SPURS GAME DAY! GAME 5: SPURS AT SUNS, 2-11-2023, 9PM (CT)

Post #61 » by **G R E Y** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:15 am

C3DI!

imagump1313 · Post #62 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:15 am

EXACT same call Jones had overturned again

imagump1313 · Post #63 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:21 am

Suns can shove a guy in the chest while he is shooting and its a no call LOL

Post #64 » by **G R E Y** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:23 am

Manage the clock manage the clock.......

imagump1313 · Post #65 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:23 am

That should have been a 3 seconds call on Wemby but FU Suns with your weak ass calls

Post #66 » by **G R E Y** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:24 am

GOOD PHYSICAL D BY KELDON!

Post #67 » by **G R E Y** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:26 am

TRE WE DO NOT NEED YOU TO BE TAKING 3S EARLY IN THE CLOCK!

imagump1313 · Post #68 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:26 am

Pop getting on Wemby for that foul. Nice!

imagump1313 · Post #69 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:27 am

WOW, good ball movement and ball security!!!!!

imagump1313 · Post #70 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:31 am

WOW! I am shocked. I thought for sure we were done when they tied the game. Great close out!

Post #71 » by **G R E Y** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:31 am

holy ****!

imagump1313 · Post #72 » by **imagump1313** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 4:32 am

LMAO, in chat they are calling him Kevin Durcant :lol:

GopherIt! · Post #73 » by **GopherIt!** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 5:52 am

His nickname should either be “Cheat Code” or “Napoleon Dynamite.”

SunsRback4Good · Post #74 » by **SunsRback4Good** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 9:53 pm

lol there’s only two active posters here combined for 4 pages of the GT dedication at its finest. :lol:

Post #75 » by **G R E Y** » Fri Nov 3, 2023 11:25 pm

SunsRback4Good wrote:lol there’s only two active posters here combined for 4 pages of the GT dedication at its finest.

Quality over quantity :wink:

Post #76 » by **G R E Y** » Sun Nov 5, 2023 1:13 am

4TH Q: SPURS 132 SUNS 121

Strong start. Strong finish. We had one game this season where we reverted to too many patterns of yesteryear(s). But in our wins, we've had come from behinds and front running and withstanding opponent runs - all signs of better trends. That we did it against a team vying for contention with a star returning while being without our second best player in the second half all bode well, too.

It's a make or miss league, and 3s are the equalizers (at times covers) of inconsistent play, but we did do a lot of good things around our 18-37 (48.6%!) from the arc. We cut our fourth worst 16.4 TOs per game in half with only 8 and they only cost us 7 points, a category we were +10 in from their 14TOs.

Our 52% FG efficiency was on 37 assists, above our third best in the league 29.6 per game. We outrebounded our opponent 41-34 and 9-5 on O boards as well.

It was interesting to see how we'd respond after a close game and with facing more firepower. We blazed from the start with our own, building a commanding 19-point lead. Devin led us with 11 on on 4-5, 3-3 from 3. Thrilled for him that he's showing his best game versus tough opponents on a big stage and getting credit for it; higher scoring on better efficiency with strong D.

He's leveling up even from last season so far. But another part of our strong start was Wemby rolling early, too. He's been more passive to start halves so far but in this game he was an active threat from the start, finishing the half with a team-high 20 points on 8-14, 2-3 from 3, 2-2FTs, 5 boards (2 on O), 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. Another improvement is no TOs. A much cleaner, aggressive two-way game made for he and Devin combining for 37 of our 75 points at the half.

Was the scorching O sustainable? Realistically, no, and neither was expecting our opponent to not respond. We didn't, and they did. It was a reversal of the previous game even if their comeback happened sooner than ours. A fourteen-point lead to start the 4TH Q dwindled to a tie with just over four minutes to go. LOTS of time left, momentum for the home team, big challenges for us.

And from that point on, we went on a 16-5 run to finish the game. We went wemby-centric and he scored 10 points in that span, hitting a 3, 3-4FTs, a dunk, and a J. He grabbed two boards and was called for two fouls.

