the whole team in the right direction, more connected, and energized for it. We have a lot to play for.
