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Who cares about defense in today's game!!! As long as we're good offensively and hit clutch shots in the playoffs we'll be fine!!! No team today has played defense ,look at the pts allowed of all the teams almost 100pts
If perimeter defenders don't trust their help defense then they can't play tight which gives shooters air space.Inb4 someone blames Pau's help defense for the reason why the Spurs are allowing their opponents to shoot 35% (15th in league) from behind the arc compared to just 32.8% (1st in league) last year.
Who cares about defense in today's game!!! As long as we're good offensively and hit clutch shots in the playoffs we'll be fine!!! No team today has played defense ,look at the pts allowed of all the teams almost 100pts
Why do you always speak of the record in all threads? The record means jack when the only relevant teams we've played are the Warriors and Clippers. One game was a total assrape on our homecourt mind you and the other is hard to judge whether we really give the warriors a match-up liability or was it a one time thing. Don't get me wrong, I think we are a match-up problem for the Warriors but that's literally been the only game that we have looked good against a contender, probably the best team in the league. The other game was just an absolute rape, granted that Danny was still injured but still that was very discouraging to watch. The next 2 sets of games who are remotely of the same importance are the 2 rox games, and we split them with the ing rockets, a pretender (4th-6th seed) at best.
So now you have 2 games that matter. The other 18 games don't mean much on how good we are especially since we are struggling against teams. Which means that the record, for better or for worse, doesn't mean a whole lot.
This is a neutral post. I for one, think we have many weaknesses but a 2nd half of the season Lamarcus might change that. But also, it doesn't take away the fact that this team is struggling to find any sort of iden y right now. All in all, things don't look bad, but it doesn't look good either. We have the makings of a contender if things fall into place but this is not a situation a fan wishing for a ring should be happy about, good record or not.
Yeah I can only imagine if Timmy came back for two more years playing 12-15 minutes a night off the bench.D would be solid and he'd have time to mentor Dedmon on all his knowledge of player tendencies.
That might be the most important knowledge lost defensively.
Tim had 19 years of studying the best players tendencies that's why his D was unearthly,not because of his athleticism but because he could predict at a high rate what the offensive player was gonna do
No , if Duncan is being replaced by 3 guys, not known for their defensive abilities.
This is Duncan being blocked
https://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/catImages/lebronblocksduncan13pf-1.jpg
Spurs will be fine tbh.
I wish he could coach them up now, even retired.
Balance is key as most know, but I'd rather have a better offense than defense in this era of ball. As long as we are able to get some stops at the end.
Why? Because it's a reminder that despite our obvious struggles, we are finding ways to win games. The Clips just got embarrassed by the Pacers, once without Paul George, and again at home last night, being outscored by 18 in the 3rd. I mean things happen. Re: The Clips, I do want to see us with Danny playing, and while it was an ugly game overall, Aldridge and Leonard were a combined 10-26 that game vs the Clips, Parker was out, Anderson was starting, Mills was starting, etc... The bench is playing better now than it was 7 games in when we lost. I think they will learn from it just as they did when they played the Rox and the Jazz the 2nd time. Both came into SA and won, and we responded on the road with 2 wins, that we were in control of most of the game.
I agree 100% with your last paragraph. Things don't look bad like many make it seem, but we are far from where we need to be. I guess that's where I think we'll improve. LMA didn't get going until like January last year, so hopefully he picks it up again.
I guess I just think despite our obvious struggles, why do people need to cliff jump? We knew heading into this season there would be lots of ?'s with the roster changes and TD gone now. We knew the defense would take a hit, and like I said, what team in the league is a force on both ends at this point? IMO, there really isn't a team head and shoulders above the rest at this point.
If we still look like this in 2 months, then yea it'll suck and look like we're headed for an early exit. But I honestly don't see that happening, I think they'll continue to improve
Too early to be concerned..defensive chemistry is almost as important as offensive, tbh..the Spurs replaced their defensive coordinator/anchor and added a bunch of new faces, it'll take a few months to get it together..
Outside of the chemistry issues, the dropoff from Gasol to Duncan has been the biggest reason for the decline..
Post-up
Duncan: 107 instances, 0.7 PPP
Gasol: 16 instances, 0.89 PPP
Roll man
Duncan: 47 instances, 0.72 PPP
Gasol: 10 instances, 1 PPP
ISO
Duncan: 47 instances, 0.6 PPP
Gasol: 23 instances, 0.91 PPP
Small sample size and still plenty of time to turn it around..
