Grades: Spurs @ Heat - Jan. 15, 2020

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-miami-heat-january-15-2020/

tl;dr: DeRozan and Mills :wow

[Fireball]

Spurs competed well against a team that is 17-1 at home. Its just sad that White, Murray and Walker lack the offensive punch to completely take away Forbes minutes. And this time Belli was the nail in the coffin instead of the savior he was in the Raptors game ...

[DavidTheGoliath]

The Leader; DeRozan

[r0drig0lac]

i hate Forbes

[RC_Drunkford]

Pop B- :lmao :lmao :lmao

[Dhbsr555]

You gave pop a b- he rolled with Forbes and beli in the fourth.. he is trash

[sananspursfan21]

That 4 minute stretch where Forbes kept trying to hit threes instead of the 2nd unit searching for easy buckets in the paint was the absolute killer in this game. There was like 8 minutes left, don’t worry about getting threes! Our guys were making plenty of stops and when they weren’t, the Heat were throwing up bricks!

[sananspursfan21]

But this version of Demar is who thought we traded for :wow

[JeffDuncan]

Pop is the reason the Spurs lost that game. He earned an F.

[KobesAchilles]

At what point does Demar demand a trade? He’s been balling and we are still losing. Gotta be tough for him

[ZeusWillJudge]

Giving Pop credit for putting DeRozan in a position to succeed offensively is a stretch. Failing to give Pop 100% credit for the loss is even more of a stretch. Three words: Marco Fucking Belinelli. Lonnie made some mistakes. That's what the film room is for. But Lonnie making mistakes... that's as good as Beli ever gets.

Spoelstra didn't have to make any adjustments last night. He just took what Pop gave him. The Spurs are now 5 games out of 7th place, and 3 games out of 14th. It's a personnel problem, and it starts at the top.

[XDT76]

The lost was on Forbes more than Beli White was heating up and Forbes kills it by chucking possessions after possessions.

[John B]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. Once again I blame this lost to Pop. B- for Pop was too high. 1. Granted Nunn was having a hell of a night shooting, but deploying 2-3 zone didn’t help. Heat was just too good of an outside shooter. Spurs should have used our lockdown defenders Murray/White/Lonnie on him instead. Even more reason Lonnie should be playing more to bother him, 2. Agree LMA is opening lanes for Demar, but zero FT? That’s weak. Pop should’ve called Aldridge’s number to pound inside, especially when Spurs couldn’t score. Spurs can’t be too happy with chucking 3’s. They need to mix it up. Finally, I don’t know why Pop would not roll with Lonnie. The more Lonnie plays, the better he understands the game. And as always he brings energy to the team. Pop should feed him to attack every time, push the issue, get fouls. Change the complexity of the game. Keep the heat backpedaling with his aggressiveness. Beli/Forbes had like 3-10 from 3 with combined 31 minutes against Walker 8 mins? It didn’t make sense. Beli/Forbes were non-factor and just taking minutes from Lonnie. Defense, attack the rim when 3’s are not falling. Pop needs to finally decide the identity of this team and stick with it.

[offset formation]

Pop can't be higher than a D, tbh.

When on gods green Earth will he stop running Bryn out there to be dominated on the defensive end for 25 minutes?

It's simply unacceptable for Bryn to be playing much more than 5-10.

[SpaceCoast Spursfan]

Being at the game, was just baffled when Marco was sent to the scorers table. Marco then proceeds to give up a 2 & then a three almost immediately. I then see Forbes coming to scorers table, which makes no sense but I am thinking at least he's getting Beli out. No! Pop sends in Forbes for Mills and seemed upset that Mills switched on screen, placing Beli as defender on Robinson (I think) who made the three after Beli made zero effort to get around a screen. In a period of a few minutes the momentum clearly shifted, and previous to these substitutions White had finally started attacking the rim producing a 2,an assist, and then an and1.

None of these decisions were based on gameplay or matchups, but clearly just Pop trying to make sure a vet continues to get minutes. He is not the better player (except for a single offensive possession where a 3 is required) and won't even be around next year.

Other observations from game: LMA effort/focus just wasn't there last night & Rudy was really bad, it literally looked like he would just decide it was his turn - get the ball - ignore all teammates - dribble around & then take contested jumpshot. Also Spolestra is a really good coach. As far as getting the most out of avg/above avg players I don't know that many do better than him & Carlisle

[emanueldavidginobili]

It’s inexplicable that Lonnie didn’t even play a single second in the second half. Yeah he made some errors but his errors are not even in the same ball park as Marco/Forbes. LWIV came into the game with tenacity and made it a point to crash the boards. What’s Pops thought process? I really can’t get a grasp of it, what did Lonnie do that warranted zero playing time in the second half?

The players are out there competing but their coach is failing them plain and simple. Dejounte is running around with his head cut off on defense because Forbes is always getting torched. The rotations are screwed mainly because of him. It’s frustrating that the FO and the assistant coaches aren’t saying anything about Forbes being third in MPG while being a statue on defense and shooting 40% from the field. Maybe they’re and Pop is just being stubborn, who knows.

This team has the players to win games and at the very least should be .500. Spurs are now 14th in the west in road wins only in front of the G League Warriors and 25th in the NBA. If Pop keeps these same rotations this RR trip is going to be a disaster, the opponents are already brutal, it starts off with the Clippers and then the Lakers :lol

[UZER]

There is always one player, every damn season, that Pop dicks around with. Every year he has to have a whipping boy.

This year it is Lonnie

It would make sense if it happened every few years, but it’s like Pop cannot function without having that one dog to kick every year. It’s decided before the season even starts.

