SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 12*: SPURS VS. KINGS, 17-11-2023, 6:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Hard fouls down low. Good.

[G R E Y]

Sabonis **** travels for 3 buckets +1s, no call. Wemby gets whistled. Right is right both ways.

[G R E Y]

Wemby's been biting on the pump fakes tonight. Not sure why. He doesn't have to.

[G R E Y]

KJ fadeaway long J? We need to push at them.

Then again, KJ 3...

[G R E Y]

Bad Sochan selection there when he drove and got stripped. Should have looked up and passed.

[G R E Y]

Sochan airball. Wow.

[City of Trees]

GG.

Wemby is a true Unicorn and I love Coach Pop is there to mold him into the best player he can be.

Sochan has skills but you guys need a true PG. Sochan with those skills as an off ball player changes a lot for him and his potential.


Please trade Keldon to Sacramento, lol.


You guys found a gem in Zach Collins. Dude is so underrated from his stint in Portland.

[G R E Y]

GG.

Wemby is a true Unicorn and I love Coach Pop is there to mold him into the best player he can be.

Sochan has skills but you guys need a true PG. Sochan with those skills as an off ball player changes a lot for him and his potential.


Please trade Keldon to Sacramento, lol.


You guys found a gem in Zach Collins. Dude is so underrated from his stint in Portland.

Thanks again, City! Glad we competed against a well run team. Good test for us.

Sochan is coming along, but it's tough because he is learning a brand new position and guarding best opposing players and switching to their bigs. Lots of energy needed, mental and physical. We'll see where we are at the 20 game or so mark.

Always interesting to see our players from other fans' eyes. For a 29th pick, Keldon has come along well. D needs a lot of work still, but he is far from the bulldozing through everyone and little else player he was when he came into the league.

Really happy for Zach. Steady, growing reliable player who is a tough floor spreader. Mature beyond his years. Glad we have him.

Fox is a near-unstoppable problem and Sabonis is a caboose. Very polished P&R. Nicely balanced team around the stars, players who know their roles and sets. Nice to have developed that identity of speed and multiple threats.

Until next time. Cheers.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 120 KINGS 129

If there's such a thing as a good loss, at least a better one, this is it. Strong start for a big lead, good response after the counter punch, and good fight back after a big deficit to go back and forth late in the game.

Zach and Wemby were one (28) and two (27) in scoring but couldn't have had more diametrical +/- results. Zach led the starters with +19 and Wemby was a team low -31. Zach's 17 first half points carried over to the second half, finishing with a stellar 10-14, 3-5 from 3, 8 boards (2 on O), 5 assists, team high 3 steals, 1 block and 3 TOs.

Zach benefited from a lot attention to Wemby, being dared to operate inside and out and operate he did, contested down low (led us with 5-6FTs), open at the arc. All hustle, confidence, and physicality. For all those games in which he struggled to score, it's nice to see him pushing through and producing so well. Nice touch at the rim, good balance to get into the paint, didn't back down.

Nice high low passing to Wemby. Good leadership to keep up the intensity regardless of score.

Wemby took 26 shots to score 27 points (12-26, 2-8 from 3), grabbed 9 boards (1 on O), 2 steals, and team high 4 TOs. No assists and no blocks and the +/- told the tale of a less focused, slightly more passive game. One handed passes, shot selection that was more jumpers than taking his man in the post. He fought well to establish position, but was quickly doubled and pressured to make a decision and he resorted to some outside fadeaways and insisted on 3s (many were open, so he was dared into it) but his handling and driving options were largely taken away.

On the bench and sidelines Pop preached patience and balance to Wemby, telling him that when he got the ball, if he wasn't balanced, then he didn't have to take the shot right away, get squared and feet under him so he could operate from strength (my word) but the point was about optimal positioning before shooting. Foundations.

We missed Wemby several times once again, until the passing lanes got sealed up. Film, reps, recognition. P&Rs will need to be more quick and crisp, but we did make some adjustments from Sochan missing Wemby on the roll and passing back out to later running it better for a Wemby dunk.

