GAME DAY, BALA! GAME 4: SPURS AT CLIPPERS, 31-10-2019, 9:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

After protecting home court to start the season, we embark on our first road trip, this a back-to-back on the west coast. It's a good bonding opportunity for us as we come together to form a more cohesive unit and strengthen our game. To that end, starting strong and maintaining our intensity on both ends for the whole game will be central to improving what we need to work on and reap good results.

WHERE: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

WHEN: Thursday, October 31, 2019, 9:30pm (CT)

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GO SPURS GO!!!

[G R E Y]

Dejounte is on a minutes as well as games restriction so he will not be playing both back-to-backs for now. Doctors' orders, and he and the Spurs are following the plan. I assume he will play tonight and be held out for tomorrow night's game, though nothing's confirmed yet.

EDIT: Confirmed

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[ducler]

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[G R E Y]

Protect the ball. Make our shots. We can get it.

[G R E Y]

Has Beli made a 3 this season? No joke, I'm not sure...

[Baphomet]

That was a frustrating one to watch. Such poor shot selection to close out, and so many silly turnovers over the duration of the game.

But, to try and focus on some positives, DeRozan was pretty darn good throughout the game tonight. Along with Dejounte's consecutive defensive plays in the fourth, DeMar scored some big buckets to spark a run that got us close, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't a terrible display by any means, but the Clips weren't at their best tonight and it felt like a missed opportunity.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

Well, our defense was on the whole good to very good, even with some miscommunications and missed rotations which happen in games. If it's about mitigating mistakes, then the 18 turnovers (which cost us 22 points oof) to 15 assists was not the direction we want for either.

We actually had a better FG% and 3-point%, and that's a function of both how well we contested and how poorly we shot. Some were of the contested variety for us as well, but there were uncharacteristic misses by almost everyone not named DeMar or Derrick (Patty gets an honourable mention; Trey was 2-2 on some nice shots but too few at this time). Dejounte's shot is inconsistent, but the form is much improved. A lot of front rim and back rim misses by us tonight, as well as uncharacteristic misses at the FT line. This is out bread and butter, something that has been ever reliable, but this season so far it has not been. In a close 6-point difference, 9 missed FTs stand out all the more.

I think our O is a work in progress. I really like that DeMar has more focus to create offensively, leaving the distribution to PGs for the most part. He went to work and has some creative flare that kept us in it, and with White stepping into his shot and drive, it was an effective one-two punch, but we needed another guy to step up more. Our guards did well enough in driving, but I still think we're too tentative in that area. We were more assertive, but still too unselfish, making that one extra unnecessary pass when in the air and just at the basket only to kick it out for a longer shot that was a miss - why? It was shot creation that was good to great to more difficult than it needed to be.

I hoped we'd have a much stronger interior presence, but LMA got pushed out inside and Jakob's is more of a utility guy. I did like Jakob's passing, keeping the ball alive on the O end, and getting quickly to open pockets of space for that short jumper he has been practicing. LMA settled for outside shots, though not much of anything was falling. Our front court on the whole didn't balance out the guards. Except for Beli. Holy ****. Brutal shooting for a shooter this season.

So Lonnie had an opportunity to show something, being put in early in the second Q. Here's Pop's assessment of Lonnie's five minutes of play:

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Oof. That's a cold glass of reality. Lonnie has said his dad was the most severe critic of his game growing up, so hopefully he takes this the right way. It's a rare public push, but as Pop says, it's the player's job to force Pop to play him. With Dejounte missing half of the back-to-back games, and Beli shooting like he's not done it before, Lonnie will have to rise to the occasion. Tough lesson tonight. Let's see how he responds.

Not sure why Carroll couldn't get any minutes tonight.

DeMar said this about our turnovers:

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This is the second time I've read DeMar saying something like this, and I'm not sure what he means about too fast. Are we rushing passes? It doesn't look like it. He had 7 turnovers, so it's a function of how he is defended, too, but also we're trying to play faster as our pace so far this season indicates. He has always liked to get into his rhythm and took time to do it, but we're transitioning to a different style or at least developing another to add to what we can do. I get not rushing too much, and it's a fine balance, but from what I see, most of our turnovers are not from playing too fast so much as from playing with a lack of focus and overplaying it (when they're unforced). We sometimes rush shots because we pass once too often. Simple plays, D to O transition, attacking the basket, good movement and passes - keep the fancy for the pre-game fashion statements.

Like Baphomet said, this was a frustrating one because we were in it for the whole game, but kept putting ourselves a step behind with poor shooting and not being the most in sync with O sets. My sense is that Pop is slowly initiating changes to the line-ups so as to get the current two units used to the rhythms of the subbing, this with two new starters and implementing a new faster style of play. These are all affected by Dejounte's minutes restriction, which he is expressing frustration with only four games into the season. I love his fire, but he's half way there to getting a few more minutes a game, so patience for him, and for fans calling for wholesale line-up changes is key. Let's see who we play more after the first ten games. It's a long season. These game rhythms are for the good of the long run.

Incredible defense by Dejounte and Derrick. Solid reads of plays developing and anticipating screens to fight through them and stay with ball handlers and recover to contest shots. Good team help D overall and getting blocks.

We're at a point where when one side is clicking, the other is a bit behind; when we shoot well in one aspect, say the 3, another, say, FTs, isn't going in. It will take time for both D and O to become more cohesive. I did like that we avoided a long scoreless stretch, and hope we find another gear of intensity. I'd love it if we showed more of everything we will be, but we have shown enough to indicate that we'll be a lot more dangerous on both ends with some seasoning and consistent effort. We have a quick turnaround to tomorrow to show what we can do better.