Grades: Spurs @ Pelicans - Nov. 19, 2018 [Archive]

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timvp

11-20-2018, 03:13 AM

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With Dante Cunningham and Bryn Forbes leading the way, the Spurs kept it close on the road against the Pelicans. Unfortunately, that competitiveness was short-lived. New Orleans took their energy to another level in the second half and San Antonio wasn't able to keep up.

Since the Spurs were playing on the second night of a back-to-back after an emotional game against the Warriors, getting a win here was going to always be a longshot. The Pelicans played better, harder and with more juice and richly deserved the blowout victory.

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LaMarcus Aldridge
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Well, apparently the Golden State game wasn't a panacea for all that ails LaMarcus Aldridge. The marksmanship that he discovered versus the Warriors vanished the next night. In his last three road games, Aldridge has now shot 21.1 percent (8-for-38) from the field. That . . . won't get it done. Against the Pelicans, physicality -- or a lack thereof -- wasn't the issue. Aldridge was banging plenty. The problem was more a lack of energy. He was moving in slow motion and wasn't getting off the ground much. Playing 40 minutes the previous night was the likely culprit. Despite his lack of spryness, give Aldridge credit for rebounding well once again and playing good defense at times against Anthony Davis.
Grade: D+
Summary: Aldridge's shooting accuracy abandoned him once more.

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DeMar DeRozan
https://i.imgur.com/ZKxGADZ.png
The good: DeMar DeRozan's passing was good, especially in the first half. His playmaking played a key role in getting Forbes and Cunningham going. The Spurs were able to stay within striking distance in the third quarter because DeRozan got hot for the field. The bad: San Antonio's leading scorer didn't score a point until midway through the second quarter. DeRozan's attacking intensity wasn't consistent. After hitting more than half of his shots in the first nine games of the season, this was the seventh consecutive game that he shot less than 50 percent from the field. DeRozan was sloppy on many possessions and his defense was also worse than usual.
Grade: C
Summary: DeRozan was too inconsistent.

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Rudy Gay
https://i.imgur.com/vqYr2we.png
Rudy Gay begged Pop to let him play in this second game of a back-to-back. In hindsight, it wasn't the right move. He should have rested. Gay could hardly move out there on the court and he couldn't jump at all. It's honorable that he wants to battle though his heel injury but the Spurs need him to get and stay healthy if they're going to make any noise. Gay entered the game leading the league in three-point percentage but missed all four of his shots from deep. He also missed a few shots he usually makes in the paint. Defensively, he wasn't much help and wasn't his typical strong self on the defensive backboard, either.
Grade: D
Summary: Gay labored through his 26 minutes of action.

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Bryn Forbes
https://i.imgur.com/yXVIEAs.png
Bryn Forbes was the tale of two sides of the court on Monday night. On offense, he was good. He scored 11 of his season-high 20 points in the first quarter. Forbes going off helped the Spurs finish the first period with a 39-30 lead. My only critique of his offensive showing was that he wasn't even more aggressive. When he has it going, he needs to be more selfish. Defensively, Forbes was really bad. This was worst defensive game of the season. He made so many mistakes on that end that Pop was forced to pull him even though he was sizzling on offense.
Grade: C+
Summary: Good offense. Bad defense.

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Dante Cunningham
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It's safe to say Dante Cunningham likes going against his former team. He scored 19 points in the game's first 18 minutes, including a career-high five three-pointers. This season, Cunningham has scored 34 points against the Pelicans in two games and 47 points against everyone else in the other 14 games. Besides knocking down outside jumpers in the first half, Cunningham was also wreaking havoc by flying around the court for offensive rebounds and loose balls. Then he went to the locker room at the end of the second quarter. Cunningham returned in the second half but didn't even attempt another shot the rest of the game. Did he get hurt? Did the Pelicans change their coverage? Did the Spurs simply fail to feed the hot hand? It's tough to say for sure since things soured so quickly in the final two quarters. While his prolific first half kept the Spurs in it and his hustle energized the squad, I thought Cunningham's individual defense was lackluster throughout -- particularly in the second half.
Grade: A-
Summary: Cunningham was on fire in the first half.

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Patty Mills
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The Spurs rely on Patty Mills for tenacity. Unfortunately, Mills was uncharacteristically passive in New Orleans. He got a couple steals on good reads but that was about the extent of his production. If he's not going to bring juice, Mills isn't talented enough to make for it.
Grade: C
Summary: Mills was another Spur who lacked energy.

