SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 17: SPURS AT NUGGETS, 26-11-2023, 7PM (CT)

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Always stay with the inbounder. Always.

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Genuinely curious: How does Julian miss the entire rim on a layup? I get he had a man in front of him but like use the glass - probably something I've typed the most this season.

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But then Julian makes the harder baseline drive and reverse bucket for the +1. Go figure.

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So that's what it may be - Julian makes them without the pressure. Ok. Well the shot's there somewhere buried within the mental approach.

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4TH Q: SPURS 120 NUGGETS 132

We scored two more 3s, and two more FTs, we repeated some patterns of slow Q starts but finished them stronger (good change), took four more FGAs overall, had four fewer TOs, scored 120 points, cut a 29-point deficit down to 12... we put a lot of good things together against the reigning champs and a pretty much unstoppable MVP player.

What we could control we did a lot better in doing so though there were still some things we can improve that's within our control - running back, better yet, hauling ass back on D is a must. We did it better but got caught on some passes behind our D.

It was great to see Wemby both a lot more assertive from the start and us finding him better. He had 17FGAs, and limited five of those to 3s, of which he made 2. And because he was more aggressive running in transition and positioning down low more, he led us with 6-7FTs and team-high 11 boards, including team-high 4 on O. The 6 steals, 4 blocks, 2 assists to 3TOs, making it three consecutive games of 20+ points.

I liked his taking on Jokic on D in the post, wide stance, bodying him up as well as expected, claiming his space, balanced. He absorbed the physicality of drivers at him a lot more willingly, and got into the O rim space well to fight for O board tip ins. So improved starts, more physicality on both ends, better shot selection. Hugely impactful game in more areas. Taking on bigger challenges while making better decisions is growth in real time. It is a joy to witness.

Devin started from the bench and took the second most shots, makes sense considering the 1-2 threat between him and Wemby, making a terrific 7-13, team high 4-7 from 3, 1-1FT, with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal. Loved his off ball movements, and better shot selection.

Somehow Keldon, who played a team high 31 minutes, ended up with taking only 7FGAs, making 3, 0-2 from 3, but second highest on our team 4-5FTs. He's our third scoring option yet took only one more shot than Sochan who didn't even play in the second half, making KJ's attempts good for second lowest on the starters. Even Julian and Tre took more FGAs (8 each) in fewer minutes.

Shot distribution could have been better, especially for the player who is terrific in using his considerable bulk in bulldozing to the rim, especially in a game in which we got badly outscored in PITP 66-48, a big outlier.

Zach had a tough counterpart challenge and the 9 points after 6 points last game is rare. The last time he had consecutive single digit scoring games was back in late October, in our second and third games. Outside of these outliers, he averaging a career high 14.4PPG on 50.6% efficiency, though the 3 is far behind at 27.3% a whole 10% lower than his career high last season. Lots of season left, and he's taking not only a career high 10.9FGAs and the shot shift has included about 40% of them from the arc, averaging another career high 4.1 attempts from the arc. The efficiency has to come to justify the outside presence. Floor spreading has to actually work for us. 1-4 from the arc tonight, so we're waiting on it, but the 4 fouls and 4TOs made for nearly a third fewer minutes than he averages per game.

Bassey filled in with 15 minutes, in which he scored 3-5, 3-3FTs, on some nice P&R finishes, along with 6 boards (2 on O), 2 assists, 1 block, 1TO, and 3 fouls. That's seven fouls on mostly the opponent C from what I recall. A near unstoppable load.

We've had games in which we got down big and folded, so our fight tonight to go on runs throughout the game showed some good punch back. We bookended the game with two 30+ point Qs, giving up three 30+ point Qs, and yet the fight back to end Qs on runs is a sign of progress. The runs got too big, and for the record, Tre was in for it in the second half, giving perspective about our patterns and dampening much maligned Sochan-at-point contentiousness. Hope he's ok.

Tre and Julian started the second half instead of Sochan and Branham so as to fill in for the former and have the latter run the second unit. Tre led us with 6 assists and scored efficiently (4-8, 0-1 from 3, 2-2FTs), Branham finished with 3, same as Sochan. Branham had a better scoring game, (6-11, 3-5 from 3) and like Julian (4-8, 3-6 from 3, 2-4FTs) made good shots with less pressure on the line.

We had 34 assists, and everyone who played registered at least one. You can see the blueprint in what we are trying to do, how we are trying to play with versatility in passing and scoring, but the reps and vision need work.

We had six players in double digits, three on each unit. Our bench outscored theirs 60-27, a bright spot.

While giving up points at a 56.2% and 42.9% from 3 rate is never good, stopping a championship team is built in challenge - there's a reason they are the reigning champs, a team surrounded by a a multi-season MVP. I like that we didn't over help which didn't make us chasing the ball as much, and we didn't have five players in the paint with and broken rotations as much either. Facing this team was a tough challenge and a good test that will help us.

Wemby increasingly interspersed at the 5 is going to be even more impactful for us. I can see a Wemby at 5, Sochan at 4, Keldon, Devin and eventually Sidy at 1, or Sochan 3 or Sidy at 3... just a lot of variations we can try. In the meantime, I like the increasing chemistry between Zach and Wemby, the high low passes, and tonight P&Rs between them.

We did more good things, some better, some for too short stretches (runs against); had stretches that repeated patterns (slow Q starts) but pushed back to once again finish Qs with runs of our own. The tide turns slowly and it's tough when we play a championship team after several contenders, but we are playing better. Now we have a rare respite with three days off, a healthy roster, rest and practice time, we can have more time to put better together.

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