Much maligned Sochan at point-forward was hugely impactful in that span as well. Two rebounds book-ended a block of Booker who taunted him during their run. After that taunt, Booker didn't score. Sochan gives at least as good as he takes and I love it. He switched from Booker to KD on D and to have a player be able to hold his own and be a stopper is so underrated yet valuable.

Wemby finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and 2 blocks with only 2TOs and a game-high +21. Sochan had one of his best games as well scoring 14 on 7-13, 5 boards (1 on O), starter and career-high 9 assists(!), 1 block, to only 1 TO. Very strong two-way contribution. He was absolutely dominant and phenomenal in the variety of ways he did it. At 19. I'm so happy he's a Spur!

Zach had the quietest 19-8 (team high 4 O boards)-4 on very efficient 7-10, 3-3 from 2, 2-2FTs. He's struggled mightily from the arc so it was good to see him make them. But the attention Wemby got (and Zach's inefficiency) meant Zach had a LOT of room and he made the D pay for it. Everyone's game became easier, more open.

Keldon struggled but with a smaller O responsibility he's been contributing more in other areas. He was the game winning steal and bucket star last game, and in this one, despite being only 3-11 (1-6 from 3) he grabbed 7 rebounds (1 on O) -two of which were in the final 4+ minutes during our run, dished 6 assists, , had 2 steals, and a block. He was physical on KD again and switched better.

Tre led us with 10 assists and had our other double double next to Wemby with 12 points (3-8, 2-4 from 3, 4-4FTs), 5 boards (1 on O), and a steal.

Cedi and Doug were once again stars in their roles, Bassey filled in well, and Branham, who I hardly noticed had filled in for Devin to start the second half, probably because the main thing we rely on him he didn't provide -- 1-7, 1-6 from 3, 1 board, 1 block but hey 3 assists! I mean that sincerely. If he's not scoring, he has to find ways to contribute, like Keldon has.

Pop ran an almost completely exclusive nine-man rotation except for Bassey's six minutes. He's also run variations of a ten-man rotation around a consistent starting five, with some early minutes for Julian when our O was stagnant. Other than that, the third five have barely played, combining for 24 minutes through five games so far, with none for Graham yet.

It helps that Tre is so far shooting 38.5% from 3 on 2.6 attempts per game (highest of his career so far) even though he averages four fewer attempts per game overall. He's playing only three fewer minutes per game, averaging 4 boards per game (career high so far), and is still averaging 6.2 assists per game (team high), just below the 6.6 assists per game he averaged last season. And with Sochan starting, he's second on the team with 5.2 assists per game. Good balance.

Talk of not taking wins seriously is disproved by the rotations - dedicating the majority of the minutes to the new starting group to grow chemistry, Tre as the stabilizing 6th man, and variations among the other four bench players. Consistency together, reps, figuring out fighting through opponent runs are changing our patterns for the better.

We're ninth with 90.6 FGAs so far. Last season we led the league with 92.6FGAs and this season the top team leads the league with 97FGAs per game. But in this game we poured in 98FGAs, 18 more than our opponent so even though they were slightly more efficient, we made eight more shots, including two more 3s.

We only got 13FTAs but made 12 of them, the former despite outscoring our opponent 58-44 PITP. We were also on the right end of fast break points 18-9, these right from the start of the game.

We have to work on limiting opponent 3s, and on a better balance between outscoring and defending at a higher level. But considering our O has looked disjointed at times, and different players showed higher or lower levels of assertiveness, it was good to see better commitment to aggressiveness individually and in the D to O push. I also liked that we finally used the high low alley oop passes to Wemby far more in this game. It's like we didn't want to utilize the most obvious advantage before but we were far more resolute in just throwing the ball up high and rewarding him with the positioning work and he feasted.

Now we have to figure out how to play without our second best player with Devin out, thankfully for only a short while.Another game, another adjustment, another challenge. Let's keep the floor raised and pushing the ceiling higher on both ends.