How serious are we taking this win?

[sananspursfan21]

Looked good tonight. Is this an anomaly or a sign of things to come? Hard to gauge

[BillMc]

Take it as seriously as any of the losses, then move on.

[RC_Drunkford]

what you take from this win is:

Bertans has to start

Belinelli should be glued to the bench and traded as soon as december 15th comes around (can we get anything from Philly for him?)

Spurs still tryin to figure out how to play together so there is upside, it also helps when they play hard and give 100% from the get go

The west is close so anything from 3rd to 14th seed is still possible

If PATFO makes a move to improve the team and Walker gets playing time off the bench this should be a Playoff team (6 to 8 seed max. I'd say)

We have to see if they can keep the focus and effort up to be consistent

[Dverde]

The main problem with this team besides the defense is the absolute need of having LMA and DeMar in the lineup. Either one getting hurt screws the entire season. It will be a tightrope walk for them to get into the playoffs.

[alpha_HaZE]

Looked good tonight. Is this an anomaly or a sign of things to come? Hard to gauge

We shot 73.3% from the three, looks like an anomaly for me.

[sananspursfan21]

The main problem with this team besides the defense is the absolute need of having LMA and DeMar in the lineup. Either one getting hurt screws the entire season. It will be a tightrope walk for them to get into the playoffs.

Anyone with Toejam and Earl as their avatar instantly earns my respect and favor. Not that it means anything

[sananspursfan21]

We shot 73.3% from the three, looks like an anomaly for me.

I agree with that. The threes were ridiculous but wide open shots were abound because of great ball movement. So the percentage was over the top but the ball movement looked much better

[skin27]

We just shot the ball well tonight..but it’s not always the case every game

[RC_Drunkford]

We shot 73.3% from the three, looks like an anomaly for me.

we only shot 15 3s and made 11. 11 makes is basically average, we just didn't get enough looks from 3 but hit the ones we shot

[anon]

It's a filter for which players you keep and which ones you flip during the inevitable offseason rebuild.

[Arcadian]

If Derozan and Aldridge both need to play great and combine for 60 points to win, that isn't going to happen enough to make the playoffs. It's usually one or the other who excels, but not both.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Best win since game 5, 2014 Finals, tbh

[Mugen]

LA is gonna go back to being shit this upcoming road trip tbh.

[tim_duncan_fan]

Best win since game 5, 2014 Finals, tbh

I laughed at this at first.

But maybe.

[spin8]

We shot 73.3% from the three, looks like an anomaly for me.

This.

Not to mention the Blazers are almost as equally as bad as the Spurs at perimeter defense. Cleaningtheglass.com has them 21st in opponents points allowed per possession, 18th in opponents eFG%, and 30th in creating turnovers. That they allowed 130 to a team that only shot 15 threes, is all that needs to said about their terrible defense.

[SAGirl]

The main problem with this team besides the defense is the absolute need of having LMA and DeMar in the lineup. Either one getting hurt screws the entire season. It will be a tightrope walk for them to get into the playoffs.
These aren't the Spurs from yesteryear and they were somewhat the same last season. They won like 13 fewer games than they would have won with a healthy Nephew in the lineup. Without LMA they would have been lucky to get 30 wins.

Point is every team needs their stars healthy. The worse sign this season to me and what was truly disheartening about this team is that they have had their stars healthy and were still a bad team with them playing heavy minutes. You all can bring up Murray and Pau all you like but they were roleplayers in this team and every NBA team gets roleplayers hurt through the season all the time and push on. They really, really get in deep water, like tankathon water if one or both of their stars are lost.

So, to those who thought this Spurs team should have been better than they were playing, yea they should have been better.

I think they found some rotations that worked better for them in this game. LMA/Demar/Rudy play well, they have a chance to win every game. They won't win every game bc this is the real NBA, but there's very few teams that you would feel like they have no chance against. Problem is that LMA is inconsistent and the team has no defense to fall back on when their shots aren't falling.

[marinoman]

Yeah 1 win in a row is our ceiling.
11-15 from 3, you see that being a regular occurrence? Only in attempts which is extremely low

[NASpurs]

Yeah 1 win in a row is our ceiling.
11-15 from 3, you see that being a regular occurrence? Only in attempts which is extremely low

That’s because Marco didn’t play otherwise we would had shot 11-26 from 3

[cjw]

we only shot 15 3s and made 11. 11 makes is basically average, we just didn't get enough looks from 3 but hit the ones we shot

If they made only 7 of 15, that’s still one more point than Portland ...

The defense is still a train wreck.

[SAGirl]

That’s because Marco didn’t play otherwise we would had shot 11-26 from 3
:lol touche.

[marinoman]

Best win since game 5, 2014 Finals, tbh
:lol

[John B]

Anomaly or not, our boys need this win for their morale. They played really hard, contested every shot, rebounded, hassled. Everybody played good and resulted to a win. I’d take this as a good sign.

[jjktkk]

Consistancy is the key. If LA and DeRozan can maintain some sort of consistency, hopefully others can feed off their energy.

[DAF86]

It really is worrisome that we needed 65 pts from DD and LA and 75% from 3 to pull a close win at home, vs a team that lost 4 of it's last 5 games.

[daslicer]

It really is worrisome that we needed 65 pts from DD and LA and 75% from 3 to pull a close win at home, vs a team that lost 4 of it's last 5 games.

Unfortunately the way this team is set up I have just come to the acceptance that for the Spurs to win games they are going to need LMA/Derozan to both play at a high level to offset the overall bad team defense.

