SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 1: SPURS VS. MAVS, 25-10-2023, 8:30PM (CT)

[G R E Y]

Wemby 3. LFG.

[G R E Y]

Cedi 3. LFG.

[G R E Y]

LET'S.

****.

GOOOOOOO!!!

[G R E Y]

Yeah we've been late for those rotations most of the game. They're tough to cover so much ground once the initial passes start rolling around.

Good Pop timeout.

[Baphomet]

Wemby is straight up killing them, please get some stops

[G R E Y]

Like why are we letting Luka get into the key? Make him make both FTs and lay into him before he shoots.

Our key should be painful to enter, if at all.

That said, it was a light foul if at all.

[G R E Y]

We keep getting three defenders on Luka. Getting sucked in by him.

[G R E Y]

But there were no fouls on them in their paint right? **** off.

[Baphomet]

Two absolutely brutal offensive possessions there, think that might be game

[G R E Y]

Well there we go. Two 'TOs' in their paint. They get to be physical. We can't breathe on them.

[G R E Y]

That said, we have to get the O boards.

[imagump1313]

No one on this team has any business playing hero ball. Wemby might as well have fouled out earlier since everyone went all Kobe the last 3 possessions

[imagump1313]

LOL, hopefully we learn from this one....

[imagump1313]

That was the weakest last 2 minutes of a game of basketball Ive ever seen. Hope Pop gets in their asses.

[G R E Y]

That was the weakest last 2 minutes of a game of basketball Ive ever seen. Hope Pop gets in their asses.

Trust.

[G R E Y]

4TH Q: SPURS 119 MAVS 126

IF IF IF...

If not for Wemby's foul trouble (**** Tony Brothers gets this game. Like... **** off shooting yourself in the foot, NBA). If not for KJ on the back of Luka's right hip time and again. If not for missed bunnies.

That all added up to not with a bang but a whimper.

Well there is frankly a TON to work on after this game. In a way it was almost too much pressure and we resorted (reverted?) to bad familiar habits. The one improvement that carried over from pre-season is that we were terrific starting in the 1ST Q - we ranked first in 1ST Q points scored and points differential, I think. But from last season, we bled points at end of Qs, had inconsistent effort and focus, and these reappeared.

Part of it is individual habits - Malaki chucking, other guys as gump said going hero ball - like why the **** didn't we get the ball to Wemby and/or Devin late in the game? Why do we have Keldon bruising into the key versus three defenders? We were not getting those calls. Those were being called against us.

And habits on D - too many defenders collapsing on a single O opponent only to leave too many perimeter options on which late coverage for to open 3s dinged us.

Speaking of 3s, we settled for too many. It's lazy and selfish. A drive a kick or extra pass for an open 3 is fine. But we flat out SETTLED for them and paid the price. We were a disciplined 8-21 from the arc in the first half, then, get this, 9-30 after the 3RD Q - in other words, we made ONE OF NINE FROM THE ARC, and finished with 11-35, so 2-5 in the 4TH Q. I'd have to look into the quality of the shots - Devin missed a couple of nice open ones, but on the whole these were not the good-to-great variety.

Another frustrating pattern of basic basketball is boxing out - you, ball, man. Just far too little effort and awareness and we paid the price there, too, with a 49-44 rebounds against, including 13-8 on O boards.

Finally, 18 TOs. Eighteen. These cost us EIGHTEEN POINTS AGAINST.

We did have 33 assists, so nice ball sharing but could easily have been in the high 30s had we made like half of our missed bunnies. Still, everyone who played registered at least one assist.

Devin showed out very well.

Sochan on D stood out well.

Wemby in the 4TH Q in particular showed up well. We, however, did not do well in getting him the ball. We just didn't. There's egalitarian because it's optimal style of play, then there's ignoring the single greatest asset of the last several decades.

Pop, I IMPLORE you, call more plays for Wemby. If we're going to err on the side of ISOs or hero ball, I'd much rather it be with the ball in Wemby's hands than Keldon driving into the paint and turning it over or **** Malaki LOOKING OFF WEMBY (like did he even see Wemby or does he only see the rim?)

THIS. SO MUCH:

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Despite huge struggles, Wemby finished with 15 on 6-9, 3-5 from 3, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. Also the 5 TOs and 5 fouls so in fairness these have to be taken into account.

We need to realign our mentality. Wemby is the first option. THE FIRST OPTION. Devin can get cooking as he has around or if Wemby's not getting it going. Too bad that Devin's 3 didn't fall tonight. He had been cooking from the arc in pre-season. But I'm not worried about that. He's a terrific two-way contributor. Keldon hero ball must die. I feel kind of bad because he had a really nice overall game leading us with 9 boards and leading us with 7 assists. But in a way if these lead to him then calling his own number versus multiple paint defenders it's not the best trade off in a close game. All the more so with Malaki. He's gunning for that second contract and it's not a good look.

43-25-23-28 is our pattern from the previous season, too. Those waning middle Qs had us chasing opponents after we put ourselves in a good position. Of course opponents will adjust, but we have to as well, rather than revert to old bad habits.

It was a marvel we scored as many as we did but really the defense did us in after all. Keldon was targeted to defend Luka and it worked against us time and again. Sorry but getting stuck behind a bigger player almost never works and he got stuck a lot. Of course it wasn't all just that on D, but a contributing factor.

I do love that Keldon talks to team mates a lot on the court. It's crazy to think that he's our longest serving Spur now. I really like that he was honoured with the pre-game speech. But I do hope he accepts the O options for the best for the team. WEMBY IS THE FIRST OPTION. And Wemby has to assert himself more, too. When he does, get him the **** ball.

Doug was barely visible. Oof. If he's going to be part of the top 10-man rotation, we need him to score.

Interesting that Pop didn't give any minutes to the third five - Barlow, Julian, Blake, Mamu, Graham. There's an initial pecking order that we are trying out. If Doug makes his way out of the top 10, who do we slot in? Julian? Mamu? Graham was suspended so we couldn't have played him if we wanted to, but you know he's good for some 3s and P&Rs.

LOTS of film clips to go over. We got this one out of the way, so to speak. Now let's settle in and show more of what we have to offer.

GSG!

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

Nice.

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[imagump1313]

Is McDermott hurt or something? He shouldn't be getting outplayed by Osman as much as he is.
Maybe he just lost it with age? He doesn't look anything like he did last year trying to lose our draft pick for us