SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 30: SPURS AT BLAZERS, 28-12-2023, 9PM (CT)

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Wemby on the bench motioning and yelling for our guys to run after opponent FTs.

Yes.

PUSH IT, SPURS!

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Pop yelling at Brett after calling timeout after we once again got dish inside and bucket down low on us.

WHY DO WE ALLOW THIS, probably.

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LMAO, Sean talking about running the shot clock down every possession a little bit until Wemby comes back in. As soon as the words come out Vassell throws up a contested brick early in the shot clock

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A transition charge. I've seen it all now.

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Sochan WIDE OPEN on that fast break and no one passes it then Johnson gets the offensive charge. You cant make this stuff up!!!

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Branham dribbles too long in transition, Tre gets blocked at the rim as a result.

Our back court has sucked ass tonight.

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Devin cuts, Devin drives, Devin teardrop at the rim, Devin scores. Just not that complicated and not requiring Herculean effort or Einstein IQ. Just simple, smart basketball.

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We got TWO stops on D, we had TWO transition chances, scored in neither from DUMB **** plays.

Then they get a second chance bucket off another O board, then hit a 3 and suddenly our 20 point lead is down to 11.

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Around 2 minutes left. We have Tre, Devin, Keldon, Sochn, Wemby finishing the game.

THE line-up everyone wants.

Ok let's see it.

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GREAT pass by Wemby to Tre down low for the basket.

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Tre help D, Devin covers the passing lane for the steal. GOOD D, SPURS!

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Wemby slips through the D, we pass, Wemby dunks.

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We now have Blake, Branham, Doug, Julian, Mamu in for the final minute.

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Branham lost on the screen and we have to cover for him ONCE AGAIN.

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[G R E Y]

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

(Doing cartwheels inside!)

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4TH Q: SPURS 118 BLAZERS 105

YEAH!

We faced an undermanned opponent and I don't care. You play who is in front of you, and if you get lulled into playing to the level (on a given night) of the competition, you can pay the price.

For us, a strong start, one lull of a Q (2ND, this time) and breaking pretty much even in the second half were all good results overall.

THE GOOD: 33 assists

- only 11TOs (these cost us only 6 points, so we were +7 in the category overall)

- 9 of our steals were part of opponent 13TOs, so good deflections and hand activity in passing lanes

- 10 blocks, of which Wemby accounted for SEVEN!

- 26-28FTs

- We once again used the Tre, Devin, Keldon, Sochan, Wemby lineup late in the game. Very solid D, smart doubling, getting into passing lanes, pushing it in transition, running plays well.

- Our bench outscored the opponent's 40-17.

- Cedi and Doug, 14 minutes each, combined for 5-7, efficient, played within themselves, provided the clutch shots in clutch moments. Seamless.

- We involved Wemby correctly, early and often on alley oops, give and go plays, great passes inside at the right spots, and to his credit, for the most part he did a great job making quick decisions down low, mostly assertive. Called for the ball, ran the floor like a gazelle, made defense pay for trying to front him, absorbed physicality fairly well, maintaining his balance and using his slinky physique to get by or through or just over them.

Historic game for Wemby - an absolute beast leading us with 30 on stellar 9-14, 2-4 from 3, 10-10FTs, 6 boards (weirdly non on O), 6 assists, 7 BLOCKS to only 1TO on a limits-enforced 24 minutes. It's so great it makes you laugh with happiness of getting to witness it.

- Sochan with another solid output since Keldon has been moved to the bench, with more room and opportunities to work his unique game, blending better with Wemby.

We'd moved Keldon to give the Devin-Wemby two-man game more development focus, but it turns out Sochan has stepped up with the aggressive, involved play. A solid 6-10 (this seems to be the FGA range for him, making the most of his chances), 0-2 from 3 (GOOD that he's limited these as well), 4-5FTs, 7 boards (1 on O), 3 assists, 1 block, 2TOs. No more complaints about icing Wemby out, about over dribbling, and he missed teammates far less often by tunnel visioning his way through drives.

We needed more drives and he proved the requisite energy and physicality. He made 6-7 paint attempts, and of those 5-5 in the restricted area. Absolute force.

