Grades: Spurs vs. Blazers - Oct. 28, 2019

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-portland-trail-blazers-october-28-2019/

tl;dr: Insane game. Thank the basketball gods for Derrick White.

[Slippy]

As always thanks for grades. My quick takeaways.

Pop digging himself a hole here on rotations. DWHITE easily had his best game but wasnt exactly rewarded with extra mins . He can only play when DJ comes off according to pop. What happens when DJ is off his min restriction. Pop going to be forced to play white less? Doubt that's the plan but stubborn old pop - it wouldn't surprise me. Again, no Lonnie. Not 1min
Go figure.

[Fireball]

thx for the grades ... Aldridge gets a B- from me for his very good defense

obviously benching White at the end of the first half in the Wizwards game helped because he finally is playing aggressive basketball ... no for 6 quarters in a row. thus, I agree about the restriction of his minutes ... makes no sense against the best scoring backcourt in the league right now

[siraulo23]

My dude Derrick White is back :tu

I cant really complain about Derozan’s game tonight

W

[monty4329]

Again the bench unit saving the ship. The starting five were ugly, plus the usual 3 minutes of zero offense to close the game.
Sure, Lillard is great when on fire, but one would expect the team to be ready to limit him on closing the game.

So basically, to finish the game, we had no offense and we couldn't t stop the opposing team. It reminds me a lot of last year, with the bench playing well and sometimes even pleasant basket, only to have the supposedly better players just almost throw it away.

[Thunder1]

Thanx for the grades..team almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the 4h qtr...it's going to be interesting to see how they perform later this week on the road..but, a win is win..

[r0drig0lac]

As always thanks for grades. My quick takeaways.

Pop digging himself a hole here on rotations. DWHITE easily had his best game but wasnt exactly rewarded with extra mins . He can only play when DJ comes off according to pop. What happens when DJ is off his min restriction. Pop going to be forced to play white less? Doubt that's the plan but stubborn old pop - it wouldn't surprise me. Again, no Lonnie. Not 1min
Go figure.

I would not be surprised. He spent a lot of time removing Kawhi from the court when he was close to a thirty-point game for no reason, maybe he is superstitious, who knows.

[John B]

Thanks for the grades. I was proud of our guys to have clawed thrir way back from an early blowout. Murray was infectious and White was a stud. Everyone who have gotten a grade higher than B except for the dismal display of defense and lack of killer instinct at the end. I would a lot of blame on that, first off by leaving Mills/Forbes to guard arguably one of the best guard duo in the league, especially when Lilliard got medieval, allowing him to stay with the ball and not forcing him to pass. All in all, I can see this team still improving and getting better which was way better than we had last year.

[ZeusWillJudge]

Excellent set of grades. It's pretty sad when that performance puts Beli into the B- range. But it was, in fact, a better than average game for him.

I've been wondering what the deal is with Lyles. He has been well known as an overzealous shooter, like you said. Lazy on defense, and even lazier on the boards. The way he's been playing can't be a coincidence. His D isn't perfect, but I can't say I remember him being especially lazy there. But maybe more importantly, he's been pulling down more rebounds per 36 minutes than Poeltl ever did. That doesn't happen by accident. I don't know if Pop had a talk with him, or if he just figured out that if he wants to stay in the NBA, he's got to make some big changes. Whatever the reason, you have to give him credit for having the commitment to actually change. With that in mind, I'm not even too worried about his shooting right now. He's doing something unnatural (not shooting) and having to think about it - so even when he does shoot he's hesitant. That's what it looks like. I'd like to see Pop put in a few plays for him, so that he knows for sure when it's okay for him to let it fly. But for now, I'm actually pretty encouraged that he's sticking to the game plan of defending and rebounding. That's a pretty good recipe for success on a Popovich team. Let's hope it still works in the New NBA.

I complained about Pop not having a look at Carroll in either of the first two games. Part of that was because the next couple were going to be games they couldn't afford to experiment. If Carroll had come in and stunk it up tonight, the Spurs would have lost. I hope we don't see him against the Clippers, because if we do it will be in garbage time - and I don't think there will be garbage time against the Clips with the Spurs ahead. But that next night looks like a message game. If Pop doesn't play him in the second night of a B2B, against the depleted Warriors, I think it says there is a problem.

