SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 47: SPURS VS. WIZARDS, 29-1-2024, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Devin O foul lmao

[G R E Y]

One handed pass back for an over and back TO... smh

Then they get an O board putback dunk with 5 seconds left.

[G R E Y]

One handed pass back for an over and back TO... smh

Then they get an O board putback dunk with 5 seconds left.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 113 WIZARDS 118

Seriously, who the **** do we think we are?

You could feel this game turning away from us even though we managed to stay ahead on the strength of too few players having great games. But the TOs, the bad passes, the miscues, the lack of finishing on transition chances eventually tallied up against us.

It didn't help that Wemby had another 4TOs and this needs a call out now - he's accumulated 17 - SEVENTEEN! - TOs in the last three games combined. He looks tired from the start of games, and this manifests in unfocused, one-handed passes, in bobbled balls while dribbling, in exposing balls to prying defender hands. It also shows up in erratic missed finishes at the rim.

But he's also a rookie out of position - he's a five because it's what the team needs, not what he ultimately wants - and he has to fight against heavier opponents who use their physicality on him all the more as the season has progressed because that's the book on him now - get into his body, take away his space, and it wears him down while he has to figure out how to get around it. Most of the time he does, and he does it exceptionally, but it does take a toll.

All the more reason, then, to make sure he gets the ball when he fights like hell to establish position in the post or paint, or when he runs the floor. We made alley oop passes but they were not accurate. We didn't find him enough times when he sealed his man. He still made some never-before-seen spectacular plays, but looked human in other facets. All that said, he still got a double double with 22 (9-20, 0-5 from 3, 4-4FTs, with 11 boards (3 on O), 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks in 31 minutes (consecutive games of 30+ minutes played).

It didn’t help that Zach was out because of his ankle (he hasn’t looked right since returning, so best to take the time he needs) and then Dom fouled out. We were getting imposed on with Wemby and Dom, all the more so without them. Slim pickings defensively so Pop went with small ball Sochan at 5. We lost the PITP 66-50.

We ended up losing the rebounding battle 45-36 and 14-10 on O boards. We lost the second chance points 18-13. They kept going inside at us over and over, and ended up getting to the FT line 17-24 to our 15-17FTs. I seldom gripe about calls, but they really did get some home cooking on our court. Sometimes that’s the effect when one team is more assertive and forces the issue.

Devin led us again with 24 on 9-19, 1-5 from 3, team high 5-6FTs, along with 5 boards (1 on O), 4 assists, 1 block.

Tre willed his way back to contributing 11 on 5-12, 1-2 from 3, 2 boards, 9 assists.

Sochan and Julian combined for 5 points, combined 2-9, 1-3 from 3, 0-1FT. “Thanks” for showing up, guys... Julian doesn’t get many shots, and Sochan has these Jekyll/Hyde variances, looking all
coordinated one game, and like he has two left feet and touch is all off the next. Julian did get 1 board, 1 assist, and 2 blocks, and Sochan did get 5 boards (2 on O), 1 assist, 1 steal, but they largely stood out by not standing out with positive impact.

Cedi led the bench with 20 on stellar 8-12, 4-6 from 3, 3 boards (2 on O), 2 assists, 2 steals. He was one of the few Spurs who looked sober, focused, and coordinated throughout the game. He was one of the players who kept us in it, when it looked shaky for us even though we were ahead by a few points.

Twin Doug made 2-4 from 3, 1 O board, 1 assist in 10 minutes.

Keldon scored 14 on 5-10, 2-5 from 3, 2-2FTs, 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals but it was one step forward, two back with over dribbling and missing passes, shooting 3s on second chances when we should have pulled back and reset to run something, not finishing as well at the rim, and back to getting driven by and occupying purposeless space in the paint not guarding anyone. He did run out to contest 3s well, but got lost on switches and we allowed too many open Js and 3s, as in nobody close to the shots and nobody running out to contest them.

Dom fouled out in 14 minutes played LOL. Can’t say that these were all fair fouls, but the opponent strategy to attack us inside worked and then were very physical in their end on our drives. Yet he still led the bench with 5 assists, along with 2 boards (1 on O), and 4 points on 1-3, 2-2FTs. He’s a fundamentally sound player, knows where to be with the ball in his hands, and how to make accurate passes to cutters. He fought hard, but got caught on some calls that he argued with the refs over before Pop called him away. Good to see the fire in him even as we missed his presence.

Blake was hugely impactful in the first half with stingy, full court, shadow D, some steals and deflections, a transition bucket and a right corner 3. When he picks up speed it looks like everyone else is in slow motion around him. It’s fun to see and more importantly, it’s a unique skill he now uses in his and our favour.

But he picked up his third foul in the 3RD Q in the four minutes he played and ended up only playing another minute in the 4TH. He finished with 7 points on 2-4, 1-1 from 3, 2-2FTs, with 1 board, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block to 2TOs in only 12 minutes.