To be honest, I was shocked at Devin's final stat line - 17 on 7-16, 2-9 from 3, 1-1FT, 5 boards, team high 7 assists (good!), team high 4 steals (ditto!), 1 block, 1TO. Yes, a solid +18 (also team high) but SO MUCH of his game was against the grain of our team efforts.

- Tre led the bench with 6 assists (good!) but was inefficient all over the place again. Missed both 3s attempts. Somehow he led the team with 3 O boards (5 in total) and led the bench with 4-4FTs so good energy even if he got contested he was an energy and unifying force.

THE BAD - Once again, more than half of Devin's shots were from the 3, and once again he forced these early in the clock, off his own dribble and not from trying to create enough for others, forcing shots that were not falling, ignoring shots that were. He was 5-7 in the paint when he bothered to cut, give and go, execute a downhill game towards the basket. He also got beaten on first steps and was heavy-footed on D. Just a lot of against the team-first grain activity, backing out when trying to drive - so no beating guys down with his handles, far too much perimeter work with the ball in his hands. Much better off ball with cuts and every time he did he got whatever he wanted at the rim.

It may be the case that he was the designated 3s heaver, but goodness we NEED him to LEAD with RIGHT plays, and **** calling your own number time and again when there are lanes to go down and chances for others is not a good look. Only 1-1FTs is a huge disappointment, especially given the chances he had to do things other than chuck 3s. He made ALL of his deep paint attempts. Hint, hint...

We won despite our back court, not because of it. Branham with no discernable perimeter defense to speak of, also getting beaten by first steps and drives and not fighting hard through screens, not driving enough but at least he put up numbers across the board without over-chucking it: 13 points on 4-10, 3-6 from 3, 2-2FTs, 5 boards (2 on O), 4 assists, 1 steal, 2TOs.

Our floor-stretching 3s specialist, Julian, was 0-1 for the whole **** game. Started it with a bad pass to Branham that resulted in a TO and basket against. And so he got 14 minutes of play.

It was largely our bigs who stepped up across the board with physicality and energy and momentum. Zach led the bench with 11 of its 40 points, good balance of strong inside work and floor spreading attempts (4-9, 0-2 from 3, 3-4FTs), 7 boards (1 on O), 2 assists.

Keldon reined in the Chuckasaurus Rex tendencies and was 4-11, 1-6 from 3, NO FTs (not for lack of trying; he drove well and hard but didn't get the calls), 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal in 31 minutes (tied for second highest on the team).

So part of the bad is our second and third best players combining 3-15 from 3.

- Losing a 25-point lead because we reverted to doing the opposite of what got us the lead. We settled for outside shots, stopped creating good to great, didn't take advantage of open driving lanes, didn't break down D with handles, didn't stop opponents from driving at us and taking open 3s.

THE UGLY - 57-42 rebounds against, including an ugly whopping 22-7 on O boards. Boxing out was abysmal, and the hustle after 50/50 ball that fell into open space was little better. Devin watched as several bounced in his vicinity and, yeah the second chance points against were ugly, this without their starting C. We just have zero **** concept of finding the man and sealing and getting the right angles. Effort has to be better.

- After we started the game 4-10 from 3, the rest of the way we shot it 6-26 -- 23%. The reward for settling for early clock chucking and tripling down on it when the opponent starting C was not playing was 23% efficiency. We simply have to create better shots for others, not wasting transition chances on pull outs and missed 3s.

- Perimeter defense of the Devin-Branham tandem. Sieve. Can't wait for Sidy to get the call up. He'll stick.

- There's more often than not that one guy who not only doesn't step up but disappears. And that's a lot on both ends for everyone else to step up and cover. Every player has to pull his own weight.

But overall we pulled ahead enough to stay ahead the rest of the game, weathering several runs, getting stops, interspersing some weird tendencies with better play.

Good to get this W. To follow up, the rebounding, perimeter D, and good to great shot creation must be better. As nice as it is to reward ourselves for good enough play, it's encouraging to know it's within us to pick up our game and play better.

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