[Mr. Body]

I want to give props to Pop for pushing the pace, even going into a run and gun in the mid-quarters, knowing the Blazers might tire out after a game the night before. It basically worked, although the team relaxed and let Lillard catch fire.

[tbdog]

Poeltl avg less that 20mins is odd too.

[JuneJive]

That final stretch was very forgetable. Pencil in a W and move on.

[monty4329]

I complained about Pop not having a look at Carroll in either of the first two games. Part of that was because the next couple were going to be games they couldn't afford to experiment. If Carroll had come in and stunk it up tonight, the Spurs would have lost. I hope we don't see him against the Clippers, because if we do it will be in garbage time - and I don't think there will be garbage time against the Clips with the Spurs ahead. But that next night looks like a message game. If Pop doesn't play him in the second night of a B2B, against the depleted Warriors, I think it says there is a problem.

It is quite interesting in fact that a player signed for 7 mil/yr can't enter the rotation. Several factors play against Carroll, at this time. First, there are 2 real players more than last year, and it is hard to find them minutes (DJ, Carroll, Lyles in, only DB out). Lyles also is probably giving more than PATFO expected.

I guess the plan was to phase out Beli and Mills, and it might still very well happen soon.
But yesterday's game showed that for better or worse the bench with Mills and Beli keeps you in the game, in this juncture. Given the context, there really are no minutes available for Carroll, right now. Plus, and not that Pop cares, some are screaming to play LW (tanking seems an attracting option to some).

I know I would take minutes from DDR but that is not going to happen.

[RC_Drunkford]

Thanks for the grades TimVP, a couple observations I'd like to add:



- LaMarcus was great protecting the rim, but stopped playing defense midway through the 4th when the Blazers got uncontested lay up afer lay up with him not even putting a hand up while he started to miss everything on offense.


- DeRozan had the match up advantage tonight, so I think calling his number more than Aldridge's, who had to go against Whiteside, was by design. DeRozan was able to bully his way into the paint everytime and played great 3 quarters, but somehow struggled in the 4th to score on Rodney Hood.

I would've liked some play calling by Pop to either get him switched on to CJ or Dame or have him go at Hood in an full iso play. The lane was too crowded and his passes to Aldridge in the pick & roll always came late. He also waved Belinelli off from setting a screen to get CJ switched on him. The missed FTs where just the icing on the cake tbh.


Major choke job from our 2 star players. They were in full game 7 playoff mode.



- We won the game cause of Derrick White. He was the only one who was able to score in crunch time and scored 6 points in a row for the Spurs to keep the lead. That was the old aggressive Derrick from last season. He had a hard time guarding Dame, but he's tough to stop when he catches fire.


- I love Murray being aggressive. Yes the handle is still too loose, but it's great to see him just keep driving aggressively and not playing timid. The jumper hasn't begin to fall yet (I think that 3 against the Knicks was the only one he made upto now), but from what we've heard about him in practice and seen in preseason that should translate at some point. Teams will probably force him to shoot a lot more soon. Dame started to catch fire when DJ got subbed out. We could've really needed his defense and rebounding in crunch time.


- Trey Lyles has to do more on offense. He can't be a complete no show scoring 0 points. Need him to at least contribute 6-8 points on a nightly basis. Otherwise he's a nice fit


- This was the 3rd time in a row where Pop made it harder for his team to win and turned an easy double digit victory into a nail biter. In classic Pop fashion he started to experiment with line ups that have never played together in the 4th, which included White/Forbes/Mills/DeRozan/Aldridge and White/Forbes/Mills/DeRozan/Lyles. Mind you the Forbes/Mills combo has a net rating of -50 Points.

Besides no play calling on offense, he also brought DeRozan back too late with 4:17 left to play. The White/Forbes/Belinelli/Lyles/Aldridge line up that was on the floor before that didn't play well either. It then didn't help that DeRozan entered for Lyles and later on Mills for Beli. If you need buckets, Rudy Gay should've been the PF, not DeRozan. Gay at PF and DeRozan at SF results into mismatches and easy points.



