SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 14: SPURS VS. CLIPPERS, 20-11-2023, 7PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Keldon was right - was getting held under our basket on the rebound.

Bassey with a good O board but TO back pass to nobody. Has to get the ball off the legs of the nearest opponent.

[G R E Y]

Wemby step back J.

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Wemby BLOCK.

CEDI BEAUTIFUL DRIVE, BEHIND THE BACK DRIBBLE FOR THE LAYUP 2 +1

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Wow a first. Tre threw it too high for Wemby lol

Right idea.

3 the other way hurts, but I like the better effort and energy in our 9-0 run.

[G R E Y]

And that's why Tre isn't starting. Drive kick is looper picked off, which costs us a 3 the other way again.

Two consecutive five-point swings.

[G R E Y]

3RD Q: SPURS 77 CLIPPERS 91

We made it respectable. Another slow, weak, mentally out of it start, but some great stops and pushes down the court for some good transition points.

Cedi has been wonderful making 3s and driving.

Keldon has been terrific with his physicality and passing and scoring.

Nice to see Tre pushing the ball, too.

Nice that we've now finished all three Qs with scoring last. Good change.

We have to be careful to work hard for the rebounds on both ends, we have to protect the ball by limiting TOs, and we have to PUSH AT THEM HARD to get some quick points and FTs.

[G R E Y]

Wemby has a PG down low on him. We heave a 3. Zach this time. Like... uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh...

[G R E Y]

Yeah I'm not impressed AT ALL with Sochan's shot selection. He had a sharp shooter just to his left in Doug. Takes a 3 when he's shooting like **** tonight. Get your head out of your ass.

[G R E Y]

It was just 9... it was just 16... it's now 20...

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Zach that was your man. Roller got right by him and got dunked on.

How much film is it going to take?

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The 3RD Q woes have now transferred over to the 4TH Q again with a 9-1 start against.

[G R E Y]

We just gave up a basket at our rim with two Spurs there, a quick pass down low and we weren't prepared.

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Keldon's the only one still playing with some urgency.

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We now have but NINE points with just over 6 minutes to go.

These taking HALF a Q off in the 3RD and 4TH has got to stop. What are we tired from?

[G R E Y]

Finally a O board bounce goes our way and Keldon dunks it.

But then we give it up right back on a dunk two Spurs watch.

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SIDY!

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We just make it so difficult for ourselves on O. Like why is Julian coming TOWARDS Tre at the top of the arc? Where are you going, mate? So disjointed.

[G R E Y]

We whiffed an alley oop dunk.

Fin.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 99 CLIPPERS 124

Another game, another 120+ points scored against. Three 30+ point Qs. Didn't score more than 28 ourselves, and yet if we can call it as such, this is a not-as-bad loss.

I liked the effort a lot more, even if our physicality wasn't as hard as I'd have liked. We got imposed upon for 22-25FTs - pretty much the biggest difference in the game - to our 11-14FTs. We ran last in the league in FTAs with 18.4 per game as we were still below that. Felt like we played with too much respect of the kind that makes us play too politely. We have to be more hard to score on down low, more painful to play against in the paint, no easy baskets.

Better overall team effort in terms of counter punch in D to O transition. Better compete level. But touch to rely on our D when four of five starters struggled to score. Keldon was wonderful even though he struggled from the arc, leading us with 22 on 9-16, 2-8 from 3, 2-4FTs along with 10 boards (2 on O)tied for team high 5 assists, 1 steal to only 1 TO. Really nice finishes at the rim, nice to see some mid range Js sprinkled in, and good passing looks.

Recall last season how Keldon also had the green light to bring up the ball and initiate the O. He doesn't do it as much now, but when he does and because he got those reps, his vision is much better. He used to be tunnel vision with the ball, used to miss team mates a lot, used to choose to shoot even when others were more open. He's much better at finding team mates and being willing to share the ball.

That he is no longer the main O option and the focal point of defenses after going through that all of last season now shows the benefits of that experience. He's creating space, using physicality, choosing better shots, and balancing it with passing much better.

I think Sochan is now going through that development path. Not the primary scoring option of course, but the bringing up the ball, initiating the O, learning to make the right reads, learning to see various possibilities and options of getting the ball to the right guy and creating them. He's far away from it, but in his rookie season he showed better vision than Keldon did. So we're expediting it. Whereas Keldon was tasked and taxed with big O responsibilities, Sochan is tasked and taxed with new point and top D duties.