Note: ANOTHER Branham DNP-CD. I wonder if it’s sinking in??

One game after we scored 113 and won by one point, the karmic balance of the basketball universe lesson of scoring 113 again but losing has a self-inflicted you get what you deserve sense to it. Too many unclean, unfocused passes, too many missed opportunities from steals with poor execution the other way, too many breaks in momentum, and far too much finesse-centric, unfocused play that had a feeling of collective harbingers adding up as time ran down.

Good thing we’re a rebuilding team. I guess. There were some factors working against us, and although we won the 1ST Q it still felt like we tripped over ourselves and stumbled into it, with the starters passengers of the second unit’s better play. It takes a full team, and we didn’t have the appropriate fear and game respect to show up and build on our better play.

And in terms of patterns, the importance of strong starts, end of Q details, and generating momentum to feed off of is a work in progress. Lots of room for improvement both with on court play and mental focus and approach.

[G R E Y]

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[imagump1313]

Another night where I had absolutely zero interest in even looking to see if we had a game. Whats wrong with me? Even Wemby isn't drawing my interest anymore.

Thank God we got Wemby though because every player that we thought even had a little promise last season has totally submarined this year. I really liked Vassell his first two seasons. Now I cant stand to look at him.

Hopefully we didn't destroy Sochan with that point guard nonsense. He seems to be back to contributing a little more positively now.

Johnson has already peaked into what he can be. He's not getting any better than he is.

Branham, Wesley, the G-league lifers (Champaigne, Bassey, Mamu) are just that. Somehow that have all regressed to worse players than they were before. Collins is likeable but he's hurt. Without Wemby Detroit would have a better upside than this team. DETROIT lol.

I know Im spoiled because of how good we were for soo long but man, its really hard right now to even put forth an effort to watch these guys. At least last year we had a goal. An end game we were shooting for. I have no idea what this coaching staff is trying to accomplish right now.

I'll hand it to you Grey. Thanks for keeping us all updated.

[G R E Y]

Another night where I had absolutely zero interest in even looking to see if we had a game. Whats wrong with me? Even Wemby isn't drawing my interest anymore.

Thank God we got Wemby though because every player that we thought even had a little promise last season has totally submarined this year. I really liked Vassell his first two seasons. Now I cant stand to look at him.

Hopefully we didn't destroy Sochan with that point guard nonsense. He seems to be back to contributing a little more positively now.

Johnson has already peaked into what he can be. He's not getting any better than he is.

Branham, Wesley, the G-league lifers (Champaigne, Bassey, Mamu) are just that. Somehow that have all regressed to worse players than they were before. Collins is likeable but he's hurt. Without Wemby Detroit would have a better upside than this team. DETROIT lol.

I know Im spoiled because of how good we were for soo long but man, its really hard right now to even put forth an effort to watch these guys. At least last year we had a goal. An end game we were shooting for. I have no idea what this coaching staff is trying to accomplish right now.

I'll hand it to you Grey. Thanks for keeping us all updated.

Sure thing, thanks. Yeah it's not easy to watch with whatever expectations, however measured for a rebuild. Like I had expectations for this game and was all the more bitter for it. We somehow played to the level we thought our opponent was at. Amazing. But today's a new day.

And next season is a new season. I expect us to look far different soon. I think Wemby is tired physically and tired of losing even though he has an amazing maturity for his age. Part of what also makes him unique is how quickly he learns and improves. Like the gap and time between the one to the other is surprisingly small. I think we monitor and adjust to that in terms of making moves that don't artificially speed up the rebuild as in get win now vets, but speed it up with trades for high BBIQ players, for instance. We may not be able to afford waiting for guys to grow at whatever pace they are and give them minutes when they could be growing in Austin.

Last season a lot of the young players were far more buoyed by vets than we realized, guys who this season are on other teams. This season we went in maybe thinking we have better stronger talent than we do or just went into it thinking well we'll see what we have and go from there - this is where I think we're at. Best case is we were more ready, this case is we have to make changes.

Pop went from starting the season talking about it being appropriate to show growth with wins to now talking about guys playing for roster spots and drafting well.

I think around Wemby we keep, in no order of set positions, Tre, Devin (who is really just completing his first year as starter combining last season's games and this season's, this with various back court partners, most with lesser experience), Sochan who is growing well, Sidy, Blake, Dom, with Keldon and maybe Zach rounding out experience. Not that they will all be around Wemby long term, but that they have shown growth and maturity in various forms.

The 1, 3, and 5 absolutely have to be addressed.

Feel free to fire up the draft thread if you like, gump.

For now, I will just look game to game things we do well or need to improve, patterns in both, without expectations of streaks. Learned my lesson oof.

But I will have them for the draft and for next season. We need to get this thing going around Wemby. He's that good. And we know it, even more so now than whatever we thought before.

[G R E Y]

Yeah...

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