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Marco Belinelli
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Better. Marco Belinelli's play had been too feral lately but he played with more smarts tonight. His playmaking was much improved and he was more efficient when calling his own number. On the hand, Belinelli's defense was poor. Really poor. All in all, he's struggling to put solid outings together.
Grade: C+
Summary: Belinelli again didn't quite provide the Spurs what they needed.

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Jakob Poeltl
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Jakob Poeltl looked more confident with the ball in his hands as he finished with a season-high 11 points. He was again really strong on the offensive boards and set sturdy screens. His defense, though, wasn't up to par. Julius Randle attacked him with physical play and Poeltl didn't respond well. Instead, he withered and then started missing rotations.
Grade: C+
Summary: Poeltl was pretty good in some aspects but his lack of physicality was glaring.

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Derrick White
https://i.imgur.com/IrTA2dV.png
Derrick White's string of forgettable games continues. He had one really nice move to the basket and a couple slick passes but that was about it. His didn't look comfortable with the ball, he didn't move to open spots well and his defense was iffy. Let's hope he has a breakout game soon because, at this point, that hope of a breakout game is the only reason why he's playing. His production hasn't been anywhere near NBA level since that Rockets game.
Grade: C
Summary: White's struggles continue.

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Chimezie Metu
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Chimezie Metu got real minutes for the second time this season. This time, things went a lot better. He still looked lost but he was able to make a few plays. Metu has good timing going for blocked shots, can move his feet very well for a center, can handle the ball better than you'd expect and can pass a little bit. He's not ready to be a rotation player in the NBA but his tools are interesting.
Grade: B
Summary: Metu intrigued.

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Pop
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As was feared, Pop playing his guys heavy minutes against the Warriors came back to haunt the team on this night. As I mentioned above, Gay shouldn't have played. Pop should have also forced his team to feed the hot hands in Cunningham and Forbes . . . at least a little bit to see if they could keep it going.
Grade: C
Summary: This game was all but lost before the opening tip.

Looking ahead: The loss wasn't unexpected. Getting obliterated on defense is worrisome, though. The Spurs gave up an astronomical 135.9 points per 100 possessions tonight. After showing signs of life on D for a stretch this season, San Antonio is back down to 21st in the league in defensive rating.

Next up, the Spurs face a Grizzlies team that has won four straight and six of their last seven. The games is at home for the Spurs so getting a win is certainly doable. And, honestly, the Spurs really, really need the win considering they then head off on a four-game road trip.

pookenstein

11-20-2018, 03:38 AM

Thanks for te grades!
Nobody expected a win against the Pels on the second night of a b2b. Should have rested Gay and LMA. Maybe even DDR.
Hopefully Pöltl continues his (slight) upwards trend.

ElNono

11-20-2018, 03:44 AM

In case somebody missed the game, Eubanks was a F+ in 2 mins of action, tbh

JeffDuncan

11-20-2018, 04:38 AM

Thanks timvp!

Gotta disagree about Eubanks. He's listed at 6 minutes with 4 pts on 2 of 3 shooting, and one rebound. Also 2 turnovers. It's worth a C-

If the whole team had shot 67%..... oh never mind.

RC_Drunkford

11-20-2018, 05:53 AM

the silver lining was that Mills only played 13 minutes. Maybe Pop is recognizing how uneffective he is. On that note Spurs are short on bigs with Gasol out, NOLA is a team that plays with 2 big men and Aldridge was already gassed. Having Poeltl, Metu and Eubanks ain't gon cut it going against AD/Mirotic/Randle

r0drig0lac

11-20-2018, 06:03 AM

game vs. Rox looks like it was the exception for Derrick

Ed Helicopter Jones

11-20-2018, 07:00 AM

Metu looks a little small out there. Couldn’t box out and was out of position a lot. He was the only player with any energy though, and showed flashes of potential. I’d love to see him develop. Too bad he can’t do some of that in Austin.

Ed Helicopter Jones

11-20-2018, 07:16 AM

I also wish I understood why Cunningham was forgotten in the second half. Struck me as a coaching mistake. Finding the hot hand until he cools off is coaching 101. Dude was 5 for 5 on threes. Not sure I get the strategy on that one.

vavvi

11-20-2018, 07:26 AM

We played atrocious perimeter defense the whole game. It was painful to watch. Especially Forbes, Belli and DeMar looked like they didn't even try on that end. Actually, Forbes had tried on defense to start the season -- with mixed results of course but he'd tried. Now especially when he starts hot shooting the ball it seems he just stops trying on defense -- like "I'm an important offensive piece now, defense is not my thing".

