Grades: Spurs at Hornets - Feb. 14, 2021

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/grades-san-antonio-spurs-charlotte-hornets-game-28/

:danceclub

[Dejounte]

https://twitter.com/MariahCarey/status/1361029213877399552?s=19

https://twitter.com/dylangonzalez21/status/1361053879425765376?s=19

[heyheymymy]

Great write up, thanks.

Pretty crazy spurs are now 12-0 when leading by double digits at any point.

The old spurs would've found a way to cough up one of those 12 games that they had a 10+pt lead in.

[spurraider21]

White's release has gotten so much quicker over the years. really makes him a threat. its also great to see Murray/White being able to coexist, something that didnt seem possible for quite a long time

[siraulo23]

that was fun to watch, White Walker and DJ all played well

Dj and White were really physical on the perimeter but Walker imposing his will on defense was great to see.

[John B]

Thanks for the grades Timvp. I’m happy for the win. BUT, they need to fix the slow start or teams could bury them fast. They were lucky playing against an injured team, only 8 players suited up for the opponents. I really thought they were playing down to the opponents again, and this ST would be filled with angry bitches :lol.

DJ is awesome after the first few minutes of the 1st quarter. He needs to set the tone early. The first few possessions were too slow to setup the offense. After that he got better. Hopefully he gets better starting the offense early and don’t let the opponent get too much confidence.

Good thing for defense. I’m loving Jakob getting more confident out there. He is setting the defensive tone for the rest to follow.

I’m happy for Lonnie. He didn’t hesitate to call his number and attacked the rim. He is a very important part of this team. I hope he continues.

With only 8 people suiting up, Keldon kept attacking and paid off.

I’m happy Demar shooting those 3’s with no hesitation. The Hornets defended him well. I think he handled it pretty well.

White is getting there, taking charges, making great decisions.

All in all, slow start, please fix that. But they didn’t hang their heads. They were able to overcome. Great win. GSG!

[Mr. Body]

White's release has gotten so much quicker over the years. really makes him a threat. its also great to see Murray/White being able to coexist, something that didnt seem possible for quite a long time

They couldn't play together last year. Honestly Murray is a different player. His leap deserves so much attention.

[John B]

that was fun to watch, White Walker and DJ all played well

Dj and White were really physical on the perimeter but Walker imposing his will on defense was great to see.

Walker is very capable of doing that. I hope he knows that and continue to punish his defender with his quickness. Great win.

[Mr. Body]

Eubanks didn't have a great game, but I like that he's showing that he can be a decent second string center in this league.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

The old spurs would've found a way to cough up 2/3 of those 12 games that they had a 20+pt lead in.

fify

[Rudisha8]

Completely agreed on Dejounte this year - his decision-making in particular and overall play has made a massive jump. Crazy to think that if you rule out his Pop internship rookie year and the one he missed due to his ACL tear, he's only in his full third year of consistent meaningful playing time.

Were expectations on him a little bit high last year given it was his first year back post-injury? Is there much data looking at NBA players in their first year back from major knee injuries?

[Arcadian]

Great to see Murray and White both have a good game. Seems like it's usually one or the other.

[Manu-of-steel]

Thanks timvp. Great write up!

[spurstalk123456]

Great write up, thanks.

Pretty crazy spurs are now 12-0 when leading by double digits at any point.

The old spurs would've found a way to cough up one of those 12 games that they had a 10+pt lead in.

All thanks to not re-signing Bryn Forbes

[exstatic]

All thanks to not re-signing Bryn Forbes

And benching LMA...

[YoungbuckMurray]

Wonder if pop is gonna have the balls to bring LMA off the bench

[mo7888]

Wonder if pop is gonna have the balls to bring LMA off the bench

Doubtful... I'll believe it when I see it

[couchman]

He has to right?!!? The improvement without LMA has been obvious. His only value is as a bench scoring option. He doesn't even rebound well anymore.

[KingKev]

He has to right?!!? The improvement without LMA has been obvious. His only value is as a bench scoring option. He doesn't even rebound well anymore.

lol Pop does Pop things. He will thank certain guys for stepping up and kindly tell them to go back to their previous role, especially with a brat like LMA who only cares about his own personal stats; Pop won’t want to hurt his ego.

[Truth4sale$]

Great write up, great game-after the 1st quarter.
Poertl is proving doubters (including myself) he was worth resigning and deserves the start. Lonnie is recovering that coming off the bench with two ball checkers ( Mills and Gay), he needs to be aggressive and get his own. He had some nice passes in the paint, and that is something he could clearly expand on. Still needs to focus on defense to truly reach his potential- which I believe he will.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Nice write-up. What a difference a year makes. Last year we were enduring having to watch Forbes and Marco flail away, and now we get Big Body, along with DJM, White and Walker all playing meaningful minutes. Mills isn't as much of a defensive liability when he's out there with teammates that are capable defenders. DDR is more effective surrounded by the young talent as well.

It would be amazing if the Spurs could somehow stay in that top six to avoid the play-in tournament. We'll see how things go, a lot can change, but good results so far. I'll take 5 games above .500 at this point.

[Dejounte]

https://twitter.com/NBA_Math/status/1361355842340200455?s=19

[wildbill2u]

They couldn't play together last year. Honestly Murray is a different player. His leap deserves so much attention.

I totally agree about DM. I didn't like his game decisions, handle, or shooting when he came into the league. I figured it wasn't too much to ask that a NBA player would have the basics on dribbling, layups, and shooting at least passable on all three. As years went by with little or no improvement, I thought it might be to much for him to learn. But recently he has looked pretty good on all those skills. If he is able to keep it up with some consistency, I will be more than happy to say I was wrong.

[John B]

I totally agree about DM. I didn't like his game decisions, handle, or shooting when he came into the league. I figured it wasn't too much to ask that a NBA player would have the basics on dribbling, layups, and shooting at least passable on all three. As years went by with little or no improvement, I thought it might be to much for him to learn. But recently he has looked pretty good on all those skills. If he is able to keep it up with some consistency, I will be more than happy to say I was wrong.

I’m one of DJ’s biggest critic. I just wasn’t used to the hype that he’s bringing to himself, from how the Big 3 were doing it. But he is backing it up. Those crossover mid-range is smooth, his go to move. I expect him to get even stronger as he’s 2 years removed from injury. He got Mamba mentality to be the best out there and carry the team. I think we got a Star on a rise guys

[Dejounte]

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1361389360374022144?s=19

Why?

[NASpurs]

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1361389360374022144?s=19

Why?

He followed it with

NBA says there's a positive test within Spurs.

https://mobile.twitter.com/wojespn/status/1361390465237606402

[cjw]

lol Pop does Pop things. He will thank certain guys for stepping up and kindly tell them to go back to their previous role, especially with a brat like LMA who only cares about his own personal stats; Pop won’t want to hurt his ego.

Imagine Aldridge beasting against bench units and also not having as many tough assignments defensively (getting switched onto lesser guys). He’ll never accept it, but he could still put up pretty big stats swapping places with Poeltl and getting 24-30 minutes a night.