These mad scientist line ups resulted in defensive possessions where Patty Mills ended up being the rim protector for a Dame Dolla lay up. It also resulted into Mills giving up the offensive board to Simons and Mills jumping into Trey Lyles who had the defensive rebound secured, therefore lost it and gave the Blazers another possession. Why Mills had to be the SF who was in the position of a Center most of the time is a mystery. Poeltl would've made more sense. Carroll would've made sense too. Kind of reminded me of a game 6 in 2013 where he benched the legendary Tim Duncan. We all know how that went.


The Good:


The Spurs are 3-0 and could've won all games by double digits if their coach didn't go mad scientist in the 4th

The Bad:


They could easily be 1-2 if the other team hit 1 more shot in crunch time

[vavvi]

Poeltl avg less that 20mins is odd too.

Not odd in case of this game. Portland played extremely small.

[Mr. Body]

Poeltl avg less that 20mins is odd too.

He's not been good, to me.

[vavvi]

Generally most people here hate DDR more than me.
But this time many of you liked his performance while I was really angry at him. He played well only during the easiest stretch of the game when opposition was weak to non-existent. In both stretches when Portland actually tried DDR mightily sucked on defense and was a tunnel-vision ball-stopper on offense. Sure, his shooting numbers look great but he didn't pass an eye-test for me. Last year there was a lot of talk of his passing improvement; zero assists... come on!

[ZeusWillJudge]

It is quite interesting in fact that a player signed for 7 mil/yr can't enter the rotation. Several factors play against Carroll, at this time. First, there are 2 real players more than last year, and it is hard to find them minutes (DJ, Carroll, Lyles in, only DB out). Lyles also is probably giving more than PATFO expected.

I guess the plan was to phase out Beli and Mills, and it might still very well happen soon.
But yesterday's game showed that for better or worse the bench with Mills and Beli keeps you in the game, in this juncture. Given the context, there really are no minutes available for Carroll, right now. Plus, and not that Pop cares, some are screaming to play LW (tanking seems an attracting option to some).

I know I would take minutes from DDR but that is not going to happen.


I don't know, Monty. According to TIMVP and some others here, the plan for Carroll was always to be strictly a PF, and that means there is no thought of phasing out Beli. I try not to get so down on one player that I can't be objective, but I'm really sick of him. On nights where he makes 3-4 circus shots, people get all excited and forget that he's the place where leads go to die.

I'm going to try not to harp about it all season, but if he doesn't start hitting some 3's soon all bets are off.

[BatManu20]

Good write-up OP. Thought Spurs showed some balls tonight competing and coming back from that huge deficit early to make it a close game by half. Then we played really well in the 3rd and the first half of the 4th. That’s when the wheels fell off and Dame almost cost us the game.

Overall a good game besides the 1st qtr and the last. 4 minutes, but Spurs can’t let that collapse happen. Gotta be better. And DeMar HAS to make his FT’s.. or at least split. Has to.

[benefactor]

The guests...:lol Nice touch.

Thanks for the write up.

[Trill Clinton]

Good game. The last 5 minutes were skressful.

[BackHome]

What stood out for me was:

1. Poodle is way underrated in here his help defense was great and he was setting some great picks and was a beast clogging the lane.
2. White finally came alive hopefully Pop doesn’t screw with his mind games and give him consistent playing time.
3. We going to draft a PF at next draft Rudy doesn’t look the same I am hoping he will get better as the season progresses.
4. DEROZZ is a beast when he is attacking the rim - his outside shooting is still terrible.

[AussieFanKurt]

I still don't get the rotations.. Beli and Mills together? That is stupidity. Why play Beli at all when there is Lonnie? Sure, Lonnie can't hit off balance 3s as well but he probably adds more in every other way.

[SpursDynasty85]

This next stretch of games will show how good the Spurs really are. Spurs played at home against either lottery teams or playoff team on a back 2 back while Spurs have been well rested. No more 2 days of rest coming for like a month and a half. Spurs have the talent but they are still not clicking all together. Murray. white, DeRozan, and LMA playing together well would contend easy!