I thought this game was really winnable at the half if we decided to play some perimeter D & got at least something offensively from LA.

SAGirl

11-20-2018, 08:06 AM

The 3 main guys played a lot of minutes the night b4 and two of them aren't spring chickens anymore. A loss was not unexpected though I had hopes bc Bryn and Dante had career nights in 3 of shooting it wasn't enough ... The defense and lack of effort was so bad.

Short-armed, undersized, unathletic, and tired guys. I kept wondering why Jakob didn't get more minutes. If he can't play more minutes in a B2B where the Spurs need rim protection and rebounding one wonders what's the point of him.

tbdog

11-20-2018, 08:22 AM

I think our big defense was worse. As the game went on, our guards more and more collapse in the middle and were too slow to contest the 3. We have poor rebounding guards but play small.

SAGirl

11-20-2018, 08:23 AM

game vs. Rox looks like it was the exception for Derrick
Unfortunately.

Play Boban

11-20-2018, 08:35 AM

trade4boban

WallyTiger

11-20-2018, 09:10 AM

trade4boban
:cry

Coach X

11-20-2018, 09:11 AM

Thanks timvp again for your post.

The problem yesterday was clearly the defense. Pels scored 70 at the half. White and Mills minutes on the court were the only time in the game where Spurs disrupted NOH's offense. I'd blame White, Mills and our team on the court those minutes of not turning the balls recovered into more points but they worked ok in defense. It was a good moment to start building up from defense and it was wasted but, to me, shooters accuracy concealed the defensive disaster perpetrated by the starters.

Cunningham and Forbes made their shots, ok, but did that help the team imposing his will in the game? NO. In fact, that was Gentry's defensive game plan. DeRozan had all the attention on him and he passed the ball well and Spurs were active enough to get some 50-50 balls and offensive rebounds that gave good shooting opportunities for everybody. Mills and Gay missed, Marco, Cunningham and Forbes hit them.

Anyway, games are won/lost in defense and Pelicans' defense in the first half was much better than Spurs'. Pelicans executed well their defensive game plan and clearly kept under control Aldridge and DeRozan, forcing the rest of the Spurs to take outside shots. In the other end of the court, Pels had what they wanted: Davis scoring everywhere, Holiday generating good shots for the secondary players and Randle pounding inside. They scored 24 in the paint and 16 FG just in the second quarter! By that time, strategically, Spurs were done. Just in the game thanks to the unexpected 9/10 threes from Forbes+Dante. Reduce it to a better than his average 4/10 and score had been 52-68 at the half (letting aside the impact a missed three has in transition defense).

During the halftime, Gentry had noticed what happened in the first so he decided to ask his perimeter defenders to stay a little bit more knowing Aldridge won't be aggressive and giving all the responsibility to DeRozan. Pop probably asked DeMarr to attack the rim using the space given by first half's 11 threes and 61% and he did it as he usually does, recognizing he was playing 1on1 most of the time. For the ones suggesting Spurs should have continued giving 3pt attempts for Cun and Forbes my question is: How? Would you have started calling plays for them? I won't unless they were busting their ass in defense. Which wasn't the case, right?

Second half was more of the same, Spurs defense was inexistent and Pelicans just conceded DeRozan to score 1on1 forcing Spurs to make 10 TOs just in the second half. Dante played 15' and Forbes 11', Belinelli and Gay had a lot of playing time as well and their defense was... mmm... well, you watched the game. Mills played 6' scored a layup, lost a ball -1 for his time on the court and White make-up numbers in garbage time.

Role players must work in defense and rebound every single night. In offense, don't turn the ball over, follow the game plan, feed your stars and take what the rival's defense gives you. Forbes believe he helps the team when he scores a lot but he's wrong, he does help when he's able of playing good defense at the guard position. Obviously same with Cunningham.

Leaders must lead. We all notice the difference between Aldridge and DeRozan: regardless what's the opponent game plan, one of them always finds the way to be aggressive, keep pounding the rock, go to the FT line, score a couple layups and finally get it going. DeRozan is not a good defender or rebounder but he's working on it most of the nights. Aldridge is rebounding very well but his defensive effort is not there regularly. The first half of last season, LA's defensive contribution was at the level of a good Tim Duncan season, What is happening this season??

