SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 16: SPURS AT WARRIORS, 24-11-2023, 9PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

We have 2 points at the 8:28 mark of the 4TH Q...

[G R E Y]

And we finish the Q with 31 after a slow start. Massive fight. Proud of our guys.

[imagump1313]

Oh darn! We arent going to advance in the NBA Cup Tournament? FRENCH TOAST!

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 112 WARRIORS 118

Massively proud of our fight. We did a lot of things better, but essentially got outdone at the arc by a team that does just that. Every superstar has a niche shot and ways of getting it both individually and from team schemes, and it was an education for us in attempting to foil them.

While we made 8 3s at the half to their 9, we had massive second half droughts despite attempting 7 more 3s overall. We also put up 19 more shots! But second half inefficiency from the arc -- we were 1-9 in the 3RD and 3-15 in the 4TH -- put us -21 in this shot alone.

We did do many things much better which helped close the gap. We outrebounded them 46-41 and a whopping 15-7 on O boards. Keldon led us with 12 boards including a team high 4 on O. He was wonderful; physical, drove, got after the ball, got to the FT line, dished 4 assists, and had 2 steals in support of 22 on 8-13, 3-7 from 3 (leading starters, both a credit to him and not to the team), 3-5FTs. He was a +5 as well. Again, static stat, but says something about how broad his game is becoming with more O help and less attention on him to better exploit defenses. He was back to 3s and paint work, driving hard and making 5-6. His balance, touch, and footwork are becoming seamless. Loved the energy, too.

Wemby matched him in points but not efficiency, making 8-18, 1-6 from 3, team best 5-5FTs along with 8 boards (1 on O), 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, but also team high 6TOs. He had a nice balance among three-levels: 6 attempts from the arc, 5 from non-paint 2s (3-5), 7 in the paint (4-7). We did a better job with looking for and finding him down low early which was good to see. More transition points, more high low passes. He still gets moved out of his space and position when defenders get right into his body, but he is also getting more judicious in his shot selection. Some things we're working on with him:

Read on Twitter

Devin led us with 19FGAs, making 10, team best 4-10 from 3 for team high 24 along with 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal in 27 minutes. He made some terrific shots, both with that side step 3 with two defenders draped on him and with clever paint Js after creating space and backing defenders, and on physical drives. That high release point on his Js is such an asset. Handles, space creation, and creativity stood out. As did the drive to keep pushing us through. We missed him greatly. Thrilled to have him back. Hopefully as a starter next game.

Branham will have slumps. When he does, again, we need more from him. Another game in which he struggled to score, making 3-9, 0-5 from 3. It seems like the idea of pairing him with Sochan was to get easy buckets but he's so hit or miss that you never know which version you get. It doesn't help that his decisions with the ball favour contested shots rather than passing to open team mates. He's less efficient from everywhere but FTs though he's taking fewer of them. Surprisingly, Branham is averaging more assists this season, but like his efficiency, they come in clusters surrounded by drought. Good off ball movement, back door cutting, but shot selection and contributions beyond scoring have to start showing up.

His back court mate fared little better on O with 7 points on 3-7, 1-2 from 3 for 7 points, 6 boards (3 on O), and 4 assists. He picked up the ball too early which better ensures ball protection but stifles O movement when we have to come and rescue the possession. He also has a tendency to take the end of Q shot regardless of whether anyone else is more open, and it has often been the case that team mates have been. He had some nice drive and kick outs, and did well to get into the paint to draw defenders in to pass back out, but poor Zach was woefully inefficient - 6 points on 2-12, 0-7 from 3, 2-2FTs. One of the appeals of Collins is consistent contribution regardless of whether his shot is falling. Always trying. He grabbed 8 boards (3 on O) and led us with 6 assists. The Wemby-Zach synergy is growing.

What we don't want to see are things like this:

Read on Twitter

A one-two gut punch of contested 3 by Branham with Wemby sealing his man and more space to operate, we get the rebound, and Sochan bizarrely uses Wemby as a decoy to muck his way into the paint for a contested miss. Can't have a back court that looks off the #1 option lol It was just one play, but emblematic of our tendencies when we make wrong decisions.

I did like that our best guys took the most shots - Wemby, Devin, and Keldon got plenty of chances and were pretty much our best scorers. Cedi had a 5-11 night though struggled 1-6 from 3.

Tre was a defensive pest, got some steals for his efforts, and layups and assists from them.

Pop ran mostly a tight nine-man unit with Bassey filling in 7 minutes as the 10th man. I get we needed his bulk and bounce, but he hasn't been as impactful the last couple of games. He has a nice touch in the paint on his floaters, just hasn't gotten cleanup points of late. I hope we can use Mamu more, split or take Bassey's minutes when he doesn't have it.

We do need more production from our bench. Outside of Dev's 24 points, the rest of the bench combined for 25 points which put us -18, including no FTs attempts.

We made 5-6FTs to their 6-8FTs at the half, but we finished 10-12FTs for the whole game while putting them to the FT line 9-10 in the 4TH Q alone. It's tough to get calls when 47% of our shots came from the arc, unusual for us. We employed a strategy opponents have used on us when down, bomb away from the 3. We just couldn't hit these well enough, nor could we stop a generational talent form getting his best shots.

Bonner talked about how we gave too much space on shot contests, true, and how we had to get our feet at least at the arc not below it, an offshoot to fighting through screens better. I thought we did well with getting hands into passing lanes and deflections (10 steals) but this was a good tough test with staying with players who are experts at off ball movement. Trying to prevent the ball from getting into the hands of best shooters or forcing secondary options as well as getting opponents into more foul trouble is something for us to work on.

I liked our start, liked our energy, and loved our fight. The dreaded 3RD Q woes (-7 in points) reappeared but we finished on a strong run to cut a double digit deficit down to 5. We outdid ourselves in the worst way with an even worse start in the 4TH Q but once again forced our way to a close game late.

When Tre was a rookie and got minutes with us, he also didn't have good handles and tended to pick up his dribble too early, he also had trouble finishing well at the rim, and he also couldn't shoot the 3 - all like Sochan. The latter, however, has shot the 3 better this season, as has improve his FTs, though the first two points need work. On D, he's an asset versus bigger players but smaller ones still beat him over screens and off the dribble. He has to figure out how to get around screen better. Something about the big steps he takes makes him slower coming around them and he almost always gives too much space on Js. I guess he doesn't want to keep his man in front of him, but he seldom closes the gap on shots. Even players like Doug who are not good defenders contest well because they close space better in contesting at the shooting side rather than straight in front where defenders have to be more careful about fouling.

More P&Rs, more alley oops, more glass use, but overall the fight back, the counter runs, the finding ways to make impactful plays stood out. We put more of the good together, and fought our way through the bad patterns. Once Devin starts again, we stay hungry, learn from our lessons, we will break through.

[G R E Y]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[floppymoose]

I still think the Spurs have a real shot at .500 this season.