Sochan with slightly lower faster handles, faster getting into sets, more patient. Work in progress is just that. Shot selection with taking his while team mates were in better position is still something to program but we just flowed better tonight. I wonder if he is green lit to be assertive on O or takes it upon himself to fill the Dev gap or wants to stand out as more of a scoring contributor, but that balance between facilitating and getting his, though better, still needs work. Inefficient again. He's a Jekyll and Hyde with efficiency, with his 3s of all shots improving the most so far. Eight boards, 6 assists, 1 steal to 2 TOs is a better night. Tough D assignment of Fox, switching onto Sabonis, going from speed to bulk and running point. Lots to do all at once. He looked better overall tonight. Yes not a 'true' PG and yes Tre would have run the P&R better but imagine him trying to go from one defensive switch to another. It's a big ask of Sochan, but the better footwork to stay in front of defenders and force into doubles or shot clock violations stood out well.

For all the lumps Keldon takes, especially on D (largely legitimate) he was a jolt of energy all night. Solid21 on 7-16, team high 5-9 from 3, 2-2FTs, 9 boards, team high 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 TOs. Liked his inside out game, just thought that when he had the ball in his hands up top it took him a while (still too long) to get a read and get something going. He waits around, we start waiting around, time ticks down, defenses increase pressure, and it tends to rush things. There's patience and there's missed opportunities from slower decisions and at times he gets into these stubbornly slower modes. But hard to nitpick a very helpful, broadly contributing game.

Mamu. Great to see him get minutes and step up in them. Ever forward, got to the FT line for it (bench high 4-4), 3 boards, 2 assists, all effort, smart passing, finishing. He gives us a different look to what Bassey does and tonight (hopefully more games from now on) his broad contribution of size and smarts is a really good fit.

Branham. 4-10, 0-3 from 3, but led the bench with 5 assists. Quick passes ahead or inside to Wemby is just what we like to see.

How in the world did poor Blake end up with -15 in four minutes?!

Good to see Julian make some 3s. Our first play was for a weak side 3 and he made it. Set the tone. Defended decently, moved off ball well, got open.

The Good. Much better higher level effort, and weathering the peaks an valleys of the game.

Stayed with an experienced team headed for playoffs with pecking order established and stars on board.

Forced some shot clock violations with good man D leading to doubles and steals.

O moved better, better off ball and ball movement. Three 30+ point Qs.

Team wide contributions on both ends.

The bad. We had 7 TOs the first half, 6TOs in the third Q alone, finishing with 15, which cost us 16 points, but we were actually +9 in the category.

Not as many, and we did it better in longer spurts, but still we had five guys in the paint on some of their kick outs with us freezing and letting the open shots get taken.

The patterns: third Q starts. One of those mindset issues. Just pretend it's the first Q again. Better third Q finish for sure.

End of Q details - we tend to give up runs in the last couple of minutes or so of each Q. Cumulatively they add up to getting caught on our heels and it's a mental approach that we have to get more focused about.

In the fourth Q we don't really have a set go-to play (yes, throw it high down to Wemby is but one), and so guys tend to call their own number and scramble for hero shots. Breakdowns of D was tougher without Dev, but even with him, we're more taking turns shooting than grinding opponents down with automatic sets imposed on them. It also helps when you have a rock solid penetrator who could break down defenses with his dribble.

Overall, a much better team effort which absorbed some youthful mistakes, bad shot selection, and recurring patterns, but playing without vigor was not one of them. It was a good response to the previous lacklustre waning energy. We fought hard, scrambled through the rough patches of play, were more physical, got to the FT line better.

It was a hard test for us, but we also stood up to it better. If we were told we'd score 120 on decent efficiency, made 15-36 3s, 19-23FTs, had 33 assists, won the rebound battle, points off TOs, we'd like our chances. Tough when you happen to face an even better 3s shooting team with a star who had to pull out all the stardom, but it's a few steps up from how we competed in previous games.

Bottle it, fix the fixables, repeat the effort. Better results will come.

[G R E Y]

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