Gay is a good sixth man at PF. Yesterday we found the other side of playing Rudy at the SF: slow in 1on1 defense, rotations, unable of helping out to protect the paint when he has to come from far away. If at least he had continued hitting most of his shots as he's been doing. He can't play well 60' in consecutive nights. I keep saying Gay's best role in this league is PF coming from the bench, playing the clutch time. He had his best minutes playing PF, feeding Poetl several times and feeling more solid in D. I understand Pop starting him as the team is in need of anything positive that anybody can bring to the table but I don't see that rotation working in the long term: Forbes? Cunningham? No other athletic player that can play D? No PG? Too many forced stuff.

I was very surprised by Pop's demeanor during the game. The team looked awful in defense but it seemed like he was ok with it. That leads me to think Popovich was thinking in using this game as an example of why resting is a good idea, showing the lack of energy some players had in the SEGABABA. Am I guessing too much CIA Pop?

bklynspursfan

11-20-2018, 09:40 AM

John B

11-20-2018, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the grades Timvp and for the analysis Coach X. It was simply perimeter defense and athletic big to block shots. It was non-existent. The lost was expected I guess. It’s just hard a pill to swallow. In the past we rested starters on the road and was still competitive. It was primarily because of team defense, and ball rotation on offense, regardless the personnel, which this team is lacking. Too young in the season? Not enough playing time together? Injuries? Yes but not all. It’s also personnel or lack of. We need that lockdown defensive player who will dictate the tempo on defense. Pride on not getting scored on, worst trampled by 140 points.

SAGirl

11-20-2018, 10:19 AM

The first half of last season, LA's defensive contribution was at the level of a good Tim Duncan season, What is happening this season??

Definitely different teammates around him. Murray, Anderson, and Green are positive defenders. Murray is also a surprisingly amazing rebounding guard, while Anderson is a very solid rebounder and help defender. Danny came up with blocks frequently and helped out everywhere (of course, some fans took that for granted). Lamarcus had more help on defense last year. He didn't have to cover up for an immense load of defensive black holes in this roster that are his teammates. And he also sometimes played in two big lineups with Gasol that just had better rebounding and rim protection. He had help.

This year it's a different story. It's possible like you said, that Pop was being a little CIA Pop, playing guys who begged to play to show them why that isn't a good idea. But I think he had to play his guys unless they were injured. I think the league has cracked down on teams resting players on the road. IIRC the policy is that if you must rest a player that has played an inordinate amount of minutes and is banged up or exhausted (not injured) you do it on home games, not on the road. The only one with a lingering issue is Rudy, so the Spurs had a legit concern with him, and he begged to play. The others had to play if they were healthy, and they were.

The team is just very limited defensively (Forbes, Mills, Marco, Derozan) and undersized. The only defensive player they have is Dante and he's not great, just adequate. I keep putting the onus on Jakob bc if he is not good enough to rim protect and rebound well enough to get heavy minutes against a tough frontcourt on the road... then what is he good for?

I was very surprised by Pop's demeanor during the game. The team looked awful in defense but it seemed like he was ok with it.

I think Pop knows the team was tired, they are missing personnel they need, and perhaps internally, he knows they played as well as they could, but just weren't good enough last night. There is no point in beating someone up verbally or blasting him for playing soft (he's done that other times) when they are already down, and low on energy bc of the B2B. I think Pop has to pick his moments or players will just tune him out. If he's blasting guys all the time, this is going to be a long season, bc this is a defensively challenged team... something Pop said I think 3 games into the season when they were playing historically bad defense.
Edit: by the way Coach, thanks for your posts. Always insightful. Much appreciated. :bobo

TDomination

11-20-2018, 10:21 AM

Thanks for the grades Timvp as always.

I was happy to see the fast start, after like 4 consecutive games of slow starts, the Spurs have been better in the 1st quarter against the warriors and pelicans.

Not many expected a win and we usually struggle against NOLA in NOLA for whatever reason, even in Duncan years. BUT with that said, hopefully our offense continues to shine against the Grizzlies but gotta shore up that D. We need to win before going on this 4 game road trip.

Play Boban

11-20-2018, 10:47 AM

:cry

:cry :cry

Ed Helicopter Jones

11-20-2018, 01:04 PM

I was very surprised by Pop's demeanor during the game. The team looked awful in defense but it seemed like he was ok with it. That leads me to think Popovich was thinking in using this game as an example of why resting is a good idea, showing the lack of energy some players had in the SEGABABA. Am I guessing too much CIA Pop?

Pop does seem to be asleep at the wheel a bit this year. Even DeRozan commented that he hasn't seen Pop blow up yet. I'm waiting to see Pop get fired up...maybe the players are too.

Quiet tanking perhaps? The way the west is stacking up this year the Spurs can miss the playoffs, get the 12th pick and be around .500. Maybe that's the goal.