[Dejounte]

What stood out for me was:

1. Poodle is way underrated in here his help defense was great and he was setting some great picks and was a beast clogging the lane.
2. White finally came alive hopefully Pop doesn’t screw with his mind games and give him consistent playing time.
3. We going to draft a PF at next draft Rudy doesn’t look the same I am hoping he will get better as the season progresses.
4. DEROZZ is a beast when he is attacking the rim - his outside shooting is still terrible.

We already drafted a PF.... Samanic

[cd98]

The Spurs have looked meh against two low level teams and a team playing on the 2nd game of a back to back. Spurs are going to get exposed on the road. I think they are still capable of making the playoffs and getting better, but they showed some major flaws yesterday and benefited greatly from playing a tired team.

[drpill]

So happy to see Derrick White looking like himself again.

[Mugen]

Derrick White not cracking 30mins yet this season on a team that:

-Has Dejounte on a minutes restriction
-Features Patty/Beli as rotation players
-Has no other capable defensive guard outside of the aforementioned Murray

What a fucking joke :lol

[FkLA]

The Spurs have looked meh against two low level teams and a team playing on the 2nd game of a back to back. Spurs are going to get exposed on the road. I think they are still capable of making the playoffs and getting better, but they showed some major flaws yesterday and benefited greatly from playing a tired team.

Unless the team is like the Spurs and rests guys, the notion that teams perform worse on the second leg of a back to back is mostly bullshit. Probably even more so this early in the season.These guys' flights and accommodations are top of the line. I remember reading years ago that the difference in teams winning percentage compared to games when they were off the previous day is only like five percent.


So happy to see Derrick White looking like himself again.

IDK if I'd say he's back yet. I'd still like to see him do more than just drive on offense. I'll be more confident he's back when he starts using his midrange as much as he did last year. There's still a lot of midrange looks that he's passing up imo.

[Bojo]

Although they played two lottery teams and a team on the second game of a back-to-back, I am pretty pleased with what I've seen.


+ For the first time in years the Spurs have the personal to simply outrun their opponents. It seems like they play with a very high pace, but still mostly under control. If they are able to limit the turnovers, this might be one of the best transition offenses in the league.

+ LA played really good defense. I was quite happy with his improvements on defense so far, but since he will not have to carry the load on the offensive end as much as the last seasons he might become a real defensive anchor - as long as he wants.
Also, he attempted a three in every game so far. Hopefully he keeps that up.

+ Murray is a stud and I can't wait for his minutes restriction to end. Very exciting player.

+ Lyles looks like a real basketball player. Perhaps that's why he's not shooting the rock as much as he did up until now in his carreer...he might focus on playing within the system and doing more than just chuck away threes. I liked the idea of starting him, and so far he has at least not disappointed.

+ This team is deep. As soon as Carrol and Walker get fully implemented in the lineups, they can roll out 12 players every night. I really wonder why they did not play, too, but most of the time the coaching team has it's reasons. Anyone who ever played a team sport should know that.

Some things are still mildly irritating (Mills-Forbes lineups, White's minutes), but some of that might have to do with Murray not playing much more than 20 minutes and the lack of shooting on the team (as long as he did not try to play PG and just went for some catch-and-shoots, Mills was excellent!) or just trying out some stuff against clearly inferior opponents.
The upcoming mini roadtrip may be the first real test for this team. I'd be happy with a split.

[baseline bum]

Thank the basketball gods for Derrick White.

The basketball gods can go fuck themselves for giving us Uncle Dennis.

[baseline bum]

Derrick White not cracking 30mins yet this season on a team that:

-Has Dejounte on a minutes restriction
-Features Patty/Beli as rotation players
-Has no other capable defensive guard outside of the aforementioned Murray

What a fucking joke :lol

This. RC needs to pull a Pena to Detroit Moneyball move with DeRozan to get Pop to fucking play White.

[Phenomanul]

Perhaps Pop is trying to ensure that White has enough juice left come April/May 2020 given that his off-season rest was cut shorter than usual this summer on account of the FIBA World Cup.