Tonight he was on the steep and slip side of the learning curve. Only one TO which is good, but he missed plenty of chances to get the ball to team mates moving off ball, he missed Wemby down low (lots of these are missed chances from the not quick enough read and react and so he gets into secondary options), picked up his dribble which stagnated our O, and shot the ball rather than passing it to more open team mates. Just a collection of mistakes and bad choices on that O end. Taking a 3 with Doug just to his left, open on the arc, is another example of missed balance of shooting and passing decisions.

Some others, like driving and mucking around the rim were good. We need more downhill actions and we need more from him. But he missed some bunnies and floaters so again glass angle work will really help him. Keldon was bad at this, too and is now much better so I expect Sochan to makes strides. In the meantime, recognizing that his shot is not going in and having others open is a must expansion of perception.

Defensively, I still maintain that once he gets the experience and reps, Sochan guarding perimeter and then switching to guards is going to be huge for him and for us. He's 6'8", has a willingness to defend, moving his legs better, and is smart in switching on bigs. That alone is a big assignment. Add the point duties, and well, here we are with the struggles. But he'll learn. He'll struggle but he'll learn. And when he starts to put it together, it's going to add so much to his and our game on both ends.

Speaking of shot selection, yes we are missing Wemby down low on mismatches, but he also settles a lot for jumpers, much more so now than he has earlier in this young season. He has previously used his dribble to beat guys more which has largely been taken away with defenders getting right up into his space quickly when he gets a pass. Pretty much the only time he can beat guys off the dribble now is when he brings it up the court. No space now. Teams are adjusting. Also, with his space taken away, his center of gravity remains much higher. Previously he has been able to squat down to get a wider lower more solid base and now he's getting away from that and is rushed into outside shots more.

Pop has talked with him about making sure he has a balance before shooting, taking his time with the steps in the right order ie/ no need to take off balanced shots but he still gets sucked into them. Sometimes it's the clock, sometimes it's the frustration of other options taken away.

He also tends to bring the ball too low into the swiping hungry hands of defenders. He has a natural Entish advantage. Keep the ball up high. Of course, it's also a two-way street of his getting passes in proper sweet spots. It's both we have to find him sooner and better down low, and his not giving quarter to smaller defenders and standing his ground. Out of all his attempts tonight, he had ONE in the paint, and one at the left paint line. It's fine to intersperse a variety of shots, and I happen to think mid range open shots are underrated tools in the kit to have, but it was too much outside the paint. A corollary is the 1-1FT when he leads us with FTAs.

Two blocks, one from roaming the paint and manning the help D - good. Three rebounds is laconic. Four assists is good as were only 2TOs.

Cedi was all kinds of excellent driving assertively and creatively while making 3s as well. Loved his energy and effort and execution.

Liked Bassey's effort and production - led us with 12 boards, team high 4 on O, 4 blocks (team high), and had 3 assists. Workmanlike contribution.

Branham with 4-6, 2-3 from 3 is fine but all he had anywhere else was 1 assist and 2TOs. Too many 0s in too many other relevant categories in 21 minutes for a bench high -21 is not a good broad enough contribution.

Tre was tied for team high 5 assists, but still had some rushed shots and missed some team mates on passes. Liked his energy driving and getting into the paint for floaters.

We're really missing Devin. Julian is not a starter but he's big and intended to get some stops. Just wish he'd find his shot.

Teamwise, we got mired in another TO laded 3RD Q and second half overall. We had only 4TOs in the first half, but had 8 in the 3RD Q alone and another 4TOs in the 4TH Q. The 16 in total cost us 24 points, putting us -11 in the category. We were pressured a lot for 15 steals against so we have to hold onto the ball with more force and diligence. Fewer chances to score puts more pressure on efficiency and defense.

We traded fewer five Spurs in the paint situations for three times fouling 3s shooters for 9FTAs. Tough. More physicality and downhill play will help get more fouls our way.

I liked our rim protection with 7 blocks and 12-10 O board edge. We still really need to figure out a way to get some energy to start the 3RD and 4TH Qs. We've previously played mostly 24 good minutes, and in this game it was closer to 36, but still the first half of the 3RD and 4TH Qs was rough. Too few points and too disjointed on both ends. I did like that we didn't allow runs at the end of Qs like before and instead were the ones to score. A nice change.

We have to fight better through screens and not go under them, we have to do a better job preventing easy passes to too open players bringing up the ball - more work preventing passes to begin with to not make opposing Os so comfortable setting up, more work taking away time to shoot, more pressure with physicality and shadowing, and less space contesting.

Increments of improvements even if the results of a W aren't yet coming. We have to put more of our team game together on the strength of more consistent thrust of effort. If we're going to make mistakes, make them erring on the side of hustle. Stay together. Better results will come.

[G R E Y]

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