It comes across as not genuinely for the players improvement, but just narcissistic from a bully.

[MannyIsGod]

B- for Pop is pretty laughable TBH. He puts the Spurs in a hole every game by playing Forbes so much. Toss in Marco and nothing else even matters. Spurs are literally giving away 5 or so points to the other team.

[ZeusWillJudge]

B- for Pop is pretty laughable TBH. He puts the Spurs in a hole every game by playing Forbes so much. Toss in Marco and nothing else even matters. Spurs are literally giving away 5 or so points to the other team.


That's a damn good point. When you consider that a net point differential of +5 is almost always a solid playoff team, a hole that consistently gives up that many points needs to be patched. But the real hole on this team is Pop.

[SpursDynasty85]

I'll assume Belinelli gets benched permanently after trade deadline or else I might be done watching the rest of the season.

[wildbill2u]

The team didn't give up, even when they were suddenly down by 11 pts with very little time to play. They got it back down to a two possession game. You gotta like that spirit.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

What I'm realizing is that with LMA spacing the floor now, he and DeRozan are actually a pretty damn good star tandem for the Spurs. The other thing that's painfully evident is that our depth is painfully lacking. Lonnie, Poetl, White, Murray and some reserve minutes from Mills and Gay should be it for our rotation. And Murray still isn't able to run the offense, Lonnie is still learning, White plays tentatively too often, Poetl is offensively limited, Mills is small and never has been a true point guard, and Gay looks to be on the downslide.

I'm amazed this team has 17 wins TBH. We might have one of the weakest rosters in the NBA once you get past LMA and DeRozan.

[RC_Drunkford]

B- for Pop is pretty laughable TBH. He puts the Spurs in a hole every game by playing Forbes so much. Toss in Marco and nothing else even matters. Spurs are literally giving away 5 or so points to the other team.

Exactly. I been saying Pop is sabotaging the team, they basically have to beat their opponent by 10+ to win because of it. I also expect Pop to trade one of Murray, White or Walker for a veteran forward to improve the team. And of course he will continue starting Forbes

[BlackAndWhite]

Make you realize that last years roster which is even worse might have overachieved

[FkLA]

As long as he keeps treating Brent like the 3rd best player on the team and goes back to Belli over Lonnie for absolutely no reason, Pop's default grade should be like a D. He didn't come close to doing enough to get that grade up to a B-.

His postgame comments about choosing Plumlee over Adebayo over the summer were such horseshit too. Like yeah bro, he magically became a completely different player overnight. So much so that it has you "shaking your head" at your decision. It couldn't have anything to do with the Heat empowering him and giving him plenty of opportunity despite his inexperience.

At least you learned your lesson though. You're not choosing low ceiling veterans over young, high ceiling physical specimen anymore, right? Oh wait.

:pctoss

[dbestpro]

Nothing can get better for the Spurs until Pop gets hid head right.

[SpursRussia]

What the fuck does Forbes have on Pop so he gets to play so much every game?

[Mugen]

crofl at the B- for the old man...

Are these Grades supposed to be just for the game specifically or are you trying to spin it into the some long-term coaching bullshit with Lonnie? :lol what a joke.

[Slippy]

That 4 minute stretch where Forbes kept trying to hit threes instead of the 2nd unit searching for easy buckets in the paint was the absolute killer in this game. There was like 8 minutes left, don’t worry about getting threes! Our guys were making plenty of stops and when they weren’t, the Heat were throwing up bricks!

To rub salt into my wounds. Pop runs plays after timeouts for this scrub. Making sure his pet will get paid for his hard work. Might not be from the spurs but you k now this is pops project.

[sananspursfan21]

To rub salt into my wounds. Pop runs plays after timeouts for this scrub. Making sure his pet will get paid for his hard work. Might not be from the spurs but you k now this is pops project.

I was yelling. A lot. You don’t think this all is linked to wine do you? I mean, they say inebriation can make some ugly things beautiful *shrugs*

[Sugus]

I was yelling. A lot. You don’t think this all is linked to wine do you? I mean, they say inebriation can make some ugly things beautiful *shrugs*

I feel you. Spurs games this season make me irrationally angry, even when we're winning Pop finds ways to fuck things up. That Miami game was nerve-wracking, I'm seriously considering a break tbh. Watching this iteration of the Spurs, it's hard on the eyes.

[phxspurfan]

Funny how everyone (literally everyone, myself included) thought Murray was going to be a great player and ended up being a bum who ruined the team vs. last year when White was a stud. Now White has no confidence and needs a change of scenery, and Murray is a Kawhi/LeBron spy in the organization, and a cancer who doesn't produce anything of value on the court besides the occasional rebound. And now Mills is a revamped microwave. LMA shooting 3's. Bertans lighting it up with deserved minutes on another club. What a weird year.

[Slippy]

I was yelling. A lot. You don’t think this all is linked to wine do you? I mean, they say inebriation can make some ugly things beautiful *shrugs*

If he ain't tanking, then its gotta be age related. The patience level for a mistake prone youngster doesn't get tested as much from his pets. Over 70 they dont like taking chances. Play it safe and go for what you 're used to. I think rhats pops biggest problem. Oh and the youngster has to pay his dues.

[sananspursfan21]

I feel you. Spurs games this season make me irrationally angry, even when we're winning Pop finds ways to fuck things up. That Miami game was nerve-wracking, I'm seriously considering a break tbh. Watching this iteration of the Spurs, it's hard on the eyes.

Ive wanted to cancel my league pass subscription but our guys are exciting against the good teams. It’s the crap teams that kill them :lol

[Capt Bringdown]

Murray is trash.