[gospursgojas]

Good win against a good team, that didn’t play horribly (i.e beat themselves).

[JeffDuncan]

It really is worrisome that we needed 65 pts from DD and LA and 75% from 3 to pull a close win at home, vs a team that lost 4 of it's last 5 games.

Equally worrisome is how Pop treated it as a playoff game. Only 3 bench players scored, and the bench contribution was only 31 pts. When White showed he could play, Pop gave him starter minutes at 32. Forbes played 22 minutes. By that, treat White as the starter, because of minutes, and the "bench" contribution drops to 28 pts. Going to a short bench in an early season game, to try to ensure that you can compete, is a bad sign.

Further on that, the Blazers bench only scored 13 pts. Gack!

By treating it as if it were a playoff game, and by getting a statistical aberration in shot percentage, we got a comfortable win over a team that is struggling badly and has almost no bench.

It goes as a W. We'll take it. But nobody should be fooled by it, into thinking this team has much hope as it stands.

BTW, the Utah bench only scored 17 in their Miami game. Just to note that.

[DMC]

We shot 73.3% from the three, looks like an anomaly for me.

But they also didn't take many 3's.

There's a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing happening. LMA isn't very effective without the ball. DDR isn't very effective without the ball. There's only one ball. Do you want to play iso ball and let Kobe lite go off for 40 or go inside and get LMA involved? Trying to hybrid the game into a mix of the two could take more time than DDR has in San Antonio.

[gambit1990]

it was one win...

[duncan2k5]

Consistancy is the key. If LA and DeRozan can maintain some sort of consistency, hopefully others can feed off their energy.

That's not happening

[alpha_HaZE]

But they also didn't take many 3's.

There's a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing happening. LMA isn't very effective without the ball. DDR isn't very effective without the ball. There's only one ball. Do you want to play iso ball and let Kobe lite go off for 40 or go inside and get LMA involved? Trying to hybrid the game into a mix of the two could take more time than DDR has in San Antonio.

Good points! Actually, I like their pick n pop game (when DeMar passes the ball, behind his back, to LA). But LA tends to hoard the ball bounce-bounce as my wife calls him. If he can attack the basket more and with more force, I think we will make the playoffs. But, me that's the main reason I want him gone. His game is ISO heavy and not passing as much.

Anyways, regarding the threes; yes that's true they had mostly open shots, but that's because Portland is such a poor defensive team.

[BackHome]

We’re still 14 in the West only worse team is Suns with 4 wins.

[gospursgojas]

This thread is low hanging fruit for pessimistic spurs fans that have jumped off the cliff already.

[dontouchmebwo]

Blazers 1-5 their last 6 games, so not at all. Blazers are a shitty shitty team, just no consistency whatsoever with them.

[ElNono]

Everything is fixed, this team is legit, tbh... back to contenders...

Now let me clean up my silver and black colored glasses...

[r0drig0lac]

That’s because Marco didn’t play otherwise we would had shot 11-26 from 3

[RobRob]

We’re still 14 in the West only worse team is Suns with 4 wins.

In the last 10 games, we won 4. IT's bad. Very bad. Hope we will improve..

[SouthTexasRancher]

The guys definitely needed this win. We know we can score but, a lot more time and effort needs to be with team defense since we don't have natural individual defenders anymore. We still need that long and athletic small forward who is a natural at playing the defense and can shoot the 3 from anywhere on the court.

[RC_Drunkford]

Equally worrisome is how Pop treated it as a playoff game. Only 3 bench players scored, and the bench contribution was only 31 pts. When White showed he could play, Pop gave him starter minutes at 32. Forbes played 22 minutes. By that, treat White as the starter, because of minutes, and the "bench" contribution drops to 28 pts. Going to a short bench in an early season game, to try to ensure that you can compete, is a bad sign.

Further on that, the Blazers bench only scored 13 pts. Gack!

By treating it as if it were a playoff game, and by getting a statistical aberration in shot percentage, we got a comfortable win over a team that is struggling badly and has almost no bench.

It goes as a W. We'll take it. But nobody should be fooled by it, into thinking this team has much hope as it stands.

BTW, the Utah bench only scored 17 in their Miami game. Just to note that.

We only played 4 bench players though, not 5

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

SSSSSSSSSSSTTTaAAAACCCCCCCCKKKEEDDDDD

[UncleDennis]

It doesn't cure all the problems but it was pretty serious, both teams really needed a win. If they dropped a 3rd in a row could you imagine the uptick in Xanax scripts that locker room would need just to show up for practice.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Equally worrisome is how Pop treated it as a playoff game. Only 3 bench players scored, and the bench contribution was only 31 pts. When White showed he could play, Pop gave him starter minutes at 32. Forbes played 22 minutes. By that, treat White as the starter, because of minutes, and the "bench" contribution drops to 28 pts. Going to a short bench in an early season game, to try to ensure that you can compete, is a bad sign.

Further on that, the Blazers bench only scored 13 pts. Gack!

By treating it as if it were a playoff game, and by getting a statistical aberration in shot percentage, we got a comfortable win over a team that is struggling badly and has almost no bench.

It goes as a W. We'll take it. But nobody should be fooled by it, into thinking this team has much hope as it stands.

BTW, the Utah bench only scored 17 in their Miami game. Just to note that.

Meh...the Spurs have been playing their starters big minutes all season. That's what happens when you're paper thin to start and lose guys in Murray, Pau (and Walker) who were expected to contribute. This team has no depth, so it's play your core big minutes or lose. You're right in that it's not ideal, or a sign of a great team, but we already know that to be the case.