I don't think it helps that Pop rests them so much, though..this team needs chemistry more than any past team, they don't have the continuity of the "big 3" Spurs teams..can't expect Pau and Aldridge to learn to play together when he's resting 1 of them every other game..
it is pretty visible. Playing KA would help a bit, playing David Lee is like shooting yourself in the foot.
There's also some bad luck factor that will positively regress, tbh..Spurs are 7th in the NBA at contesting 3-point shots, yet they've been in the worse half of the league in 3-point % allowed..it's pretty typical to get fluky results this early in the season(I think it was last year's Mavs that had a top 10 defense for the 1st quarter of the season, largely due to opponents shooting horribly against them on wide open jump shots)..
I don't think it'll finish in the top 3, since the falloff from Duncan to no-chemistry Gasol is egregious, and Parker is still a huge defensive liability, but still, they should easily finish anywhere from 4-8 IMO..if they still suck halfway through the season, I'll be concerned(not that I think they're a real contender, anyways, I don't)..
Dedmon can certainly help especially with the starters. But the bigger issue is with a different lineup everynight how do we really know much about this team.
But you think with so many minus defenders on the roster the Spurs can still finish top 5 defensively? Kawhi I think has regressed a bit defensively (I blame it on him having to carry more of the offensive load than ever) and Gasol/Parker/Mills are all crummy defenders.
^^I don't think they'll finish in the top 5, but I'd be very surprised if they finish outside of the top 10..
Gasol isn't nearly as bad on defense as he has been, so far IMO..I think they'll improve when/if Pop stops resting him so much, build some continuity with the starters..
Top 10 defense probably isn't going to get it done. Westbrook had his 6th triple-double in a row tonight, and Klay dropped 60 points on the Pacers.
The Dubs have three guys who can drop 50+ on any given night. The Spurs' best player has a career high of 33. We aren't going to beat them by matching offense - they're going to have to play great team defense.
The fire I saw out of Dedmon tonight needs to be contagious. That video clip that someone posted of Pau playing matador in the paint? That's a second round exit waiting to happen.
It was tonight. LMA had his best defensive performance of the season, Kawhi was taking pride on the defensive end again...Spurs just needed a bit more of Danny in last games but he'll be fine.
Loved how Giannis said that Kawhi was on him in the last play and had to give away the ball..."I saw Kawhi Leonard...I saw Kawhi Leonard coming..." Kawhi everywhere
https://twitter.com/eric_nehm/status/805994760611762176
This team can improve defensively, it depends on how much Pop hides Pau/Parker/Patty weaknesses because the rest are good-overall defenders.
It's the Pau Gasol effect. Ask any Bulls fan.
It was tonight. LMA had his best defensive performance of the season, Kawhi was taking pride on the defensive end again...Spurs just needed a bit more of Danny in last games but he'll be fine.
Loved how Giannis said that Kawhi was on him in the last play and had to give away the ball..."I saw Kawhi Leonard...I saw Kawhi Leonard coming..." Kawhi everywhere
I think Gianni better watch the video of that play. It was Manu that stopped him on that play. He saw Dedmon about to get caught up on a screen, and made the decision to switch super-early, so he was able to get out and body up on the Freak beyond the 3P line and keep him from turning the corner toward the basket. Then Ante re-loaded, and Manu showed some incredible lateral quickness to get in front of him again, and cut him off. Ante turned at the last instant, and backed into Manu, and probably should have drawn the charge. (I've looked at it several times, and Manu didn't flop - Ante assed into him when his feet were planted.)
THEN Kawhi came over and picked up Ante, from the right side. But Kawhi was sideways, and had his arms up to prevent a pass to the right corner. Ante would have blown past him EASILY and gotten a dunk, but Manu was laying on the court in front of him, where he had been knocked down. Kawhi kept Ante from going right, but he would have had a clear lane to the rim if not for Manu's body in front of him to the left. I'm not saying did that part on purpose, just that he absolutely would have gotten to the rim otherwise.
Of course, he knows if it was Kawhi's presence that made him get rid of the ball. But if not for Manu's great defense before that, it wouldn't have mattered. That was pretty damned good defensive effort from the old man.
Obviously, defense is a team effort, but we shouldn't underestimate the Kawhi's D effect on young players like Giannis or Wiggins.
Doesn't matter if Manu or any other Spurs player is there, they only see Kawhi.
I mean, it doesn't matter for them.
But our guys working together, doing a great defensive job in a play, it's huge for us.
Spurs gave defense up when they signed LMA. They underlined it when they signed GAYSOFT.
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